Evolution of a ‘97 TJ Sport

[Creakydoor]

Weatherstripping

Last spring, when I was driving with my hardtop on, I had started to get a lot of wind noise from the top of my windshield header. It was the original weatherstripping, so it was time. I ordered a Mopar version of the gasket, and was going to install it when I put on my hard top for the winter.

After watching this video, I felt I had a grasp on what was needed. Pretty straightforward.

Removal was fairly easy. One thing I did notice was that my original header weatherstrip had a thin metal support along the length of it. (see picture) The new gasket was 100% rubber, with no support through it.

Most tedious part was removing 22 year old gasket. A little elbow grease and Goo Gone, and it was clear (see picture).

Re-installation was also pretty straightforward, though I had to re-set the front of the gasket a second time to get it right. The first time, I had pushed it back too flush, as opposed to having it stick forward a bit. In the end, I think it's ok, though I do wonder how well that adhesive really is sticking. I'll keep an eye on it, and see how it does in the rain and/or a car wash.

 

[Creakydoor]

Full Circle

I had a great full circle experience with my Jeep. Back in 1999, I had gotten my Jeep to go snowboarding since I needed something fun and 4wd. I took it up to the mountains to snowboard (in Washington State) until 2003, when I bought another SUV that was bigger and better for going with friends. Since then, the Jeep had not once been up to the mountains for snowboarding...

...that is, until this February, when I took my son snowboarding up at a local Colorado mountain (Eldora) and we took the Jeep.

The trip brought back some great memories of adventures I had had with my friends back before I was married and had a family. And it made a bunch of new memories getting to experience those all over again with my son. It is no wonder why I have held onto that TJ for 21 years.

 

[Squatch]

Full Circle

I had a great full circle experience with my Jeep. Back in 1999, I had gotten my Jeep to go snowboarding since I needed something fun and 4wd. I took it up to the mountains to snowboard (in Washington State) until 2003, when I bought another SUV that was bigger and better for going with friends. Since then, the Jeep had not once been up to the mountains for snowboarding...

...that is, until this February, when I took my son snowboarding up at a local Colorado mountain (Eldora) and we took the Jeep.

The trip brought back some great memories of adventures I had had with my friends back before I was married and had a family. And it made a bunch of new memories getting to experience those all over again with my son. It is no wonder why I have held onto that TJ for 21 years.

View attachment 154543

View attachment 154544

View attachment 154545

That's awesome!

 

[Creakydoor]

Back to basics

A few weekends back, I spent some time doing some basic maintenance that needed to be done. First up were new front wiper blades. Next was a torn shifter boot (the one on there was the original one).

I had not changed my spark plugs and wires since I can't remember when, so >10 years ago. And I don't think I've ever changed out my distributor cap and distributor rotor. So, that was the job of the afternoon.

Old wires were pretty tired looking. Plugs looked pretty worn too, as well as the distributor cap and rotor. I opted for Autolite XP Iridium plugs, and Accel distributor and rotor, and Duralast Gold cables. Once installed, new ones looked great. Seems to run a little smoother too.

One small hiccup was that my helper had swapped cylinder 2 and 4 wires, so it sounded super rough. A quick diagnostic with an ODB2 scanner identified that cylinders 2 and 4 were the issue, and a quick swap and it was all good.

 

[Creakydoor]

Shock-ingly Good Customer Service

The other day, I noticed a drip spot underneath my Jeep. I've been very fortunate that it's been very drip-free for a long time. I did a little investigating and discovered that my front-driver's side shock was leaking some light yellow-ish, slightly greasy fluid from the bottom. Not a lot, but enough to drip a few half-dollar sized spots on the floor.

I had bought that shock as part of a kit back in summer of 2018, so it was <2 years old, and had <10,000 miles on it. I sent a mail to ARB with a picture, and a few words about my issue. They responded quickly asking for a proof of purchase and a mailing address. The next day, I got a shipping notice from FedEx from ARB. And, today, a brand new shock arrived. So, time from me reporting the issue to getting a new shock was <1 week, and cost me $0.

I thought it was a great example of customer service, and definitely made me feel good about continuing to use their products. So it will have to be some other year before I get to try out some Rancho or Fox shocks. I, and my wallet, can live with that.

 

[Creakydoor]

Shock replacement

Shock replacement was quick and easy. That old one was definitely leaky, and this replacement solved the issue.

I even got help from my daughter installing it. She is typically not a fan when I make modifications to the Jeep. But I think the offer of paying her for her time was too tempting.

 

[Creakydoor]

Odds and ends

I did a few more odds and ends over the past month. Most of the rest of the time, I was driving it. Which is kind of the whole point.

• New shifter knob (old one was fine, just wanted a little color)
• Removed the JET performance chip that had been in there for 15+ years. Since removing it, I've noticed no difference in anything.
• Replaced the duct tape that was "fixing" a hole in my soft top. The top is 15+ years old, but I'm trying to get another year out of it.
• Tires balanced to try and resolve a little bit of wobble, which it did. I bought them at Discount Tire, and they have lifetime balancing.

 

[Creakydoor]

Let there be light

I replaced the bulb in the engine compartment. I think it was the first time a bulb had been in there since I bought it 20 years ago. FYI--the proper bulb size for the earlier TJs is a 105.

A while back, I had replaced my front blinker lenses with smoked lenses. I saw someone had some taillights for sale that matched, so I bought those. I wasn't happy with the brightness of the regular bulbs with those, so I decided to upgrade my front blinkers and rear taillight bulbs to LEDs. And, upgraded the flasher relay as the old one was very unhappy with the new LEDs.

Parts:

• Front blinkers (orange) - iBrightstar 3157
• Backup lights (white) - iBrightstar 1156
• Brake lights (red) - iBrightstar 1157
• Flasher relay - EP26

The flasher relay in the earlier TJs is behind the panel below the steering wheel. 6 screws later and I was in. One screw holding it in. The original relay had a groove on it that the metal clamp fit in nicely, but the new one did not. So I bent the teeth a little bit so it would hold the new one and bolted it in. Worked fine the first time and no more rapid blinking.

I'm happy with how it turned out and the improved brightness all around. Orange light picture below shows before and after. Tail light picture shows the end result.

 

[Creakydoor]

The Belly Of The Beast

For more than a year, I've had some issues that seemed fuel pump related. It was a bit hard to crank over the first time, but worked fine the second time. On the roads, I never really seemed to notice any problems. Plus, my gas gauge has not been working properly for >15 years. Lastly, when wheeling and going down hill at low RPM, sometimes it sputters a bit and tries to stall. All these things added up to replacing the fuel pump (which was the original pump) before it left me stuck out on the trail.

I had the pump replaced and noticed the following:

• the starting issue was resolved
• the gas gauge now worked
• the Jeep overall seems to have a little more power — could have been it wasn't getting quite enough fuel before
• the sputtering problem going downhill wheeling was not resolved. That may be a different vacuum-related issue that I'll have to resolve separately.

Like so many times when you touch one thing, and something else breaks--thus was the case with the new fuel pump. When the shop put in the fuel pump, it apparently aggravated an existing problem with the inlet where the filler tube connects, and a small crack happened in that plastic. I discovered it when filling the tank the first time after the fuel pump was replaced, and gas was leaking out.

As it turns out, when I put my body lift on and extended the filler hose, I didn't extend it quite enough, thus causing pressure on that filler inlet pulling up. It had been pulling up on that for nearly 2 years, which was likely the start of the issue where it cracked. The shop was good about working with me to get this second problem resolved, and also extended the filler tube a bit more so that pressure on the inlet would no longer be there. Since that fix, all seems to be working fine so far.

As a reward to my Jeep for the trauma with the fuel system, I got a little accessory that was fuel related — a new fuel door. The existing fuel filler plastic on the outside was a little cracked already (perhaps also caused by that extra pressure). Instead of just replacing with the standard part, I decided to get a fuel filler door for it. I like the more finished look of it overall.

 

[Creakydoor]

A little less Canadian...

As discussed earlier in this post, my TJ is originally from Canada. One of the features of the Canadian TJs is that they have daytime running lights on all the time. While DRLs can be helpful, I'd prefer to just turn on my headlights if needed, and not have them automatically come on.

The procedure was a quick snip of the orange/white wire that ran into the control box in the engine bay (pic attached). Now, DRLs don't come on automatically, and all of the rest of the lights function the same as before.

 

[Creakydoor]

Seat upgrade

My seats were actually in pretty good shape considering their age. Not a ton of wear or rips. However, they did possess that late 90's pattern on them. Plus, being cloth, they aren't very pet resistant. So, I upgraded to some new seat covers.

I debated the Bartacts, but just didn't want to spend that much, plus, I didn't like the look as much. So, I got Iggee's in black and blue. Overall, I am happy with how they fit and look. Definitely gives it a more modern look inside. We'll see how they do long-term with wear.

A few notes:

• The set I got initially didn't fit perfectly for the top front seats. There wasn't enough room for the lower seat release to pull up. And, the front seat release strap hole was a bit low. I reached out to Iggee and let them know and they were super responsive and made me a new set of front upper covers. Definitely great customer support for me.
• They are a little hot when sitting on them. Not a surprise given the material, but a difference from the cloth seats.
• If you buy them from the Iggee web site, they are listed as about $100 more than they sell them for on Amazon. Even through Amazon, they ship right from Iggee.

All in all, I'm happy with the upgrade.