Mistakes you've made while working on your Jeep

Misplacing your locking lug not socket after you put the locking lug nuts on the spare and nothing else over a month ago. Realizing it only today as you decide to rotate your tires and put the rest of the lug nuts on but neither the socket or the rest of the lug nuts are in the jeep. So you search everywhere for two hours only to give up and start something else to find them hidden behind some stuff on your tool box. Glad I didn't have a flat without it.
 
Working on the ZJ last spring, I do not even remember what I was doing, had it on four jacks stands with all four wheels off. All of a sudden as I am about to crawl under it one of the stands gives way and the whole thing come crashing down. I never work under a vehicle now with out stands and the floor jack. To close for comfort.


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Working on the ZJ last spring, I do not even remember what I was doing, had it on four jacks stands with all four wheels off. All of a sudden as I am about to crawl under it one of the stands gives way and the whole thing come crashing down. I never work under a vehicle now with out stands and the floor jack. To close for comfort.


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What brand jack stands? Did it break or just wasn't set properly?

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Build thread: http://wayalife.com/showthread.php?t=32769
 
They are some my dad gave me. He is an auto body guy and has had them for 30+ years. No brand discernible. The one bent and collapsed. The others shifted and fell.


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Two unfortunate events. Was attempting to secure a cover on the Jeep during gusty winds. I had been using bungee cords and the wind caused them to wear through the paint on the rock rails. I thought I could better secure the cover with a ratcheting cargo strap. I hooked one side and tossed the other end under the Jeep but before I could secure the other side a gust of wind whipped the cover and strap into the air. The metal ratchet section of the strap came down hard on the hood and then slapped against the driver door leaving deep gashes in the paint. The Jeep was two weeks new.

The next one happened today. Was excited to get my recently arrived new Lod Destroyer bumper installed. Opened the garage and as I was backing out realized the day was going bad when I heard a horrendous scraping noise. Turns out I hadn't rolled the garage door up high enough. The hardtop is going to need some repair work. Not my finest moments.

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Put my hood up to check the oil, not paying attention to the wind gust that was applying force onto the popped hood. In what seemed a micro second the wind slammed my hood towards my windshield, leaving a long thin dent in the hood.

Now when people asked me why a throw a bungle cord on the hood to hold in down in parallel in the pop rod.....I tell this story.

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I've popped the hood in the wind thing before, still wonder what I was thinking, but that wasn't on a jeep. I haven't done anything dumb to my jeep...yet.

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Misplacing your locking lug not socket after you put the locking lug nuts on the spare and nothing else over a month ago. Realizing it only today as you decide to rotate your tires and put the rest of the lug nuts on but neither the socket or the rest of the lug nuts are in the jeep. So you search everywhere for two hours only to give up and start something else to find them hidden behind some stuff on your tool box. Glad I didn't have a flat without it.

I didn't have mine inserted well. Torqued it & stripped it & the bolt. $100 and 3 hours at a tire shop later I was rotated.


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Not a Jeep, when I was 16 I had an old Demon, went to put on some used Mags and the right side went well, drivers side rear the lug wouldn't budge. Being me I knew I could hop on the tire iron to break it free - yep it broke the stud, left hand threads.
 
Don't know if anyone has mentioned this before but... Not doing the work myself, paying someone to do it for me and then regretting it.

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Agreed. Along those lines, paying them for the repairs only to find out they fucked it up and did it wrong or damaged something else in the process. More and more, I'll just do it myself even if I really don't have the time.
 
Agreed. Along those lines, paying them for the repairs only to find out they fucked it up and did it wrong or damaged something else in the process. More and more, I'll just do it myself even if I really don't have the time.[/QUOTE

^^^X2. Happens more often than not. And "pay attention". Less expensive that way.
 
Most recently when I installed my EVO Stinger I didn't realize the stinger tube was full of packaging popcorn. I've been wiggling popcorn out of the small open space where it meets the bumper for the past few weeks. Just when I think it's all out I'll see a spec of green and pull a few more pieces out. :Lol:
 
left a box wrench in the engine bay...twice...I also removed the egr valve (if you have done this and were successful you should pat yourself on the back and have a beer) and i stripped the furthest bolt head because i didn't use a shorty wrench.


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Two things:

First, I pulled a mostly stock XJ into the garage, built it up, admired it, then realized it was too tall to drive out. Whoops. I deflated the tires, pulled stuff off the roof, and tried to squeak out. It was close......but I ended up ripping the entire garage door off the rails when it caught on the roof rack and everything came tumbling down. Huge mess. Angry wife.

That was maybe 15 years ago.

This year I set my Jeep on fire.

When I installed the winch, I routed the power cables through the engine compartment and zip tied them to some "miscellaneous" stuff to keep them from hitting all the moving parts. Later I removed a bunch of accessory junk I didn't need in there anymore and inadvertently removed the "miscellaneous" stuff the winch cables were tied to. So the winch power cables were free to float around, and they floated right into one of the pulleys (can't remember which) while I was cruising down the highway. Idiot lights started blinking like a pinball machine. I pulled over and looked in the engine compartment and saw lots of insulation on fire. I was able to get it out with the fire extinguisher before the fire spread and consumed the whole Jeep. Fortunately the only casualties were cables, hoses, pulleys, the serpentine belt, and the battery. Mostly cheap stuff. Mostly idiot driver.
 
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A little more than a stain

Pulled all my seats, chiseled and scrapped all the gunk out, Cleaned entire tub.... was bedlineing the whole thing. Took my time, wanted this to be perfect! First coat was great... perfect! I let it dry... second coat was good! - this is going too awesome! Yep, turning to get out of the back bumped my elbow, dropped the can- tried to catch it... but it spilled down the back of the jeep, over the rear bumper, and on garage floor...over my shoes...on some tools on the floor. The Jeep cleaned up, the bumper had to be pressure washed many times to get it off of the powder coating, the floor, the tools wear stained- err coated and have new character... the shoes and the pants were trash. :grayno:
 
Amongst other things I left a magnetic led work light on underside of frame for around 4 months without it falling off. Even had it in dealership...cant believe it didnt get swiped!
 
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