Shrek is Back in Black

[Vanimal]

never got the whole "drill holes to mount a heavy piece of steel to prevent denting the pannel i just drilled a bunch of holes through" thing. if i dent mine to the point where it's pretty bad, ill just cut it out and weld in a new one if and when i sell it.
at any rate, nice work so far, looks good! that front bumper looks pretty nice as well.

 

[Mr.Shrek]

For me it was a win win, as I bad two busted tail lights, some rust damage on one side, liked the look, and also liked it as a platform to build some custom fenders.

 

[thechief86]

lookin sick, shrekkers. i just got some LED action on my junk too.... not quite as cool, but cool nonetheless...

 

[Mr.Shrek]

Man oh man have things been busy for the last year and this thread fell to the way side. Not to mention my free time to work on the jeep or wheel. So this is the summer to fix that! Here is a bit of a catch up.

Here is the rocker replacement for the most part.
Before.

Rough cut

Mock up and marking for length.

Another test fit

1/8" plate to cap them off.

 

[Mr.Shrek]

Clearing out so I can burn them in.

Soon after some quarter panel trim was in order.

As you can see the passenger side needed to go also.

 

[Mr.Shrek]

One week I'm up in Knoxville when the double cardon joint lets go.

First time I've had a jeep break that I couldn't nurse home or to a repair spot. That is only because I still had 3.55 gears up front and 4.10's in the back...so no front drive shaft to swap out.

Had the ol girl towed over to my buddy Matt's house (rredalty). He got on the phone to the jeep network and had a spare drive shaft delivered pronto.

Here is the damage.

Though she was back under her own power I still had a popping noise coming from the t-case. Time and money didn't permit waiting so I nursed her all the way home to Nashville.

Here is the breakdown of the t-case and what I found.
Back halved the t-case.

Turns out the plastic bushing on the range fork broke when the DS let go. That left the sleeve to bounce around inside the fork and wear down the aluminum fork badly. Here are some pics of the parts.

Here you can see how much play the sleeve had in the fork.

An easy trip out to the junk yard and I came home with the replacement part for free. Not the 5 finger discount, just a sweet cashier.
Here's a side by side for yall.

Once all back together she was good to go.

 

[Mr.Shrek]

Front axle finally getting 4.10 gears and the Solid diffworks cover.

 

[bluejeepkid]

Thats a badass battery terminal. Where'd you get that?

 

[Mr.Shrek]

They are Hooker Audio battery terminals. They were freebies from the shop I worked at about 6 years ago.

 

[thechief86]

shrek, i'm glad to see you working on a jeep again! i'm planning a rocker replacement similar to yours here in a couple of weeks. what size tubing is that? 2x4 3/16" wall? could you post up a couple of close up pics where you welded them into the body?

 

[travisk]

I had a similar problem with my tcase shift fork. I believe the cause was funky linkage that allowed it slip out of 4H. Make sure you linkage is adjusted properly or it may happen again.

 

[Mr.Shrek]

Thanks for the advice travisk.

 

[Mr.Shrek]

Annnnnnddd back on the jeep again. I sent it off to have the exhaust fixed and a few the jeep checked out so I could have a professional's input on a few things. Jeep is back, i've torn down the front end. Replaced the rear main seal and oil pan gasket. I've got the valve cover gasket install, as well as the oil filter adapter o-ring, soon to come. I've also torn down the front end for new axle seals, driver side ball joints, setup gears, and weld on the lca mount mini skids. Here are a few shots.

First day back.

Bout to rip into her.

An hr later:

Dropped the pan for new rear main and oil pan gasket.

Parts run.

My OCD way of making sure all the stud and bolts go back in the right spot.

Wasn't going to let the rain hold me up this past Saturday

Nothing special here.

Rain was to bad on Sunday though so I kept the work in the garage for the front axle.

 

[VAhasnoWAVES]

if you got the axle off, you should plate the LCA mounts and passenger side UCA mount. cheap insurance.

 

[clean4drxj]

Plate the "face" of the trackbar mount, they're thin and tend to wallow out.