What did you do to your TJ today?

[chili_pepper]

Since I still haven't finished the hardtop refinishing, took the side and rear panels off and drove Tess around the island for a few hours today. Saved a small box turtle from getting squashed in the local grocery parking lot, it peed on me as thanks. Tore about 3" of zipper off the rear window trying to put it back in this evening, reminding why I detest soft tops. Overall a good day, except for the last bit.

 

[Pascal25]

Bumper frame tie in brackets for wife jeep before she takes it to Wisconsin next weekend

 

[FarFire70]

Bumper frame tie in brackets for wife jeep before she takes it to Wisconsin next weekend

View attachment 618871

Good on you for the extra reinforcement.

Are you planning to 3d scan the frame? What's up with the dots? Tough to tell if you're going to for a look from such a small sample pic.

 

[JohnF500]

New Starter. Old one was dragging. AutoZone for the limited lifetime…. But in the past month new lower control arms and Bilstein shocks. Wow - ride is so much better!

 

[KennethS]

New Starter. Old one was dragging. AutoZone for the limited lifetime….

I did NAPA and got a replacement 16 years later. My neighbor did AutoZone and replaced his every year.

 

[Neil Sears]

I know I joked with you on your last post — Moab wheels are by far the best looking wheels on a TJ. Jeep is looking great!

Thank you.

Agreed. 4” lift with 33’ DuraTrac tires on Moab’s are my favorite look of all time for TJ’s.

As I have 3.73 gearing this wrangler will not be suitable for 33’s.

 

[Neil Sears]

Thank you.

Agreed. 4” lift with 33’ DuraTrac tires on Moab’s are my favorite look of all time for TJ’s.

As I have 3.73 gearing this wrangler will not be suitable for 33’s.

Chris your black TJ had 33’s and a 4” lift, correct?

 

[mjonesjr84]

Thank you.

Agreed. 4” lift with 33’ DuraTrac tires on Moab’s are my favorite look of all time for TJ’s.

As I have 3.73 gearing this wrangler will not be suitable for 33’s.

I ran 33's and 3.73 gears with a 5-speed in my 2000. It was fine on the road. I daily drove it for almost a year that way.

 

[JohnF500]

I did NAPA and got a replacement 16 years later. My neighbor did AutoZone and replaced his every year.

We were wheeling on Saturday when starting slowed. I had already tested the battery. If I had planned ahead I would have bought from NAPA, but they are closed on Sunday when I unexpectedly had the time to do the job…and were heading back out today…

 

[JohnF500]

I ran 33's and 3.73 gears with a 5-speed in my 2000. It was fine on the road. I daily drove it for almost a year that way.

I had 35s with 4.56 and am much happier with 33s. Not just acceleration but steering and handling. Works for me.

 

[MikekiM]

I ran 33's and 3.73 gears with a 5-speed in my 2000. It was fine on the road. I daily drove it for almost a year that way.

I did the same.. it was kind of frustrating in a headwind or uphill, but it worked.

4.56's are more better..

 

[Gerty21]

Finished the rear brake drum brake job with new wheel cylinders, shoes, hardware and drums on both sides. Ended up having to replace both rear hard lines from distribution block to wheel cylinders too, not a fun job without a lift. I now have a small diameter tube bender and a 3/16” double flare tool.

Previous rear brake job was apparently done by a sub-human. Cable not connected to adjusting lever on one side, missing shoe guide plate on the other.

While just starting to bleed the right rear at 10 pm last night, an ominous “pop” and spurting noise came from left side - bad wheel cylinder (brand new). 17-year-old looked defeated until I said “let’s check the AutoZone on Middlebelt”- they are open until midnight and had one in stock.

Installed new wheel cylinder around 11:45 and bled lines until 12:15. Quick test drive and called it a day. Going to O’Reilly’s today to return the bad cylinder but taking a holiday from car work. Knees and back have had their fill of crawling under her for now.

 

[Pantera99]

Smoked the thin vacuum line & was surprised to not find any leaks. The connection under the right fender has slipped off occasionally & vents seem to default to defrost over 50 mph. So added a short length of silicone hose to tighten up that connection under the fender. Just took a short drive but so far vents seem more consistent. Probably need to top off freon but AC seems decent although its not quite hitting 100° here yet.

 

[Pascal25]

Good on you for the extra reinforcement.

Are you planning to 3d scan the frame? What's up with the dots? Tough to tell if you're going to for a look from such a small sample pic.

 

[John Cooper]

What winch plate is that? How much did Betty's front end sag? (too personal?) I want to mount the winch I got free, but don't want to have to add spacers to lift the front back up.

Ok just measured from the floor to the bottom edge of the bumper. This is with no steel cable or winch rope.

33 12.50 15 aired to 24.5psi stubby factory bumper, Quadratec raised winch plate and Warn HS9.5 I winch.

23"even.

 

[FarFire70]

View attachment 619020

I definitely wasn't expecting that!

Love it! Well done!

 

[Pascal25]

I definitely wasn't expecting that!

Love it! Well done!

I take no credit for it! And there are several more details than just that, but the tracks do cover the whole frame and took quite some effort

 

[TheBoogieman]

Ok just measured from the floor to the bottom edge of the bumper. This is with no steel cable or winch rope.

33 12.50 15 aired to 24.5psi stubby factory bumper, Quadratec raised winch plate and Warn HS9.5 I winch.

23"even.

Is that measurement with or without the ducks on the dash?

 

[John Cooper]

Is that measurement with or without the ducks on the dash?

No ducks on the dash!! Me and the granddaughter came to the understanding that ducks go on the toolbox

 

[hear]

Finally had time with daughter's 97. Oil pressure keeps going to 0 on the gauge, and am chasing down a transmission leak. I had already replaced the sender once (with a cheap one, same brand worked fine on my 97 going on 4 years), but still had the same problem. Finally tried the mechanical gauge, and showed it rock stead at around 40-50lbs. I didn't drive it with it plugged in, but I've pretty much never seen 40lbs on the gauge cluster under any circumstances. Also, what kind of idiotic scale does this gauge have? 0 - 100PSI with a clear middle tick that isn't actually in the middle. There are 3 ticks below and 4 above. So each tick is ~11psi? Brilliant.

Pro tip: make sure you get your fittings tight or else you'll have a fun oil drip to clean up.

Then I think I isolated the trans leak to the cooler lines. You may recall that I bought this one because it had a "non working transmission" that really just was plumb out of fluid. There was a drip on the bellhousing so I assumed it was the pump seal. So I replaced the seal & did the rest of the rebuild while I was in there, but It occurs to me that it could have been the trans cooler lines all along.