The Maintaining and Building of Jan the WJ

WJCO said:
It's part of the cooling fan. Some of them use power steering fluid for the cooling fan rather than a mechanical clutch. Mine doesn't have one so I've never had to deal with it, but I know several of the WJs did have them. Looks like it's the line itself that is leaking at the fitting.
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So.... Flex Seal? Lol

Really though, would I have to replace the whole line to fix it? I'll have to check the PS fluid and see how fast it's leaking and if it's worth the trouble.
 
WJCO said:
It's part of the cooling fan. Some of them use power steering fluid for the cooling fan rather than a mechanical clutch. Mine doesn't have one so I've never had to deal with it, but I know several of the WJs did have them. Looks like it's the line itself that is leaking at the fitting.
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Yep, you nailed it. I looked into it a little more and it is the power steering fluid running the fan. It's recommended to replace the whole line (it seems to be a pretty common issue), but they run around $90 and genuine Mopar ones seem a little hard to find. It appears to be a pretty slow leak, but I may have to pull the line and see if I can come up with a more economical solution...
 
I Hate Bushings.

I've been feeling some drive line vibrations lately while accelerating at 35-45 mph. So a couple of weeks ago I took a peek at my front drive shaft and control arms and saw that the bushings were a little worse for wear:
DSUCA.jpg
PSUCA.jpg
Two weeks later and now I'm about finished... I hate bushings.
I'll post up finished pics later.
 
Stotch said:
I've been feeling some drive line vibrations lately while accelerating at 35-45 mph. So a couple of weeks ago I took a peek at my front drive shaft and control arms and saw that the bushings were a little worse for wear:
Two weeks later and now I'm about finished... I hate bushings.
I'll post up finished pics later.
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Good luck, hope it goes smoothly. I had a shop do mine on my old axle and they fucked them up. The pumpkin one wasn't pressed in all the way and I had to tack weld it to keep it in.
 
VeruGE*144 said:
I never did front uppers yet, but I’ve heard they are a real pita.
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Yeah, I knew they would be a pain on a WJ, but they were still worse than I thought LOL! Learning experience :)
WJCO said:
Good luck, hope it goes smoothly. I had a shop do mine on my old axle and they fucked them up. The pumpkin one wasn't pressed in all the way and I had to tack weld it to keep it in.
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That's what I was afraid of. I almost took it in, but decided I could probably do just as well if my blood pressure could take it.
 
Here's the finished bushings and the new adjustable arms to boot:
IMG_20190102_163240.jpg
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The vibrations are gone, but now there's a new rattle (at all speeds) that I think may be a clearance issue with the beefier arms. It's at least off the jack stands, which is an improvement from last week!
 
Stotch said:
Here's the finished bushings and the new adjustable arms to boot:

The vibrations are gone, but now there's a new rattle (at all speeds) that I think may be a clearance issue with the beefier arms. It's at least off the jack stands, which is an improvement from last week!
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Nice. Which arms are those?
 
Stotch said:
Core4x4 with rubber.
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Nice. I plan on getting some one of these days. I wouldn't be surprised if that's your rattle. Those things sit so fricking close to the body. I have rub marks on both sides where the upper arms have rubbed when the axle articulates.
 
Maintenance

Jan still has some rattles going down the road (it's not clearance with the control arms like I thought.), so I thought I would do some maintenance on the front axle. I did all of her ball joints and unit bearing assemblies on Friday:
step1.jpg

step2.jpg

step3.jpg

bearings.jpg

step4.jpg

I was kind of hoping it would make her drive a little quieter, but nope. Still noisy as fuck. That's OK (even though it kinda drives me nuts not knowing what it is), she drives fine and the steering is a little tighter now.
 
Thanks Stotch, this is super helpful for some of the areas I will be tackling soon. Really appreciate your time in documenting it!
 
DVLDOG said:
Thanks Stotch, this is super helpful for some of the areas I will be tackling soon. Really appreciate your time in documenting it!
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No problem. Glad it's helpful! Let me know if you have a question. There's a few other WJ guys on here to help too.
 
Threw together some brackets today and now Jan has low profile fog lights that the tires won't knock out!
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Finally finished Jan's lighting (OEM style HL and LED fogs). Nice to be able to see at night again.
Left: new, Right: old.
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Much better.
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