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What I did to my TJ today

4M views 43K replies 4K participants last post by  LowCountryLJ 
#1 · (Edited by Moderator)
Please feel free to add your own vehicle wrenching / adventure stories to this Thread.
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#381 ·
Yella ti, I removed my third cat, put on a 40 series flowmast, and had a full 3" tailpipe put on. Sounded great until one of my pre cats went bad, and then melted down. Chrysler wouldn't cover it because I altered the aystem and the pipe is around 700$. I was told the front cat went bad because the third one was missing, although I can't see how the two awould affect each other. Mine did have an intermittent rough idle immediately after removing the third cat. Just something to think about...maybe do some research so you don't have problems later and learn the hard way like me:/
 
#382 ·
Purchased an '00 TJ Sport from my oldest brother and started pulling the engine to replace the rusted freeze plugs. One rusty nut (out of four) on the exhaust manifold giving me fits but not unexpected. Next I will be removing parts to have them sand blasted then repainted. Needs new windshield and body work on the driver side.
 
#383 ·
Over the weekend with the help of Always Stuck I learned how to change the oil and refinished the rims, im very happy with the way they came out, and it was a lot less expensive than buying new ones (roughly $20). I also learned how to use a plasma cutter and it was awesome!

Before

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After

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What did you do to the rims? I purchased a black TJ from my brother and it has alloy American Racing wheels that I believe will never clean up. Painting these black would really be sharp.
 
#389 ·
What did you do to the rims? I purchased a black TJ from my brother and it has alloy American Racing wheels that I believe will never clean up. Painting these black would really be sharp.
You will need 2 cans of Spray paint for metal (I used Rustoleum) as well as 2 cans of Primer and a package of fine sandpaper.

Once you jack up the jeep and take the wheels off you will need to sand down the rims. If there are any chips/rust spots you want to make sure after sanding you can run your fingers over those spots and not feel any bumps or it will show when you paint. The spots that aren’t chipped you just need to sand of the clear coat.

I removed the center caps from the rims and taped the jeep logo and sanded them as well so the primer has something to adhere to.

I then took the tires off the wheel (If you do this make sure to mark the tire where the valve stem is this way you can mount them in the same place and not mess up the weighting). You can also leave the tires on and use index cards to mark of the tire so it won’t get paint on them.

Now you begin to apply the primer. I did very light coats back and forth from top to bottom. you want to start spraying outside the rim then come over it and keep spraying until you pas over the other side this way it stays even. Then I moved 1/4 way around the rim and prayed again side to side & top to bottom. I would say I ended up doing about 20-30 very light coats and the wheel was completly covered. Do not spay too much or it will puddle and run. Then I let it sit and dry for about 20 minutes. (Same process for center caps).

I repeated the priming process with the Metallic Spray paint. Light coats moving 1/4 around the rim after each coat to make sure it went on even. Then I let them sit and dry for about 20 minutes (same process for center caps). Then I put the tires back on and put them on the Jeep.

In putting the tires back on the rim I did chip the paint on the lip of the rim slightly. i used a paint brush and sprayed some of the paint in the cap of the can and lightly touched up the edges.

It is easiest if you can put the Jeep on jack stands and do all the rims at once but you can do them one at a time as well. It probably took me 5-6 hours to do the 4 wheels (I didn’t bother doing the spare).
 
#397 ·
well it wasnt to mine but i helped a kid put his back window back on his 2011 jk:) Hes 18 and bought this thing brand new a couple weeks ago god i wish i had that kind of money!
 
#398 ·
it's a little crooked ...hate to do it over again especially at 8 bucks a pop.:banghead:By zdagon52 at 2011-09-15
i love the stickers! but id never put one on my soft top window . i just got my temp registration thing out of my back window the other day and it looks like its still there lol the plastics all bubbled up not cool!:banghead:
 
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