What did you do to your TJ today?

I discovered the downside of having a mechanic shop do installs. I recently bought a Classic Tube preformed brake lines kit because my rear brake lines were looking pretty rough. I had also bought the BMB rear drum brake kit, Centric wheel cylinders, and a Crown Performance extended brake lines kit in order to finish refreshing the braking system (I had previously bought the BMB front brake kit with the new callipers/pads/and rotors). My plan was to do all of the work myself. I installed the fronts myself (which was an absolute pain), but the rear drum brake wheel cylinder brake bleeders were super rusted and the cylinder bolts were so frozen that I ended up taking the Jeep to a nearby shop for the rear install. I also had them install the rear drum brake hardware, since they would have to access them to replace the wheel cylinders.

1 day and $712 dollars later I picked up my jeep and went on my way. Then I had to bring it back because the parking brake was not properly adjusted. Could have done it myself, but if I’m paying for a service I expect it to be done properly. A few days later I was investigating a small oil leak and I decided to check all of the engine fluid levels, and thank goodness I did, because the master cylinder was half-empty! 🤬🤬 I bought brake fluid, and vowed never to use that shop again. Well, last night I rechecked the work they did, and everything looked good except that they didn’t tighten the rear brake line, so it had a slight leak (which could have been the reason the master cylinder was so low, but either way, they messed up).

Also, in the course of checking their work I discovered that they overtorqued my wheel locks 😡 Why do some shops insist on using impact guns on lug nuts/wheel locks?! Luckily I didn’t have to change a flat, but cmon man! I got the first wheel lock loosened and re-torqued, but the key broke while trying to loosen the second one 🤬🤬🤬 I removed the 3 remaining wheel locks with a 12-point socket, a hammer, and a breaker bar, and then ordered a new key, which should (hopefully) be arriving soon.

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I’ll also be repainting the frame and axles soon. I’m pretty sure this Jeep spent its entire life in the Northeast.
I am not a good mechanic but I do everything myself (with some jeep buddies sometimes).
Never had a visit to a shop for 15 years but the NTB for my tires and batteries.
 
Installed the antirock

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I am not a good mechanic but I do everything myself (with some jeep buddies sometimes).
Never had a visit to a shop for 15 years but the NTB for my tires and batteries.

That’s the level I’m trying to reach. Right now I live in a city and I don’t have a dedicated garage to work in, but I’ve had a good amount of success doing small/medium jobs in my apartment complex’s parking garage. My old mechanic was super chill. He has a 2-person shop, his work was always solid, and he was affordable. I still call him for advice, which he offers freely. Basically he’s a damn unicorn 😂😂 I moved over a year ago, and it has been hell trying to find a shop that is even half as good.
 
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Tried figuring out that damned under hood light... tested for power and got a new bulb to light up and stay on long enough that I burned my finger on the bulb when it decided to turn off and wouldn't turn back on. Gave up for the day... I'll check fuses tomorrow.

(I know there are some nice mods... maybe some day. For now, I'm just trying to figure out the electrical situation the PO left me.)
 
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Tried figuring out that damned under hood light... tested for power and got a new bulb to light up and stay on long enough that I burned my finger on the bulb when it decided to turn off and wouldn't turn back on. Gave up for the day... I'll check fuses tomorrow.

(I know there are some nice mods... maybe some day. For now, I'm just trying to figure out the electrical situation the PO left me.)
i unplugged mine when i got my TJ. ive never plugged it back in. But i dont know what else you have going on with your electric situation.
GoodLuck!
 
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Just ordered a Mopar engine oil pan (mine is pretty rusty), and am about to order a new track bar. Recently I’ve been trying to do preventative maintenance on the Jeep, as I haven’t been maintaining it as well as I should. I’m also trying to upgrade parts so that I can actually take it offroading. I bought it with an unknown 4” suspension lift (I now think it might be a ProComp kit), and I fell into the trap of being young and wanting a badass looking Jeep without knowing about or adhering to any of the technical aspects that are involved in wheeling. I had upgraded the stock steering linkage to a Currie Correctlync, and was planning on eventually upgrading my track bar (which I thought was stock but now I’m pretty sure it’s a ProComp one).

Well, in doing some research I discovered that the PO installed a dropped track bar bracket. Which wouldn’t be so bad, I suppose, except it has a stock pitman arm. So last night I fell into a 2am Google rabbit hole, and scoured the forums to see what my options were. I have a slight shimmy at highway speeds, and I now recognise that I have a little bit of bump steer, but there’s no DW, and it drives pretty straight without pulling to one side or the other when driving down a smooth road. The geometry is probably all messed up, but there were no pressing issues in my mind, so I was planning on upgrading later on down the road, maybe some time in the summer. Then while I was looking at pictures of other people’s setups and reading forum posts after forum posts, I discovered an issue I was unaware that I was having: my track bar is making contact with my front diff cover. Clearly not good.

So now the timetable has been moved up, and I’m looking get rid of the dropped bracket and buy either the RockJock/Currie CE-9120TJJ or TJS this weekend. The only difference I can see between the two is that the TJJ requires the axle mount to be drilled out to accommodate a larger bolt. I eventually want to wheel my Jeep, and I’m a big fan of “Buy Once, Cry Once” as @Chris puts it, when it comes to quality parts. Does anyone have any recommendations about which one I should get?
 
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Tried figuring out that damned under hood light... tested for power and got a new bulb to light up and stay on long enough that I burned my finger on the bulb when it decided to turn off and wouldn't turn back on. Gave up for the day... I'll check fuses tomorrow.

(I know there are some nice mods... maybe some day. For now, I'm just trying to figure out the electrical situation the PO left me.)
You know it's got a gyroscope-ish switch in it, right?
So when the hood it vertical it comes on.
It's basically a brass tube w/ balls in it. It's clean-able.
You can also replace w/ a mercury switch from ebay.
Or unplug it and don't let it bother you.
 
i unplugged mine when i got my TJ. ive never plugged it back in.

Probably a good choice! Just wanted to make sure it actually works, since it's on the wiring diagram with the courtesy lights (and someone did something to those).

You know it's got a gyroscope-ish switch in it, right?
So when the hood it vertical it comes on.
It's basically a brass tube w/ balls in it. It's clean-able.
You can also replace w/ a mercury switch from ebay.
Or unplug it and don't let it bother you.

Yeah, I did some reading when I replaced the broken bulb and it didn't turn on. Might be corrosion. It went out in the position it's supposed to stay on in. I'm not going to worry about it much, since my main concern was seeing what electrical stuff the PO may have screwed with.
 
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Probably a good choice! Just wanted to make sure it actually works, since it's on the wiring diagram with the courtesy lights (and someone did something to those).



Yeah, I did some reading when I replaced the broken bulb and it didn't turn on. Might be corrosion. It went out in the position it's supposed to stay on in. I'm not going to worry about it much, since my main concern was seeing what electrical stuff the PO may have screwed with.
It'll probably clean up, mine did.
Then I unplugged it. Bothered me when it didn't work, then bothered me more when it did. I'm gonna wire in a switch and LEDs, that lead is always hot btw, well mine is. If you can find one, an old suburban or chevy truck has a reel w/ like a ten foot cord you can wire in...there are posts around here somewhere on it.
 
It'll probably clean up, mine did.
Then I unplugged it. Bothered me when it didn't work, then bothered me more when it did. I'm gonna wire in a switch and LEDs, that lead is always hot btw, well mine is. If you can find one, an old suburban or chevy truck has a reel w/ like a ten foot cord you can wire in...there are posts around here somewhere on it.

I did see those posts--checked ebay, but didn't see any retractable lights at a price I felt like paying... but I'll keep my eye out. Seems like nobody likes the stock light, and after messing with it for a bit this evening, I think I understand why!
 
Hit the new Savvy skid, super light with the
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flap disk for a little character (stupid, I know) and 2 coats of Sharkhide clear coat (thanks @Rook ). Surely will ding it up soon. Painted the crossmember, tranny mount and associated parts with final coats of black! It goes on this weekend.
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Installed rear main seal number 2 after my failed attempt last week. Used the Mopar seal this time instead of Felpro. If it leaks this time it damn sure won't be because I didn't clean it well enough. First time I've ever drained clean oil out of an engine. Imma wait a week before I put oil back in it to make sure the gasket sealer has time to fully cure out.