So this thread serves two purposes.
1: It will catalogue progress as I mod and fix various parts of this Jeep.
2: It allows me a venue to bitch without tagging on to other people's threads.
So the vehicle in Question is a 2006 Rubicon, automatic, that's starting it's trip almost bone stock.
Nope, no nickname for it yet.. though "Bitch" is the strongest contender.
History:
Single owner, 112k miles when I picked it up, owner is/was my Father-in-law so I was able to get a complete history of the vehicle from him. In hindsight, I should have tempered my excitement to be picking it up and had him take it back to USAA to have some issues from it's single accident fixed before accepting it, but I was too excited to get it back to NC and start having fun.
So we'll start with the issues:
1: It's got a pretty consistent o2 sensor issue that, in all likelihood, is probably a wiring gremlin. I say this because he's had the o2 sensors and CAT replaced twice and it still throws a p0158 code on-and-off throughout the week.
2: Can't really take her off road at the moment because the front control arms and control arm mounts need to be replaced. An after-effect of the collision that happened a few years back when my father-in-law lost control on a patch of black ice out in Chicago and put it nose first into a guard rail. The shop that did the work on the Jeep somehow missed the fact that the lower control arm mounts on the axle were bent over to the side a bit, so now the axle is being pushed out to the passenger side by about an inch, putting some stress on the rest of the components under the front end. Rear end was fine despite some corner damage to the body.
The sway bar end links were also pretty much destroyed in the accident. I'll replace those eventually, once I get the control arms fixed.
There's actually some rust here along this panel now. Something I'll need to grind out and re-seal.
And the axle alignment.
3: Transmission. So a couple of things happened here in the past that I think ultimately contribute to the issues I'm having right now.
3a: My father-in-law's girlfriend stuck it in 2nd and proceeded to drive 75 miles at speeds ranging from 45-70mph during a trip from Southern MD to VaBeach not too long ago.
3b: The transmission had never been serviced for that first 112k miles.
Now the transmission, before it's warmed up, is beginning to hesitate when shifting. It's up and down (As I found out after dropping into 4-low). I talked to some mechanic family members about it and, to them, they think it sounds like the bearings that move around in the transmission when the pressure hits the right points for shifting are gunked up a bit from burned/old transmission fluid. It sounds right to me. I flushed it a few weeks ago and will likely drain it again in about 400 miles so that I can replace the filter and put fresh fluid in. Last thing I want to have to do on top of the suspension fixes is rebuild the transmission... though there is a Jeep junkyard about an hour away. I wonder if they might have a Rubicon transmission laying around.
But hey! The lockers work!
Aside from those outstanding items there are no doubt a few electrical gremlins I need to chase down. I think there are some bad grounds happening under the dash where my father-in-law was dicking around when he installed the light bar (Seriously, to turn on my lights, the radio has to be on...) so I'm going to rip out those relays, by a second external relay bay and re-rig the wiring properly with an electrical engineer buddy of mine to help me out.
1: At least 2" of lift. Maybe 3". I'll see about that when it comes time to purchase a kit.
2: 33" tires & 15" wheels.
3: New, more aggressive front/rear bumpers (w/ Tire Carrier).
4: Snorkel
5: Upgraded lighting.
1: It will catalogue progress as I mod and fix various parts of this Jeep.
2: It allows me a venue to bitch without tagging on to other people's threads.
So the vehicle in Question is a 2006 Rubicon, automatic, that's starting it's trip almost bone stock.
Nope, no nickname for it yet.. though "Bitch" is the strongest contender.
History:
Single owner, 112k miles when I picked it up, owner is/was my Father-in-law so I was able to get a complete history of the vehicle from him. In hindsight, I should have tempered my excitement to be picking it up and had him take it back to USAA to have some issues from it's single accident fixed before accepting it, but I was too excited to get it back to NC and start having fun.
So we'll start with the issues:
1: It's got a pretty consistent o2 sensor issue that, in all likelihood, is probably a wiring gremlin. I say this because he's had the o2 sensors and CAT replaced twice and it still throws a p0158 code on-and-off throughout the week.
2: Can't really take her off road at the moment because the front control arms and control arm mounts need to be replaced. An after-effect of the collision that happened a few years back when my father-in-law lost control on a patch of black ice out in Chicago and put it nose first into a guard rail. The shop that did the work on the Jeep somehow missed the fact that the lower control arm mounts on the axle were bent over to the side a bit, so now the axle is being pushed out to the passenger side by about an inch, putting some stress on the rest of the components under the front end. Rear end was fine despite some corner damage to the body.
The sway bar end links were also pretty much destroyed in the accident. I'll replace those eventually, once I get the control arms fixed.
Edit: Found some damage pics
There's actually some rust here along this panel now. Something I'll need to grind out and re-seal.
And the axle alignment.
3: Transmission. So a couple of things happened here in the past that I think ultimately contribute to the issues I'm having right now.
3a: My father-in-law's girlfriend stuck it in 2nd and proceeded to drive 75 miles at speeds ranging from 45-70mph during a trip from Southern MD to VaBeach not too long ago.
3b: The transmission had never been serviced for that first 112k miles.
Now the transmission, before it's warmed up, is beginning to hesitate when shifting. It's up and down (As I found out after dropping into 4-low). I talked to some mechanic family members about it and, to them, they think it sounds like the bearings that move around in the transmission when the pressure hits the right points for shifting are gunked up a bit from burned/old transmission fluid. It sounds right to me. I flushed it a few weeks ago and will likely drain it again in about 400 miles so that I can replace the filter and put fresh fluid in. Last thing I want to have to do on top of the suspension fixes is rebuild the transmission... though there is a Jeep junkyard about an hour away. I wonder if they might have a Rubicon transmission laying around.
But hey! The lockers work!
Aside from those outstanding items there are no doubt a few electrical gremlins I need to chase down. I think there are some bad grounds happening under the dash where my father-in-law was dicking around when he installed the light bar (Seriously, to turn on my lights, the radio has to be on...) so I'm going to rip out those relays, by a second external relay bay and re-rig the wiring properly with an electrical engineer buddy of mine to help me out.
PLANS!
1: At least 2" of lift. Maybe 3". I'll see about that when it comes time to purchase a kit.
2: 33" tires & 15" wheels.
3: New, more aggressive front/rear bumpers (w/ Tire Carrier).
4: Snorkel
5: Upgraded lighting.
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