After some research I thought that the shifter drum and shifter forks had been worn because of my driving style. It made sense, that if the up-shifting was difficult on my Ninja, that the mechanism responsible for shifting would be worn or shaved in spots. At first I was just going to get the bike ready for doing the work by removing the fair and some other things, but I just couldn’t stop once I started.

The bad news came when I finally got the bike completely apart. The shifter drum, shifter forks, and the gears all looked brand new when I finally got a look at the parts. Not a single scratch on anything, no marring, just shiny brand new looking metal. The oil was perfect, couldn’t have had more than 1000 miles on it and was very clean. I was disappointed that the parts I looked up and order had turned out to be just be waste of time for myself.

The brakes problem I had was the weirdest thing I ever heard of. The brake would back bleed to the point where the front brake would disappear, but would take about two weeks. After months of back-n-forth with Kawasaki I was told that the brake had developed memory because I just didn’t ride the bike enough. I ended up with having my local motorcycle shop help take care of the problem got the work done for almost nothing.

That moment that I realized that the shifter forks and drum was in good condition, I knew that I should just hand the bike off to someone else to fix it. I’m disappointed, but the bright side is that I’m one step closer to fixing my bike. Anyway, I wanted to post up these photos of my bike’s internals, it was cool to see the back side of the pistons along with the cam-shaft, and maybe share some info about my problem in case any one else is having them.

This time around I aired down the 35 inch tires on my H3 Hummer from 35 to 12 PSI to get better traction and it became night and day the difference from 16 PSI to 12 PSI while off-road. I got a lot of work out of my rock sliders / rocker panel protection and also the skid plates that I have coming out soon. Not only do they provide protection great I also was able to slide right over rocks, mud, and downed trees with ease. If you watch below video closely you’ll notice, if you have factory leaf spring mounts, how my high clearance leaf spring mount save the shock mount on the Hummer at one point in the video.

The first step to gaining better ground clearance with the H3 Hummer is bigger tires. Normally this is the second step for most most vehicles. However from the factory, the H3 Hummer can fit massive 315/75r16 tires with out any problems. I personally can’t find a single good reason to go any bigger than 35 inch tires. So I choose to go with General Grabber Red Letter 315/75r16 tires this time around because I wanted a tire that was more road friendly than my past choices. While these tires aren’t the quietest tires at this size, I feel that they a great compromise between on road driving and great off-road performance.

Next up is to raise the front-end of the Hummer up by tightening the bolt on the torsion bars underneath. The best part is that this costs nothing to do, however the Hummer will need an alignment to correct the steering geometry. Some companies like to offer “torsion keys” when cranking on the torsion bars, but these things are the same as buying snake oil. Once I raised the H3 to desired height, I was surprised with the ride quality seemingly improving. I think this is because the front bump stops no longer rest on the control arms and allow for more up travel. This has me thinking that GM intend for this adjustment to happen.

At the same time you raise the front-end by cranking on the torsion bars, I recommend getting extend shackles for the rear suspension. Extend shackles are dead simple and have been used for years with off-road vehicles. They replace the weak factory shackles, raise the vehicle, and allow the rear end to do more work off-road. There is a small problem that everyone should be aware of when putting extended shackles on a H3. The shackles raise the ride height and extend the factory shocks to a position outside the factory specs and this can lead to damaging the shocks from over extending. However, if you happen to have the H3 Hummer high clearance leaf spring mounts, the shock is relocated higher up in relationship to the axle and puts back in the factory specs.

With all work done to my Hummer I was able to get up to 13 inches of ground clearance, which is 2 and ¹/₂ inches over factory. I didn’t take any measurements when I had my General Grabber tires put on, but I did take measurement when I put the lift on. My front fenders where 38 inches off the ground directly above my tire, and afterwards I had 39 ¹/₂ inches. The extended shackles took me from 40 inches up to a total of 41 ¹/₄ inches. The front bumper came up to 20 ¹/₄ inches and when matched with the 315/75r16 tire, the approach angle improved greatly.

The difference of 13 inches over 10 ¹/₂ is very noticeable driving off-road, and considering the price… it is worth the trouble. I would like to get the ground clearance up around 15 to 17 inches, but it will require more work because I believe the Hummer shouldn’t sit any higher.

The biggest tire that will fit without any modification to the vehicle is 315/75r16 which is 34.6 inches tall and about 11 inches wide. Even though the tires are only 34.6 inches at the tallest, they are considered 35′s in the off-road world. The tire I decided to go with is the General Grabber 315/75r16 because I wanted a tire that was aggressive, but had relatively no impact on tire noise, gas mileage, and high speed handling when compared to the factory tires. To my surprise, when I finally came face to face with the tires I found them to be more aggressive than I had expected. However, while they are more aggressive than I was expecting, I have had my expectations for the tires exceeded. The road noise isn’t an issue, gas mileage seems to be right on, and while they handle differently it is only because of the extra grip these tires have. Even though the tire size has changed, the speedometer is still for the most part right where it should be. Typically, H3 Hummers with 35 inch tires speedometers are only 2-3% slower than the actual speed of the vehicle.

The Factory tires that H3 Hummer comes equipped with are lighter load range than most typical off-road tires and this has some positive effects and negatives ones too. Higher load range tires can handle more physical weight then a lower load range tire can and as a result  they weigh more, and effect the gas mileage negatively. Typically city driving is where you will see the difference in gas mileage, where as highway mileage should go nearly unnoticed. How much this effects the gas mileage is entirely up to the driver, varying widely from driver to driver, and resulting in no easy way to calculate the change. Since these tires can handle more weight, the tire it self doesn’t absorb as much vibrations and can cause the Hummer to ride rougher than normal. Luckily with my tires at 35 PSI, I haven’t been able to tell for certain if the ride is rougher or just the same.

On the positive side of things, a higher load range tire is great for what it was intend to do in our case, driving off-road. The first thing everyone should do before some serious off-road driving is air the tires down. How much is debatable, but I typically choose 12 to 14 PSI. The reason for airing down is to increase the amount of traction the tire has and make the trails easier on the driver and more importantly the vehicle. The higher load range helps hold the bead of the tire on the rim  at these lower pressures when off-road. If the bead were to slip it can cause the tire to become unbalanced, or typically what most worry about is letting out all the tire pressure. Once the trail ends or the decision to return to civilization is made, typically you have drive a while before you find a pump to return tire pressure back to normal. Forcing to driver to drive the nearest gas station to return the tire to a safe PSI. Driving on low tire pressure is less of concern with higher load range tire because of the extra strength that the tire have. Of course the biggest, and only reason to ever consider putting a bigger tire is to increase the ground clearance on the vehicle.

Overall, I’m happy with my General Grabber tires so far, gives the aggressive look I wanted, and I look forward to seeing how well they preform off-road.

Enjoy some teaser photos of the new design coming.

However don’t get the wrong impression, I don’t think knowing how to dehydrating meat into beef jerky is some critical life skill. I not a fan of saying anything is the best, because you assume you know what perfection is. The thing about perfection is that it’s unknowable. It’s impossible, but it’s also right in front of us all the time. It’s something so delicate or precise that it becomes difficult to analyze or describe what just makes something, or someone, truly great.  I hope we can slow down with our exaggerations, reserve tall-tales for only the people that were unanimously great, and build a understanding between all of us so that we can create truly wonderful things together.

Despite what it may seem, I do think that the recipe makes some good beef jerky, and it is definitely something to talk about and share with friends and family. However, that claim of being the worlds best… well, I’m more particular to a piece that I got from a vendor years ago right next to the “Mud Show” at the Bristol Renaissance Fair. It could be argued that it was the moment and not the food, but I think that argument is a flawed because I feel that all we have in life to going on is our own experiences and nothing more.

I wasn’t able to prepare the meat in the fifteen minutes that the recipe suggest and I feel that it should call for more time. However the point of making beef jerky isn’t reliant on speed or simplicity. The point of making beef jerky is to have great tasting food that lasts a long time despite warm temperatures, no preservatives, and a sterile environment. When I was making my first batch I didn’t have any sesame seeds and made the beef jerky with out sesame seeds which I feel is for the better. Otherwise I was spot on while adjusting for the different amount of meat that I had. Finally, I’m made some small adjustments to the recipe to what I think is a better tasting, better proportion control, and better expectations.

Beef Jerky 001

My personal rating is 4.0 stars

• 3lb of Lean Beef
• 3/4 cup of Kikkoman Soy Sauce
• 3/4 cup of Worcestershire Sauce
• 3/4 cup of thick Teriyaki Sauce
• 1/2 cup of Liquid Smoke
• 1/2 cup of Blackstrap Molasses
• 1^1/2 Teaspoon of Garlic Powder
• 1^1/2 Teaspoon of Onion Powder
• 1^1/2 Teaspoon of Brown Sugar
• 1/2 Teaspoon Cayenne Pepper (Use another 1/2Teaspoon if you would like some kick)

1. Put the meat in the freezer for an hour to make slicing easier. Slice meat with the grain as close at you can to 1/4″ strips. The leaner the meat, the better and longer-lasting the jerky.
2. In a large container, mix the Soy Sauce, Worcestershire Sauce, Teriyaki Sauce, liquid Smoke, and Blackstrap Molasses.
3. Add the Garlic powder, Onion Powder, Sesame Seeds, Brown Sugar, and Cayenne Pepper.
4. Stir well, then drop your meat into the marinade. Your meat should be fully submerged.
5. Close or cover the container(s), then leave in the refrigerator for 24 hours. I had to cut it short at 18 hours.
6. Cover the bottom of your oven with aluminum foil. Things will get messy.
7. Place the meat on the racks of your oven, one next to the other (see the picture).
8. Set your oven temperature to 160°F or 180°F if you’re in a rush. Crack open the oven door by sticking a wooden or plastic serving spoon in the top of the door. If you have  a convection oven, turn the fan on too.
9. Let it dry for 3 hours, then turn over the jerky. After another 3 hours, it should be done. The total time, however, is dependent on the thickness of the meat and the temperature of the oven. The jerky is done when it’s dry enough that you can rip off a piece easily, but before it snaps when you bend it. (I have convection oven so it only took 2 hours.)
10. Leave meat out in the air to cool. It is now ready to eat. The longer you leave it out to cool, the drier it will get. After, but no longer than 24 hours, store it in sealed Ziploc bags. Without refrigeration, it will be good for 4–6 months.

Enjoy!

Anyway, before I give the entirety of the video away. Enjoy.

When I got to the “Post Mills” building I was surprised by all the vehicles and this extremely large bulldozer that was completely painted in the typical patriotic colors, red and blue, with the two names “Romney” and “Ryan” on the blade. In hindsight, I wish I would have taken a photo of the massive bulldozer because it was quite impressive to see the paint job on it but also that someone is just hauling it around on the bed of semi to promote a political view. But anyway, I got on a completely full bus with quite the mix of a crowd that was seemingly the stereotypical conservative voters, and there is nothing wrong with that, and drove back on over to the airport.

We arrived at the airport for the second time and drove on up to this airplane hanger that was covered in not only political campaign signs on this inside but also security on the outside. I suppose I should have expected as much since Mitt Romney is someone who supposedly half the country is going to vote for President of the United States. When got off the bus we were scanned in by these awesome android, if my mind was right, QR code scanners.

The second I stepped in the hanger I was quick to realize that it was hot in there. The place was packed wall to wall with people and reminded me of something like bee hive generating heat from all the bodies or something. With that mildly disturbing and claustrophobic thought in mind I headed out to this section outside after watching this campaign video on this giant screen. Luckily I did that because I was able to get some great photos of Romney exiting the airplane and the staff that was aboard too.

I was shocked at how quickly Mitt Romney took the stage and prompt, nothing like a rock concert. I wonder if secret service might of had something to do with that, either way it was a breath of fresh air if you don’t me using a platitude to explain the feeling. Once Romney began speaking I was quick to swing around back to the front of the stage so I could get these great photo’s. While I was taking those photo’s I was shocked by how well spoken he was and concise as he delivered his speech. I was so much so, that I began to look about the room for teleprompters but realize there were none in the room at all.

Just as fast as he got on stage to deliver his speech, he left just as quick too. I didn’t feel like sticking around to much so I was quick to leave too because of the long drive home. I think the campaign planners could use some improvement on how they handled the exiting of the Victory Rally. Although things could have gone wrong easily with everyone being acutely aware that it was going to take quite a while to get everyone back to their vehicles. I was able to luck out pretty good and got some exercise in too while making a hasty dash to my Hummer.

If you don’t know what TF2 is, watch these teaser trailers that I conveniently posted below for you. But before you watch the video’s below, let me tell you the best part about the game… It’s completely free for anyone to play. I’m serious, that wasn’t a joke. All you have to do is go to Steam’s Website, download the software and install, after which you need to create an account that is completely free and finish by clicking install TF2 in the tab labeled “Games” and after few hours of downloading your set.

If those videos didn’t get you pumped to play Team Fortress 2 then this post is lost on you, because I re-watch those video for fun from time to time. But anyway, to get back to reason for this post I have my own server now and you can connect to it by going typing in this IP Address 50.63.129.137.

A fun thing to do in game is to upload a custom “spray,” which is basically allows you to put a picture of your choosing on any flat wall in the game that you’re close to for everyone to see. The sprays are not easy to create on your own because you need to use some custom software to do it. Where as installing ready made spray  is as easy as dragging and dropping two files into a particular folder. Which is why I decided to make some Team Fortress 2 sprays in celebration of my new server just for you by just clicking the images below.

Once you have finished downloading the folder it will contain two files for each spray and another folder called UI with 1 more file for each spray. Right click on the logos folder and choose copy. Now you need to navigate to the proper folder on your Hard Drive. For most people this folder will be located at: C:\Program Files\Steam\steamapps\USERNAME\team fortress 2\tf\materials\vgui\logos (Of course, USERNAME will be YOUR Steam account name). If you don’t have the folder logos, create it. Then paste the files and folder into the logos folder into the VGUI folder. Click ok when asked if you want to copy over the files/folders that already exist. That’s it. Next time you load up TeamFortress 2 you can go to your Multiplayer options and choose your new spray from the drop down menu.

See ya on the server!

It happened to be customer appreciation at Badlands that day, and it is a great event to go because of free food, drinks, night races, fireworks, and all such things going on at night. However I was just there to get my name out about the H3 Hummer parts I make and to test out my H3. Hopefully by spreading word about my parts that one day I can bring H3 Hummers up to the point where they can easily compete with a mildly modified JK Wranglers. I define “mildly modified,” as some where in the range of $5,000 dollars invest into making it drive better off-road.  Basically if you can buy it and for the most part are able to bolt it on over the weekend, it is in this category. For the most part, no one will be messing with the axle gearing ratio or welding big ticket items. With that defined, for the H3 Hummers these are the parts I’m talking about and kind-of in a particular order.

1. CB Radio – I highly recommend this one
2. Rock Sliders (Rocker Panel Protection)
3. High Clearance Leaf Spring Mounts
4. Longer Shackles, Level out the front end, and 35 inch tires – do this all at once
5. Solid Aluminum skid plate from the front all the way to the back of the transfer-case (designing these now)
6. Rear Locker if your H3 didn’t come with one
7. Front Bumper with winch
8. Rear Bumper
9. Quick Disconnect rear sway-bar (designing this too)

If all of that was done to your H3 Hummer you wouldn’t find any reasonable trail that you couldn’t keep up with Wranglers having the same money and time invested. I should mention this is provided you can really drive it. Regrettably for me, I don’t have those skid plates, longer shackles, and 35 inch tires bolted on when I went. Constantly I was getting stuck or hung-up only needing one more inch here and there, but I was turning a head or two while I was there. Despite that slight disappointment, I was truly surprised by how well my factory tires were able to preformed off-road. I had no idea that these tires could do what they did with that much mud, dirt, and rocks out there. Still, those tires have no bearing on swaying me away from those 35 inch General Grabbers I want so bad. Over all I had a kick butt day off-road with my H3, and gained a bunch of confidence that over the next few years I will really push the H3 Hummer abilities much further than anyone has yet to see and still fall in the “mildly modified” class.

The image I’m in above is right before we got into Gerlach, NV on the roads Jungo and state route 48 and in the dust behind me is Black Rock City, NV. I should mention that those roads are really just graded dirt and gravel, but I averaged just under 50 mph in my Hummer. If you have 4-wheel drive and don’t mind some bumps and the possibility of a flat tire, but that risk always exists even on pavement, this road can save some serious time and has some very beautiful country side to look at. When I drove the route coming from Salt Lake City, I turned off into this little town called Winnemucca where I gassed up and hit those dirt roads. Not to fret though, even though it is extremely remote there seems to be a mine of some sort and plenty of railroad tracks which means you should see some cars sooner or later if you happen to have car trouble.

I had a ton of fun partying with the guys from the Decentralized Dance Party (DDP) on Thursday, maybe it was Wednesday not sure, but basically it was 150 boomboxes that were all synced into a portable FM transmitter. We went to a bunch of places and started parties where ever we felt like it. We party inside the man, in side wall street, at the bathroom, made a stop at pink bar, and not to forget the pier. I was amazed at how awesome that many boomboxes all synced in can sound when played at the same time, but one in particular stood out. Tom, of Tom and Gary’s DDP, had this boombox that was made out of an old 70′s suitcase from the company TheBoomCase, picture of it below. I was surprised at how loud and power the thing was and how fun it seemed, basically I want one.

Some other things of note was the awesome “fandango bar” on 2:15 and Edelweiss which is exactly the type of bar I like. The giant word “EGO” when it burned was quite spectacular with all the flames and pyrotechnics which I can’t wait to see a video of it. When the man burnt I was sitting just to the right of where dust devil tornadoes of fire were rapidly coming off because of the intense heat the fire was giving off. These fire fill dust devils were about 60 to 120 feet tall and about 2 to 3 feet in diameter with three of them at one time coming off in one direction, they were jaw dropping amazing.

All in all it was better this year.