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VegasDevil
New Member
- Joined
- Oct 21, 2019
- Messages
- 1
- City
- Burlington, WA
- Vehicle Year
- 1996
- Engine
- 4.0 V6
- Transmission
- Automatic
- Total Lift
- 2”
- Tire Size
- 31x10.5x15
Hey guys, just wanted to introduce myself and say thank you very much! Y’all, along with my Haynes manual made it possible for a guy like me, with no real mechanical experience beyond the occasional alternator or battery swap, to swap out the motor and rebuild the front end of my 96 XLT 4x4 4.0 AT. Thank god I discovered rockauto.com! I could’ve never afforded it if I went to AutoZone. I only had some mismatched sockets to begin with and quickly learned that having the right tool for the job was crucial. Plus it gave me an excuse to buy a lot of cool stuff from Harbor Freight!
I bought the truck, which had 245,000 miles on it, from the son of the original owner. He told me the engine was mis-firing bad, had low compression and needed some major work. The truck was exactly the model I wanted (4x4, V6 4.0) it was fully loaded, and it already had BFG 31’s on it. I bought it for $600 and for some reason just felt confident that I could fix it, although at times I’ve felt like I bit off more than I could chew.
I bought a used motor with 97,000 miles online. When it arrived I remember staring at it for a good hour. I didn’t know where to begin... I didn’t even own jack stands, or a jack, or a hoist. I dove into TRS, I scoured your threads, I studied your tech articles, I bought a Haynes manual, a torque wrench and other tools that y’all said were must haves and I got to it. It took me a couple months and I almost caved and hired a mobile mechanic to come out and make the connection between the torque converter and flex plate, but I didn’t. That connection took me over a week to make successfully, but I did it on my own and I’m pretty proud of myself. It was a great moment. When it came time to start the engine, I was scared shitless! But it started right up and sounded beautiful.
Now I can’t stop! Since then I’ve replaced all three rear u-joints, the center driveshaft bearing, all four shocks, front springs and 2” spacers, tie rods inner and outer, upper ball joints, lower ball joints, sway bar links, radius arm bushings, axle pivot bushings, motor mounts, axle bearings and seals, wheel bearings and seals, rotors, brake pads, and rear leaf spring helpers (for the slide in Okanagan mini camper that I restored).
I still gotta get it aligned and I want to get rid of the auto locking hubs and go to manual. I live in WA state... there’s a lot of mud this time of year and I can’t wait to get out in it! Sorry, I didn’t mean to be so long-winded. Mostly I just wanted to say, this site and all of your combined knowledge and experience is a real gift to Newbs like myself, and I just want y’all to know that I really appreciate you guys. Thank you very much!
I bought the truck, which had 245,000 miles on it, from the son of the original owner. He told me the engine was mis-firing bad, had low compression and needed some major work. The truck was exactly the model I wanted (4x4, V6 4.0) it was fully loaded, and it already had BFG 31’s on it. I bought it for $600 and for some reason just felt confident that I could fix it, although at times I’ve felt like I bit off more than I could chew.
I bought a used motor with 97,000 miles online. When it arrived I remember staring at it for a good hour. I didn’t know where to begin... I didn’t even own jack stands, or a jack, or a hoist. I dove into TRS, I scoured your threads, I studied your tech articles, I bought a Haynes manual, a torque wrench and other tools that y’all said were must haves and I got to it. It took me a couple months and I almost caved and hired a mobile mechanic to come out and make the connection between the torque converter and flex plate, but I didn’t. That connection took me over a week to make successfully, but I did it on my own and I’m pretty proud of myself. It was a great moment. When it came time to start the engine, I was scared shitless! But it started right up and sounded beautiful.
Now I can’t stop! Since then I’ve replaced all three rear u-joints, the center driveshaft bearing, all four shocks, front springs and 2” spacers, tie rods inner and outer, upper ball joints, lower ball joints, sway bar links, radius arm bushings, axle pivot bushings, motor mounts, axle bearings and seals, wheel bearings and seals, rotors, brake pads, and rear leaf spring helpers (for the slide in Okanagan mini camper that I restored).
I still gotta get it aligned and I want to get rid of the auto locking hubs and go to manual. I live in WA state... there’s a lot of mud this time of year and I can’t wait to get out in it! Sorry, I didn’t mean to be so long-winded. Mostly I just wanted to say, this site and all of your combined knowledge and experience is a real gift to Newbs like myself, and I just want y’all to know that I really appreciate you guys. Thank you very much!
