Hey Gang,
I've been lurking for awhile and finally took the plunge and joined. I recognize a few members from "other" jeep forums I belonged to in the past......lots of great info and help here, hopefully, I can contribute down the road.....anyway, I purchased my current TJ back in April of 2001, it's a 4.0 5-speed with Dana 44 rear end from the factory. For about 10 years, I drove it to deer camp, fishing trips, wheeled with a local club and then it happened! My kids got their drivers licenses! My Jeep disappeared for the next 10 years....Last Fall it re-appeared at my house when my son came home. He was complaining about the emergency flashers not shutting off, He jammed a pen into the button to keep it from popping up.....I explained to him that there was a better fix for it that would only take a few minutes after we returned from the auto parts store. Luckily, I went out and did a quick inspection of the vehicle and found some serious (dangerous) frame rot which I brought to his attention......"oh yeah, when I got an oil change last month, the mechanic pointed that out to me", he said..... I told him that it was unsafe and he would have to leave it with me while I decided what to do........Long story short, my neighbor used to build/repair frames for a living and a month or so later we put it into his shop and he fixed it good as new! I am now going thru little by little and changing fluids and performing other minor repairs and planning some bigger mods for down the road (hopefully). The odometer just ticked over 140,000 miles and engine and tranny are still running strong. The body is in surprisingly good shape considering the amount of salt we have to drive thru during Ohio winters. Hopefully, I did this correctly and there should be a photo of my TJ in my neighbors shop just prior to me bringing it home.
Mike
I've been lurking for awhile and finally took the plunge and joined. I recognize a few members from "other" jeep forums I belonged to in the past......lots of great info and help here, hopefully, I can contribute down the road.....anyway, I purchased my current TJ back in April of 2001, it's a 4.0 5-speed with Dana 44 rear end from the factory. For about 10 years, I drove it to deer camp, fishing trips, wheeled with a local club and then it happened! My kids got their drivers licenses! My Jeep disappeared for the next 10 years....Last Fall it re-appeared at my house when my son came home. He was complaining about the emergency flashers not shutting off, He jammed a pen into the button to keep it from popping up.....I explained to him that there was a better fix for it that would only take a few minutes after we returned from the auto parts store. Luckily, I went out and did a quick inspection of the vehicle and found some serious (dangerous) frame rot which I brought to his attention......"oh yeah, when I got an oil change last month, the mechanic pointed that out to me", he said..... I told him that it was unsafe and he would have to leave it with me while I decided what to do........Long story short, my neighbor used to build/repair frames for a living and a month or so later we put it into his shop and he fixed it good as new! I am now going thru little by little and changing fluids and performing other minor repairs and planning some bigger mods for down the road (hopefully). The odometer just ticked over 140,000 miles and engine and tranny are still running strong. The body is in surprisingly good shape considering the amount of salt we have to drive thru during Ohio winters. Hopefully, I did this correctly and there should be a photo of my TJ in my neighbors shop just prior to me bringing it home.
Mike