Done - roof is all shiny and new tires are on. I also installed a set of 1.5" front coil spring spacers.

My daughter will resume driving the 99 tomorrow and I get my 01 back....

 

Good job man! Makes me want to do the same to the roof of mine before the cage gets bolted on.

 

My daughter took the 99 for MA state inspection today. Failed for a small crack in the rear brake light...

Now, mind you that this is the same shop that inspected it last 2 years in a row (PASSED), with the exact same rear tail light.

Unbelievable, freaking idiots....

 

Must be new people, or someone being watched by a supervisor?

If it fails, do you have to pay again, or do they just look at what you fixed and pass it?

 

Here in Ma, you get 1 retake for free.
I ended up swapping the light from my 2001 into her 99. She took it back Sunday after work and got her new sticker (passed).

 

Last time my daughter and I changed the oil & filter in the 1999, I noticed that the VC gasket was leaking towards the back near the fire wall.

I've been really busy recently, but I finally replaced it with a new Felpro VC gasket last night.

I still need to spray the engine down with gunk and power wash, but that will have to wait for some warmer weather....

 

The aftermarket headlight / relay harness have been giving me some issues lately. The relays would stick on (high beam). So I bought a set of new Bosch relays and swapped them in this past Friday. After a few days, same issue. So I pulled the harness and went back to stock.

 

I was just having the same problem with mine. Lights not wanting to work at all. Was a relay issue.
I used Dorman 88069.
I am curious. Do you have the part number for what you tried?

 

I bought this pre-wired harness with relays off eBay:

 

I know what harness you bought.
Curious about what the part number of the Bosch relay wa you tried before you bailed on the whole harness.

 

Ralph - I purchased these: BCH-0332209150 Bosch Automotive 0332209150 - Bosch Relays from Summit:
https://www.summitracing.com/parts/b...xoCbwAQAvD_BwE

And in all honesty, I don't think the issue is with the relays. I have a feeling that there is an intermittent or loose connection within the harness / connections....

Joe

 

Thank you.
All I wanted was an exact part number for a Bosch relay for the headlight harness.
Mine issues with the headlight harness were strictly relay related.
Everybody says they just take Bosch relays. But nobody ever says exactly which one.
Relays are different.
I am not even talking about some being 4 pin or some being 5 pin.
It is the schematics on them too.
It matters. LOL.

 

Had a cooling leak on the 99. Initially looked like the heater hose off the thermostat housing. Replaced both, still leaking. After further inspection I found this bugger:

Not easy to find because of where that tube and pinhole was located :

The tube can not be replaced without removing the water pump. So the cooling system got a refresh including WP, heater tube, thermostat, and both heater hoses. Rad and other hoses were replaced previously. Finished it up tonight:

Took it for a quick test drive after the coolant burped and the temp is right where it should be with good heat inside the cabin. Daughter is happy she can driver her ride tomorrow instead of my blue 2001 XJ.

 

Front spring perch / shock mounts need some lovin and now that the front brakes are due for replacement, I went to town.
Here is what I started with, passenger side:



Drivers side (worse than passenger):



Here is the pass side after my creative "fix"


Then POR-15 on everything (after wire wheel and de-grease)
Driver side:




Passenger Side:


Next up:

Replaced the rear leafs a few years ago, not much arc to them any more:

 

So after 2 nights in the garage, the "helper" springs are installed. Instead of adding these to the original leaf pack, I opted to replace the shortest spring in the original pack with the new spring:



This definitely improved the arch of the spring pack and gave me a bit of lift that I was looking for. Ride quality is good (not as smooth as prior), but they will need to settle a bit.


I had originally ordered Rubicon Express kit RE1415. But after waiting for over 2 months (back-ordered from RE), I cancelled the order and went the eBay route.
From the pictures I compared, both kits look identical.

I will also note that this helper spring kit is not a direct bolt-in.
The center hole in the new spring and associated location bolt was larger than the original spring pack which required drilling out the old springs a bit larger.
Then the head of the new bolt was too large for the spring perch on the axle. So that hole needed to be reamed out just a bit larger as well.
I started the process trying to do the upgrade with the spring pack in the Jeep. But I found it was just easier to remove both spring packs and make the upgrade separately.