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What did you do to your WK/XK today?

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2M views 19K replies 1K participants last post by  99sajeep 
#1 · (Edited)
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#15,541 ·
Cleaned up the seats with a Malco cleaner. My seats were spotless to begin with, but the cleaner got rid of that 'dry' look. I have to say, for an 11 year old vehicle these seats are in excellent shape, minus the wear on the driver's seat from the previous owner dragging their butt! Drives me crazy every time I look at it.
 

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#15,542 ·
Last fall when I swapped the right front hub I managed to bend the dust shield. Ever since I have an annoying metal scraping sound when I make right turns. It was loud enough to cause people to look. I haven't been driving it much since I'd rather put the miles on the CUCV M1009, and that truck has better radios currently, so I lived with it during the winter months.

Well spring is here so today I pulled the front hub off again (anti-seize compound is mandatory for my fleet) and removed the dust shield. I haven't had any luck finding a new one so I figured I could massage this one back. I don't have a sand-bag like you would use to shape sheet metal, so I used the tire. The whole project took about three hours but it's all back together and no more embarrassing metal on metal sounds.
 
#15,544 ·
Last weekend I finally got an alignment done and I also got my brand new tires.
Went with Nitto Trail Grappler 285/70/17 (33.1")



Today we had it jacked up while we were searching for the source of a noise. Im getting a whining sound from the rear.... either a bad pinion bearing or u-joint. But we can't seem to pinpoint it.



Then I compared tires and tire clearance with my dads rubicon. He is running the same size tire (285/70/17). The only difference being that his are terra grappler instead of trail. But it looks as though his are wider??
Its also disappointing that I have almost 4" of total lift in the rear and a little over 3" in the front, and yet it looks like his JK still has more tire room and he is only on 2" rear spacer and front coils. :(





 
#15,545 ·
Ordered an Army Jeep shovel. Initially i was going to mount it on the inside of the rear hatch like i have seen on this forum, but the clearance was close and i didn't want to hit my head on any shovels, so i found that it fit almost perfectly against the right rear wall. Took my time removing the rear trim pieces clip by clip, and mounted the Quick-Fists using #10 and #8 washers, and then put everything back together. :)
 

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#15,546 ·
I didn't do anything today, I'm recovering from all the work I did yesterday. :) Not knowing the history of the 2006 WK that I bought earlier in the week, I decided I should tackle all the key things just to be safe. I'm mostly done now, have the diffs and t-case to service still.

So, yesterday I...

  • Replaced the spark plugs (Looked like they were the originals that were supposed to be replaced every 30k miles and not every 120k), that passenger rear plug is a PITA!
  • Replaced the struts for the rear hatch and rear hatch glass
  • Replaced the faulty 3rd brake light
  • Replaced the air cleaner
  • Replaced the water pump
  • Replaced the t-stat
  • Replaced the upper and lower radiator hoses
  • Replaced the serp belt
  • Replaced rad cap
  • Replaced the brake pads and rotors on all 4 corners

Only set me back about $450 for all of these new name-brand parts (Gates pump and t-stat, Continental belt and hoses, Monroe hatch struts, etc). I love it when parts are inexpensive!

Earlier in the week I had the holey muffler replaced. So now I know the WK will be good to go for a while now, it's a solid runner! I'm honestly surprised that it ran at all with the old plugs, let along run well with no misfires. I was in shock when I pulled the first plug out (see attached).
 

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#15,547 ·
Mounted my 50" and 22" LED Light Bars today! Will get around to wiring them all up next week or so. haha... I don't know why this website keeps rotating all my pics?!?! UGH
 

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#15,554 ·
That's no joke..... The stock ones come off easy, the OME ones are beast. We were getting sweaty palms watching the two compressors that we were using bend in the middle....

Then after we finally got the coil onto the strut and bolted down, we were worried that we might not have coil compressed enough, and the nut far enough down onto the shaft...... So upon tightening harder, we broke the nut right off my brand new strut (tip of the shaft snapped). So we figured "tight enough I guess" and installed them. But they are gonna suck trying to disassemble for future......

Next time, I'm gonna take just the struts to a shop and have them mount the coil. Someone on here said that it only costs like $40. Which worth it to me..... That was scary stuff. Lol
 
#15,557 ·
#15,559 ·
I used a wall mounted compressor at the in-laws, he was a mechanic and liked his toys. I still had my doubts about the process... I have used it for other car/SUV springs, no problem. Those HD coils are stiff! Are the MD coils just as hard to compress?

Sent from my WK JGC phone...
 
#15,561 ·
More maintenance and fixes last night...

- Cut out the trans cooler flex lines and crimps, replaced with 3/8" fuel hose and then realized I should use transmission/oil hose instead so I've got some coming.
- Cleaned up the rust on the oil pan, sprayed some rust fix (like POR-15) on it and let it dry, then laid on a few coats of Permatex spray sealant. Turned out pretty dang good!

I've got the t-case fluid waiting to go in once I get a 10mm hex for it, also need to get a 14mm hex for the front diff drain/fill plugs so I can get the diffs done.

Wheee!
 
#15,567 ·
...I've got the t-case fluid waiting to go in once I get a 10mm hex for it, also need to get a 14mm hex for the front diff drain/fill plugs so I can get the diffs done.

Wheee!
I did all of my trans fluids last week and I could only find a 14mm hex for a 1/2" drive ratchet. With the limited space at the 14mm fill plug, I was not able to get the ratchet and socket up there. I had to use a 14mm box-end wrench to turn the 14mm hex socket.

Just an FYI...
 
#15,565 ·
Had lower control arms replaced since the bushings were bad. No more knowing and growing at acceleration and slow turns. That lifetime warranty just keeps paying for itself!
Speaking of warranties...I had the service writer make sure that they looked into the reason I have oil burning. I have had to put in 2+ quarts in the last 1500 miles. He told me that they did an oil change and I need to drive it 1000 miles and let them check the level. If it is burning too much I get a new 4.7 for free under the powertrain warranty! I'm at 179,500 miles now and things are definitely starting to wear out. Any of you had this issue with your XK? Wonder if They will let me pay the difference for a Hemi (if that can be done).
 
#15,569 ·
Mine didn't burn any oil until the day it died. (then it burned a ton).

I'm glad that power train warranty is paying out for you. I wish i'd have bought in to that more when it was around (The ex took that warranty/car)
 
#15,566 ·
Reddogaggie said:
Had lower control arms replaced since the bushings were bad. No more knowing and growing at acceleration and slow turns. That lifetime warranty just keeps paying for itself! Speaking of warranties...I had the service writer make sure that they looked into the reason I have oil burning. I have had to put in 2+ quarts in the last 1500 miles. He told me that they did an oil change and I need to drive it 1000 miles and let them check the level. If it is burning too much I get a new 4.7 for free under the powertrain warranty! I'm at 179,500 miles now and things are definitely starting to wear out. Any of you had this issue with your XK? Wonder if They will let me pay the difference for a Hemi (if that can be done).
I'm at 175,000. Been abusing it its whole life and don't plan on giving it any brakes. Still runs great and not burning oil. Always used mobile 1. Did a t case, water pump and starter. Not bad.
 
#15,568 ·
Just google bicycle wrenches.

 
#15,573 ·
Finished installing the Modified OME lift. Dropping it off for tire mounting this weekend. Ride is wayyyyyyyy stiffer, got quite bouncy at one point I'm thinking my stock sway bar's are maxed out. Waiting on front extended links currently thinking I might have to go ahead and order rears too.
 
#15,591 ·
Well, was very productive yesterday and today. Finished installing the front with OME HD Springs w/ Bilstein 5100 @ .75 and replaced the differential bushings, and about to complete the rear with HD Springs w/ Bilstein 5125 and Daystar 2" Puck on top of the spring. Gotta go to hardware store to pickup some washers and steel to extend my brake lines in the rear. Did the fuel tank notch for the control arm as well (Gotta love the Dremel) , and will be installing Rusty's Adjustable Track Bar and setting it .5" longer than the stock one.

Cant wait to install the 285's

BUT
Stupid me, when I had the front driveshaft removed, I tried moving the Jeep forward up my driveway and heard a terrible grinding noise. Now the rear driveshaft spins freely and I think I screwed up my transfer case.. Well off to the shop it goes and see if they can diagnose the issue, and also getting it all aligned






 
#15,594 ·
The stress is over. Turned out pretty well. A little tape residue to get rid of, but I'm not touching that until the Monstaliner is dry to the touch. My luck and I'd stick my hand in it. The rear bumper is not done yet. Waiting on a custom tire carrier before that happens. I'm also going to touch up the rock rails while I've got the lower body masked off.

 
#15,597 ·
Okay, this isn't really detailed as I was more concerned about getting done than taking pics. However, there are a few helpful hints I can give. Obviously one of the most difficult parts of the whole process is trying to mask the top side of the 'flare' bulge. There's no hard body line to follow, and the transition from bulge to body is pretty smooth. I wanted the liner to sit just on the lower portion of that transition.

Masking was done in two major steps. Using both ensures pretty good results. The first step involves using a standard electrical tape to approximate where I wanted the liner to sit. It's flexible and easily positioned. I put down and pulled up all while stepping back and viewing from multiple angles. If I felt curve radius needed to be changed, I found that it was better to be 'under' than over. I could always add more tape on top of the existing to smooth out and straighten wherever needed.

Step 2 is where we lay down the actual masking tape. I used a 1/4" tape that allows tight curves. I followed the top edge of the electrical tape around all contours. Although the tape is flexible, it's easier to keep straight runs compared to the electrical. What this means is that if you have a little wave to your electrical tape, you can basically smooth out those high and low points and average the masking tape. In my case, it was pretty spot on. In the first pic below you can see both tapes in place. After the arches were done, everything else was pretty easy. Hard body lines were available.

After all tape was in place, I scuffed all existing paint and cleaned with MEK. There's really no turning back once you scuff... I taped inner edges on all the doors, and keep in mind that Monsta can splatter a bit once the roller is saturated. If in doubt, mask it out. You can clean with a little alcohol right away if you get it on something you shouldn't, but I wouldn't use the MEK. It's pretty strong.

2 coats are usually sufficient, and please follow the included instructions for the Monstaliner exactly. As noted above, you must remove masking tape immediately after the second coat. Not 5 minutes, not 10, but the instant you are done. Monsta starts to gel up and get gummy as it hardens, and you don't want it in this stage when you pull the tape. The edges are likely to peel up. Pull the tape back over itself and keep it flat. You'll have nice clean edges.




 
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