[dzJeepChic]

This is the old transmission filter:

Being the curious cat that his is, George took it apart to see what it looks like on the inside:

As you can see, there are some bigger chunks, mainly rubber and fine metal pieces. All in all it was pretty clean, although the oil was very dark. We're going to drain the transmission every-other oil change. It takes 4 quarts of dextron III.

Phew, glad it's over with! GnD

[dzJeepChic]

Here's the exhaust taken out ready to be straightened:

The Cat side is not as bent up as the muffler side:

Good old Vatozone provided a new coupler, and our donor XJ provided a new exhaust section.

Much better fit; no more muffler and cat melting the floorboards!

Now for the front track-bar. As you can see the Rock Krawler bushing is lunched:

Also, the track-bar was a little too long; it didn't center the front axle:

He cut about 3/8" off the track-bar length:

This bushing is off Number 7 when we upgraded to the Currie Upper Control-Arm Mounting Brackets; luckily we threw it in our parts bin, and can re-cycle it here:

He cut the metal sleeve on both sides and heated up both halves to separate the metal from the rubber:

Here's the bushing after the metal sleeve is burned off:

Continued
V
V
V

[dzJeepChic]

Sorry the camera focused on the fence. Here's the OEM bushing in the Rock Krawler Track-Bar. Had to do some grinding on the bushing to make the diameter smaller, and heat up the track-bar to force it in. HUGE PITA, but the OEM bushings are better than the urethane crap IOHO:

On the left is the OEM bushing sleeve, on the right is the Rock Krawler bushing sleeve. Although meant for different applications, we wanted to use the heavier-duty sleeve here:

Had to cut the OEM sleeve to the same size as the RK sleeve:

[Bad Picture Again, sorry] OEM sleeve cut to length, heated up with a torch, and forced into the OEM bushing. Viola! Tight and durable.

That's all folks! More as it happens! GnD

[dzJeepChic]

Here are some updates on the XJ build. Mr. Perfection took the front driver's door apart because it was rattling and it had a broken master switch plate. This is actually 2 switch plates; one off the donor, and one off Clifford, the new cherokee. They were cut in half and the unbroken halves were glued together to make one whole switch plate. The one on top is glue drying.

The 2 pieces glued together:

In this picture you can barely see the 2 cracks in the inner door skin, which made it weak and rattle.

George cut this piece out of the inner door skin of the donor XJ:

Perfect fit:

Goop and rivets were used to adhere the patch piece in place:

This totally reinforced the door in the section where the interior handle is.

It was missing the piece where the upper part of the interior door handle attaches to the inner skin. Someone had put some washers behind the pressed cardboard and cloth interior piece to hold the handle in place, so everytime you pulled the door closed, it would crack the master switch panel frame:

The clip used here to attach the upper part of the interior door handle came off a TJ bumper; it's the clip that holds the stock 'floaties' on. He cut the back half of the clip off and used the front threaded half, and used a rivet to hold it in place:

This phase took a day and a half - major PITA! He went through the whole door and replaced a window track, rubber trim that was rotted, and got all the rattles out using Goop and pieces of copper pipe insulation tubes.

Whew! d

[ob1jeeper]

Geo,
Good job on the door panel patch...

On the door handle attach, you may want to take that cut-down nut and rivet it on the INSIDE of the panel, or go down to your local dealer and purchase the correct speed nut (PN6029 509 - U-Nut), which should snap in place in the door. Otherwise, the only thing that is securing the door handle to the door will be the rivet which under the tensile loading, will eventually loosen and pull out...

[Number7]

Geo,
Good job on the door panel patch...

On the door handle attach, you may want to take that cut-down nut and rivet it on the INSIDE of the panel, or go down to your local dealer and purchase the correct speed nut (PN6029 509 - U-Nut), which should snap in place in the door. Otherwise, the only thing that is securing the door handle to the door will be the rivet which under the tensile loading, will eventually loosen and pull out...

You're right Ob, I just want to take a brake from doing any more door repair for a while. I plan to get the right part off a junker. Tired, George

[ob1jeeper]

[macinyart]

Looks good. I must drop by to have a look.

[dzJeepChic]

More stuff got done today.

The door trim is back on, the cobbed together master switch cover looks pretty good, you'd never notice if you were driving along smoking a cigarette:

Swabbing out the new cubby-holes we're making behind the rear wheel wells (one of our favorite, EASY, XJ Mods):

George used elasomeric roof-coating on the inside of the cubby holes to seal all the seams so dirt & water can't get in. He's a roofer, so he has access to the product, and it really illuminates the cubby holes. While driving on dirt roads the dust really filters into these areas (you'd be surprised how many seams aren't tight).

Passenger side has a BIG cubby hole:

Trim piece in place on the Passenger Side with the cubby hole opening cut out:

This side has a big opening and it's a great place for spare parts, tools, bottles of water, etc.

Trim piece in place on the Driver's Side with the cubby hole opening cut out. This is a small opening, but it's a great place for spare hoses and belts because it's deep!

More
V
V
V

[dzJeepChic]

The headliner came out today so George could evaluate the roll damage to the roof, and assess what needs to be done. It was already missing the trim strip:

Sorry for the blurry shot; here's the stripped out interior so you can see the cage:

George taking out the headliner; required a rag over his nose & mouth because fiberglass particulates were everywhere!

Headliner down:

The windshield frame header had been pounded out after the roll. The Jeep rolled when it had a partial exo cage, the full cage was added after the roll. That's Number 7 lurking in the background:

Notice the trick visor tabs:

Here's 1 of 4 interior cage connections to the exo cage.

The ceiling with the headliner out. Thinking about not even putting it back in because of all the utility I can gain by attaching to the rails after they're repaired.

More
V
V
V