Finally washed the Tahuya mud off in preparation for the Elbe mud

 

Pulled some stumps out of my yard with it

 

Looks like you may need to adjust those new control arms, the front wheels are looking a little too far back.

 

I think its just the angle of the pic. I have them set a little longer than all of the recommended lengths for 4.5" lifts I could find online, there about 16 5/8" long. If you want to check them out Saturday at Elbe, I'm always open to suggestions.

 

Yeah no worries. I had to readjust mine after setting them to spec length for my lift. It's probably just the angle of the photo like you said. Thought I'd mention it now just to be sure, rather than say something when we're already on the trail. Your jeeps looking great tho, and I'm definitely looking forward to meeting everyone this weekend.

 

I finished up putting the Drop Brackets on my Jeep Friday night. I really like the way it rides on the road, now. It just kinda rolls over the bumps now instead of every bump being a kidney jarring thing like before. I'm really looking forward to Elbe even more now so I can see how much better it flexes.

 

Saturday I started out with Bleeding the brakes really good. We discovered that the Master Cylinder was bad. I called all over town and nobody had one in stock so, I will be replacing it today after work.

The next order of business was swapping out the leaking Heater Control Valve. I didn't take any pictures of that because I've had to do it so many times and it is a quick simple uneventful job. Anybody who has a 91-95 XJ knows exactly what I'm talking about. This thing controls the flow of hot water from the engine block to the heater core. If it doesn't work you get no heat. If it startes leaking you get an overheated engine. It's made of plastic so it just doesn't last more than a couple of years. I really wish the after market would come up with a version of this thing that is made of metal.

 

The third and final order of business was addressing my poor abused AW4 automatic transmission. I have owned this Jeep for 7 years and I have never done a fluid and filter change on it. I also acquired an external transmission cooler from an XJ with the trailering package awhile back that I have just been holding onto and have wanted to get put in. I did a little research online and found out if you just drain the pan in an AW4 all you get is about half of the old nasty fluid out. You can do what I call a "Poor Man's Flush" on the AW4. You start by draining all of the nasty fluid out of the pan. Then, you add 4 quarts of freash fluid through the dipstick tube. Next, you disconnect the return tranny fluid cooler line at the tranny and put a length of rubber hose on it and into a bucket. Next, you start the motor and let it run until the flow of fluid starts to sputter and stop. Repeat this several times or until the flow of fluid is a clean nice red color. Then, I went ahead a drained the pan again and removed it so I could clean it out and install a new trany filter. There was surprisingly little metal shavings in the pan and on the magnets. I installed the new filter, installed the tranny pan with new filter and then filled the tranny with fresh fluid. Okay, there are 2 unexpected things you will have to address when doing this job. The 1st is when you disconnect the tranny cooler return line at the tranny. It is one of those plastic quick disconnects just like the one at the fuel injection rail. Unless you have had that line out recently it will break into a hundred pieces as you remove the line. I bought a package of the little plastic quick disconnect things at the local auto parts store for a couple of bucks. Very inexpensive but you will not get the line to lock back in unless the original is intact or you buy a new one. The 2nd issue is that the tranny dipstick tube goes right into the side of the pan and you will not get it down until you get the dipstick tube apart at the quick disconnect that is about 6 inches above the pan. It is supposed to pop right apart but, like everything else on a tranny thats had no love in a long time mine was kind of a pain. After I finished putting the pan and cooler line back together at the tranny. Then, I installed my tranny cooler. It was a little bit of a chore as I have a winch and aftermarket bumper but I finally squeezed it in the right in the middle at the bottom of my grill in front of the radiator where it belongs. Then, it was just a matter of cutting into the tranny cooler return line and plumbing the external cooler inline with it. So, now my tranny fluid goes into the radiator cooler and the external cooler before returning to the transmission.

 

Shiny

 

Yeah, Surprisingly, it was still in very good shape. I have to say Toyota makes some good rugged parts.

 

ac to oba conversion 90% done yesterday. will finish today and post some pics of it! im excited to have air!

 

Installed some 2 degree shims in the rear in hopes of eliminating the vibes at + 60 mph. It seems to have helped a bit, so I'm thinking the driveshaft might need to be rebalanced.

 

i switched out my front springs for the Rusty's 8.5" springs, sits about 1" taller in front for about 7" of lift now, and i put on the Rough Country Shackle relocation brackets. rides pretty good now. springs are a little stiff up front, but they have less then 100 miles on them right now

 

Sold mine only to buy another. For now i am a ten speed driver.

 

Took the old rear end out