HokieMJ

Well almost a year since the last post. Been busy trying to finish out my basement and built a deck, so the Jeep has been on the back burner. I failed inspection early in the year and have not gotten around to the fixes until now. I have 4 things that I need to fix. 1. Horn (should be easy just need to check the wires) 2. Rebuild rear brakes 3. Fix parking brake 4. Patch hole in the floor next to throttle pedal. Got the parking brake assembly out of the truck yesterday and here is what I got. It seems to be functional, but is bent/cracked. I guess the plan is to clean it up, get new springs and fix the cracks (either bend it back and JBweld it, or get a steel plate and reinforce the back).

Drive went as well as could be expected. Wind noise at 70-75 is really bad without the window seals. I'm leaking oil from what looks like the transmission, but it may just be running along the bottom from the rear main seal and back. Thankful that I fixed the wiper bushings since it rained on the second day. It also let me find the two places my truck is definitely leaking at. Rear window leaks on the passengers side and windshield leaks on the drivers side. Heat and A/C worked great other than the dead spot on the motor. So a new motor is definitely in the future. Lights are good but I still need to do the relay upgrade. I'm guessing my dome lights would work if I had fixture/bulbs. I quickly checked my alignment before leaving and it was close, but I think the front suspension still needs some attention. There is a decent dead spot then the truck wants to dart one way or another. Either way my son and I had a good time and his in flight entertainment setup worked quite well.

I'm slowly replacing the rusted up screws I've come in contact with to stainless. They stick out a little, but a little stainless bling is worth it. Forgot. I bent the drivers door with a 2x4 as much as I could. I'm trying to find some 97+ door seals which should hopefully fix my skylight issue.

This is just a rambling list of stuff I got done before my trip. Leaving this afternoon. Oil changed today with Shell Rotella T6 15w40. I'm seeing slightly better oil pressure and it was pretty cheap on sale at Advance Auto. If my motor didn't leak so bad I may have gone with something a little thinner for startup, but this will work for now. Added the ground for the blower fan and instrument panel. Cleaned the ground on the drivers side and the one near the dipstick. Still idles a little rough cold, but just ordered some 4 hole injectors for $35. Hopefully that will help. Blower motor has a bad spot in the motor, so long screwdriver will be in glove compartment to move it a little if it decides to stop again. Checked the front end alignment and it seems close, so I'm going to roll with it. Lowered tire pressure to 35psi. Finished painting the grill, lots of tapework that I never want to do again. Painted the cowl wiper trim and the wiper arms. $6 cupholder installed. Will probably rework this at a later time. I'm considering mounting this to the shifter bezel or velcroing it to the floor. Not sure yet. Got my cherokee gauges with tach installed. Had to clean a bunch of contacts and swap in my other temp gauge (It doesn't match. If anyone has an extra I would gladly pay). Also got all my instrument lights working by mixing and matching and cleaning terminals. My clock works. Just needed a fuse. Got all my front lights working. Used 194 Led Ambers in corners and 1157 amber in the turn signals.

Did the wiper motor bushing replacement yesterday. 40min and $4 to fix an annoying issue. Got the tires flipped. Picture to come. Got my HVAC fan working again. (fuse issue). Ordered some glow fuses to make it an easy diagnosis next time. My fuse box needs to be replaced, but I'm considering a slight upgrade when I go to fix that. Will adding the extra ground on the that circuit help the load at the fuse? Drove it for while on Wednesday and I'm pretty sure my transmission has a leak. Gotta clean it off to see if I can locate the issue, but regardless it has pushed me toward planning for an AX15 and NP242. I found a local AX15 from a 99 wrangler, but I'm not sure if it will fit with the NP242. Either way I got these to hopefully get the fill plug out of the transmission. $6 for 8mm and 10mm on amazon. Oil change (something ending in 50w?) and transmission fill are on the docket for the weekend.

Got some new tires last week. 30x9.5R15 General Grabber A/Tx. Asked them to put them on with white letters in and they messed up so here is a pic one way and I will get another when they are flipped. Not a whole lot else has been done. I'm working on getting my blower fixed for the A/C and heat. Still have tons of other little things to do, but I'm about to take it on a 140mile trip home to get some furniture, so hopefully things go well.

Got a little more done today. I think once I have the grill done the hood will be next for paint. '

Trimmed the bumper up (still have to clean it up with the grinder and put some paint on it. Got some of the spray paint work done. It is satin oxford blue with duplicolor bronze on the trim pieces. I still have to do the detail work on the grill and I messed up the P so it is drying again.

Got the hood pins installed tonight! Still have a bunch more little things to tidy up on the front end. Hopefully will get some of it done this weekend.

Clear corners and new turn signals installed. Painting the trim rings and grill this weekend. New bumper should be here today. Got new stainless hardware to install it. I have plans to modify it a little, but I'm not sure how I want to cut it yet. Got one of my fenders trimmed up this am. Little by little.

Found a 2001 4 door XJ with doors in good condition, so I'm gonna snag those for $100/pop. Little bit of surface rust along the bottom, but mirrors and everything look to be in good condition. Not sure what else I'm going to snag off of it but it was a 4.0L Auto 4WD.

Got some more parts coming my way to clean up and fix the busted front end. Still haven't pulled the trigger on a bumps yet. 1. New headlight trim bezels from Rock Auto 2. Clear corners and new turn signal lens 3. Ebay Aluminum hood pins ($20 and the look the same as the ones bleepin is selling for $75). Also I have a neighbor that owns a Junkyard so I got a WJ brake booster/MC and the flex lines for $20. Booster is a bit rusty, but I think a little sand and some rustoleum and it will be GTG. I'm going back to pull the fuse/relay center off of the WJ. The just got in a 85-86 grand wagoneer. I'm going to look at the parking brake on that one to see if I can make it work on my busted one. Anything else I should snag?

Ordered more parts yesterday. Got a Tuff Country 41800 1.5" lift spacer for the front from LiftKit4Less $35, the RuffStuff Cure, new pedal covers for clutch and brake, and some paint to try on the wheels. I went with the 1.5" to take out a little of the rake and see how it looks. I measured from center of the hub to the fender and there was about a 2" difference from the front to the back. Hopefully I will have some time to pop the spacers in over the long weekend and I will certainly take some pictures.

Got the TRE put on today and got my steering wheel centered up close enough for now. Still have a bit of play in the steering which I think I can attribute to the draglink rolling. I'm going to do the ZJ Tie Rod and RuffStuff the Cure to see if that helps with the last bit of play. Last piece if that doesn't work is the drag bar itself. Lots to do still, but it feels good getting little things knocked out.

Yesterday I got my shifter boots installed. The one on the transmission itself had torn so I had to remove the shifter assembly. I had a bit of a tough time finding all the right info, so I will put it here for someone else or if I need to do it again. The Shift boots that fit are: 1. Crown Automotive J8134064 Interior Shifter Boot - Amazon $7 - This will fit on the transmission itself to seal dirt and debris from getting on the shifter mechanism. 2. 97-02 Jeep TJ Wrangler Lower Shifter Boot 52078970AC - Ebay $26 - This seals the transmission tunnel from outside. The screw holes don't match exactly but they are very close I was able to get 3 to fit. 3. Interior boot that snaps to the shifter trim. I didn't replace this one yet but they are readily available on ebay. I should have taken pictures of the process but there isn't much too it. 1. Remove shift knob by unscrewing it. 2. Pull interior boot and pop coin tray off to reveal 2 phillips screws holding shifter trim down. Remove screws and set trim aside. 3. Remove 4 screws holding lower shifter boot down. These used a 7mm socket on my truck. Slide up and off shifter. 4. Pop the transmission shifter boot and remove 3 bolts (10mm socket) and pull shifter assembly straight up. Should come out no problem. There are 4-5 parts here ( shifter assembly, ring that bolts down, spacer, two washers that have a tiny rivet holding them together ( not sure what these are for and mine had separated) 5. To get the Crown J8134064 Interior Shifter Boot installed you have to separate the shifter assembly and shifter arm. I don't have a vise so I used some locking pliers to hold the shifter assemble and a screwdriver and hammer to knock the shifter arm off. I cleaned up everything with some solvent and applied some motor oil before reassembling. 6. For reassembly build from the bottom up. Put the shifter assembly back in with special washers, spacer, mounting ring. Bolt that down (10mm). Install J8134064 Interior Shifter Boot (this is pretty stretchy so I flipped it inside out and the popped it over the transmission. 7. Push shifter arm back on. Install Lower shift boot with 4 screws. 8. Reinstall trim and interior boot. 9. Screw on shift knob. I think that sums it up pretty well. My interior shift boot had been torn and some crap had gotten in the top end so I took time cleaning everything that I pulled and what I could see in the top of the tranmission. After I reinstalled the shifter feels a bit smoother. I still have plans to change out he fluid with Valvoline VR1 and some Lucas Oil Stabilizer. Its nice to not have the heat and fumes coming in through that spot anymore. Hopefully today I can get my TRE for the pitman arm on and center up the steering wheel.

Thanks Pete. I will look into that for sure. I measured and it looks like it not really all that sagged 6 3/4" from top of the axle tube to the frame. I'm still thinking some progressive rate springs could be nice for the ride. I haven't gotten to centering my steering wheel yet and I'm glad I didn't the TRE at the pitman arm is toast, so I ordered a new one. Once I get that on I think my steering will be tightened up quite nicely, or the next worn component will be revealed.

Yesterday got my trackbar installed. Huge difference to steering and clunk. Here is the old one. I think it was pretty much toast. The steering wheel is off center now and I have a little more poke on the passengers side now. The ride is much more solid. I'm going to measure the suspension and see if I have some springs sagging in the front. . I'm thinking about going to the Moog progressive springs for the ZJ V8/ upcountry XJ (CC782). I think that would help level out the 2WD rake? That seems to be the cheaper option ($75) or a set of the ACOSs ($245) to really dial in the right look. Moog lists the straight 2WD replacement as CC780 388lb load 126lb/in rate and the 4WD replacement as CC784 561lbs 158lb/in rate . There is also the CC782 which is a 503lb load 146lb/in rate.

Finally started tackling some things. Put my new gauges in and went for a ride. About 10min in my temp looked fine then it pegged. I was about 10 miles from home so I just took it easy. I was worried I was overheating the engine, so I put the old gauges in and temp gauge was reading below 210 even while sitting at lights. I also had my blower motor fuse go out. I swapped it for a spare and it seems to have fixed the issue but I can see the terminal has corroded. Today I found time for the clutch master cylinder swap. Bleeding was a pain as the bleed screw was stuck so I ended up breaking the fitting loose from the hardline which kind of worked. I'm looking to replace that fitting and run that hose somewhere more convenient to get a better bleed. Anyone know what that fitting size is? I think I had a 7/16 and 9/16 wrenches on the two parts. I also removed the flares, side moldings (haven't cleaned the glue off yet), look the stupid riveted handles off the bed, removed the bent bumper and the brackets. Diagnosed my steering clunk as a bad trackbar. Ordered that today. Replaced the front vacuum hoses on the CCV system. I can hear the brake MC hissing when I come to a stop. I have a new one for a WJ, but I have not gotten the booster yet. I don't get a lot of time to work on things so it is little by little, but it is a joy to drive around even with no bumper. Sorry for the ramble. If anyone does happen to know of where to find a replacement for that bleeder or the fitting size it would be greatly appreciated.

Nice work!

Totally dig the build so far Comanche SS. Question for you. What does your lift consist of?

Congrats on the paint job. That is looking really sharp.

Incredible work!

Very Nice. I like your plan as well. Should be awesome when you are done.

I think you can swap out the speedo odometer part? Not 100% sure but I will be looking into it this weekend as I'm not sure the trip function is working on this unit.

Picked up some stuff from the junkyard after work yesterday. Instrument panel w/ tach, dash trim (I may mess around with the switches and stuff so having a spare will be handy), glove conpartment lock, and clip for the sun visor. Color is not right, but I think I can fix that later.