Ghetto XJ OEM fixes!!!!

W are a creative lot here. 8Mud just gave me a great thread idea, Ghetto temp fixes we have done for our OEM jeep problems, like creative uses of duct tape or!!!!!

I find wire and duct tape to be very useful as well as GOOP.

Cable ties, don't forget the cable ties, half my XJ is held together with cable ties. The other half is epoxy glue and super glue.

Lord knows I've made my share of "MacGyver" fixes. At home, at work, on my cars & trucks. If you wanna call them ghetto or MacGyver, I still think it's pretty amazing that some of them are actually sometimes "upgrades". If you're just fixing something to get home or so you won't have to cut a trip short...IF IT WORKS, IT'S GOLD.

• Used a 2 1/4" piece of 1" PVC pipe as a shift bushing to get my 69 Mercedes 280SE back on the road during a road trip to Colorado. I never replaced that as it worked better and lasted longer than the original.
• Figured out how to re-mount a tire when it blew out the bead going over a rock. With a piece of granite and a pry bar, no further service needed...except for inflating it up with a bicycle pump. Two years ago, same tire still on.
• Made a "fan belt" out of gorilla tape so my daughter could get her car back home...20 miles, and it worked.
• I blew a tranny line out in the middle of nowhere, pulled out a knife and a hose clamp...5 minute fix.

So keeping the car/truck on the road is the main dish...gotta do what you can to achieve that...:gee:

Lost a rear lower shock nut. Drilled a small hole in the stud and ran bailing wire through it to hold the shock on for the rest of the trip

zip tie holding the shift cable onto the transmission. it was a temporary fix that has been on there for 3 years.

90xj06 said:

zip tie holding the shift cable onto the transmission. it was a temporary fix that has been on there for 3 years.

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I did the same on my 89 2WD after the tow guy fubard the connector, but I used bailing wire, that was about 9 years ago, still working fine after about 80,000 miles.

Broke the rear lower right shock mount. Drilled a hole thru it and put a grade 10 bolt to hold it.

Does a HnT SYE count?

Broke the bottom bolt that holds the alternator in place on my '90XJ. Could not for the life of me get the rest of the bolt out (aluminum brackets with steel bolts are a bad combination when some hack forgets to put anti-seize on the threads). Fortunately the '90 bracket came with a bolt on steel brace across the front so I simply used a hacksaw to cut off the offending section of the bracket to allow me to mount to the steel brace using a nut on the back. Worked great! I keep an eye on it to make sure the brace doesn't start to bend but so far so good.

Garden trim for ghetto flares. $10 and some time and I honestly think they don't look nearly as gawdy as bushwhacker flares. I know that's my opinion and I'm under no delusion that these look good in any way. At least I can use the brackets to make real metal flares when I have the time to get the right materials and build it right.

What? no mention of the factory Renix era rigs having duct tape to insulate a splice?

souske said:

What? no mention of the factory Renix era rigs having duct tape to insulate a splice?

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LOL, the title is "Fixes" not OEM spec designs LOL.

I think my most ghetto fixes recently are my hood release... Which works great!



And using 1" square tubing and stacking washers to lengthen the rear shocks after lifting the rear, until I got a set of jk shocks.

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Guess I need to get some photos and post them. Just remembered looking at your great hood release solution, Nice one, clean, fast simple, that I have 2 Renix jeeps that the plastic broke on the dash area that holds the head light switch in place on the dash. It is a weak design issue on the dash assy.

I used a modified paper clip to fix / hold mine years ago, to hold it in the same OEM spot.

I also used a spare heater core mounted in front of the dash vent grill, middle of the dash, with new hoses routed through the firewall drivers side, and a globe valve under the dash to throttle the coolant flow for winter heat on my 85 Diesel-Franken jeep. I'll try to get some photos and share the details this year.

souske said:

What? no mention of the factory Renix era rigs having duct tape to insulate a splice?

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I keep hearing that. I've never found anything other than black friction tape on my unmolested electrical system.

Back on topic, though, I have pulled a little electrical tape from several splices and combined them to insulate a wire/connection to get home. Ah the Lucas days...

Ou2mame said:

I think my most ghetto fixes recently are my hood release... Which works great!

And using 1" square tubing and stacking washers to lengthen the rear shocks after lifting the rear, until I got a set of jk shocks.

Sent from my HTC M9 using Tapatalk

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Hey, just my opinion, but don't you think you should hit that knob with some oak stain and Varathane??:gee:

I did stain it black lol

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Bent the clutch pedal Z-arm on my '96 at one point, got an unbent, clutch pedal from the junkyard, some I dunno, 3/16" or 1/4" plate steel from the school's machining & materials instructor, cut it with a hacksaw, filed it to size, and booger welded it in with a 120-volt Harbor Freight stick welder. Used the same welder to patch up a header crack. It's probably cracked again. *sigh* One of these days I'll get to daily-drive lots of shiny, new, not broke Jeeps and Mopar products to my big, sweet garage with an actual 240-volt welder. Said garage will just so happen to be attached to my house lol.

My front O2 sensor harness near my header where it meets the main harness is currently insulated with aluminum foil. Tried the actual electrical conduit stuff, but it just kept melting and sticking to the wires. The plan at this point is to get some actual heat shield tubing big enough to fit over the connector by the oil pan and secure it on both ends with what else- zip ties!

That's really about it. My XJ has had a rough life already and I don't exactly baby it, even though I probably should, know better, and since it's my daily school driver (Ergo, ticket to a better life and a nicer XJ, maybe a TJ Rubicon, maybe a late-model V8 Charger too. And I could see me restoring some sweet, sweet, old-school Mopar muscle car. And maybe... and maybe I better just quit while I'm ahead. )

JeepNoob said:

Said garage will just so happen to be attached to my house lol.

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NOOOOOOO! You just think you want an attached garage. People will get into an attached garage and then think they're entitled to move things around, touch things and even store things in there. It's just not worth it man, NOT worth it at all!

:nono:

Right. I have a small shop, not big enough to pull a vehicle into. So my work space is asphalt and gravel outside the shop. Not covered. It fits all my tools, welder(s), storage, camping gear etc. The attached garage is where my wife puts her car, all her "things". she's banned from the shop, I'm banned from the garage.

ParadiseXJ said:

Right. I have a small shop, not big enough to pull a vehicle into. So my work space is asphalt and gravel outside the shop. Not covered. It fits all my tools, welder(s), storage, camping gear etc. The attached garage is where my wife puts her car, all her "things". she's banned from the shop, I'm banned from the garage.

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Thanks for reminding me why I have been single for 20 years now

I did keep the kids though :roflmao: which explains the missing tools, LMAO.