Friday: Seafoamed

Saturday: Changed - Plugs
Plug wires
Oil and Oil Filter
Fuil Filter
Greased Everything

Today: Washing and a fill-up

 

Digging the new rack there Aircruiser. May need some vertical supports on the corners though.

 

hah thanks man, i had it on before but took it off after the lift to fit in parking garages. but my gf kind of missed it too cause we use to always put a bean bag chair up there, kick back and look at the stars and cuddle. so i put it back on for when spring rolls around and we will just take her car anywhere i cant fit..haha.

 

Yesterday was a big day for the XJ.
I headed to my buddy's work (John Deere) and got to work in a huge heated shop with all of the power tools you could ever imagine . We started off with the major tune up to minimize the issues of the PO by flushing the radiator about a billion times. The water looked awful and after about 6 flushes, we got it pretty darn clean. I'll run it like this for a while and do it again in the spring I think. After the radiator, I lined the floor since the entire interior was out. While doing that, I wired my amp and subs (hard to do with a tacky floor!). I know speakers don't make the rig any faster or better on the trails, but I had all of this stuff lying around from when I sold my truck, so it was a free stereo upgrade . While working on the floor and stereo, I saw that the driver's belt had coiled up and wouldn't release, so I pulled it apart and 'boing' the spring blew open adn ended up breaking, so off to the junkyard. I pulled another belt off of an older XJ with a different buckle so we had to swap belts on the same retrieve mechanism. Coiling the belt spring is a pain in the ****, but at least I'm legal again . Also, I lubed up the door jambs that were really stiff. The rears really took some effort to close before. Now they are perfect! With the interior where we wanted it by the end of the day and the radiator flushed sufficiently, we lifted the Jeep to get to work down below. Now, lifting a jeep in a John Deere shop isn't what lifting a vehicle is like in many other places. You see we have hysters on each side lifting in unison. Check it below. With the jeep elevated, we got to work on the diffs, transfer case, and transmission AX15. Everything went really smoothly and the gears shift so much better than I could have imagined! Looking at the fluid that came out, I was relieved to see that the PO hadn't run low on any fluids, but boy were we due. The fluid was absolutely black and awful. Oh and by the way, if you're ever in a position where you are planning to swap fluids on your transmission at a John Deere shop, don't assume they have a pump to add fluids cuz' they don't. We were able to scrounge up some fuel hose, but that was a time comsuming, messy, and difficuly project. At least we're good.

Next plans are to turkey baster the power steering fluid fresh, paint the wheels, and check the brakes for a possible full brake job (after that I'll have all new and fresh fluids). I will be putting all of the interior back in soon as well. Once that is in, I'll deal with the stereo again. Turns out the PO cut the OEM stereo connector out and electrical taped the wires. What a tool. I'll get some bullet connectors and try to find the wiring diagram for the stereo and wiring harness to rewire it.

Enjoy the photos. Sorry they aren't clear. My camera phone has its limitations.
s

 

bought mine yesterday.... ill post pics later

 

installed my hi-country front tow mounts



pulled off the other rectangle bumper thing and threw a coat of paint on the bumper

Before


after

 

i cant do anything to it. im in the middle of the ocean right now. big plans in 7 months though.

 

I installed new "Steel" rear axle degree shims in place of my cracked and broken aluminum pieces that came with my nice Rusty's lift kit. They survived the 4wheeling trip to Tahuya and it even rides better. My clunk when going from D to R went away. I was pretty stoked. I thought that noise was play in the rear diff.

 

Finished my lift, put new rear brake shoes on, tested on a few rocks close by. Next weekend possible fender enhancements

 

fixed the problem with starting it. the pos. lead wasnt tight enough. now it starts better.
need a newer tranny that works.

 

I correctly wired up my stereo, no thanks to the PO.

My stereo was clearly installed by an idiot when I bought the jeep so I knew I'd have to rewire everything, but when the settings would reset every time you keyed off the jeep, I knew I was in for an overhaul. Just as I expected, there was a rat's nest of loose wires and failing Dollar Store electrical tape when I got behind the receiver. I correctly paired up the wires from the Jeep's harness to the aftermarket system (thanks to the FSM and a PDf file I found online detailing the functions of the aftermarket harness). I matched up all the wires correctly and found that the PO wired both the constant and the run/acc power wires from the deck to the run/acc only power wire on the jeep's harness. I buttened everything up correctly and then rerouted the sub wiring. As you will clearly see from the photos I took on the date of purchase, there is wiring coming down the front of the dash (because the PO couldn't figure out how to route the wires down the back) and best of all...the power wire for the sub was routed out the hood, over the passenger side fender, and down he door jamb. What a joke.

 

good tip buck , OK so where did you get the new shims you know i need them lol

 

just got in my super 44 kit with detroit locker and ordered an ARB air locker for my dana 30, also got the high output compressor and steel braided air lines

 

I stalled my Powertrax locker yesterday!

 

Mark,

I picked up the degree shims here in town (Oak Harbor) at my local 4WD shop. I typically don't buy anything from this shop because their prices are horribly high. But, I was going wheeling this weekend and when leaving the parking lot at work Friday, I went over a speed bump a little fast and it felt like the whole rear axle had shifted on me. So, I bit the bullet and paid my $43 for the shims. These things are beefy and solid steel so they should last the life of the Jeep.