What did you do to your jeep today?

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AJ9P

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What straight axles would people recommend to go with in the front. I am going to be rebuilding my Powertech motor this winter, and have no plans on upgrading the rear other than to truss it. Any suggestions you have would help.
 

sota

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At least you had a spare in case of a wreck
it even had a tow hitch on it. :D

06 renegade khaki
no roof lights or tupperware
has the big bumper lights
also the roof bars are MASSIVE and metal. was that renegade option?
136k miles
all 4 door shells are perfect (was a FL until recently)
all 4 tires are 1 year old
all new brakes all around
new ABS pump (needs programming)
no rust underneath. couple of rock chips though
paint is damaged from the FL sun
lots of dash emojis
needs a right rear wheel speed sensor, so says the Autel MS906PRO
needs a good cleaning inside and out
someone tried to break into it so the back glass latch tab is detached. how was that held on? some kind of glue?
driver's front window regulator is bad. they included a new one with the jeep.

i'm either keeping it for parts (notably the doors), or if I can fix it with minimal work, I'll see if a friend of mine's daughter wants to buy it as her first car. she wants something 4WD that can handle snow when she's skiing, her horse related stuff when she goes riding, and and run around on the beach with.
 

sota

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and I fixed the dash emoji issue.
only the TPMS light is still on.
right rear ABS sensor wiring was rubbed through by the zip tie that holds it to the sway bar. spliced it back together, ran the ABS programming sequence, and now it's all good.

things still broken:
right front speaker is trash
blower doesn't work on #1
driver's front door needs the regulator installed
back glass latch bracket needs attaching.
other than that, a title transfer, registration, and an inspection and she's viable to be driveable.

I told my friend i'm giving them right of first refusal to buy it from me, because depending on things I'm seriously considering giving it a massive cleanup/detailing, and trying to flip it for a good chunk.
 

sota

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looks like there's a leak on the passenger side. seems to be coming from the blower box someplace.
i'm going to guess there's a drain in the cowl that's clogged, backing water up into the cabin air box.
 
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looks like there's a leak on the passenger side. seems to be coming from the blower box someplace.
i'm going to guess there's a drain in the cowl that's clogged, backing water up into the cabin air box.
Check the blower box intake gasket, those are known to fail and make the passenger side floorboard wet. I resealed mine with some RTV and new hardware.
 

lfhoward

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I am back working on the Jeep’s front suspension. The JBA coilovers have been rebuilt professionally by a shop in CA called Wheel Every Weekend. Those are on the way back to me and should be here on Friday. I am in the process of cutting out some seized bolts (what a pain!) from inside the LCA bushings so I can get the passengers side LCA off to work on it. New bolts are on the way and should be here by Friday also. Meanwhile, my 20 ton press and I are working on removing and replacing all the control arm bushings and ball joints on the drivers side LCA. Old rubber bushings have to be drilled to weaken them, the center pressed out, and the outer metal sleeve sawzalled and removed, which takes some serious work. Before I put everything back together, I will hit the LCA’s with black paint and the UCA’s with JBA red. Should look good enough for the rebuilt adjust a struts will fit right in!
 

sota

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today's vehicular adventures:
  • khaki jeep: removed the windshield and front window tint.
    replaced the driver's regulator (it literally broke the housing, hence why it didn't work.)
    gave it a good hosing down outside and in the engine bay.
    pulled the cowl off and re-sealed the fresh air intake vent, as i'm pretty sure that's where the water leak was coming from. someone had already done the job that way, but I guess the sealant got old or something?
  • convertible: determined the backup lights aren't coming on because the backup lamp switch on the trans has failed.
    all the wiring tested good and if I jump the plug to the switch the lights come on.
  • silver jeep: exhaust heat shield fell off while I was towing. recovered it. it tore/rotted out all 4 retainer points. need to figure out a Plan B for that.
  • mininvan: needs water added to the cooling system. not quite time to start adding actual coolant to the leaky system as it's not cold out yet.
 

Johnny O

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Oh ironies of ironies. Turns out the last repair I will do on Bert was the first I ever did- the propshaft forward boot shredded, thus leaving the CV dry. So shot it up with RedNTacky and threw a 100mph tape "boot on it to get the kids by till the parts arrive.

Don't know how I missed it before I transferred ownership.
 

KJowner

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today's vehicular adventures:
  • khaki jeep: removed the windshield and front window tint.
    replaced the driver's regulator (it literally broke the housing, hence why it didn't work.)
    gave it a good hosing down outside and in the engine bay.
    pulled the cowl off and re-sealed the fresh air intake vent, as i'm pretty sure that's where the water leak was coming from. someone had already done the job that way, but I guess the sealant got old or something?
  • convertible: determined the backup lights aren't coming on because the backup lamp switch on the trans has failed.
    all the wiring tested good and if I jump the plug to the switch the lights come on.
  • silver jeep: exhaust heat shield fell off while I was towing. recovered it. it tore/rotted out all 4 retainer points. need to figure out a Plan B for that.
  • mininvan: needs water added to the cooling system. not quite time to start adding actual coolant to the leaky system as it's not cold out yet.
My heat shield was laying on top of the exhaust centre box making a clattering noise, I cut King size rectangular washers out of some scrap aluminium sheet and bent them to fit the deep mount holes. The shield had rotted out 4 almost perfect steel washer size holes where the original washers sat, I covered all the mount points in grease before assembly so I shouldn't have to worry about it for another 20 years!
 

sota

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that's exactly what mine's done.
I was going to try and remove the fasteners/nuts and just get some monster fender washers to make up the hole, but the nuts are seized to the studs. might still try and get the washers and hopefully the holes will be smaller than the studs, and I can either thread them on or hammer them on.

I'm just glad it fell off in a place where I could retrieve it.
 

Johnny O

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My heat shield was laying on top of the exhaust centre box making a clattering noise, I cut King size rectangular washers out of some scrap aluminium sheet and bent them to fit the deep mount holes. The shield had rotted out 4 almost perfect steel washer size holes where the original washers sat, I covered all the mount points in grease before assembly so I shouldn't have to worry about it for another 20 years!
Bert's fixed itself somewhere on I-80 at 80mph on the very first desert trip I took him on!
 

KJowner

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The studs are a really course thread & the nuts are pressed out of thin sheet. I soaked mine in WD40 and worked them loose with a 6 point socket.
 

sota

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well, I got a bad feeling, I just discovered what is really wrong with this khaki jeep... and it's bad.
did some cleaning on it yesterday, let it idle up to full temperature, and noticed, the whole jeep is shaking a bit. odd.
today was doing some more work and, the shaking was getting worse. that feels like a misfire.
maybe some water got in the spark plug tubes? blew them clear, along with dislodging a ton of crap from the plug area, and the miss didn't get any better.
so just now, after letting it cool completely off, I popped the coolant cap off and started it up. foam.
if I rev it up the miss will sometimes go completely away, then come back.

I think this thing has a blown head gasket on the passenger side. cylinders 4 and 6 are now getting large misfire counts.
 

sota

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finally looked through the paperwork and talked to the prior owner.
radiator was replaced in May.
she came out one morning and found a big puddle of coolant on the ground.
(and here's where it got hurt) she drove it to her mechanic, and he replaced the radiator that had a "pin hole" in it.
she claims it never indicated an overheat, but with the sender at the top of the engine, it's very possible it would have never seen it since there was no coolant to read.

so among other good parts on it, it has a 4 month old radiator :D
 

sota

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and for the heat shield on mine, anyone ever just bought like some thermotec stick on reflective mats and done that instead of the poorly attached shield?
 

lfhoward

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finally looked through the paperwork and talked to the prior owner.
radiator was replaced in May.
she came out one morning and found a big puddle of coolant on the ground.
(and here's where it got hurt) she drove it to her mechanic, and he replaced the radiator that had a "pin hole" in it.
she claims it never indicated an overheat, but with the sender at the top of the engine, it's very possible it would have never seen it since there was no coolant to read.

so among other good parts on it, it has a 4 month old radiator :D
Way to think of this situation as a glass half full, Sota. ;)

I’m sure you can fix the head gasket issue and it will be good as new.
 

lfhoward

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Continuing to work on the front suspension of my KK, here in Michigan. I am hoping to be able to drive it home to Philly this weekend, but we shall see!

Today I got accomplished:
- Cut through a LCA seized bolt, using a Sawzall and a Milwaukee blade called “The Torch”. Expensive, but I destroyed multiple conventional saw blades first.
- Removed all ball joints and bushings from the LCA’s (lower control arms) - required a drill, 20 ton press, sawzall, and chisel.
- Cleaned up the LCA’s with a wire wheel, prepped for paint.
- Removed JBA UCA’s from the Jeep. Removed ball joint and bushings to get ready to paint, but found a crack in one of the arms. JBA is sending free UCA replacements for both sides (They rock so much— I love JBA).
- Removed front sway bar to replace its bushings, cleaned it up and prepped for paint
- Removed Engine skid plate to remove sway bar - I may paint this too if I have time

Parts still on the way for Friday include:
- Mopar LCA bolts needed to replace seized ones I had to cut
- Rebuilt JBA Adust-a-Struts with new Eibach springs and rebuilt Bilstein shocks
- JBA upper control arms (lifetime warranty replacement)

Parts off the Jeep now include:
- Tires
- Calipers and brake rotors
- Knuckles
- Strut towers (springs, shocks, clevis)
- Sway bar
- LCA’s
- UCA’s
- Air box
- TIPM
- Battery & battery tray
- Rock Sliders
- Engine Skid

So Friday/Saturday I get all this back together, and get an alignment…
 

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