Wave From NE Wisconsin

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Shua331

New member
Hello everybody! I'm Shua from Appleton. I just joined a few days ago when the fate of my 99 TJ was decided. I bought her a little over 10 years ago when I was 16 and she was my daily for 7 years. Then in a span of a few weeks I lost 2 tires to construction debris, had (have?) a, as of yet, undiagnosed transmission or clutch issue, found out my 75% rusted away fuel tank skid plate is actually a retention system and was putting on 4-500 miles a week. So I did what every poor recent college grad whose car knowledge begins at checking oil and ends at changing a tire would do: I parked it in my parents' garage, took the keys so they couldn't move or sell it, and went and bought myself a fuel efficient crossover.

Three years later and the reason for all the miles I was putting on a week is my fiancé,
I'm not quite as poor, and I work nights so I have a lot of free time. I still know more about women than I do about cars, but at least for my TJ I have my factory service manual and Chilton so there is still hope for me there.

I started yesterday with taking apart the instrument panel and dash to get 18 years of dust out, dropped the skid plate and fuel tank and started grinding the rust off the frame so it isn't black and a weird orange that seems to drip off when it's raining.

Yeah, this is probably going to take me awhile...


Sent from my iPhone using WAYALIFE mobile app
 
sipafz

sipafz

Caught the Bug
Wave from the Northern Milwaukee Burbs [emoji1588]. Welcome to Wayalife! The good thing is that you should be able to find lots of good information on this site to help get your Jeep back on the road. If you can't find what you're looking for just ask as there are quite a few TJ guys here. Looking forward to seeing your progress!
 
S

Shua331

New member
sipafz said:
Wave from the Northern Milwaukee Burbs [emoji1588]. Welcome to Wayalife! The good thing is that you should be able to find lots of good information on this site to help get your Jeep back on the road. If you can't find what you're looking for just ask as there are quite a few TJ guys here. Looking forward to seeing your progress!
Click to expand...

Ah... Good old Milwaukee. I took my jeep down there and that was really the start of my problem. Marquette was such a nice area that I twice had my soft top slashed open because my unlocked doors were too hard to navigate and the locks were broken out of both my unlocked center console and my glove box. I was pretty crushed about the empty tins they could have stolen and maybe my empty gum wrappers...

But on a more serious note, that's why I'm here! With the people around me you would think I would be in the perfect environment to work on a car: my dad used to rebuild muscle cars, my dad's brother ran his own garage for 40+ years, the family friend who first hooked me on jeeps rock crawling in Arizona did all of his suspension, lift and regear work himself and another uncle rebuilt his daughter's totaled 2004 Wrangler from the frame up just a few years ago (I had to drive mine onto one side of the frame while he drove on the other to straighten it; very technical stuff). Of course, my dad totaled his last two rebuilt cars racing them (not strictly legally, but a long time ago), his brother had a stroke about a month ago, our family friend is in Pewaukee and travels for work, and the other uncle just moved to North Carolina. So basically now I can just talk them about it and it's a pretty limited sample size. Though my uncle who had the stroke has offered me use of all his tools and the hydraulic lift in his large, heated garage.

As much as I'd like to rely on manuals and videos, it's just not something I'm familiar enough with to read through and understand. I'll thank everyone in advance for the help (and multiple other times). I'm sure I'll have a lot of questions that will be pretty basic, and the project I'm taking on is pretty ambitious for a first timer.
 
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