What have you done to your rig today?

Got mine off the jack stands.

Everything I touched is buttoned back up and seems to be working as intended.
In the past month it's gotten:
New muffler and intermediate pipe
New exhaust manifolds
New ball joints
New brake pads and rotors all around
New parking brake shoes
New bearings ands seals on rear axle
New power steering pump

I've probably forgotten something at this point. At least I've done just about all of it myself and saved a ton in labor costs.
 
Plan B got a few upgrades thanks to @josh$$ and @Jason W. over at J&J Broken Skull Garage. Front axle got a JCR Offroad truss, inner C gussets, lower control arm gussets, new MOOG ball joints, u-joint caps tacked, and a Metalcloak diff cover.
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The rear axle got the axle tubes welded up solid and a matching Metalcloak diff cover.
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They even got my boy involved in things so he can start learning about his future Jeep. He gave the ball joints everything he had.
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We also spotted this little gem hiding under the hood. Turns out we’ve got a Jasper reman motor that was installed back in 11/2015. That means it’s only got about 45K on the motor. We’ll take it.
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New exhaust on the YJ.
Had a huge exhaust leak at the Y pipe. Also had a turndown right behind the muffler. The cat converter was God knows how old. All of these combined made for some strong fumes while wheeling.
Leftover Summit builder kit we used on @thebrotherinlaw XJ, some parts store reducers and a cheapo Flowmaster knockoff later and it sounds great.
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Painfully slow progress on the crew cab; all of what I have pictured is the result of 3 weekends worth of tinkering. Got it running with the help of my friends, a vicious amount of jumper cable use, and gratuitous ethering. But it's alive! Whoever let this truck get impounded is a fool, I thought it was gas in the tank, but it turns out the tank return valve on the IP had failed and closed off, that explains the boat primer on the bleeder. It's got nasty 4+ year old fuel and from its time in the salvage yard it's missing quite a few bolts, but other than that it runs like a hot damn!
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Got it running and that damn heater hose quick disconnect was busted. Typical GM. Fixed it with a barbed fitting and a section of hose; it's not pretty but it doesn't leak!
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No pics but I lunched the belt and had to replace that.
Last weekend I worked on putting the dash back together; aside from some dust and typical grime this truck is insanely clean! Someone cared about this truck.
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And this weekend I worked on putting a new door handle in. Again, typical GM. And cleaning up the last little bit of sketchy wiring I could see.
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Needs new tires, fronts are BFGs date coded 2007. YIKES. The dry-rotting is so bad I can fit the tip of a flat-head screwdriver in the cracks; the backs are date coded 2009, and while they're in pretty decent shape I still don't trust them.
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Found out that stock GM tie rods suck, as if I didn't already know.
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Changed out the front bumpers on the JKU. New front is motobilt tomahawk frame chop. New rear frame chop is going on this week. Also added PAC racing front sway bar.
 

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Gave the red truck some love, took advantage of a nice weekend and finally put the visor on. It's been in my building since I moved in and I'm tired of tripping on it.
Before
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Threaded inserts ftw. I wish Lund would have used these from the start instead of self-tappers
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After about an hour of work, VIOLA!
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Normally I wouldn't do a visor on a truck unless it's a lighted visor on a truck with no factory cab lights, but since this truck had one long ago I decided if I found one, I'd throw it on
 
Finally chased down an annoying noise under the Jeep. Time for a new front drive shaft. This joint lived a good life.

Anyone know why Chrysler prefers these over a U joint? Or rather, why they'd put a U joint on one end and this on the other on the front shaft, and two of these on the rear? I assume these are CV joints, but the driveshaft place I called said it's a pancake joint. Someone educate me cause I'm very curious.

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ShimShim said:
Finally chased down an annoying noise under the Jeep. Time for a new front drive shaft. This joint lived a good life.

Anyone know why Chrysler prefers these over a U joint? Or rather, why they'd put a U joint on one end and this on the other on the front shaft, and two of these on the rear? I assume these are CV joints, but the driveshaft place I called said it's a pancake joint. Someone educate me cause I'm very curious.

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Call Dave at Oliver's

Actually, when you call you'll likely talk to Libby she'll get you set up for a replacement shaft and get rid of that junk
 
Painted my door panels. Damn I love beater trucks. I officially have more money in sound system and paint than what I paid for the whole truck.

Call it hoodrat, call it yeehaw, call it whatever..... I'll be cruising the back roads of SC, long-haired headbanging to Backstreet boys and random shit. Leave a message at the tone...... 🖕
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Adjusted the sector shaft nut on the steering box and replaced the center link, idler arm assembly, inner tie rods, outer tie rods, and adjuster sleeves on the old, ragged ass S10. She's ready to run to Jersey on Sunday!
 
Sealed steering box and replaced sector shaft bearing. Disassembled assist ram , a little work with the press and the shaft is straight again. Replaced leaf spring bushings. Washed, compound, wax and vacuum. I've never done more than pressure wash this thing since owning, was surprised it cleaned up as well as it did.
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ShimShim said:
Finally chased down an annoying noise under the Jeep. Time for a new front drive shaft. This joint lived a good life.

Anyone know why Chrysler prefers these over a U joint? Or rather, why they'd put a U joint on one end and this on the other on the front shaft, and two of these on the rear? I assume these are CV joints, but the driveshaft place I called said it's a pancake joint. Someone educate me cause I'm very curious.

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Not as fast as just pressing in a new ujoint but you can replace that end of the shaft in like half an hour. My WJ front driveshaft uses that at both ends.
 
NickMaul said:
Not as fast as just pressing in a new ujoint but you can replace that end of the shaft in like half an hour. My WJ front driveshaft uses that at both ends.
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Well, money is definitely a concern since the government is stealing more of my money on Tax day. Time to start googling.
 
After putting it off for almost two years, I finally tackled the broken exhaust manifold bolts on the Ram. Dealership wanted $2000 for the job, which didn't include new manifolds. I knew I could do it cheaper. Evan after buying tools and parts and hiring a welder to get two of the bolts out, I'm still ahead by $1200 by my estimates. I'd say the aggravation was worth it. And now not hearing the exhaust leak ticking under the hood, smelling exhaust or hearing a heat shield rattling makes this money and time well spent.

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That's like 90% of my job...but on airplanes. Usually stainless broken in aluminum, because engineers are smart!
 
Croatan_Kid said:
That's like 90% of my job...but on airplanes. Usually stainless broken in aluminum, because engineers are smart!
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Hey!!!... You're supposed to use inconel 718. It's on the drawing. Then it got gov contracted and the bean counters had to undercut the bid. Can't reduce payload or any other mission requirements to meet budget so we'll have to compromise and make this thing impossible to service and use that one time use only hardware. I bet the engineering director just shakes his head in those meetings and mumbles something like pay now or pay later it all cost the same.

That's my experience anyway. Then get harassed for years because I "designed" a machine that can't be maintained. If they only knew what was actually designed before all the "compliance compromises" happened post final design signoff. Good times...

And there's some dumb engineers too that have never wrenched on anything or run a lathe or...
 
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