To my surprise, the followup trip to the shop on Tuesday does seem to have improved the Jeep’s situation. I admit that a) I didn’t even know it had an adjustable TV cable, and b) I still don’t understand why a maladjusted cable would cause a transmission to go out of gear, and especially while climbing steep grades. But all they did was adjust the cable, and it had a marked effect on the condition. Didn’t fix it, you understand, but significantly improved it on grades and seems to have eliminated the problem on level surfaces. I plan to study and try for more improvements, but there’s no point taking it back to the shop again. The Jeep is useable.
Which pleased Tobie immediately. Remember this?
That was poor phobic little Tobie for the first month after he came to the Lair. He HATED the Jeep, had to be forced in and forced to stay. I assume he had a very bad car experience – in fact I think I can guess what it was – and I needed to force him through that until he realized that Jeep rides are fun. It really didn’t take him long.
And he got the message so well that after more than three Jeepless months…
He got excited when it showed up back in the driveway, and really likes coming along.
The shotgun seat has gone through multiple generations of large dogs by this point and is getting really ratty. It’s very seldom needed for non-canine passengers so I considered removing it and replacing it with a box or even nothing, but…
…the truth is Tobie really isn’t very good at keeping his balance during some of the Jeep’s antics, and compensates by really using the seatback when he’s not hanging his head out the window. So I guess I’ll live with the ragged-ass seat.
Our furkids have us so well trained. Glad he got his Jeep and ratty seat back. 🙂
He is a handsome critter by Gawd !
I suspect a replacement passenger seat could be provided, like the driver seat, if such would reduce the chance of Tobie being speared by a broken seat frame…
Maybe you should just consider it to be your Mad Max-style canine companion seat. As you said, no worries about human passengers, tho you may consider picking up a safety harness/seatbelt for Tobie, so he doesn’t get tossed around too much. I’ve used one for several years, after nearly getting into an accident after my dogs played musical chairs while I drove.
Mark, the shotgun seat is in far better shape than the driver seat was a few years ago. That was down to the frame. The shotgun seat could really be sufficiently fixed with a thick cover, but I don’t bother because people very rarely use it.
Sounds fine. If that situation changes, please post and something will be done.