XJ Refurb

[reptile610]

me and paul changed my tps ( i didn't have the torx bit) and now no more stumbling on the freeway ..... now on to the clunk noise   

[PaulW]

i told you to tighten your trans mount and it will go away.

[reptile610]

but that requires me to actually do work. 

[kirksjeep]

I ordered a Hidden Hitch today.  www.carpart.com has them on sale for $100.40 and offered free shipping, but did include a $3.99 heavy item fee.  I also ordered the T-connector for the lights so I don't have to hack mine up.  The connector was on sale for $25, so my total was $128 and change.  I have been looking on craigslist and ebay for a while and this was the cheapest I have found so far for a new hitch and about the same as a used hitch.  There is one is Mystic, but it is the smaller MOPAR hitch and I would have to pull it, and she wanted $75!!!  For $30 more I get all new hardware, a new hitch and I don't have to mess with anyone elses crap.   

[PaulW]

I ordered a Hidden Hitch today.  www.carpart.com has them on sale for $100.40 and offered free shipping, but did include a $3.99 heavy item fee.  I also ordered the T-connector for the lights so I don't have to hack mine up.  The connector was on sale for $25, so my total was $128 and change.  I have been looking on craigslist and ebay for a while and this was the cheapest I have found so far for a new hitch and about the same as a used hitch.  There is one is Mystic, but it is the smaller MOPAR hitch and I would have to pull it, and she wanted $75!!!  For $30 more I get all new hardware, a new hitch and I don't have to mess with anyone elses crap.   

Good deal.  I'm going to albany to get the hitch for my jimmy sat.  It's already off, and it's factory

[kirksjeep]

So the Hidden Hitch that is estimated to take 30 min to install, took about 4 hours!!!!  I snapped the bolt in the passenger side nut strip, and then had to remove the bumper to repair the nut strip.  Then one of the tabs for the bumper bolt snapped and had to be ground off.  The two upper bolts for the rear bumper are a true PITA, they are way up inside the bumper and there isn't much room.   Since I had the bumper off I decided to fix the big dents in the rear bumper.  I beat the dents out as best as possble and used a litte bondo to clean it up a little.  Tomorrow I'll spray the color and the clear then wet sand and buff.  It should look ok from 10 ft away. .

The only easy part of the job was hooking up the wiring, it was a plug in set up with the amp to power the trailer lights. 

[calvynandhobbs]

Kirk, they write their estimates in a perfect world when everything goes right. They should automatically add 2 hours to any hitch or part that is being installed on a Jeep because something always goes wrong. You can count on it.

[kirksjeep]

The bumper and bumper caps are back on.  The bumper turned out ok, not great, but better.  I had a few spots where the primer didn't harden and when wet sanding the primer it peeled up like goo.  The clear was still a little soft when I was mounting it, and some dirt was pushed into it when attaching the rubber strip to the back.  It still needs to be wet sanded and buffed, so it might look better after that, but I have to wait another day for the clear to dry.  I think the high humidity slowed the cure times. 

I also found that the drivers side, under the bumper cap had been hit pretty hard.  The damage isn't visible with the cap on, but the paint was chiped and it was starting to rust.  I cleaned it all up with a wire brush and hit it with some Rustoleum paint to keep it from getting worse.

I also won a switch block (defroster, rear wiper, cig lighter, 12V power) from ebay for $10 with shipping.  I am hoping that the defroster switch is good, since a new one is $29 at the dealer.  The part is comming from NC, where they don't use the deforster as much as up here.  Now I just need to win the passenger side mirror I am bidding on and I'll be set.

[kirksjeep]

Good luck with the mirror.

I have a little over a day left on the auction.  I also am bidding on a power steering pump bracket for a 97+ 4.0L, so I can finnaly get the new intake manifold on my Jeep.

[kirksjeep]

in the words of tim allen...argh argh argh

I won the power steering pump bracket w/ pully for $26 with shipping.  The cheapest I found by calling around to the local junk yards was $50 at M&J. 

Now I just need to win the mirror.

[kirksjeep]

The intake swap is going on the yj?

I have an intake from a 99 XJ that is the newer design.  There are a lot of write ups about it, and if you search the wrenching section from a while back you'll find the links I posted.  It was dyno tested on a ZJ to give 15 rear wheel HP.  Thats a pretty good gain for the $$.  I picked up the intake manifold and power steering pump from a pick-n-pull back in MD, but the bracket had a slight bend in it so I passed.  So far I only have $65 into it, and all I need is the intake manifold gasket, throttle body gasket and a new belt.  So for under $100 I can gain 15 RWHP, not bad. 

[kirksjeep]

I've been chasing some electrical gremlins in my Instrument Cluster since I bought my XJ.  After lots of reading I cleaned the connections for the cluster several times and every time it would work for a few days and then the cluster would stop working again.  Last week I bought a new connector that is recommended in Jeep's TSB 08-15-99.  I spliced in the 10 wire connector just like the TSB called for, and it still didn't work.  I posted some stuff up on Jeep Forum and all indications led to a bad instrument cluster cuircuit board, which is what I was thinking.  Anyway, I bought one off of Ebay from a 99 with unknown mileage ( it was less then 1/2 the price of all the rest).  It showed up today, and after a few screws it was in, and I now have gauges again!!!  It has 130K on it, so I wrote down the mileage of my old cluster and the exact mileage of this one, in the event I ever sell the XJ.  The gas and volt meter needles are a little sun faded, the low washer fluid light came on which is not on the 00-01 models so I pulled the bulb, and I lost the back hatch open warning which was only on the 00-01 models.  Some of the warning lights are in a little different location, but no big deal.  I'm just excited to have working gauges again. 

[BlacXJeep]

I've been chasing some electrical gremlins in my Instrument Cluster since I bought my XJ.  After lots of reading I cleaned the connections for the cluster several times and every time it would work for a few days and then the cluster would stop working again.  Last week I bought a new connector that is recommended in Jeep's TSB 08-15-99.  I spliced in the 10 wire connector just like the TSB called for, and it still didn't work.  I posted some stuff up on Jeep Forum and all indications led to a bad instrument cluster cuircuit board, which is what I was thinking.  Anyway, I bought one off of Ebay from a 99 with unknown mileage ( it was less then 1/2 the price of all the rest).  It showed up today, and after a few screws it was in, and I now have gauges again!!!  It has 130K on it, so I wrote down the mileage of my old cluster and the exact mileage of this one, in the event I ever sell the XJ.  The gas and volt meter needles are a little sun faded, the low washer fluid light came on which is not on the 00-01 models so I pulled the bulb, and I lost the back hatch open warning which was only on the 00-01 models.  Some of the warning lights are in a little different location, but no big deal.  I'm just excited to have working gauges again. 

Kirk, your windshield washer fluid is low 

[kirksjeep]

Kirk, your windshield washer fluid is low 

better check the blinker fluid also.

Every time I see Andy's Jeep I remind him his windshield washer fluid is low since his dummy light is permanently on. 

[kirksjeep]

It has been a while since I did any work to the XJ, but I finally won a passenger side mirror on ebay for $22 shipped.  While swapping out the mirror I noticed that the electrical connection for the passenger side window and door lock weren't even connected.  Since I know my passenger side door ( and the whole side of the Jeep) was re-painted, I am guessing that when the work was done they never re-connected the electrical stuff.  So now I have a good mirror and it works, and the passenger side window goes down.  The door locks still don't work, but I can work on that some other time. 

I also didn't have passenger side running lights.  I thought it was just the front, so I tore apart the front end and dash before I decided the check the rear and noticed that that rear light didn't work either.   It turns out in some other electrical trouble shooting I placed fuse 23 ( right side lights) in fuse 24 spot (spare).    So now the lights work too.  I adjusted the head lights too, and wow what a difference at night. 

The last thing I did was add OBA in the form of a $7 electric compressor on clearance at Walmart .  It is small, but should work in an emergency.