What did you do to your TJ today?

Well I planned on just driving it to work, but the jeep had other plans.
Rotor on ground.jpeg

Started feeling a weird vibration when driving, then saw my wheel roll past me. It rolled for a bit and then went across a very busy street, bounced the curb and hit some guys house. By some miracle it didn't roll into another car. Luckily I had a box of new lugnuts sitting at home that my dad was able to bring to me, the studs were a little messed up but I was able to get the nuts on easily enough. I was able to get the wheel back on and drive it to work after.

Wheel damage.jpeg
Got some damage on the inside of my wheel but it just seems cosmetic, good thing I'm getting new wheels in a few weeks anyway. It also looks like it messed my rotor up a little because the rotor became the wheel for about 20 feet. I think the rotor isn't damaged enough to be a problem, but it has a sharp edge and might mess up the pad. I guess this would probably be a good time for some new black magic pads and rotors to be safe, mine were squeaking anyway.

Scuffed flare.jpeg
Sadly I also scuffed my fender flare that I had just painted


Now I am (almost) positive I torqued these down to 100 ft/lbs when I put them on last, probably about a few weeks ago. I know my u joints were bad, and I had been hearing a squeaking noise from that wheel for a few days which I thought was the u joint. I also did some mild offroading the last 2 days, and have a loose trackbar bushing. Is it possible a combination of off roading, bad joints, and loose trackbar could be enough to vibrate the lugnuts loose?

Or is it more likely that I'm just an idiot and did not torque them down as much as I thought
 
Last edited:
Well I planned on just driving it to work, but the jeep had other plans.
View attachment 241240
Started feeling a weird vibration when driving, then saw my wheel roll past me. It rolled for a bit and then went across a very busy street, bounced the curb and hit some guys house. By some miracle it didn't roll into another car. Luckily I had a box of new lugnuts sitting at home that my dad was able to bring to me, the studs were a little messed up but I was able to get the nuts on easily enough. I was able to get the wheel back on and drive it to work after.

View attachment 241239
Got some damage on the inside of my wheel but it just seems cosmetic, good thing I'm getting new wheels in a few weeks anyway. It also looks like it messed my rotor up a little because the rotor became the wheel for about 20 feet. I think the rotor isn't damaged enough to be a problem, but it has a sharp edge and might mess up the pad. I guess this would probably be a good time for some new black magic pads and rotors to be safe, mine were squeaking anyway.

View attachment 241238
Sadly I also scuffed my fender flare that I had just painted


Now I am (almost) positive I torqued these down to 100 ft/lbs when I put them on last, probably about a few weeks ago. I know my u joints were bad, and I had been hearing a squeaking noise from that wheel for a few days which I thought was the u joint. I also did some mild offroading the last 2 days, and have a loose trackbar bushing. Is it possible a combination of off roading, bad joints, and loose trackbar could be enough to vibrate the lugnuts loose?

Or is it more likely that I'm just a complete idiot and did not torque them down as much as I thought
Alloy wheels need retorquing after 50 mi. Had that happen to me with 1/2 ton pickup w/camper and car trailer hauling my cj5 at 70mph. Drivers rear came off and passed my ass. Tire didn't hit anyone, brake drum went across median and didn't hit anyone. Every time I hit the brakes it would hook left so I was like on the brakes, hook, off the brakes about 10 times before I got stopped. Went from right hand lane to left shoulder without hitting anyone. That was my intro to the need to retorque alloys. Boy did Les Shwab get an earful from me. They did all repairs at their expense.
 
Alloy wheels need retorquing after 50 mi. Had that happen to me with 1/2 ton pickup w/camper and car trailer hauling my cj5 at 70mph. Drivers rear came off and passed my ass. Tire didn't hit anyone, brake drum went across median and didn't hit anyone. Every time I hit the brakes it would hook left so I was like on the brakes, hook, off the brakes about 10 times before I got stopped. Went from right hand lane to left shoulder without hitting anyone. That was my intro to the need to retorque alloys. Boy did Les Shwab get an earful from me. They did all repairs at their expense.
After this I'm going to want to retorque my lug nuts daily 🤣
 
Put some cheap fogs on to see what they look like, only cost me $10au $7.60 us, bit big but they will do while I put my feelers out there in oz for some Mopar fogs. Shouldn't take long I hope as everyone is taking their lights off for LED,s and I know the early TJ Renegades (Sahara) had them on.
Now have to have them wired to my hi beam another one of our laws lol
And just as i was posting my hitch receiver shackle showed up.

fogs.jpg


Hitch.jpg
 
Last edited:
it started slipping a couple days ago. I checked the transmission fluid level yesterday and it was good. tried to drive it to the shop this afternoon but only made it about half-a-mile before it stopped working (engine running with increasing RPMs without increase in speed). same experience in D, 2 and 1. in full disclosure, it was slipping in Reverse when I tried to back out of the driveway to go to the shop and I knew there was a good chance it wouldn't make it but I wanted to try.

I don't know how this plays into it but while in the driveway checking the ATF, then engine noise was noticeably louder in Neutral than it was in Park or Drive. I'm preparing myself for needing a new or rebuilt transmission.

I've read good things on this forum about the 32RH and assume I should have them replace with the same - if that turns out to be needed.
is there anything else I should consider doing at the same time?

thanks,
Jerry

as expected, it needs to be re-built
 
  • Like
Reactions: psrivats
Does anyone back here have an aftermarket differential cover? After tilting my pinion I’m kinda thinking I could use more fluid. Is that overblown or is this an item that’s more decorative than anything?
 
Put some cheap fogs on to see what they look like, only cost me $10au $7.60 us, bit big but they will do while I put my feelers out there in oz for some Mopar fogs. Shouldn't take long I hope as everyone is taking their lights off for LED,s and I know the early TJ Renegades (Sahara) had them on.
Now have to have them wired to my hi beam another one of our laws lol
And just as i was posting my hitch receiver shackle showed up.

View attachment 241358

View attachment 241360
Wait your fog lights have to be wired to your high beams by law? Doesn't that defeat the point of the fog lights, because the high beams would be reflecting off the fog and blinding you?

I would like to get some fog lights but the light mounts on my bumper are probably too high for fog lights to be effective since I know they have to be mounted low
 
Got a DMV appointment after 9 months of waiting. Its the first appointment of the day, and I still imagine I'll be waiting an hour to be seen
 
  • Like
Reactions: RINC
In preparation of getting ready for Sound Shield sound deadening treatment, I am taking care of some small rust issues on the floorboards.
View attachment 240418

Before wire wheel on a drill.

View attachment 240419

I knocked the heavy stuff off.

View attachment 240420

Once the sound deadener is applied to the floors and lower portion of the firewall, bedrug carpet will be installed. This fix will last for years with the rust treatment, new floor plugs, sound deadener and bedrug. hooray for a quieter jeep!

That and I replaced the clicking rear sway bar end links. Today was a good day to wrench on my jeep. Wrenching, when all goes well is therapeutic!
What did you use to paint the tub? Any other primer or converter over the formerly rusty areas? I'm going to start a sound deadening project soon and I'm collecting as much info as I can
 
When I purchased the '01 TJ Sport in Jan 2020 the Smittybilt soft top was in terrible condition, the 3 soft windows were severely hazed over by the affects of UV, the sealing bar between the rear soft window and hatch was bent and the seals were damaged. I replaced the Smittybilt with a Bestop sail cloth soft top and straightened the bar sufficiently for it to work until I purchased a new one , but then discovered the hatch seal was dried out and cracked.
Today I received and installed the replacement Bestop soft window sealing bar and brackets; then I replaced the hatch seal with a new OEM Mopar part. Removing the gooey black tar adhesive was tedious and messy; found that Acetone worked well to loosen and dissolve it.
Cleaning the surface of the hatch to install the seal was the most time consuming.
Replacing both of these parts were about two hours.
I have the Jeep sitting in the sun warming up the hatch so that the rubber seal and double sticky tape on the factory seal will better seat and adhere to the contours of the hatch.