Started off first doing an optima red top battery. This took a good 30 minutes longer then it should of because there was acid ever where and I wanted to paint a few areas.

Next I did the valve cover gasket. I bought the expensive rubber gasket from felpro and it looked like a really nice piece going in.



next I changed the rear diff fluid and put a new mopar cover on it because the old one was leaky and rusted up badly. I filled her with 75w90 mobil 1 gear oil and was off to the front diff.



The front diff was leaking from its pinion seal so I bought a new one of those online.

I pulled the diff cover drained all the old fluid, cleaned up the cover Nd the diff and slapped some rtv on between the two and sealed her up.

next I had to pull the drive shaft going to the front diff. I undid that and the 14yr old rust was working against me to get the shaft off the yoke. got the shaft off the diff side, now I played a 30 minute game of getting the pinion nut off that must of been torqued down to 800lb ft lol. finally got that off and spent another 30 minutes batteling the pinion seal of death! I was cursing and all I kept thinking was wtf am I going to do if I can't get this seal out lol as it was mashed up to sht now because I was prying the crap out of it finally the bastrd came out . put the new seal in buttoned everything up and filled uP the rear diff with gear oil.

tomorrow is phase 2 which should be a little easier, I plan on doing a oil change and filter, flush the coolant system, change the transfer case atf fluid and do a little painting. going to kill off the ugly faded side moldings and paint the fender flares with plasti dip.. also just saw that my new JVC radio is scheduled for tomorrow too. going to pair that up with a kicker 4 channel amp I have hanging around and some kicker speakers.

Next step is a budget boost, front tints and a sub.. then that should complete my daily driver so I can start putting money into my mustang again lol


sorry I didn't have more pictures my hands are still black. lol

 

Do yourself a favor and stay away from BUdget Boosts. Unless you have newer leafs extended shackles will wear out the leafs fast and sometimes same with Add-A-Leaf. I suggest doing a Bastard Pack Budget Lift and new coil springs

 

yeah I acutally need new leaf packs, mine are sagging somewhat, not dramatically yet but when I put my home made MDF sub box in the back it should put some extra weight back there so I am going to need to do something.. I wasn't planning on doing a AAL. We shall see when the time comes. personally I really dont want to go over 3"s.. I'd like to have a nice 2" lift but still have coils and new leaf packs but I really dont want to spend crazy $$ on it. My buddy did a bastard pack on his Xj, so ill have to hit the junk yard with him and have him show me how to go about it.

 

Staying at 2-3" is perfectly fine. A bastard pack will do just that and still get you good flex and work like leaf springs are suppose to work. You can find many write ups on here. As for coils I think you should try and get new coils before the budget boost.

I'll tell you why I'm saying all this. I have an 01 that I did a budget boost with puck upfront and longer shackles at back. The ride sucks and my leafs are frowning. I'm finally getting new leafs from GeneralSpringKC.com and get 3" coils somewhat from someone in my club to help smooth my ride out some.

Good luck and that was some good maintenance you did. Eventually I need to do a good days work like that

 

Sorry to hijack, but do you know if using front coil springs from a rubicon will lift an xj at all or are they shorter

 

My question is... why did you go with a red top? Do you really need 1000 CCAs?

 

Reason I got it was because I plan on doing the stereo up nicely in this truck, I know these xj's dont have the best electrical system to start with so hopefully the battery helps me out. I'll be doing the big 3 upgrade as well to try and keep up as much voltage as I can.

3 cars ago, lol 98 winstar I had a 300amp altenator with 2 batterys and 2 15" Kicker L7s 2000wrms and a beautiful 4 channel amp and when bass hit the lights wouldn't dim. Voltage drops are bad and although I dont plan on going nearly as nutty with my XJ, I want her to maintain some good power, hoping I dont have to upgrade the alternator, but most likely I will because these thing are really low rated. I also want to get a roof rack down the line and put some lights on it for when I go out in the pine barrens. So its just a future investment.

 

For good constant power, i would have gone with a yellow top. But thats me. CCA wont help with high power demand. You need to get your hands on a grand cherokee 136 amp alternator.

And besides, if you do say, accidentally leave your lights on, your redtop wont like it. You will have to charge it with another battery in parallel. And it only takes about 2-3 complete discharges before a red top is toast. Another reason i went with a yellow top, its a semi hybrid deep cycle battery.

Just some tid bits of info i think are useful.

 

see I had a yellow top a while back but I heard they have lost their quality lately and it scared me a little so I went with a red. Idk regardless its a good battery I probably should of got the yellow but its to late for that lol

 

You live and learn. I used to have a red top. And it failed me because the battery had been ran down too much. So i did some research, and went with a yellow. But this was over the course of a month. Im the kind of guy to research the crap out of something, but forget about it and do it all over again a month later.

 

Not fully sure ask in the 'ask a question' thread brother

 

I have a yellow top and got it cause I heard its good for high demand. Well see what happens had mine for almost a year but haven't setup my aux lighting yet to find out

 

yesterday the rain killed me, but I got my side molding glue fully off. installed my new jvc radio and ran some wires for my 4 channel amp.... Jesus is all I can say after truing to run speak wire through the rubber loom that goes from the door to the body of the car. and I fixed my driver door lock because it wouldn't lock with the remote or the power locks for that matter.

 

My last red top lasted close to six years through some of the worst winters here in new Jersey. Never let me down even with the XJ sitting outside all year around and only used in bad weather. Aside from old age, what finally killed it was my wife leaving the dome light on for almost a week. Just wouldn't hold charge after that...

 

good to know for sure. my engine seems to idle and start up much smoother with this battery. it Deff has some more juice then the old duralast that was in it