TheKSmith's 2003 Jeep Grand Cherokee WJ Limited 4.7 H.O. - The Do-It-All Rig

[theksmith 3,667]

so i temporarily put the back bumper on to figure out how to trim it and re-attach it.

 

i took pics on the side that needs some body work, hence all the bare metal, but anyway here's how i trimmed it, i should have done more of radius corner and then down instead of just an big angle.. but oh well, hopefully this rear bumper is temporary too...

 

 

i used a dremel to cut off the hard plastic mount that sits behind the bumper, and then found again that a pair of metal snips worked best to cut the bumper itself.

 

the rear plastic clip near the back corner still holds the bumper in somewhat, but you need a screw now near the wheel well to hold the front of the bumper on, you can see my screw here:

 

 

this is exactly what got cut off:

 

[theksmith 3,667]

had a high/erratic idle for a while, first looked for vacuum leaks and found none, then Joe cleaned out the throttle body while it was at his shop and that didn't fix it (though it did clean out some major carbon deposits that certainly weren't helping).

 

it seemed from reading on the web that the next 3 things that could cause this were:

 

1. TPS (throttle position sensor)

2. IAC (idle air control solenoid)

3. oxygen sensor

 

since TPS was seemingly the top ranking problem and also the cheapest, i replaced it. happy to report that several days later the problem is still gone, purs like a 600 RPM kitten now at idle again.

[theksmith 3,667]

also, my driver door armrest had been cracked for a while and i finally found a replacement door panel on ebay of the right style and color.

 

while re-mounting my 4D mag-light with 600 lumen terralux bulb, and my halon fire extinguisher, i added a couple of other items. now i have easy reach for my eagletac p20a2 and my leatherman juice pro as well...

 

 

[Number7 86]

nice! George:cool:

[theksmith 3,667]

just a pic of the rig i took while up on the Mogollon Rim yesterday:

 

[theksmith 3,667]

radiator died. plastic tank and metal core separated.

 

i was getting the coolant low msg on last weekends tucson trip and i was telling dzjeepchic how sometimes that happens because on extreme angles i'll loose some coolant from the overflow bottle... well i guess this time it wasn't just that little issue.

 

yesterday i parked it, got out and noticed a big stream of coolant coming from drivers side!

[Number7 86]

Bummer! need help to slap in a new one? George:cool:

[theksmith 3,667]

Bummer! need help to slap in a new one? George:cool:

 

thanks G, but i had the shop do it early this week. with the combination of it being 108*, there being lots of other work i need to be doing, and the fact that it's a huge PITA job... i elected to drain my wallet some.

 

you have to take half the front end apart and even disconnect and re-charge the A/C system... it doesn't just slide up and out like some vehicles... unfortunately this meant it was a $500 repair.

 

what sucks is once i got the plastic front bumper off before i took it in, i could see that my last smashing of the lower radiator support was worse than i thought and that it was pushing up on the right side of the radiator and is most likely the reason it started to separate and leak. so that $500 would have been half of the $1000 bumper that could have completely prevented the problem... oh well, really need to save up for a bumper now, but with the axle project looming it's still not happening for a while i guess.

[Number7 86]

Wow din't know it was a big job. George:cool:

[theksmith 3,667]

started sealing up the folded over seam from trimming the back fenders, used a putty knife with the sealer:

 

 

 

also touched up the front area where previously i had used a roof caulking to seal it up. the roof caulking specifically state that it was "non cracking, remains flexible"... but it did shrink and crack after 6 months or so.

 

this time i used 3M Automotive Seam Sealer, hopefully it holds up better since this is what it's intended for. all NAPA had was tan, but it's paintable. the only problem with it was that it's very runny compared to the roof caulking and kept wanting to sag and drip.

 

the front area (looks messy because i had to use fingers to spread it in there):