Jeep Performance Improvement Ideas
How to convert broken halogen work lamps to LED
I had two broken Halogen work lamps. These put out a lot of light when they work. However, the halogen lamps are very fragile and very expensive to replace. They also put out a LOT of heat. That is fine in the winter but not so much in the summer.
Continue reading “Halogen to LED conversion”
Knowing what to pack is always a challenge. Here are seven things I never hit the trail without.
Continue reading “7 Essential Off Road Items to Carry.”How to adjust the headlights on a 1995 GMC Suburban
The headlight son my GMC Suburban were really foggy and yellow. I am sure I could have cleaned them and gotten new bulbs but I found a good deal on replacement assemblies so I just changed out the whole thing. The first time I drove i the dark however, I realized I needed to align the new headlights. It was not obvious to me how to do it.
You don’t have to remove the grill to adjust the lights but since I had it off anyway, I took a picture to make it more clear how to adjust them.
Fist of all, the two 4mm hex pins that look like adjusters, are not adjusters. They are the pins that hold the light in place. If you remove these pins you can pull the headlight to change a bulb or something. To change the whole housing like I did you have to remove the grill.
The adjusters are hidden deep behind the grill. They have a funky star head on the bolt but I was able to turn it with a 7mm socket. I had the right socket but it would not fit in the access hole. I used a long extension on my nut driver to reach the adjuster bolt.
See the pictures for more info.
I have never given much thought to safety wire. We used it on several critical fasteners on the printing press I used to maintain, but I did not even keep the pliers when I left there.
However on our new to us Porsche Race car, the shift linkage was supposed to be safety wired and was not. This caused the shift linkage to fail on one of my starts up the hill at the Dragon Hill Climb. Not being familiar withe way the shift linkage operated, I first loaded it up and headed back how to the shop. However after consulting a mechanic friend, I decided to stop and take another look.
I set the trailer ramps on jack stands and backed the car out to make a mini work pit. With better visibility I was able to see that the set screw had backed out.
I put it back and we went back racing. But it came out again. I was much faster at putting it back but I knew I had to do something different. The folks on the FL/GA 944 owners group suggested safety wiring.
I ordered a set of pliers. I also noticed that there was already a hole in the bolt head so it was intended to be safety wired.
Here is the result:
I also decided that the cheap pliers I ordered from Amazon are nothing like the ones I used to use. I will be searching for a set of Milbar pliers in the near future.
How to disable the steering wheel lock on a race car.
On our Toyota Celica we went to the trouble to drill out the security screws and remove the lock cylinder from the steering column. Then I used a cut off wheel to shorten the locking pin until it no longer engaged the shaft.
On our Sentra Race car, however I tried a tip I overheard somewhere. I drilled a 3/8 hole in the cover on the bottom of the lock pin chamber. Something fell out. A spring maybe. After that the lock pin no longer engages when the key is removed. This was much simpler and quicker than removing the cylinder from the column.
On my Rally Jeep, I simply removed the lock plate. However this required removing the steering wheel and using a lock plate removal tool. The Sentra was by far the easiest solution to disabling the steering wheel lock.