A rebuild of #miRustyJeep...

Still picking away at wiring. I’m ready to do unspeakable things to the assholes at Chrysler who decided to change O2 sensor connections for the 04 only model year. Had to pull the connectors off my old harness and install them on the new one. That meant two hours with little tiny screwdrivers, the wire diagrams, and my camera swapping connectors. But, it’s done, now. I think that’s the last harness mod I need to make. Still have some interior stuff to do, like my new locker switches and the trans temp gage, But that stuff is relatively easy. Speaking of trans temp gage, I cut a giant hole into another one of my very nice, original interior panels. Installed pretty well. I used a 2” hole saw, then a sanding roll in my Dremel to finish the hole to size.

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Still picking away at wiring. I’m ready to do unspeakable things to the assholes at Chrysler who decided to change O2 sensor connections for the 04 only model year. Had to pull the connectors off my old harness and install them on the new one. That meant two hours with little tiny screwdrivers, the wire diagrams, and my camera swapping connectors. But, it’s done, now. I think that’s the last harness mod I need to make. Still have some interior stuff to do, like my new locker switches and the trans temp gage, But that stuff is relatively easy. Speaking of trans temp gage, I cut a giant hole into another one of my very nice, original interior panels. Installed pretty well. I used a 2” hole saw, then a sanding roll in my Dremel to finish the hole to size.

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What you’re doing is something I would love to do, but could never do. Your attention to detail is awesome. Keep at it, you’re on the home stretch!
 
What you’re doing is something I would love to do, but could never do. Your attention to detail is awesome. Keep at it, you’re on the home stretch!

Sure you can. Only a couple things are necessary. The first is a tool collection that can double as a retirement account. The second is the stubborness to keep doing the same thing, over and over, until it’s right.
 
Unrelated to the task at hand, but I sent my first order to Send, Cut, Send tonight. What a slick process.

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These parts will be used to finish up my bull bar project. @Sunny Side Up was kind enough to share his DXF files with me and I checked them with my bumper. I needed to make some modifications so it would work with my Motobilt, so I did that and modified the gusset slightly to match my aesthetic preferences. Once I know if they will work, I'll share my DXF's to anyone who's interested too. I'm 99% sure they will work, but until I have the parts in my hot little hands, I reserve the right to be wrong.
 
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Unrelated to the task at hand, but I sent my first order to Send, Cut, Send tonight. What a slick process.

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These parts will be used to finish up my bull bar project. @Sunny Side Up was kind enough to share his DXF files with me and I checked them with my bumper. I needed to make some modifications so it would work with my Motobilt, so I did that and modified the gusset slightly to match my aesthetic preferences on the gussets. Once I know if they will work, I'll share my DXF's to anyone who's interested too. I'm 99% sure they will work, but until I have the parts in my hot little hands, I reserve the right to be wrong.

I ordered the same hoop and I still dont have it. I think @rasband has had his for a week now and I am only 30 min north of him!
 
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Sure you can. Only a couple things are necessary. The first is a tool collection that can double as a retirement account. The second is the stubborness to keep doing the same thing, over and over, until it’s right.

Thanks for the vote of confidence. I’ve worked with the most inferior of tools for a long time. I’ve lifted 7 rigs in the last 6 years. I never even had a floor jack for any of those. I had a trolley jack and a couple of the 2 ton jack/jack stand types and two jack stands and some 4x4’s and 2x4’s. I’ve started to upgrade the tools this year. The floor jack alone has changed my life. It was such a chore to do anything before. I still don’t think I have the patience or ability to do a tranny swap. It looks like it’s in the future though. Someway somehow. Reverse is almost non-existent in my 6-speed. The only good thing about that is I’m the only one who can get it in reverse, so good luck stealing it without a tow truck!
 
Thanks for the vote of confidence. I’ve worked with the most inferior of tools for a long time. I’ve lifted 7 rigs in the last 6 years. I never even had a floor jack for any of those. I had a trolley jack and a couple of the 2 ton jack/jack stand types and two jack stands and some 4x4’s and 2x4’s. I’ve started to upgrade the tools this year. The floor jack alone has changed my life. It was such a chore to do anything before. I still don’t think I have the patience or ability to do a tranny swap. It looks like it’s in the future though. Someway somehow. Reverse is almost non-existent in my 6-speed. The only good thing about that is I’m the only one who can get it in reverse, so good luck stealing it without a tow truck!

When you really start using tools, you learn to appreciate good tools. I can tell what kind of wrench a guy is by taking a look at their tools. Anyone who can back up the talk will have a decent set, or they are building one. If all they have is the garbage that you get at the dollar store, take what they say with a grain of salt. If they have some decent stuff, doesn't mean high dollar, but stuff that is well used and not all twisted and bent to shit, they might know what they are talking about. Kinda like the machinist who claims he can hold tenths with a 5 dollar harbor freight caliper. Ya, maybe not.
 
Ran into a little snag. After all the research and planning I have done, I managed to miss a required bracket. It bolts to the side of the transmission and holds the shifter cable. I contacted the guy I got the transmission from, to see if maybe he still has it, but I’m not hopeful. He’s going to look tomorrow. Looks like Davey’s Jeeps has one though, so I’ll be ok. Just a bummer.
 
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I have a bracket on the way. I got impatient last night and bought the one from Davey's Jeeps. 32 bucks shipped, which seems ridiculous for what it is...but he has one and I need it, so I paid the man. Nice thing is that it looks like the finish is still decent, so hopefully I can bolt it right in vs going through my normal process of buying used parts, which includes a trip through the sandblaster and my makeshift paint booth.

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As far as progress, I have my hard cooler lines installed and ready to attach to the soft lines (which I need to build today). Most of my wire harness is installed. I still need to do some routing of wires along the drivers frame rail and get the signal wire from my trans temp sensor into the cab.

If anyone (@jjvw or @rasband) has pictures of where the wire harness should attach on top of the transmission, I'd appreciate them. SInce I'm flying solo here and installing a bunch of parts from a bunch of different rigs that I didn't take apart, I'm kinda making things up as I go. I'm not super happy with the routing I have behind the engine on the Pass side, where the wire harness passes by the fill tube. A picture of that would be incredibly helpful. I'd hate to cut my harness on the pinch weld of the firewall to tunnel.
 
No pics, but I think mine is ending up in the same spot. The two thick bundles pass down next to the trans fill tube against the firewall. One shoots over to the PCM and the other runs under the tunnel a bit to the passenger side before landing on top of the trans where it branches out to either side.
 
No pics, but I think mine is ending up in the same spot. The two thick bundles pass down next to the trans fill tube against the firewall. One shoots over to the PCM and the other runs under the tunnel a bit to the passenger side before landing on top of the trans where it branches out to either side.

Its not great. Mine is kinda twisted around and I really don't like it, but I also don't know how to make it better. I'm planning a call to Blaine later today...
 
Its not great. Mine is kinda twisted around and I really don't like it, but I also don't know how to make it better. I'm planning a call to Blaine later today...

I pulled mine out a couple times to improve the routing. It wasn't easy. I called him yesterday with similar questions about routing.
 
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Talked with Blaine today and I have my harness mostly routed correctly, at least in the area I was concerned with.

Also got my cooler lines installed. I went from the hot side of the transmission to the drivers side of the factory cooler, out of the pass side of the factory cooler to the pass side of the setrab, and then back to the cold side of the transmission. That’s the way Blaine installs them and since I’m trying to shamelessly copy what he does, I did it that way too. If it overcools, I’ll switch it up (setrab first, then factory cooler). It should be fine though. The transmission in my truck runs about 95 to 120 (yes, Fahrenheit) all the time and the dealership said it’s fine.

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Been a rough week with work and appointments so haven’t had much Jeep time. I did get a couple shipments in though. My missing bracket arrived

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It’s pretty clean, I think I can bolt it on without refinishing.

My order from send cut send showed up too
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This is such a cool business model. The parts arrived well packaged, communication was great, and the price is very reasonable.