Side trail lights.

Reason for doing:
When out wheeling sometimes it gets dark before I get back to a main road, making it difficult to see around corners.
Difficulty: 1 (Scale of 1-5 Five being hardest.)
Cost: $25

Tools used:
Open end wrenches
Wire crimper

Process:
Disconnect the negative terminal of the battery. (Always a good idea when working on the electrical system.)

The first step was for me to mount the driving lights behind the bumper facing out. I found two small holed already drilled into the bumper that were in the perfect place. I used stainless steel stove bolts to hold the lights in place.

I was lucky enough to get a kit that came with a complete wiring harness, and followed the instructions. I bolted the included relay to the battery tray using one of the existing bolts.

The only change I made was to connect the trigger wire to the switch to the side lights, to the switched side of the existing trail lights. With this done the side lights can not be turned on unless you first turn on the main trail lights.

Problems encountered:
Accidentally broke a wire to the main trail lights.

Would I do it again?
Sure. It was an easy mod, and really lights things up when driving at night.

Changing the Fuel filter.

Reason for doing:
From time to time the Jeep cranks for a long time before starting.
Difficulty: 1 (Scale of 1-5 Five being hardest.)
Cost: $26

Tools used:
Socket set
Open end wrenches
wd40
Creaper

Process:
Disconnect the negitive terminal of the battery. (Always a good idea when working on the fuel system.)
Block the wheels. (Just in case.)

Just in front of the rear drivers side wheel, attached to the frame is a skid plate that protects the fuel filter. It is held on with four bolts, I

removed all four bolts and it came off with no trouble at all. (WD40 helps.) At this point I could see that the fuel filter is held to the frame by

a large clamp, and two small hose clamps. Foolishly I removed the large clamp first, this made it more difficult to remove the small hose clamps.
Removed both small hose clamps, pulled off the old fuel filter. (Soaked myself down with gas.)

Putting in the new filter was simply the reverse of taking it out. (Filter is directional, make sure you put it in the right way around.)


Problems encountered:
Rusty bolts.

Would I do it again?
Sure. It was an easy fix, and helped with acceleration.

Purpose

I am a bit of a shade tree mechanic, and I just bought a 1989 Jeep YJ with the 2.5L engine and a 5 speed transmission. I have no training as a mechanic, not even high school auto shop classes.

She only had 144000 KM on the clock when I bought her.

I have a few projects I want to do. I thought i would document them here.