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Hi All, I recently moved into a JKU after owning a few TJs ever since 98. With 2 kids it was hard (well, impossible) to fit car seats and stuff into a TJ. I've had it since Sept. last year and got it at auction from AZ knowing it only had "mechanical" damage. but the 10 pictures looked good and the price was right ( thinking worse case hemi swap still come out ahead) so we pulled the trigger. When it showed up it didn't have inner fenders so I could quickly tell there was no hole in the block . Battery was dead so I rigged up the TJ's battery and the starter was having trouble staying engaged. The one time it fired I swear it sounded like rocks were rattling around so I shut it off and investigated more. Knowing history of the 3.6 and rocker issues I suspected that was the culprit, keep in mind it had 113k miles. I also did leak down tests on all cylinders which came back acceptable. So ordered rockers and plungers and tore into it. Well, after pulling the valve covers and inspecting each rocker, they were all fine. Only a few valve lash adjusters were spongy. However since I had the parts and it was opened up I replaced all the rockers and valve lash adjusters for piece of mind. Stuck my scope everywhere around the timing chain I could and couldn't see anything that would have caused the noise I heard. I was close to dropping the pan as well but figured lets put it back together and put a battery and starter in and see what happens. So I put a oil pressure gauge on it and cranked it over a few times and it built up the proper pressure so I said well lets just send it and see what happens. Fired off on the first crank or two from the starter and sounded normal. So I'm guessing the noise I heard could have been low oil pressure in valve lash adjusters or somewhere else from sitting with no oil pressure for an extended amount of time. Moved forward and backward on its own and it took it for a test drive and did great. Only thing I didn't know at the time was I missed a coolant hose clamp. I found that out during a hwy test drive when it blew off. I got it back on and somewhat limped home but had lost to much coolant so a neighbor ran some out to me. (wasn't far from home). Well, that overheat popped the oil cooler so that was fun. Had to fool with a few times for small leaks and I'm real quick at getting the upper and lower intakes off.
But anyways, thats my brief JK history. Only been on one trail so far in NC and it did great, wife hated it however (motion sickness) but hopefully the boys will like it in the future. Here's two pics from that trip.
It came with the lift and tires and aftermarket bumpers (EAG) but I swapped out the front to PSC and added the rocker knockers. Has the teraflex heavy duty steering with flip kit and JKS front trackbar. RE control arms (upper adj) and will be doing a regear to 5.13s and adding arb to the back. I also sold the hard top and got the supertop ultra. Also had to replace window regulators on the passenger side.
Hi From GA
. Battery was dead so I rigged up the TJ's battery and the starter was having trouble staying engaged. The one time it fired I swear it sounded like rocks were rattling around so I shut it off and investigated more. Knowing history of the 3.6 and rocker issues I suspected that was the culprit, keep in mind it had 113k miles. I also did leak down tests on all cylinders which came back acceptable. So ordered rockers and plungers and tore into it. Well, after pulling the valve covers and inspecting each rocker, they were all fine. Only a few valve lash adjusters were spongy. However since I had the parts and it was opened up I replaced all the rockers and valve lash adjusters for piece of mind. Stuck my scope everywhere around the timing chain I could and couldn't see anything that would have caused the noise I heard. I was close to dropping the pan as well but figured lets put it back together and put a battery and starter in and see what happens. So I put a oil pressure gauge on it and cranked it over a few times and it built up the proper pressure so I said well lets just send it and see what happens. Fired off on the first crank or two from the starter and sounded normal. So I'm guessing the noise I heard could have been low oil pressure in valve lash adjusters or somewhere else from sitting with no oil pressure for an extended amount of time. Moved forward and backward on its own and it took it for a test drive and did great. Only thing I didn't know at the time was I missed a coolant hose clamp. I found that out during a hwy test drive when it blew off. I got it back on and somewhat limped home but had lost to much coolant so a neighbor ran some out to me. (wasn't far from home). Well, that overheat popped the oil cooler 
so that was fun. Had to fool with a few times for small leaks and I'm real quick at getting the upper and lower intakes off.
