In reply to thatsnowinnebago :
FAR better than what I had, which seems a little backwards. It's in pretty significant need of an alignment, but without the front trackbar there's not a lot I can do about it. Those 140k springs and shocks rode like garbage 
In reply to RozCougarMorbidcamp :
Ha, I believe it. It sure didn't look like the old shocks were doing much of anything in the photo.
"Are you ready for the rest of your suspension puzzle" was the text I got about an hour before I went to lunch today. LONGEST HOUR OF WORK, EVER! My exact response was "YAY! MY JEEP CAN FINALLY BE ALIGNED!!!!" and as soon as I clocked out for lunch I went and picked up my shiny, new, adjustable trackbar for the front axle!
Last night I changed the front diff fluid and had a mild meltdown when there was sludge on the drainplug and glitter on the drainpan, but it was all flat flakes, like craft glitter, no chunks. And the gear oil was so dark, I wouldn't be surprised if it had only been changed one other time in 145k miles. I know it's been done at least once, because it has rtv on both diffs instead of the $7 gaskets that are readily available at auto zone. And yes, I know that it's not exactly 'wrong' to do, but when it destroyed all 3 of my 13mm sockets trying to get the cover off, well, it made me crabby. The first one tore when I was using a ratchet, but it was a cheap socket, so whatever. The next one stripped on my cordless impact and the last one warped on the same cordless impact.
I'm aware that a cordless impact isn't necessarily the best kind of impact for the work that I'm doing, but it's what I have in my limited toolkit.
Cordless impacts are totally the right tool for the job. Everything on 4x4s is heavy, dirty, scraped, and/or bent. I use mine wherever it fits on my Xterra. Pneumatic stuff is for the birds these days.
In reply to thatsnowinnebago :
Thanks for the encouragement, but there's been more than once when pneumatic tools were the answer, because my little cordless impact just wasn't enough. There may or may not have been tears over it, and I'm sure there will be again LOL
Brett_Murphy (Agent of Chaos) said:In reply to RozCougarMorbidcamp :
Great work on the jeep.
Often, fate puts a cat right where it needs to be for you to find them.
I've found that to be the case a time or two, also. People look at me like I'm crazy for 'downgrading' to a base-model Wrangler and then pouring my heart and soul into it, but, it's been a month and I have zero regrets as of yet.
It's been a minute, and it looks like we're up to getting familiar with how Dauntless behaves now that she has grown up. The answer to that is 'a little squirrely but like Jeep squirrely, not scary.' BUT, she now had a 'mystery clunk' that I couldn't sort out. I checked EVERYTHING and everything was tight, I even borrowed a torque wrench from a friend and made sure everything was to spec, mystery clunk remained. It was happening on slow acceleration (like around town) and when going over bumps, so I feared it was ball joints, axle u-joints or something with the driveshaft, since we had to disconnect it to get the front springs on.
Mystery clunk in mind, it was time to get the front trackbar on, but the rear needed adjusted, too. When getting under the Jeep to adjust the rear trackbar, I noticed that the passenger side spring looked noticeably compressed, which I didn't understand, but...mystery clunk? I decided to take the rear end apart again, shocks, end links and trackbar all disconnected to see if that spring relaxed or if it maybe wasn't fully seated. The spring relaxed, and was definitely where it needed to be, so I started putting everything back together and centering the axle.
Did the same on the front; put the new adjustable trackbar on and centered the axle and marveled at how straight everything looked. She was no longer squatted to the rear passenger corner and her wheels were all even in the fenderwells. Did a happy dance and got some help to, once again, fix the draglink, and that's when I realized disaster was imminent.
The_Jed (who has helped out here and there when I'm not physically strong enough to get something done) grabbed the dragbar and went 'ummm, that's bad' and explained that the top tie-rod end on the drag bar was supposed to have movement one way, but not the other, and I had DRAMATIC movement in the wrong way...Back to the computer to have a new draglink ordered, why not just replace the whole thing when it's already rusty and gross, right?
RozCougarMorbidcamp said:In reply to thatsnowinnebago :
Thanks for the encouragement, but there's been more than once when pneumatic tools were the answer, because my little cordless impact just wasn't enough. There may or may not have been tears over it, and I'm sure there will be again LOL
Oh you gotta get one of the big boys then. Milwaukee makes a 1400 ft-lbs beast, so does Ryobi. 100% worth the cost of entry.
In reply to thatsnowinnebago :
I'll stash those away with the rest of the recommendations. And once I'm done rebuilding the front end, because that seems to be how things are going at the moment, I'll make a larger tool investment. Until then, I shall continue to raid Dad's toolbox and garage :)
So, not having another vehicle, I did drive, minimally, on that bad upper end of the draglink a bit, and noticed that my steering was getting SUPER wonky. I decided that waiting for the new, complete, bar wasn't cutting it and I needed to run to the Zone for the end, and that's what I did. After a couple of hours pounding on the pickle fork (again, this is something I've never done before) and a second trip to the Zone to get a ball joint puller that ended up being useless with the amount of clearance I was working with, I was ready to give up. I went to the Zone one more time to get a different size of ball joint puller and, when I arrived back home, heard metal being pounded on in the back. The_Jed had stopped in, saw the pickle fork half-way where it needed to be, figured I wasn't strong enough and finished pounding it free.
I finished buttoning up the front end, had Jed help with adjusting the steering wheel, and made an alignment appointment. I was confident enough in where the front-end was in the process to shell out the money for a laser alignment and they could get it in the next day. Except they couldn't. They pulled my beloved Dauntless into the shop, one of the old-timers came out to ask me if the name was from the book, which caught me WAY off-guard, and within minutes were asking me to go to the shop and take a look at something...They couldn't align it. Apparently, there are no threads on the driver's side of my tie-rod, so they pulled it out of the shop, I hopped in and went straight back to my friendly quadratech location (aka, my friends' shop); no passing go, no $200. I walked in, ready to cry, said, "Steve, I'm trusting you, again, friend. I need a tie-rod, and while we're at it, let's also throw in a Skyjacker steering stabilizer and the cheap OEM-style jounce stops, front and rear. I'll see you Saturday (a fairly big ride to a neighboring town followed by playtime at their offroad park that they do annually)."
And oh, how proud I am of my Dauntless for living up to her name that Saturday...
I hate pickle forks, I think it's something that was made after the correct tool was and they were laughing the entire time. Glad you got it together
In reply to chandler :
That's the first time I've used one and, yeah, same. But I get to do it all over again later today when I tackle the tie-rod and what's left of the drag link. At least I should only have to deal with removing ONE tierod end, but we'll see, I guess.
Well, last Friday is the last time I'll ever use a pickle fork, if I can help it. A partially de-gloved finger made that decision for me... 6lb hammer, pickle fork (upper drag link end), and the sharp cross member that sits right behind the bumper... ER trip where, by the time they got to me, it was too swollen to stitch. Yep.
RozCougarMorbidcamp said:....... A partially de-gloved finger made that decision for me... ..
OUCH !
Hopefully they can save it for you....
They weren't able to save mine when an LS de-gloved my pinky.
In reply to Indy - Guy :
So far mine is hanging in. I'm hoping it stays that way.
Skipping details about the ride and trip to the playground I mentioned, because typing without using your ring finger is kind of a pain.
The parts arrived to just finish the 'easy' parts of the front end and I got to work. Except, when I got under my Jeep, I noticed 2 things that were REALLY wrong. Thing #1, the lower trackbar bolt had backed COMPLETELY out of the bar and was hanging on solely to the mount. Somehow the axles had still looked centered, so I didn't notice. On the same (passenger) side, the nut on the lower shock bolt had also backed WAY off and was barely hanging on. Off to the farm supply store to get some new hardware and back to work.
The tierod ends popped right off with minimal effort, as did the lower end of the drag link. I was feeling pretty confident, aside from not being able to get the steering stabilizer bolts broken free. Worst case scenario with that, I decided, was that I would get my dad's cordless sawzall, cut the mount, and then just go without until a new one came in. That wasn't necessary, though, as Jed stopped by and was able to get it freed up.
Shortly after Jed left, I started work on the upped end of the drag link, keep in mind this had JUST been done a couple of weeks ago. I decided, though, to replace it as the grease zirk had come off. I didn't have another zirk, but I did have the complete drag link, so it made sense at the time...
Now, as easy as the other ends had come free, I was feeling super confident, no worries, I've got this. Plus, this time the ball joint wasn't actively coming apart as I pounded the pickle fork into place. It was ALMOST fully seated, there was a nearly imperceptible gap between the tool and the joint, I was getting frustrated, though, because it had taken a WHILE to get to this point. I took a deep breath, picked up the 6lb REALLY bfh, tapped it a few times, progressively harder, checked for progress, got angry and swung...
There is a support/cross member/whatever that sits behind the bumper, it's not attached to anything on the ends, and those ends are SHARP. Apparently that cross member and the hammer in my hands wanted to be best friends, but my ring finger was DEFINITELY in the way. That hurt like VERY few things I've ever experienced, and I'm a chronic pain patient.
I'll skip the details of me not being able to see my own blood and passing out on the kitchen floor, and get on to putting it back together...
I know both of us have alluded to it, but I don't think either of us has outright said it...The_Jed and I are separated and the divorce should be finalized soon. That's important because, not only has Jed helped when I've been physically just not strong enough to make things happen, but he also got my Jeep put back together after I hurt my finger. He didn't have to, there's no obligation to, but he did, and for that I'm grateful.
So now, I have steering that can actually be aligned, who knew, and a good stabilizer ("huh, so that's what it feels like to not have to fight bump steer") and am, hopefully, done with the front end for a while.
Not much in the way of upgrades/repairs over the last couple of weeks while my finger has healed a bit. I don't know that feeling is going to come back, so typing at work is...interesting, and it's going to leave a pretty fabulous scar, but it seems to be ok otherwise. Next on the agenda, though, is making sure everything connecting the 4WD shifter to the transfer case is in good shape. I got hung up in some deep ruts on Sunday that lead to both diffs getting hung up in the mud, and enough mud getting in places that it knocked me out of 4L, so I was pulled out in 2WD. After rinsing everything out underneath, I was able to get back into 4L without any problems, but I also know that everything connecting the shifter itself is pretty flimsy, so I just want to be sure.
I also need to replace the tensioner pully; apparently the MOPAR ones don't like to be wet/muddy? Why that would be the case in a vehicle that's quite literally designed for those conditions is strange to me, but I'm not Chrysler. I also still haven't wired my halo lights, although I did get a programmer so I was able to activate DRLs at the very least (and adjust my speedometer for tire size).
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