My 05 Renegade repair & update thread

[gspfunk]

Just picked up an 05 KJ Renegade for our niece and wanted to make it more reliable. I’ve learned a bunch from this forum already, so the fixes and mods I’m doing all have a tight budget in mind.

After inspecting everything, we made a list of what we wanted to replace. Some of the items include: headlights, front blinkers, shocks, springs, brakes, tires, hood & back glass struts, wipers...... There is a lot more, but I’m at a loss right now.

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I wasn’t going to spend extra on the suspension, even though I’ve read about the better spring options. I went with AC Delco rear springs as they had a progressive rate vs the constant on the Moogs. I was SHOCKED at the difference in diameter of the OEM springs vs the Delco’s. The top 2 coils of the OEM springs are narrow in diameter, which threw me off. This is likely part of the reason for the sagging over time. I’d never seen that. The Delco’s were the same, thick, diameter from top to bottom. I meant to get pics of the 2 side by side, but forgot.

I also changed the rear rotors and pads. Pic of the completed install:

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Pretty easy job overall. The first side (passenger) took me a while as I got familiar with everything, but the driver’s side took me less than an hour from wheel off to wheel on.

I dropped the shocks first, which gave me enough room to swap out the springs without much effort. The shocks are held in by 15mm bolts, but the bottom bolt also has an 18mm nut holding it on. I then bolted the new shock in and removed the caliper and rotor. The rear calipers have 13mm bolts holding them.

 

[gspfunk]

One thing I forgot to mention is how many KJ’s we passed on b/c I thought they had oil leaks. After getting under this one, I realized how the awkward removal of the oil filter was likely the cause of the oil mess everywhere.

I changed the oil on ours yesterday (Castrol GTX High Mileage 10w-30, FoMoCo FL-400S filter) and took the opportunity to clean it up. I removed the skid plates, which, by the way, are an excellent design for installing single-handedly, and wiped everything down with shop towels.

Far from clean, but much better

 

[tommudd]

5W30 oil

 

[gspfunk]

5W30 oil

I’ve always run 10w in the summer since there are always 30+ days over 100. When it cools off, I’ll go back to 5w.

 

[gspfunk]

I’ve always run 10w in the summer since there are always 30+ days over 100. When it cools off, I’ll go back to 5w.

I just did some more reading and I’m not sure where I came up with that. I swear I remember reading the high temp range was higher with the 10w vs the 5w, but I can’t find anything saying that now.

I’ll switch it back to 5w30.

 

[gspfunk]

Finally took some pics of the front end. Replaced the headlights and blinkers (turn indicators), then used spray bedliner on the grille while it was off.

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Also, the OEM spring design is fircked. I’ve never seen a spring with different diameters in the coils. At least we know why the rears sag. WTH?

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[gspfunk]

So, I’ve been workin on it, but keep forgetting to update. I was also waiting on a few items, as I found some glaring oversights on my part.

First, the electric fan had no blades....just a motor sitting there. WTF!?! The shroud was destroyed, so I’m guessing it was in a wreck not too far back. The speaker adapters I had for the JBL speakers I bought didn’t have a big enough opening, so I ordered a different set that I thought would fix it (more on that later).

When I did the suspension, I also replaced all the bump stops and front upper control arms.

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The new tires are Atturo Trail Blade A/T’s. I went with the cheapest A/T I could find as they last longer than she’ll have this Jeep (I’m pretty sure, anyway). I got them @ Discount Tire, but had them match Walmart.

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I got the Kenwood stereo and JBL speakers installed today, as well as the e-fan and new shroud. I cut a little section out of the bottom of the new shroud so it would slide right in over the clutch fan (like others have). I got a deal on the stereo @ Crutchfield and it was even better since they included the dash kit, antenna adapter, and harness for free. It was the cheapest Excelon Kenwood makes and it was only 120. Comes with BT mic for phone, HD radio, SiriusXM ready, etc. The speakers are JBL GT7’s, which I bought on Walmart’s site, but from a different retailer, for $26/pair. They’re 45w RMS, but not too much for the Kenwood (22w RMSx4). The new adapters turned out to be about the same as what I had, so I screwed all 4 of them together and went around the inside with a jigsaw to widen them a little.

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I have the 3-wire fan, but some are still labeled as “w/o heavy duty cooling or tow pkg.”. I took a gamble on one on Amazon (already had the shroud from Advance Auto) and it paid off. Seems to be working like it should.

Now I just need to get some more miles on it and make sure it’s as reliable as I think.

 

[vortibear]

How do you like those AC Delco springs? Did you only replace the rears or the fronts as well?