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Sounds logical enough to do.
-Paul
GREAT!!!
Terry
Tomster
Have you hugged your Jeep today?
I had to use the transfer case drop kit. I drove her home after installing the lift and had some pretty bad vibes at low speeds. I installed the transfer case drop kit the next day, and a subsequent test drive indicated that I had cured the vibes. There is still maybe just a hint of some kind of vibration that was not there before, but not enough that I am going to worry about it.
I also noticed that my front axle is pretty badly off center now, so I ordered a JKS adjustable front trac bar. It should be delivered tomorrow.
I will also install a 3/4" coil spring spacer on each side up front to level out the ride. I guess the weight of that winch and winch mounting plate make the front sit lower. Those spacers should be delivered at the same time as the trac bar, since I bought all the stuff from the same place.
Man, I've sure been doing some wrenchin' lately! My buds did most of the work on the lift installation, but I helped a good bit. Within the last few days, I have also pulled both front axle shafts and had new U-joints put in them, changed the front brake pads, and changed fluid in both front and rear differentials.
Tomster
Have you hugged your Jeep today?
If you do a motor lift, you can get rid of that t-case drop. You'd just have to adjust the fan shroud placement a little bit.
-Paul
I used spacers in order to retain the original soft factory mounts. They're easy to make, but cheap to buy as well, and the only mod needed is to realign the fan shroud.
-Paul
-Paul
Chad
How difficult is that MM spacer installation? What is your lifting point on the engine when you need to raise it to get the spacers in position?
Oh, I got the coil spacers in last night, but I had to make a trip to Autozone for an external spring compressor. I had gone at lunch time to an Advance Auto near my work place to get a spring compressor, and the guy gave me one that goes INSIDE the coil. I couldn't see how that would work, but I had never used a spring compressor. I just figured that since the guy knew what I wanted to do with it, he and must know what type I needed. WRONG!
I don't know if those spacers were enough to level out the ride or not, since I still have the front tires off, and Thelma Jane is still on jack stands. I still have to install the new trac bar tonight.
Tomster
Have you hugged your Jeep today?
-Paul
When I did the MM install, I had to jack it up quite a bit, so I made sure the fan shroud was loose when I did it to eliminate bending forces on the blades.
The hardest part of the install is making sure you have long enough socket extensions to get to the bolts. It took some flexibility to get to some of the stuff, but I DID accomplish it by myself. If you are up to it, I'll help you, but I'm not sure if I'd get a chance to get up that way for a while. If you can wait until Tom and Denise have their picnic, I'm sure you could get LOTS of help installing it then.
Glad you got the spacers in! Hope I helped some on the phone last night!
-Paul
-Paul
- Transmission fluid + filter
- Spark plugs
- Diferencial oil change
- Steering oil change
- Brakes checking (it's working very well at this point)
- U-joints check
Anything else that I'm missing ?
Should I change the order above ? :confuse:
Just of the top of my head:
Change coolant
Change transfer case fluid
Change brake fluid
Change plug wires/distributor cap/rotor arm
Change wiper blades
Check air filter (but preferably change it unless it's new)
None of the above is expensive compared to the cost of gas (or even coffee!). You might also want to invest $25 to access the Factory Service Manual online for a year here..
I use synthetics in the differentials and things are a lot quieter.
I use synthetic oil and change it every 5k or so (Mobil 1).
The new radiator is a blessing. Stock ones tend to leak where the plastic meets the metal. Not a question of if, but when. So that is a good thing (easy to replace though).
Let's see some pics when you get a chance to post em!
-Paul
-Paul
I hope to get that puppy installed tonight.
Tom
Have you hugged your Jeep today?
-Paul
One other thing you should do is to adjust the front and rear bands when you have the pan off your transmission. It's a simple job, but does require an inch pound torque wrench. Oh, and make sure to use the correct transmission fluid, which in your case is ATF+3 or +4. ATF+3 is much cheaper and more readily available and will do just fine. Do not use Dexron, Mercon or any 'Universal' type fluid. The only place that belongs in a Wrangler is in the transfer case.
Have fun!
The usual cure for vibes as a result of a lift is either a transfer case drop, or a motor mount lift. Both have been discussed here in just the last few posts.
An easy way to check if the front wheels are out of balance is to switch them with the rears.
There are lots of off-roading in the national forests around Los Angeles and there's a number of guide books that have written about them. If you are interested in titles, send me an email (my addy is public). But you should watch out about that. We lived in Glendale, bought a Wrangler and while looking for trails found instead a house and moved to the mountains.
There's a very nice off-road area (Hungry Valley) at the top of the I-5 Grapevine, near Gorman. It offers trails for dirt bikes and 4x4s that vary from easy to extreme, and there are campgrounds both in Hungry Valley and the Los Padres National Forest that are lovely (well, Alamo Mountain was lovely, don't know what it will be like now). However, all of the Los Padres in Ventura, L.A. and Kern counties are closed, along with Pyramid Lake and Hungry Valley. As far as I know, the Angeles is still open east of the I-5 but you should probably check their website for current conditions.
There's another nice off-road area near Lockwood Valley Road, but the Day Fire burned through it recently, and who knows how long it will take them to rehab and reopen the area. Lockwood Valley is under a recommended evacuation and the road closed to through traffic.
Tom - I just read your post about Gil - I'm very sorry to hear that, and my prayers are with you.
Now back to the last couple of week's posts...
If you have problematic injectors then a professional fuel system cleaning might be worth trying before replacing them, otherwise it's just one of those things they try to add on when you go in for service. The only 'off the shelf' stuff I've consistantly heard good things about is Techron, but it wouldn't be high on my list of things to do.
Paul, that tapered, split bushing thingy was on the bolt down by the bolt head. I had not paid attention and thought that that was just the shoulder of the bolt. I was looking for something more substantial than that flimsy thing and thought it would be brass-colored, like the bolt and the nut.
It was late when I finished, I was tired, and I didn't have room in the garage to step back from Thelma Jane to see if the axle looks to be centered, or to see if she appears to be sitting level now that she has those 0.75" spacers.
I was so tired, and it was so late that I just left my tools scattered on the floor. I'll go out there sometime today and put my tools away and see if all my efforts appear to have done any good.
Tom
Have you hugged your Jeep today?
It's better than the alternative, which is to drill out the previously tapered hole to take a regular bolt.....which means you can never go back to a regular track bar (and the regular bolt will tend to come loose anyway). However, that flimsy adapter doesn't fill me with confidence either.
The OE bar does a great job, fits tightly, but for obvious reasons doesn't adjust. I just redrilled the mounting hole, then strengthened it with a couple of washers welded on, but I appreciate that's not an option for everyone.
.......I didn't have room in the garage to step back from Thelma Jane to see if the axle looks to be centered.....
Ah well, the advantage you do have is that you can adjust it as much as you like until you're happy with it.
Even the best mechanics (and I'm not one of those) have their bad days when nothing comes easy. Here's a tip that usually works for me. Curse the offending part while striking the floor with a large piece of wood as hard as you can (won't damage you or the floor). Repeat forcefully as many times as is necessary to the offending part, "You will not beat me, you will not beat me!". This works, but only if you give thanks at other times when an apparently difficult job goes unexpectedly easily.
Strangely, as your experience increases you'll find that you beat the floor less and give thanks more often!
I guess the lower part of the hole is all that is tapered, and I only enlarged the upper end that was not tapered anyway???
Well, just by eyeballing Thelma Jane, it looks like her front axle is centered now.
Also, by measuring to the floor from the front end of the rocker guard and at the back end, it appears that she is level within about a quarter inch over that distance, so even if you double it to allow for the extra distance from the front bumper to the back bumper, that would still be only about half an inch out of level, and that "ain't no biggie." Besides, she is topless and doorless now, so when the top and doors go back on, she may very well be perfectly level.
Now, I just need to center the steering wheel and get the toe in re-set. I could do the steering wheel thing myself, but I think I will get a shop to do the toe-in this time, and they would probably not charge any extra to center the steeting wheel. I was looking for some good way to measure for the toe-in adjustment, and I didn't really see anything that I would feel confident in. I know people do their own toe-in adjustments, and I will be doing my own sometime, but probably not this time.
Tom
Have you hugged your Jeep today?
More Powerful and Fuel-efficient Engines
Available for the first time in a civilian model is a diesel engine for Jeep Wrangler, and this engine is also offered for the Wrangler Unlimited. Built by VM Motori, this all-new 2.8-litre common-rail turbo diesel engine is a 2766cc (169 cu. in.) four-cylinder, in-line engine, with belt-driven double overhead camshafts and four valves per cylinder.
The iron cylinder block is an open block design with a ladder frame bed plate and integral liners. The aluminium cylinder head features a side-entry swirl intake port and a directed intake port. A Bosch EDC 16 common-rail direct-injection fuel system is incorporated along with an electronically controlled EGR valve and variable geometry turbocharger.
The 2.8-litre diesel engine is available with a six-speed manual transmission or five-speed automatic transmission. Maximum power is estimated at 130 kW (177 hp DIN), and peak torque is estimated at 410 Nm (302 lb.-ft.) between 1800-2400 rpm
looks like it is the liberty 2.8 diesel and not the 3.0 crd
bummer!
My bad, Tom. I'd assumed that they'd changed that design by now.
If you do decide to center the steering wheel by yourself, you can do it a little at a time (i.e. by trial and error) without damaging anything. Certainly if you're not comfortable adjusting the toe then have it professionally done.
With regard to levelling, I decided to stay with the same factory nose down attitude after I'd fitted my OME kit. Personal preference really.
The toe-in is easy to adjust. Heck I did it with Kermit on the trail by Sit Up and Beg one day during lunch! Your tires have a seam running around them generally right about the middle of the tread. Use that point front/rear when adjusting your toe in and you have a good consistent point of reference to measure. Having a helper sure helps.
I've also adjusted the steering wheel to be pretty much center. It took about 10 minutes with some trial and error. It is still off a bit, but not worth worrying about at this point.
Here are some references for the toe-in and steering adjustment if you didn't have it already:
http://www.4x4xplor.com/alignment.html
On another note, Kermit has new hood latches!!! I got tired of waiting for my body shop guy to fit me in to his schedule so I got a slide hammer and will work on unbending the hood hinge mount area myself. I also found a 7 piece body/fender repair kit, so I'll read up on how to use it effectively and see if I can get my hood into some form of better shape. Not looking for perfection, but I think I'll try this myself. Has tools for flat AND curved areas, so I think I can make it work. I'll go by the dealership with a 'template' to outline the back edge of the hood so I can see how far the sides of the hood bend down.
We'll see how it comes out... hehe
-Paul
I don't know the year of your Jeep, but if it's not too recent you may well need a GL-3 spec transmission oil. The symptoms you have are common when a GL-5 is used, which is often mistakenly used instead, especially by 'quick stop' type places.
It's important to get the GL-5 out because it causes rapid wear of the brass and bronze components, which includes the synchro rings.
-Paul
Google video
(I read on Digg that the driver was experienced and didn't get hurt).
Here is the jeep afterwards...
Not perfect by any stretch, but the armor did the job.
Oh, and by the way, No Freakin Way am I running that!
I still have the hood hinge mount area to unbend and I'm going to try my hand and straightening out the hood a bit.
-Paul
The spotter would have been more effective if he were off to the side a bit so he could be seen in the window a bit better.
If you do a search on Tracy Roll at Moab, there is a link to a thread on a Jeep board about how Insurance handled it, as well as Toys by Troy.
-Paul