I am getting better at this

By this, I mean working on the Jeep. I have done a heck of a lot over the last few days, and I'm pretty pleased with myself. While I realize that if I were comparing this to a pro mechanic, it would probably be pitiable, I'm not. I'm working by myself in a 2 car garage with not a lot of room and no air tools, lift to get the jeep up in the air, and none of the other cool tools that make it look so easy on Xtreme 4x4. So fuck 'em, this is the real "small 2 car garage" project, not that overhang they turned into a work area. Besides, if they leave all their shit out in the shop, it kind of defeats the purpose of a garage, doesn't it? I mean I have to clean up all my stuff and move it back into the garage, and then stuff the trash cans in there also.

So, back to the work, and I'll try not to pull any muscles patting myself on the back. Since Tuesday, I got the rear springs hooked completely up. the only thing I still need to do is go back in and finish tightening up the bolts on the U-bolts that I loosened to make it easier to get everything hooked up, and finish tightening the bolts on the rear shackles. Got the tires back on, and presto!, the Jeep is sitting on it's wheels again for a little while until I pull the front axle.

I've also wire brushed the "new" front axle (again), and painted it. Again, this is the difference between TV and real life, as I spent most of 45 minutes taping newspaper the floor of the garage so I could paint in there without having to get a divorce when my honey returns. While I was at it, I finished cleaning the shifter for the transmission, and have painted it silver. I think it looks pretty good.

Friday night, and today, I got the Jeep jacked up and did a bunch, that I am going to list out below. Some of these steps may not seem like much, especially if you do this a lot, but it's my first time and I'm pretty excited so bear with me.

• Pulled wheels
• Disconnected the brake lines
• Removed shock absorbers
• Unbolted the Main Eye end of the springs and used the 2 floor jacks to let the axle down gently onto some wood pieces piled on the floor. Axle is sitting about 10 inches off the ground.
• Unbolted one shackle end, and had to cut the other one off.
• Unbolted the frame attachments for the shackles, removed the shackles.
• Decided (at least as of right now) not to remove the front hangers, clean them up and paint them. One bolt for the drivers side also holds on the steering box, and I'm not sure I want to screw with it. I may just hit it with a wire wheel while still attached and then paint it.
• Hung the new shackles to test fit them.
• Took "new" springs out onto the ddriveway and removed the old shackle bushings. Then drilled out the Main Eye bushings.

Now, what's not shown on this list is the trips to Ace and Northern tools looking for sockets that would fit the Pitman arm. Of course, once I found one that fit, I decided I could probably get away with not removing it.

So I guess for tomorrow through Tuesday the list is something like this.....

• finish painting the "new" front axle
• Get the axles into the pickup truck and get them to a junkyard or metal recycler.
• Get new front axle into position
• Cut out the metal bushing or liner in the main eyes of the springs so I can put the new polyeurathane ones in.
• bolt up springs to axles
• Jack up springs and install the shackle end.
• reinstall tires, get new brake lines parts ordered. Definitely need new hard line for passenger front, as it was in really bad shape when I started working on it and just twisted off. will also need new soft lines for the front and a new one for the back.
• Get under hood and install the booster and new M/C
• Get under Jeep and remove old proportioning valve, then install the "new" one that I bought off of Ebay.
• Clean and paint the t-case, transmission and skidplate, then install those bitches.

Clearly, this is not all going to happen, but it's a heck of a list and a great start towards finishing up this project.

I think that's all, so Later.