What did you do to your TJ today?

Flat towed the 02 to the cabin in Arkansas last night. Got here after dark and went to unhook from the Cruiser. It was on an incline and I couldn't wiggle the Cruiser enough to release the tension anywhere. Finally I had the great idea to just remove the hitch pin and pull forward, allowing the hitch to slide out.

But I'm not dumb — the 02 is a stick, so I went back and put it into gear so it wouldn't roll away. I didn't put on the e-brake because well....


This seems like a good time to tell you about the rest of the trouble I had yesterday. I hadn't driven the 02 in a while, so of course the battery was dead when I went to start it up. I put my jump pack on it and it fired right up and I let it run while parked on the street for a good while to hopefully charge up the battery. Obviously it's in N with the e-brake on. It probably ran for a good 45 mins while I was loading up etc. Then I put the tow bar on and backed up the cruiser to hook up. Turned it off, made sure the wheel could turn freely, put the t-case in neutral, double checked my connections, and headed east.

About 15 min into the drive I come to a stop light. It's a nice day and I have my windows down. I smell something burning, and I see a glimpse of smoke from the back of the jeep. I'm thinking "Is that exhaust? Did I forget to turn it off??" But the smell ain't right, and it didn't smell unlike an electrical fire so I immediately pulled off to investigate. After checking everything, I discovered that I had left the e-brake on. So I basically smoked the rear brakes for 15 minutes at 60 mph.

....so I didn't know what condition the e-brake was in so I left it off. Being in gear is gonna be just fine, it was a pretty slight incline. So I pull the cruiser up and just like the plan, the hitch slid right out. And then immediately I hear the Jeep rolling. Well by now we all know that I forgot to put the t-case back in gear. So I start running after it and it took about 1 second to realize I wasn't gonna catch it. It starts rolling down the driveway where it gets steeper. The wheels were cut after coming up the driveway so it followed the path back down, narrowly missing the pump house. It went a while longer before it went up an embankment on the side of the driveway. Now you you need to understand that this is WOODED property. Not just some trees. TONS of trees. It goes up that embankment and splits 2 trees with no room to spare and stops just short of the power pole......And then starts down the embankment again. The only thing that stopped it was the fact that the tow bar dug into the soft ground since it has rained a ton over the past few days.

Once I got that all unraveled safely, I finally made it into the cabin, where I found the power was completely out. I know what you're thinking because I was thinking it too. But no, I did not hit the power pole and knock out my own power with my own stupidity. The power had been out from a prior storm that I didn't know about.


So the moral of this story is don't be stupid when you're unhooking your tow vehicle. And also don't be stupid when you're hooking up your tow vehicle. I don't know how to give you advice on ensuring your runaway vehicle takes no damage in the woods. That's going to be a YMMV sort of thing.

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Flat towed the 02 to the cabin in Arkansas last night. Got here after dark and went to unhook from the Cruiser. It was on an incline and I couldn't wiggle the Cruiser enough to release the tension anywhere. Finally I had the great idea to just remove the hitch pin and pull forward, allowing the hitch to slide out.

But I'm not dumb — the 02 is a stick, so I went back and put it into gear so it wouldn't roll away. I didn't put on the e-brake because well....


This seems like a good time to tell you about the rest of the trouble I had yesterday. I hadn't driven the 02 in a while, so of course the battery was dead when I went to start it up. I put my jump pack on it and it fired right up and I let it run while parked on the street for a good while to hopefully charge up the battery. Obviously it's in N with the e-brake on. It probably ran for a good 45 mins while I was loading up etc. Then I put the tow bar on and backed up the cruiser to hook up. Turned it off, made sure the wheel could turn freely, put the t-case in neutral, double checked my connections, and headed east.

About 15 min into the drive I come to a stop light. It's a nice day and I have my windows down. I smell something burning, and I see a glimpse of smoke from the back of the jeep. I'm thinking "Is that exhaust? Did I forget to turn it off??" But the smell ain't right, and it didn't smell unlike an electrical fire so I immediately pulled off to investigate. After checking everything, I discovered that I had left the e-brake on. So I basically smoked the rear brakes for 15 minutes at 60 mph.

....so I didn't know what condition the e-brake was in so I left it off. Being in gear is gonna be just fine, it was a pretty slight incline. So I pull the cruiser up and just like the plan, the hitch slid right out. And then immediately I hear the Jeep rolling. Well by now we all know that I forgot to put the t-case back in gear. So I start running after it and it took about 1 second to realize I wasn't gonna catch it. It starts rolling down the driveway where it gets steeper. The wheels were cut after coming up the driveway so it followed the path back down, narrowly missing the pump house. It went a while longer before it went up an embankment on the side of the driveway. Now you you need to understand that this is WOODED property. Not just some trees. TONS of trees. It goes up that embankment and splits 2 trees with no room to spare and stops just short of the power pole......And then starts down the embankment again. The only thing that stopped it was the fact that the tow bar dug into the soft ground since it has rained a ton over the past few days.

Once I got that all unraveled safely, I finally made it into the cabin, where I found the power was completely out. I know what you're thinking because I was thinking it too. But no, I did not hit the power pole and knock out my own power with my own stupidity. The power had been out from a prior storm that I didn't know about.


So the moral of this story is don't be stupid when you're unhooking your tow vehicle. And also don't be stupid when you're hooking up your tow vehicle. I don't know how to give you advice on ensuring your runaway vehicle takes no damage in the woods. That's going to be a YMMV sort of thing.

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Go buy a lottery ticket while Lady Luck is still with you!
 
Fixed a small evap leak that appeared recently and all it needed was a new lock clip for one of the lines, glad it was a simple fix. Also finally got a set of trail tails ordered up. Next I have to mount up a used set of 35s that I found on marketplace to my beadlocks that I bough last year. Also have to mount a whip light but waiting for the new taillights to do so.
 
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Flat towed the 02 to the cabin in Arkansas last night. Got here after dark and went to unhook from the Cruiser. It was on an incline and I couldn't wiggle the Cruiser enough to release the tension anywhere. Finally I had the great idea to just remove the hitch pin and pull forward, allowing the hitch to slide out.

But I'm not dumb — the 02 is a stick, so I went back and put it into gear so it wouldn't roll away. I didn't put on the e-brake because well....


This seems like a good time to tell you about the rest of the trouble I had yesterday. I hadn't driven the 02 in a while, so of course the battery was dead when I went to start it up. I put my jump pack on it and it fired right up and I let it run while parked on the street for a good while to hopefully charge up the battery. Obviously it's in N with the e-brake on. It probably ran for a good 45 mins while I was loading up etc. Then I put the tow bar on and backed up the cruiser to hook up. Turned it off, made sure the wheel could turn freely, put the t-case in neutral, double checked my connections, and headed east.

About 15 min into the drive I come to a stop light. It's a nice day and I have my windows down. I smell something burning, and I see a glimpse of smoke from the back of the jeep. I'm thinking "Is that exhaust? Did I forget to turn it off??" But the smell ain't right, and it didn't smell unlike an electrical fire so I immediately pulled off to investigate. After checking everything, I discovered that I had left the e-brake on. So I basically smoked the rear brakes for 15 minutes at 60 mph.

....so I didn't know what condition the e-brake was in so I left it off. Being in gear is gonna be just fine, it was a pretty slight incline. So I pull the cruiser up and just like the plan, the hitch slid right out. And then immediately I hear the Jeep rolling. Well by now we all know that I forgot to put the t-case back in gear. So I start running after it and it took about 1 second to realize I wasn't gonna catch it. It starts rolling down the driveway where it gets steeper. The wheels were cut after coming up the driveway so it followed the path back down, narrowly missing the pump house. It went a while longer before it went up an embankment on the side of the driveway. Now you you need to understand that this is WOODED property. Not just some trees. TONS of trees. It goes up that embankment and splits 2 trees with no room to spare and stops just short of the power pole......And then starts down the embankment again. The only thing that stopped it was the fact that the tow bar dug into the soft ground since it has rained a ton over the past few days.

Once I got that all unraveled safely, I finally made it into the cabin, where I found the power was completely out. I know what you're thinking because I was thinking it too. But no, I did not hit the power pole and knock out my own power with my own stupidity. The power had been out from a prior storm that I didn't know about.


So the moral of this story is don't be stupid when you're unhooking your tow vehicle. And also don't be stupid when you're hooking up your tow vehicle. I don't know how to give you advice on ensuring your runaway vehicle takes no damage in the woods. That's going to be a YMMV sort of thing.

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You looked VERY stable in this pic. ;)
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p.s.
I have weeks/months at a time where the arthritis in my spine keeps me from climbing in my Jeep. Against my wife's advice, I do it anyway (when she's at work). 🤫
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I'm just glad nobody got a pic of me almost nose diving into that crap!!!!!!! Nasty stuff!!!!!

Here is what I swept up after I finished the control arms and moved it to clean up.

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Glass company came to install my new rear glass that I broke yesterday, although it was supposedly for a 2006 TJ, the mounting holes for the wiper motor measure 6-1/2” center to center where my wiper motor assy measures 7-1/4 to 7-1/2” ( one hole is slotted), and the glass wasn’t tall enough so when you closed the tailgate it didn’t seal and there was a gap. 😡😡
Now there’s a chance my hardtop is not from a 2006, but there’s no identifiable marks to tell.
Any back glass experts here??!
They are getting another glass from Detroit but it will be three days. Problem is, it could be wrong too.
 
Glass company came to install my new rear glass that I broke yesterday, although it was supposedly for a 2006 TJ, the mounting holes for the wiper motor measure 6-1/2” center to center where my wiper motor assy measures 7-1/4 to 7-1/2” ( one hole is slotted), and the glass wasn’t tall enough so when you closed the tailgate it didn’t seal and there was a gap. 😡😡
Now there’s a chance my hardtop is not from a 2006, but there’s no identifiable marks to tell.
Any back glass experts here??!
They are getting another glass from Detroit but it will be three days. Problem is, it could be wrong too.

Definitely not a glass expert but here's what I found for replacement glass.

PPR Industries 30 9903 97-02​

  • Features: Tinted
  • Glass Location: Lift Gate
  • Shipping Weight: 22lb
  • Shipping Dimensions: 57in x 30in x 4in (L x W x H)



1731972657587.png

PPR Industries 30 9904 03-06​

  • Features: Defrost, Tinted
  • Glass Location: Lift Gate
  • Shipping Weight: 29lb
  • Shipping Dimensions: 56in x 27in x 5in (L x W x H)
1731972640086.png

Not sure if their images are exact represntations of the product or not but if so there is a huge difference between PPR and Fairchild

Fairchild Industries Replacement Hard Top Lift Gate Glass with Defrost for 97-06 Jeep Wrangler TJ​

Edit:

D4158​

  • Features: Defrost, Tinted
  • Glass Location: Lift Gate
  • Shipping Weight: 27lb
  • Shipping Dimensions: 60in x 28in x 5in (L x W x H)

D4159​

  • Features: Defrost, Tinted
  • Glass Location: Lift Gate
  • Shipping Weight: 27lb
  • Shipping Dimensions: 60in x 28in x 5in (L x W x H)



1731972619364.png



https://www.quadratec.com/categories/jeep-hardtops/replacement-glass
 
Last edited:
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Definitely not a glass expert but here's what I found for replacement glass.

PPR Industries 30 9903 97-02​

  • Features: Tinted
  • Glass Location: Lift Gate
  • Shipping Weight: 22lb
  • Shipping Dimensions: 57in x 30in x 4in (L x W x H)




View attachment 573611

PPR Industries 30 9904 03-06​

  • Features: Defrost, Tinted
  • Glass Location: Lift Gate
  • Shipping Weight: 29lb
  • Shipping Dimensions: 56in x 27in x 5in (L x W x H)
View attachment 573610

Not sure if their images are exact represntations of the product or not but if so there is a huge difference between PPR and Fairchild

Fairchild Industries Replacement Hard Top Lift Gate Glass with Defrost for 97-06 Jeep Wrangler TJ​

Edit:

D4158​

  • Features: Defrost, Tinted
  • Glass Location: Lift Gate
  • Shipping Weight: 27lb
  • Shipping Dimensions: 60in x 28in x 5in (L x W x H)

D4159​

  • Features: Defrost, Tinted
  • Glass Location: Lift Gate
  • Shipping Weight: 27lb
  • Shipping Dimensions: 60in x 28in x 5in (L x W x H)



View attachment 573609


https://www.quadratec.com/categories/jeep-hardtops/replacement-glass

The difference is in the layout of the wiper motor mounting holes, and apparently the glass height, OR the plastic/rubber piece on the window bottom. The one on my broken window was L shaper with rubber weather stripping on the back side to seal when the tailgate is closed. The window they brought had a flat plastic piece without the rubber, and it is about 1-1/2” too short top to bottom.
And there was over an inch difference in the center to center of the wiper motor mounting holes. Even with the slotted hole on one side, it still isn’t wide enough on that dimension to mount.
 
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First photo, wrapped up front diff, 2 installed new steering stabilizer,3 mounted spare back on bumper. I thought four bolts were not installed due to no holes for bolts, my buddy pointed ther are four more bolts holding bumper on underneath. That’s why took spare off originally to fix the missing bolts. Always good to have second set of eyes. Also added some moose jaw humor bling.