Grandpa's truck

[jodawill]

I plan to change the ignition lock cylinder soon. Unfortunately, that means my grandpa's keys won't work anymore. I was, however, with some difficulty, able to track down the same key blanks he used. There were several eBay listings of similar blanks, but the others weren't made in the USA.

 

They're not 100% identical, but that really just seems to come down to poor quality control or the lack of precision and attention to detail when they originally manufactured these. They're close enough that I couldn't really describe the difference in words.

 

The original Jeep logo keys are much easier to find. He never used his, but I'll recreate those too when I get the new lock.

[OSCDumpTruck]

2 hours ago, jodawill said:

I plan to change the ignition lock cylinder soon. Unfortunately, that means my grandpa's keys won't work anymore. I was, however, with some difficulty, able to track down the same key blanks he used. There were several eBay listings of similar blanks, but the others weren't made in the USA.

 

They're not 100% identical, but that really just seems to come down to poor quality control or the lack of precision and attention to detail when they originally manufactured these. They're close enough that I couldn't really describe the difference in words.

 

The original Jeep logo keys are much easier to find. He never used his, but I'll recreate those too when I get the new lock.

I could be wrong, but pretty sure you can have a locksmith key your new cylinder to the original keys.

[jodawill]

7 hours ago, OSCDumpTruck said:

I could be wrong, but pretty sure you can have a locksmith key your new cylinder to the original keys.

 

I'm going to check into it when I get the new cylinder, but as far as I can tell so far, that isn't possible with these. They're not meant to be serviceable.

 

Either way though, that original key isn't going to work in a working cylinder.

[jodawill]

I found the rest of my key. It was in the ignition all along! 

 

Got the ignition cylinder lock replaced. It has a weird idiosyncrasy where I have to have it at the right angle to pull the key out. Turning it all the way down just relocks it. I probably need to redo it. Maybe it was in the wrong position when I installed it. It does work though.

 

I bought some key blanks that are totally identical to the one my grandpa used. It wasn't easy to track down, and I bought the only ones I could find anywhere on the internet. Now I need to find a locksmith who's willing to use my own blanks.

 

I pulled out the power steering gearbox again because I suspected one of the seals was installed wrong last time. It turns out that it wasn't leaking at all, but when I put it back together this time, it didn't work properly anymore. So I just pulled it out a third time to check the bearings.  I'm getting really fast at doing it though!

 

I bought new splash guards from http://www.detroitmuscletechnologies.com/. I'm looking forward to installing them once I get all the leaks taken care of. It looks like the transmission coolant lines are leaking, and possibly even the radiator. So that's on my soon to do list.

 

What's most concerning at this point though is that the coolant hoses are thin and bulging. It looks like no one sells them anymore, so I'm not sure what I'm going to do about that.

[jdog]

All the way forward, / towards you is accessories and the key shouldn't come out, one click from that is off position 

[jodawill]

On 6/16/2026 at 5:25 PM, jdog said:

All the way forward, / towards you is accessories and the key shouldn't come out, one click from that is off position 

 

Thanks! I never knew because apparently my switch isn't calibrated correctly. It doesn't do anything when I turn it all the way down. I'm going to be replacing the switch soon, so hopefully I can get that figured out.

 

I just finished replacing the transmission mount. The old one was liquifying and melting all over the cross support.

 

My truck has almost no rust at all underneath, so it was surprising to see how stuck on those bolts were. With a little penetrating oil, my electric impact wrench made pretty quick work of them. They came out hot! I had to work them in and out quite a bit to get them to go back in.

 

I'm going to try to get the motor mounts done tomorrow. I'm really curious to see if it runs quieter when I'm done with this.

 

I figured out the problem with my door. According to a video where a guy had the exact same symptoms, I just have to replace the arm. Thankfully, there doesn't seem to be any welding involved. I'm trying to pace this project financially, so I'll order the new arm as soon as July comes around.

 

None of the work I've been doing is particularly flashy, but there's a lot satisfaction in making all the small things work properly. Whenever I finally get to the stage where I get it painted and restore the rims, I'll feel like the truck deserves it. I want my truck to work like new before it looks like new. Otherwise, it's all hat and no cattle.

[jodawill]

I just finished changing the motor mounts. It turns out they're original! They appear to be dated November 1989.

 

I just changed my oil a couple hundred miles ago, but I had to drain the oil again because the oil filter was in the way of the long bolt. Then the thing the filter screws into was also in the way! (I have no idea what that's called.) It turns out you can remove that. There's a bolt underneath.

 

Now I need to put the filter back on and hook up the vacuum hoses. The hoses will be a project because I'm not sure where they all go and all of them are loose.

[jodawill]

I installed the new splash guard today. I'm super thankful that Detroit Muscle Technologies is reproducing these. It was pouring rain really hard today after I installed it. I'm glad I got it done!

 

 Here's a before and after picture.

[JZLAJeep]

On 6/23/2026 at 3:13 PM, jodawill said:

I just changed my oil a couple hundred miles ago, but I had to drain the oil again because the oil filter was in the way of the long bolt. Then the thing the filter screws into was also in the way! (I have no idea what that's called.) It turns out you can remove that. There's a bolt underneath.

Did you put the motor mount bolt back through the other direction so you don't have to do that again next time?

[jodawill]

18 minutes ago, JZLAJeep said:

Did you put the motor mount bolt back through the other direction so you don't have to do that again next time?

 

I tried, but there was something in the way (just barely) on the other side, so I just put it back the way it was. And apparently that's the way it came from the factory because that was the original motor mount!

 

It's running MUCH smoother now.

[JZLAJeep]

15 minutes ago, jodawill said:

I tried, but there was something in the way (just barely) on the other side, so I just put it back the way it was. And apparently that's the way it came from the factory because that was the original motor mount!

It's been a few years since we've done this, but I'm sure we put the bolt back in the other direction. We may have had to cut the bolt so that it didn't hit the oil filter. Like I say, it's been a few years. It's been our experience that the motor mounts do need to be replaced periodically. The rubber gets brittle and breaks after a while. Just replaced the motor mounts on our newly acquired '97 a couple weekends ago. This is what I took out:

 

[jodawill]

15 minutes ago, JZLAJeep said:

It's been a few years since we've done this, but I'm sure we put the bolt back in the other direction. We may have had to cut the bolt so that it didn't hit the oil filter. Like I say, it's been a few years. It's been our experience that the motor mounts do need to be replaced periodically. The rubber gets brittle and breaks after a while. Just replaced the motor mounts on our newly acquired '97 a couple weekends ago. This is what I took out:

 

Are those mounts supposed to be the same? The difference between them seems a little wonky. Is it riding a lot smoother now?

 

I can't remember what was on the other side, but I recall it being something that looked more difficult to remove, so I just went with the old setup. Now that I know it's an issue, I'll plan to do the motor mounts and the oil change at the same time. It was just really annoying because I had already changed my oil twice in less than 1,000 miles and I had to drive to the store to get some oil.

 

Now that I've done it once, I feel pretty confident that I could do this within an hour next time. It seems like the majority of my time on this truck has just been spent figuring out how to do things. Any time I have to redo something, it goes pretty quickly.

 

I also replaced the oil cap and the o-rings on the filter housing. I'm sure they were original as well. I'm not sure whether they were leaking, but I love replacing things before they become a problem.

[JZLAJeep]

1 minute ago, jodawill said:

 

Are those mounts supposed to be the same? The difference between them seems a little wonky. Is it riding a lot smoother now?

 

I can't remember what was on the other side, but I recall it being something that looked more difficult to remove, so I just went with the old setup. Now that I know it's an issue, I'll plan to do the motor mounts and the oil change at the same time. It was just really annoying because I had already changed my oil twice in less than 1,000 miles and I had to drive to the store to get some oil.

 

Now that I've done it once, I feel pretty confident that I could do this within an hour next time. It seems like the majority of my time on this truck has just been spent figuring out how to do things. Any time I have to redo something, it goes pretty quickly.

 

I also replaced the oil cap and the o-rings on the filter housing. I'm sure they were original as well. I'm not sure whether they were leaking, but I love replacing things before they become a problem.

Those were the old motor mounts that I took off. They would have looked the same when new. Our record for replacing one was about 20 minutes.

 

If the O-rings on the oil filter housing were original, then I'm sure they were leaking. That's another repair that all of our old Jeeps need if original. The rubber O-rings don't last 30-40 years.

 

 

[jodawill]

2 minutes ago, JZLAJeep said:

Those were the old motor mounts that I took off. They would have looked the same when new. Our record for replacing one was about 20 minutes.

 

If the O-rings on the oil filter housing were original, then I'm sure they were leaking. That's another repair that all of our old Jeeps need if original. The rubber O-rings don't last 30-40 years.

 

You're probably right. They were completely flattened, flush with the metal. I never saw oil dripping from it, but it probably had a very slow leak.