Wrenching on Gerty (AKA Stuff That's Gone Sideways)

[Gerty21]

Decided to document our work in a build thread since at this point, we’ve grown somewhat attached to our new 2006 Wrangler X and plan to continue wrenching on her. She's a 6 speed manual, 4.0L.

Bought it off an old friend as a first car for my almost 17-year-old in late April knowing it needed work. Friend was the 2nd owner and had it for ~5 years, he bought it for his now 21 year old who upgraded to a newer vehicle. My son immediately christened her as “Gertrude”, or Gerty for short. He is in love with it, was from the minute it showed up in the driveway. I love driving it too, takes me back to driving a 3 speed CJ7 in high school that was a buddy's.

Vehicle has had some major maintenance done before she came to us, but not so much on the minor side. Windshield frame fully replaced, front brakes and rear spider gears recently, PCM replacement, regular oil changes. Stuff that was neglected includes steering components and suspension. Tie rod ends and front/rear shocks were all original.

Car has lived in Ohio and Michigan. Frame has cancer, so does the body, typical Midwest rust belt stuff. We’ve been working on it pretty much every weekend (and many weeknights) since buying it, my son drives to school and sports practice on days she’s road worthy.

While driving it home the night I bought it, it wouldn’t start after making a stop. The high-beam indicator was intermittently coming on, indicating a headlight issue. Being a manual, I impressed my older kid and my wife by bump starting it on the first try with them pushing – grew up near LA and graduated high school in 1993, so am intimately familiar with older manual transmission vehicles that most of us drove back then. Fast forward 32 years and I still remember how to do stuff on cars, but it’s taken a bit to come back. We didn’t have the pleasure of dealing with road salt in LA. I am learning to hate salt and have become well acquainted with Kroil. I'm a ton more patient and resourceful at 50 than I was at 18, but my body doesn't work as well.

A buddy and guy who coaches on my son’s football team owns a local repair shop, they gave it a safety inspection and provided a list of recommended repairs:

• Front Axle Shaft Seals
• Front and Rear Shocks
• Upper and Lower Ball Joints
• Drag Link/Tie Rod Ends and Adjusting Sleeve and Damper Replacement
• Replace Oil Pan Gasket

 

[Gerty21]

First Project – Fixing the Won’t Start Issue

Initially thought it might be a pin actuator and/or ignition switch issue, so we tore into the steering column and replaced both. This was the first time my son had gotten to work on a car, but he’s handy and had already been helping me for several years with light electrical work, plumbing and carpentry, plus maintenance work on our power equipment. He pretty quickly took over and put everything back together with dad holding tools.

Turned out it was a bad starter, so bought a new one locally and turned him loose on Easter Sunday. My plan to get him interested in working on his own car was already paying off, the look of triumph when the engine fired up right away with the new starer was pretty fun to see.

This was him under her on Easter Sunday working on the starter after guests departed from brunch.



Also taught him how to drive stick that day. He picked it up pretty fast. Only minor arguing with dad when it stalled.

 

[Gerty21]

Next Project – Replace Tailgate Hinges

Splurged and bought the Morryde re-greasable ones. First 3 body bolts came off without issue, but the 4th was badly corroded and eventually the bolt head sheared off. This was our first tangle with rust, but I'm grateful it has the hex head bolts, not those accursed torx ones.

Took some doing but ultimately was able to drill out the broken bolt and salvage the threads on the nut welded on the frame to accept a new bolt. Harbor Freight left hand bits proved to be junk for this purpose, not sufficiently hard to drill into a grade 5 bolt.




New Tools Obtained:

• Left handed drill bits
• Hardened extractor bits (set of both)

(this was a kind of useless purchase, some harbor freight tools are fine, this one was a dud for hardened bolts, bits dulled quickly and had much more success with my more expensive regular right handed bits for drilling out the busted bolt)

 

[Gerty21]

Next Project – Ball Joints and Tie Rods

This was ultimately a successful project, but we encountered a combination of past sins and 19 years of road salt that made it harder than it could have been.

Ordered parts from RockAuto and prepped by watching videos, reading forums and upgrading tools to include a set of ½” wheel sockets (including 36mm one for the axle nuts) and an air impact wrench. Also finally mounted the air hose reel I’ve been meaning to get to for 6 months. My compressor is undersized for continuous use but fine for doing one wheel or axle nut at a time.

First big problem was encountered on the third hub bolt. We hit these earlier in the week with PB blaster, but should have splurged for Kroil and pre-emptively hit them all with heat.

The 13mm 12-point head was partially rounded off and corroded and we further rounded it off trying to turn it. Ended up hitting it with a torch, several more rounds of PB blaster and then bashing 12mm extractor socket onto the head then getting it to break free.

Hub bolts on second side were in worse shape and all three required bashing an extractor socket onto the bolt head, plus heat, but got all three off in under an hour.

Temporarily got stumped by the hubs being stuck to the knuckles but found a tip to wedge a 3” socket extension between the inner C and the u-joint yoke. That made both push out dead simple with the power steering assist.


Biggest hammer I have worked for the knuckles in 2 choked up taps (after 20+ hard whacks with a big framing hammer).

Rented a press from Advance that has the beveled adaptor and got all 4 ball joints out and new ones back in. Couple slight hiccups on the first side but the second side went quick. Wish we’d watched the BFH Garage video from hosejockey61 first, mostly was following a TRQ video that was not as descriptive on the tricky parts. Put on new knuckles and marveled at how much tighter their movement on the new ball joints was.





After getting the first side done and calling it a day, my son let slip at dinner that "dad was being an idiot with our jack today" in front of my dad. What he actually told me during the incident in question was "I f'ign told you not to use that block of wood on the jack and you did it anyway". No one was in any danger, but there was slight movement of vehicle and jack before it gently settled back on the stands. Being shamed for safety practices by a 17-year-old is embarrassing... Anyway, new 6 ton jack stands and a 3.5 ton jack showed up while I was at work the next day, so we now have more proper tools and supports than trolley jack and 2-1/4 ton stands we were using...

As part of the re-assembly, installed new hub bolts but went with hex head instead of the 12 pointers. Lots of antiseize too.

Moved on to the steering next. Cotter pins were all corroded to hell and hard to get out, but nothing too tough on getting the steering pieces disassembled. New damper didn’t want to fit, but kid took initiative, drove to grandpa’s to grab a file and got the bushing sleeve filed down to fit into the mounting bracket while I was at bowling league with my dad. I’d have used a grinder, but hand version worked.

Got everything put back together and dropped her off at buddy’s shop for an alignment.

New tools obtained:

• Walmart tool kit (SAE and Metric sockets, screwdriver set, ¼” and 3/8” ratchets) for kid to carry in Gerty
• Air impact wrench
• ½” Metric Impact socket set
• ½” metric axle/wheel socket set
• Metric bolt extractor socket set
• 22 MM Craftsman wrench (my set topped out at 20mm)
• New grease gun
• ½” Drive 24” Breaker Bar
• ½” Drive Torque Wrench
• 3.5 ton floor jack
• 6 ton jack stands (last two courtesy of grandpa)

 

[Gerty21]

Next Project – LED Headlights

This one should have been easy but…

Ordered a open-box return item - Raxiom brand from Extreme Terrain - listed as “very good” condition. Price was right at ½ off. Got them installed and only one worked. Diagnosed a bad ground on passenger side, which tracks with the high beam indicator intermittently coming on and off on the dash as noted the night I bought her and with the observation that one halogen light was dimmer. Re-did the grounds on both sides and replaced the original headlight plugs with new ceramic ones.

After wiring improvements, only one light worked on low, but both worked on high – swapped them and found that one of the lights was defective. Rather than messing with an RMA, ordered a new set of open box in “fair” condition and “water in one light” for $35. Finally ended up with two functioning headlights, plus new plugs.

Headlight aim was too high, so we were getting flashed a lot at night. Adjusters were stripped out so ordered and installed new headlight brackets from Amazon – bracket replacement took longer than it should have and involved the Dremel again to get the originals out, but ended up with nice bright, functional and properly adjusted headlights.

Dremel with fiber cutoff wheels has been a go-to tool, glad I finally upgraded to the EZ lock for those, way better than the tiny screw for quick change outs, but the wheels are WAY overpriced.



These are not high end lights, but these budget LEDs are a huge, huge improvement over the stock halogens. The high-beams are ridiculous.

 

[Gerty21]

Front and Rear Shocks

This project was a challenge, especially the rears.

Soaked all the bolts liberally in PB for a couple of days ahead of time, mounting bolts at bottom for the fronts came out easily. Top of passenger side came out without too much trouble beyond shredded knuckles from the underside of the fender, but nothing serious. Access for getting to the nuts on top of the shocks is pretty tight.

Driver side front was a giant pain the rear. Ultimately had to Dremel off the nut on the top of the shock to get it out. Got both new fronts in and called it a weekend.

(Shiny New Front Shock)

Rear shocks removal and replacement, specifically the upper bolts were terrible. Had read all about issues with these and figured they’d be a little tough. Sure enough, snapped 3 of the 4 bolts trying to unthread them and rounded off the 4th one. Resorted to knocking the welded nuts off the frame with a Dremel and air chisel. Cut a couple of windows in the tub to access them from above – that gave a few members here much heartburn when posted on “What did you do to your TJ Today”. But we’d do it again for ease of bolting everything back up in our particular situation.


Chiseled out Nuts (and antiseize coated hand)


(Window cut into tub after cleanup and rust reformer)

For installing new rear shock mounting hardware at the top, tried two different things:

• Pin flag (for a Cherokee, but usable on a TJ) with bolts facing up.
• Dropping in bolts from the top with a washer and using nuts on the bottom to secure the shock.

Thought the pin flag would be easier but it wasn’t a good solution. The flag end needs to be bent slightly to fit which isn’t a big deal, but getting the welded nuts lined up on both sides to get the bolt to engage from the bottom was tricky – there’s very little room to work on the underside. Also, the pin flag (from Amazon) was a cheap Chinese product with nuts of questionable quality and SAE threads – using a grade 5 bolt one side got slightly cross threaded – was able to chase the threads back to normal with a tap, but don’t like how soft the nuts are – worried about deformation when hitting torque spec.

Pin Flag (passenger side)

Using metric grade 8.8 bolts of the same length as the originals, just flipped upside down with the nuts against the shock worked better. Stubby wrench inserted through the window at the top to hold the bolts while tightening the nuts from the bottom was a 2-person job, but only took a few minutes. Long term am worried about ovaling out the holes in the cross member, will address that at a later date.

Bolts dropped in from top (driver side)

Wired brushed the whole shock mounting area from the top and bottom and sprayed down everything with rust reformer. Still need to put in patch plates, windows cut in the tub are currently covered with carpet.

New Tools:

• 90 Degree Dremel drive
• Air hammer and chisels

If I did these all over again, would have used Kroil instead of PB blaster and hit the bolts multiple times with a torch. Probably still would have broken them, but maybe not. Hard to win that battle with 19 years of road salt and dust getting flung up at the mounting bolts. Trying to slightly tighten, then slightly loosen to work them free is easier said than done, the bolt heads are not easy to get a ratchet on in the first place, especially with the Jeep just on jack stands. A lift would be nice for these, but even then, they're hard to get at and in an area that gets super crusty from the rear tires.

 

[Gerty21]

Unplanned Rear Brakes

Gertrude started having a problem with rear brake lockup right before Memorial Day weekend . At low speeds one wheel would lock and then make a clunking/clanging noise. Driver side shoe was sticking causing the lockup and the noise was the shoe coming unstuck and snapping back into place. Wheel cylinder was blown and squirting fluid inside the drum plus not retracting right away.

This one went ok, but drum brakes make us wish we each had 3 hands. Whoever did the last job on these was retarded also. Neither of the adjuster cables was installed correctly; one appears to have been left unhooked, the other was not routed around the guide so neither adjusting lever was engaging the star. One side was completely missing the brake shoe guide too, that side had a pretty good furrow cut in the drum and drum had to be persuaded off with a 3 lb hammer.

Tech probably slapped them back together figuring it'd be fine since the front discs do the heavy lifting, but that's some lazy BS. Explains why the e-brake worked not at all.

Ending up replacing the hard lines from the distribution block to the wheel cylinders after breaking a line at the wheel cylinder unthreading the flare fitting. Removal at the distribution block involved a torch, much Kroil, the Dremel and an extractor socket. Flare wrench just didn’t have the angle and leverage, plus we botched it all up with vice grips...

With the shoes, springs and drums and brake lines all back together, found one of the new wheel cylinders was bad while bleeding. Fortunately not the side we were bleeding at the time, so didn’t get doused in brake fluid but had to disassemble springs again to get the cylinder out and a replacement back in.

Also replaced the cable adjuster from the e-brake, since the original was rusted badly and the nut was unmovable. The kid more or less did that one by himself, dad was tired of laying/crouching under the Jeep to get to the brake lines. Lift would be nice...

New tools

• Tubing bender
• 3/16” double flare tool
• Kroil (technical a supply, but a can of it costs like $30)

 

[Gerty21]

Front Axle Seals

Planned on tackling this one earlier but rear brake rehab intervened.

This was the last of the mechanic recommended projects from Gerty's original once-over at my buddy's shop.

Originally thought of not doing this one and having the shop do it, but having spent 5 or 6 weekends and assorted weeknights on other projects, seal replacement was less daunting.

Pulling wheels/brake calipers/hub bolts and pulling out each axle was way easier after the work done on the ball joints and the liberal use of antiseize on the hub bolts. Started this on a Saturday afternoon and got both sides disassembled, the differential housing cover off, the carrier popped out and the old seals

As posted on What did you do to your TJ Today thread, made liberal use of the forum ahead of and during this project. Differential cover felt like it was welded to the case and flathead screw driver did not make any headway in separating the two. Smacking the cover up and to the left with a hammer loosened it in 4 whacks from the 17-year-old - Mr. Blaine tip posted on a thread a few years ago. Also used BFH Garage video tip of spinning the pinon with a wrench on a ring gear bolt to walk the carrier out, after unsuccessfully trying to pry it out with a bar.


Differential mid-disassembly


Carrier, cover, axles waiting to be scrubbed down

Seal removal on driver side using a jack handle, used a old bird feeder pole on the passenger side because jack handle wasn't long enough.

Sunday morning gave everything a good cleaning with brake cleaner and nylon brush to clean off the axle splines and carrier gearing. Everything was coated in nasty old differential fluid and grit. Also rigged up a toilet bowl brush to an old broom handle to scrub out the axle tubes - kind of like cleaning a big shotgun barrel and then using a shop towel soaked in brake cleaner as a patch.

Used a seal press tool sourced from Amazon. This made me and the 17-year-old more comfortable than hammering the seals in.

Used a dead blow to re-seat the carrier/bearings in the housing.

While putting the cover back in, ran into a small hiccup. Broke the first differential cover bolt while torquing. These were new grade 8 bolts from Region Offroad, thinking it was operator error of trying to follow the 30 ft-pound torque spec on a small bolt. Thought it was going to be hours of drilling to extract the bolt fragment but there was enough left to work it out with vice grips. Backed off to 20 ft-lbs on the rest of the bolts and no others broke.


Re-filling differential with new gear oil

Drained less than a quart of old differential fluid and pumped in almost 2 quarts of fresh. Used Lucas 80W-90 gear oil. Suspect the front differential fluid and seals were factory original, but carrier gearing, pinion gear an splines all looked pretty good. Gerty's been abused with salt roads, but don't think previous owners did much extreme wheeling with her.

Tested out 4WD High after getting everything put back together, no issues encountered. Kid told his buddy "4WD has been unlocked".



New tools and Parts

• Seal Press tool
• Spicer axle seals
• Manual fluid pump
• Lubelocker differential gasket
• Region Offroad differential bolts

This project was the deepest I've been into a vehicle since working on a friend's CJ-7 in high school. Starting to think about making a significant investment (time and money) into Gerty by doing a frame swap down the road. The kid and I both like working on her. My 82 year old dad is getting a kick out of hearing about the projects his grandson and I have been tackling. Wife kind of rolls her eyes at the expenses and gets very pissy about any greasy handprints inside the house, but sees how much the kid is enjoying this stuff.