DirtyComanche

When I tore down my current XJ, I found a socket on the bolt for the clutch master cyl... Then I found a couple more in various places when I took the interior out. My chevy pile... I filled a whole popcorn bucket with random tools I found while working on it. There was a ton of stuff in the engine bay, under the seats, in the bed under the garbage it came with, etc.

A dirty trick is to either use assembly fluid #1 on the o-ring to stick it in place, or to superglue the o-ring in place and then coat it with vaseline or assembly fluid. Or, sealube, as it works okay for keeping the o-ring place. It's similar to assembly fluid #1, but isn't soluble in fuel (or much else for that matter) so basically once it's on there it will be there forever. If the tank is out, I'd recommend a little vaseline on the o-ring... Or assembly fluid. It'll make it much easier to get the lock ring engaged/locked without potentially damaging the o-ring.

Yeah, you're correct... I was thinking chevy when I was typing. That's the problem with owning too many vehicles. You just have to make sure you're suitably low on fuel before you pull the pump/sender out. The only thing that can be a PITA is that the driveshaft might be smack dab in your way depending on the specifics of the truck.

Not all of them are like that. Some have regular bolts. That goes for both ends of the UCAs. I don't know if there's a rhyme or reason to it. If they're torx, and they are rusted, I'd probably save myself wasting frusteration and just cut the the nut off it and hammer the bolt out. Why waste time if it's going to be replaced?

Lots of junk can do it... I can't think of anything off the top of my head that is 'typical'. The quick way to start eliminating things is to get an amp clamp, or run an ammeter inline with the positive cable (NOT a fan of this) and then start pulling fuses, one by one, and see if the amperage drops when you pull one in praticular. Then you at least have a starting point for what circuit is the culprit. And if there's any hack wiring on the truck, I always suspect that. You know, that wiring that some PO did trying to 'fix' something or install a stereo or whatever. My chevy has more hack wiring than proper wiring - it took me about a half hour to figure out how it was actually capable of starting and running.

Or just skip the OEM stuff and buy some aftermarket shafts and a 29 spline locker down the road...

As best I can: 1. D-something. 2. Sawzall says about 54". But I think I could find you something bigger. 3. The wind 4. Sell truck, buy something with an LS1 in it 5. Silver, but it might be red 6. You forgot to engage cruise control, duh 7. Basic geometry, think Grade 3 8. A junkyard 9. Yes 10. Put it on ebay and find out I'm very helpful. Darn, Drahcir495 beat me to it.

I'd really just recommend an el-cheapo angle grinder instead (if you do not have the funds for a GOOD one, such as a makita or dewalt). I have no idea how effective a nut-splitter is, but I don't think overly.

My experience with such products is that they'll slow it down for a bit, and that's it. That is, products that instructions are basically 'remove loose rust, clean, and spray'. Also, if there is pinholes, you have to access both sides or it'll never stop. A mutli-stage product like the POR-15 lineup is a lot better bet, IMHO. Or, a guy can mimic what that product does if they would prefer (it's just a cleaner, acid etch, then a proper paint that SEALS the moisture out).

I'd start with the wiring. I don't like blindy changing parts, and dropping the fuel tank sucks. With a jeep (of this vintage), the gauge reads empty with about 100ohms of resistance (it might be 98 actually, but that doesn't really matter), and full with 0ohms. Or at least if my memory serves me. So, if the wire is broken it will see infinitve resistance - and thus peg out on empty. FWIW, a chevy gauge is backwards to that and it kinda sucks because it pegs out on full when it fails, and I think a later jeep gauge is like that too (could be wrong). So, start with a visual, look at the wires to the plug on the tank. Pull the connector apart and make sure there isn't a mess of corrosion in it. Look at the wires going through the floor. If everything down there looked good, that's all the easy stuff to see. From there I'd grab my multimeter and go from the sender pin and ground pin on the connector to the tank, checking resistance. If you've go an amount of or greater than 100ohms, the problem is with the sender or the wires in the tank. If you've got something like 33ohms, and 2/3rds of a tank of fuel, the sender is good. If the sender is good, you then have to pull the gauges out of the dash - kinda a PITA. Check the resistance at the wires going to the gauge with the other connector hooked up - verify it's the same as it was at the tank (if it's infinitive here, the wiring under the carpet to the dash is probably wrecked). If it's the same, I'd say the gauge is trash. You can test them, and I guess you could do that. But umm, I'd probably read through my E manual before I did much. I haven't had to diagnose a jeep fuel qty problem recently. So the old brain is going by memory. Hell, my MJ doesn't even have a fuel gauge other than the mechanical one on the propane tank.

Actually, I hate how it defaults to posts. I imagine I might be able to change that. But generally I throw something in there and it gives me a bunch of random posts and I start reading and go 'jeeze this thread has poor continuity'. Then I go 'ooooh, forgot to tick the box' and go back.

My daily can get pretty bad. Normally I hit it with the vacuum when I go visit my parents. Otherwise I don't. So it can build up pretty bad. That and I have a buddy heater on the floor and a ton of broken tools that I keep meaning to take back. Generally I get in and throw everything on the passenger seat. Then I hit the brakes hard and it winds up on the floor. Then somebody needs a ride and I throw half of it behind the seat. My projects, generally I keep them pretty clean, but that's because I don't drive them. Oh, on my old XJ, I gave it a good douche down before I tried to sell it. I hadn't put the back seat up in about 3 months. And I had a hole in the floor. Woah was there a lot of mold under there. Never smelled it - or I would have done something about it.

When I was in highschool, they made me take a computer class. I almost wound up being expelled over that ordeal, but that's a different story. Anyways, for the sake of a demonstration they picked a fairly generic search field (something like 'snowboarding') and made us search for it in all the major search engines (Google, Yahoo, MSN, etc) to see what the results were. Every engine is searching the same data - yet they all produced different results. Yahoo would typically produce about eleventybillion more results than google - but google typically produced results that actually MET your criteria as it understood keywords and offers some form of spam filtering. So yeah, a search engine can seem entirely the same but produce very different results.

I'd say there too big. I'd look for somebody with a nice set of 17s or 18s, maybe even 20s, or something in that area, and work out a trade since that should be possible. Then I'd pick a tire with enough rubber that you won't destroy the rims on minor pot-holes, and then LOWER THE BAJEEZUS out of it. But that's what I'd do. I just think it's too tall and the rim/tire combo is over-all too big.

I'm guilty of this one. But normally it's on something really simple, and I know if I type it in the search I'm going to get 4800 threads about somewhat related things and probably the answer I seek - but I'd have to read through it all. Some people have better information retention than others, so if you just throw it out there you can get an answer pretty fast. I work with a guy who can tell me EVERY part number or nut/bolt/washer/seal/etc you need to complete a specific task on a helicopter off the top of his head. Not that I take him as gospel, but it's interesting that somebody can do that and that he is very rarely wrong. Oh yeah, we do need a basic FAQ/Index of common resources. Nobody will read it. But then it's there.

Cool. Virtually rust free is always a bonus! Don't bother with a LP waggy D44, narrow down a ford HP D44 to waggy width... It's well worth it, IMHO.

I'd remove all the paint that is on there... POR wasn't ment to go on anything that was painted prior. I like aircraft stripper if you have enough space to do it outside, and don't mind working with it. It's slow, but doesn't take much effort. Bursh on, come back later, brush more on or scrap a bit and brush more on, come back later and repeat or rinse off. It'll remove all paint, and only the paint. Kinda nasty stuff, but the modern stuff is 100% bio-degradable/neutralized in water (just have to catch the paint it removed) and isn't overly toxic (wear gloves, it removes skin pretty decently, and safety glasses are a good idea, otherwise it's not bad).

Yeah, it's @#$%ed. Time for a rebuild, or a boneyard replacement.

You can buy 'lead free' lead filler now. I forget who makes the kit... But w/e. It's non-toxic, works exactly like lead, but you can grind or sand it without needing a mask + tons of cleaning to avoid poisoning. The kit includes a couple wood paddles, some wax, and a bunch of rods of the 'lead'. Personally, I just bondo the fawk out of cheap vehicles. I know I will either sell them or junk them before it's a problem. Yes, I'm the 'stupid PO that didn't know how to do bodywork'.

Over-priced turd. It doesn't matter what it COST to build, it ain't worth anywhere near that. Throw in issues (stupid stuff like a seat missing bolts) and it makes me think either the seller is broke, or he doesn't care and is flipping something he overpayed for.

Walk in and ask for one? With either the size and weight of the item, or the item itself...

Got the one corner tacked in place... Image Not Found The hole is for the aforementioned flat bar for a recovery point, I decided I would be able to add it in later. The sheetmetal work isn't done under the tail-light, I'll get a picture of that whenever I do it. Basically, I wanted a slim rear bumper, not some 'ghetto booty' thang. Hopefully it comes out how I wanted. (And the picture looks like $#!& because of the smoke in the shop)

Another small update. I might take more pics in a bit, or not... Got the rear section all levelled, squared, welded... Other than there is no fishplates on it yet, those will come in time. I need to buy some flatbar for that. I also need to buy some 1.5x.500 cold rolled to make recovery points before I can do much more in the rear (they will go outside the frame and through the bumper). Image Not Found

Actually, NAPA told me they couldn't order the B nuts. If I wanted to make my own lines, I could either use AN fittings or buy short pre-made lines and cut the SAE B nuts off. In the end I did that. Slightly more expensive but, if you're screwed, what's the option?

Downtravel is limited by control arm angle (among other things) - after a certain point they bind on the coil bracket. Long arms aleviate this problem as the angle change of the arms is less. A bent arm does not affect the arc the axle swings on. Only the position of the bolts (pivot points) for the arms affect that, with a certain amount of error based on bushing and link deflection. But I'd ask what good a 2" longer LCA is? Unless a guy wants to extend the wheelbase about 2" and make some UCAs to match. At which point I think a guy would be better off making new LCAs and UCAs.