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.

5. Back to Bulking Up

January 3^rd 2008  We're enjoying some of the Algoracle's global warming here in South Florida today. It was thirty-seven degrees when I woke up this morning to come to the Krash Lab. We have an iguana problem here and the chill has caused them to fall out of the trees and lay on the ground like corpses until they wander off again when the sun warms them up enuf. I drove Renegade home last night in anticipation of the cold snap. I can tell you that, if you haven't experienced the AX-15 tranny for yourself, the first-to-second gear shift in cold weather can be brutally hard. It can be like musical chairs if you miss it . . . no other gear will let you in either. My first shift this morning was like that and I had to coast to a stop and start over. The Hurst Billet Shifter is getting progressively more sloppy and I suspect the two bolts that hold the stick to the shifter have loosened up. Damnation!

I did some research when I got to the Krash Lab. The long and short of it is that I didn't find out a lot I liked about this tranny but I'm gonna try to hold on to it fer awhile due to the blood, sweat and beers I have invested in it. The first order of bizness is to change the gear oil. Seems the GL-5 lube originally recommended has a sulfer base that plays hell with the soft yellow metal of the synro's. I don't know if I have that problem but I'm going to change to Redline MT 90 gear oil just to be on the safe side and maybe improve the cold weather shifting.

January 5^th 2008  Renegade is shifting easier today but still sloppy. Wrestled the shifter boots off first thing this morning. The third boot, the one that came with the Hurst shifter was duct taped on back when I installed the shifter and ruined the wire tie that Hurst had provided. The duct tape is holding but the boot rubber has not. It has torn almost in half just above the duct tape line. I'm relieved. At least I don't have to wrestle with the duct tape in the close confines underneath the Jeep. I tore it the rest of the way off from above and will use more duct tape when I put it back together. Damnation! The shifter lever bolts are loose as suspected. I could kick myself for not checking them when I first installed the shifter.

These are allen head machine screws. I put threadlocker blue on them and tightened them up. Took a ride around the block . . . Much better! Now, I gotta mess around with those boots again. They are a pain in the keister. This might stretch into a three beer degree of difficulty job. I better check the refrigerator.

January 26^th 2008  Good weather day here in the shadetree garage. I performed monthly and quarterly maintenance chores on Renegade. Driver's side marker light was out so I made note to pick one up at a FLAPS then turned my attention to changing the tranny oil.

In the past few weeks I picked of 4 quarts of Redline MT-90 gear oil. I also found Stu Olsen's Jeep Website which is a treasure trove of Jeep information. He has a great little maintenance routine for changing the tranny fluid which I followed to the letter. Before opening the drain bolt on the tranny, Stu reccommends fabricating a makeshift diverter funnel as the drain plug opens up directly over the skid plate. We're a architectual firm here in the Krash Lab and we have plenty of left over cardboard tubes from used print paper rolls. I cut a 8-1/2" length off of one of these tubes and then cut that in half length-wise with a hacksaw to form a half round trough. Then I lined it with aluminum foil. By pure luck, it was just the correct length to wedge between the drain plug and the exhaust pipe so I didn't need to worry about holding it in place. Sometimes, Murphy takes the day off. I lost a little oil getting things started but I have some kitty litter to soak that up. Time for a cigar to let it drain.

I used my Dad's "Fram Sludge Syphon" to put the new Redline fluid in the tranny. This is an old antique. It's sloppy and leaky but I think about my Dad when I'm using it and that makes all the difference. I'll continue to use it until it falls completely apart or I do. Took a little over three quarts. I noticed the difference right away just moving Renegade around the Krash Lab parking lot. It's not a royal pain to get into reverse. Also found the remainder of the Gumout Fuel System Cleaner and dumped that into the gas tank. A couple of weeks ago, I got the speedo working again by rotating the connection at the transfer case.

February 17^th 2008  Renegade hasn't been cleaned for a long time so last week I started detailing operations. After washing, the top was treated with protectant and the plastic vision panels were polished out on the exterior side. The windshield frame is rusting out at the center bottom and I decided to put a temporary fix on this. Wire-brushed the worst of it and masked it off. Gave it an application of Eastwood's Rust Encapsulator. This morning, I followed that up with Eastwood's Chassis Black (the only glossy black paint I currently have in my inventory.

Went online and ordered a couple of silicone wiper blades from Quadratec as the rubber ones on Renegade are starting to fall apart. The outside mirrors were wracked out of shape when a tree limb fell on Renegade during Hurricane Wilma (we were in the eye of the storm). It's about time to take the mirrors off to straighten them out and detail them.

March 15^th 2008  Got around to putting those PIAA Super Silicone Wiper blades on today.

June 10^th 2008  Damnation! I haven't been payin' much attention to Renegade lately and he decided to act up today. I've started to get hesitation on hard throttle with some hiccups and He almost stalled once. No check engine lights have been triggered. Gotta find out what that is an' fix it. I only have two vehicles runnin' right now. BillyBob and Renegade. BettyLou is down for the count with rusted out fuel and brake lines.

June 11^th 2008  Stopped at a FLAPS on the way to the gas station at lunch time and got a can of Seafoam additive to dump in the gas tank with the E10 corn squezzin's fuel we Floridans are now plagued with. I suspect carbon buildup and maybe this will clean it up enuf to git rid of the hesitation and bogging down.

November 16^th 2008  It's been awhile since I've worked on Renegade. The Seafoam that I added in June solved the engine problem I wuz having. In september I picked up a new truck, "Deerslayer", a '37 Chevy pickup hotrod, which has become my daily driver. A few weeks after I got back, I put Renegade in the warehouse bay and brought BillyBob down to the shadetree garage to replace the main bearing seal. That took longer than expected like all my projects.

This morning I took BillyBob back to the warehouse to exchange with Renegade again. Renegade's battery was almost dead. I drained my portable battery pack without getting him going. Lucky for me, I had jumper cables under BillyBob's seat and could get the truck close enuf to reach Renegade's battery. That worked and I let the Jeep run for a bit to charge the battery while I enjoyed a cigar back at the Krash Lab.

The filter on the Funnel Ram Intake System I got back in ought-three had fallen off again. I had fixed this once but I'm tired of that. I taped the filter into position for the time being and ordered a Airaid Cold Air Dam Intake from Quadratec online. Monthly maintenance was performed next.

November 22^nd 2008  Yesterday, I was late for a med appointment when I jumped in Renegade and headed down the road. Got 'bout a block from the Krash Lab when the "Check Engine" light came on. Went back to the Krash Lab and traded Renegade for Deerslayer.

This morning is cool and windy. I don't much like the wind. I pulled out my Innova Equus 3140 scanner and hooked it up to Renegade to see what the engine check light was all about. It came back with a DTC 41 trouble code - "An open or shorted condition detected in the generator field control circuit". Maybe a bad alternator? I'll have to ponder this and do some research.

Warmed up the engine for forty minutes and did an oil and filter change. I'm using Valvoline 10w-30 Premium oil and a WIX 51085 filter this time. I've read some bad FRAM reports and some good WIX reports on the intarweb and that's the reason for the filter change. When I fired up the engine after the oil change, the "check engine" warning was gone. I'll just watch things fer now. I've gotten a lot of mileage out of a "careful negligence" philosophy over the years. Some things need to be fixed right away and some things don't.

The new Airaid cold air intake system arrived from Quadratec yesterday so the installation of that was next. The old intake came off quickly and was put in the back of the Jeep for storage up at the warehouse. Some of the parts might be cannibalized for some other project. I put a rag in the throttlebody inlet to keep debris out and went inside the Krash Lab to read the Airaid instructions.

Read them a couple of times and got started. Couldn't see the reason for disconnecting the battery so I skipped that step. I didn't want to deal with the blaring alarm during reconnection. I also didn't see the need to disconnect the vacuum line from the cannister so I ignored that too. I followed the rest of the instructions. I found the front diffy vent hose flopping loose below the airbox mounting and I secured it's clamp to one of the mounting bolts for the new "Cool Air Dam". The installation went well and I ran the engine for an additional twenty minutes when I was finished. The "check engine" light continued to stay out.

November 28^th 2008  Cold day for south Florida. Yesterday, I detailed Deerslayer with a new (for me) product, Wash Wax All from Aero Cosmetics. It's spray on, agitate and wipe off stuff for paint, glass, plastic, rubber, chrome, etc. One size fits all. I wuz impressed. I gave Renegade the same treatment today.

Spent the rest of the day on reorganization. Everytime I can't find something, I go into reorg mode until it turns up. In this case it's measurement calipers. I purchased the tool some time ago and don't know where I've stashed it.

November 29^th 2008  The battery was too low to start Renegade yesterday. Managed to start with the portable battery pack, then move the Jeep closer to the building where I could connect the battery charger. The charger doesn't show the battery down much. we may be at the end of this battery's run.

December 20^th 2008  When I exchanged BillyBob for Rengade up at the warehouse last sunday, the Jeep battery was dead again. I jumped Renegade with BillyBob and took the battery out when I got back to the Krash Lab. The battery slid around in Deerslayer's pickup bed until monday when I got a replacement Optima battery at my favorite FLAPS. The warranty is for eighty-five months and that is a little less than the old Optima battery had on it so I don't feel too bad about the battery's demise.

Charged and installed the new battery first thing when I got to the Krash Lab this morning. Ran the engine for twenty minutes to move the fluids around.

Took the outside mirrors off back in February to restore them and I'm finally getting back to them. I had tried Eastwood's SEM OEM Black trim paint on the plastic knobs but that didn't work very well. I picked up a rattlecan of Krylon Fusion in Gloss Black to try next. PRE Paint Prepped the knobs and sprayed 'em. That worked nicely. Went on the disemble the rest of the mirrors, rough up the metal parts with a 3M Scuff Pad, PRE Paint prep them and spray them with Eastwood's SEM OEM Black Trim Paint. Had just enuf trim paint left in the rattlecan to finish this job up.

Okay, time to let the paint dry. I packed up the beer of the day, Wild Goose Brewery's Brown Lager, in a cooler and headed for the saturday nite cruise-in with Deerslayer.

December 21^st 2008  'Nother good weather day. Installed the mirrors. They look good for now but there is corrosion bubbling under the original paint on the mirror heads and I know I'll be back to working on these somewhere down the road.

I found another can of Eastwood's SEM OEM Trim Black paint hiding in the back of the shed so I removed the cowl vent grille and roughed it up with the 3M Scuff Pad for painting. PRE Paint Prepped the grille and gave it a couple of coats of the trim black.

When the paint dried, the grille was re-installed with stainless steel screws from my Harbor Freight assortment. The screws on the windshield washer nozzles were replaced too. I didn't have a suitable screw for the side marker lights so I went inside the Krash Lab and ordered a larger assortment from McMaster-Carr online. While I was at it, I ordered new windshield tie downs and hood latch set from Quadratec.

December 26^th 2008  Had a good Christmas yesterday with old friends up the coast in Stuart, Florida. Today is looking like a good weather day and I decided to spruce up the driving lights. The plastic finishes are flattened and mountings are rusty. Pulled the lights and the plastic buckets. Started with the buckets. Cleaned them with Simple Green and Water. Prepped them with household ammonia and gave them a couple of light coats of the Duplicolor Fusion paint I had used on the mirror knobs.

Cleaned the bucket openings with Wash Wax All and re-installed the buckets after they dried with new stainless steel screws from my Harbor Freight assortment. Dismantled the driving light mounting brackets next. Masked off the lenses and cleaned the light casings with Simple Green and water. Hung them up in the shade tree and gave them a couple of light coats of the Duplicolor Fusion paint.

Cleaned the rust off the homemade brackets and hung them out in the shadetree. PRE Paint Preped them and gave them a couple of coats of the Duplicolor Fusion. After that dried, everything was put back together and the lights tested. Looks good. Performed quarterly maintenance before closing up fer the day. Beer of the day is Christian Moerlein Brewing Company's Barbarossa Double Dark Lager.

January 11^th 2009  Cool and sunny this morning. Everybody was out. I took BillyBob for a Fort Lauderdale Beach run but it took longer than usual because joggers were in the bike lanes and bikes were in the auto lanes ~!@#$% Last nite, I took Deerslayer down to HollyWood Beach for a cruise in. It was great. This thing is right on the beach and suckin' down brews and listening to Doo-wop under a full moon on the ocean . . . Well, it just doesn't get any better than that. When I got back from this morning's run, I put BillyBob in the warehouse bay and retreived Renegade. It was Renegades turn for the Wash Wax All treatment, and the body, wheels and tires got that first. Then I started installing new hood hardware. These items are stainless steel with a black powder coat finish.

Started installing the side latches and tie downs, one item at a time, with threadlocker blue and everything went well. I only lost one small lockwasher and I didn't really need it. When I tried to figure out how the hood insulation blanket fasteners worked, the insulation started to crumble in my hands so I removed it entirely and threw it in the dumpster. There was a guy walking up and down the street and then up and down the alley too. This guy was one taco short of a combo platter. He was talking a lot to himself, loud and profanity strewn. Keeping an eye on him slowed me down. I didn't want him on my six. After the new hood hardware was installed, I closed up shop and headed out for the sunday nite cruise-in with Deerslayer.

January 17^th 2009  Chilly in south Florida this morning. 52 degrees when I got up. The rest of the country is pretty much frozen solid. Decided to catch up with some computer work in the Krash Lab while I waited for it to warm up a bit.

I got a pair of Sylvania 168LL bulbs for the side marker lights. This is the second try. The first bulbs I got for this were wrong. After cleaning the bulb sockets with Archer Cleaner Degreaser, the bulbs were seated and tested. That's better. Reinstalled the side markers. A few weeks back, I replaced the rusty side marker screws with stainless steel screws from a McMaster-Carr assortment. I lost one of the rusty screws and searched for it fer about twenty minutes without luck. A week later, BillyBob's front tire found it and now I need a new inner tube.

Grabbed a chunk of cardboard and rolled under the Jeep fer awhile for inspection. The muffler and tailpipe are rusting thru in places so that's next on the replacement list. In keeping with my policy of replacing OEM parts with performance parts whenever I can, I went in the Krash Lab and ordered a Banks Stainless Monster Cat-Back from Quadratec. Went on to fiddling around with Deerslayer before heading out to a saturday nite cruise-in. Beer of the day is Lancaster Brewing Company's Winter Warmer Ale.

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Issued Sunday January 18, 2009

Updated Friday April 27, 2018

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