Well, I hate to say it, but went on a little solo adventure this weekend, and the Trooper suffered a very common failure and had to go under the knife when I got home on Monday. Unfortunately since I do not have a camera anymore I did not get any pics of the carnage, but the surgery was a success and I think the DATRUPR will pull through just fine..........
Yes, I was cruising down Bloody Basin Rd, running at a fairly decent speed when I kept hearing this occasional and somewhat irritating "whap, whap, whap" noise. At first I did not think much of it. When I got onto Cave Creek Rd. and started running a bit more speed the sound became more consistent and louder. I was trying to isolate the noise to figure out where it was coming from, as it sounded like it was coming from the left front tire. Is was getting pretty pissed as these tires are brand new and did not want any problems with them and have to go back to discount and have to deal with the warranty, take time out of my day etc. Well, I managed to get home safely and immediatly inspected the left front end of the truck to realize that it was not the tire at all that was causing the noise.....No, it turns out that it was a very common problem with late model Troopers that are often taken off road. Yup, the left front mud flap had torn, and was hanging on for dear life by about 1-1/4" of plastic. So, I pulled out my trusty tool kit, found a hex bit that fit into the rivet opening and popped the suckers off. So, not the Trooper is running front mud flap-less. I think it looks good, and the irritating noise is now gone.:victory:
I also tried to remove the bent and banged up step bars, but I could not get the friggin' bolts to budge, so That will wait for another day. Anyway, thanks for listening to my rant.
