Hey XJers,

I know y'all don't like hearing about this happening, but I got stuck as a **** yesterday. Like buried to the top of the flares in sticky mud stuck. Couldn't even see my front passenger tire lol

After about an hour and with the help of AAA (thanks mom!) it was out and towed back to the house. It was dark out by that time, so I had to wait until today in order to clean the Jeep up and look for damage.

Ok, so I am basically wondering if there is anything I should do/check out beyond cleaning out the mud and stuff. All the mechanicals look in order but I messed up the inner fenders (like the plastic stuff) and one bumper cap is pushed a little out. The fenders I just pushed back into place, bump cap is still on there solid, just its off a little.

What I really need to know is if that rubbery/felt/paper like stuff that I totally effed up is really important? Or can I just rip out the rest? As of now its about half torn off and you can see some of it hanging down under the front bumper.

one more thing, sorry and thanks for bearing with me... My grill isn't attached the same on both sides, if that makes any sense. As in, where it attaches to the front quarter panels, by the side turn signals, one side sticks out a bit and the other side is in. Are these just acceptable manufacturers tolerance or did I bend something?

No CEL or gauge problems, breaks sound like hell, but I figured they would.

This wasn't a normal 'Oh, I'm going too slow! and now I'm stuck....'

This was more like 'Oh, what a cool puddle! Oh ****!!!' When I tried to walk around a see how bad it was my leg sank to above the knee
(I'm 6'1").

 

Clean off first, then maybe try and get pics.

Most of what I think your talking about is just liner for the wheel wells. Shouldnt be an issue.

 

I'll get pics asap. Gotta wait for the gf to get back with her fancy phone.

The felt like stuff I'm talking about is under the engine bay.

 

I wonder how much these avid "mudders" go through brakes...

When you think about it, mud is just dirt, with water in it. When you're driving your Jeep through it, a lot of that washes up onto your rotors. At which point your pads press down against. So basically, you're braking on top of dirt, before hitting rotor. This means you rotors and brakes are tearing through dirt particles and gravel, and doing so under pressure.

I guess the same could be said about wheel bearings.

So do "mudders" go through more wheel assemblies more often than the next person?

 

Wheel bearings ahould be sealed and not open to the exposure your mentioning.

 

Sounds like OEM splash guards. If it is, i would get rid of them. Most do, they tend to collect more mud and crap than they prevent.

 

Dude I was wondering the same thing last night. My breaks weren't super happy when I pulled into the garage after washing off as much of the mud as I could. I think I'm gonna take the wheels off and clean all that stuff up. I'm not an avid anything yet lol, just like screwin around in my stocker till I get my money right.

Gee oh Dee, I think you're right It's help on by plastic rivet like things and basically just attaches to the underside of the frame beneath the engine bay.

If I go ahead and rip it out do I need to replace it with anything or be concerned about anything (like water)?

 

After going muddin i always pull the wheels off and wash the brakes out real good. I have swapped out my rear drums for the zj disc brakes to make this step faster but if you have drums be sure to pull them off and hose them out to. Have fun

 

Thanks for sharing bigfltruck. Did you do all four or just the back zj conversion? That is definitely on the 'before I lift it' list.

 

I have stock front disc brakes and zj rear brakes with a 97 tj brake booster and master cylinder

 

What does the tj brake boost and master cylinder do?

 

It up grades you from a single dieafram booster to a double dieafram booster and it bolted right up with no mods needed except the brake lines at the master. i also took out all the abs when i did this and am running the stock 92 prop valve. i researched all this stuff for about 6 months before i pulled the trigger on this project i got my booster & master on ebay for $0.01 plus $25 shipping and got the zj parts for $40 from some one parting out one on Craigs list. Absolutely love this mod.

 

Awesome, and dude I am not happy with the stock brakes at all. I have heard nothing but great things about the zj swap and was planning on that but I had never heard of the tj booster swap. I'll definitely do the discs and do my research on the other stuff, but thanks for pointing me in the right direction.

 

When u swap the rear disc brakes on an xj off a zj do u just get all the parking brake stuff as well? What do u all need? rotors, calipers, etc? thanks...

 

Might consider changing your diff fluid after all the dirt that prob got in it.