What did you do to your TJ today?

Had a couple hours to work on the rubicrawler. I’m up to the point where I just slidehammered the stubshaft out. I’m happy and going to bed on a good note.
 
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After putting it off for like a year, I finally did a proper setup of my rear axle (4 adjustable control arms).

When I got the arms (Metalcloak) I just stuffed them in at stock length for the lowers and a little longer for the uppers for pinion angle, but I obsessed with keeping the arms equal lengths. The rear was rock hard, but I thought that was just the Bilstein shocks.

Eventually got round to it after reading a couple threads here and let the arms be whatever length the axle wanted (square to the frame, clearance to the fuel tank and trackbar and pinion angle good) and my gosh the ride is like 100x better! I guess the axle was fighting the arms constantly previously! It feels totally transformed in the rear now! Super happy.

Feels like the rear wheels are more centered in the arches too.
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Looks great !
 
Should I go get a puller? I think some others have had success with that.
Heat and penetration oil isn’t working for me.
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Napa has a freezing penetrating oil which worked wonders for me today on sone seized body mount bolts.

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Sorry 'bout that. You actually had it right except that I have the windshield completely removed. Here are some positioning shots. The upper arrow points to the area I sealed a couple of days ago and the lower arrow points to a place lower down in the same seam where a fairly good size gap exists. As I recall this was not a big gap in my 2001 so they probably changed the design but, it was there that sealing it up finally fixed the leak in my 2001...which also put water in the passenger footwell.:mad:

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Thank you so much!!!!
 
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I’ve been planning on doing this as well. Which duplicolor wheel paint did you use, and did you use clear coat afterward? How long did it take to do all of the wheels, and how long did you have to wait for them to dry? Sorry for the barrage of questions. I’ve been watching tons of YouTube videos, but IMHO real life answers are always best.

Also, welcome to the forum!
Thanks for the welcome! I used the Satin Black High Performance Wheel Coating with no clear coat. It took me about two days. I could have done it in one, but I decided to do three wheel one day and two the next to break up the work. They were dry to the touch in about an hour and I let them dry over night just to be safe. My advice if you want it to turn out well is to carefully read the instructions on the can, and don’t skimp on the prep work.
 
Thanks for the welcome! I used the Satin Black High Performance Wheel Coating with no clear coat. It took me about two days. I could have done it in one, but I decided to do three wheel one day and two the next to break up the work. They were dry to the touch in about an hour and I let them dry over night just to be safe. My advice if you want it to turn out well is to carefully read the instructions on the can, and don’t skimp on the prep work.

Thanks for the tips! Your wheels look awesome! I bought matte clear coat but am not convinced I’m going to use it yet. For prep work did you just degrease and then sand/wire wheel?
 
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Thanks for the tips! Your wheels look awesome! I bought matte black clear coat but am not convinced I’m going to use it yet. For prep work did you just degrease and then sand/wire wheel?
You’re welcome. Yeah I cleaned/degreased them with simple green and then wiped them down with acetone after scuffing. I just a red scotch bright pad to scuff the existing paint but really fine sandpaper will work too. I wouldn’t use a wire wheel it seems too rough, and you don’t really need to remove any paint that is still adhered. Then you’ll only need to use primer on any bare metal where the paint may have chipped.
 
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Decided to treat the TJ to a beautification day...
Took the Jeep to the manual car wash and gave her a bath, wiped down most of the plastic and rubber with 303 Protectant and applied Meguiar's Cleaner Wax to remove some of the surface stains.
Looks decent for a vehicle that had been so mistreated.
Now I need to install the new soft top....

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Decided to treat the TJ to a beautification day...
Took the Jeep to the manual car wash and gave her a bath, wiped down most of the plastic and rubber with 303 Protectant and applied Meguiar's Cleaner Wax to remove some of the surface stains.
Looks decent for a vehicle that had been so mistreated.
Now I need to install the new soft top....

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Wow, shiny!!! Looks good. :D
 
After work I got the SRC stinger muffler off and removed the surface rust in prep for the new to me bumper.
New to me bumper got final sanding and rust converter as well as first coat of POR. Not sure what brand it is but it suits my needs for now. Getting the light hoop painted to match tomorrow pending rain and waiting for the winch and plate next week.


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After work I got the SRC stinger muffler off and removed the surface rust in prep for the new to me bumper.
New to me bumper got final sanding and rust converter as well as first coat of POR. Not sure what brand it is but it suits my needs for now. Getting the light hoop painted to match tomorrow pending rain and waiting for the winch and plate next week.


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What kind of ferns are those?
I'm looking for some large ones that will winter over