Pylon ressurects the Captains Jeep. A tale of redemption...

[Sliver]

Originally Posted by pylon

No. They live in Cranston now. Sold their place in LB. Something about a crazy drunk on a lil rascal forced em out.

But they are away, so I've commandeered their garage in Cranston for the next week.

Too bad, I was going to scoot on by with my tools. Loving the thread, dude.

[btimbit]

Damn, too bad I didn't still live in Cranston, I'd offer to come by!

Looking great so far pylon, makes me wish for another project

[pylon]

Well my knuckles are shredded. So worth it!

[btimbit]

Looking great pylon.

FWIW, I've heard those are actually pretty good tires, especially for the price. They just wear really fast. Look mean as hell in that last pic

[Burninator]

Looking good pylon.


Is it common for the suspension to fall apart like that on a stock wrangler with only 100k on it?

[CaptainCrunch]

It was a surprise to me to be honest, when I went in and got it checked, the guy indicated that the ball joints start to go after the 6th oil change, my jaw dropped to the floor because of that statement, that's only 30k.

I asked him if that was standard and the guy sniffed and said it was the price of driving a dodge and specifically a jeep.

Its funny, because I'm reading the work and expense that Pylon is putting into it and I'm feeling a little shame, in my defense I got all the prescribed work done, and was getting ready for the tires and some work to be done, when this bombshell was dropped on me.

Yeah the two things that really annoyed me were the doors, the hinge on the passenger side went early and the lock mechanism on the drivers side never worked properly.

The one big rust spot I blame on my ex girlfriend who saw a paint chip and for some reason pulled on it.

don't get me wrong, I loved that jeep, I had wanted one since I hit drivers age, and I got 7 good years out of it, but when two mechanics come back to you with thousands of dollars in estimates on a repair estimation, I decided to get out, I'm glad that Pylon got the jeep that he wanted since he sold it to me the first time and it looks great so far.

[btimbit]

Unfortunately, that's par for the course for any Chrysler product, but especially pre-2013 designs.

[Fuzz]

Do they still snap off the grease fittings in the factory, so you can't lube them? Is that why they fail?

[undercoverbrother]

Originally Posted by CaptainCrunch

It was a surprise to me to be honest, when I went in and got it checked, the guy indicated that the ball joints start to go after the 6th oil change, my jaw dropped to the floor because of that statement, that's only 30k.

I asked him if that was standard and the guy sniffed and said it was the price of driving a dodge and specifically a jeep.

Its funny, because I'm reading the work and expense that Pylon is putting into it and I'm feeling a little shame, in my defense I got all the prescribed work done, and was getting ready for the tires and some work to be done, when this bombshell was dropped on me.

Yeah the two things that really annoyed me were the doors, the hinge on the passenger side went early and the lock mechanism on the drivers side never worked properly.

The one big rust spot I blame on my ex girlfriend who saw a paint chip and for some reason pulled on it.

don't get me wrong, I loved that jeep, I had wanted one since I hit drivers age, and I got 7 good years out of it, but when two mechanics come back to you with thousands of dollars in estimates on a repair estimation, I decided to get out, I'm glad that Pylon got the jeep that he wanted since he sold it to me the first time and it looks great so far.

Don't feel bad CC, everybody's current love is somebody's Ex-love.

[pylon]

Originally Posted by CaptainCrunch

It was a surprise to me to be honest, when I went in and got it checked, the guy indicated that the ball joints start to go after the 6th oil change, my jaw dropped to the floor because of that statement, that's only 30k.

I asked him if that was standard and the guy sniffed and said it was the price of driving a dodge and specifically a jeep.

Its funny, because I'm reading the work and expense that Pylon is putting into it and I'm feeling a little shame, in my defense I got all the prescribed work done, and was getting ready for the tires and some work to be done, when this bombshell was dropped on me.

Yeah the two things that really annoyed me were the doors, the hinge on the passenger side went early and the lock mechanism on the drivers side never worked properly.

The one big rust spot I blame on my ex girlfriend who saw a paint chip and for some reason pulled on it.

don't get me wrong, I loved that jeep, I had wanted one since I hit drivers age, and I got 7 good years out of it, but when two mechanics come back to you with thousands of dollars in estimates on a repair estimation, I decided to get out, I'm glad that Pylon got the jeep that he wanted since he sold it to me the first time and it looks great so far.

Dude. Don't worry.

You used the car, and wore it out, that's what your supposed to do. Tires wear out, brakes wear out, ball joints on Chrysler anything wear out. I replaced everything with heavy duty stuff to hopefully extract a little more life out of it this go around. Hinges on these things are notoriously for seizing up if they aren't lubed properly, and it surprises me, the dealer never gave you the low down on how to keep them fresh.

What I do always recommend to anyone with domestic stuff, especially trucks is this. When it comes time to replace components. Don't buy OEM. There are so many awesome heavy duty components that you can buy for the same cost or less, that will last ages longer. If you ever looked at a Moog ball joint, compared to an OEM one, and it wasn't labeled, you'd assume the Moog was the OEM part, it's just that much better.

I could have bought the thing, put 5-6 k into it, and had a perfectly good factory spec Jeep. But all the right things were broken that now I will put 8-9 k into it, and have an Ultra badass Jeep. This is the cool thing with mods. Sometimes it cost very little to up the anti. I could have bought the 'factory recommended' tires for $400 a piece. Instead I opted to buy really badass wheels and tires on a crazy deal for essentially the same.

Also I'm really lucky to have the connections I do for this. If it didn't have access to dealer cost for a lot of this stuff, this could have easily gotten out of hand.

At the end of the day CC, you used it the way it was meant to be, and there is no shame in that. Whats gonna be more embarrassing, is when this thing is trail ready, and I'm gonna be to afraid to scratch it because of all the work I've put into it.

[cracher]

Sweet build so far.

If you're struggling with a seized small part due to corrosion, let me know. I have a retired ultrasonic machine that I used to use for my office instruments. Pour a little CLR in with the distilled water, run for 20 minutes, and all the corrosion will all be gone. Does a way better job than any penetrating oil and elbow grease.

[pylon]

Originally Posted by undercoverbrother

Don't feel bad CC, everybody's current love is somebody's Ex-love.

Yup. I've got Cc's sloppy seconds. LOL.

I've been in this boat before. I've sold a really cool car or bike to a guy that needed a ton of work I wasn't willing to or had the time to do. In fact I've held out on a few occasions for the 'right buyer' so I know it's in the right hands, and it will be brought back right, or used right. Because I always love to see what the end result is.

[llwhiteoutll]

I'd chop the hook off the winch, they had a bunch that were failing under load/under sized for the winch. You can get a nice safety hook from Titan Supply, or just use a shackle with the end loop.

[undercoverbrother]

Originally Posted by pylon

Yup. I've got Cc's sloppy seconds. LOL.

I've been in this boat before. I've sold a really cool car or bike to a guy that needed a ton of work I wasn't willing to or had the time to do. In fact I've held out on a few occasions for the 'right buyer' so I know it's in the right hands, and it will be brought back right, or used right. Because I always love to see what the end result is.

Yeah, it wasn't written as a "sloppy seconds" type post.

Sorry if it came off like that.

[pylon]

Originally Posted by undercoverbrother

Yeah, it wasn't written as a "sloppy seconds" type post.

Sorry if it came off like that.

LOL. No, I've been thinking that all along. I got CC's ex Motley Crew groupie, she's 43 years old, used hard, put away wet, has some daddy issues.....

I'm putting her through therapy, taking her off to the Botox clinic. Some 'bolt on' upgrades in the front and rear, and I'll get 3 or 4 good years out of her, until the prescription drug addiction kicks in, she develops an obsession with 'procedures' and starts sleeping with her therapist.

[pylon]

One suggestion I would throw out to the shady tree mechanics out there. If you are taking on a project like this, basically leave the cordless tools in the case. Useless. I went through 2 batteries on my Milwaukee 18v Li-on impact wrench trying to break one seized bolt. Got out my 29.95 Boxing Day special Mastercraft corded impact gun, and broke them loose in 20 seconds.

[btimbit]

For sure. This is really the only cordless tool I've found useful for automotive work



Everything else you generally want more juice. My cheap corded Mastercraft gun has also been great, perfect for tire changes and other small jobs where it's not worth it to fire up an air compressor

[Fuzz]

I've got that gun, it's awesome. Especially on sale. I saw it sitting in the picture and almost commented on it. The impact gun, not that little cordless.

[pylon]

Originally Posted by btimbit

For sure. This is really the only cordless tool I've found useful for automotive work



Everything else you generally want more juice. My cheap corded Mastercraft gun has also been great, perfect for tire changes and other small jobs where it's not worth it to fire up an air compressor

Originally Posted by Fuzz

I've got that gun, it's awesome. Especially on sale. I saw it sitting in the picture and almost commented on it. The impact gun, not that little cordless.

Yup. I bought mine 6 or 7 years ago. It does my winter swaps, my parents, a few friends..... Things probably done 50+ swaps. I have air stuff, and never use it. You have to oil the tools, go deaf from the compressor....etc. I keep waiting for the thing to break, it just keeps going. And when it does? Who cares. They go on sale every few months for $30. Crap, it costs double that just for a routine service on a Mac or a Snap-On air gun, at least.

[btimbit]

I just find the sound of a compressor very annoying as well, hate using it. I really only pull it out if I'm doing something like suspension work where there's lots of rusted bolts, even then, if it's just a few I'll try and breaker bar them loose then use the electric impact