FIRST COAT!!!

This is the first coat of a spray on truck bed liner. I checked a few of the Jeep Forums to get some idea of how well this stuff works....Lets be honest..It is not a Rhino Lining or a Line-X product...But it also didn't cost me $500 to $800 dollars...Which is how much Line-X and Rhino wanted to spray the tub and that was with me prepping it all.

PRIMED!

Primed and ready...I removed the shifter cover assembly so I could sand down and get everything. I even went so far as to remove all of the seat belt components as well as all of the latches to the doors. This is a lot of work...The directions say that primer is not required...But I don't think it ever hurts to use it...I want to make sure this liner sticks...

STRIPPED BARE!

The carpet is out! That was pretty easy...Although, I did not realize how difficult the carpet glue would be underneath....Heavy grit sandpaper, elbow grease, palm sander...No luck!

I will continue to come up with new and innovative ways to spend all of my time...Notice the nice passenger side seat belt base? Oh yeah...Rusted in baby...that thing doesn't want to leave...I am going to have to drill it out most likely...But not before I get a little further along..

The 70's are gone..No one likes carpet anymore!

Recently, I decided I would upgrade my Jeep by removing all of the seats and stripping the carpet. My intention you ask? To sand down the floors and put in a durable spray on truck bed liner. I figured since this beast will spend more time off road getting dirty, than in my garage...I should minimize my cleaning time by simply putting in a liner and being able to spray it out...

Finally Fixed

I finally got the Jeep back...After almost three weeks of repair work on the transmission, exhaust, manifold, clutch, and shocks, my beast is back in working order. It drives awesome now...With a new catalytic converter and welded pipes, the sound is very throaty and there is no more rattle in the pipes...There is also no leakage of fumes into the cabin...Although the Jeep is open all the time, the fumes from the exhaust were creeping up in the cabin and it stunk like exhaust all the time while driving, now its nothing but fresh air!

All the idling problems are gone now as well...The exhaust/manifold gasket exchange and elimination of the O2 sensor on the catalytic converter has put the idle right back where it needed to be...Now I can hear music and have a conversation with someone without having to yell.

The shifter is nice and smooth and everything works like a champ...The shock bushings have eliminated the clanking sounds when I go over a bump; however, the leaf springs are a little squeaky...nothing a little WD40 can't fix!

Now that my yearly budget has been exhausted on this unfortunate circumstance, I must come up with creative ways to continue my progression, so now I am going to rip out all the carpet and start on the floorboards...There is a lot of filth under those carpets along with a carpet pad that is most likely affecting the drain plugs ability to flush out water intrusion...After the carpet is out, a lite sanding and maybe a primer coat before moving on to a spray on poly based liner....

OUT WITH THE OLD; IN WITH THE UUUUH SEMI-NEW

In the hopes of one day having enough money to do something fun with my toy; like rims and tires, or new gauges and a radio that works, I opted to utilize a re-built transmission that isn't quite new, but isn't used and unknown...The used transmission would have been cheaper; however, I didn't want to be back in the shop with the same problem right after fixing it...


The image to the left is the old transmission...You can't see the inside, but when you twist that nice end piece, you can hear all of the parts just kind of rumbling around like chewed bubble gum that is made out of metal...It isn't very pleasant...


3-5 hours of labor for a transmission plus 3-5 hours for a clutch....OOOOORRRR....3-5 hours for both at the same time...I am gonna go ahead and get the clutch done at the same time, to save me the hassle of a future repair at this point...So far, the bill is around ??????


Don't worry, there is more...



While my newly found mechanic friend was examining this Dinosaur...He realized that the driver side motor mount is broken, the front lower shock bushings were gone (mentioned that in an early post I believe) and that some rubber piece connecting the shifter to the transmission was worn out, giving me that vintage shaky vibrating shifter feeling...

So with all of those things, the mechanic is going to fix the transmission, replace the transmission mount, two new shock bushings, weld the shifter piece to eliminate vibration, put in a new clutch, and replace the broken motor mount all for $1,400...Pretty good deal from what I hear transmissions cost...Just the AX-5 transmission by itself is $1500...Now I know I am not getting a brand new one, but all that work with parts and labor only coming to $1400 I am not going to complain...

I will just be happy to be driving it again...Of course there was an awesome list of other things still to complete in order to get this beast running perfect, but this is a good start on the major things...The other small stuff I can get done on my own...

AHHHH projects...Aren't they FUN?!!!

Like my good friend Mike says: J.E.E.P. means Just Empty Every Pocket!

On The Road Again?

Not what I really meant when I said I wanted to get this thing back out on the road...

Driving it a home a few days ago I started to hear this really awesome metal on metal, teeth grinding, teeth destroying sound coming from the area of the transmission...By the time I made it home, there was nothing left of the AX-5 transmission...DAMMIT MAN!

A very large expense whether I do it myself or pay someone to do it, so I am opting to have a professional tackle this project...Not that I don't think I could have figured it out, but lets face it, there is no chance in hell I am climbing underneath that Jeep and trying to unload the skid-plate and transmission...fix, and then put back together all on my own...This one is a little above my pay-grade...

Look how fast its moving! And it doesn't even run...YEAH FOR AAA Membership!!!

The Jeep has been dropped off at a local 4x4 custom shop that I will speak more about after I get the Jeep back and see what kind of work they have done.

The owner of the shop has been very fair in quoting repair costs...

I will discuss in more detail in the next few posts...