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Aug 15, 2017 16:59:29 GMT
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Not just that, every bushing in the suspension will be replaced, front & rear. Including track rods and idler arm bushings. But let's start with the rear, since this is the most work. Cleaned the place up a bit, to gain more room around the rear. Not luxurious, but bearable. And it's dry. Then came a lot of wrenching, removing stuff (exhaust, prop shaft, brake cables), welding up a little carrier for the subframe etc. No issues, all bolts did open like they had just been put into place. Very nice! And after a little while I could undo the 4 main bolts, and lower the rear axle to the floor. No drama, just exhausting to move the blöödy heavy Hydro Crab with the heavy axle about... Again, not luxurious, but bearable. And it was surprisingly smooth to operate this Hydro Crab whilst lying on the floor. Almost convenient. Almost... And of course, there is some welding ahead. This is just below the axle attachment. I'll remove the underseal tomorrow, see what I find. But I was almost expecting this, to be honest. It's a W124 after all. That's all for today. Cheers, Jan
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Aug 14, 2017 18:31:53 GMT
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And I finally, finally, finally wired the lights today... Plus a couple of wall sockets. I have three 220V sources in there now. So plenty enough to wire in additional lights & sockets on a later date. I routed all the wiring so that I can do this easily later on. And you would not believe how many times I walked down the stairs into the basement, walked back up - only to find what fuse powers which wire (there were a couple of wires pre-installed on the wall, but no clue left as to what fuse/part of the house they go to). Anyway, it all worked out. I've got light! There's a LOT more light available now than before I'm especially happy with the illumination of the work bench. That's all... Cheers, Jan
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And all with the stock suspension... I remember those videos with the batsh!t CRAZY torque steer... Anyway; back to stock. On the back. I discovered that the rear bumper on the MJ is indeed an aftermarket bumper. Which comes relatively close to the original. And why is there no original bumper left? It's not that it has rusted away or been in an accident. It's much simpler; this truck never had one when it left the factory... Rear bumper was optional, on the low-spec models anyway. And mine was a "SporTruck", the base model. Here is the original plate light, hiding behind the bumper. Bolts for the original plate are still there.
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Hi! Yes, there are always ways to do it faster, cheaper and better. But in this case; 8€ for a fill of 5kg propane isn't exactly expensive. If it lasts for a couple of melts, I'm fine with that. My goal is doing it, it may as well cost a bit of money & time. I'm not doing production runs, just the occasional little cast. So - I'm not after efficiency. I'm after doing it succesfully. If I've done this, I may re-think fueling of the furnace. But I expect it to be broken by the time I've managed to do real casts Cheers, Jan
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Aug 12, 2017 19:52:41 GMT
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Hey Mr georgeb - not yet... But I'm going to soon, I plan on fabricating some little things which will require some tender loving TIGing. News; I finally bought another bottle of propane - and fired the furnace up. No more water / vapour this time. So I cranked it up a little. And: Shiny, liquid cast aluminium. I had not prepared anything, so I just poured it into the lid. Yay! Only got a problem with the gas supply; I think the 5kg bottle is too small. After a couple of minutes at about 75% opening of the ball valve, the burner starts to cut out intermittent. I think this is due to the bottle/gas freezing as I drain it too quickly. Anyway, it works. Now I only got to find something to cast Cheers, Jan
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Aug 12, 2017 19:22:42 GMT
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I think I can play... Never ever seen another one on the road. Can't get numbers, but probably only a hand full of them in germany...
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Aug 12, 2017 15:36:08 GMT
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Ha, the good ole Spag V8 Clubman... I've followed his Van build for a long time, until all of a sudden the updates stopped. Like - 10 years ago. I'm getting old. But back on topic; I've fitted a pair of overriders to the bumper. I think it makes the front end a little less dull... Also fitted fresh indicators and painted the headlight surrounds black. And gave the bumper a lick of Owatrol oil to make it dark again. Freshened up the front end a bit. And then I replaced the right front wheel bearing, the last one. Same procedure as last time. Unbolt, knock out, knock in, greasy-greasy, assemble, bolt on - done. But looking at the outer races & bearings - they needed replacing, but nothing too dramatic which would cause such a loud noise like I was experiencing. Hmmm. So... I pried off the rollers and had a look at the inner race of the big rear bearing, which was the suspected "bad" one. And what beauty I found!! Completely destroyed and fooked up beyond any recognition. Nice! Took it for a test-drive - complete silence, not a whistle, not a single whine. Blissfull silence. Apart from the exhaust. And the creaky rear suspension. And every little bit of the interior rattling and vibrating and making all sorts of noises Anyway, the car is ready for duty Cheers, Jan
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Next step: pull & inspect the other front bearing I took the Jeep to work last saturday. Had a bit of time left untill an appointment with a BBQ - so I did just that^. I wish I had not... The outer bearing was a bit worn and had a slight yellow coloration. The nut had been tightened way too much. Bearings needs replacing, but nothing too bad. So I put the bearing back in. Took it back out - and decided to remove the brake caliper and pull the hub. And - shock horror - we have our issue. *Crunchy-crunchy* - and instead of grease, there was only black tar left that was just about to transform into powder... Totally dried out & burned. I greased it as good as possible (without destroying the rear seal), added a dab of oil to the mix and put it back on. I've ordered some stuff in the US, which will hopefully soon be shipped. With it come new front wheel bearings, since they'r a fraction of the price I payed over here... Did not feel good driving it home, knowing just how badly shot that bearing is. On the other hand - the driver's side bearing was probably a lot worse And I can't believe that the noise that bearing made sometimes completely disappeared. What fooled me was that the bearing noise didn't disappear when cornering. I've never had a rear (big) bearing fail, only ever the little outer bearings (on Mercs anyway). But every day is a learning day. Anyway, I made it back safe & sound and the Jeep is grounded until my bearings have arrived this side of the pond. Didn't take pictures, only got this potato print:
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Jul 31, 2017 19:26:41 GMT
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Just a couple of hours ago, I saw an E10 Corolla wagon... Made me think; 80's/90's Corollas are basically all gone.
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Jul 30, 2017 15:45:59 GMT
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You'll be pleased to read that I also ordered new shocks. They are the Sachs! I'll get my coat.....
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Jul 30, 2017 15:37:01 GMT
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Hi! It'll stay red... Simply because I could not stand an incomplete respray, like painting only the outside. And a full respray - way too lazy for that. And speaking of red; I took out the bed liner - and was surprised! I feared to find a rotten mess of crusty brown metal flakes. Instead, I got this: There's the odd little spot where the liner has rubbed through the paint - but all in all the bed is in surprisingly good shape! And to my surprise it is double-skinned! Wheel wells are not dented - pretty nice! Finally a positive surprise Cheers, Jan
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Jul 30, 2017 15:30:01 GMT
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I am going to "plus one" this latest statement
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Jul 30, 2017 15:28:01 GMT
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Jul 29, 2017 20:00:59 GMT
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On tat hauling duty: Perfect fit! Cheers, Jan
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Jul 28, 2017 19:19:46 GMT
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Hey there! I'm using my own payed-for webspace... Comes with personal e-mail adresses too And using WordPress to upload (and also run a little blog thingy). I've said good bye to "free" webhosting many, many years ago... About when Imageshack went through the same sh!t photobucket is now. As for the age of the springs; I'd be VERY surprised if they are the first. It's nor really uncommon for 124 springs to break. Anyway; MB doesn't stock the springs I need anymore. So I bought Lesjöfors. For 100€ less. Each. At work we've installed a lot of Lesjöfors springs to customer cars, without any complaints so far. On the other hand we had genuine Mercedes springs breaking after 2 years of use... So I'm not perticularily sad about being "forced" to buy Lesjöfors springs. Cheers, Jan
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Jul 26, 2017 19:49:04 GMT
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It's fine. Just drives a bit different. Someone else probably wouldn't even notice the difference. But I've now done over 110.000km in this car - I sense a difference in how it handles. And the way it's seated, there's no danger of the spring falling out. Though I've put a zip-tie around it, for easy of mind Anyway, not long until my years vacation - plan is to fully rebuild the front & rear suspension. And everything I find along the way. And maybe even start some long overdue welding repairs... Build a garage floor, fix the Jeep, return the Mini... And I'll probably get 1/3 of that done, but that's fine It's strange, if I come to think about it; I have never continuously driven a car for such a long time, and never for such a distance. I think I just found "the" car with this Cheers, Jan
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Jul 24, 2017 17:19:52 GMT
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Hi! Incredibly, something broke... This morning, as I left the bakery where I buy my breakfast every morning, there was a loud "Ka- TCHUNK!" coming from the front end... So I turned around, and the issue was quickly found: Just what I need... It's 3 weeks until my holidays, why couldn't it wait a little longer. Sigh. On the bright side; I've allready started rebuilding some lower control arms. The plan is to make use of the holidays to rebuild the front & rear suspension. To only have to pay for a wheel alignment once. But oh well... Cheers, Jan
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Jul 23, 2017 16:15:34 GMT
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So, new weekend, new work. This was yesterday. Jacked up the rear end and pulled the diff cover, to confirm I actually have what I bought parts for. A non-C-clip DANA 35 axle. Non-C-Clip & open diff confirmed: Unbolted the retainers, bolted on the sliding hammer... And out came the axle shafts: Those axles are a bit of on odd design, all that holds the shaft from sliding out is this retainer-plate. Which actually pushes on the oil seal... Crazy. I tried to knock the bearing spacers/retainers from the shaft, but they are on TIGHT. So, change of plan; threw the shafts in the Taxi and drove to work. 140km round trip, but who cares. I have access to a press & I can do it myself. Diesel is cheap anyway. So I cut off the old retainers & bearings and pressed on the new ones. Took a good amount of pressure to get them on. I lucked out; the tool we made for removing W124 rear hubs & bearings was an almost perfect fit for the Jeep shafts In the above pictures you can see the steel plates that basically hold the wheels to the axle... Personally, I think that's a pretty stupid design. On the other hand, on those axles the bearing rollers don't run directly on the shafts, but have a proper inner race. Beauty & beast. Anyway, the bearings had only very, very minimal wear. I replaced them anyway. My bearing noise got a lot quieter, but it's still present. Next step: pull & inspect the other front bearing, check diff input shaft bearing again. I like working with solid axles, all pretty easy... In the afternon, I shoved the axles back in, adjusted the rear brakes - and drove of to drink a bit too much... Cheers, Jan
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Jul 15, 2017 13:49:08 GMT
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Disaster. My personal worst case scenario got real. I never thought it could happen, but it did. And it took a couple of days to find out... I had wondered about a little puddle of water on the work bench. But I thought I had spilled a bit of my water bottle. Couple of days later it rained heavily. By pure chance I went into the garage to store a couple of ebay purchases. When I was greated by this view: Water was runing from the shelf above the work bench... I immediately cleared the shelf to look for the source. It was dripping down from a timber supporting the roof. Hmm. Dug out the ladder to have a look from above. And sure enough, it was not particularily challenging to spot the issue...... The end piece of the roof ridge had fallen off and smashed a tile... Great! I temporarily fixed it with a trash bag, pieces of tile and 911 oil cooler guards... This had to do for a couple of days, until I found an old tile that was left over from when the roof was changed a couple of years back. With perfectly matching patina. I could not tell which one I replaced The work bench didn't rust much, just on the bottom and on some welds. But the water destroyed all of my TIG welding rods and also dripped onto my TIG welder. I'll leave it to dry for a couple more days and then try it. But I'm positive it has survived the incident. Cheers, Jan
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Jul 11, 2017 18:01:57 GMT
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So, finally got delivery of some of americas proudest: So quickly pulled the front hub. I took many test-drives, but in the end I was about sure it was the front left bearing that was at fault. All pretty crusty down there... Luckily you don't have to remove the caliper carrier bracket, since I don't have correct Torx socket for the job... It's surprising, that Jeep used so many Torx bolts, I only knew them on cars from the mid- to late 90s on. Anyway, knocked out the old bearing races with a drift, knocked the new ones in - quick job. I like replacing bearings on non-driven wheels Packed with Castrol LMX, ready to go back in. A quick test drive confirmed that my diagnosis was right. Not that I needed the test-drive to confirm my diagnosis........ That's the worst I have ever come across....... Wow. Just - wow. No wonder the car made noises like a fully loaded freight train Cheers, Jan
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