I've Never Figured Out When Enough Is Enough

In my quest to prepare for the upcoming Moab trip, I have been needing to put together a tool kit to cover the basics in the event of a breakdown. This is my first shot at this particular kit, and I'm sure I will make some changes over time, but here is what I ended up with.

Jeep Tool List

Dewalt 1/2” drive impact
Dewalt impact gun
Dewalt light
Dewalt 20v battery x2
Dewalt battery charger
Tape measure
Flat Screw Driver - Large
Flat Screw Driver - Small
Phillips Screw Driver - Large
Phillips Screw Driver - Small
Standard Allen Socket Set
Torx Socket Set
Quick connect socket adapters for impact 1/2”, 3/8”, 1/4”
Quick connect nut drivers 3/8”, 5/16”, 1/4”
Nut Driver - 5/16”
Nut Driver - 7/16”
Wire Strippers
Wire Cutters
Needle nose pliers
Electrical Tape
Hose clamp remover
Wilson mini sledge
Pry Bar - 18”
Pry Bar - 9 1/2”
Combination Wrench - 21mm
Combination Wrench - 22mm
Combination Gear Wrench - 19mm
Combination Gear Wrench - 9/16”
Combination Gear Wrench - 7/16”
Open End Wrench Set 1/4” - 3/4”
Adjustable Wrench
1/2” Breaker Bar
Rachet Wrench - 1/2”
Rachet Wrench - 3/8”
Rachet Wrench - 1/4”
Impact Deep Well Six Point Socket - 9/16”
Impact Deep Well Six Point Socket - 14mm
Impact Deep Well Six Point Socket - 17mm
Impact Deep Well Six Point Socket - 21mm Impact Deep Well Six Point Socket - 22mm Impact Deep Well Six Point Socket - 24mm
Deep Well Six Point Socket - 10mm
Deep Well Six Point Socket - 19mm
Shallow Well Six Point Socket - 20mm
3/8” Socket Extension - 10”
3/8” Socket Extension - 6”
3/8” Socket Extension - 3”
1/2” Socket Extension - 5”
Socket Reducer 1/2” to 3/8”
Utility knife with extra blades
Channel Locks - W/Teeth
Channel Locks - W/O Teeth
7” Vise Grips x2
Adjustable Wrench
Zip Ties
Assorted Fuses
Extra Relay x2
Lug Nut Keys
2 lint free rags
Bottle Jack
Tool Bags
Brake cleaner
Pb blaster
Anti-seize
Thread sealant
Engine oil

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The list makes it look like so much until you see it all laid out on my workbench. almost every single one of these tools was used in the build of my jeep over the last couple of years. My goal, was to NOT have to carry a complete set of tools and instead only compile a list of Jeep specific tools. These all came from my tool collection in my garage, so if this ends up working out well, than I will repurchase most of them so that they are kept in the jeep full time.

My next decision came with trying to figure out how to store these tools. After a trip to Menards, I ended up deciding to go with the backpack tool bag. There are a few things that I liked about this backpack... It has a lot of little pockets to keep tools organized, and it has a leak proof floor in it that would make it suitable for carrying a small amount of auto fluids. I didn't end up with enough room for the Dewalt power tools, so I just used an old Dewalt bag for those. Here is the backpack (I also got the smaller bags for sockets and things that you will see in the first photo):

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.

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And so far, I think this is my full loadout on the Jeep:

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In order from left to right..... Portable Air Compressor - Recovery Straps - Air Compressor Supplies/Tire Repair Kit - Tools/Fluids - Power Tools

I'll add a personal size cooler as well.

I plan to keep this stuff behind the front seats and possibly on the rear seat.

Are you guys aware of a cargo net that would cover that area well?
 
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I’m personally not a fan of carrying battery powered tools in the rig. They take up a whole lot of space, add a bunch of weight, and you have to worry about having them charged. There is nothing you can do with those that you can’t do with a ratchet or a wrench - which you are carrying anyway. They do save time if needed, but for me it’s not worth the trade off.

I try not to carry anything redundant, and for me those are just that. I do carry a corded electric drill and grinder though - hard to do those functions by hand.

All that having been said - if I break down I am very happy if a buddy is carrying a set of power tools! 🙂
 
B&M short shift.. that was one of my early mods and remains in the top three comfort mods done to the TJ. Zero complaints.. except that a white B&M logo shift knob remains elusive. It's been made. I've seen them. Can't seem to locate one for sale.
 
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I’m personally not a fan of carrying battery powered tools in the rig. They take up a whole lot of space, add a bunch of weight, and you have to worry about having them charged. There is nothing you can do with those that you can’t do with a ratchet or a wrench - which you are carrying anyway. They do save time if needed, but for me it’s not worth the trade off.

I try not to carry anything redundant, and for me those are just that. I do carry a corded electric drill and grinder though - hard to do those functions by hand.

All that having been said - if I break down I am very happy if a buddy is carrying a set of power tools! 🙂

Agree on the electric tools. But, you’d find a case of tools in my tow rig or at the cabin
 
I’m personally not a fan of carrying battery powered tools in the rig. They take up a whole lot of space, add a bunch of weight, and you have to worry about having them charged. There is nothing you can do with those that you can’t do with a ratchet or a wrench - which you are carrying anyway. They do save time if needed, but for me it’s not worth the trade off.

I try not to carry anything redundant, and for me those are just that. I do carry a corded electric drill and grinder though - hard to do those functions by hand.

All that having been said - if I break down I am very happy if a buddy is carrying a set of power tools! 🙂

I like where your head is at on not being redundant, and I definitely and trying to keep this list to a minimum. I think @Apparition 's solution is a great compromise. I will likely keep that bag in the tow rig.
 
B&M short shift.. that was one of my early mods and remains in the top three comfort mods done to the TJ. Zero complaints.. except that a white B&M logo shift know remains elusive. It's been made. I've seen them. Can't seem to locate one for sale.

I'm pretty excited to drive it! Need to get my roofer's trailer out of my driveway so I can use my Jeep this weekend....
 
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I’m personally not a fan of carrying battery powered tools in the rig. They take up a whole lot of space, add a bunch of weight, and you have to worry about having them charged. There is nothing you can do with those that you can’t do with a ratchet or a wrench - which you are carrying anyway. They do save time if needed, but for me it’s not worth the trade off.

I try not to carry anything redundant, and for me those are just that. I do carry a corded electric drill and grinder though - hard to do those functions by hand.

All that having been said - if I break down I am very happy if a buddy is carrying a set of power tools! 🙂

I make one exception...I carry my mid torque Impact and one battery. The charger gets left at camp, but having that thing handy when you're trying to do a trail repair...its Very nice. I don't bring a grinder or drill...I have a very new and very sharp file, a hammer and a cold chisel (remembering when @jjvw had to free up his stub shaft to get out of the trail).
 
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I make one exception...I carry my mid torque Impact and one battery. The charger gets left at camp, but having that thing handy when you're trying to do a trail repair...its Very nice. I don't bring a grinder or drill...I have a very new and very sharp file, a hammer and a cold chisel (remembering when @jjvw had to free up his stub shaft to get out of the trail).

All I had was a file to scrape through the folded over cromoly stub shaft yoke to free the broken u joint. It took over an hour to do two cuts. Now I carry a hack saw blade that rattles around in the bottom of the tool box.

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I had a conversation with @mrblaine yesterday to discuss rear brakes and ended up just ordering new front pads. I was very impressed and more than a little surprised at his honest and straight forward advise. I'm looking forward to seeing what all the rage is about on these pads!

I also drilled drain holes in my frame at some point this week. I was reading @Irun 's LJ build thread and got the reminder I needed to do that. I drilled the holes and coated the bare metal.
 
Part Number
Part Type
Price EA
Core EA
Quantity
Total
2000 JEEP WRANGLER 4.0L L6
CONTINENTAL​
4060882Belt
$ 27.79​
$ 0.00​
1​
$ 27.79​
CSF​
2576Radiator
$ 268.79​
$ 0.00​
1​
$ 268.79​
CONTINENTAL​
66692Radiator Hose
$ 14.09​
$ 0.00​
1​
$ 14.09​
CONTINENTAL​
62394Radiator Hose
$ 15.95​
$ 0.00​
1​
$ 15.95​
CONTINENTAL​
64418Heater Hose
$ 15.33​
$ 0.00​
1​
$ 15.33​
CONTINENTAL​
64419Coolant Hose / Pipe
$ 21.79​
$ 0.00​
1​
$ 21.79​
CONTINENTAL​
49256Belt Tensioner
$ 39.79​
$ 0.00​
1​
$ 39.79​
CONTINENTAL​
49039Idler Pulley
$ 13.69​
$ 0.00​
1​
$ 13.69​
DORMAN​
56398Water Pump Inlet Tube
$ 10.00​
$ 0.00​
1​
$ 10.00​
FEL-PRO​
35630Thermostat / Thermostat Housing / Water Outlet Seal
$ 3.08​
$ 0.00​
1​
$ 3.08​
FEL-PRO​
35629Water Pump Gasket
$ 1.54​
$ 0.00​
1​
$ 1.54​
GATES​
CO34741Thermostat Housing / Water Outlet
$ 11.61​
$ 0.00​
1​
$ 11.61​
MOPAR​
52027793 (55116901AA)Radiator Cap
$ 12.80​
$ 0.00​
1​
$ 12.80​
MOPAR​
5012366AF (68382492AA)Water Pump
$ 164.79​
$ 0.00​
1​
$ 164.79​
STANT​
45359Thermostat
$ 8.55​
$ 0.00​
1​
$ 8.55​
Shipping​
Ground, SmartMail, First Class Mail
$ 44.95​
Tax​
$ 44.11​
Order Total
$ 718.65
Visa​
-$ 718.65
Balance Due
$ 0.00

Another product of @Irun 's LJ build thread, I decided today that I would like to replace my coolant system as a measure of preventative maintenance. I mostly used his part list, but I added in a new serpentine belt and a CSF 2 row radiator since the Mopar one is no longer available. I've kind of realized in reading his thread that I need to pay a little more attention to the engine care and maintenance than I have. I have just been very lucky to not have most of the mechanical problems that a lot of you guys have dealt with, so I have been a little spoiled. I think a little extra preventative maintenance will go a long ways into making my jeep continue to last for years to come.

Btw, holy balls batman! I didn't expect the cost to be $700+!!!
 
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So, yesterday afternoon I ordered all of the parts for the cooling system purely as preventative maintenance..... I then walked out to my garage to work on the Jeep..... and I kid you not. I found a puddle of antifreeze under the Jeep!

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Its kind of hard to see, but it looks to be the radiator to me. Doesn't really matter because I'll replace it all.
 
Something has been nagging at me about my correctlync steering. The other day I decided to double check that everything was properly greased, and was unable to get the tie rod ends to accept grease. On top of that I discovered that one of my rubber boots was torn. I know that a torn boot isn't a big deal, but not getting grease into my tie rods IS a big deal. So I decided to tear into that little project. I started with the one with the torn boot.

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You can see here where the boot is torn:

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I obviously had gotten grease into this one when I first installed the steering last year. I have since switched to Red & Tacky, so any grease from my most recent attempt will be red. Not green. I'll push the green out and replace it with red when my new boot comes in the mail from currie.

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For my own future reference, this is the position it needs to be in to accept grease on the driver side tie rod end.

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I'll disassemble and reassemble the rest to document what position they need to be in to accept grease on each fitting later today. This is my only gripe about the correctlync steering. Getting these things to accept grease is a PITA.
 
In a continuation of the last post, and for my own records, these are the positions to grease the correctlync as follows...

Drag link to pitman arm:
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The Tie-rod to drag link doesn't have the same issue with greasing. it'll always take grease:

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Drag link rod end:

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They all turned out to have enough grease to prevent damage, but the drag link rod end definitely was low. I'm 100% good on everything now, and I did find that one split boot, so I would say this exercise was a success.
 
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After I completed the steering project this morning, the rest of the day turned into an absolute shitshow. I spent an entire day trying to get one rotor off the 8.8 on the driver side.

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I started this project for two reasons, 1) the grooves in the rotors aren't super deep, but they are evident, and I wanted new rear brakes. and 2) I want to replace my parking brake shoes. I tried everything I could think of to get that rotor off. Mini sledge, pulley puller, penetrating oil, regular hammer, e-brake and engine, cussing, even bought the damn thing a box of chocolates. It wasn't even moving. I took an hour break, then came back out and decided to see if the drinker side would come off easier. I had tried to get the drinker side off last year and failed, so I should have seen this whole thing coming. This time when I tried it, it slid right off! maybe all the work on the driver side scared it off.

After that, I started working on the driver side again with renewed energy/moral. Within 30 mins that sob popped loose. I sat there at stared at it for a least ten minutes to relish the moment. lol

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I sprayed it down with brake cleaner above, and pulled the ebrake assembly:

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I envy those of you who don't have to fight the rust battle that us northerners deal with. I'm going to sleep well tonight! I was bummed that the auto part stores were closed by the time I got those rotors off.
 
Today I continued my rear brake rebuild saga, and I discovered something that I found really interesting. There is a component to the parking brake system that is a scissor like lever that is designed to spread your parking brake out and against the inside of the drum on the rotor. I didn't know this part existed. But I discovere that it was essentially rusted completely together, and the scissor movement wasn't happening at all. This was severely impacting the affectiveness of my parking brake system.

I've always been a little nervous about the parking brake because I didn't feel like it really held the car very well, so on steep inclines or if I was parking and getting out of the jeep, I always left it in gear and shut it off. Well, obviously, now I know my problem. The additional problem that I found, is that this part is not easily sourced. I couldn't find it at all on Rock Auto. So I needed to restore it. Enjoy the photo journey:

This is where the part is located:
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I watched video online, and the guy said that in order to get that part out, you had to remove the axle shafts. This is NOT true. It simply needs to be worked back and forth enough to get it completely open. Then detach the cable from the back, and you should be able to wiggle it out. OF NOTE: This is a Ford 8.8 out of a '95-'02 Ford Explorer.

Here is the condition it was in when it came out. Sorry about the lighting...

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A vise and channel locks allowed me to separate the two pieces.

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To clean them up, I first used a wire wheel attached to a drill, then a flap disk to very lightly take off the top layer of rust, then a dremel to clean them up the rest of the way:

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Of course, I pulled the other side and did both at the same time. During the process of removing the rust, I noticed that the did originally have a coat of paint on them. So, I ran to the store and grabbed some caliper paint and sprayed them black.

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I also grabbed some brake and caliper grease while I was out. I plan to allow the paint to dry and harden before I put them together (the above was just for a photo), and then they will get some grease to hopefully keep the paint from bonding them together. Thats my only real concern that I had with painting them. I think this will end up being a very good permanent solution to this little problem.

I had the time to do this today, because my new brake shoes and hardware won't be here until tomorrow morning anyway.
 
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This post should be relatively short. I just wanted to show how/where I ended up mounting the front/rear cameras that play in the stereo. I have always felt a front facing camera could be very helpful for navigating obstacles that I cannot see directly in front of the Jeep.

I decided to mount the camera to the front of my winch. It is very discreet, and out of the way. I doubt anyone would notice it, just because there are so many other things capturing your attention when you look at a Jeep like this:

View attachment 397309

And here is the view that it gives me. I can change the angle up or down depending on my needs, but I think it is a nice improvement. Definite showing a view that I cannot see in the cab. I still don't know how practical this whole thing is, but it was a pretty entertaining project:

View attachment 397310

So the rear camera is just a little bit different. It is on a bracket that allows it to mount between the two license plate bolts. I couldn't use this initially last year, because as we all know, our license plate does not come in the center of the vehicle from the factory. I ran the wiring and got every thing running (so that the rear view camera comes on when I shift into reverse), but just left the camera in the cab of the jeep because I wasn't ready to move the license plate yet.

I needed corner guards, rear bumper, and a swing away tire carrier first. My plan has always been to put the license plate centered on the rear wheel. Thanks to another thread I posted on this topic, right now this is the direction I'm currently leaning for that install:

This for the bracket:
https://www.quadratec.com/p/jks-man...-mount-license-plate-bracket-wrangler-JKS8211

And possibly ditch the light on the above bracket for these instead so that the light doesn't wash out the camera:
https://www.extremeterrain.com/redrock-4x4-jeep-wrangler-led-license-plate-bolts-u9912.html

I may also just build my own bracket if I'm in the mood when the Jeep gets back home.
No pics of the rear camera just yet.

Hi there, loving reading about your build. I just wondered how you went about running the wire to the reversing camera so it automatically enables once you shift into R? Did you connect it somewhere closer to the dash/piggyback off of a fuse, or did you tap into a + wire on the reversing lamp itself? I have an Alpine head unit with a direct rear camera I am interested in installing, but unsure if reverse will come on automatically through the head unit's harness, or if the extra wire will be required to enable the camera once I shift into reverse. The user manual for the head unit specifically mentions tapping into the + wire on the rear lamp, I just wondered if you had found another method closer to the dash/fuse box that could save a lot of extra wire and running another cable to the rear of the vehicle?

Cheers and beers from Down Under 🍻
 
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Hi there, loving reading about your build. I just wondered how you went about running the wire to the reversing camera so it automatically enables once you shift into R? Did you connect it somewhere closer to the dash/piggyback off of a fuse, or did you tap into a + wire on the reversing lamp itself? I have an Alpine head unit with a direct rear camera I am interested in installing, but unsure if reverse will come on automatically through the head unit's harness, or if the extra wire will be required to enable the camera once I shift into reverse. The user manual for the head unit specifically mentions tapping into the + wire on the rear lamp, I just wondered if you had found another method closer to the dash/fuse box that could save a lot of extra wire and running another cable to the rear of the vehicle?

Cheers and beers from Down Under 🍻

There is only one extension wire that runs from the head unit to the back of the jeep. Then from the connection point, there was a positive wire that I ran over to the reverse light. Reverse will not come on through the head units wiring.

Hope that helps!
 
Do you mean a reverse remote wire coming from your camera connection? I am planning on using an Alpine camera compatible with my head unit which has a direct plug, and (as far as I am aware) no separate 12v reverse remote wire attached to the camera body.

Perhaps I just need to run a single basic wire from the Reverse Remote Out on the head unit to the back of the Jeep straight into the Reverse lamp. I was hoping I could figure which fuse (if there is a dedicated one that only powers reverse lamps) to piggyback, or which wire from the fusebox harness powers the reverse lamp and tap in there rather than adding another car-length of wire.

I suppose I can put a loom around a single wire and the cameras cable to achieve the same result though.