Unusual Maint. Items 4 Max Reliability

Over the last year of wheeling I have had several unusual items that required repair most of which other folks have had problems with too. Some of this is probably due to age (92 XJ) some of this is probably due to miles (142K) and some may be due to wheeling hard (rock crawling and small jumps). All of it could have been avoided if I had know to look for the problem in advance or had performed an unusual level of preventative mainentance.

I thought I would start a maintainance check list of unusual items that would be of interest in maximizing reliabilty. Please add items that you have come across. I have personal experiene with 1-6 and have seen 7 & 8 on trail weekends.

Item 1:
Motor Mount-driver side, wears fast due to exhaust heat.
Fix: Inspect using a mirror and replace as needed.

Item 2:
Electric Cooling fan, metal clip that hold fan blade to motor drive works loose and fan falls off.
Fix: Make sure the clip is fully seated and has tension.

Item 3:
Plastic heater valve assembly becomes very fragile with age. I have seen 2 break when changing plugs and one break on the street (not all my rig)
fix: Replace when you get your rig and carry a spare.

Item 4:
Control Arm Bushings (uppers in my case). Looked good when I got the rig, look pretty gnarly after a lot of heavy load articulation.
fix: replace bushings.

Item 5:
Rotted out pax side rear spring eye bushing. Cut exhuast short to clear shackles and ended up cooking the bushing into ashes.
Fix: Cut exhaust far forward or add an exhaust deflector on side of shackle.

Item 6:
Grease your own chassis. Dont trust the oil change place to do all 8 U-Joints, 2 drive shaft sliding joints, control arms, shackles, suspenion and steering.
Fix: Get a grease gun and several end fittings.

Item 7:
Loose track bar bracket.
Fix: Use red lock tite and a torque wrench

Item 8:
Loose track bar
Fix: Use red lock tite, nylocks and a torque wrench as needed.

Please add more and remember this post next time something odd fails that could have been prevented with a quick check.

John

1) Engine mount, driver's side, wears quickly due to exhaust heat.
Alternate Solution - Borrowing from the Chevvy hotrod world, take a soda can or other thin aluminum sheet, and make a heat shield for the mount cushion. Set with spacers to allow 1/4" between mount shell and heat shield for cooling airflow. Continue inspecting with dentist's "mirror on a stick."

2) Electric Cooling Fan, Metal clips come loose.
Alternate Solution - Replace metal clips with 1/4"-20 extruded U-nuts (should be available locally at the hardware store) and replace mounting screws with 1/4"-20 thumbscrews. Check each time you open the hood, tighten as needed. Also makes it easier to remove the fan for other jobs.

3) Plastic Heater Valve Assembly
Alternate Solution - Can be eliminated entirely - I have done this in conjunction with my copper heater hose mod. Also, I seem to recall that a metal Chevvy part will work in that location - I'll have to see if I can dig up a part number.

6) Chassis Lubrication
Concur strongly. I only farm out tyre changes (on loose wheels,) smog checks (under strong protest and duress,) and specialty work (that I don't have the equipment for. Yet.)

Alternate Solution for Nylon Locknuts - Check MRO houses, and see if you can find "slotted beam" or "deformed thread" locknuts. Both are modified to cause an "interference fit" between the internal threads of the nut and the external threads of the bolt, and are FAR more tolerant of conditions and assembly than Nylon locknuts. Also, they can handle much more installation torque, and the Nylon isn't there, so they're also impervious to elevated heat and vibration. Probably won't find these at the hardware store, start with outfits like MSC Direct (www.mscdirect.com) or SPS, Inc. (Google this - I don't remember the site.)

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