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Operation Jeep Teach Me

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Old 08-18-2011, 10:13 PM
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Talking Operation Jeep Teach Me

So I finally got around to making a build-thread!

I got my Green 1996 XJ Sport with about 160K on the odometer in Rutland, Vermont back in the summer of 2008.

I lived in central VT at that time, and had been driving a 99 Ford Ranger up until then. My Ford Ranger was definitely built by Satan himself and sent to this Earth to torment Mankind, me in particular. I had spent $14,000 on that POS in the 4 years I had owned it, and I finally called it quits when the frame broke in 3 places over the rear axle, mainly from road salt and the resulting rust/rot. When it decided to break on me, I was 2 weeks away from moving 2000 miles to Colorado. Needless to say, I was hard-up for a vehicle to haul my dog, myself and all my crap across this nation! After a week of finding nothing but rusty, coolant-puking subarus and exploders, I told the guy who had just recently passed my Ford on inspection that he owed me big time. His response was "I'll sell ya my jeep for $3000." I said lemme see it, and my jaw nearly dropped when I saw the spankin new Mickey Thompson wheels and tires he had just put on it. He had somehow acquired it from a kid who had just put a 3.5" Tuff Country block & coil lift on it. So that is how I got it. I then drove it for a week, loaded all my crap into/on it and drove the 2000 miles to Winter Park, CO. It made it without any problems!!! This is how I re-kindled the love of Jeeps I had acquired back at the age of about 12 when I learned how to drive in a 1979 Wagoneer fullsize!

There will be lots of pics in the near future, as I add to this thread - I promise!!!
First Colorado snow! (still have VT tags)
Now I'm in Colorado, and I had no idea what condition anything was in as far as fluids, seals, wiring, or anything else in the XJ. First thing I did after getting to CO was to have a shop change the fluid and filter on the transmission. Ran perfect for about a year, then I drove to Moab to ride my bike and realized I should have gone to play in the Jeep! I needed more stuff though, like a compressor, a spare tire, recovery gear, knowledge, tools, and just about everything else except the Jeep itself. hehe


Near the end of the first winter here in CO, my starter died, but I did not have the knowledge or skills to know what my problem was, so I had it towed to a shop. They happily fixed it for me... and then tried to charge me $475 for the job!!! I laughed in their face and asked what jeweler they got their parts from because I expect nothing less than 24K gold at that price! I at least knew what a starter cost and how long it takes to replace one. After some heated negotiations, they realized they weren't gonna get that outta me. I think I paid about $320 which I know is still a rip but at least they gave me back my jeep then. This was the monumental deciding point in my life - "**** THOSE ********, NO ONE'S EVER TOUCHING MY JEEP AGAIN EXCEPT ME!!!" ...that was 2 years ago and still no one has touched it besides me.

So I bought me some Craftsman sets and a BFH and a can of PB Blaster. This leads me to the list of things I've done since then (in order of completion, not including general maintenance & tune-up like plugs,wires,oil,etc.):
1. Replace bent stock sway bar end links with extended links of correct length for 3-4in lift & installed Procomp 2000 steering stabilizer (stock one was puking).
2. Cleaned throttle body and IAC.
3. Found IAC faulty, replaced.
4. Replaced heater hoses and heater control valve to eliminate a slow coolant leak from around the valve.
5. Removed Valve Cover, replaced CCV grommets, elbows and lines, installed new felpro valve cover gasket, painted valve cover with hi-temp Hot Rod green paint and re-installed. (5 months, no leaky...)

6. Cut out leaky section of Transmission Cooler line and replace with extended (out of the way more) rubber line by flaring the hard line where I cut it and using screw-type hose clamps. (4+ months and no leaky...)

7. Repair broken speaker wires everywhere, literally all 4 speakers went at once somehow?
8. install white LED dome light panels with the new SMD LED panels - those things are awesome! Super bright at night!
9. install green SMD LED panels in footwells, spliced to door/courtesy lights. You can also see in this pic the switch I installed to control my next mod...

10. Installed 55w halogen backup lights inside the factory rear bumper. I cut out and drilled the stock bumper to hide and protect my super skinny backup lights! Wired with fuse and relay to blue switch seen in previous pic. SO much easier to see through the dark tinted window when reversing at night now!!!

11. At some point, I forget when, I replaced fluid in both differentials and painted the covers flat black. Almost consider that general maint. though.
12. Put my CF sticker on the Jeep finally! YAY CF!!!

13. Replaced front brake rotors and pads. Using Brembo OEM-style solid rotors and EBC Green Stuff pads. So far they're awesome, but now I can feel one of my calipers sticking, so gonna have to do them soon too. Also, found a stripped hole & no bolt on the passenger side lower caliper mounting!!! EEEKK!!! Heli-mo-coiled that and it's holding up fine!

14. Replaced wheel bearing units on both fronts, checked my U-joints - looked like crap but no play and nice n smooth, so kept the new ones in the box for spares..

15. Took dash apart, replaced the 15 million screws that were somehow vanished & gone with SS hardware from ACE. Now there's way less rattling goin on up there!!! (almost everything under the trim was missing at least one screw!)

...the list is not over, more things I've done but not listed to come...

Last edited by Potatowalker; 08-18-2011 at 11:15 PM. Reason: pics
Old 08-18-2011, 11:27 PM
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So here's a pic of the white dome light. It's seriously about 10 times as bright as the incandescent bulb it replaced!


16. Took dash apart again and replaced all the gauge and control bulbs with green LEDs. The shifter and TC lever, and heater controls are also green LED lit now too but the pics of those didn't come out too well with my phone's camera. The green is nice and crisp and bright on all but the heater control which is just a little dim. It's better than the expired incandescent which left them invisibly dark at night though!


17. Took rear speaker bar apart to repair metal roof bracket that had vibrated off on stupid washboard dirt roads! (Used hi-temp red RTV - i'm calling it an experiment.)
18. Finally got around to taking off the oil filter adapter and replacing the 3 o-rings, know to many dealership employees as "The Trifecta". Used a T60 Torx L-wrench, like an allen key only torx. Got a 2ft piece of 1/2" steel plumbing pipe to use as a breaker bar on the Torx and it worked wonderfully! (had to take starter off, but that made it cake!)

At one point I referred to my Jeep as "Leaking Rainbows" because it had one red leak, one yellow leak, and two brown leaks. I think after fix/mod#18 I am no longer leaking anything! WOO HOO!!!!
Old 08-18-2011, 11:42 PM
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very nice. it is great doing it yourself.
got a part # or type of bulb you used for the dash and the overhead?
Old 08-19-2011, 12:07 AM
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Originally Posted by Scott_Sport99
very nice. it is great doing it yourself.
got a part # or type of bulb you used for the dash and the overhead?
Thanks! I had never really worked on vehicles before this one. I can definitely appreciate the XJ's relative simplicity and smart design!

LED bulbs for dome, in dash and shifters:
Most bulb sockets will accept the T10 type or #194 bulb. The few that don't are in the heater controls and the switch icons like the rear wiper and I think those are a T5 or #74 type bulb. They make LEDs for those too. For areas where you want a real bright light, like the footwells or dome lights, the SMD LED panels are amazing! I've tried a bunch of different ones and they are all sweet. They are a flat panel with a bunch of flat superbright LEDs on them that come in a bunch of different colors. They have adapters so you can connect them to T10, festoon, and BA9 usually. You can find them with adapters to fit BA15 type sockets too. I didn't like the connection in my dome light so I cut off the adapter and soldered it on there with the little disconnect still in the middle. It hasn't come loose yet but you can still easily take it out. Sometimes you have to play with a roll of 3M 2sided foam tape to get it to stay stuck in the dome lights though!

These links are examples but I'm pretty sure the size of the white SMD panel is right for the XJ dome lights, the green panels I used in my footwells.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/LED-S...item27bb8ac3e6

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Car-I...item3f0c849c36

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/5pc-T...item25626177bc

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/_W0QQ...KQ3aMEWNXQ3aIT

Last edited by Potatowalker; 08-19-2011 at 12:33 AM. Reason: detail
Old 08-19-2011, 12:44 AM
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I think it was the same day I did the backup lights I replaced the factory fogs on the front...

19. Replaced destroyed factory fogs on front bumper with "Mopar" covered 55w fogs. The covers flip up and kinda stick up. I don't think the covers are gonna last long... Couldn't resist these for $25 I think they were? Plus I think all the parts bags with the Mopar logo I've torn open lately were getting to my head. The mount bracket is a nice metal one though, compared to the flimsy, broken plastic one that was on there before. My brother says I should make 'em say "Moparts" - and I still might do just that...
Old 08-19-2011, 01:05 AM
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Really awesome looking Jeep man, love the rims and tires and especially the interior mods so far, I'm a sucker for cool interior stuff lol. I just started my Jeep build a few days ago and stuff is slowly coming along, hopefully I can get mine looking half as awesome as yours lol.

Here's my build thread.
https://www.cherokeeforum.com/f46/bu...-build-100742/
Old 08-24-2011, 03:08 PM
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Default so far, so good...

It's been a week now since I replaced the oil filter adapter o-rings. It would seem that was my final leak repaired! It hasn't dripped a drop even once in the last week, which is the first week I can say that in the 3 years I've owned it! I'm almost ready to claim Victory #1, but I think I'll wait another week or two... I have no idea of the history of my rear main seal and am scared what the back-to-normal oil pressure may do after a few weeks... but I'm still happy to see no drip for the first time, short-lived though it may be!

(Victory #2 will be solving the mysterious high voltage readings in the voltmeter gauge which seem to come and go... and upgrading my wiring in the process...)
Old 09-01-2011, 10:49 AM
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Pretty sure the Oil Filter Adapter O-ring leak was killing my starters. I went through one per year while I had the leak. Now that I fixed the leak, my starter died - think it was all crusty inside and just dried out and died. It got slower and slower then just wouldn't start at all. Replaced it and now it's fine... lets hope I'm done with annual starters!
Old 09-16-2011, 10:37 AM
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It's been a month now and still not a single leak! The new starter is still nice and clean and strong too!

20. Finally got around to replacing my fuel pump/sending unit assembly. I got a new lock ring and new o-ring and was glad I did! I probably could have gotten away with using the old o-ring, but that's about it! I'm glad I got the whole assembly instead of just doing the pump itself - look at the difference in color alone! Jeep runs a lot smoother and my fuel gauge is a lot more accurate now too! MOST IMPORTANT, I no longer have the bleedback issue that was causing my slow starts! Fuel pressure stays strong overnight and it starts first-crank every day now, no more poor-man's-prime! hehehe
Old 10-05-2011, 07:40 PM
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21. Today I took off my front sway bar to give it a workin-over. I got new poly bushings and brackets for the bar and a set of RE disconnects (gen1) to put on it. First I cleaned up the bar and painted it flat black. Then I put all the pieces together for the disconnects and hung them on the axle mounts. Then I put the sway bar back on the frame with the new bushings and brackets. Finally I bolted up the top of the disconnects and took it for a drive. The sway bar is at a better angle now, closer to the same angle as my control arms than it was before - the disconnects are about an inch longer than the slightly-extended links I had on there before. The ride is a good bit better over uneven terrain and a bit quieter too. Have to wait and see how things hold up! (I may have to pull out the mounting bolts on the axle and replace them with longer ones so I can put some spacers in and line it up better, but I'm gonna see how it wears/comes apart as is for now...)

I'll be sure to post some more pics up as soon as I get around to testing out the flex with it disconnected...

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Old 10-06-2011, 12:13 PM
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check that trackbar drop bracket. they tend to wollow out the mounting holes if you don't keep them mega tight
Old 10-24-2011, 10:30 AM
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22. The other day I finally had enough $$$ saved for a new set of tires so I gave the local shop a call. Ordered me up a set of 4 new GY Duratracs in 32"x16, he had to order them so wait a week it was... of course about 12hrs later was when my rear drums decided they'd had enough and one started puking fluid. SO, fix #22 was gonna be new tires, but now it's drum brake overhaul. Tore it all apart, found the driver side cylinder was leaking at the front seal. Replaced all hardware/springs, rebuilt cylinders with new pistons, springs & seals, put on new shoes and drums, bled new fluid into brake system using my new vacuum bleeder. That thing's awesome for 30 bux! Have to wait on the e-brake cables, those didn't come in in time at the parts store.


23. Took jeep to shop for new tires! Got 265/75/16 with the extra plys & the load range E rating. Man do they ride a TON smoother and quieter than the beat up old Mickey Thompson MTZs. Unfortunately we discovered that my ball joints are all starting to die... so at least I don't have to wonder what I'll be doing to the jeep next. Still glad to have new tires on before the winter hits - I was doing a good bit of sideways sliding on those old tires last winter. I like the duratrac tread pattern way better and expect a good bit more lateral stability. I'll be sure to post an update on the tires later in the winter once I've given them the ski-bum jeeper version of a drift maneuver (driving through 2+ft of snow). I gotta admit, I bought them for their design but they look way better than I expected!



24. This ones a little out of order since I did it a few weeks ago: Installed the Tate-barking-platform on my passenger door. This aids the Beagle, a.k.a. Tatron the Destroyer, in launching his shockwaves/barks out the window at vagrants and pedestrians, etc.; and detecting wildlife before I smash into it. I put a metal backing plate in behind the door panel to help distribute the weight. It does not come anywhere near a full grown adult in the passenger seat either! The dog is decidedly more stable too (he has short legs). Yes, it's upholstered in gray poly-fleece to match the interior color and covered in old bicycle inner tube over soft padding (old wool sock) to give extra traction to the Tater-toes. hehe this is definitely one of my funnier mods!

Old 10-24-2011, 10:34 AM
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I'm pretty sure that last mod, #24, got me an extra 3mpg and at least 20HP! If you have a short-legged copilot that prefers to ride head-out, I absolutely recommend it!
Old 10-24-2011, 01:29 PM
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mod #24 is great haha! my pup loves riding in the ole jeep as well. shes lucky enough to have long legs though and would happily ride around with 3/4 of her body out the window! keep up the great work on the jeep ill be following!!!
Old 10-24-2011, 02:08 PM
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Awesome mods, man. I like the tires - been thinking of those for my Northeast travels this winter, but didn't know how they would be on dry highway conditions.


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