What did you do to your TJ today?

[hardtailpan]

I discovered the previous owner of my son's jeep rerouted the vent for the front differential when they installed the lift kit. They routed it along the other side of the axel and zip tied it to the passenger side lower control arm.

This weekend I replaced it with a longer hose and ran it up to by the top of the radiator where it is supposed to be. I also discovered the old hose had a large hole in it & had been there long enough for dirt daubers to build a nest.

Needless to say, I went ahead and ordered the gasket and oil to change the fluid in the differential in the near future.

I replaced the vent too. The old one was missing the cap.

View attachment 648452

They did the same thing to my jeep when they put the stupid 3" body lift kit on. They wired the front diff vent to the left front brake hose. The vent cap is missing as well. Why......

 

[Imagineer]

Because I'm a cheap SOB, I purchased the lowest price set of full doors for my '97, knowing the driver side needed a new latch. Turns out, it needed a new window regulator, latch, and the latch/lock control rods to the interior handle. I bought the replacement latch and regulator from Rock Auto and both were easy to install.

I wasn't able to find a set of latch/lock control rods anywhere for reasonable money, so (again, because I'm cheap) I made my own from 1/4" steel rod.
(FWIW, I should have used 5/32" stainless TIG filler, but I didn't have any.)

I use the passenger side rods as examples and made mirror image parts. I had to lathe turn the ends down to 4mm diameter. After bending the ends, I heated them to an orange glow then quenched them in motor oil in an attempt to harden the smaller diameter sections.

To my surprise, both rods fit well. Because the middle sections of the rods are 1/4" thick, clearance between them and the window carrier bracket is tight and there's a small bit of interference yet to be resolved, but I now have a functioning set of winter doors.

 

[hardtailpan]

Factory Radio was busted, wifey wanted something with bluetooth, hands free, blahblahblah or i would've just stuck a factory radio back in the hole. Put a kicker in the console as well to replace the blown oem sub. Gotta say, sounds decent for factory speakers.

 

[sab]

After bending the ends, I heated them to an orange glow then quenched them in motor oil in an attempt to harden the smaller diameter sections.

Unless that rod you used had 40 or more points of carbon (1040 steel or higher), it’s not heat-treatable. Mild steels like 1018, 1020, and A-36 can only be case-hardened (a different process than simple quenching). Through-hardening by quenching isn’t possible.

 

[TheBoogieman]

Factory Radio was busted, wifey wanted something with bluetooth, hands free, blahblahblah or i would've just stuck a factory radio back in the hole. Put a kicker in the console as well to replace the blown oem sub. Gotta say, sounds decent for factory speakers.

View attachment 648812

Your TJ spoiled her. Now upgrade the speakers so she can be truly happy.
p.s. My wife had a collection of 250 CDs when we met, so I have a CD player so she can enjoy 80's rock. I prefer the newer, mellow, Dem music myself. Reminds me of Michael Jackson's Thriller video.

 

[06GEEP]

I changed my spark plugs today. I've been noticing an occasional rough idle with no codes so I figured this was a good starting point.... is .065-.080 gap acceptable? Lol
Needless to say it idles sooo much better and I feel I'm another step closer to 42.....Do you know Bo?
(Sorry...I am finding it difficult to forget him. Lol)

 

[OAS]

Factory Radio was busted, wifey wanted something with bluetooth, hands free, blahblahblah or i would've just stuck a factory radio back in the hole. Put a kicker in the console as well to replace the blown oem sub. Gotta say, sounds decent for factory speakers.

View attachment 648812

Found this one on ebay....... gotta have my cassettes. ;-)

 

[Dr. Internet]

I changed my spark plugs today. I've been noticing an occasional rough idle with no codes so I figured this was a good starting point.... is .065-.080 gap acceptable? Lol
Needless to say it idles sooo much better and I feel I'm another step closer to 42.....Do you know Bo?
(Sorry...I am finding it difficult to forget him. Lol)

You didn't say which plugs you used. I did mine and used Champion 7304 gapped at 0.035" Works great!

 

[06GEEP]

You didn't say which plugs you used. I did mine and used Champion 7304 gapped at 0.035" Works great!

I used Autolite AP985's gapped at .040.
Took out NGK ZFR5N's gapped at .065-.080.

I'm ashamed to say that this is the first time I've seen the plugs since I bought it last December. It ran well enough that I never thought they needed changed. I don't know how long they were in there, but they had wore the electrodes down pretty good and were fairly rusty above the threads.

 

[hardtailpan]

Your TJ spoiled her. Now upgrade the speakers so she can be truly happy.
p.s. My wife had a collection of 250 CDs when we met, so I have a CD player so she can enjoy 80's rock. I prefer the newer, mellow, Dem music myself. Reminds me of Michael Jackson's Thriller video.
View attachment 648870

She mainly listens to audio books so she doesn't care that much, I don't wanna spoil her too much more, she will come to expect it! The lighter was also broken so I got a dual 3.0 usb outlet for that hole since neither of us smoke. That's about as high tech as this thing is gonna get!

 

[hardtailpan]

Found this one on ebay....... gotta have my cassettes. ;-)

View attachment 648901

ooooh cassettes and CD! Fancy! I was seriously just gonna get another one of these. My eyes suck but I can see these controls. The new radio I can't see a damn thing, but it makes the wife happy, so I'm ok with it. My only "had to have" was a volume knob, which I got so I'lll figure the rest out.

 

[Dr. Internet]

I used Autolite AP985's gapped at .040.
Took out NGK ZFR5N's gapped at .065-.080.

I'm ashamed to say that this is the first time I've seen the plugs since I bought it last December. It ran well enough that I never thought they needed changed. I don't know how long they were in there, but they had wore the electrodes down pretty good and were fairly rusty above the threads. View attachment 648925

Mine were the original plugs and also looked fairly bad. Big difference in performance and the CEL light is out.

 

[06GEEP]

Mine were the original plugs and also looked fairly bad. Big difference in performance and the CEL light is out.

How many miles were on them?

 

[mjonesjr84]

Soft top went back on. This is the first time I noticed this gap on the UCF trail doors and OEM 1/2 door uppers. I may send this to UCF to see what they say.

 

[AndyG]

Mechanic locked my key in the LJ

Had to get it the hard way.

Likely the only time I have wished it was a TJ.

My 6.7 is fixed.

While my LJ was close I had him check the brakes- will report in soon on what I suspect was going on.

 

[speeding_infraction]

What symptoms were you experiencing with the brakes?

 

[AndyG]

What symptoms were you experiencing with the brakes?

Vibrations, grabbing and weird pedal

Turns out the right front rotor was so out of whack it was pushing the caliper piston back in affecting the pedal.


Its a big brake kit, will hit Blaine up on parts once I get deeper into it.

This LJR has 67,500 miles, a two page build list and I just want to be a good steward of it.

I like my darker turn signal lenses

 

[Unique Username]

Soft top went back on. This is the first time I noticed this gap on the UCF trail doors and OEM 1/2 door uppers. I may send this to UCF to see what they say.

Guess this means it’s time for me to take mine off until May . Finally outside time in Arizona.

 

[Kiwi TJ]

Mechanic locked my key in the LJ

Had to get it the hard way.

View attachment 648962

Likely the only time I have wished it was a TJ.

My 6.7 is fixed.

While my LJ was close I had him check the brakes- will report in soon on what I suspect was going on.

I’m not sure what you mean, there’s plenty of room in a TJ

 

[Kiwi TJ]

OME 2 1/2 inch lift installed.
I’ll take some side profile pics tomorrow morning when the sun‘s out.
Drives so much better now.. plus it eliminated some of the squeaks And knocks.

Before..

After

Before

After