cranesrule

Installed my Rusty's diff guards today. They are very nice, beefy guards and are nicely powdercoated. The rear went on easy, without breaking the rtv seal in the process. The front started to leak a little when I removed the bolts, so it got an extra fluid change and a fresh rtv seal.

cranesrule

Installed a Fram Sure Drain today in preparation for armoring up. Got my Rusty's engine/tranny skid and transfer case skid in, and this should make it MUCH easier to change the oil without dropping that 50 lb monster every time.

cranesrule

Installed my Rusty's engine/tranny and transfer case skids today along with a Mopar gas tank skid.

Install was a bit of a fight on all three but the gas tank skid was by far the worst. If you don't have a good floor jack and air tools you will be miserable installing these.

First off on the engine/tranny skid, when you install the crossmember be sure it angles up toward the rear a bit... The tranny crossmember is a bit higher. Mine was not angled properly so I needed to really jack up the rear of the plate to get it flush.

On the transfer case skid, install was fairly smooth other than needing to drill a new hole in the skid... None of the three holes on the passenger side allowed a clear path for the bolt to stick through the crossmember. I drilled so the bolt would protrude between the exhaust hanger and tranny mount.

The gas tank skid was a damn nightmare. First off, I bought a funky old piece off of eBay for cheap, so it was absolutely filthy when I got it. Degreaser, scrubbing, and finally scraping the 20 yrs of grease off of it got it clean enough to shoot with bedliner. Install required removing the exhaust hanger (nightmare), trimming the stock plastic skid, and beating the damn thing into shape to make it fit.

The bolt holes simply did not want to line up. My aftermarket rear bumper has nut strips that use the rear three holes in the frame... The tank skid uses the third and fourth holes. So, the skid was installed with one bolt in the rear hole going into the nut strip and two big *** self tapping screws into the frame per side.

Overall I feel like the Jeep is very well protected now. The combination of the two Rusty's skids basically makes a belly pan from the front of the oil pan all the way to the rear of the transfer case. Though the install was a huge pain in the ***, the skids are very high quality and should protect against anything short of a landmine.

jruth

Nice write-up

cranesrule

Some better pics from under the Jeep...

Chris01XJ

Hey, saw you re-did your headliner, mine looks just like yours before you took care of it. Where did you get your fabric and how much did it cost to do all said and done? Bout how long did it take you?

cranesrule

I got my material from a local upholstery supply house. About $40 for 2 1/2 yards of excellent quality stuff. Glue was $9 a can , needed 3 cans. BTW, using the Super 77 was probably not the best idea... I am starting to get some sag, so it looks like I will be redoing it soon. Overall about an hour to pull the trim and then another hour of prep and application time. Then you also spend time waiting for your coats of glue to tack up.

cranesrule

Installed my CB today, along with a mount/antenna package from 98Plum of this site. It's a Cobra 19DXIV I picked up off eBay. I mounted it on the p***enger side of the center console, and ran a PA speaker mounted up under the hood as well.

cranesrule

Wheeled at Superlift ORV Park in Hot Springs yesterday. Real nice park with tons of trails. Even got to try out the winch!

cranesrule

My CPS started to crap out on the trail, stalled me out once and wouldn't restart til it cooled. Had a hot start issue in the parking lot as well when I stopped to air up before heading home, cranked like crazy but no fire til I let it sit about 10 minutes. Went to the dealer today and got a new one, $74, and my shop quoted 1/2hr labor to put it in! So they're getting $37.50 from me and I'm not fighting to swap it out!

cranesrule

Checked with the dealer today and found out that I have the 29 spline 8.25 in my '96! It was manufactured in August of '96, which is why I have mostly '97+ parts.

cranesrule

Tire rotation and balance and new crank sensor yesterday... Hood vents today!
https://www.cherokeeforum.com/f67/hood-vents-141016/

cranesrule

Did this today.... Awesome!
https://www.cherokeeforum.com/f2/free-quick-fix-41821/

anothadayridin

U got a lot of money. In that

cranesrule

Lost the alternator on the way to work yesterday morning. Did 46 miles total on battery only. Replacement coming soon!