On an absolutely gorgeous late April day in the high desert, I tackled the dreaded front Jeep shocks.
And I do mean dreaded. Look, technically it’s no big deal. When I wrenched for a living this would have been considered a gravy job, except for all the encrusted mud and the chance of a broken bolt. A Generous Reader actually sent me the money for the shocks some months ago, so money wasn’t the item.
It’s just…I know the Jeep and I know my life, and this job had “Jeep-breaking disaster” written all over it. Something was going to go wrong. Something bad. And there I’d be, right in the middle of the shit, looking for a field expedient repair to get the poor thing back on its knees.
In the actual event, by Jeep-job standards it went very smoothly. Only one little thing went wrong: On the right side to get to the upper strut nut you need to remove the air filter box. I assumed that the nuts holding the three bolts that held the box in place were captive, because of course they were. Only a sadistic idiot would specify loose nuts in that application, way down over the front suspension.
Uh huh. So when it came time to put the box back on I spent quite some time finding those nuts, dropped in the dirt and on the spring mount. But I found them.
So to my utter shock no bolts were broken, no nuts were irretrievably lost, no suspension components collapsed into dust at the touch of a wrench, and nothing dropped on my head. Just a quick and very dirty shock replacement.
Of course then we had to check out the difference it made. To be honest I can’t really testify that the rear shocks made any startling improvement in the Jeep’s ride. Or much of any noticeable difference, really. But the front should at least improve the steering if nothing else. LB said, Let’s go for a ride, so we did.
Top o’the world, Ma!
We took a ride through a place I rarely go, mostly out of concern for the Jeep’s suspension. It doesn’t look like it should be such a terrifying ride, but the Jeep really embarrassed me last September when I took a guest through this section and I thought it was going to pop us both out through the roof. In fact, as hoped, the worn-to-uselessness shocks were the culprit. This time the Jeep behaved like a competent 4X4.
So that’s done. Next I’m going to turn my attention to Internet instructions marked “How to Replace a 4.0L Engine’s Serpentine Belt.”
Please at least make sure you don’t mess up the new seat:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=idu8C3mIL6I
}:-]
There’s “competent 4X4” and then there’s “crazy rock-climber.” I’m quite old enough to know the difference.
I hate front shocks, but I’ve never had to resort to a pistol and sheath knife in their replacement.
😉
Joel, there’s a bonus there–you can have spare mattresses for when company comes, if you save those big-ass air filters.
Serpentine Belt – Requires you to duct-tape a wrench to a long pole for de-tensioning the tension pulley, or use a pipe that slips over the wrench. Three hands also required. And a wide empty space with no children nearby that can hear and mimic curses so vile even a senior sailor would blanch.
Helmet helps too, full face type, because you know the wrench will slip off the damned tensioning pulley and go flying at mach 3 right at your face.
Full gauntlets for your hands to keep them from looking like you’ve scrubbed them with a cheese grater would help, too. Or some nice decent leather or mechanic’s gloves.
Never replaced a serpentine belt before, nope, especially not on a Ford Aerostar with a 2.8L mustang engine in it (yes, Ford put out a mini-van with a really powerful engine in it, not that I ever got it over 120mph…)
I hate serpentine belts. But they’re better in many respects than the old multi-belts. Using the Alternator as the tensioner in my old Datsun sucked..)
Of course, most 1/2″ drive torque wrenches are long enough to provide adequate leverage to do the serpentine belt replacement without jury rigging. If you’ve got a socket that fits the bolt on the tensioner. Yeah, I know you shouldn’t use a torque wrench for that, but for as infrequently as you replace that belt, the wrench won’t be any the worse for the wear.
Uhhh sorry Andrew if you honestly think a ford 2.8 liter is a powerful engine, what must you think of my 5.7 liter Hemi (not a real hemi) in my 2014 Charger 370HP/395Torque. Must be tame huh? I mean after all you had a 115HP in your 2.8L Cologne V6. Cologne is what FMC called that particular motor. BTW better than 170 MPH in my car.
Good luck to you Joel, I hope the belt doesn’t cause too much grief.
Eric, no, the 2.8 wasn’t strong, but it actually was faster with better pep and all that jazz than the regular 2.something V4 or 3.0 V6 of later years. Just the way Ford put the 2.8 in the van, well, I swore it was a V5 or something as I could never find the 6th cylinder (turns out you had to drop the motor off the mounts to get to the last cylinder, turning a basic home fix into a ‘must take to real mechanic and get charged out the arse’ on any plug or cable change.)
And yeah, that van was ‘high performance’ for me. Always favored work style vans over fast cars. Something about carrying lots of stuff and being able to sleep in it also has always been a factor to me. 85mph is fast enough.