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What did you do to your ZJ today?

4M views 55K replies 2K participants last post by  98ZJ 
#1 ·
This thread is to serve as an inspiration to others modifying their ZJ's. Pretty simple, just post what you did to your ZJ today!


Today I shamefully took my Jeep to get the oil changed because it was to hot to change it myself.
 
#13,521 ·
The bumper crossmember underneath the plastic cover is pretty darn important - is your Grand Cherokee a Grand Taco????
NOO!! LOL the crossmember is there and perfect nothing wrong but a little dent :D
 
#13,522 ·
i have a destroyed front differential. i already have a used axle bought, but i cannot pull it until tue/wed. i didn't have a vehicle all last week and the thought of not having it another 4-5 days was driving me crazy. i couldn't just pull the driveshaft because it's the gears inside that are all chewed up; the gears would still grind against each other even if there is nothing driving it. so i found a quick and easy way to get the jeep up and working just so that i have a vehicle before i can get it completely fixed up. this method does not require the axle to be removed and should not take 45-60 minutes.

1) i started off by removing the driveshaft. one of the bolts got stripped so this was actually the most grueling part of the whole thing for me. what should have taken 10 min ended up taking over an hour. i should've just straight up use the angle grinder from the beginning.

2) open up the differential cover.



3) start off buy removing 25 - Pinion Mate Shaft Roll Pin. i just punched it out with a hammer. only one side of the casing has it even though the slot is in both sides.

4) now you need to remove the 18 - pinion mate shaft. this step is why i was able to fix it up so quickly, and this will def not apply to everyone: the problem at this point is that the pinion mate shaft cannot be removed because ring gear is in the way (approximately 1/8"). i already have a front axle bought and ready to be pulled. this axle will be picked apart for parts and trashed afterwards. so i just angle grinded the ring gear until i was able to remove the mate shaft. if you don't want to grind it off, then you would have to pull the axles, pull the carrier and remove the ring gear, which would add about an hour or more to the job.

this is picture of the staff at the shop grinding the ring gear off. he said he wanted to get it started for me (i dunno why) so i took a picture while standing aside.



5) once the shaft is removed, 17 - Pinion Mate Gears should just fall off. put the shaft and the pin in and you are done.

and this is the end result:


the axles is secure, spins freely and is not geared to anything else. now i can use the jeep as 2wd with a destroyed front differential for a couple days (i know i can leave it this way since it's 95+ zj, but i want 4wd). and if it wasn't for that damn stripped gear, i would've finished this under an hour.

edit: you know, i'm just gonna make a separate thread for this post so that this will be available for search since there maybe other noobtards like me in the future who may need to do a similar thing.
 
#13,523 ·
I hope you at least put the outer stub shafts back into the unit bearings, else I wouldn't plan on driving it more than to back it out of a parking spot. The huge nut on the end of the stub shafts hold the preload on the unit bearings, no shaft, and the bearing will just seperate.

You should also be able to spin the carrier so you can see the end of the cross pin and just push it out.

edit:
Ignore that, I re-read your post and realize how confused I was the first time. All makes sense now
 
#13,526 ·
I want your brush guard and all of your offroad lights. Do you have a build thread?
Not until I get a lift put together to put on it. :p

If you really want the bull bar, pm me. I plan on taking it off anyways (planning on finding a full brush guard or steel bumper soon), though I have no idea how much shipping would be for it. :confused:
 
#13,527 ·
phfister said:
Not until I get a lift put together to put on it. :p

If you really want the bull bar, pm me. I plan on taking it off anyways (planning on finding a full brush guard or steel bumper soon), though I have no idea how much shipping would be for it. :confused:
Did you get my pm the other day ? But I'm goin to build a bumper with the designs from flatland offload.
 
#13,528 ·
Not until I get a lift put together to put on it. :p

If you really want the bull bar, pm me. I plan on taking it off anyways (planning on finding a full brush guard or steel bumper soon), though I have no idea how much shipping would be for it. :confused:
Well crap. Now I can't steal your design for the light rack :p

I like the guard a lot, and it gives me the option to run two off road lights on the bumper without worrying about the plastic breaking.
 
#13,529 ·
Rear door wouldn't latch, took it all apart, cleaned all the goo out re-lubed, put it back together, works good now.
If U do this be careful, go slow, springs will pop out.
Cell phone was screwed up !! taking purple pics, took out battery, tuned it back on, no more purple pics, it was acting like the ZJ :)
 

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#13,530 ·
comptiger5000 said:
Easiest way to do it is this:

[*]Drain coolant
[*]Remove belt
[*]Remove upper radiator hose (cut and replace if you can't get it off).
[*]Unbolt accessory bracket (with alternator and A/C compressor still attached).
[*]Lay a thick, non-conductive blanket on top of the battery, and very carefully flip the accessory bracket over on top of it.
[*]Unbolt and remove intake manifold
[*]Remove valve covers
[*]Remove rockers, and pull pushrods out as well
[*]Unbolt exhaust manifolds (at heads and y-pipe), this is the part where the risk of bolt breakage is greatest
[*]Remove head bolts and remove heads (you'll get a coolant waterfall if you haven't pulled the block drain plugs)
[*]Clean coolant and crap out of cylinders, clean gasket surfaces and get ready to reassemble

Items you'll need:

[*]Intake bolts (torque to yield and not reusable)
[*]Intake gaskets
[*]Head gaskets
[*]Head bolts (I don't like reusing these)
[*]Oil (drain and fill after reassembly, run for 10 mins, then change oil and filter)
[*]Coolant
[*]Bypass hose (runs from intake to water pump, and is accessible only when the accessory bracket is off, so might as well replace it)
[*]Any other hoses, etc, you want to replace while you're in there
Thanks so much man I'm gonna start tom what's the best kit to get would the eldelbrock kit work I guess there all about the same.
 
#13,531 ·
i have a destroyed front differential. i already have a used axle bought, but i cannot pull it until tue/wed. i didn't have a vehicle all last week and the thought of not having it another 4-5 days was driving me crazy. i couldn't just pull the driveshaft because it's the gears inside that are all chewed up; the gears would still grind against each other even if there is nothing driving it. so i found a quick and easy way to get the jeep up and working just so that i have a vehicle before i can get it completely fixed up. this method does not require the axle to be removed and should not take 45-60 minutes.

1) i started off by removing the driveshaft. one of the bolts got stripped so this was actually the most grueling part of the whole thing for me. what should have taken 10 min ended up taking over an hour. i should've just straight up use the angle grinder from the beginning.

2) open up the differential cover.



3) start off buy removing 25 - Pinion Mate Shaft Roll Pin. i just punched it out with a hammer. only one side of the casing has it even though the slot is in both sides.

4) now you need to remove the 18 - pinion mate shaft. this step is why i was able to fix it up so quickly, and this will def not apply to everyone: the problem at this point is that the pinion mate shaft cannot be removed because ring gear is in the way (approximately 1/8"). i already have a front axle bought and ready to be pulled. this axle will be picked apart for parts and trashed afterwards. so i just angle grinded the ring gear until i was able to remove the mate shaft. if you don't want to grind it off, then you would have to pull the axles, pull the carrier and remove the ring gear, which would add about an hour or more to the job.

this is picture of the staff at the shop grinding the ring gear off. he said he wanted to get it started for me (i dunno why) so i took a picture while standing aside.



5) once the shaft is removed, 17 - Pinion Mate Gears should just fall off. put the shaft and the pin in and you are done.

and this is the end result:


the axles is secure, spins freely and is not geared to anything else. now i can use the jeep as 2wd with a destroyed front differential for a couple days (i know i can leave it this way since it's 95+ zj, but i want 4wd). and if it wasn't for that damn stripped gear, i would've finished this under an hour.

edit: you know, i'm just gonna make a separate thread for this post so that this will be available for search since there maybe other noobtards like me in the future who may need to do a similar thing.
Ummm.
so the axleshafts are only being supported at the diff by the inner seals?
You could have left the spiders alone and pulled that jacked up ring gear off....with much much less effort...

Ot: i drove her to a club meeting at the beach and around town a bit. Running a little aRm butwith the new bumper and my plate ziptied to the grill.:rofl:

Edit: i see what you did there. Makes sense. One of those either/or deals
 
#13,532 ·
#13,533 ·
Morning wash with some purple power degreaser in the bay.

Automotive parking light Tire Land vehicle Wheel Vehicle
 
#13,535 ·
dunkeye11 said:
Found out I need to bleed my brake lines
Any body know a good way
Go to harbor freight and buy a $15 vac pump, brake bleed kit. Simple to do by yourself this way.
 
#13,537 ·
I ordered my SS header last night off of EBay for the 4.SLOW

Sent from my iPhone using JeepForum
 
#13,539 ·
Cleaning and reorganizing my sockets and other tools after a particularly yucky hour and a half at the junkyard. I can see why some of those ZJs were in the yard...previous owners didn't maintain them for ****! fluids to the point of slime.

I was on the hunt for pinion shaft pins, but no such luck today without scuba gear after the rain the past couple days. Didn't even run across any where the previous scavenger just dropped it and walked away.

Finally replaced the passenger side starter bolt that had backed itself out sometime in the last couple years, and I have a trail spare stock ZJ steering box with pitman arm. Didn't have a press the right size, so had to keep it on there. I bashed the heck out of the TRE that was on the donor. TRE press wouldn't fit on the TRE side of the pitman. Oh well :D
 
#13,540 ·
FPKites said:
Cleaning and reorganizing my sockets and other tools after a particularly yucky hour and a half at the junkyard. I can see why some of those ZJs were in the yard...previous owners didn't maintain them for ****! fluids to the point of slime.

I was on the hunt for pinion shaft pins, but no such luck today without scuba gear after the rain the past couple days. Didn't even run across any where the previous scavenger just dropped it and walked away.

Finally replaced the passenger side starter bolt that had backed itself out sometime in the last couple years, and I have a trail spare stock ZJ steering box with pitman arm. Didn't have a press the right size, so had to keep it on there. I bashed the heck out of the TRE that was on the donor. TRE press wouldn't fit on the TRE side of the pitman. Oh well :D
Just finished doing that, effin hot but got everything degreaser all tools cleaned, put back in order, cleaned my backup driveshaft (ure trip) and then found this... :D

Automotive tire Font Gas Service Gadget
 
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