What did you do to your TJ today?
- Thread starter LJRubiconGuy
- Start date
Yesterday I pulled out a friend so the Dana 30 wouldn't be lonely. Started cleaning up the rust on the Dana 30.
Jeep, mower, and tool chests got some early Halloween costumes in prep for painting axles.
Also, placed a deposit on Cooper Discoverer STT Pro 35x12.50r15s on Friday.
Jeep, mower, and tool chests got some early Halloween costumes in prep for painting axles.
Also, placed a deposit on Cooper Discoverer STT Pro 35x12.50r15s on Friday.
Sounds like a tough time on the front. Be grateful you struggled there rather than the rear!
Chief Brohician
'98 TJ Sport '11 Extreme Camper '18 JLU Sahara
Supporting Member
Lifetime Supporting Member
T
The JK version is 17”.The after looks much better IMO.
Chief Brohician
'98 TJ Sport '11 Extreme Camper '18 JLU Sahara
Supporting Member
Lifetime Supporting Member
Installed metal grab bars and tan visors.
Previously installed the half doors and late mirrors. I was looking at trying to find a pair of OEM ‘03-‘06. Couldn’t find any. I was hanging with @AndyG place and I said I was looking at the Kool Vie mirrors. He had a set in the boxes. I pulled one out. It looked identical to the mirrors on his Rubicon. Under $50 bucks. Look great and I will be ordering a set for the full doors. Also previously we removed and painted the front bumper and put on the OEM tow hooks and KC grill protector three tab light bar
Previously installed the half doors and late mirrors. I was looking at trying to find a pair of OEM ‘03-‘06. Couldn’t find any. I was hanging with @AndyG place and I said I was looking at the Kool Vie mirrors. He had a set in the boxes. I pulled one out. It looked identical to the mirrors on his Rubicon. Under $50 bucks. Look great and I will be ordering a set for the full doors. Also previously we removed and painted the front bumper and put on the OEM tow hooks and KC grill protector three tab light bar
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I was! There were a few prayers said before I started wrenching on the 4 rear upper bolts, as well as after each one came out.Sounds like a tough time on the front. Be grateful you struggled there rather than the rear!
After I had both rears removed, I (sarcastically) said to myself "Boy I'm glad I did the fronts first since everyone says those are always the easier ones to remove".
Finally bolting up the winch on an elevated plate. Would somebody tell me just WHY elevated plates start their up-slope so close to the mounting holes?!? Another inch farther away and the stock tow hooks would fit without alteration! Some folks swap them side-to-side to work around that problem, BUT that trick doesn't work if you have stock fog lites. So, I'm grinding down a about 1 inch wide by 1/4" thick slope on the bottom of said tow hooks.
I had the same problem, I got a set from etrailer that aren’t offset
I ended up using a plate that mounts behind the fairlead, and lets me mount the fogs at the same level in the center.
MountaineerTom
LJ Enthusiast, Retired USAF Weapons Loader
Supporting Member
Ride of the Month Winner
You can get these. They fit perfectly. I reused the factory bolts though and put a couple coats of paint on the thinly coated clip thing. (Which you don’t have to use)
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001GMZRQ8/?tag=wranglerorg-20
I have missed my TJ for the last few days, been on a world tour of Southern California and Arizona. We spent this morning hiking in Sedona. As we hiked up I saw all the pink jeeps and a few others. Made me want to wheel here so badly! Here’s a few pics just for the heck of it!
Kiwi TJ
I don't suffer from insanity I enjoy every minute
Supporting Member
Ride of the Month Winner
Thanks it’s been an amazing tour! Grand Canyon next few days!
Kiwi TJ
I don't suffer from insanity I enjoy every minute
Supporting Member
Ride of the Month Winner
I remember the first time I saw the Grand Canyon.....I was NOT prepared for the size and scale...magnificent part of the world that's for sure.
2 years ago, after having the Jeep for 2 months, I did a repair on the driver seat using a passenger seat for parts. linky It worked well. I had noticed though, that my KC BBQ gut had contributed to some settling of that repair. And while still fully usable, I was looking to do a makeover on the interior. I really wanted tan. But I wanted a specific tan. I had thought about just doing the dash and console, and some Bartact seat covers. But wanted to see what I could come up with before going that route.
Found a guy on marketplace advertising parting out an 01 with exactly the right stuff. Sent a message, and but, what????......he's got the console out of a '98. What? And he wasn't selling the dash without the title. So, basically, he didn't have what I wanted. His picture did. But he didn't.
Was messing around on car-part.com, where salvage yards offer up parts from various vehicles and you can search for a specific year, or model. Parts are already priced. Some have pictures of the parts in question. Some list parts that other yards also have listed themselves, but at marked up prices. Joebob's has the vehicle and the seat is $175. AMX motors also has the seat listed (that is at Joebob's) but it's $250. So, you have to research and take notes, LOL.
Back in January of this year, I spied an '01 at a salvage yard over in Misery (Missouri). It had minty looking tan, camel would be the correct term, interior. Seats, dash, console. Mmmmm. Minty. They had the seats listed at 200 for the rear, 150 for the driver, 85 for the passenger, 195 for the console, 150 for the dash and 75, LOL, for the glovebox. Even had the tan insta-trunk for 200. Pricey, but hey, you wanna play? You gotta pay! And, if the console had the subwoofer in it, then I could potentially make back some of the money spent. Hmmmmm.
But I didn't want to play. At least, not that bad yet. And for sure not without seeing the stuff in person. The yard was 3 hours away from KC, so making the trek to be disappointed was not what I wanted to do. Fired off an email the Sunday before a week off work, explained the stuff I was interested in, that I was off the coming week, and that I'd be glad to come take a look if the stuff was what I wanted, but only had that week to do it. They finally responded (yes, probably should have just called) on Thursday/Friday to my inquiry. Oh well.
The person that had been given my info, was in charge of their e-commerce. Ebay and the like. I'm sure they are always busy, but the response times to my emails was rather long. I sent a response clarifying the pieces I was interested in, they sent back pricing, which was what was listed on the site, and their own company site. Sent a reply asking about specific "mods" or damage on the console and dash. Didn't want to show up and have holes drilled all over them or cracks, etc. But also understand the nature of salvage yard parts. Still, though.....
It took a week and a half (middle of February now) for a response. I'd written them off at that point, but since I did get a response AND the investigation to (hopefully) velcro strips and not 3 inch long, half inch wide holes came back favorable, it renewed my interest in a color swap. I asked about a discount. He said no problem, since the stuff had weathered a bit. Asked how long the stuff had been in the yard, he said 6 months. He said they were usable, but would need some cleaning. Now, think about that last statement. Meh, is what I thought. Big deal, I wasn't looking for perfection. But did want something nicer than what I had (which was only adequate). Told him I'd be by the next Friday. He said they'd be ready for me.
End of February, I had a Friday off and decided to drive over. Had a nice drive. Changes at work with a completely new computer system was about to send everyone over the edge. Was nice to get away. Showed up at the yard. Awesome setup they have. Oak front desk, well lit, probably 50 employees, first rate operation. Tell them who I am there to see, and...he's off that day. Yay. Was explaining to the girl, what I was there for, when another guy walked up and said, "my name here???". Why, yes. Tis me. He said the other guy had left him a note with what I was looking for. Cool!
Out to the yard we went to find "the Jeep". Round the corner and the tub is sitting on the ground. They'd sold the axles and the frame. Walk up to the tub, and the coil springs and steering linkage.....ahem, the greasy coil springs and greasy steering linkage were sitting on/in the back seat and on/in the front seat. OMG!!!! I was dumbfounded. Perfect, minty tan cloth seats. But hey! The glovebox that they didn't have was sitting in the passenger floorboard right where it was in the picture they'd taken 6 months ago when they first posted it online! But the seats..... One of the metal pieces of junk had pressed up against the back of the passenger seat and almost put a 1 inch hole in it. It too was stained with grease and rust. The console had the subwoofer in it. yay. But the seats. Really, almost everything had grease on it. The defrost cover below the windshield had been pulled off and left to set in the sun with other stuff on top of it, bending it. Some holes in the passenger side of the front of the console. I just shook my head as I walked around looking for doodads and whatnots, loose screws, etc., in case I decided to throw money away. I just kept saying that those seats....probably no way they would clean up, or cleanup to be presentable. I just don't know. Had I known, or if they'd sent me pictures, I'd have probably stayed home.
The guy helping me asked if the other guy had quoted me any prices on the stuff. I told him just the pricing that was posted. 200 for the back seat that had 2 coil springs, the drag link and one shock laying in it. 85 for the passenger seat that had one coil spring, 2 shocks....and on, and on. He said, "He's got 50 for the back seat, 50 for the driver, 50 for the passenger.......etc.....". Well, that was the push over the edge I needed. The carcass also had all the seatbelts, that weren't listed as them having them. Told him, both left side belts and all the tan stuff! I guess I'll take my chances. Asked how long for them to pull them, said about an hour. Cool. I'll go get lunch.
He called me while I was at lunch, and said that he'd be gone from 12-1 for HIS lunch, and if I wanted to pick up before or after that. Told him I wanted to do a walk around once more in case I remembered something else I needed, so, after would be fine. He said no problem. Got back and found that they had pulled the 2 front belts and not the left side only belts. So, I did the only sensible thing, and bought them all. $25 a piece, can't beat that. All in all, total bill was about half of what they had them listed for. Super professional, except for throwing greasy stuff on cloth seats. The guy that helped me load up, was from South Manchester. Definitely not a Missouri accent, LOL. (and, the console came with the subwoofer, so, you know......money back in my pocket)
The dash came with the cluster bezel and centerstack bezel:
Cleaned up the dash and console parts:
I had originally thought, I'd just cut part of the gray dash with the VIN on it, and leave it attached to the framework, and attach the tan dash to the same framework. But, the easiest and safest way to stay away from problems with the law, was to paint the gray piece tan. Researched the interior paint, SEM has a perfect match to camel, annnnnnnd nobody in KC has the SEM color match mixer. Got impatient, and found Krylon Satin Nutmeg at $5 a can, to be a perfect/near perfect match. Let's run with it and see what happens. I painted the ashtray with it, and it's sitting on the factory camel console. Looks good to me!
Let's get started!
Pulled the plastic dash:
Washed it in the sink!
Kidding! The handheld shower head in the tub worked great!
Started the painting.....:
Finished the painting....:
And waited just long enough to put it back in (I swapped out the console and my modded subwoofer while the paint cured):
The airbag cover was especially fun!!! I recommend a zero offset box end ratcheting wrench!!
Repainted the awful steering column shroud a flat black and put most of the rest of the dash pieces on:
Tan driver seat before cleaning:
Tan driver after:
Not much of a change. Just a few problem spots, but this was my test subject. I used a Bissell Little Green Proheat spot cleaner with their Pro Oxy stain solution. Now, on to the real challenges!
Passenger seat before:
Passenger seat after the second cleaning. I hit it a third time for the faint spots towards the front:
I was in Heaven!!!! And already thinking I was money ahead. But the back seat would be the Everest of jobs.
Before:
After the first cleaning (notice the big dark stain):
After the second cleaning:
After the 3rd cleaning:
Before:
After:
I had no idea they would clean up this well. I had hoped that they would clean up some, even dreamed they might be presentable. But these seats....those seats.....OMG, they turned out well! I'm sitting up higher again. The donor TJ only had 100K on the clock, so they weren't used/abused like mine had been. The paint on the dash, yes, a little fragile. But the SEM from my reading isn't perfect either. And for $5 a can, I'm happy with the Krylon for now. As far as the cleaning, I had to pick a spot or small area, and go over it maybe 15 times, spray solution, suck it up, spray solution suck it up, spray, spray, suck it up. Back and forth, back and forth. Let it dry overnight to really see how it did. Then do it again. And again. Probably have 10 hours in just cleaning the seats. Worth it though. Still can't believe it turned out this well. A little doctoring to do on the long defrost panel, and I've put the vents back in, but I'm happy with the results. Real happy!
I think I'm done with the edits, now, LOL.
Found a guy on marketplace advertising parting out an 01 with exactly the right stuff. Sent a message, and but, what????......he's got the console out of a '98. What? And he wasn't selling the dash without the title. So, basically, he didn't have what I wanted. His picture did. But he didn't.
Was messing around on car-part.com, where salvage yards offer up parts from various vehicles and you can search for a specific year, or model. Parts are already priced. Some have pictures of the parts in question. Some list parts that other yards also have listed themselves, but at marked up prices. Joebob's has the vehicle and the seat is $175. AMX motors also has the seat listed (that is at Joebob's) but it's $250. So, you have to research and take notes, LOL.
Back in January of this year, I spied an '01 at a salvage yard over in Misery (Missouri). It had minty looking tan, camel would be the correct term, interior. Seats, dash, console. Mmmmm. Minty. They had the seats listed at 200 for the rear, 150 for the driver, 85 for the passenger, 195 for the console, 150 for the dash and 75, LOL, for the glovebox. Even had the tan insta-trunk for 200. Pricey, but hey, you wanna play? You gotta pay! And, if the console had the subwoofer in it, then I could potentially make back some of the money spent. Hmmmmm.
But I didn't want to play. At least, not that bad yet. And for sure not without seeing the stuff in person. The yard was 3 hours away from KC, so making the trek to be disappointed was not what I wanted to do. Fired off an email the Sunday before a week off work, explained the stuff I was interested in, that I was off the coming week, and that I'd be glad to come take a look if the stuff was what I wanted, but only had that week to do it. They finally responded (yes, probably should have just called) on Thursday/Friday to my inquiry. Oh well.
The person that had been given my info, was in charge of their e-commerce. Ebay and the like. I'm sure they are always busy, but the response times to my emails was rather long. I sent a response clarifying the pieces I was interested in, they sent back pricing, which was what was listed on the site, and their own company site. Sent a reply asking about specific "mods" or damage on the console and dash. Didn't want to show up and have holes drilled all over them or cracks, etc. But also understand the nature of salvage yard parts. Still, though.....
It took a week and a half (middle of February now) for a response. I'd written them off at that point, but since I did get a response AND the investigation to (hopefully) velcro strips and not 3 inch long, half inch wide holes came back favorable, it renewed my interest in a color swap. I asked about a discount. He said no problem, since the stuff had weathered a bit. Asked how long the stuff had been in the yard, he said 6 months. He said they were usable, but would need some cleaning. Now, think about that last statement. Meh, is what I thought. Big deal, I wasn't looking for perfection. But did want something nicer than what I had (which was only adequate). Told him I'd be by the next Friday. He said they'd be ready for me.
End of February, I had a Friday off and decided to drive over. Had a nice drive. Changes at work with a completely new computer system was about to send everyone over the edge. Was nice to get away. Showed up at the yard. Awesome setup they have. Oak front desk, well lit, probably 50 employees, first rate operation. Tell them who I am there to see, and...he's off that day. Yay. Was explaining to the girl, what I was there for, when another guy walked up and said, "my name here???". Why, yes. Tis me. He said the other guy had left him a note with what I was looking for. Cool!
Out to the yard we went to find "the Jeep". Round the corner and the tub is sitting on the ground. They'd sold the axles and the frame. Walk up to the tub, and the coil springs and steering linkage.....ahem, the greasy coil springs and greasy steering linkage were sitting on/in the back seat and on/in the front seat. OMG!!!! I was dumbfounded. Perfect, minty tan cloth seats. But hey! The glovebox that they didn't have was sitting in the passenger floorboard right where it was in the picture they'd taken 6 months ago when they first posted it online! But the seats..... One of the metal pieces of junk had pressed up against the back of the passenger seat and almost put a 1 inch hole in it. It too was stained with grease and rust. The console had the subwoofer in it. yay. But the seats. Really, almost everything had grease on it. The defrost cover below the windshield had been pulled off and left to set in the sun with other stuff on top of it, bending it. Some holes in the passenger side of the front of the console. I just shook my head as I walked around looking for doodads and whatnots, loose screws, etc., in case I decided to throw money away. I just kept saying that those seats....probably no way they would clean up, or cleanup to be presentable. I just don't know. Had I known, or if they'd sent me pictures, I'd have probably stayed home.
The guy helping me asked if the other guy had quoted me any prices on the stuff. I told him just the pricing that was posted. 200 for the back seat that had 2 coil springs, the drag link and one shock laying in it. 85 for the passenger seat that had one coil spring, 2 shocks....and on, and on. He said, "He's got 50 for the back seat, 50 for the driver, 50 for the passenger.......etc.....". Well, that was the push over the edge I needed. The carcass also had all the seatbelts, that weren't listed as them having them. Told him, both left side belts and all the tan stuff! I guess I'll take my chances. Asked how long for them to pull them, said about an hour. Cool. I'll go get lunch.
He called me while I was at lunch, and said that he'd be gone from 12-1 for HIS lunch, and if I wanted to pick up before or after that. Told him I wanted to do a walk around once more in case I remembered something else I needed, so, after would be fine. He said no problem. Got back and found that they had pulled the 2 front belts and not the left side only belts. So, I did the only sensible thing, and bought them all. $25 a piece, can't beat that. All in all, total bill was about half of what they had them listed for. Super professional, except for throwing greasy stuff on cloth seats. The guy that helped me load up, was from South Manchester. Definitely not a Missouri accent, LOL. (and, the console came with the subwoofer, so, you know......money back in my pocket)
The dash came with the cluster bezel and centerstack bezel:
Cleaned up the dash and console parts:
I had originally thought, I'd just cut part of the gray dash with the VIN on it, and leave it attached to the framework, and attach the tan dash to the same framework. But, the easiest and safest way to stay away from problems with the law, was to paint the gray piece tan. Researched the interior paint, SEM has a perfect match to camel, annnnnnnd nobody in KC has the SEM color match mixer. Got impatient, and found Krylon Satin Nutmeg at $5 a can, to be a perfect/near perfect match. Let's run with it and see what happens. I painted the ashtray with it, and it's sitting on the factory camel console. Looks good to me!
Let's get started!
Pulled the plastic dash:
Washed it in the sink!
Kidding! The handheld shower head in the tub worked great!
Started the painting.....:
Finished the painting....:
And waited just long enough to put it back in (I swapped out the console and my modded subwoofer while the paint cured):
The airbag cover was especially fun!!! I recommend a zero offset box end ratcheting wrench!!
Repainted the awful steering column shroud a flat black and put most of the rest of the dash pieces on:
Tan driver seat before cleaning:
Tan driver after:
Not much of a change. Just a few problem spots, but this was my test subject. I used a Bissell Little Green Proheat spot cleaner with their Pro Oxy stain solution. Now, on to the real challenges!
Passenger seat before:
Passenger seat after the second cleaning. I hit it a third time for the faint spots towards the front:
I was in Heaven!!!! And already thinking I was money ahead. But the back seat would be the Everest of jobs.
Before:
After the first cleaning (notice the big dark stain):
After the second cleaning:
After the 3rd cleaning:
Before:
After:
I had no idea they would clean up this well. I had hoped that they would clean up some, even dreamed they might be presentable. But these seats....those seats.....OMG, they turned out well! I'm sitting up higher again. The donor TJ only had 100K on the clock, so they weren't used/abused like mine had been. The paint on the dash, yes, a little fragile. But the SEM from my reading isn't perfect either. And for $5 a can, I'm happy with the Krylon for now. As far as the cleaning, I had to pick a spot or small area, and go over it maybe 15 times, spray solution, suck it up, spray solution suck it up, spray, spray, suck it up. Back and forth, back and forth. Let it dry overnight to really see how it did. Then do it again. And again. Probably have 10 hours in just cleaning the seats. Worth it though. Still can't believe it turned out this well. A little doctoring to do on the long defrost panel, and I've put the vents back in, but I'm happy with the results. Real happy!
I think I'm done with the edits, now, LOL.
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A lot of good progress lately.
Engine coolant flush and replace (HOAT)
Transmission fluid drain and fill, new filter
Oil change
Fender flares treated with a heat gun (1300 degrees) to restore color (pics attached). It works on that little plastic corner triangle at the front of your door windows, too.
Replaced drag link, steering dampener (Monroe SC2928)
Upgraded to ZJ tie rod. Looks great, much stronger than stock. I bought it from O’Reilly’s - it’s the Moog brand and I paid way too much but I wanted to get it done right away and it was already painted for me so I rationalized it.
I replaced all related connectors, tie rod ends, and added Lucas Red n Tacky grease to all the zerks.
I set the toe in per the method recommended by Stu, seemed alright but I took it straight to an alignment shop this morning so I will see how close I made it. I also stopped by Lowe’s for some square tubing so that later I can do it using Blaine’s method that was posted by Jerry.
Hopefully this will eliminate the vibrations I’ve been experiencing. I will test it once it’s finished at the shop in the next hour or so.
Here’s before on the fender flares:
In progress
After
(Not 100% fair comparison because before is in the sun and after is in the shade)
here’s that corner piece (don’t have a before but it was very faded)
steering parts!
Engine coolant flush and replace (HOAT)
Transmission fluid drain and fill, new filter
Oil change
Fender flares treated with a heat gun (1300 degrees) to restore color (pics attached). It works on that little plastic corner triangle at the front of your door windows, too.
Replaced drag link, steering dampener (Monroe SC2928)
Upgraded to ZJ tie rod. Looks great, much stronger than stock. I bought it from O’Reilly’s - it’s the Moog brand and I paid way too much but I wanted to get it done right away and it was already painted for me so I rationalized it.
I replaced all related connectors, tie rod ends, and added Lucas Red n Tacky grease to all the zerks.
I set the toe in per the method recommended by Stu, seemed alright but I took it straight to an alignment shop this morning so I will see how close I made it. I also stopped by Lowe’s for some square tubing so that later I can do it using Blaine’s method that was posted by Jerry.
Hopefully this will eliminate the vibrations I’ve been experiencing. I will test it once it’s finished at the shop in the next hour or so.
Here’s before on the fender flares:
In progress
After
(Not 100% fair comparison because before is in the sun and after is in the shade)
here’s that corner piece (don’t have a before but it was very faded)
steering parts!
Yea, I saw those, and they're just fine.
But I'm anal and wanted to use the stock ones, a bit of grinding, and some new paint and I saved $12!
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I badly need to take a long road trip out west and see a bunch of the national parks, they look so beautiful