Ok, the big weekend is over and I accomplished some major projects. I will detail items #2, 4 and 5, separately on my modz page.
1. Got the car back from the shop. They pulled the motor to install an oil pan, oil pump and replace some seals and freeze plugs to stop all the leaks. The car now vibrates and we think it is the flex plate. So, it goes back tomorrow and since they have to pull back the tranny I am going to have them install a new Hughes GM5TOW 1800rpm torque converter. They also did something to lock up the Lokar dipstick, so hopefully they can remove it, but they likely have to buy a new one. These are not cheap. I was really bummed about this.
2. Rolled the rear fenders for tire clearance. I still have to roll out the front inner fenders. It takes time, but man it works great when you have the right tool. No more fender rubbing in the back.
Driver side rear
Passenger Side Rear
3. Adjusted exhaust system to stop a thumping sound that would occur on occasions.
4. Installed Yukon 3.73 rear gears and went for a 100 mile break-in. I learned lots here. I will share some of my experiences to help others and to remind myself of some importants tips for when I work on my wife's Wrangler differentials.This will be on my modz page.
This is the first time I was able to successfully complete a rear end gear swap. The previous time I installed Yukon 3.08 gears but the diff was out of the car and I did not have the skill or tools to do the work so half way through the job I took the rear end to the shop to set the bearings, pinion depth and backlash. This time I did it all by myself. It only took my about 20 hours.
But, I spent about 6 hours trying to set the final pinion crush sleve. I could not move it with my air 1200cfm impact wrench. I had to take a break to think it over and I came to the conclusion that it was not the tool but rather the air compressor was not powerful enough. I bought an electric impact wrench for $80 rated at 400cfm and this did the job just fine! It even cost less than my fancy air impact wrench that I bought just fro this job.
Pattern looked great on the first setup. Lucky there. But I did spend hours calculating and measuring all my shims.
5. Installed a new black ribbed TH400 tranny pan.
Gotta have some bling