rgs80074

Hello Everyone,

as the title suggested i watched a good number of videos prior to attempting these repairs. Partially due to the fact I have a good number of repairs to do on two vehicles.

Watched many videos and their repairs just always seemed to go so easy and fast, perhaps they skip the tedious parts and such.

The plan was since I am off work for a few days was to start the repairs saturday but I needed a day to just compress after so many days working so plans changed to getting up 8am sunday morning and working until 11 or noon when it got hot and the weather had rain chances and i'd nap and get back up around 4 for another couple of hours.

well work called at 1230am for me to come in so that threw a big monkey wrench into it but I still started around 830.

Work that needs to be done

oil change
radiator flush
radiator hoses replacements
power steering pump replacement
serpentine belt replacement
transmission gasket and filter replacement
headlight, corner light, etc replacement since the parts came in


Well all started easy enough

started the oil changed decided to let it drain for a good while while i did other work.

getting the belt off and power steering pump has been a huge pain in the butt.

removed the air filter and housing to gain more room.

ran to harbor freight and bought some extensions for my sockets (that did help).

those bolts from the pump just seem to take forever in a day to remove.


so what i accomplished so far was

drain the oil ( have not refilled it), think I determined my oil leak was either a bad oil filter or the adapter itself, good news doe snot seem to appear to be a rear main seal.

have the air filter and housed off

drained the radiator (it was just water and some of it nasty looking)

got the power steering pump and belt off.


but damn why do they make the hoses so hard to get off. it was next to impossible to even get to the lower hoses hose clamp on the bottom, after about 10 mins I finally got it off.

nice both clamps are off but I can not pull the hoses off for the life of me, there's got to be some easier way, last time on my hold jeep I pulled my back using brute force.

so whats left yet


get the hoses off
put the power steering pump (new one) on
put on belt
replace hoses
put everything else back on
remove transmission gasket and filter
headlights
remove passenger seat
remove blower house or what it is from under the dash so I can get to the drain line to clean it
fix hacked job wiring for aftermarket blower
fill liquids (oil, transfluid, power steering fluid, coolant, etc)

take pictures of upper and lower control arms for opinions


then when all this is done

do mostly the same work again on a dodge ram van, its got a bad power steering pump, water leak (by pass hose we think, its not the water pump), transmission gasket and filter and lines (they all are leaking), radiator flush and hoses, belt. seems like the same thing again. hopefully I have learned enough or will on my jeep that it goes quicker.

right now though I am stuck on how to get those darn hoses off.

Ryan out for a nap.

Jimbo Slice

For radiator hoses I used the biggest screwdriver I could find and pried between the end of the hose and the motor.

Work side to side. Once it breaks loose it will come off easy enough. If you plan on replacing them with new hoses, go ahead and use a large set of vise grips or equivalent to grip them and pull.

Wiggle wiggle wiggle... they will come loose.

Good luck.

Crazy 8s

The videos are edited to keep them short enough to hold the average viewer's attention now that TV and the radio have trained us not to pay attention to anything for longer than a minute or so. Their screw ups are usually left out too. A lot of the folks making the vids have decent workspace and toolsets, and sometimes they even have some experience and can get things done quicker.

Wearing gloves will result in less swearing...

BrawnyDog

This.
Plus nobody is going to post a video that makes them look incompetent.
Well, except for heap of jeep

HEAP of JEEP

The truth shall set you free!!!! LOL Hopefully I'm getting less incompetent as I go along, but one thing is for sure... I don't sugar coat my nightmares... They should be good for a laugh, at least.

BrawnyDog

Oh snap . . .
Hey bro you need to post a door check video. I just replaced mine and could have used your trial and error knowledge. They surely didn't design the doors for easily replacing the check.

Klutch

Yeah, there's almost always something that goes wrong and adds hours to the job. I recently replaced my power steering pump. I rented the right tool to remove the old pulley. I installed it correctly. I carefully and slowly turned the bolt to remove the pulley. The pulley didn't move. The metal ring on the end just broke into pieces.


I was so furious I was ready set something on fire! I did everything right and failed. In the end, I bought a new pulley and sent the core back with the metal insert from the old pulley still on the shaft. Dollars to doughnuts, the rebuild shop gets a LOT of pumps just like this!

JamromXJ

That and if you know you are replacing them.... and you have the replacement in your possession... take a box cutter razor and make a slit in the hose to allow it to be pried off easier. Toss old hose.

Bocefus

You can just cut a slit down the hose with a knife to aid in removing it.

Larry's XJ

If I made vids, they'd all be under comedy or horror.

rgs80074

well guys I am still working on the jeep. Yesterday was a no go on any work.

Manage to do some today, all these dr appointment and such really tear into the time.

Well I cut the hose and it more or less came right off, the bottom which i thought would be a real nightmare when I got underneath was already off.

the upper hose posed a problem thought. the one side came off with no problem, the other I don't have anything big enough to clamp down on the clamp, so I guess I have to go buy another vice grips.

Why oh why don't they make drain plugs for the trans pan. Looking at manuals its suggested to replace the fluid and filter like every 45k miles you'd think that would warrant a plug. Well I also noticed that I was missing a bolt from the pan. Wonder If I had a transmission leak even if small and didn't know it, so have to get that replaced.

Also my oil leak I can't tell if its the adapter (not even sure how to remove it) or the filter itself. It appeared as if oil seeped out of its seal on the filter itself. Guess i'll leave on the adapter and just keep an eye on it and see what happens.

So tomorrow's tasks before court is to

install the transmission filter, gasket and pan

install the oil plug and filter (don't laugh I once forgot to put the plug back in and wasted about 20 bucks of amzoil all over the ground)

put on the radiator hoses

put back on the pump and belt

put back on the other little things i took off

put in the fluids (oil, transmission, coolant)

back off ramps

top off oil and coolant
run to running temp and top off trans fluid


then I can work on a few of the inside things

passenger seat and under the passenger dash for rewiring the aftermarket (i guess) blower motor and seeing if i can remove the one part to get to the drain line to solve the marsh problem in my front floor board.

what I don't get done on thursday I hope to wrap up friday and other little things such as headlights, taillights, back lifts, etc.

once all this is done my jeep will only have a couple of things left to do (figure out the door locking issue) and headlight switch which can wait till after the van repairs

which are about the same as the jeeps, transmission lines, gasket, filter,belt, power steering pump, radiator hoses, etc.

ryan

extrashaky

One thing to remember is that for a lot of those videos, the guy doing it has done that same repair multiple times before. What takes you all day the first time might take an hour after you have done it three times, because you already know what to expect.

The right tool makes the job easier. I prefer to use a hose hook:



You simply slip the pointed end under the edge of the hose and work it around to break the seal. Then you can work the hose back and forth while pulling with the hook. You can get these for $7 at Sears. I think Harbor Freight sells them also in the automotive aisle.

It's a lot easier to use than a screwdriver, especially on the bottom where a screwdriver might not fit.

Here again, use the right tool for the job. If you're going to have a late model Cherokee with the spring hose clamps, you need hose clamp pliers:



The end of that cable slips over the hose clamp tabs. Then you squeeze. It opens right up. Sears usually has these in stock in the stores. It's not a cheap item, but once you have it you will strike yourself about the head for not buying one sooner.