Some photos from a fire road I found last weekend, and then a replacement of the u-joints and centering yoke on my front driveshaft today. It was making quite a bit of noise.
Austin's 98 TJ
- Thread starter Austin O.
- Start date
Jeep was feeling a bit more wobbly than usual, checked sway bar links and one of the bolts was missing. Instead of getting a new bolt, I changed to cotter pins for quick disconnects
Didn’t mean for my tire rotation and oil change to turn into a full day ordeal, but that somehow had to happen of course... Lug nut stripped on the stud and just spun. A few hours later with lots of hammering and drilling and it finally all came apart:
I feel you. I changed my oil Monday evening thinking oh I have a few minutes let’s knock it out! Drained my oil, replaced my filter and proceeded to twist my oil filler cap off leaving the base in the valve cover lol.
That's how my Jeep came when I bought it from my sister.
I'm guessing my BIL had that experience and passed it to me.
Been there, done that! I've never had that happen on a vehicle before. Leave it to Jeep to screw up an oil filler cap!
MountaineerTom
LJ Enthusiast, Retired USAF Weapons Loader
Supporting Member
Ride of the Month Winner
Mine did it too in 2018. Replaced it with a non-ratcheting Stant cap.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000B8LKSW?tag=wranglerorg-20
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000B8LKSW?tag=wranglerorg-20
I'm pretty sure I found an old post you made here, and I ended up buying that cap as a spare for when this replacement OEM cap that I got fails in the future. So, thanks for posting that previously! I'm now gonna like that old post and the one just above this one!
New tires! BFG KO2 31s
Replaced my driver side wheel bearing after it started making noises, I’ve had the parts ready for a while but was waiting for it to give up. Should’ve been quick but a stripped bolt slowed it down by many days. I bought a spiral bolt extractor kit for it which I did not have faith in but it ended up working well!
I am waiting on a new bolt to come before I can drive again…
Replaced my driver side wheel bearing after it started making noises, I’ve had the parts ready for a while but was waiting for it to give up. Should’ve been quick but a stripped bolt slowed it down by many days. I bought a spiral bolt extractor kit for it which I did not have faith in but it ended up working well!
I am waiting on a new bolt to come before I can drive again…
I found the source of vibrations I’ve been having while accelerating for the past couple months… (after checking various other things)
Replaced both rear driveshaft u-joints and it’s all fixed now. This was by far the easiest u-joint replacement I’ve had yet, no problems at all.
Replaced both rear driveshaft u-joints and it’s all fixed now. This was by far the easiest u-joint replacement I’ve had yet, no problems at all.
A couple months ago I started hearing a knocking coming from my engine. It was pretty quiet initially and I could only really hear it while idling but it eventually got a lot louder, especially when accelerating. I'm at about 176k on the engine and was quite sure it was piston slap.
This past Monday I had off from work and started the process of doing an in-frame piston replacement. I disconnected practically everything from the engine, and pulled everything out. When draining the coolant it came out quite brown so I will be flushing the system sometime soon as well. Oil looked normal, just dark.
I have known since buying the TJ that it had a non-original engine but the previous owner was unaware of where it came from or why it had to be replaced. I have now learned that it is originally from a WJ, causing me to have to unbolt the A/C compressor and fully remove its bracket due to the head having a stud and nut connection to the A/C compressor rather than just a bolt. Since I don't have an engine lift I took a 2x4 and chained the head/rest of the assembly (I didn't disconnect the intake or exhaust manifolds) to it and my dad and I were able to pull it out yesterday by lifting up the 2x4 on either side of the car. It was quite heavy and not ideal but we made it work.
The pistons were quite dirty and had a lot of carbon on them but didn't look damaged from the top and neither did the cylinder walls. However, unfortunately the head was cracked on the bridge between valves on cylinder 1. From my research, it seems that it's very uncommon such an issue occurs in cylinder 1 rather than cylinders 3 or 4 so I am a bit confused by it and there have never been signs of a cracked head before this. Also, I have the 0630 casting, not the 0331 that is known to crack more easily. The crack was quite small and hard to see so perhaps it just didn't go all the way through to let coolant in, hence no issues. But now I've had to order a new head that should arrive this upcoming week. Dissapointed and frustrated to have to spend another few hundred dollars that I wasn't planning on.
Earlier today I received the new pistons and rods from DeXJ's shop (he presses them together and then sells them with rings). I put the rings on the new pistons and they are ready to be installed soon. I also pulled the old pistons out of the engine which was easier than I expected once I figured out a good way to do it on the first one.
Upon inspection, all but one of the pistons had cracks in them, with many having 2 or 3. None extended all the way to the top of the piston but a few got pretty close. Others were minimal. I'm very glad I caught all this before skirts broke and I had bigger problems. Here is a couple of them:
Next, I need to clean up the top of the block from the awful original head gasket that seems impossible to scrape off and then install new pistons and start re-assembly. I am debating honing the cylinders as DeXj's videos and experience show it doesn't make much of a difference, I don't want to spend more money on a tool I'll only use once, and I don't want to get any debris in the main bearings. However I do know that it is what you're supposed to do...
I also need to order new gaskets, remove the intake and exhaust manifolds from the old head to put onto the new one, and buy a new oil cap as this is the second one I have somehow stripped while trying to unscrew. It's a fun project so far, hopefully the rest goes well.
This past Monday I had off from work and started the process of doing an in-frame piston replacement. I disconnected practically everything from the engine, and pulled everything out. When draining the coolant it came out quite brown so I will be flushing the system sometime soon as well. Oil looked normal, just dark.
I have known since buying the TJ that it had a non-original engine but the previous owner was unaware of where it came from or why it had to be replaced. I have now learned that it is originally from a WJ, causing me to have to unbolt the A/C compressor and fully remove its bracket due to the head having a stud and nut connection to the A/C compressor rather than just a bolt. Since I don't have an engine lift I took a 2x4 and chained the head/rest of the assembly (I didn't disconnect the intake or exhaust manifolds) to it and my dad and I were able to pull it out yesterday by lifting up the 2x4 on either side of the car. It was quite heavy and not ideal but we made it work.
The pistons were quite dirty and had a lot of carbon on them but didn't look damaged from the top and neither did the cylinder walls. However, unfortunately the head was cracked on the bridge between valves on cylinder 1. From my research, it seems that it's very uncommon such an issue occurs in cylinder 1 rather than cylinders 3 or 4 so I am a bit confused by it and there have never been signs of a cracked head before this. Also, I have the 0630 casting, not the 0331 that is known to crack more easily. The crack was quite small and hard to see so perhaps it just didn't go all the way through to let coolant in, hence no issues. But now I've had to order a new head that should arrive this upcoming week. Dissapointed and frustrated to have to spend another few hundred dollars that I wasn't planning on.
Earlier today I received the new pistons and rods from DeXJ's shop (he presses them together and then sells them with rings). I put the rings on the new pistons and they are ready to be installed soon. I also pulled the old pistons out of the engine which was easier than I expected once I figured out a good way to do it on the first one.
Upon inspection, all but one of the pistons had cracks in them, with many having 2 or 3. None extended all the way to the top of the piston but a few got pretty close. Others were minimal. I'm very glad I caught all this before skirts broke and I had bigger problems. Here is a couple of them:
Next, I need to clean up the top of the block from the awful original head gasket that seems impossible to scrape off and then install new pistons and start re-assembly. I am debating honing the cylinders as DeXj's videos and experience show it doesn't make much of a difference, I don't want to spend more money on a tool I'll only use once, and I don't want to get any debris in the main bearings. However I do know that it is what you're supposed to do...
I also need to order new gaskets, remove the intake and exhaust manifolds from the old head to put onto the new one, and buy a new oil cap as this is the second one I have somehow stripped while trying to unscrew. It's a fun project so far, hopefully the rest goes well.
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My $0.02, the new rings need a slightly coarse surface to "cut-in" (break in) with. A stone hone is pretty cheap, like $30, and just a few passes will do the job. After you rub the walls you need square up and check the ring gaps, especially that top ring.
In case you don't know, a stone hone cuts it "square".
Glaze breakers cut it everywhere.
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I ended up buying one of the ball/flex hones. Decided if I’m doing it I should do it all the right way.
Just remember those are glaze breakers, only intended to rough up the surface with a few passes. They follow surface contour, highs and lows. Likely you're cylinders are straight enough to not matter, but if you need to actually remove material and keep it straight, you'll need a stone hone too.
Since you have the head off and a new one coming, now is the time to do a DIY deck job. Nothing crazy, just knock down the high spots.
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