Austin's 98 TJ

[Austin O.]

My throwout bearing decided to give up a few days ago in my school parking lot of all places - quite embarrassing! My dad towed me home, and I took it all apart.

Interestingly enough, the clutch, pressure plate, and flywheel all looked to be in very good condition. When I pulled the transmission though, the throwout bearing just fell apart. I put in a new National bearing and everything else was replaced with Luk stuff. It overall went very smoothly, just took a while.

Considering I only have one small floor jack, though, I was very pleased with how quickly I put it all back together. A couple of ratchet straps, a whole bunch of blocks of wood, and a little dolly thingy I made with some random wheels I found in the garage and a piece of wood helped with that. I was practically done when I managed to break the last bolt I was tightening - one of the transmission to skid bolts. So ill replace that sometime soon I guess. I also tore my inner shifter boot while taking the shifter out of the transmission so ill need to buy another one of those. The clutch is now a million times easier to push in than it used to be. It never really bothered me, but I do have to admit that I like this a whole lot more.

 

[NashvilleTJ]

You are certainly getting some great experience wrenching on the rig. Nice work.

 

[Rickyd]

Some people leave the transfercase on for this job. But i always pull it off since it makes manuevering the trans so much easier. Regardless,good job!

 

[Mike_H]

Some people leave the transfercase on for this job. But i always pull it off since it makes manuevering the trans so much easier. Regardless,good job!

When I did the clutch in mine...I left the T-case on when I removed the trans. I quickly saw the error in that...and when it went back together, it went back in two pieces. The 231 is heavy...and the 241 is even heavier!

 

[Austin O.]

You are certainly getting some great experience wrenching on the rig. Nice work.

Thanks! Having so much fun doing it!

Some people leave the transfercase on for this job. But i always pull it off since it makes manuevering the trans so much easier. Regardless,good job!

When I did the clutch in mine...I left the T-case on when I removed the trans. I quickly saw the error in that...and when it went back together, it went back in two pieces. The 231 is heavy...and the 241 is even heavier!

I just decided to leave it on... figured that if I'm doing it all by myself without the proper jack, its gonna be difficult either way, might as well just leave it. I was extremely excited and surprised when I got the transmission to line up and slide on the night before the day that I had planned to work on that. I thought it would be a 3-4 hour thing just getting it on right. Made the following morning much much less stressful and much easier! I don't know if that was the right choice in terms of efficiency/effort, but the whole project was not quite as annoying and frustrating as I thought it would be, so I'm happy.

 

[Nickgsjeep]

Nice jeep, and nice work thus far!

 

[Austin O.]

Forgot to put these photos in here…

 

[Austin O.]

Just put in a new steering box since the old started clunking and the steering wheel had a lot of play in it. Was quite easy, but for some reason I had so much trouble getting a lot of the bolts to thread. Got there eventually without stripping anything.

 

[AirborneTexasRanger]

I really like how you made your own doors. Your welds came out good. I'd like to offer some advice if you don't mind.

With pipe its always good practice to put a bevel the joint so you can get complete joint penetration. CJP is especially necessary if you're going to blend your welds smooth. When you do blend your welds make sure you don't remove too much base metal especially in the heat affected zone which weakens the joint and can create a stress riser. Remember too that paint will make discontinuities more visible instead of hidden. That looks like a complicated design and you did a good job preventing heat distortion. You should be proud of yourself for taking on that challenge while still in welding classes.

 

[Austin O.]

I really like how you made your own doors. Your welds came out good. I'd like to offer some advice if you don't mind.

With pipe its always good practice to put a bevel the joint so you can get complete joint penetration. CJP is especially necessary if you're going to blend your welds smooth. When you do blend your welds make sure you don't remove too much base metal especially in the heat affected zone which weakens the joint and can create a stress riser. Remember too that paint will make discontinuities more visible instead of hidden. That looks like a complicated design and you did a good job preventing heat distortion. You should be proud of yourself for taking on that challenge while still in welding classes.

View attachment 487437

Thanks so much and thanks for the advice! I'll of course keep that in mind in the future. It was definitely a learning experience and a really good challenge with my limited knowledge and extremely limited tools... I'm super happy with how they came out, but of course they aren't anywhere near perfect!

 

[Austin O.]

I’ve been chasing the reason of my broken cruise control since I got the jeep. Finally found it a couple days ago (I’m slightly embarrassed by how obvious it was) and replaced it today with a junkyard CC. Now it all works!

 

[BlueC]

I’ve been chasing the reason of my broken cruise control since I got the jeep. Finally found it a couple days ago (I’m slightly embarrassed by how obvious it was) and replaced it today with a junkyard CC. Now it all works!

View attachment 487498

What are we looking at? A cracked piece?

 

[Austin O.]

What are we looking at? A cracked piece?

Yep! Sorry I didn't make that more clear. That's the cruise control servo, there's a crack in the plastic that you can see which was causing a vacuum leak.

 

[Austin O.]

Not my Jeep, but my one of my friends just bought a 75th anniversary edition JK. Spent 5 hours yesterday teaching him how to drive it since it’s a manual. Ton of fun, he’s super excited about it. I can’t wait to see what he wants to do with it. He also asked me to make some tube doors for him sometime soon, so that should be fun.

As for my Jeep, there’s a knocking sound somewhere in the steering so I’ll try to figure that out today. I really hope it’s not the steering box - I just replaced that a couple months ago. I’ve also got another project I’ve been working on which I’ll post pics of soon…

Edit - the sound was just a loose track bar bolt. Easy fix!

 

[BlueC]

Spent 5 hours yesterday teaching him how to drive it since it’s a manual.

It warms my hart to know manuals aren't dead.

 

[Austin O.]

It warms my hart to know manuals aren't dead.

I was so happy when he told me he was looking far a manual since he liked my Jeep. I’ve only ever driven 4 different jeeps now. All have been manuals.

 

[Austin O.]

Was barely warm enough this evening for a topless drive! Can’t wait for spring… I’m not a fan of the cold - the only exception is when I get to ski.

 

[tworley]

Can’t wait for spring… I’m not a fan of the cold

You and me both! Though today and the next two are going to be great...

 

[Austin O.]

You and me both! Though today and the next too are going to be great...
View attachment 495807

Tomorrow is looking rainy here, but the following 3 days should be sunny and 60 degrees!

 

[BlueC]

Tomorrow is looking rainy here, but the following 3 days should be sunny and 60 degrees!

Keep the rain down there, and 60 still requires a heater. I'm too thin for that to be comfortable.