After neglecting my Jeep during the last four years of active duty in the Army, I got started on installing some new shocks. Spent a couple of hours with my girlfriend putting in the rear shocks (she's awesome) snapped off the bolts and busted out the remaining crap with a punch and BFH. Dropped new hardware in with some wire and done.




Old stock shocks...they moved at about 1cm per minute.




New rancho shocks.

Trying to get all of the essentials taken care of with the Jeep before I do the fun stuff.

 

Test fit my DIY bumper.

 

Changed the oil for the 3rd time since I replaced the head gasket. And it was milk. So I guess my head is cracked. Yay.

 

That sucks, dude

 

bummer, I thought the problem heads were 2000 -2001 ?

 

They are, anything can break.

 

Shirley, have you done a compression test since putting that thing back together?

 

Saturday I helped a local guy do some more post-lift stuff to his XJ. Biggest thing was when he opened the 8.25 diff for a fluid change and chunks of his limited slip fell out. Another guy in the club had an open-diff 27-spline 8.25 laying in his yard, so we grabbed that, moved the brakes over and installed it so he could get to work the next day. We are looking at rebuilding the LSD clutch packs, if its possible to do without pulling the carrier, to get back to the 29-spline LSD.

 

fortunately I haven't had to do anything to my xj in awhile now. I am wanting to upgrade the battery cables, but I have very little free time. trying to remember the last time I changed the oil...

 

I used to have a 29 spline with LSD that I bought off a guy but the spider gears were messed up and from my research no body makes new spider gears, also the clutch packs in mine looked like that and from my research it's not really that bad to rebuild the LSD but I think you do have to pull the carrier, as long as you mark the location of the bearing caps pulling the carrier shouldn't be an issue.

 

Mine is back at the mechanic to check on the axle seals they installed right before memorial day. I parked it last weekend after noticing that I was still leaking fluid and all the paint had BURNED OFF my diff cover.

They said they'll warranty their work, but I'm not so sure...

 

0631 heads can crack too. Idk how mine did, but I've only had it for 18 months and 10k miles so its possible someone overheated it recently when I bought it.

No, but I probably should.

I'm going to get a head from the junkyard and swap it in. My engine isn't knocking, holds good oil pressure, and hasn't really lost any power. When i changed the plugs during the head gasket replacement the old plugs just had some normal wear.

 

I installed thermal insulation for the front passenger cab on Saturday night.

Only had time to start at 11:00 PM, took me till like 3 AM before I was heading to bed. Totally worth it though, previously my floor would be at like 150*F and now it is barely above ambient!!

So worth it

 

Fixed the rattling noise.


I was driving then suddenly I felt rattling/clicking vibes on the floor. Pulled over and checked the rotating parts. I initially thought it would be the harmonic balancer separating or something. Checked the engine, looked fine. Felt my hand on various parts. Noticed strong vibes coming from the t case. So I investigated around the t case. I thought the chain was rubbing on the case inside, but decided to check down more anyway. The rattling felt in sync with the misfiring on the engine so I checked the tailpipe. Turns out there's a pebble that somehow got wedged in between the exhaust pipe and the trans crossmember. I took the pebble out, and all is quiet again.

 

You could hear it ?