Would the VC be easier if you rigged some sort of "crane/pulley" to hang off the hood with bungee cords to help levitate the VC while you aligned it?
The problem was trying to wriggle it up and out -- the back corner wanted to drop back down into position. It's not heavy, it's just the matter of getting yourself positioned at about the oil fill opening, balancing it, and wiggle, wiggle, wiggle. The back end is really tight against the firewall and tends to hang up on the wiring harness and vacuum lines, at which point it twitches out of your hands and drops into position again and you get to start all over. It really only took a few minutes, but when you're thinking "all I have to do is lift it up and out" that several minutes of frustration seems forever.
Yea, the 2 bulbs in the heater faceplate (3 knobs). There is no bulb socket anywhere. I wonder if heater bulbs was an option? I have no idea why the actual socket and bulb would be totally missing. Again, there is no bulb anywhere behind that faceplate. :bawl:
I'll have to take a look at mine the next time I have that out, which will be soon because the temperature control is flaky.
CKP sounds like a PITA for those 2 reasons you listed. I have taken over 1/2 hour to unplug a harness sometimes. If can HALT your project in its tracks. I can't stand this. I'm VERY afraid of F'ing something up and having to get it towed. Starting a bolt blind sounds like a nightmare. You started it with the extension bars, or can you get your arm in there? I KNOW I will drop mine, like you said. I don't know what this looks like, but can you place a bowl underneath the CPK area so you don't lose the bolt? If you drop it, what happens? Maybe this CPK is best left for the local indy (Not the dealer, don't worry)
Yeah, that 1/2 hour to unplug a harness can be a real bummer. As for the rest of it, though I am a guy, I'm not beefy, and found it possible to snake my left hand up to the bolt holes to position the bolts. But at that point I only had my fingertips up there and couldn't turn them -- for that I needed the long extensions on the socket wrench.
I didn't drop the transmission, disconnect the front drive shaft, or anything like that.
As others have said, it's possible to retrieve a bolt dropped into the bellhousing, but it adds time and complexity to an otherwise fairly simple job -- we don't want to do that!
HeyHar, I agree. This is more a hobby than anything. I like to learn new things. If I wanted to save money, I'd drive a 2013 Honda for $199 month. I will be into this Jeep for $8000 before I am done, and that's to keep a 100% bone stock XJ. With mods, this is a $10,000+ hobby, even if you start with a free XJ.
Partially a hobby, but for me I also need to know the condition of the vehicles I drive. I finally got tired of having to replace bunged-up wheel studs after the "professionals" messed them up while rotating tires, the dealer service department stripping the oil drain plug hole (they're the only ones who had ever touched it) and then wanting full price for replacing the pan (my wife's car -- if they had tried that on me they wouldn't have gotten very far), and so on. Oh yeah, the brake light in the rear window of my wife's car went out, she took it to the dealer and the guy started to remove the trim strip in the window molding so he could remove the rear window!
100% agree. For a beginner guy, even a "small" job, it can take 10-20 hours of reading, ordering parts, and 5-10 hours to do a 1-2 hour job. 40 hours at $10/hr is $400. Cheaper to have a mechanic do it. At $50/hr, that's $2000 in lost wages. At $100/hr, that's $4000 in lost wages. If one wants to save money, he is better off working and never picking up a wrench. For me, this is a hobby with a massive time opportunity cost component. A total luxury because I have time and money to spare. Like golfing or piano. It may appear to save money, but when you factor in the massive time suck (even just being on these forums), it's an expensive hobby, at least while you're learning.
Yes, sometimes a lot of time is spent in research just getting up to speed. But then you know, and even if you decide not to do it yourself, you know how it should be done. I had a favorite mechanic until I had him replace the power steering high pressure line. He used good line, did a pretty job, but he dressed it incorrectly so that it would rub on the fender well every time the engine moved a bit. Fortunately I saw that when I picked up the car and had him re-route the line to it's proper position before I even turned on the engine.
As for the cost vs working and paying out of your wages, I have three comments. One is that you pay with after-tax money -- if you are earning $100/hr, that means your income is $200,000/year, and you are probably paying a marginal income tax rate of over 25%. So you have to earn over $125 to pay a $100 bill. The second is that I often can do the work in less time than it takes me to take the car to the shop, come home, then go pick it up and come home again. The third is I work during work hours, and wrench at other times when I'm not making $100+/hr.
Finally, it's not as if the Jeep needs working on all the time -- I usually schedule my work so it happens when I change the oil every 3 months.