Tweezer's 2004 LJ

Picked up the Jeep last night from my Jeep dealership after some service. I had a leak I thought maybe the water pump, but the coolant system tested out swimmingly. Turned out to be the front pinion seal, which they replaced. I also asked them to look at the RMS and they recommended replacing. It was more so leaking than weeping. The RMS took forever for them to get the necessary parts but it's been replaced. I also asked them to test the battery. The jeep had been dying after a couple of weeks sitting and I was getting a check gauges warning with the key turned but without the Jeep running. They charged the battery and it turns over with more vigor than before. I guess the old charger I was using wasn't enough to fully charge the battery. Lastly, I had them cut and program a key, since I only had one.

I recently bought LEDs from Super Bright LEDs to replace the interior lighting and grabbed some nearly mint side steps from @LJtobey. The wife and I are both short and the steps will suffice, as I wait for some Savvy sliders 🤞. I am going to wait to install the steps until after @taylormade73 comes down in a few weeks, since I have a 1" Currie BL to install. I also bought some Grabars, though they are no longer sold under that name. The instructions from Quadratec are from Grabars, but they're sold under another name. Anyway, glad to have it back and some light work to do over the long holiday weekend.
 
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A life update and not a Jeep update. As shared in @sab thread about losing Roxy, over the last 3 months we lost our two 18 y/o cats after 16 and 17 years together. We struggled to know when is the right time to get another pet, but my wife and I both felt something missing in our lives not having an animal around, so we started looking this weekend. We submitted applications at a couple of local rescues and we were approved for a 1 y/o cat named Figment and a 6 month old Australian Shepherd named Bentley. We will keep the name Figment, but probably change the name Bentley. We pick up Bentley next Sunday and are waiting on an ETA for Figment. Life comes at you fast. Lol. We are beyond excited.

Figment:
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Bentley:
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MeanGreen86 said:
We are struggling with the same scenario with our 15year old boxer/greyhound mix. Its never an easy decision.
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I am so sorry. It's such a hard decision to know when. Wilson, while losing weight and not not eating enough still wanted to go out with us to the patio and he would explore ours and the neighbor's yard. We said once that stopped it was time. He just loved being outside. The last couple of days of his life, we were bringing him out and he would just lay on his cushion and we knew.
 
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Been a bit for an update. As it turns out, we returned Bentley to his foster mom. We were told he had a slight aversion to males, which wasn't exactly accurate. He was abnormally aggressive towards me. If not leashed, I felt like he was going to bite me multiple times. Made it hard to be the primary care giver during the day while working from home. Anyway, just not the right match. He adored my wife and was a different dog when she was around. The foster mom acknowledged needing for her husband to work with him. Figment is doing great though. We are working to get her another feline friend.

Onto my Jeep. I got the 3DCustom double din dash panel installed with the new rocker switches. It looks clean. Though, after looking at my picture using the flash, I need to do a little bit of light sanding where the existing dash was cut. It wasn't noticeable from the driver's seat, but it's there. The seat heater rockers are place holders for future addition. Oh, and thanks to @PNW_LJ, I have some Savvy tail lights arriving tomorrow. I got the Litedots thinking I couldn't get the Savvy and I don't really care for the look after a bit of time. I also bought the 4x6 to 5.25 speaker brackets and installed 5.25 Kicker 47KSC504 speakers in the dash. Definitely an improvement. Here's the 3DCustom dash panel and rockers.

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Oh, and if anyone could use a set of the 4x6 to 5.25 speaker brackets, let me know. I ended with two sets by mistake and am happy to pay it forward versus returning to eBay. Just send me your address and I'll send them out.
 
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tweezer said:
Been a bit for an update. As it turns out, we returned Bentley to his foster mom. We were told he had a slight aversion to males, which wasn't exactly accurate. He was abnormally aggressive towards me. If not leashed, I felt like he was going to bite me multiple times. Made it hard to be the primary care giver during the day while working from home. Anyway, just not the right match. He adored my wife and was a different dog when she was around. The foster mom acknowledged needing for her husband to work with him. Figment is doing great though. We are working to get her another feline friend.

Onto my Jeep. I got the 3DCustom double din dash panel installed with the new rocker switches. It looks clean. Though, after looking at my picture using the flash, I need to do a little bit of light sanding where the existing dash was cut. It wasn't noticeable from the driver's seat, but it's there. The seat heater rockers are place holders for future addition. Oh, and thanks to @PNW_LJ, I have some Savvy tail lights arriving tomorrow. I got the Litedots thinking I couldn't get the Savvy and I don't really care for the look after a bit of time. I also bought the 4x6 to 5.25 speaker brackets and installed 5.25 Kicker 47KSC504 speakers in the dash. Definitely an improvement. Here's the 3DCustom dash panel and rockers.

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Good stuff, that switch panel is really clean looking!


It was down to either the Savvy or Maxbilts for me, I ended up choosing the latter. Keep us posted with pics when you install yours.
 
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I installed the Savvy tail lights this afternoon. Really happy with the look of the raw aluminum. Makes we want to get the Savvy GTS installed to pull the aluminum on the back end all together. I removed the MORyde tailgate reinforcement kit in the process, but kept the hinges. I will need to re-approach the full kit at a later date if I feel the need to have the spare mounted. I'll need to cut out the backing plate to fit the tali lights. Right now, I am good around town without one.

Here are some pictures. Will get some of the lights lit once it's dark.

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I have been making half assed attempts to get my doors off all summer. My guess is they previous owner never removed them and holy shit they didn't want to budge. I had been spraying the hinges with Kroil every day this week with the plan to try again today to get them off. My wife borrowed an air hammer from work in case we needed it, which we did. It took a lot of hammering but they are both off. Woohoo! Though 3 of the 4 pins pushed up and out the top like the one in the picture. Once it was hammered about half way out, the door lifted off easily. I'll need to work on the pins before putting them back on. The hinge that the pin didn't push out the top was removed from the door. Once the door was out of the way, a couple of taps with a sledge and a piece of wood on the bottom of the hinge got the pin out. New bushings will be here tomorrow and I'll get the soft doors unboxed and ready for the rest of summer. I was starting to think I'd never get the doors off without making a mess of the doors or hinges but the air hammer worked well. Thanks to this forum for the idea to try it.

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Swapped insurance today and got a policy through Hagerty with an agreed value that makes me more comfortable knowing if some dipshit hits me and it's deemed totaled, I won't get outright screwed. I had to provide a list of every part and dollar amount I've had installed to get the agreed value I wanted, but it was worth it for the peace of mind. Especially since I overpaid for the damn thing in the first place.

In actual Jeep related news, after getting the doors off, I worked like crazy to get the bushings out and they're out. Man, what a pain in the ass. Cleaned the inside of the hinges and new bushings in. Ready for when the doors go back on, if they do go back on. I don't drive it in the winter so they might just hang out in the basement. Also thinking of selling my hardtop for the same reason.
 
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tweezer said:
Swapped insurance today and got a policy through Hagerty with an agreed value that makes me more comfortable knowing if some dipshit hits me and it's deemed totaled, I won't get outright screwed. I had to provide a list of every part and dollar amount I've had installed to get the agreed value I wanted, but it was worth it for the peace of mind. Especially since I overpaid for the damn thing in the first place.

In actual Jeep related news, after getting the doors off, I worked like crazy to get the bushings out and they're out. Man, what a pain in the ass. Cleaned the inside of the hinges and new bushings in. Ready for when the doors go back on, if they do go back on. I don't drive it in the winter so they might just hang out in the basement. Also thinking of selling my hardtop for the same reason.
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I've been thinking about doing this also since I'm not comfortable with what State Farm will give me and I have a lot invested into mine. Will have to do some checking.
 
Spent the afternoon doing some light Jeep work. Finally unboxed the Bestop soft doors and put the lowers on with minimal adjustment. I did need to use some of the hinge pin spacers they send along, which was a first for me and soft doors. Not a big deal. I swapped out the taillights and went back to the Litedots. I like the look of them better than the Savvy. I'll keep the Savvy for now in case I want to swap back. With the doors being off I needed a better phone mount than the suction cup mount I had mounted to the dash to the left of the steering wheel, so I got the 67 Design TJ RailPack. What a great mount and easy to install.

I wrapped up the afternoon by finally getting around to installing the side steps I grabbed from @LJtobey. These are in amazing condition and make it easier for us both to get into the Jeep. Maybe some day I'll get some Savvy sliders but for now, these will work. Installing these with the U-shaped bolt is a major pain in the ass. It's easy as can be to feed the bolt through when the step isn't there because the metal slots aren't in the way. So, I took the steps off the frame, fed the bolt through, and then carefully put each side of the frame onto to the bolts. So much easier. Just got to be careful not to push the U bolt into the frame. Anyway, solid afternoon.

Next weekend I am starting a detail project. I have a clay bar kit waiting and I bought an orbital polisher and an assortment of compounds and waxes. Should take some time but looking forward to it.

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I tried out a new off-road shop this week to try to dial in my suspension geometry. I had some light vibes just after take off and my caster needed to be increased to reduce the twitchy steering. When I called to talk to them they said control arm adjustments are something they do better than any shop in the city. I can't speak for the rest of the shops but they did an awesome job. It's like a new Jeep and drives amazing. The vibes are gone as is the twitchy steering. Couldn't be happier. I do think I am going to upgrade the shocks to the Fox reservoir variety and I might go ahead and upgrade to the PSC cylinder assist system too.

Today I washed the Jeep inside and out and finally installed the LED interior lights. Chill day. The Jeep is spotless and I dig the new lights. Oh, and while out driving earlier in the day I hit a new milestone. Lol.

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tweezer said:
I tried out a new off-road shop this week to try to dial in my suspension geometry. I had some light vibes just after take off and my caster needed to be increased to reduce the twitchy steering. When I called to talk to them they said control arm adjustments are something they do better than any shop in the city. I can't speak for the rest of the shops but they did an awesome job. It's like a new Jeep and drives amazing. The vibes are gone as is the twitchy steering. Couldn't be happier. I do think I am going to upgrade the shocks to the Fox reservoir variety and I might go ahead and upgrade to the PSC cylinder assist system too.

Today I washed the Jeep inside and out and finally installed the LED interior lights. Chill day. The Jeep is spotless and I dig the new lights. Oh, and while out driving earlier in the day I hit a new milestone. Lol.

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Why not name the shop since they did a good job for you?
 
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Just an awesome early fall Saturday in southwest Ohio. Went for a long drive on some winding backroads. The Jeep rides so nicely and I can't really believe the difference since the regear. It's so much more fun to drive. Anyway, stopped at a nature preserve for some hiking in the woods and grabbed some pictures against a decent fall backdrop. The place was empty and we had the trails to ourselves too. Just an amazing afternoon.

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tweezer said:
Just an awesome early fall Saturday in southwest Ohio. Went for a long drive on some winding backroads. The Jeep rides so nicely and I can't really believe the difference since the regear. It's so much more fun to drive. Anyway, stopped at a nature preserve for some hiking in the woods and grabbed some pictures against a decent fall backdrop. The place was empty and we had the trails to ourselves too. Just an amazing afternoon.

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Looking good. Are those the 15" Mamba moab lookalikes?
 
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