Made some awesome progress on the tailgate rust stains. Applied Adam’s Polishes Iron Remover and let it sit for 3-5 min before rubbing with a microfiber cloth. Did 3 rounds of this before hitting it with the Turtle Wax rubbing compound. Didn’t get the results I was hoping for after trying twice, so I went with my next step: Griot’s Garage Complete Compound. Slightly more aggressive but still safe. Did two rounds of this alternating with a round of iron remover and it came out great. Note for anyone else doing this: the iron remover STINKS. Literally. It smells like it’s actively burning a hole in your paint and turns the rusty area purple as it works. Don’t be alarmed. Before/after:
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All that’s left are a couple of metal on paint scuffs that I think I could probably buff out with a slightly more aggressive compound, but I’m not worried about it. At some point I’m going to have the whole thing paint corrected and/or painted, so I’ll deal with it then.
In other news, I found a company that will sandblast my front bumper, rear bumper, hitch receiver, and spare tire bracket for $125. Pretty pumped about this! Should set me up nicely to hit them with a couple of coats of SEM. Planning to spray the spare tire bracket with some Rustoleum rust preventative before it gets the paint. My current rear bumper has a dent in it, so tomorrow or Sunday I’m picking up a new one (dent-free) from some dude for $10. Going to try to get these dropped off to the sandblaster Monday or Tuesday.
Still haven’t gotten to painting the third brake light as this week has been a scheduling shitshow, but hoping for some time on Sunday afternoon/night. Also, seeking suggestions for safely removing this gunk from the door sill:
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It’s the clear protector that came on them from the factory, but now it’s old and cracked and really stuck on there. Obviously don’t want to use something sharp, so I’m gong to have to figure out a less abrasive way to remove it. Some sort of chemical? Goo Gone comes to mind but I feel like it could be too light duty.
I had the same issue with my door seals in my build thread. I used a heat gun, goo gone, and a plastic razor blade. A plastic razor blade works wonders around auto/body task. Just don't go too aggressive with it, as it can dig into clear coat/paintStill haven’t gotten to painting the third brake light as this week has been a scheduling shitshow, but hoping for some time on Sunday afternoon/night. Also, seeking suggestions for safely removing this gunk from the door sill:
View attachment 402671
It’s the clear protector that came on them from the factory, but now it’s old and cracked and really stuck on there. Obviously don’t want to use something sharp, so I’m gong to have to figure out a less abrasive way to remove it. Some sort of chemical? Goo Gone comes to mind but I feel like it could be too light duty.
I had the same issue with my door seals in my build thread. I used a heat gun, goo gone, and a plastic razor blade. A plastic razor blade works wonders around auto/body task. Just don't go too aggressive with it, as it can dig into clear coat/paint
Took me an hour’s worth of work spread across all day yesterday to get my driver’s side exterior door handle replaced, but I did it. Well, WE did it:
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Pack and play clearly wasn’t gonna fly, so I had to go with plan number two. He’s my kid, so I knew he’d be happy with food and a better seat:
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Nailed it. This setup allowed us to finish the job:
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Crazy what a door handle does for a Jeep. I was expecting this job to be a way bigger PITA than it was, but I think the video I used and the fact that I have very small hands worked in my favor. For anyone wanting to tackle this, here’s the video:
My wife took our daughter to a friend’s house for a few hours, so I’m about to put my guy down for a nap and start the passenger side. If I can get the whole thing done in 90 minutes, I’m going to do the tailgate handle during his third nap. I can’t find a single video on how to do that, so I have to assume it’s similar to the door handles? We’ll see!
Also, I ordered the Rough Country seat riser kit from Amazon. It’ll be here between 7-11am tomorrow and I hope to get it in right away.
EDIT: Forgot to mention, the seat riser makes a MASSIVE difference. I felt so low in the seat and now it’s perfect.
Seat riser is of interest to me, I'm 5'11 and I feel like the seat in my LJ is too low. However, my wife is like 5'3" so I'm reluctant to tinker with it to her detriment.
Seat riser is of interest to me, I'm 5'11 and I feel like the seat in my LJ is too low. However, my wife is like 5'3" so I'm reluctant to tinker with it to her detriment.
Cerakote update. As I mentioned, I did the fogs last night and let them dry overnight. They’re a little shinier than I’d like, but I’m not concerned about it. I imagine it’ll fade a bit. They still look great and the Cerakote absolutely made the black pop. One thing I was curious about, though, is if I could control the gloss factor by throttling back on the amount of Cerakote that gets applied. I DID use a brand new wipe on the fogs, so it was a lot of product for only a little bit of surface area.
Tested it out on my third brake light and it worked great. I used the same wipe as the fogs and covered all the black. Then I took a clean lint free cloth and lightly grazed over the top. The black still pops but the gloss is significantly less. I wish they made this stuff in a spray, because then you could really do a more fine-tuned job in controlling how much goes on. I’m real tempted to hit my fender flares while they’re off but wonder if it would prevent painting if I wanted to do that a year or two down the road? I might hit up their customer service tomorrow to find out.
I also bought a kill switch setup from Kill Switch Central on eBay. They’ve been selling them since 2002 and have awesome reviews. $38 + $5 shipping and apparently it installs in 10 minutes. Comes with custom instructions for your vehicle. Pretty pumped about this, my Jeep carries a ton of sentimental value and I’m not sure I’d ever find one like it again. I know I can’t stop someone from towing it away, but this is already giving me some peace of mind. Should have it Friday and we’ll see about that 10 minute install
Does the kill switch kill everything, or just keep the jeep from starting? I’m mainly thinking about the head unit.