Renegade's Patrol Log

JEEP LINKS including vendor sites for parts and tools as well as sites for jeep organizations

PATROL LOG includes log entries of minor repairs and and adventures between time of purchase and the present.

RENEGADE MAINTENANCE Ever changing detailing, oil change, lube, etc. maintenance routines developed for Renegade based on the BillyBob routines, including required tools, materials and procedures.

3. Bulking Up

January 26^th 2003  January has been colder than usual this year in South Florida and, on the weekends, it's just not fun to work outside. Today is the first warm sunday in two weeks. I've started exercising, not because I want to, but because I have to if I want to stay mobile as I head into my senior years. I tried "exercising restraint" but that didn't work. Well, if I have to bulk up, so does Renegade. I'm gonna start by replacing the stock air intake system with a Funnel Ram Intake System I ordered from Quadratec a couple of weeks ago.

This is a pretty easy and straightforward upgrade. The inside of the polished tube had to be cleaned up a bit as it was still covered with polish residue and the 6mm bolt, lock washer and nut was a bit too small to connect the support bracket to the old air box support grommet (It pulled right thru the hole in the grommet). I had to search my spare parts boxes for a 5/16" flat washer to make it work.

March 9^th 2003  Installed a Poweraid Helix Throttle Body Spacer today. Got this from Quadratec too. Pretty straightforward installation . . . I would peg it as a "one Budweiser degree of difficulty" task. I'm not used to working with metric connectors or aluminum since I spend most of my time working on BillyBob. Managed to find the 6mm socket I needed in my computer tools kit. Didn't know if the bolts that came with this kit were stainless steel so, I used anti-seize compound just to be safe during assembly. Took about twenty minutes.

August 30^th 2003  Got a pair replacement mirrors (Quick Mirror II Black) from Quadratec. I'm tired of adjusting the factory mirrors. Everytime I go over forty mph, they fold back like elephant ears, no matter how many times I tighten up the adjuster (under the rubber bellows). It's a gamble. Maybe these new mirrors will have the same problem, but they have other advantages too. They connect to the windshield frame, not the doors so, you still have mirrors if you take the doors off. They also adjust quickly for a windshield down condition. Ran into trouble right off the bat. The windshield hinge torx screws are too tight. Only one came loose and the other ones ate up the T40 torx bit. I sprayed them with Kroil penetrating oil and left them until I can get a new Torx bit and and adapter to put it in my impact wrench.

Been havin' problems with passenger side half-door for some time now. First, the key lock quit working tho' you could still lock the door with the inside rocker lever. Then, sometime later, the outside door handle quit working and the only way to open the door was with the inside door handle. Today, nothing worked and I couldn't get the door open, period. Time to take it apart, I guess. Took the top off, hoping I could lift the door skin frame out . . . can't quite get it out with the door closed but, I got lucky for the first time today and the inside door handle started working again. With the door skin off, I could take the inside door pull off and pull out the door skin frame guides. The interior door panel could be pried off with the help of a flat-bladed screwdriver then. The problem, as far as I can tell, was the failure of a plastic retainer clip that connected the rod from the key lock to the latch assembly. Yet another failure on Renegade due to a ~!@#$%^ plastic part! Took the key lock to latch assembly rod out and now the inside door lock and both door handles work again. The broken part must have been blocking the latch assembly in some way.

September 11^th 2003  REMEMBER WTC, the Pentagon, Shanksville PA. Let's Roll! Been a heck of a week so far. Tuesday, Renegade started acting up, hard to keep him lit and engine would stall on the slightest load. Nursed him along but was still ten blocks from the Mizner Park Citgo station when he gave out. Called AAA and settled down to wait. At least it was a nice day and a nice neighborhood. Young fella in a ricer stopped to help and so did a police officer. Nice to know some people still do that. Got Renegade back last night. The citgo mech techs installed a new coil, fuel pump and filter. Works better now than before. Doesn't have to crank for ten seconds before starting anymore for one thing.

October 25^th 2003  Finally got the new Torx bit and socket adapter for my impact wrench. This is the only way to fly when you have the plenty of accessibility to the fasteners you're trying to remove. All the torx screws came out without further trouble using the impact wrench. The new mirrors were installed and adjusted. All fasteners and set screws were tightened with threadlocker blue. The old flappin' elephant ear mirrors were removed (again using the impact wrench) and the fastener holes filled with clear silicone sealant.

August 27^th 2004  JEEZ!! The ~!@#$%^ cooling system blew out again today on the way up to the Krash Lab. There was no warning light and I didn't notice the gauge but as soon as I turned off the engine in the parking lot, the hood was engulfed in steam. Some even seeped thru the dashboard so, at first, I thought it might be an electrical fire. A lot of coolant was dumped on the pavement. After the engine cooled down, I topped off the radiator with water and drove Renegade the two blocks to my garage, Mizner Park Citgo. The score at this point while I'm waiting to find out what went south this time is that Renegade, at sixty thou miles on the odo, is running on his third radiator and second water pump. I'm stuck without a vehicle since BillyBob doesn't have his new windshield installed yet so, the boss lent me the big Mercedes panzerwagon to use for a few days.

August 28^th 2004  It turned out that the lower radiator hose had ruptured. I missed this on my preliminary inspection for some reason. Timing is everything and this time I lost out. I have all the hoses up at my warehouse but was waiting to get BillyBob back on the road as a daily driver before tackling the cooling system work. I let Carl at Citgo replace the hoses and thermostat and flush the system and put my parts back on the shelf. He was done by quitting time and it was a good thing too, because the Panzerwagon's battery turned out to be dead. The Mercedes must have an intermittant short 'cause it was good last sunday when I did routine maintenance on it.

August 27^th 2005  Replaced the spark plug wires today. It's a pretty simple job as long as you replace one-wire-at-a-time. Take a wire off, match it up with a new wire, apply a bit of dialectric grease to the terminals and press the new wires into place. This is a bit more difficult then it is working on BillyBob since things are tighter and there is not as much room for your fingers to get a grip.

The new boots of the Accel "Super Stock Spiral Wire" cables I got from Quadratec are thicker than the originals and it is hard to tell when you've got the terminal firmly seated. I started Renegade's engine a few times during the process to make sure I had things in place and the engine wasn't missing. When I got done, the engine seemed to be running smoother but that may have been my mind playin' tricks on me. Looked sharper at any rate.

October 16^th 2005  The Optima battery has worked out well for Renegade and when it's time for a replacement, I'll get another Optima. The stock battery hold-down is a poor fit for the Optima so I got a billet hold-down made for the optima from Quadratec and put it on today. Next, I'll have to clean up the corrosion around the battery box.

December 30^th 2005  Dropped of my rent check this morning. Clutch started acting funny and by the time I cleared the apartment complex main gate, I couldn't shift ~!@#$%^ Losing clutch hydraulics for the third time in a little over 60K miles! Last time it was the master cylinder. The first time it was the slave cylinder. I shure hope it's the master again if I have a choice about it. Turned the Jeep off, put it in 2nd gear and restarted. I still had a small amount of clutch action at this point and I could keep the engine running at stop lights. By the time I made it to the Krash Lab, I was almost out of fluid. I had some luck and didn't have to stop in the last few blocks. When I pulled into my parking space and braked, it killed the engine, even with the clutch pedal fully depressed.

January 1^st 2006  New Year's Day. There's fluid in the resevoir but it's down a smidgeon. There's some wetness on the bellhousing bottom but I don't know whether it's DOT 3 fluid or not. Put the tranny in neutral and started the engine. I also have a cold engine fast idle (2,500 rpm) problem that just started in the last week too. With the clutch pedal floored, I can shift thru all gears. ???? Would a slow leaking slave cylinder cause this behaviour?

January 5^th 2006  Started gathering tools. Ordered a 190 piece mechanic's tool set from Sears 'cause I don't have any metric tools and my english sockets are a hodge-podge built up over the years one at a time as I needed them. Ordered a transmission jack from Eastwood (see story below). As long as I am going to all this trouble, I might as well take this opportunity to install a performance clutch. I ordered a Centerforce I from Quadratec along with a Hurst Billet Shifter (I wanted at least one "visible" improvement for all this effort). I will wait until the clutch parts arrive to determine what else I need.

Thirty-five years ago when I was a young man, I and the bank were the proud owners of a '69 AMC Javelin SST with 290 CI V8, Carter 4-bbl AFB carb, Borg-Warner T-10 4-speed with Factory Hurst Competition Plus linkage. Somethin' went south with the clutch. Even then, finding a throw-out bearing for an AMC was almost as hard as locating a full set of seats for a suburban.

I got the bearing and put the front of the Javelin on jack stands. The stock exhaust system formed a "Y" under the transmission before running into a single muffler. I dropped the exhaust at the headers and left it connected at the back on the car. Laying on my back under the car, on the exhaust system, I started to unbolt the transmission. I thought the T-10 was an aluminium housing model and wouldn't be much heaver than my old '59 Ford three-speed which I had become an expert removing and re-installing.

I was about to be severely punished for my lapse of intelligence. (Some American general once said "Supidity is always punished more swiftly than evil".) As I pulled the transmission out of the pilot bearing and clutch splines I suddenly became aware that it was the cast-iron T-10 and I didn't have the strength to keep it from racing to mother earth. Problem was, my knee was between it and mother earth. When the T-10 came in contact with my knee, my body's autopilot functions tried to get me away from the transmission by tuning hard over on my left side. This reaction in the confined space under the Javelin caused a second contact point: my right shoulder and a rather sharp muffler clamp . . . and, oh yeh, the T-10 was still on my knee.

Bleeding at shoulder and knee, I first made a few of the sounds all injured animals make. I continued on into the sounds that only humans can add for emphasis. This continued until my mother came out of the house and told me to stop cussin' before one of the neighbors called the police. That's one mistake I've only made once and now I can laugh about it.

January 10^th 2006  Received the Centerforce Clutch from Quadratec. It includes the new slave cylinder throwout bearing assembly. No wonder these damn things fail - the frakin' thing is made of plastic! Darn! I'm just old-fashioned, I guess, but I would be much more comfortable with metal hydraulic parts, radiators and gas tanks. Just about everything that has failed on Renegade, so far, has been made completely of partly of plastic.

January 10^th 2006  Got the Hurst Billet Shifter from Quadratec in the middle of the week and the Craftsman 190 pc Mechanics Tool Set arrived today. I'm almost ready to tear into Renegade's innards but I still need a clutch alignment tool.

January 17^th 2006  The Boss asked me to move one of my three vehicles to the back parking lot by the shed since we will be having some big client meetings here fer awhile. Renegade was the obvious choice. The slave cylinder had filled back up enuf that I had some clutch, but not much. Tried to start him yesterday to make the move but the battery charge was too low. This Optima battery is only 4-1/2 years old. It shouldn't be going bad yet, I'm thinkin'. Brought in my portable jumpstarter this morning and got Renegade going. The idle was OK from the git-go. I ordered a replacement Fuel Injection Idle Air Control Valve from RockAuto yesterday so, that's probably the reason everything is hunky-dory again and I won't need it. I had enuf clutch control to back Renegade across the main parking lot, over the bumper block, sidewalk and landscape strip on the other side, to the rear lot beside the shed.

January 29^th 2006  Renegade was due for an oil change so the engine was warmed up and I changed the oil and filter. The battery is still low so I removed it and put it on the charger. This looks like a good opportunity to cleanup and refinish the battery box area. Cleaned it with Simple Green and scrubbrush first. Then, PRE Paint Prepped it and sprayed rusted areas with Eastwood's rattlecan Rust Encapsulator. Took the charger off the battery when it read 12.07 volts. A half hour later it was down to 11.94 volts. I don't like the looks of this. Put it back in Renegade but didn't hook it up.

February 11^th 2006  Not a bad day weatherwise for a change. Blue sky, low sixties, no wind. Still, I can't get much done (no two day projects). The boss and I are planning to go up to the polo grounds tomorrow for the Boca Raton Collector Car Auction. I'm back to finishing off the battery box. Time to run a 3M scuff pad over it and give it a coat of Eastwood's Chassis Black. First, I checked the battery which I disconnected a couple of weeks back. It is holding at 11.76 volts. I'm not sure yet but I think I need a new one.

The UPS guy arrived a week or two ago with a Clutch Alignment Tool Set. I was having trouble finding a cheap, Jeep-specific tool and a clutch alignment tool is definitely necessary in this case. The good news is that I'll also be able to use this tool set on BillyBob down the road when I install his overdrive tranny.

After the scuff pad, the battery box area was treated with PRE Paint Prep and rattlecan Chassis Black.

May 27^th 2006  Chance of rain today but none in sight yet so I started pulling the tools out of the shed for the "Big Clutch Repair". It's taken me months to get the stones to tackle this job. Renegade has been broken since new year's. Pushed the Jeep into the middle of the rear lot and put the rear end in the air on jackstands. The very first nut (transmission mount nut) I tried to remove was stripped and would do nothing but spin on the bolt! I took this as a bad omen.

May 28^th 2006  Wasted yesterday after the stripped nut incident. Thought long and hard about letting the garage handle this job. Even stopped at the garage on the way home to the Krash Pad, only to find out that my mechanic, Carl, who has done most of the work in the past few years on Renegade, is no longer employed there. Carl did good work and I don't want to start with a new mech at this point so I decided to stick with the original plan of doing the work myself.

The bad omens persist. Renegade is fighting me every step of the way so far. It took much too long to get the big crossmember off. I'm glad I purchased the tranny jack 'tho. I would'uv been one jack short otherwise. The floor jack is under the oil pan with a block of wood to keep the engine from dropping. The first use of the tranny jack was to support the frame crossmember while the bolts were removed. Another tool I'm very grateful for at this point is the impact wrench . . . The crossmsmber bolts were tight!

Next problem was the shift lever. After dropping the tranny assembly three inches, you are 'sposed to lift the boot off the shift lever tower and depress the retaining ring and turn counterclockwise. My fingers were not strong enuf to preform this task in the tight space alloted. Went at it from above instead. Fought with the shift knobs to get them off then, fought with the carpet to get at the shift boot retaining capscrews. Even with two hands and my Mark I eyeballs on the task, it took a few choice words to work the retaining ring but I finally got it loose. Stuffed a clean rag in the shift tower hole to keep dirt out of the tranny.

Speedo gear and electronic connectors on the left side were pretty straightforward. Then I came to my next problem - the slave cylinder hydraulic fitting. Frozen tight. My tubing wrenches are not the best quality and they tend to give a bit and round off the fitting. I used the tubing wrench with visegrips, then MAPP torch heat. You can't use too much heat tho' due to ~!@#$%^ plastic in close proximity. I used Kroil penetrating oil with the torch next but I'm a bit wary of contaminating the hydraulic fluid with this method.

June 3^rd 2006  OK, I've gotten over the fact that this job is going to take longer than one weekend for a guy with my work ethic. Today, I'm gonna take off the remaining parts that aren't mentioned in the Hayne's Repair Manual and also make sure all the bellhousing bolts will come out easily next week when I attempt to replace the clutch. The manual says nothing about the transfer case shifter which has to come off if the tranny assembly is going to move straight back. It also says nothing about the exhaust system connection to the tranny mount which also has to come off. I measured the distance that the shift rod end protruded from the lever fitting (3/4") before taking it apart so I won't be screwed when it comes time to re-assemble this thing.

What I didn't realize was that the end of the shift rod was flattened so it couldn't be removed from the fitting without grinding. ~!@#$%^ I had to disconnect the rod and the lever it activates at the transfer case and remove the whole thing as an assembly. I managed to get the transmission mount removed from the bottom of the tranny and the catalytic converter flange with the help of the impact wrench and penetrating oil. Loosening the bellhousing bolts was more problematic. The Haynes manual is no help here. It simply states "Remove to bolts securing the transmission bellhousing to the engine." There are at least three different sizes involved. Does the starter motor have to come off? I guess I find out by trial and error next week.

June 10^th 2006  Hot, muggy and overcast. Hurricane season is here. Gonna work slow and steady today and start out on java instead of brew to get a little more done. Started trying to get the bellhousing bolts out. Went for the two at the top first. These were flanged capscrews that I couldn't see and had to locate by touch. A 10mm 6pt socket seemed to fit but, like the rest of the fasteners on this job, were too tight to turn with the little leverage I could muster. Dropped the engine as far as I could with the floor jack and wood block under the oil pan and managed to reach them with the impact wrench on an extension. They didn't turn out to be standard hex heads and the impact wrench tore them up a bit but did get them out. Later internet searches revealed them to be "reversed (external) torx E-12 capscrews"

Next, a short capscrew above the starter motor on the front side was removed with a 13mm socket. I could see this one but it was still hard to reach. Stopped long enuf to position and strap the tranny jack to the tranny/transfer case assembly. Starter motor was held on with a 15mm bolt on the backside and a 14mm bolt on the front side. The impact wrench had to be used on the 14mm bolt. Wiring was left in place on the starter and it was located off to the side on top of the frame rail.

Tried to get the hydraulic line fitting apart one more time. No joy. Cut the line south of the fitting (slave cylinder side) with some battery cable cutters since I'm replacing this part anyway. I'll deal with the line later. Next came another 13mm short capscrew at the bottom front opposite the oil pan drain plug. The two bottom bellhousing bolts were loosened next. They turned out to be 18mm thru bolts. Finally, the last two bolts were removed from the bellhousing sides with the impact wrench. These were 16mm. I think I'm ready to pull this thing. I went looking for my Pittsburgh Pry Bar Set I picked up on sale at Harbor Freight a few years ago. Started with the pry bars . . . OOPS! Found one more 13mm short capscrew on the front driver side high up. OK! Again with the pry bars. It's not working. This thing doesn't want to come apart and that doesn't bode well for getting it back together again either, I'm thinking.

The only interference I can see is possibly the exhaust cross-over pipe but I don't think that's the problem. I'll go ahead and try to get it off since I can't think of anything else right now. Disconnected the cross-over pipe at the catalytic converter and let the exhaust system drop down. Tried with the pry bars some more and made some small progress. Found another electrical connector and a vacuum hose connection on top of the tranny that's not mentioned in the Hayne's manual and disconnected that. By adjusting the jacks and using the pry bars in between, I eventually got things backed apart about four inches. That's when I discovered that the cross-over pipe would have to come off at the header too so that the bellhousing could drop down enough to clear the transmission tunnel. Disconnected the oxygen sensor, then the cross-over pipe bolts. I had good luck for a change and they came loose easily with hand tools despite being rusted beyond all get out.

The tranny/transfer case assembly was out! It looked like rain so I scrambled to get everything under cover and had those beers I've been waiting on all day. I got everything under cover and next week we'll deal with the new clutch, weather permitting.

June 17^th 2006  When I pulled the tranny/transfer assembly and got my first look at Renegade's clutch, I was surprised to find it covered with surface rust. The splines on the end of the tranny input shaft were rusted too. I'm thinking that this may have been the reason I had problems pulling it apart. Good thing I'm putting in a new clutch since I may have warped the disk with my pry bar actions. Been thinkin' about this puzzle all week and the only reason I can think of that the clutch is rusty is the one time I had Renegade in the water back in '91 or '92. I tried to take a shortcut across the I-95 median late at night up in Stuart to head in the other direction and ended up in a retention pond. I put it in four-wheel drive and got it out but it was deep enough to get into the clutch.

After I got the tools put of the shed this morning, the first order of business was to remove the clutch. I loosened the clutch bolts one at a time with the impact wrench, hand tightening each one back up before moving on to the next one. Once they were all loosened, they were removed by hand, one turn at a time in a criss-cross pattern to evenly release the pressure and avoid warping the pressure plate assembly. The clutch bolts were thrown in the tumbler for a cleaning session and the flywheel was cleaned with brake cleaner. It's a decision point and I decided to go the easy way. The flywheel has a few small patches of blue discoloration but it is smooth and there is no scoring so I am not going to remove it to have it resurfaced. If I'm making a mistake here, I'll be taking it apart again down the road but I do not flog this vehicle much and I think it will be fine.

I also discovered that I was sent the wrong pilot bearing and that it is much too big. Examination of the existing pilot bearing revealed no damage as far as I could tell so I left it in place. I added a small dab of chassis grease and spread it with a Q-tip.

OK! Reached a milestone. Finished taking things apart. Now we're to the point of tryin' to get things back together again. Lined up the new clutch with the alignment tool and put the clutch bolts in finger tight. Continued to check alignment while I tightened the clutch bolts down in a criss-cross pattern. Finally got the torque wrench out and finished up with the bolts torqued down in a criss-cross pattern to forty footpounds. Continued to clean bellhousing bolts and starter bolts in the tumbler.

June 24^th 2006  Typical Florida summer day. Rain forecast and storm cells are forming to the west. It started sprinkling while I was getting the tools out of the shed. After it let up, I wheeled the tranny/transfer case assembly outside. Removed the old hydraulic clutch release bearing first. Masked off the electrical plugs and openings then got out my Grime blaster washer wand I purchased from Eastwood a few years ago. Went over tranny/transfer case with a degreaser/water solution and brushes. Got the worst off and almost good enuf fer government work. Will probably give it another degreasing session next week. Stopped the Renegade work to tinker with BillyBob fer awhile.

July 22^nd 2006  The shadetree garage was wet when I got to the Krash Lab but, otherwise, the weather was fine for working. Pulled the tools out of the shed and performed monthly maintenance on BettyLou. Last week, the universal joint yoke on the transfer case for the front driveshaft was cleaned, masked, prepped, primed with Eastwood's Rust Encapsulator and painted with Eastwood's "Spray Gray" paint.

Installed the new hydraulic slave cylinder/clutch release bearing assembly next. Will have to wait until tomorrow to try to get the tranny/transfer case back into Renegade as a light rain started and didn't let up.

July 23^rd 2006  The shadetree garage was dry when I arrived at the Krash Lab so I started task at hand without the usual delay. Put the bellhousing bolts into the tumbler for a cleaning session and dragged the tranny/transfer case assembly out to the back stoop for final preparation before going back into the Jeep. The transmission fluid level was checked and the shift tower bolts were loosened while they were accessible for the later installation of the Hurst shifter. The front transmission shaft and splines were cleaned and given a very light coat of white lithium grease.

That done, the assembly was grunted into position underneath the Jeep and jacked up. Using both the tranny jack and the Jeep's sissors jack under the oil pan, the engine and bellhousing were brought into alignment and gradually eased together. Some spare steel rods were also used to align bolt holes. It took a fair amount of cussin' but not as much as I expected and I had all the bellhousing bolts in with threadlocker blue by early afternoon. The bolts went in easy without any hangups so I'm fairly confident I'm in good shape inside the bellhousing where I can't see anything.

July 29^th 2006  Got a late start today but by mid-morning I knew Murphy was clearly in charge. When I started to get the Hurst shifter ready to install, the instructions stated that I had to pry the plastic cup bushing off the old shifter to place on the new Hurst shifter. When I did that, it went flying off into space to land somewhere in the bowels of the Krash Lab. ~!@#$%^ I searched for a couple of hours but gave up having found nothing but dust balls, desicated lizards and roach carapaces for my trouble. I must not be the only maroon to screw this simple operation up because Hurst conveniently provides the Chrysler part number for this little item (83500-519). I got online and ordered one from Chrysler Parts Direct

After mopin' around a bit, I went after the transfer case shift mechanism with the wire cup in the electric angle grinder, followed by PRE Paint Prep and a couple of light coats of Eastwood's OEM Trim Black paint. Then it started sprinkling in the shadetree garage just enuf to be a nusiance and cause me to drag the tools inside.

July 30^th 2006  Murphy is still with me today, it seems. After having problems with both simple tasks I performed on BillyBob this morning, I turned back to the Jeep. Tried to put the starter motor back on and ran into thread problems with the bigger of the two bolts right off. It doesn't want to start straight and 'tho I can get a tap started, I can't turn it because the oil pan is too close. I have to get some kind of adapter for the square shank of the tap so I can turn it with a wrench. I kept at it with the inadequate tools at hand until I skinned a knuckle. This will wait for now.

August 6^th 2006  I am now in possession of a "Tap Socket" set I found at, and purchased from, McMaster-Carr during the week. I also received a clutch hydraulic line from Chrysler Parts Direct. I am pretty much from the old school of double-flared steel line and threaded fittings for hydraulics so this dang thing is pretty alien to me at the present. From some internet research, I've gathered that this is a "quick release" fitting. The fly in the buttermilk is that it is a "no release" fitting if you don't have the special tool or knowledge of how to work it. Another problem I have is that I still seem to be missing an intermediate fitting since the fitting on the clutch release bearing is the standard double-flare fitting and there is no way to mate it to the end of the hydraulic line with what I have.

OK. On to things I can do. With the tap socket set, I was able the tap the starter bolt hole in the bellhousing. I squirted oil in the hole, ran the tap M10 x 1.5 tap in and cleaned out the metal shavings with a Q-tip. Installed the starter bolts with Threadlocker Blue and ran into 'nother puzzling problem . . . the upper starter bolt would not run the whole way in ~!@#$% Whiskey Tango Foxtrot! I solved this problem with a handful of flat washers fer now but I'm not a happy camper over it.

While I was under the Jeep, I re-connected the electrical lines and the hose line to the tranny/transfer case. I got a hose clamp for the hose line but I chose too small and it's back to the FLAPS for another trip. My replacement bushing for the shifter was 'sposed to arrive on Friday but the UPS web page tells me it's hung up in Jacksonville terminal for some unknown reason. My face is black-n-blu from runnin' into walls in the last two weeks no matter which vehicle I'm workin' on. My maternal Grandmother used to say "sugar" when she was ticked off. If she was real angry, she would say "sugarbowl!" Like the blogger Dax Montana, I'll say "Just Damn!"

August 12^th 2006  I've been thinkin' all week about the starter motor bolts and no matter how I run at it, I have to come to the sick belly conclusion that I've screwed the pooch and put the wrong bolts in the wrong places. Why tell everyone about it? To save some other poor smuck from pulling a bonehead move like this. I woulduv' saved myself a lotta grief by just going back and re-reading my disassembly commentary above where I document the starter removal. Just Damn!

After dragging out the tools, I rectified the starter motor bolt situation first and retreived my "spacer" washers for 'nother day. The 14mm bolt felt tight enuf in its new 15mm bolt hole but we'll keep an eye on it fer awhile to see if it needs further attention. Got a bigger hose clamp at the FLAPS yesterday and installed that on the hose to the tranny/transfer case next. The shifter bushing arrived via UPS during the week and now I can resume the shifter installation.

Put the new bushing on the Hurst shifter per Hurst instructions. Then removed the old shifter tower and installed the Hurst shifter with the old capscrews and studs. The front stud has clearance issues with the Hurst shifter body which is bigger in diameter than the original shift tower but it will go in. This is where the wheels fell off this week. The transfer case shifter bracket has two holes that fit over the shifter tower studs that are on the driver side. Due to the new shifter clearance problem, the front bracket hole will not seat on the stud. The hex nut for this stud is flanged and also too big for the new shifter. My first solution is to grind the front bracket hole into a slot to get it seated on the stud and then get a smaller hex nut down the road. Too bad that I had the slot ground out by the time I thought of a better idea. I would replace the front stud with one of the capscrews that came with the shifter for later model Jeeps and use four flat washers to make up for the stud nut height that the bracket seats on. That worked but the capscrews are short and only a few threads got purchase. Took the capscrew back out and replaced it with the stud again because the stud is a quarter inch longer below the stud nut and can screw in farther with the washer spacers. This worked and I think it would have worked without making the mounting hole into a slot. Nutin' for it now.

Hurst provides a boot at the bottom of the shift lever that is secured with a plastic wire tie. I think this is cheap and would have preferred a hose clamp. And yeah, you guessed it, I screwed it up putting it on. Mein Gott! I didn't have any more wire ties big enuf to replace the one I ruined so, I secured it with duct tape. Next, the lower boot was wrassled off the old shifter with the help of a screwdriver and WD-40. Then it was fitted over the two shift levers and tightened down with the seven capscrews to align it and seat it in the mastic (sticky black stuff) around the floorboard hole. The two leading capscrews were removed again and the upper boot was placed over the shift levers and the leading screws were screwed in again, this time thru both boots and floorboard. Then the same was done with the remaining five screws. The shift knobs were replaced . . . Another snag. The Hurst lever threaded portion is not long enuf for the original shift knob and the locking nut both. I had to leave the locking nut off. I finished up by adjusting the transfer case linkage.

November 11^th 2006  With the goal in sight, I dropped the ball. There's only a few things left to do to get Renegade back on the road, but I've been putting them off for months. Started back up again today. Cleaned the tranny mount assembly and masked off the rusty exhaust bracket on it for painting. Hung it up in the tree and PRE Paint Prepped it. Gave the bracket a coat of Rust Encapsulator followed by a couple of coats of Detail Gray after the Rust Encapsulator cured. I noticed that one of the universal joint bearing cups on the rear driveshaft had escaped the yoke and was loose in the ziplock bag I had placed over the end of the driveshaft. I managed to chase down all the roller bearings and get it back together and taped.

November 26^th 2006  Cleaned, Masked, PRE Paint Prepped and hung the driveshafts in the tree for painting. Gave each a heavy coat of Rust Encapsulator followed by a couple of coats of Eastwood's Spray Gray. Discovered that the ziplock baggie on one end of the front driveshaft had ruptured and this time I wasn't as lucky as I had been with the rear shaft. Searched in the roach turds on the floor of the shed with flashlight and magnifying glass but, in the end, came up two roller bearings short. I'll have to order a universal joint to get the rollers I need. The rollers support each other and if there are gaps, they will probably go diagonal on you and destroy the joint in short order.

March 3^rd 2007  Renegade has been neglected for some months now. The clutch job is at fourteen months and counting. Last week I spent some time preparing to get going again. The skid plate was dropped and the transmission mount and exhaust header were fitted loosely in place. This morning I cleaned old thread sealant off the mounting bolts and replaced it with new anti-seize compound. The mount and exhaust header bolts were then tightened up. The exhaust sensor was re-installed too, with a dab of anti-seize.

The bottom of the frame rails where the skid plate bolts onto are rusted so I went over them with a wire cup in the electric angle grinder followed by PRE Paint Prep and a rattlecan coat of Eastwood's Rust Encapsulator. After that cured, a coat of Eastwood's Chassis Black was applied.

March 18^th 2007  Last weekend, the skidplate/transmission support was cleaned and painted with Chassis Black. Today, I'd planned to re-install it along with the driveshafts. The rear driveshaft was re-installed. Then I stopped because it looked like I'd have more room to work on the hydraulic line without the front driveshaft and skidplate in my way.

April 7^th 2007  I've been having problems coming to grips with the clutch hydraulic line ever since I started this project. I don't like the plastic molded line with it's mis-named "quick-disconnect" at the release bearing end and it's specialized o-ring bayonet fitting at the master cylinder end. After buying a universal quick release tool kit (you don't want to know how much that cost), I still could not get it apart AARRRRUGH!! That cut's it! I am going back to good old rat rod school tech and make my own line with steel tubing and standard flare fittings. This log entry has gotten way too long (it spans more than four years!). I'm posting it now because fabricating the clutch line will take awhile longer and then I anticipate a devil of a time getting Renegade started again since he's been sitting for fifteen months now with only one bottle of Sta-bil to keep him from gumming up. More blood, sweat and beers to come.

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Issued Monday April 9, 2007

Updated Thursday April 26, 2018

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