Rich's Rubicon maitenance and upgrades

Schwifty Rich

TJ Enthusiast
Joined
Apr 21, 2018
Messages
224
Location
St. Louis, MO, USA
Been hanging around here for about a year and I have come to realize I love everything about the Jeep life style. Going wheeling, wrenching, topless, and the community... not to mention each time I park I look back and grin, damn I love my Jeep.

I’m posting a list of stuff I’m still finding time to get done.

I made a list of Jeep things to do

-transmission fluid
-transfer case fluid
-OEM air intake

-rear main seal
-oil pan gasket
-cycle suspension and add bump stops
-paint steering components
-steering wheel adjustment
-replace Dropped pitman arm with Stock size

-identify power steering leak
-identify power steering gear box
-Pinion seal
-drop the gas tank and fix the slow filling issue
-new door hinges
-New door open switches
-Multi-switch for dome light/dimmer went bad
-new adjustable controls arms
-Motor mount adjustment
-remove rust and paint/seal under carriage
-new tires/rotate tires
-install lights to windshield
-locate squeak in dash
- adjust control arms after messing with them when I shouldn’t have
-new grease boots on from suspension

As time and funds permit I’m going to get all this done and hopefully with my own 2 hands.

Things I’ve already addressed:

-Added an aux cable
-replaced sub in console
-savvy 4wd linkage
-all 4 axle seals
-new front calipers and rotors
-all new brake pads
-added 3rd brake light
-JKS HD front track bar
-ZJ steering

Things done before I got the Jeep:

-3.5 RE lift
-front bumper/stinger
-rear tire carrier/bumper
-some kind of textured liner in the tub
-trussed front axle
-fuel tank skid
-aluminum fuel tank
-fox 2.0 performance shocks and steering stabilizer
-transfer case drop
-spidertrax 1.25” wheel spacer

That’s all I can think of now.
 
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Oh and this week I added new battery cables and military style battery terminals.
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The Above replaced what’s below
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Sounds like you've got a lot to do, but also already accomplished a lot as well!
 
More details on the battery hardware would be appreciated.

Check out this post.
https://wranglertjforum.com/threads/recommended-battery-terminal-replacements.7779/page-4
I was able to order everything from BatterycablesUSA.com and they even included a fuse link for me at no cost. I think i paid like $68 for the whole thing.

Everything was pretty straight forward. i did have to dremmel out the plastic part of the PDC a little to fit the larger gauge cables but when its closed you cant even tell.
the only issue i ran into was the engine ground stud. It is a stud that screwed into the block and when I was trying to get the ground off it came loose from the engine and the wires,nut, and bolt all spun together.

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it was a pain...
I ended up snipping the old ground ( no going back now) and twisting it out a few turns to get a pair of vice grips around the middle ridge and after a few ugahduggahs it came loose.

ill try to grab a few pics of the set up and new cables
 
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Yesterday was a very nice day out so I figured I would change those fluids above ( trans & transfer case). Before I headed to the store for some tools I decided to hang my doors in my new garage and use some existing hooks that were up there..... Thinking everything was secure I left to pick up a 17mm hex key so I could take off the plugs to the transmission, a soldering gun to heat up the door hinge bolts, a hand impact driver, and some other odds and ends.

when I got back I found the driver side door had fallen and I about died on the inside. I almost lost all desire to even wrench yesterday. The bottom corner was bent in and rolled on itself. I'm lucky as it still closes and functions as a door and only one was damaged. It's just that i was already having a hard time looking at the door hinges paint coming off and now i have to look at this dent all the time!

I know i have some other repairs coming up next but this is just such a sore thumb I think ill try to tackle bending this back and the fixing the hinges next

Here are some pics of the damage.
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Today I received an OEM air intake assembly from Daveysjeeps and swapped it out with the K&N cold air the P.O. put in. Having removed the intake tube before it was a piece of cake. One bolt holding a bracket was rusted and when I was cranking on it the bolt snapped. Lucky me! I was about to dremel it off.

I was doing some trail riding a last week and was going over about 30 inches of water a little too fast and got a LOT of water in the intake. Luckily I was able to get it running and let it dry out. After that I knew I had to move that up on the list. Bing bang boom, the new intake is on and no more worries about water ( or at least a lot less worries)!
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Been under the Jeep quite a bit lately trying to prepare for a trip to Colorado.

First thing on the list was cycling the suspension and checking bump stops. But that’s just where the fun started.
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I had never taken the shocks or springs out before and without a big floor jack boy that was fun. I had to juggle the axle between 2 bottle jacks and every time it started to slip I stopped and adjusted the stands and jacks.

I took a moment to look everything over and saw I have some issues with my dampener. I figured to just replace with the Monroe model and move on. So then I busted the threads on the u bolts and the plate was slightly bent. Pressed that flat and going to get new bolts tomorrow.
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The neighbor saw me and offered some conversation and help in the form of tools. I now have a floor jack to use and it is making the whole process a whole lot easier!
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He also said I could use his air tools! Bonus for when I have to get the pinion nut off!

So I’m checking the clearances and notice my track bar hits the truss of my axle.
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At this point I decided to start from the bottom and put it all back and do an wheel alignment. That’s as far as I got on that really.

I also got some Kroll in the mail and put Some in the nuts for on the drag link. Now the sleeve is like butter! Best and pb both failed where this stuff was amazing. So my steering wheel is straight, or atleast will be easy to make straight when I’m done.
I then started to adjust the track bar but called it a night.

I recently moved and now I have a different garage.. this one had some cracks and isn’t a nice flat smooth surface. It’s relatively flat but not level. How much should I expect that to play a difference in my adjustments.

I guess I’ll have to do my best and worst comes to worst find a somewhere down the road or something to make the final adjustments.

After I finish the track bar I’m going to try and check my bump stops again for alignment.
I’m worried they won’t lineup nicely and I’ll be in for some new adjustable control arms.

Back to the truss, if I can’t get the axle/truss to clear the track bar l will end up cutting into the truss to gain the clearance I think. It’s unfortunate but I don’t see a way around it.

Side note:
Fun trick I was using for the shocks was a ratchet strap the hold compressed while installing and uninstalling. I’ll get a pic tomorrow.

Also the come along is way better to use when pulling the axle against the Frame for the track bar.

Also going to try and see how everyone’s springs are placed on the bottom of the axle.

The last rung in the coil, how should it be oriented and does it even matter?
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Finally got those bump stops on, going to get my angles all 100% before I decide on how much to cut down from 3 pucks. The track bar was hitting the truss and. Is it doesn’t but once it’s all properly aligned I’ll try again.
About to do the rear bump stops which will be easier since there’s no adjustable arms back there.

First time tapping a bolt hole and it went very well!

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I figured while I was in there it was time to switch out that pitman arm. I rented a pulled and a 32 mm socket from the local parts store.
The socket was very tight and made an indent in the nut.

The nut came off with an electric impact fairly easily.

The pitman arm was not easy.

I tried kroil and mapp gas and constant tension over 2 days. Nothing was working so I decided to cut into the dropped pitman arm so I could remove it.
I made many cuts trying to be careful of the splines.

I used the angle grinder when the cut off wheels couldn’t get any farther in. I made more “relief cuts” but I don’t think they did much. Nothing seemed to do the trick so I decided to go deeper. I ended up cutting the arm in half about 1/4 of the way and it came off. No real damage and on goes the new one!
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I also got my windshield lights put on and attached. Those windshield bolts were not easy! I broke 2 torx bits getting the 4 bolts out. I tried a soldering gun from harbor freight but that did nothing I could see. I used more force and broke the second bit. I then used mapp gas to get the old bit Super hot and set it in place to transfer the heat and that worked every time. But don’t use a good bit, I broke one of mine after trying to twist it after that.

Now all that’s left is to set up the wiring.
 
I figured while I was in there it was time to switch out that pitman arm. I rented a pulled and a 32 mm socket from the local parts store.
The socket was very tight and made an indent in the nut.

The nut came off with an electric impact fairly easily.

The pitman arm was not easy.

I tried kroil and mapp gas and constant tension over 2 days. Nothing was working so I decided to cut into the dropped pitman arm so I could remove it.
I made many cuts trying to be careful of the splines.

I used the angle grinder when the cut off wheels couldn’t get any farther in. I made more “relief cuts” but I don’t think they did much. Nothing seemed to do the trick so I decided to go deeper. I ended up cutting the arm in half about 1/4 of the way and it came off. No real damage and on goes the new one!
View attachment 108405

I also got my windshield lights put on and attached. Those windshield bolts were not easy! I broke 2 torx bits getting the 4 bolts out. I tried a soldering gun from harbor freight but that did nothing I could see. I used more force and broke the second bit. I then used mapp gas to get the old bit Super hot and set it in place to transfer the heat and that worked every time. But don’t use a good bit, I broke one of mine after trying to twist it after that.

Now all that’s left is to set up the wiring.
 
Recently experienced a misfire on cylinder 2 and followed the thread here to trouble shoot https://wranglertjforum.com/threads...the-dreaded-misfire-and-how-i-solved-it.4212/

the first thing I did was change the spark plug locations then test the coil rail. Switching the spark plugs didn’t do much anything as the P0302 came back with a bite. One morning my Jeep didn’t start but luckily the new plugs had come in. I installed all 6 new plugs and she was firing on all 6 cylinders.
The videos I took are too large but I friend the lights off and put a threaded rod close enough to contact the springs in the coil rail and turn red the key. I had the phone in slow motion so I could easily tell if everything was firing in sync.
here is a pic of the old crusty plugs that were gapped around .6 -.7

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so much has happened since January!
I recently began to tackle some pretty big things on the jeep.
1st, I had to replace my pre cats as one of them was shot and throwing a code. Getting them off wasn’t so hard, but getting the new ones back on was such a pain. I can’t imagine how some people do that without removing the fender. Since I was replacing the front of my exhaust I figured I might as well do the rest of it too. So hopefully she sounds good after all is said and done.
2nd, I finally got around to doing my rear main and oil pan gasket since the exhaust was coming off anyways!
3rd I changed the O2 sensors when I took out the old exhaust.
4th I had my rear passenger brake begin to lock up so i replaced both rear calipers, rotors, and pads. Unfortunately as I was bleeding the brakes I let the master cylinder run dry… now I need to bench bleed it. Only problem is I rounded on of the tube nuts connecting the MC to the proportion valve and now I have to replace that brake line. Yay for learning new skills!
5th I replaced the oil pressure sensor gauge as the oil pressure gauge would go haywire everytime I came to a stop it would drop to 0.
6th I’m just about ready to replace my cam shaft synchronizer as I saw some wear on the teeth when I was up underneath the engine with the oil pan off. I’ve also been dealing with a camshaft position sensor CEL for a while now and would like to get that fixed but right now I’m gunna get it all buttoned back up before I mess with that considering she still ran okay.
Here are some pictures!

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