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What did you do to your WJ today?

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5M views 53K replies 3K participants last post by  X-Hibition 
#1 ·
Tell us what you did!

Show pics!

I washed mine and Im still waiting for my lift to show up!

I put my new WHEELS and tires on with the jack :)

And replaced driver side axle shaft and changed all diff fluids.
 
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#23,282 ·
To tell you the truth it was hell. I was all dressed up to go out and getting water inside my jeep was not a fun experience. I learned that I need to have that guy with the bobcat on speed dial in my phone. I'm pretty sure if I had a winch I still wouldn't have got out. Oh and did I mention the tail pipe was under water and the gas gauge was on empty. That truck idled for like two hours on empty.
Never take a "lets take this detour!" when on the way to somewhere you need to be on time. Especially when it involves the significant other! Never wheel alone. Could have been a lot worse though. Good you made it out ok.

On our night run we shouldn't have been on that trail. Yep, someone ****ed up. Once we're stuck in the middle we learn hugely built trucks on 44's had trouble making it and were getting stuck. Made the water crossing (water up to the windsheild. Only knew where I was crossing as they could only see my roof rack lights) next bit got through ok. I wasn't yet at my final 6"/33's height at this point. Last 500yards I had to be literally dragged to the other side where we could get out (and 5 more, but I was the smallest lifted jeep in the bunch) There was rims and who knows what all, so when we got me out the other side, inside sidewall of one wheel had a 5" gash, and had the tierod pushed right back. We were able to change the tire, although extremely difficult on the trail, and pulled the tierod back a few inches so I could limp it home. Of course the one leading it was all pissy and wanting everyone to hurry up and get going. Who cares I got dragged through and was undriveable. Needless to say, that was the beginning of the end of the group. Few more times he did the same thing so a few just told him to go **** himself. It was fine until things were taking too long for his liking helping a fellow jeeper out with being stuck or having an issue. Sad. A lot of us just said **** it and left after that last time when he started kicking people out of the group. Like we cared at that point?
 
#23,285 ·
Had another red light stumble/stall incident today, along with a CEL which gave me the 'dead PCM' code, so I said F-it. I pulled the ECu, opened it up and started getting the amber colored sticky gel out of it so I can pull the PC board and check it over tomorrow. I found that acetone does a quick job of breaking down the gel to the point where a tooth brush starts to clean things up pretty well on the visible side.

I'm hoping that an overnight soak will make the PC board come free from the housing in the morning, I got to drive this thing on Tuesday! :bacon:
 
#23,286 ·
Crap. let me move over so you can fit in the boat with the rest of us with stupid problems. Hope you get it sorted out ok.
 
#23,287 ·
Played with the adjustable CA's a little bit more, the first time I pushed the axle too far forward and was getting a lot of rubbing on the front bumper cover. I still need to come back just another full to 1.5 turns. Also seem to have just a touch of driveline vibration under acceleration when getting on the freeway, so I think the minor adjustment I need to make to the lowers should get everything dialed in. After that I should be able to finally get the steering centered for good.
 
#23,290 ·
Holy crap, my Jeep life has been a disaster for about the past four weeks. Finally got it all back together. lol

First, you need to understand something about me. A friend once asked me what I was up to for the weekend. I listed 3 projects. He replied, "Brandon, that's like 78 things." Not only do I try to cram and unreasonable amount of things into a short period of time, I have a knack for expanding the project exponentially.

So, I got a code that I had a lean condition in bank 1. With that, rough idle, some smoke from the tailpipe and hesitation under load. Fine. A quick look under the hood showed that the cylinder 1 fuel injector was cracked. Wasn't sure if that was the whole problem, but I knew it wasn't helping. Looking up the list of potential suspects for that particular code, I had many things to inspect. So I looked at local part stores and online and quickly found that, as usual, buying a part locally was quite literally twice the cost of ordering it online. And, since I wasn't in a huge hurry, fine.

While I was waiting for my injector to arrive, I decided to address the slow drip from the rear differential. Simple enough, right? Take off the cover, clean the surfaces, re-seal and fill with fluid (and the solid-gold friction modifier from the stealership). But when I got into that, I found that the top two bolts were broken off. Fine. I'll need to drill them out. But there was only about two inches of clearance between those and the gas tank.

*sigh*

O.k., so I need to drop the gas tank. Fine. But wait...you have factory towing. The rear hitch assembly bolts over top of the metal skid pan that holds the plastic fuel tank. Son of a monkey.

Before long, my Jeep was up on jack stands with it's fuel tank, left rear wheel and towing bar lying in the driveway. But I could finally sit under it and get the broken bolts out. I decided that, since I had taken the time to take all of this stuff off, I was going to address any rust, of which there was plenty after nearly 200,000 miles. I ended up using a drill with a wire brush to remove loose rust and paint (after dumping all of the sand and gravel that had accumulated. That alone took a couple long afternoons. Then I used Eastwood's rust encapsulator on everything. That takes about three days to really, truly cure. Then I coated the metal tank skid plate with rubberized bedliner. I finished the tow bar off with Eastwood's satin underhood black. It's a high-solid content paint that is really tough. Also coated the tank straps with rust encapsulator.

Replaced the fuel filter (why not, right?). I ground the Dana 44 cover down and painted it with a high-temp metallic caliper paint. Replaced the rusty remaining bolts with stainless bolts and lock washers. I don't want to ever have to do this again on this Jeep.

About this time, we had to go to the hospital because my girlfriend went into labor a week and a half early. I looked down at my rust, metal flake and grease covered hands and clothes and said something like F*&%ing $h*& my Chr*$t. She ended up having to have a c-section, making me essentially her nurse and super-dad. So, for the next two weeks, the Jeep sat jacked up in the driveway, parts everywhere looking like Sanford and Son's backyard. About a week ago, her mother came over on a Sunday to help watch the baby so I could put everything back together. To my amazement, it started up and ran.

Yesterday, I finally got to the original problem of the fuel injector. And I decided to replace the spark plugs since I was taking so much apart on top of the engine. Holy schnikeys it is a pain the d*&^ to get those coils out. I bought the Jeep about 40,000 miles ago. And I don't know when those plugs were last replaced, but I've never seen plugs so...gone. The cathodes were completely gone. The tops were eaten down to points. I'm amazed it ran. Finally managed to get all of the coils out, against their will, and replace all of the plugs. The amount of vacuum lines and electrical connectors I had to disconnect was incredible. Even more incredible...I managed to put them all back where they belong without breaking anything.

The good news is that I now have a whole lot of stuff I don't have to worry about for a good long time. And I went from averaging 17mpg to 23mpg. And it really only cost me the cost of plugs and the fuel injector. The rest was just time, labor and paints/coatings I already had lying around. Turns out when you only partially burn your fuel and blow the rest out the tail pipe, your mileage sucks. I also replaced the air filter and PCV valve while I was at it. I have to re-learn how to drive it. I push down on the accelerator and get pushed back into my seat. It's like a whole new engine.

Now I just have to take it somewhere to have the damn front pinion bearings dealt with. If I have it all ship-shape by winter, I'll be happy.
 
#23,292 ·
But when I got into that, I found that the top two bolts were broken off. Fine. I'll need to drill them out. But there was only about two inches of clearance between those and the gas tank.

*sigh*

O.k., so I need to drop the gas tank. Fine. But wait...you have factory towing. The rear hitch assembly bolts over top of the metal skid pan that holds the plastic fuel tank. Son of a monkey.
Next time put your jack stands under the frame rail and let the axle hang down. :wave:
 
#23,295 ·
Discount Tire fixed my flat for free, picked that up today and rotated my tires. also removed my rear bumper to mount the hitch soon and bought some hardware. while i had the bumper off cleaned all the mud out around the gas tank and bumper area. found a stock WJ to park next to, looking at this picture i still feel small :(
 

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#23,298 ·
Had another red light stumble/stall incident today, along with a CEL which gave me the 'dead PCM' code, so I said F-it. I pulled the ECu, opened it up and started getting the amber colored sticky gel out of it so I can pull the PC board and check it over tomorrow. I found that acetone does a quick job of breaking down the gel to the point where a tooth brush starts to clean things up pretty well on the visible side.

I'm hoping that an overnight soak will make the PC board come free from the housing in the morning, I got to drive this thing on Tuesday! :bacon:
Crap. let me move over so you can fit in the boat with the rest of us with stupid problems. Hope you get it sorted out ok.
I'm guessing it's a big boat! :laugh: I've been fighting with this all day, I finally got the PC board out of the aluminum housing about an hour ago. I'm going to re-solder every pin connection from the 3 plugs on the back side of the board then just plug the board in to see if it will even start.

I've tried at least a dozen commercial auto parts stores today, NO ONE can get a re-manned PCU for this thing. Apparently A1 Cardone is out of them. None of the local stealerships is willing to re-flash a used PCU, so if my attempt at a fix doesn't work I'm kinda in a bad place.... no way am I giving jeep $600 for a re-manned unit,then ANOTHER $120 to re-flash it so everything works correctly.

Times like this I ask myself if it was worth getting rid of the F350......
 
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