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There are some scewups on jlwrangerforums.com but if you ask a reasonable question over there some people will give you the right answer. I'd suggest leaving off the preamble anout not being able to find useful help. The goofballs will jump in if you come out swinging like that. Just post up details of your JL (especially the axles under it) and what you're looking for. State your question clearly and you can get a decent answer most of the time. If you don't know exactly what axles you have, ping me with pictures of the center diff covers and I can help. And as far as factory axles. You can call them Dana 30, Dana 35, or Dana 44 and people will know what you mean. The technical names for them are: M186 (front Dana 30), M200 (rear Dana 35), M210 (front Dana 44), and M220 (rear Dana 44).

The SJ wagoneer didn't change the basic body design since the original body came out as a 1963 model. A bunch of parts were compatible all the way through 1991. The rear window wiper was definitely an afterthought.

Get the engine nice and warm in the driveway preferably where the electric fan is kicking on. Then shut it off. Pop the hood and try to turn the mechanical fan with your (gloved) fingers. It should be hard to turn. Much harder than when cold.

I was getting overly frustrated with the electronic nannies in my Subaru Outback so I sold it off. Used the money to pick up this 2006 LJ. Under 130K miles on it. Really well optioned for a TJ/LJ. 4.0/automatic, 6 disc in dash CD player, subwoofer, air conditioning that blows really cold. The engine is a bit anemic so I'll start with a tune-up. I'm also going to probably swap out the original control arms with their 20 year old bushings for some upgraded arms, and maybe do steering joints. If it needs it, ball joints too. The 42RLE automatic has some shortcomings so I'll likely add a transmission cooler. ATS diesel sells an upgrade rebuild and they're local so if it fails, I'll go that route. And if the transmission has to come out, it'll go back in with an Advance Adapters Rubicrawler to get a good doubler for crawling. But mostly, I'm going to set it up to be a daily driver. At least for a while. It'll stay on the 31s with stock suspension.

Just picked up this well optioned LJ yesterday. It's pretty clean with low miles for its age.

There are some cleaners that advertise having no acids or harsh chemicals. Those may be a good option.

Seems like every time this comes up in my playlist, someone bothers me in the middle of it. But today, I managed to get through all 17 minutes without interruption.

For the exterior wash, I may use soapy water. Or just water. It's important to have some pressure to blow the gunk out. But too much pressure can fold fins over and that causes blocked airflow. You need a Goldilocks "just right" flow when washing. As far as inside the block, I haven't done a ton of research on the various options and products. Most of my block cleaning has taken place while at the machine shop for a rebuild.

I will add my x2 to the proper cleaning of the cooling system, as well as having a good quality fan clutch and mechanical fan. I will add that you should also wash the outside of the radiator between the fins. And ensure that most or all of the fins are straight. If you have debris or damage blocking air moving through the radiator, nothing else you do will keep you from overheating. That's the low cost step you should take first every time. If you're still overheating after that, then you have to do more diagnosing.

Probably a short throw shifter. And an external slave at least.

AX15 to rebuild. Two Renix 4.0s to choose from. Ready to start the first real phase of the build.

Engines need some heat in them to operate most efficiently. Having too much cooling can have an adverse effect on how well the engine operates. You can lower the fuel efficiency and even lose a little power if you're running too cold. If the engine gets the coolant up to normal operating temperature (around 210°) and stays there, you really don't need more cooling than that.

If it's together with red locktite, you never need to take it that far apart ever again.

No real progress this summer. It's been too hot. The silver donor has been mostly processed. It's back in the yard for storage, many parts sitting in tubs in the cab, waiting. If it wver cools down, I'll get the garage cleaned and organized. First steps will be to take care of the big pile of axle parts. I'm going to strip them down to nothing. Then build them up from the ground up. New everything. Gears, lockers, high steer knuckles, truss with XJ/MJ mounting points for the long arms to bolt to. After that, the AX15 gets torn down and rebuilt. Once those are done and the parts pile is more manageable, the truck will get wheeled into the shop and any body work will begin.

Normally I only use blue. But the steering column is an exception. It will never have to be disassembled again. So red is appropriate in this specific case.