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Nothing bad happened today

14K views 140 replies 66 participants last post by  Sucker Punch 
#1 ·
For the purpose of tracking JK quality and longevity, please join this thread.

I've got a 2008 2-door Sahara that I bought with 50 dealer test-drive miles on it in April, 2008. I've got about 50,300 on it today.

Well, on the way to work today I was rounding a corner and absolutely nothing bad happened.

Please share your story.
Often.
Be sure to update the boring details...


Thank you for the idea, daggo66....
 
#35 ·
Drove my Jeep to the beach today...got up in the sand and watched the Atlantic Ocean surf for a while...left the sand without getting stuck...picked up some "beach pizza" and fresh clam chowda for tonight's supper...drove home in 40 mph crosswinds...nuthin' bad happened at all...:D
 
#36 ·
We were out in the woods yesterday enjoying the snow. Came across an elderly couple in an XJ that was stuck on a hill, sideways on some bad ice.
Got them unstuck and on their way (barely escaping death?) and nothing bad happened.
 
#38 ·
Two feet of snow in the Western MA hill-towns yesterday and the road over the mountain was in rough condition. I put the jeep in 4wd high and drove over the mountain. The jeep tossed around a lot but made it up and down the mountain with not much sideways travel. While on the drive over the mountain nothing bad happened.
 
#40 ·
ok ill bite we went to the desert over the weekend. was very nice a little windy but not too bad. drove all the way out there, offroaded, came back and still nothing happened! yay! im still waiting everytime i shift the transfer case for that little plastic piece to break but still nothing happened. im happy
 
#41 ·
Give it time....that little plastic piece will surprise you when you least expect it. That is why there are three in the bottom of my glove box.
 
#44 ·
^ Ocotillo Wells. best place to offroad imho its got a little of everything. jk'n i know your right its bound to happen i really need to get some replacements im just lazy and hate going to the stealership. maby i can get some from online.
 
#46 ·
^ thats true we really should have a how-to or something so the next time it happens to someone they dont have to put up a post asking why they cant shift their transfer case. i mainy just want a picture of what this clip of doom looks like and where its at.
 
#47 ·
All in favor of a sticky say "aye". :punk:
 
#48 ·
^ i say aye x2 cause i just went under my jk to check out this "piece of doom" and when i figured out which one it was i went to just grap it a little and part of it just broke off. so i figured what the hell i can make this better. i started by taking off the arm from the tranfer case, 10 mm wrench, simple stuff. then when i was going to remove the arm from the cable end the little "piece of doom" disintegrated upon removal. now to find something to replace the "piece of doom". i looked in my tool box and found a brass round fitting peice fit right into the cable end. it looks like a ball with a big hole in the middle and the ends cut off. then i took a little strip of sheet metal and bent it around the pole that is on the arm from the tranfer case. now put that round strip on the pole then put the end of the cable on the pole get the round brass fitting piece and put that on the pole finally put a C clip on the end to keep it all on there. i put the arm back on the transfer case and i was done. if anyone wants pics i can get some later i just put it back together with out thinking about pictures. it works quite well no slop at all feels just like stock but now with metal intead of the plastic "piece of doom" im happy
 
#49 ·
Your explanation about the "piece of doom" disintegrating is why I have 3 in my glove box. If anyone goes wheeling without one of these little plastic gismos, they are just asking for trouble. I am curious to see your mod though. The ones that I have seen so far are destructive in that they drill out the pin on the lever and replace it with a bolt. This one sounds like it works without destroying anything or permanently modifying it.
 
#50 ·
^ yep that is the point exactly. i always make my mods like that when ever possible. i will get some pictures today cause it is a pretty good idea if i do say so myself. the peice of doom is a ticking timebomb in everyones wrangler most of all people like me that are in a dry climate like the desert. my jk lives there all winter so the dry is hell on plastic. i dont get why jeep made this peice out of such a crappy plastic but it really needs to be metal. let me go see if my jeep is cool enough to work on it.
 
#51 ·
ok so i got some pics. first is my "kit" for replacing the piece of doom. from left to right it is: washer, C-clip 1/4" (i think i dont know how to size these), the brass fuel fitting (more pics to come), and last is the strip of sheet metal i bent round to fit on the pin and inside of the brass fitting.



here is more of the brass fuel fitting i got from when i replaced the fuel pump on my friends volvo and had this left over. the outside diameter is 1/2 inch. i have no idea what to call this thing so if someone knows please fill me in.




next is the installation order. start with an emty pin. i took these with the arm still on the transfer case only cause i didnt want to take it off again just for pics. i would for sure say the arm being taken off so its easier to work with. its only a 10mm wrench and it was off quick.



first put the washer on.



then put the round srtip of sheet metal you made. this could also be done with a small piece of tubing cut to the rigth length but i didnt have any so just bent up this peice.



when you look inside the cable end you will see that one side is a little bigger than the other put the bigger side facing out. heres a pic so you know what i mean its kinda blurry but the larger side is facing the camera.


then put the cable end on the pin over the round round peice you made.



then after the cable end is on put the round brass fitting peice in the pin. i dont have a picture of this step cause it would just fall out while the arm is on the transfer case but this is what it looks like with out the cable end on so you can see the order.



finally put the C-clip on the hold it all together.



reinstall the arm onto the transfer case and your done. climb out from under the jeep and into it check the motion of the tranfer case lever to make sure it is all smooth. if it is then you are all set.
 
#53 ·
i have no idea what to call this thing so if someone knows please fill me in.
It's a compression ferrule.

Nice write-up.

jk'n --- can you post a pic of the clip of doom, off the Jeep and properly installed too?
 
#55 ·
im guessing the hole in the cable ring is bigger than the stud it attaches to since you needed the tappered brass fitting? but if you sleeved the stud to bring it to the same dia as the cable ring then two washers and a c-clip... in other words why do you need the tappered brass fitting?
 
#56 ·
Doesn't look like it.
Just a sleeve, two correct washers, and a clip. He was just working with what he had on-hand at the time and his PHD in Ghetto Engineering... ;)

I'm guessing that the plastic piece is purposely designed to be a weak link to keep something else from breaking if one were to force the lever. USAntigoon could probably give us an engineer's perspective on that.
 
#57 ·
my geuss was they used that plastic cause it would have less friction than another plastics but didnt realize it would dry out and break alot easier than the other plastics. yes the cable end is larger than the pin thats where the "clip of doom" went. the sleeve idea would almost work but the inside of the cable end has a big side and a small side so the sleeve would only be touching the the small side. thats why i used the compression ferrule (thanks hill) to fill in the big side and the sleeve i made fills in the small side. there is zero slop and you would never know it was there by working the transfer case lever. yea my masters in ghetto engineering has gotten me out of a lot of problems. it my not look great but atleast its not going to desintegrate on me out in the middle of the desert. i would get you pics of the clip of doom but mine fell apart into a hundred peices. it would be really easy for someone with a lathe to shape a piece that would fill in the space for the clip of doom and then put a clip on the end to keep it in place. i think that this will for sure be a recall issue one day when a lot of peoples clip of doom desintegrates and they cant shift their transfer cases.
 
#58 ·
I know a good fabricator with a lathe; I'll get around to prodding him to make something.
 
#60 ·
Probably.
What I think he's describing is a tapered bearing. If you brought the clip into a bearing house and talked to one of the old farts, I bet they'd hook you up.
Or we can make a slick billet one...
 
#64 ·
I have 2: last night, and today:
Last night:
Drove home (70 miles) with 4.88's and my shiny new ECTED installed with ZERO problems (now that Q-tec is out of the picture! :)). None. Nada.

Tonight- found out the strange new noise was just my right front brake rotor dust shield gently touching the rotor- thought it could be SO much worse, so I count that one :) Mark W.
 
#65 ·
We've got this big trip out to Arizona coming up so I swapped tires early and installed 255/85-16 KM2s and some Smittybilt side side steps:



Needing an alignment after the lift and tires, I went to the dealer --- also had them R&R the coolant and pressure test the system.
Went wheeling afterward.
Then yesterday I went to give her an oil change and do the diffs.
Found that the dealer tech had left a pair of vicegrips clamping the coolant return line shut; it had jumped from its retainer and was dangling.
Frickin' dingus. Not sure what to do; the top hose was pretty sucked-in from the pressure.

But nothing bad happened; didn't overheat, nothing broke.

Here's a couple of vids of my friend Swiss going up and down a ledge; it's a longish 2-phase one with a 34" total drop. Sloppy approach too.

YouTube - The Swiss coming up Old Bucktown

YouTube - The Swiss going down Stumpy's Canyon

 
#66 ·
Pictures of the clamped off hose if not already removed. Might come in handy when requesting a new engine from them if anything happens in the future ...

Can't see, for the life of me, why he would do such a thing. Glad he was "certified".
 
#67 ·
Raining it's butt off this morning... no leaks... on the way to work dog runs in front of me... hit the binders, ABS kicks in, dog safe, coffee remained in sippy cup... and nothing bad happened.
 
#68 ·
Went for a quick explore along a river yesterday - found some neat places. Top and doors off and I made it home before the rains came. Only bad thing that happened was that I had to quit playing early ...
 
#71 ·
That was sorta the point; we both went through with bad lines for practice getting out.
I did it with less drama though; short wheelbase ruled in that hole.

Nothing bad happened.

Made it back from Arizona too. :D

 
#70 ·
Spent the week out on Cape Cod last week. Did a lot of biking and sight seeing but nothing bad happened to the jeep.
 
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