Warrant of Fitness time

This morning I took the Jeep up to the VTNZ in Upper Hutt for its warrant which was already 2 weeks overdue. With the jeep not being a daily driver there was no hurry, and with other things happening the last two Saturdays I hadn't had a chance to get it done. So this Saturday I headed on up and read the paper while waiting. 1.5 hours later I got the list of things stopping the jeep from getting its WoF. Nothing major, but all things that will have to be sorted.

1) Handbrake is not working efficiently
2) The tire carrier is lose, the bottom bolt wobbles around in the hole and needs to be sorted
3) The exhaust has a leak somewhere
4) There is a crack in the windscreen

So back home and after lunch and a trip to Pak n Save I put the Jeep in the garage and tackled the tyre carrier. I had wanted to remove it anyway as it has already cracked the rear hatch. So out with the tools and the garage creeper and to work we went. After snapping two bolts and grinding the head off another I just about had it off, this had all taken a good couple of hours. With a growing pile of clay on the garage floor and in my eyes I was able to get my son to hold the tyre carrier at such an angle that I could access the last bolt holding it to the bumper and snapped the head off. So now the tyre carrier is no longer attached to the jeep fixing item 2) on the list.
Interestingly enough some of the bolts I don't have a matching socket for, odd sizes, especially those holding the tow bar on, which it looks like I would have to remove first before I take off the bumper, what a job.......
There are still two more days to have a look for the exhaust leak, and try and work out what is wrong with the handbrake. It will need to be a call into Novus to get the windscreen fixed.

Oh well, this way you learn about your own vehicle, and become more familiar with what holds it all together.