Wrenching on my junk

For once, not a crude euphemism.


The mission for the weekend was new steering u-joints, new axle seals, and new bearing/hub units for the TJ. Managed to knock it out in a day with some help from ubermass (he also took the pictures), but it still took us about 9 fucking hours total. And a whole lot of BFH persuasion, particularly getting those fucking hubs off. They were secured with three 13mm, 12-point bolts that have been rusting to the knuckles since 1997. Ended up slipping a high-lift jack handle over the socket wrench to break the bolts loose, then wailing on the things with a cold chisel until they finally surrendered.

The shaft/joint assemblies. These look important, so I put them back when I was done.

This particular kind of u-joint has a semi-circle clip just inside the yoke ears, and it was a bitch to get off. Eventually resorted to an air chisel.

I definitely let those axle seals go way too fucking long. Looks like the extra play from the wasted u-joints (there wasn't even any needle bearings left in one of them ) was allowing contamination past the seals, so both the shafts and the tube had considerable rust to be ground off. But since I had the air grinder out, cleaning up the holes in the yokes made bashing in the new joints a bit easier...

You look so happy, sitting there covered with grease and whatnot.

...a bit easier.

Always lube up the shaft before you stick it in.

I was relieved that the thread title, in this case, was misleading.

The finished product, though you can't see the new hubs. On one side, anyway. The proceedure was pretty much the same on both sides. Those axle seals are tits compared to the cheap plastic rings that came from the factory. And greasable u-joints, too.

Turns out that the diff cover didn't have to come off in order to pull the shafts, but it was good to clean out all the rusty dust that blew in when I was grinding on the tube.

And if a little sealant is good, a lot must be great, right?

Some bonus pics from my inferior cell phone. There is also some video from teh same camera that took the other shots, but I got some kind of security violation when I attempted to attach them.

I love it when you show me pictures of such manly stuff.

awesome.

I demand that you have a show on...I dunno. Discovery? With the bald head, hipster glasses and gopher but, you have the alterna-host look down pat.

Each week they could bring you an effed up Jeep and you have to run around to junkyards and craigslist and try and get it running for X amound of $$. Instead of paying you, you get however much you come in under budget for the project.

Then, after, Forbin would have a show on Road Warrior/Ben Hur upgrades you can make for dealing with stupid commuters.

I heartily endorse this product or service.

That's actually pretty much what I do. But I shop online over a period of weeks or months, looking for the best prices, piling up parts until I get tired of looking at the stack of boxes in my bedroom and set aside a weekend to do battle with my vehicle.

And they're not hipster glasses, dammit. The lady at the optometrist said I looked good, and they have no reason to lie, right?


Y'all are just plain jealous of the red beard.

Sexy glasses. Sexy beard.

My auto-fu is weak too, which is a darned shame because my Dad was a master mechanic.

you got little feet.

These are size twelves. How big are your shoes, Gigantor?

New shocks!!!

I've apparently been driving with completely dead shocks for a very long time now, because the difference is pretty drastic.

Bilstein HD shocks, if you care. Only broke off one bolt. One of the hard-to-reach upper mounts in the rear. Got a little too froggy with the impact wrench and snapped it off. That carried a penalty of three hours spent alternately grinding down a welded nut from the top, and drilling up through it from the bottom while the air tank refilled itself.

Some day I'll get around to posting all the pictures from the saga of Ubermass's lift kit.

Now I just need to figure out why it's creeping ever closer to overheating when I'm not in motion. I know it's not the radiator or the water pump, because they're both new. If it was the thermostat, it'd overheat immediately and being in motion wouldn't cool it down. I just replaced that damn fan clutch in '05, but that might be the culprit. May just need to pull the temp sensor and burp out some trapped air, too.

Did you put the lift kit on it, yet?

UA, you need to get a good press or two. You are going to find out that beating on things with a hammer does not do them much good, especially when there are bearings involved.
Good, DIY spirit my man, do not ever lose that

New rear bumper. Bought it because I expect to be moving in the next month or so, and it's stupid to rent a whole truck when everything I own will fit in a small trailer. Got this bad boy for about $174 shipped, which isn't all that much more than one of those frame mounted hitches that hang under your bumper that you get at places like U-Haul. So what the hell, a Smittybilt Classic Rock Crawler bumper for me.

This thing was way more of a pain in the ass than I expected. Had to grind out some of the holes in my frame crossmember and the supplied bracketry to get everything to line up, and had to drop the gas tank skid plate to get at some of the bolts. The whole thing is made out of 1/4 inch plate, too, so it's pretty damned heavy.

SON OF A MOTHERFUCKING WHORE!!

Home for lunch, about to leave. Jump in and turn the key, engine turns over once and then stops. Battery is new. Dash lights and stereo clock stay on when I hit the ignition. I think I can hear the solenoid click over, but the starter will not turn even one more time. When I started groping around for loose connections, the short thick ground cable coming out of the starter crumbles in my hand. Cocksucker.

You would think this is something you could unfasten at both ends and replace, but OH NO. It's secured with a nut to the solenoid, but it's a permanent part of the starter. I dicked around with cutting the braided insulation back and trying to solder a new end on the cable, but it's no good. I bet I'm gonna end up replacing the whole goddamned starter motor.

The guy whose dog I'm watching for an indeterminate amount of time, when he dropped her off, his truck wouldn't start, so I wound up underneath with a screwdriver, short-circuiting the solenoid. Called my brother because he's been working as a mechanic lately and he did this on a minivan once and asked him what the next step was. His answer was "New starter motor." The guy just had a new starter motor installed.

I recently had to replace a turn signal on my bike and didn't have a rear left signal. So the wires were too short to reach the wiring harness. Luckily that was some quick work with a Leatherman the busted signal, and some electrical tape and I was back in the game.

Shiny new Bosch starter arrived and installed today. Cranks over noticeably faster than the stock unit. No pictures yet, because I did it in the dark, on the street.


Rewarding myself with some Bushmill's.