Fix Jeep Wrangler JK 4wd shifter loose or lever broken without remove the shifter knob (Bushing repair)

In the previous post, I described my experience of stuck on road because of the problem of 4WD shifting. When I get home, I researched on the internet about this issue, and found that there is another plastic bushing just under the 4WD shifting lever. I do have one plastic bushing in my glove box, I would like to put it on to make 4WD shifter working as soon as possible.

The solutions on the internet and youtube are all starting at remove the 4WD shifter and gear shifter knobs. That makes the fixing complex and a little bit difficult, especially on removing the knobs. It maybe easier on summer time, when the rubber is a little bit softer. After checking the cover of the center console of Jeep Wrangler JK. Mine's is 2008 version, all the JKs from 2007-present (2015) should be the same.

Here is the steps, which I installed the 4WD linkage bushing on Jeep Wrangler JK.
1. Use the #30 torx screwdriver to remove the four screws on both driver side and passenger side as yellow circle on following pictures. You need to move the seats to access two screws on sides of glove box.

2. Remove the lowest panel cover by screw driver. There are two clips on both top sides.

3. Carefully lift the end of glove box and support it by something like a package paper box. (I assume you pull the parking brake all the way back. It should be always applied when you park your car whatever it's standard or automatic transmission.)

4. Move the driver's seat back to the end, you can see the linkage as shown in the following photo.

5. Broken plastic bushing in pieces under the linkage.

6. Put new bushing into the ring, and pushing in position. Using pliers if necessary.

7. Move the 4WD shifter/lever to push the bushing & linkage to install them together.

After those steps are done, remove the support from back of glove box. Put the cover/glove box back to the position, and test the 4WD shifter/level to see if it works well. Please be sure to move the 4WD gently back and forth several times in order to properly shift between 4 positions. Re-install those 4 screws, and you are done. The 4WD shifter works again, enjoy your Jeep Wrangler!

Embarrassing: Jeep Wrangler Rubicon stuck in the snow, and towed out by a GMC Canyon pickup

Jeep Wrangler is an iconic of off-road vehicle in many off-road lovers'  mind. Since 1930's, it's well-known by the capabilities in off-road. It can go anywhere, do anything. But it's all depends on the 4WD works properly. If the 4 wheel drive shifting is not working properly, it stuck like any other regular vehicles.

My 2008 Jeep Wrangler Unlimited Rubicon was in a problem on 4WD shifter or lever (linkage) loose. Actually, there were twice I was in this kind of trouble. Fortunately, I wasn't in far-away suburban or mountains. The first time, it happened that was on my driveway. I tried to switch the 4WD when the car is parking on my driveway, because a friend called me ask how to fix the loose shifter/lever. When I pulled the lever/shifter back to high 4 wheel drive position, it seemed frozen. So I pulled it harder to the 4WD high position, it just suddenly move to the way end very easy. And I realized that something is broken underneath. I go under the car and follow the linkage or lines of 4WD shifter, and found that the ring is out of the lever. There is a plastic bushing to hold the linkage in position, it's broken to pieces.

I am DIYer, and would like to fix the stuff by myself. I checked on the internet, and found the solution and parts number from Chrysler dealer. It's easy to get one and put it on. But it's still a plastic stuff, it will be broken again in future. I would like to find some stuff which is stronger than the plastic one. I finally find a oiled bronze bushing which is very close to the plastic bushing. I did a little bit modification and put it on to fix it for a long time. (I will post the solution on another post later). After the fixing, I thought this will be working for my car almost permanently.

This winter is extremely cold and a lot of snow in GTA(Greater Toronto Area) , I am working on my Private Pilot License(PPL) at Burlington Airpark. On Tuesday (17th Feb, 2015), I just drove out the school and a phone call came in. So I tried to stop on roadside to answer the phone. The road side was covered by the snow, it covers the drainage channel of the road. My car was just stopped on the edge of the channel and slipped into the channel. I wasn't worried about that, because I knew the 4WD of Wrangler Rubicon will bring me out of there. After the phone call, I tried to shit to the 4WD drive mode, and again, it seems the lever got stuck. I thought it might be a little bit ice underneath, and blocked the linkage. So let me pull the shifter harder to get on 4WD. Unfortunately, the shifter became loose again, oh dear, it's -20 Celsius outside. I am stuck in road side, can't get back to road.

I have to take a look what's going on with my Jeep Wrangler. I was thinking, it might be my fixing wasn't good, so the linkage come out of position again. If I temporarily push it back, and switch to 4WD. At least, I can get out of the channel and back to road, and then switch back to 2WD to go home and fix it later. When I get down to the underneath of the Jeep, it's actually easy to check it because the car is leaning to the right, I was so disappointed. My fixing is very good, and the linkage is in a good position. So that means there are something else wrong, I can't fix it to make the 4WD running.

So the only thing I can do is asking somebody to tow me out from there. The good thing is I have my towing strap on my Jeep for winter time. It's rural countryside, there were just a couple of sedan passing by. One car stopped and if they can help. Thank you very much! A medium size sedan can tow out a Jeep Wrangler (about 4600lb/2100kg), I don't think so. I was just 2 minutes driving out of school, and I know my CFI(Certified Flight Instructor) drives a GMC Canyon pickup. So I called him to come and tow my car back to road. Five minutes later, my instructor came and I put the towing strap between my Jeep and his truck. He drives forward for about 10 feet, and my Wrangler is back to road again. Thanks buddy!

What should developers be learning now to be ready for the future?

The languages, tools, and technologies that we use as developers are always changing. What should developers be learning now to be ready for the future?

I can't tell what should developers be learning now to be ready for the future, there is no answer for this question.

We need to diversity our knowledge portfolio. As a developer, we would invest regularly in our knowledge portfolio. There are several ways to catch up with or keep in front of the technologies for the future.  Such as,

• learn at least one new language every year, 
• read a technical book frequently (for instance:each quarter), 
• read non-technical books as well(reading always help in both technique and non-technique), 
• participate in local user groups (keep in touch with friends and make new friends in technique field), 
• experiment with different environments (don't just only work with MS Windows, UNIX or IOS), 
• stay current (be curious with new stuff), 
• get wired (internet is a powerful tool, Google is a good friend!). 

And finally, keep review and re-balance, we can't learn everything.

Private Pilot Training: Soft field & short field take-off, landing - practice

On Saturday 13th Feb 2015, it's really cold outside, -23°C ~ -18°C at south-centre of Ontario. And plus the chill wind, it feels like -30°C ~ -40°C. I booked a flight with my instructor to learn and practice the short field take-off/landing. It's lucky, I wasn't frozen up in the sky ;-)

When I got the Burlington Airpark, the plane is in hangar, and plugged on power cord to heat up the engine. I take the documents and checked maintenance log book to see the defeats & due time. From the documents, everything is good. So I walk into the hangar to walk around for the pre-flight checking. At that time, I was thinking we usually don't walk around our cars to check the windshield, tires, brakes, oil level, power steering and so on. We just jump into the car, turn-on the engine and run out. Most of the time, we are good to go with the car, if we do the regular maintenance by the manual. But in these kinds of extreme cold days, should we do something more? Yes, we should. But the fact is that it's so cold we just want to get into the car ASAP. That's why we see some vehicles stops working on highways, and waiting for CAA or towing truck.

Ok, let's get back to the flight. When I was taxiing to the runway, there was Coyote on the runway and running the same direction as our airplane, and almost the same speed as the airplane. I was worrying about on the taking off on the runway, but it turned out of runway when both the airplane and Coyote reached the start point of runway 32. For the short field, when the airplane is accelerated on full power, it should automatically lift-off on about 50~55kt. If not lift-off the airplane when the airspeed is over 50kt. Since we are flying on short field, keep the best angle to climb. For Cessna 172, it's 57kt from the POH. That's hard to keep exact 57kt for best angle, so I just keep the airspeed on around 60kt. That means I need to pull the control column after lift-off to build the airspeed around 60kt. I mean we need really pull the yoke back to reach the 60kt at the beginning. After 100 feet above ground, we can push the nose forward a little bit to build the airspeed to best rate of climb 74~79kt.

To achieve the short field landing, we need flight a little bit slower than normal landing profile. For the normal landing, the best speed on final is about 70kt. But for short field landing, it should be about 62 to 65kt. We may need add a little power when approaching the runway if there are some obstacles close to runway. For Burlington Airpark runway 32, there are some trees and a small channel ahead of runway 32. So if the airspeed is low, it may need to pump some power over the trees to clear the top of those trees. After the trees, there is a brook between runway and trees, so there are some turbulence sometimes. If you are going to fly at Burlington Airpark to land on runway 32, be prepared on those trees and the channel. When main wheels touch down, fully pull back the control column and apply full brakes. When you apply full brakes, please don't actually fully step on brakes. Because there is no ABS system on the Cessna 172, so tires may slide on the runway. The airplane's tires are not thick like the car's, so watch and hear when applying full brakes. The plane will stop quickly, so no need to really give too much pressure on brakes. The practicing is going to build a kind of feeling like we driving a car. Keep to feel on the flight, you will finally build your confidence.

Flight training: short field take-off & landing and soft field take-off & landing on Cessna 172

I was interested in flight for a long time, it was back to high school. I wanted to join the air force to fly the jet plane, but my family thought it was too dangerous. And fortunately, I learnt aircraft design in university for 4 years. So I have a dream for flight for a long time. After I moved to Toronto, Ontario, Canada, it's become easier to stop dreaming and start flight.

I started my private pilot license courses at June, 2014, and go to flight about twice a week. It's easier for me to fly on some basic stuff like take-off, climb, turn, steep turn, stalls and so on, because I have more knowledge about the aeronautics. But the circuits, I mean the landing, gives me a little bit hard time, I was really frustrated with the landing. Ok, let's get down to the purpose of this post, I will post my previous flight experience later.

In this post or the following posts, I am going to share my experience, learning and understanding about the flight a Cessna 172. If you have any questions, you should always conduct with your instructor. Here we may discuss the technical and experience or some feelings about the learning on the flight. 'The good pilot is always learning.' That's what I got from youtube videos of flight by MZeroA.com.

So here are the technical tips of flight about the short field take-off & landing.
    Takeoff:

• Taxi to the very begin of where runway physically starts, let the either left or right main wheel close the edge of taxi way.
• Quickly turn the plane heading to the center of runway
• Down the flaps on 10 degree
• Hold brakes firmly, and then full throttle
• Check the engine is on static runup range (For C172 is about 2065 ~ 2165rpm)
• Release brakes and keep the plan running on center line, lift off at 51kt.
• accelerate to 57kt to climb if there are obstacles or 79kt if no obstacles.
• climb to about 200Feet AGL, flaps up

    Landing(On the final):

• keep the airspeed on 65~75kt
• Full flaps and trim to around 62kt
• After clear to obstacle, throttle to idle, aiming on the spot before the regular landing aiming spot
• Level the plane to flare at about 10 to 15 feet AGL
• After touch down on main wheels, keep the nose up and flaps up
• Apply brakes but don't let tires slid on the runway

For the soft field take-off and landing. When taxiing on the the soft field runway, hold the wheel back to the nose wheel up. Otherwise the plane may get stuck on runway, such as grass runway.
    Takeoff

• 10 flaps
• Hold control column fully back to keep the nose wheel up
• Full power and keep the center line (use more rudders, even more rudders on crosswind especially left crosswind)
• Level the plane after lift-off and trim to accelerate to 79kt then climb (may need to keep the nose down to prevent climb before reach the best rate climb speed)
• Climb on about 200 feet AGL, flaps up

    Landing:

• 30 flaps
• trim to 60~65kt
• Keep the normal approach profile
• Keep a little bit power (around 1100-1200rpm), don't cut the power to idle
• When main wheels touch down, add a little bit power and keep the nose wheel up
• don't close throttle, keep back pressure on control column to keep the nose wheel up

The first things to do with these courses are chair flight. That means I sit on a chair or on a sofa, whichever makes you feel comfortable, and then imagine I am on a plane. And then do those steps one by one, it's better to start from taxi to runway and go through the whole process of circuits. Of course, we should practice the radio communication as well.