I decided to reply over here. Not sure how this forum is about all the chatter in the newb section.

They are quite similar! I wish I could go back and tell Chevy how I feel about this terrible wheel well trim. What were they thinking? Ugh!

There are so many Wrangler variants. I didn't realize how inexpensive they could be. My big requirement was an all terrain that was 3 peak snowflake rated since I'm calling this my ski rig. Almost bought Cooper Discoverer AT3's for a decent deal but talked myself out of it.

I actually still have 2 Miatas right now - a 91 and a 99. The 91 was a track car but is now mostly stock and for sale. Really hoping to sell it soon. About to slash the price just so I can move on. The 99 is my daily but I'm getting sick of blinding headlights in my rear view. Not sure I could sell it but that might mean a different daily...

 

Days like today I wish I didn't work on my own things. Cars are dumb.

I realized after unbolting everything it wasn't going to be possible to get the exhaust out in one piece. I may have been able to finagle some crossmembers down or out and have better luck but I didn't want to. Good thing I have a sawzall.



The bigger downside to this is cutting the new exhaust in half. Ugh. I grabbed a connector and a couple of U bolt clamps from the parts store. This will be temporary until I take it into an exhaust shop to have it welded back up. I feel sorry for that guy, lol.



Turns out the ol girl does weep a bit. Probably won't tackle the oil leaks until after winter when I can have it down for a week or 2.



But there was one other project while I was under there. Gave the T bars 5 rotations to level things out. Here are my measurements before and after.



And the aftermath. The money shot. They payoff. My driveway is sloped a bit but the numbers don't lie. Looks much better now.



Cheers y'all. I'm tired. Time for a bath followed by a nice steak dinner.

 

Looking good!

 

The Manga flow cat for my 2001 ZR2 was a two piece unit. I was able to put it in fairly easily. It came with a clamp so I left it there. Made removing the trans a few months later much easier.

Looks good.

 

Thanks! And I wish I could have found more info on that. If I knew there was a 2 piece option I would have bucked up the cash. Luckily I should have a buddy welding it up Thursday.

Picked up a stupidly large accessory today. This thing is seriously big.

 

Wellllllll... got the ol rig on the rack today and found one really ugly ball joint and a little play in the pitman and idler arms. Dammit! Another $200 to Rock Auto and I should have parts this week. I suppose that's better than having a ****e alignment done today and paying for another a short time down the road.

Also should be welding up my exhaust on Thursday. Hopefully my buddy just does it and doesn't hand it to me to burn a butt-ton of holes in, lol. I've got an SES since the coupler I threw on as a bandaid has a pretty significant leak.

And lastly my spacers for the rear should finally come in Friday. Took a few annoyed messages with the vendor to make that happen. The first tracking number stayed in "pre-shipment" status for 2 weeks.

The real bummer in all these little issues is that my normal daily (Miata) decided to leak and soak the driver floorboard. I've had a heater and a fan on it all day...

 

Oh what a week it has been. My front end parts came in and I took Friday off to work on the truck. Then the wife reminded me we needed to drive it on Saturday. Ugh.

Let a buddy try and weld the exhaust. It's far from pretty but mostly functional. That's a problem for future JR.


Parts...


Spacers...


Reason for spacers...


YIKES!


So much better!




Wife's work's Christmas party decorations. UGH!


On the way home Saturday the SES flashed a few times. That was good for a scare. Ran the codes. Already have a new thermostat on the shelf. Another Rock Auto order and I've got a cap, rotor, plugs, and wires on the way.





I haven't had a chance to run down all the vacuum lines and see why my Service 4WD light comes on when I try to go into 4WD. It was working just fine before. I wonder if I banged something when messing with the exhaust. Time will tell...

Until next time... cheers!

 

Did you install 4 spacers? I only installed two on the rear, 1.25", to square up the stance. What size(s) did you use?

Also, your comment from before made me laugh. I sometimes think being able to work on my own truck is like a curse; knowing I can do it means I can definitely do it for less money (but for the cost of time) and sometimes better than a shop could do it. LOL

 

 

So I'm not always good about updating... especially when it's nothing exciting.

Rock Auto order included upper and lower ball joints, inner and outer tie rod ends and sleeves, pitman arm, idler arm, and new CV axles. The axles were cheap enough. 1 had already spewed grease all over many moons ago and the other decided to after cranking the T bars.

I bought a couple of new drill bits for operation rivet. That was enough to make me lose my damn mind.













Presto... like magic. All done.



I greased it all up, gave it a toe and go, and been driving it a little since. Should be getting it aligned next week.

The important part... I did the pitman arm in the truck. I know you hear different opinions on whether it's possible or not. I took the 3 bolts to the power steering loose and was able to contort it around to get a socket on it. I was able to make a 32mm work (that's all I had on hand). The nut never came out of the socket until it was reinstalled, lol. Also put a pitman arm puller on it in the truck. It wasn't the easiest, but I'm a fairly decent contortionist. YMMV.

After all of this, 4wd still would not engage. I wasn't expecting it to, just hoping for a little luck. I was still getting C0367. I made a post about it and swartlkk came through like he always does. I first replaced the actuator solenoid on the firewall. No change. With the help of a friend, I finally got my TCCM picked up at USPS. MAGIC!!!







This little light of mine... I'M GONNA LET IT SHINE!!!

Too bad I got it fixed AFTER all of this snow.



With 2wd, open diff, and not nearly enough ground clearance... I managed to get stuck in my own tiny driveway, lol.



PS: doggos love snow too...