This project just keeps on going. I’m not complaining, I just can’t wait to drive this beautiful beast. I got the front diff cover pulled off. There was some milky fluid in there but I’m pretty sure it’s from sitting in my previous garage for a year that wasn’t insulated without fluid in it. So, I cleaned all that up and got the diff cover painted. Here’s a peek at what it looked like without the cover:
The lighting makes it look worse than it is, but it’s in pretty good shape. There isn’t any rust on the gears and there weren’t any metal shavings in the bottom or the cover. There was a TON of play in the u-joints for the axles so we pulled them out and they literally fell to pieces from rust – very happy I replaced those.
The other day when we worked on it we had an issue with one of the knuckles where the brake calipers screw in the whole was completely stripped out. So, we started swapping that out and realized the ball joints are shot and one of the wheel bearings was completely gone. We just recently had a cousin get a head injury and his girlfriend break a leg because a ball joint blew out – so, considering I’ll have the kids in there, we decided this was a great opportunity to get all new Moog ball joints and Timken wheel bearings (should be here Friday).
Lastly my dad got the wiring extended for the speed sensor and the t-case connector. So, hopefully that all plays nice. It’s tucked up out of the way and should be safe from heat.
We’re selling the minivan on Friday (we’re not minivan people) and saving up for the wife’s “secret” vehicle, so we’re getting excited about that. But that means the XJ becomes a bigger priority as we’ll be down to just a single “newer” vehicle after the van’s gone.
Oh! Yesterday I got a new Interstate 800 CCA since the little 525 CCA cheapo the previous owner put in there since it was barely turning over the Jeep. I also returned the extra U-Joint I had (we decided not to do the two u-joints on the CV portion of the front driveshaft) and picked up the U-Bolts. Now I should be good to get the rear suspension in this weekend too. Getting close, but I’m impatient so this is killing me!