Austin's 98 TJ

Austin O. said:
I took apart the front of the jeep and pulled the harmonic balancer pulley off.
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Since you've already pulled the balancer, it's a good time to consider replacing it with a good OEM or better unit. Your original might still be "serviceable", but at 20 some years old, the elasticity of the rubber is gone. Just something to think about.
 
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BlueC said:
Since you've already pulled the balancer, it's a good time to consider replacing it with a good OEM or better unit. Your original might still be "serviceable", but at 20 some years old, the elasticity of the rubber is gone. Just something to think about.
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I didn’t know that it was anything more than the pulley that powers the others such as the alternator, a/c, etc. Where is this rubber, and what does it do?
 
Austin O. said:
I didn’t know that it was anything more than the pulley that powers the others such as the alternator, a/c, etc. Where is this rubber, and what does it do?
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It's hard to find a good pic, but I think this one will work.

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The one on the left is a complete balancer, the one on the right is the two pieces separated (center hub & balancing ring/pulley). If you look at the hub potion on the right, you can see it has a rubber ring on it which separates the two pieces. This rubber ring allows for some back-and-forth give, thus dampening the pulses/harmonics coming through the crankshaft. Basically, the rubber acts like a shock absorber smoothing out the regular pulses of the crankshaft. With time and many heat cycles, the rubber becomes brittle and doesn't do its job as well. In a worse case situation the two will separate while running, then you have a weighted metal ring spinning 700-5000 rpm on the loose, but that's worse case and not common. Of course, the last time this came up Blaine mentioned he had recently seen a few failures. Yours may be fine, and a cheap parts store part may be worse. Just something to consider while doing this job.

Some engines use a balancer separate from a damper. A harmonic balancer combines the two, but that's irrelevant here and just FYI.
 
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BlueC said:
It's hard to find a good pic, but I think this one will work.

View attachment 428671

The one on the left is a complete balancer, the one on the right is the two pieces separated (center hub & balancing ring/pulley). If you look at the hub potion on the right, you can see it has a rubber ring on it which separates the two pieces. This rubber ring allows for some back-and-forth give, thus dampening the pulses/harmonics coming through the crankshaft. Basically, the rubber acts like a shock absorber smoothing out the regular pulses of the crankshaft. With time and many heat cycles, the rubber becomes brittle and doesn't do its job as well. In a worse case situation the two will separate while running, then you have a weighted metal ring spinning 700-5000 rpm on the loose, but that's worse case and not common. Of course, the last time this came up Blaine mentioned he had recently seen a few failures. Yours may be fine, and a cheap parts store part may be worse. Just something to consider while doing this job.

Some engines use a balancer separate from a damper. A harmonic balancer combines the two, but that's irrelevant here and just FYI.
Click to expand...

Makes sense. Thank you. I’ll look into that then
 
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Daystar leveling spacers went in today. Along the way, I discovered that I don’t really have bump stops… I definitely should have noticed that earlier, but here we are. I’ll order some new ones sometime soon.

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Before:
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After:

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There’s obviously not a huge difference, but it did level it out quite nicely. My bestop should be coming this afternoon, I’ll get that on there tomorrow.
 
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Put the bestop trektop nx on today. I can’t say I’m entirely happy with it just because of how tight it was, despite leaving it in at least partial sun for the majority of the day (about 75 degrees today). I would rather it be a bit looser if it meant I could take the windows on and off more easily. Maybe it’ll stretch a bit in time 🤷‍♂️

Otherwise, I do love the look with the slanted back and versatility of it. Can’t wait to use the sunrider feature. Some pictures below. Couldn’t get great ones because my dads jeep was in the garage when I finished putting it on.

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Additionally, I took apart all of the suspension again and cycled it to measure for new bump stops. Forgot to measure yesterday when I had it apart for the spacers.
 
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Austin O. said:
Put the bestop trektop nx on today. I can’t say I’m entirely happy with it just because of how tight it was
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Like Tom said, it will loosen up some. Every professional top installer I've talked to wants to leave a new top laid out for at least a week or two for that reason.
 
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BlueC said:
Like Tom said, it will loosen up some. Every professional top installer I've talked to wants to leave a new top laid out for at least a week or two for that reason.
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That long?! Wow. I saw people recommend leaving it out for a few hours in the sun, mine laid in the driveway for almost 7. Granted, the sun wasn’t always on it, but I thought that’d be long enough for sure.
 
Just a better picture of the new top

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I put the oil pan and gasket back in. My timing cover came, but still waiting on the new timing chain and sprockets. Hopefully I can get that done tonight and have the tj ready to drive this weekend.
 
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My timing chain finally came today, was supposed to come Friday.
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Put that in, put everything back together again which was way more difficult and frustrating than it should’ve been, and then went for a drive! It was nice to drive it again after a couple weeks of seeing it in the garage. I love driving with the sunrider top too, super nice.
 
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The progress on this jeep is awesome. I'm not usually a fan of tube doors but yours look awesome! Keep it up.
 
MeanGreen86 said:
The progress on this jeep is awesome. I'm not usually a fan of tube doors but yours look awesome! Keep it up.
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Thanks so much! I was never a huge fan either, but they’ve grown on me…. Definitely the fact that I put so much work into them helps with that
 
Austin O. said:
Uwharrie trip today! To start, the TJ got banged up in a few places, bit of a close call on the oil pan...

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Otherwise, a great, fun trip!

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Looks like you had fun!

Time for an engine skid. They can be bolted up to the OEM transfer case skid after drilling a few holes. Maybe cutting off the lip on the OEM skid, if yours has one. Mine didn't. That's what I did for a few years until I put an Under Cover Fabworks raised transfer case skid on earlier this year.

https://wranglertjforum.com/threads...-valve-mated-to-oem-transfer-case-skid.15366/
 
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MountaineerTom said:
Looks like you had fun!

Time for an engine skid. They can be bolted up to the OEM transfer case skid after drilling a few holes. Maybe cutting off the lip on the OEM skid, if yours has one. Mine didn't. That's what I did for a few years until I put an Under Cover Fabworks raised transfer case skid on earlier this year.

https://wranglertjforum.com/threads...-valve-mated-to-oem-transfer-case-skid.15366/
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I know, I know! The Savvy/UCF price tags are scaring me away though :confused: I'm not going to Uwharrie super often, but at some point, I know there'll probably be a problem with my lack of skid plates. I'm just not going to cheap out on this with a different brand, and can't justify the cost as of now... It's a hard decision for me.
 
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Austin O. said:
I know, I know! The Savvy/UCF price tags are scaring me away though :confused: I'm not going to Uwharrie super often, but at some point, I know there'll probably be a problem with my lack of skid plates. I'm just not going to cheap out on this with a different brand, and can't justify the cost as of now... It's a hard decision for me.
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It was one of the first things I added after my lift because I decided on a small lift and knew I wanted to protect that area. I know what you mean about the price tags though. might be able to find one for sale on one of these jeep sites of Facebook.
 
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x2 Engine skid should be your next upgrade if you plan to test it off road. FB, CL, WTJF, look around for cheap engine skids folks are selling. You don't need Savvy as your first option, just get some steel between that engine and the rocks. I broke off cooling fins from my trans first off road - a few more inches could that rock have cracked the case - I don't want to know. Same with you on that oil pan. Get it protected and you don't need the best today, build over time.

Next, gas tank skid. You'll want that fuel pump working to get you home. Skids & low lift or stock is the best way to learn what you need next.

I wasn't much older (college) when I got my TJ and the above 2 were the first upgrades for me for off road. You'll thank yourself and be capable to keep up with larger Jeeps and confident hitting challenging courses.

If in doubt, bang & clank your way out -> you can only do that with proper protection.
 
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Put in the new bump stops today

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I also took out the rear seat in preparation for this week when I plan to do some projects and need space to carry some wood.

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I also put on the top and cleaned the windows on it as I’m going up to the family mountain house for Independence Day and don’t wanna drive on the highway with it off.

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And made some zipper ties to get the trektop on.

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Then found a tj to park next to at the gym…

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