I have a set of front inner fender liners from JCR offroad. I love the look of them.
But the one on the passenger side broke sometime last year (or maybe the year before?). Sometimes it gets caught by the wind and will start bangin around. And my Jeep needs a bath.
Now that I have a Primeweld TIG 225 that can weld aluminum, It’s time to fix it.
First things first, a little practice with some 1/16″ coupons I bought from Weld Metals Online.
Then I jigged up the broken pieces and welded them back together.
Through on a coat of paint and reinstalled it.
Happy with the results. Should be plenty string now.
And ever since then, it has run a lot hotter than it should. Even at highway speeds, it shouldn’t get any hotter than 215 degrees. Not mine, if the Jeep was working (on trails, on the highway in hilly areas, or on hot days) I could see temps hit 240 and higher.
I have suspected for a while that the radiator cooling fins were clogged with mud. The mud and water at Southington are very sandy and full of silt. I’ve known many a Jeep that needed new front axle seals and spending a day in that mess. And I was sure that there was a leak in it somewhere. You could smell coolant when it was running hot, but it never lost that much fluid, so I was certain it was pinhole leak.
It’s been bugging me for years. So I decided to take the time during this Coronavirus lockdown to go ahead and replace my radiator. I found a YouTube video that did a really good job of describing the steps for a Jeep very much like mine.
Disassembly
Disassembly took about an hour. After removing the air intake and air box and draining the radiator (I had to make tool for this – the petcock was unreachable with the bumper and winch still attached), it was a matter of removing a series of bolts that hold the transmission cooler and the A/C condenser on the front of the radiator.
Took a little doing to work the radiator around the hoses and lines, but all in all, the aforementioned YouTube video was spot on.
Once I got the radiator out, it was obvious why I was running into heat issues. Not enough to cause it to completely overheat, but enough to not cool it down fast enough. All that silica sand from Southington. Never again.
With everything out disconnected, I took the opportunity to clean some of the Moab out of the engine compartment. That dust just gets everywhere.
I bought a new factory replacement radiator from a local dealer. I had looked at aftermarket options, but quite frankly, justifying the triple cost wasn’t going to happen. And the other lower cost solutions, well, let’s just say I didn’t want to take that risk either. At least if there’s an issue with this one, I know I can get it replaced.
Reassembly
Reassembly is pretty much disassembly in reverse. It was a little challenging getting the radiator lined up so I could reconnect the condenser and transmission cooler.
A few of the bolts are really hard to get to. I had to remove the driver’s headlight to get to one that attaches the condenser lines to the side of the radiator. The driver’s front were the hardest. Had to really contort the radiator being careful not to stress the lines.
New Coolant
I purchased several gallons of concentrate coolant. During disassembly I tried to drain as much of the coolant out of the engine as possible. If I’m going to go this far, I might as well do a coolant flush at the same time. I also borrowed a burp kit from a friend to make it easier to get the air out of the system.
I mixed up a couple gallons of 50/50 mix and poured some in with the burp kit. One I started the Jeep, it started to warm up, but when the thermostat opened up, it started to push coolant up into the funnel. That told me there was an air block in there somewhere. So I put the Jeep up on ramps and let it sit for a while. The next time I started it, I got quite a few bubbles in the burp funnel. I managed to catch some on my phone.
No Heat!
So now the coolant is flowing, but I have no heat. There must have been another air block in the lines leading to the heater core. I decided to leave it to cool down overnight and hopefully, more air will work its way out.
Heat!
The next morning, I noticed the coolant level in the fill funnel had gone down quite a bit. I poured some more in and shook the jeep a bit, and even more bubbles came up. Turned on the Jeep and had heat again. The air pocket must have worked its way out overnight.
Took it for a test drive. Haven’t seen temps like this in a while.
Of course, it’s only 45 degrees out right now. Won’t know for sure until we get into the summer months, but I am optimistic.
Took the Jeep to the dealer. I still think it runs too hot. Plus I had some passenger side airbag recall. They replaced the thermostat (it was leaking). But on the drive home, the coolant temp was still higher than I think it should be. I think I am going to have to replace the radiator or something. I suspect it is caked with mud.
I bought a new soft top combo from Quadratec. It’s the Master Top summer combo. Comes with a bikini top, a wind jammer and a tonneau cover. I think I am going to like having this on better than the factory soft top.
Although I might have to make some other changes. This limits me from using my Tuffy Security Deck enclosure. The jury is still out on this.
Well, buying that TPMS setup for the trailer has paid off in spades. But this isn’t even the first tire issue I have had.
Not more than 45 minutes from home, the alarm started going off. Yup, flat tire. There I was, on the side of the freeway, trying to change a flat tire on a trailer. To make matters worse, I couldn’t get the spare off. The lug bolt holding it onto the bracket was stripped and it was just spinning. After a lot of persuasion, it finally came off and I was able to change the tire. I found a spare somewhere in Indiana. I also bought a second spare just in case.
The alarm went off again in Kansas. Another flat. While changing it, I see the tire next to it has a screw in it. Good grief.
Got that one changed as well. So I now had one good spare and one with a screw in it. The drive home is going to be a blast!
My friend Rob sold me his M-PAC Springtail tailgate table. I have been wanting one for a while. I used to have a Smittybilt MOLLE. panel on here, but I never really liked it. I’ve been wanting a table for quite some time now.
I attached the table using nutcerts. A much better option than the little plastic clips they give you. The old panel was attached with some screws, which left some holes. I sanded the paint around them and used a little body filler and some factory matched paint to hide the old holes. Not 100% perfect, but you can’t tell they were even there unless you look for them.
Took advantage of a Black Friday sale and bought Teraflex Big Rotor kits for the front a rear. I never felt like I had as much holding power as I would like when on steep rocks. Plus, this will help when I go to 37″ tires at some point.
I won a gift certificate at Freak Fest this year from JKS. I used it to buy a set of sway bar disconnects. I do like these a lot better than the Rock Krawler. Much easter to remove than having to zip tie them out of the way.
