Almost Ready to Test the Jeep!!

With a medium amount of effort, I was able to get the breather hose mod project completed. I found that Lowes was selling 1/2" I.D. fuel hoses in 10' segments for under $8. They also had the connectors and clamps I needed, so one quick trip to my local Lowes did the trick. It cost me just under $40. I wasn't sure exactly how I was going to tackle this, but I was thinking why replace the entire hose systems with new stuff, if the old stuff was fine- I just need to extend what I already have.

I started with the rear differential breather first since it was the easiest to find. The breather cap was hiding just behind the right fender liner. I connected, then ran the hose along the passenger frame rail to the front of the Jeep. Supposedly, the transfer case breather hose on the automatic is only like 5" long, but information that I found on the internet was conflicting and confusing, so much more research had to be done, and I mean much more!! After hours of looking (over a span of several weeks off and on), the short TC breather hose info was shown to be incorrect! The real location of the TC breather hose end is at the firewall, about halfway down near the battery! To me, it's still about a foot lower than I would like it to be, but because of it's difficult to reach position, I decided to start a new hose, rather than extend the existing one. I T'ed the hose into the line that was coming from the rear differential.

The front differential breather end is easy to find- it's located just behind the drivers fender liner, which puts the height at the top of the tires. Not very high. I extended the hose and again T'ed it into the line running from the rear differential, right by the battery. So the rear diff, transfer case and the front diff are all tied into this one common hose. The terminal end breather cap sits just under the level of the hood at the firewall, which is more than adequate.

The transmission breather hose already sits pretty high from the factory and is located on the passenger side of the engine, right under the removable plastic engine cover. But the way the factory clips it in, the position is more lateral/horizontal than vertical. The breather cap is supposed to bob and protect the opening orifice with a bubble of air, but I don't see how that is possible, if the cap is sideways. I popped it out of the last clip and positioned the cap so it sits vertically. Done! That was easy.

So now, King is ready to ford DEEP water crossings! Like just about up to the top of the hood deep! I feel way comfortable with that! Water will be coming into the cabin, before I drown the components!

Okay, on to the next project! Time to get those skid plates back on the underside of the Jeep! If there's anything I've learned from installing the gas skid is that parts do not fit very well on Jeeps that have already been off-roaded. Parts are bent, parts are dented, things just aren't in alignment anymore the way they were coming from the factory. Plus this time around, I would be installing the extra spacer plate, so I can make more space for the exhaust crossover pipe. I first installed the transfer case skid and spacer with the use of the floor jack and that wasn't too bad, except now there's the gas skid that I have to contend with. That's an additional width of metal so bolts seem to have gotten shorter! Getting the driver side bolt in wasn't all that hard, but getting that gas side bolt was a total bitch!! Matter of fact, it took a couple of days of trying to figure it out. My first idea was to just run to the hardware store and get a longer bolt. I was able to find the diameter then the pitch, but to find that together in the proper length wasn't going to happen. I did a quick search to see if I could buy one on the internet and that would be possible if I wanted to purchase a lot of 100! No, that's not happening! My next idea was to have to unbolt everything again, just so I could tip that metal closer and make that the first bolt to go in, then bolt up everything else. That idea indeed worked, but I struggled to get the other holes lined up. Eventually it all worked out with the exception of one hole- I'll just have to hog it out with the Dremel. The part of the skid plate that is overlapping the gas skid is bent to meet the hole. And does the skid plate make contact with the crossover pipe? Absolutely! It touches at the lowest part of the pipe making very firm contact. But after taking him out for a test drive, there were no adverse sounds or clunks. I would believe that it should act as additional support for the engine and transmission adding stability. It could in time wreak havoc on the exhaust system, weakening the spacer/extension interfaces. Only time will tell. 

There are a couple of left over things that need to be taken care of in order for all these little projects to be considered "complete". One of the middle bolt holes on the overlapping skid plates needs to be relieved a little bit in order for me to thread in that last bolt. Also I left out a couple of washers, when I put the oil pan skid back on. I'll try to get these things taken care of before heading out on my upcoming crawling trip!