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Lockers and Cables and Brakes, Oh My!
All of our Jeeps got some much needed attention over the last year, let’s take a look!
PJ:
Each Jeep got an electrical pampering, with new upgraded battery terminals, and nicely crimped cable lugs to clean up the ratty bare-wire clamp style terminals used from factory. On top of this and some other under-the-hood cleanup, PJ got some professional help with a full detailing work-over, thankfully it went from dusty and musty to being one of our most fun Jeeps to drive again, it sure is comfy.
PJ was in pretty good shape when we went to start it up again despite letting it sit for far too long again, and after figuring out a tricky key-cylinder it’s drivable. It got new front brakes to replace a stuck caliper, and feels much better now. Some new front control arms and steering work are on the to-do list to see if I can’t fix an occasional wobble. A little further in the future I’ll bring you guys along as I rebuild or replace its NV247 transfer case to fix a slipping chain and finally fix its 4WD issues.
Overall, PJ is getting close to being trail ready, and I’m really excited for that. I can’t wait to take it out on the trails again after so long.
Stubby:
Stubby still needs the most work of all our Jeeps, but some large hurdles have been overcome. On top of the new terminals and lugs, Stubby had decades worth of unknown wiring “rat nests” and defunct electrical upgrades ripped out and is largely back to electrically stock, this means that I actually know where all the wires go now, and can start some modern upgrades on it.
Now that the main electrical system is squared away, it’s been added to my rotation of vehicles I drive from day-to-day and shouldn’t be left sitting again. A brief test showed that Stubby’s 4WD system is still working just fine, the atlas really is bulletproof, it just needs a lube job. With that followed by a general tune-up and chasing down leaks, Stubby should be trail ready too!
XJ:
A bad radiator cap caused a sneaky coolant evaporation headache for a few months, which is hopefully gone for good this time, and the coolant level is mostly stable now. The Jeep is also riding on completely new brakes, with a firm pedal for the first time since we got it last year.
Other than those minor issues, the XJ is luckily planned for upgrades more than maintenance work, and is currently ready for some light trails. As soon as I get some frame stiffeners installed we’ll finally take it on some more deserving trails and actually push it to its limits.
TJ:
Instead of just new lugs this Jeep got an entire main cable overhaul, all the stock battery cables were replaced with high quality heavy duty 2-gauge cables. This was also a good time for me to get an auxiliary fuse box installed to clean up my aftermarket wiring, no more wires running back and forth across the entire engine bay! Another feature of the new electrical system I’m particularly excited about is a quick connector that shares between the winch and jumper cables. I jump a surprisingly large number of other vehicles with my Jeep, and this should make the process more enjoyable.
(You can now tap or click a picture to make it bigger!)
Now instead of opening the hood and messing about with clamps on both vehicles everytime, I can connect my cables to the battery directly from here. And I suppose you could power the winch from another vehicle too, if that was ever helpful.
A cheaper and slightly dumber upgrade, I cut down the stock bumper to a nicer looking length. It doesn’t really protect my fenders anymore, but I can’t help it, I like the way it looks. As a slight bonus, it does tuck it out of the way of my tires for some rare obstacles, but mostly I just like it.
Sprayers:
One more small upgrade, I followed a forum guide to route my windshield washer sprayers from the hood directly onto the wiper arms, now the spray stays on the windshield even at highway speeds, one of my favorite dirt-cheap upgrades so far. It took some creative zip-tying and 10 or so minutes aiming the nozzles, but it was an easy job. Stubby is sure to follow suit soon. I did use different nozzles than the guide, I found them on amazon, so they might be a good choice if you don’t feel like searching a junkyard, here’s a link: Amazon.com
If you end up using these nozzles, I recommend you disconnect the hood sprayers, I left all of them connected briefly and went through almost my entire washer fluid reservior on my test drive, these things move a lot of fluid!
I also plan to install an anti-drainback valve soon, right now it takes a few seconds for fluid to reach the sprayers, and adding a valve should make this much quicker.
And, finally the biggest upgrade of the year, my TJ finally has a locked front differential. A PowerTrax No-Slip Locker has lived in my dana 30 for a few months now, and it’s just as amazing or better than all the good things I heard about it before I decided to get one for myself. The No-Slip is a lunchbox style locker, but is completely silent in turns unlike Stubby’s admittedly old EZ locker, and totally invisible in 2WD, even in inclement weather like snow, ice, and heavy rain. Despite the identical 2WD performance, the 4WD performance is night and day, with just a front locker I’m able to pull myself up and over things I couldn’t even consider before, and I’m very excited to try some harder trails I had to skip in the past.
This Jeep doesn’t really have any issues, though I do want to do a bit more wiring cleanup on it, it’s fairly solid and I chased down the last major oil and power steering leaks so far. I’m very happy with how this build is going, and can’t wait to get the other projects on the same track.
Thanks for reading the rig update! -Dirt Road
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