I've been working on reversing some of the neglected maintenance on the Budget Crawler. Progress has been slow but steady and the big mods will begin soon! Drilling drain holes in a Jeep frame: • Drilling Drain Holes i...
I have repared a lot on my TJ over the years, except for the engine. Turn signal stalk, ignition switch, all external lights, radiator, fuse box, brakes, springs, control arms, shock absorbers, ball joints, drag link, pitman arm, track bar, bumpers, tyres, replaced the transmission, soft top twice, soft top frame twice, half doors, heater core, thermostat, side steps, grill, radio, speakers, seats, for replacement. Then there are lots of upgrades as well. It is a labour of love. It seems the tub, engine, and axles are the only factory things left.
Nice Jeep find. My wife and I recently purchased our first Jeep, an 03 TJR 4.0. I always appreciate a good how to video. I’m slowly upgrading and performing the needed maintenance. Look forward to seeing more.
Check your blend door. Its right there under the glovebox on the passenger side if you have the twist dial the little gears wear out on the motor. You can pop off the cap and turn it by hand to. if you have a manual slider you can just see if its turning all the way..
Thanks for the suggestion, I'll be sure to check it out!i know the blend door is at least partially working because the air goes from cold to slightly less than cold, but I suppose it may not be cycling fully
Would be interesting to compare how much a part cost at a pick and pull vs. pulling it from your donor TJ. Love the videos, some day I hope to do the same.
I can't address some of the issues having never owned a TJ. But many of them relate to the YJ's and most jeeps for that matter. I'm glued to the screen in order see how you accomplish your goals. Good luck and Jeep speed ahead. I hope you enjoy what is left of the year.
Haha thanks! Its amazing how similar open top jeeps have stayed over the years. The biggest changes seem to have come with the JK, but it's still not all that different either. Thanks for following!
my daughter has a 2000 2.5 TJ. I have been dealing with little or no heat with this jeep. Replaced heater core, thermostat, radiator, water pump and new fluids. Core gets hot fluid through it.. As near as i can tell, the door that cycles to force air through the heater core isnt cycling fully closed/open. as such air flow is taking path of least resistance and going past hot heater core. It seems the rubber sealing edge on the door that blocks/allows air to go through the hot side is getting too stiff and is jamming the mechanism from fully cycling. Last thing to try is replace the servo that actuates the door (it does cycle but perhaps its getting weak?). I have pulled the dash apart 2x now trying to isolate this lack of heat (* it does put out lukewarm air, but its not enough to even defrost windshield here in western canada). I am curious to see what you discover the issue to be on your TJ. Good luck and hopefully my experiences can help.
Thanks for the input, sounds like we have the same symptoms...hoses to and from the heater core seem to get plenty hot and the air coming out of the vents on full heat is a few degrees warmer than ambient air, but not enough to help anything. Not sure how soon I'll dive into it but I think this info will be quite helpful. Best of luck solving yours!
Like it just got my 2000 tj wrangler sport and have made many improvements to the stock jeep have made videos on my progress and hopefully will upload soon to help other tj owners. Keep on rolling!
Concerning the wipers being too long, my TJ has 13 inch wiper blades. And I think they're a bit too short on the bottom. The blades wipe up to the top, but on the bottom they don't wipe as low as I would like. I think I'll buy 14 or 15 inch blades and cut the top down like you did so they wipe up to the top edge, but leave the lower edge at full length, if that makes sense.
Makes sense. Never measured the length of mine, but they were rubbing on both the top and the bottom. Nice to have the option to custom fit the wiper length though I suppose
Rewatching your budget series. Occasionally I get a high idle on my 98 sport auto 4.0. Sometimes. What was your prognosis for your occasional high idle?
I noticed you upholstered you split window from tan to black. I'm a newbie Jeep owner and learning as I go. I have a split window also, put a new top on but my doors are faded. The new top came with the plastic zip upper skins. Can you use those to reupholster the split window uppers? Thanks
These were actually two different sets of windows, the tan ones were fiberglass and were only on the Jeep so I could deliver them to the guy who bought them on Craigslist without scratching them up. To answer your question...I'm not sure, but I suspect the lass slider window frames are not compatible with soft plastic window skins.
Do you consider a thermostat with ~100k miles "low miles"? I change mine just about anytime I mess with my cooling system. Outside the "free" stuff, that water pump and oil pan gasket are probably the cheapest I have ever seen.
I'd consider 100k to be "low enough" LOL. Changing it regularly and anytime you have access to it is certainly best practice, but since we're pinching pennies here and and it was still properly functioning I chose not to change it in this Jeep. I searched high and low for those deals...was very skeptical about the oil pan gasket sealing properly, but so far so good!
Wait you put 33's on a 4cyl with stock gearing? How is that working for you? I have a 5spd 4cyl and only put on 31's because i figured they'd be too big to move. I hope you see this.
Yes sir, 33s on a stock 2.5L TJ with 4.10 gears. The 33s are nowhere near as bad as I thought they'd be based on what everyone on the internet says. I think they're more than bearable for street driving, although I don't typically daily drive the Jeep, it usually sits in the driveway 6 days/week. If I didn't plan on taking the thing off road I probably wouldn't bother to regear, I just don't want to burn up the clutch having to ride it on the trail.
Almost everybody around where I live trims the TJ front bumper in on an angle just a little bit wider than the frame most of us run tow hooks cuz they're like 10 bucks there's your budget bumper
@@dironaa if you can weld, make them your self. Use conduit and a bender, some 3/16" sheet metal and some 3/8" flat stock. Just be careful since conduit may be galvanized, and welding can make some nasty fumes. You can find many kits on ebay.
We've had our black 2000 TJ for more than ten years, and love it. We added H&R springs and Bilstein 5100 shocks that provide just under 2 inches of lift, and a surprisingly smooth ride. I recommend this simple setup. Just say no to body lifts! We also added seat heaters from Amazon after our heater core failed. We don't drive it in the winter either, so seat heaters are plenty warm when needed. They wire right into the accessory plug circuit with a special pigtail. Looking forward to watching your build!
Cool, thanks for the input! Don't hear of too many people running H&Rs, good to hear some real world feedback. Installed some bilstein 5100s on my FJ Cruiser and those ride great too. We'll keep the body lift height to a minimum haha.
Not sure how soon I'll get to it, but will definitely give an update when I figure it out. As Animalistic said, fairly often no heat can be a result of an air pocket in the heater core, although a slew of other issues could lead to it as well. If you haven't already, id recommend poking around on NAXJA or jeepforum so see if anyone has an answer over there.
Nice, I'll be addressing the flares at a later date. I've used Krylon Fusion to paint flares in the past, but will certainly check Walmart for a cheaper alternative. Thanks!
Thanks! I've tried the heat gun in the past but have always ended up with major tiger stripes in the flares. Have even tried scrubbing off the surface oxidation from the flares before using the heat gun with no better success, so in the end I've always resorted to painting the flares. Any tips on getting them a nice even black with the heat gun? Perhaps all the flares I've tried to restore with a heat gun have been too far gone.
i really don't think replacing a part that is faulty with another part that is faulty is a repair , there is room for 2 input shaft seals on the steering box , to install it is easy just push it over the old one .
Interesting video series. But the whole cost tracking is pointless because you are using so much stuff you already had. This means it is unlikely anyone could replicate what you are doing.
Thats a fair point and I agree with what you're saying. I will say that the most of parts I've installed that I already had were well worn and in the grand scheme of the build have very little value; as of today the current build total is pushing $7k.
@@dironaa Completely understand, why would you not use parts you already have! Too late now, but what would have been great was two costs, one that you actually incurred and another if everything had to be bought. But hey ho, still a great series of videos which I am continuing to work through and please don't take my comment to mean I am not thoroughly enjoying them.
