Finished the dash finally , Stone Washed Denim Blue & Sand Dollar . My tires came in today , wish the wheels had too.
What did you do to your TJ today?
- Thread starter LJRubiconGuy
- Start date
It all started with checking the steering and ball joint on my Jeep Friday and going to some local auto parts stores to see what they had in stock and if it rivaled Amazon prices (all seemed to be about 1.5x what I was finding online). While I had my front end up in the air I was spinning my tires and heard a ratcheting noise, and if I spun it slow enough the tires lock up and spin in unison, so think I have a lunchbox in the front end! PO never said anything about that, when I regear soon I'll find out for sure! I've been looking for the wiring that goes up to the sound bar for a bit as well as a few other misc parts for a bit now. So Friday I randomly stopped in at a local 4x4 shop that's got a salvaged parts section. Asked the owner if he had the wiring, he said no, then paused said "well I just bought a pretty much worthless '97 that I'm not exactly what I'm going to do with it yet, you can see if the parts are there. It's out back." So I go back there and find pretty much just a tub and frame, but sure enough it had what I was looking for. I've also been having issues tracking down a wiring issue where my reverse lights don't work at all and my rear turn indicators hardly flash when my headlights are on. So I ask him if I can pull the whole loom from under the dash to the taillights and what he'd want. He said sure, but I also noticed this TJ had the spice colored dash that I like (plus the PO of my TJ did like a crappy gray/blue bedliner coating on my dash) so I asked him if I came back on Saturday if I could swap him dashes. He said as long as the dash in his looks somewhat finished afterwards because it sounds like he's going to use the TJ for a display outside his shop. So I started removing my dash Friday evening so I had an idea of what to expect the next day when removing his. The harness under the dash is sooo butchered from my PO that I asked the shop owner Saturday if I could pull that while I was at it, he said it's fine.
I also learned the PO on mine had used spray foam to hold the passenger side dash together and keep the airbag in place (and some random pieces of mulch). So I took the airbag out of the donor because I didn't trust my airbag.
Showed up Saturday to the 4x4 place and started. They were only open until noon, and due to a few issues I didn't have with mine I didn't get his completely wrapped up, but off on Monday again and told him I'd be back to finish it. Took a few hours in the afternoon off to run some errands, then later afternoon started swapping in the dash harness, couple hiccups, but got it in place and functional shortly after sundown. I soaked and scrubbed all the new dash parts. Tomorrow I'll finish installing my old dash on the shop Jeep and then finish installing the spice dash on mine.
I also learned the PO on mine had used spray foam to hold the passenger side dash together and keep the airbag in place (and some random pieces of mulch). So I took the airbag out of the donor because I didn't trust my airbag.
Showed up Saturday to the 4x4 place and started. They were only open until noon, and due to a few issues I didn't have with mine I didn't get his completely wrapped up, but off on Monday again and told him I'd be back to finish it. Took a few hours in the afternoon off to run some errands, then later afternoon started swapping in the dash harness, couple hiccups, but got it in place and functional shortly after sundown. I soaked and scrubbed all the new dash parts. Tomorrow I'll finish installing my old dash on the shop Jeep and then finish installing the spice dash on mine.
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Took the weekend sanding and painting the fender flares. After 25 years they're more blue than grey. The wife isn't a fan of the flat fender look so keeping the stock ones for now.
1 of the 12 rivnut bolts actually came out. 3 snapped. And the other 8 just spun in place. What a PITA.
I'm also learning more and more that this jeep was t-boned.
Next up, clean out the wheel well and POR the frame there.
1 of the 12 rivnut bolts actually came out. 3 snapped. And the other 8 just spun in place. What a PITA.
I'm also learning more and more that this jeep was t-boned.
Next up, clean out the wheel well and POR the frame there.
What a mess , makes me so glad mine is unmolested . Only the interior was shot , rain , sun and neglect ! All in all I lucked into a pretty good deal , It just takes a lot of looking and knowing what you are looking for. I know it's bad when you keep finding things and I hope nothing bad. My wife was helping me with the new roll bar covers and they are tight. I looked down and I had left the sound bar wire that runs inside the drivers side cover out . I said darn that wire was supposed to go inside that cover....my wife just laughed at me. Good luck with all the fixes Trever.
It's crazy because there's nothing more than surface rust on the frame. The body has zero rust too. but he decided to bedline the whole exterior (very poorly at that too) as well as removing the carpets and bedlining the tub and dash. And the more I dig in to all of it, the more I find he chopped, mangled, and nearly ruined just about everything. I should have named my build "Operation Un-f**k".
I lucked out on buying my first Jeep. Other than some bolt on parts and worn out bushing, it's not a bad high mileage Jeep. Having learned more in the time I have owned it, I really did not check it as closely as I could have.
Replaced the fluid in my six speed trans with Red Line MTL. Hopefully the box of corn flakes feel will end and the shifts will get smoother.
I get it. The original owner of my rig left me with all kinds of wicked crap and butchery to deal with. I’m always replacing stuff which that idiot did.
I would have bought new flares for $110, if I was going through the trouble to remove them. Much easier to slide thin cardboard behind them to spray them. Turned out nice though.
I painted a couple of sets years ago.
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Same here, I replace the dropped pitman arm, track bar and control arms bushings. Cause my Brother in law said it couldn't be a daily driver.
There shouldn’t be much left to replace at this point
Yeah, but the original owner is still doing stupid shit...There shouldn’t be much left to replace at this point
I agree. It wasn't worth the effort to remove just to paint them. But they weren't on tightly and there was a ton of sand and mud I wanted to get out from between the flare and body. This sit much better nowI would have bought new flares for $110, if I was going through the trouble to remove them. Much easier to slide thin cardboard behind them to spray them. Turned out nice though.
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Don't beat yourself up too much. The end result turned out great. Well, I guess it's not over yet.
Some fun, more work. Spent Friday/Saturday replacing the heater and A/C evap cores (PITA!). Installed 160A Durango alternator and 2AWG power cables (from JeepCables.com) on Sunday.
Drove to the range for some pistol training.
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DougyintheBushies
TJ Enthusiast
Rebuilt the front driveshaft and installed it. What a pain in the ass the cardan joint was
Finished up the display Jeep dash and mine today. Missing the driver’s side vent and the passenger speaker cover. But so much better looking than before I think! My overhead speakers work now too, I can actually hear my music now too while driving.
Parts Jeep with my old dash…
My Jeep with the “new” dash…
Need to finish tidying up the harness hanging out the bottom. Reverse lights still aren’t working so I’ll dive into that tomorrow and my ZJ steering should be showing up tomorrow, so that might happen too.
Parts Jeep with my old dash…
My Jeep with the “new” dash…
Need to finish tidying up the harness hanging out the bottom. Reverse lights still aren’t working so I’ll dive into that tomorrow and my ZJ steering should be showing up tomorrow, so that might happen too.