What did you do to your TJ today?

gbirk said:
Dropped the gas tank to fix a broken fuel line connector and replace the fuel pump while it is out. I watched 4 or 5 videos on how to drop the tank, and I guess I am lucky as I only have 2 lines, an electrical connector and the filler to disconnect. All of the videos I watched showed several other lines that had to be removed once the tank was dropped about 2 inches.

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Anything else I should do for maintenance while I have the tank out?
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Those videos with tanks that have all the extra vacuum lines are of newer TJ's. I'm not sure if they changed evap. systems in 03 or 04. If you hadn't already planned to do it, I would take the tank out of the skid pan, clean out any debris and if needed repaint the inside before it all goes back together.

Edit: also take a close look at the vacuum hoses and replace them as needed.
 
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reddvltj said:
Those videos with tanks that have all the extra vacuum lines are of newer TJ's. I'm not sure if they changed evap. systems in 03 or 04. If you hadn't already planned to do it, I would take the tank out of the skid pan, clean out any debris and if needed repaint the inside before it all goes back together.

Edit: also take a close look at the vacuum hoses and replace them as needed.
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Cleaning and painting the skid pan is a great idea. Thanks.
 
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Snapped the bottom left bumper bolt(last one too..) so that put a stop to my install for the day. After that I decided to hit the rear section of frame and x-member with some Rust-Oleum. Let it dry overnight, tackle that broken bolt tomorrow after work and I should have a bumper on by dinner time 😎
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Victory over that last hard-to-reach clip in the rear wheel well liners! Channeled my inner Clark Griswold ("Catch it in a coat, smack it with a hammer!") and backed them out from the inside by carefully whacking them with ball peen hammer. It's so hot and mosquitoey (that's a word in Arkansas) that I decided to start washing my liners and fender flares in the guest bathroom. So far most of the mess is only on me and not the bathroom.
 
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I did a second round of wire wheeling the rock sliders with a different wheel. I got 99.5% of the existing whatever was on there. Then I painted with this industrial oil based paint.

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I used a brush and roller and it gives a dried texture closer to powder coating. It makes it very easy to touch up. Since I'll only use 1/8 to 1/4 quart, I'll redo my trailer with a coat underneath. That's lasted 10 years with minor dings and chips.

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Good enough for essentially a frame extension.

Here's before and after.

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I'll do 2 coats on then 2 coats on the frame, bolts, and attachment plates, before attaching them.

If I determine they are too short for what I want, I should be able to flip them easily. I checked and the feet and plates do fit the frame.

The feet responded well to realignment with the BFH, the tube wouldn't budge. So I'm painting flat black to hide rough spots and hopefully the bend. If someone bends down to look closer I'll just kick them.
 
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I chose flat and it's still a little shinier then the powder coating on the bumpers. It should be close enough.

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The bedliner they used to touch up the plastic is coming off with each car wash. So that will need to be painted someday with something better.
 
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pagrey said:
The flat looks great.
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Flat is easier to touch up and hides some of the imperfections. A zinc based paint is the best for paint it and forget it rust protection because it self heals; like galvanized metal. But to get a decent zinc content, it gets up in price. Somewhere around $10-15 a can for spray paint and $20/quart. They typically only come in grey or dark grey or some stupid color other than black, so you have to top coat them anyway. I'd rather use something like this at $9/quart and just inspect the underside more often and do touchups.

I think these sliders were made for a regular TJ and will be a little short to protect everything on my unlimited, but I'll put them on, line them up the best I can, and use them for a while. They beat the crap out of the protection offered by the OEM plastic step and I'm only in ~$110. It would be easy to flip them later and get or make something else. I've been wanting a harder welding project and now I have a design template for a frame mounted option.

If they ding and chip from kicking up small rocks while driving, or I scratch them on something on a trail, it's as easy as running the roller on the underside to add another coat and touch them up.

I'll use the paint and a roller to coat other things underneath when I start the lift this weekend. Transfer case skid, driveshafts, axles, linkages, odds and ends, etc. That's one reason I wanted to do the lift myself. A full underside inspection, cleanup, and touchup. I'm going to drill the extra drain holes in the frame when I'm under there.
 
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