Category: Process Improvement

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Repairing my hacked WordPress site

Repairing my hacked WordPress site

Incorrect tiles and descriptions showing in Google search results

On October 14 my web traffic went down to less than a fourth of what it normally is. It took me a day or so to find out why. From my viewpoint my blog was fine. I finally did a google search on my most popular term expecting to see some drop in ranking. What I did see shocked me. Instead of the normal title and description, my blog post – still ranked number one, now said “Buy Viagra with a prescription.” The cached preview showed a page titled “SOMA for sale.”

However, if you actually clicked the link, which few people were doing, you got the original page. I was really confused.

I did some forum searches to see if other people we having the same problem with Google. It turned out they were but all the post I found were closed to comments and there were no answers. It took quite a bit of digging to find out what was causing the trouble. It turns out that 90% of the people who are reporting the problem are hosted on Godaddy like I am. There seems to be a security problem with he Godaddy servers. If my trouble returns, I will switch away from Godaddy. I hate to because I have had good service over the years from them but this lack of security is not acceptable. See this article for more info: http://smackdown.blogsblogsblogs.com/2010/05/13/hosting-with-godaddy-might-want-to-rethink-that-decision/

I followed the helpful guide at this link: http://smackdown.blogsblogsblogs.com/2008/06/24/how-to-completely-clean-your-hacked-wordpress-installation/

I began by making a copy of the wordpress directory on my web site. I used Filezilla to make the copy. Next I had to learn how to make a copy of my SQL data base. This took a lot of reading before I was able to learn to use the data base controller software on Godaddy’s hosting controls. I also installed a plug on the blog that makes backups. This let me make a copy of the database easily.

In the process, I accidentally changed the password on the database so my blog was down with errors overnight until I realized the problem. I had to edit the wp-config file to fix it. It took more reading to learn how to do that.

By this time I was more comfortable using the Hosting control software and I had backups of everything on my hard drive.

I had also figured out some of how the hack worked. Somehow they inserted code that redirected the traffic if the googlebot was doing the surfing. I used http://web-sniffer.net to find out what was being presented to Google.

I got the courage to hit delete and cleaned up all the old files from the server. I left the database in place.

Instead of letting Godaddy reinstall WordPress for me or trying to install it using Filezilla, I used a program called EasyWP WordPress Installer. It is available here: http://smackdown.blogsblogsblogs.com/2008/06/18/easywp-wordpress-installer-cause-there-aint-no-such-thing-as-too-easy/

I simply downloaded the file to my computer and then used Filezilla to copy it up to the server. I then used my browser to run it. I had to open a separate window in the browser to get the right data to access my SQL database on Godaddy. I had to change the hosting parameter that is says 99% don’t need to change but all the info was on the Godaddy info page. I just copied and pasted it into the form.

The program loaded up a fresh install of wordpress and sucked in all the data from my database. At first the blog was still blank because there was some error with the theme. I simply reloaded the theme and it cleared right up. I did have trouble for a while getting 404 errors on individual blog posts but that cleared upon its own after a few minutes.

I then checked through all the photo files in the backup of the upload directory. I had read where some people had had their site hacked by someone putting php files in the photo directories. I did not find any suspicious files so I uploaded all photos using filezilla. That took a few hours. Once the photo files were back in place the blog posts looked fine again.

I then began the tedious task of reinstalling plug ins. I tried to get fresh versions of as many as possible. However, there were a few that I had to restore form my back ups. I really have no way of knowing if they were clean. I have tried to use web sniffer to check regularly to see if any of the posts have been re corrupted but so far none have.

I have to give a special thanks to the folks at smackdown for providing lots of good and useful info on how to fix my blog. Hopefully Google will rescan the affected articles soon and correct their files.

I have learned a lot about how WordPress works and I will be able to rebuild the blog a lot faster next time. I used this event as an opportunity to clean up some plug ins I don’t use anymore and make some other changes to the blog I have wanted to do for a while.

I have no idea what the motivation for the hack is. There are no links I see that would make anyone any money or bring them clicks. The only issue for me was destroying my search results. I guess some people like to cause trouble just because they can.

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Vibration Diagnosis

Diagnosing the vibrations in my Jeep

For a while now I have had severe vibrations in my street Jeep. I have corrected several problems like a bad front pinion bearing and a drive shaft U joint. However the vibrations have persisted.

Every time I drive, I get a shimmy at 50 to 55. On the interstate I can’t go over 70 as it feels like the whole rear of the Jeep is coming off the ground.

I got a new set of BFG AT’s thinking my old worn ones may have contributed to the vibrations. However if anything it made the vibrations worse.

I started with the vibration diagnosis chart in the Jeep Shop manual. Everything there pointed to the tires. But since I had new tires I discounted that. I put the tires back on my bubble balance machine just to make sure but they read fine.

I then set to looking at all the U joints, wheel bearings, ball joints, drive shafts and any thing else that moves with the suspension. I even changed rear springs thinking maybe my sagging springs could have disturbed the pinion angle.

I swapped drive shafts and installed new shocks. The only part not changed was the steering stabilizer.

Last night I decided to look for a bent wheel. I set up my dial indicator on a jack stand and read the rim. It had about .020 maximum run out on any wheel. I figured that was not too bad.

I also checked for out of round on the rims. They all read pretty good.

I also put the indicator against the sidewall of the tire. It was difficult to read due to the moldings on the tore but they seemed to be fine as well. I never figured out a way to read the out of round of the tire due to the tread pattern of the AT. There is no clear path to rotate the tire and not have the indicator fall into the tread.

I also checked the Vibration Analysis chart on the Tire Rack web site. Their chart also indicated a tire problem.


I happened to have another Jeep in the shop that had a fresh set of Goodyear tires that had been dynamically balanced. I decided to put them on and just see.

At 55 it was smooth as could be. Not even a hint of shimmy. I made a quick dash to 75 and it was smooth there as well. No pounding like I have experienced with the new BFG’s.

While I am glad I have found the problem, I am pretty disappointed with my new tires. This is the second set of BFG tires I have dealt with that had a dynamic balance problem. The ones I put on my daughter in law’s Jeep were BFG Long trails and they will not run smooth at high speeds. I have not had that trouble with Kumhos or Michelins.

I guess my next step will be to try a liquid balance on the tires. I really hate to spend $50 or more to get them dynamically balanced knowing that I will have to keep doing it as the tires wear.

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Bad Ball Joints Again.

Bad Ball Joints Again.

After breaking a second axle U joint in just a few months time, I had to see what was wrong. While I still don’t really understand why, I know from experience that if the ball joints are loose, the U joints will break.

As I was putting the hub back in after changing the axle shaft, I saw the ball joint move. There should be zero up and down motion in the ball joints. They should only pivot. Mine was moving up and down almost a quarter of an inch. I knew this was trouble so I removed the axle shaft and replaced it with a 2wd stub shaft to wait until new ball joints arrived.

With the new ball joints in hand, I set about removing the old ones. They have only been in pace a couple of years or so. I followed the same procedure I have documented before in: Ball Joint Replacement.

When I went to separate the knuckle from the ball joints, the lower joint split and part came out with the knuckle and part stayed in the axle. I had found my problem. I am still not sure if it was a bad part or was not lubricated properly.

I pressed in the new ball joints using the same procedure described in: Ball Joint Replacement. To reduce stress on my press, I used a hammer to strike the end of the press between turns on the bolts. This trick allowed the press to easily push in the new joints without bending the press as I have done in the past.

The hammer taps help to keep the ball joint aligned as it presses in and relieves and sticking as it moves through the axle. Hammering also helps in the removal process as well.

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Dana 30 gears

Dana 30 gears

I finally completed the regear of Jennifer’s XJ the weekend. This has been a much longer project than I first expected.

She has had a gear set on her shelf for a few months now waiting for me to install it. However, we had to collect all the various parts needed. The first being a matching set for the rear. Once the rear gears were in, I finally proceeded to work on the front.

I began by stripping down the old gears. This swap involved going from the stock 3.55 gears to 4.10 ratios. There is a different carrier required for the 4.10 gears due to the thickness of the ring gear.

The first step was to move the spider gears from the old carrier to the new one. The ring gear had to be removed to provide clearance for the cross pin to be removed. The cross shaft is held in place by a roll pin that has to be driven out with a punch. My proper sized punch seems to be missing, so I used an old drill bit instead.

With the spider gears transferred, I then mounted the new ring gear on the carrier. I removed the bearings from the old carrier to retrieve the shims being careful to keep them on the correct sides. I took a set of slightly worn bearings and reamed out the inner race with my die grinder until they slipped on easily. I used these for the trial fits before installing the new bearings.

I pressed off the old pinion bearing to retrieve the slinger under it. I then heated the new bearing and slipped it onto the new pinion with the slinger under it. I noticed after it cooled that I could rotate the slinger slightly so I tapped it down tighter with a punch and hammer.

I used a punch to drive out the races from the housing. There is an oil baffle under the inner pinion bearing that will be destroyed in the removal process. We had some trouble locating a new baffle. Although they cost less than two dollars, no one in town had one in stock. Most 4×4 places wanted $8 to $16 to ship one. We finally found a place with reasonable shipping and bought two just in case.

One of my XJlist members gave me the tip to measure the oil baffle and replace it with a shim during the set up process. This keeps you from destroying more of these baffles while performing the set up tests. My baffle measured exactly 0.020 inches so I used a 20 thousandths shim in place of it during set up.

The pinion depth on the Dana 30 adjusts by shims under the bearing race in the housing. This means driving the race in and out until you get the shims right. I took and old outer pinion bearing and reamed it out so it would easily slip on an off during set up. I assembled the pinion with bearings and slingers but no preload shims. I snugged up the yoke nut to take out all end play.

I then set the carrier in place. I used a soft hammer to drive it into the housing rather than using a case spreader. I set the caps in place and tightened them down. I then coated some of the teeth with the yellow marking compound that came in the overhaul kit. I then rotated the assembly around to get a pinion depth pattern.

I had used the chart in the Jeep FSM to select the pinion shims. Basically each pinion gear is marked with its variance from zero depth. In this case the old gear was marked 2 and the new gear was marked 6. This meant I needed to remove 4 thousandths of shim from the shim pack under the bearing race. I measured the shims that came out and removed a 10 and added a 5 to make up close to 4 difference. I then added a 20 to substitute for the baffle.

I almost cheered when this shim pack gave a beautiful wipe pattern showing the contact patch right in the middle of the gear. I also found that the yellow gear marking compound which is actually made by GM makes a much better mark that the Prussian Blue I have used in the past.

I set up my dial indicator and verified the back lash. It was a bit hard to read the indicator but it was well within the .006 to .009 spec in the manual. That meant the same shims from under the old bearings would work.

I almost wished I had put the baffle in. I carefully drove out the race and replaced the shim with the baffle and reinstalled it.

I prepared to set the pinion preload with the new bearings. That is when I noticed that the rebuild kit contained the wrong outer pinion bearing. It was one for a low pinion Dana 30 rather than the XJ style high pinion. This difference has plagued this install from the beginning. (See the earlier posts.) I obtained a replacement from Advance Auto but not without some difficulty getting the right part even with the old bearing in hand.

I prepared a set of shims based on what had come off the old pinion. These proved to be way too tight. I then built a thicker stack of shims. These were too loose. The pinion preload is supposed to be between 20 and 40 inch pounds when installing new bearings. The preload is adjusted with shims on the XJ contrary to what the FSM says. Some Dana 30s use a crush sleeve like the Dana 35 but not this axle.

I then made up a shim pack that measured 55 thousandths. This was too tight, so I made one that measured 60 thousandths. This was just a bit too loose. Luckily, I do have an inch pound torque wrench so I could make accurate measurements. I would have been very frustrated if I were trying to use weights and a string as some forums recommend.

I came down to where 55 was too tight and 59 was too loose. I was not able to build a pack in between with the shims I had. I finally gave up a made it just a bit loose. I hammered in a new seal and made the final install of the yoke. I had upgraded her to the U bolt style yoke from the strap style while we were in there.

I then replaced the set up bearings on the carrier with new ones from the rebuild kit. I once again used my soft hammer to tap the carrier into the housing and torqued the cap bolts to spec. I rechecked the backlash and pinion wipe pattern with the new bearings. Nothing changed.

With everything in place, I left her put the new gasket on the newly pink diff cover. She bolted it up and filled the housing with oil. She then put up her drive shaft and skid plate.

A test drive indicated that the new gears ran nice and quiet. We then took it for a quick run in the woods and enjoyed the new crawl ratio.

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Jeep Speedometer Calibration

Jeep speedometer Calibration

When changing gears or even tire sizes, the speedometer calibration will change. Jeep Cherokees have a gear driven speedometer sensor even after the speedometer head was changed to electric. A gear dives a pulser unit that sends a signal to the dash.

The gear is mounted in the transfer case on the 4wd models. There are two different gears used. There is a short shaft gear used in the 1993 and later Cherokees and a longer shaft use dint he earlier versions. The long shaft version is the same gear used to drive the cable speedometers used since the 1970’s.

The gears have different tooth counts to provide different ratios to calibrate the speedometer. They are also color coded.

To determine the gear you need you can reference a chart of tire size and gear ratios like the one on Marcus Ohms site. You can also calculate the one you need if you have an accurate speed reference like a GPS or a measured mile.

To select the proper gear for Jennifer’s Jeep, I used a GPS to get a speed reference. I drove at several steady speeds and recorded the indicated speed on the speedometer and the actual speed given by the GPS. Note that most GPS units only update the speed every three seconds, so you have to maintain a steady speed to get an accurate reading.

In this case I found that the speedometer showed 70 when the GPS showed 57 MPH. 55 MPH on the speedometer showed about 45 on the GPS. This gave me a ratio of about 1.2 to 1.

Next I pulled out her drive gear to see what tooth count it was. The gear is held in place by a clamp and a single bolt. There are four different ways to turn the housing so pay attention to which slot is toward the bolt when removing the housing. You can count the teeth but the number is stamped o the gear as well. In her case is as 29.

29 times 1.2 gave 34.8 or rounded up to 35. This matched the chart on Marcus’s site so we set about finding a 35 tooth gear.

Prices vary widely for these gears. My supplier only stocked the short shaft so we had to look elsewhere. Surprisingly the cost from the Jeep dealer was very reasonable and about half the cost of many aftermarket venders. Jennifer was able to source a used on from Ebay for half that however.

Hers came from an AMC Javelin demonstrating the wide variety of cars and trucks that use these same gears. The 35 took gear is coded orange.

To install the new gear, I had to rate the housing to a different position. The gear tooth range for each position is clearly marked o the housing so it is just a mater of making sure it is aligned with the right slot.

Now she has an accurate speedometer reading for her 33” tiers and 4.10 gears.

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