TJ's TJ

We found tinted turn signals and marker housings. They look good, hopefully they are legal...

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Got the horns and a new overflow tank installed:
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We also pulled the master off to bench bleed it. This removes all of the air from the master and makes bleeding much easier. It is done on the bench so that the master can be fully cycled:
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After bench bleeding, it was put back onto the jeep and all of the lines were bled.
 
AC Lines were cleaned up and all of the o-rings were changed. Since we replaced almost every major component of the AC system, new oil must be added. O-rings lubed with oil.

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The service manual says that our jeep takes 8.1 oz and you must use 134a compatible oil (PAG 46). The oil gets spread around the system. Manual says to measure what was in your old compressor to determine how much to put into the new one, but ours was pretty much empty. So, we are going with the replacement compressor instructions that say to add 4oz to the compressor, and 2 oz each to the condenser and the dryer.
 
Driver's side of the engine compartment buttoned up:
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Then we pulled the distributor to prime the oil pump. Make sure to mark the distributor to the block, and the position of the rotor to the distributor so that you can put it back in the same way. No need to put it at TDC if you mark everything.

Here is the end of the distributor if you have never had yours out:
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This screw driver gave its life to become a Jeep 4.0L oil pump priming tool... Thank you screw driver for your service...
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We primed it (clockwise) for about 60 seconds with an electric drill:
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Then we got the AC lines back in with a new dryer. Had to stretch/bend the fixed line from the evaporator to the condenser as the condenser port was quite a bit shorter than the OEM:
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Air box with a new Fram filter:
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Engine bay compete:
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Gas, Antifreeze, PS fluid, 5 seconds of cranking, sputter, sputter, vrrrrrrummmm... running like a top...

We let it warm up a bit, then took it around the neighborhood, no leaks, no strange sounds, amazingly everything seemed OK.

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Very successful day with the Jeep!
 
Borrowed an AC manifold set from work and a Vacuum pump from my brother-in-law to get the AC system charged. We have never done this before, and had a hard time finding good step by step instructions. Had to watch several painful youtube videos. If you are not familiar with this process, here are simplified steps to properly charge an empty system:

1. Connect the hi and low pressure side lines (they only go on one way) and screw in the knobs to open the Schrader valves. Both valves on the manifold should be closed
2. Connect the yellow line of the manifold to the vacuum pump (should be rated to 29" of Hg in order to boil off the water in the system at room temperature), turn on the pump, open both manifold valves
3. Vacuum the system for a minimum of 1/2 hr, if gauge doesn't get to 29" of Hg, you have a leak.
4. Close the manifold gauges, shut off the pump, watch the low side gauge for 1/2 hr, it should stay at 29" of Hg, if it doesn't, you have a leak, ours was rock solid even when left overnight.
5. Disconnect the yellow line from the vacuum pump, and attach a can of 134a and open the can valve to allow the refrigerant to flow, I found a $3 can adapter at autozone, that will open the can valve when you attach the line.
6. Start the engine, AC on, Fan on low.
7. Open the low pressure manifold valve (Blue) and invert the refrigerant can to allow the liquid refrigerant to flow into the AC system. AC compressor will cycle on/off and the hi side pressure will build as it does.
8. Add 1.25lbs (20 Oz) of refrigerant. I weighed the cans to know what I was putting in. You can also watch the pressures (preferred method) according to ambient temps and pressure tables in the service manuals, but since my garage is cold now, I went with simply adding the proper refrigerant weight.
9. Close the manifold valves, close the Schrader valves, disconnect the lines, put the caps back on, engine off

AC system charged... $13...

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We finally got around to putting the AC charge in. A word of caution, wear safety glasses and gloves as you are dealing with a pressurized system. We did our best to weigh the 12 oz bottles before, after and during the filling. The numbers show that we used 1.35 lbs instead of 1.25 lbs, so a little over. AC was blowing at 40 degrees F, but it was only 55 degrees in the garage...

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Wiper arms and new wipers and Kentrol mirrors are on. We'll have to see how these clear the doors. The hope is that these will be on all the time.
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Front inner fender liners cleaned and re-installed:
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And we also got the 3rd brake/license plate bracket mounted and wired:
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We needed 3 wires (an extra over the standard 2 tailgate contact points, extra one is for the plate light) and found a lot of internal structure inside the tailgate, so this in how we chose to run the wire:
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The front bumper was screaming for a winch, so off to craigslist we went. Found this new in the box SuperWinch X9 with both roller and synthetic fairleads for $350. Had to drive 2 hours to get it...
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It takes up the space on the bumper very nicely:
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Our factory radio was cutting out on one side, so we found this AM/FM at the junk yard for $20, we preferred that it had no cassette:
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And the raised winch plate came in, SmittyBilt 2804, we were thinking of making one, but for $90 delivered, it really isn't worth it. The Smittybilt is 1/4" and well supported.
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We are replacing the giant old style winch solenoid box with a Temco Contactor:

Old:
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New:
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We made a bracket to mount the remote socket next to it:
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And found a place to put it under the bumper, right in front of the grill:
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We made new leads out of 2 gauge flexible wire. Borrowed the hydraulic crimper from work:
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Winch wiring complete:
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Here is how we attached the leads to the battery. I didn't want to cut off the factory battery terminals, so we machined up some aluminum spacers and got some longer bolts to attach the winch lugs "military connector" style:

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