On a cold and blistery Michigan night, I spent last night putting my TJ's front right steering knuckle back together, after having to drill out a broken caliper bolt. . and I just had to ask, how many others have forgot to install the spash-guard after bolting down the 3 hub- bolts. . . .oops. . . then after using a floor-jack to wedge the knuckle into the tapers on the upper & lower ball studs, and FINALLY getting the upper nut to lock, and not turn the ball-joint, and getting it nice and tight and getting the cotter-pin in, ... I realize I forgot to put the ABS sensor wire bracket on it first.. So off comes the nut again and we start again! :)
Cold weather + no sleep = sloppy mechanic.
Thanks to all you guys who helped me by answering all my newbie questions. It's the great people on this newsgroup that I always think about when I do the jeep-wave.. Jeeps just seem to attract nice people. (for the most part..) I had an aircooled vw before the Jeep, and their newsgroup is equally active and friendly. (and they wave too!)
One strange thing happened when I went to take it for a test-drive. It was in the garage for a week, in cold weather, with me playing the radio quite a bit.. so the battery was all but dead. I jumped it, let it run for about 5-6 minutes, then put it into gear and crawled out of the garage. I stopped after I cleared the door, and then it kept acting like it was going to stall if I didn't feather the gas-pedal.. it would idle at around 250 rpms if I didn't hit the gas. I had never seen this before. It did this for my entire test drive of about 10 minutes. After I parked it in the garage, I turned it off, then back on, and idle was fine.
Is there something about low voltage and idle speed? Once the alternator was turning and the engine running, my voltage should have been fine for running normal I would have thought..
Also, What is the secret to tightening the 175 ft-lb axle nut? ... Having someone stand on the brakes while you crank on it?