The list keeps getting longer, but I have found....

....that the nerd in me truly is enjoying this process.

As I go over this truck with a fine-tooth comb, I find many things that I need and want to change, repair, replace, etc. The list keeps getting longer, but instead of feeling frustrated or even beginning to wish I hadn't bought this truck, I find that I'm getting really excited about "making it mine".

Is this a treatable illness? If so, I shall conveniently neglect to mention the symptoms to my doctor.

Now my questions..


When I hit the 'Rear Hatch' button, a hear the cylinder mechanism and I am able to pull the window open by the handle...but then I have to hold it open with one arm while I open the gate with the other arm. And then yes, you guessed it...I have to lay the window down gently and access the cargo area from the open gate unless I hold the window up with one arm.

I can only guess that in 1985, hitting that switch resulted in a great deal more automatic activity than this! The wiring for the rear defogger is all that is attached to the window. What am I missing? The strut? Struts? The entire assembly?

The dealership either cannot or simply is not in the mood to provide me with a part number for the cargo net. Anyone? Anyone?

My windshield washer fluid reservoir doesn't hold much. I can fill it up to a point, and nothing leaks out. When it gets up past that magical point, it starts to leak out. From where, one might ask? Why, from the bottom, of course! Ha - really, it doesn't appear to me that it has a hole in it. It seems more likely to me that something isn't attached all the way or is leaking. The only thing I can see for sure is that more than halfway full, it all streams very, very slowly toward this thing that looks like a nipple that I can see when I peer up from underneath.

And last but strangely enough, most important of all matters not directly related to the operation of the truck...it has an AM/FM CD installed, factory. The CD player must have something stuck inside it, because it's totally jacked. No matter, as I wanted to replace it with the factory AM/FM cassette player anyway (I've got far too many mix tapes to go without a cassette player) and then add a CD changer to that. I have the AM/FM cassette player and I have the CD changer. I took most of the freaking dash apart this weekend trying to get the radio/cd player out to replace it. I couldn't get the stupid thing OUT of there. Am I missing something? Unscrew this, unscrew that...yank....nothing. It's not BUDGING. WTF? There are two screws on top. I took those out. I got the unit to (against its will) come off the 'pegs' but that's as far as I could get the darn thing. UGH!

Any comments, jabs, insults, instruction, direction or sympathy is appreciated.

I'm having the same problem with the washer fluid tank on a 1995 jimmy. Mine leaks around the rubber seal around the top washer pump. I did almost everything one could think of. Tried every calk, sealer, gasket material in the book. Still drips and drips and drips, till half (or just below the top pump opening) then it holds just fine. I've given up. As for the hatch. try ebay and also acdelco.com from there you should be able to get a reference part number. Ok, as for the cd player, you have a little cubby below the stock one, right? Take the screws out for that also, along with the ones above the cd player, the cubby and cd player pull out as one unit, and are bolted together along the sides. You'll see what I mean. Good luck with all of it. And that is one idiot you bought it from (bondo/jb weld on the transfir case) pure stupidity.

1. my washer fluid tank had the same problem. i replaced the seals on both pumps only to find a small crack in the tank. I used plastic cement to seal it up.
2. I did a little seaching and found the struts u need for the rear lift gate glass. If i remember your truck is a 95 jimmy correct? Heres the link; http://www.partsamerica.com/ProductList.aspx?PartType=565&PTSet=C&SearchFor=Lift%20Supports

the struts for the glass are the ones at the top of the page i believe.

I almost can't believe it. A part that I need, and it costs under $300....a miracle! Thanks for the link and the info - this is little more than a minor annoyance to me, but all those minor annoyances add up after a while! Plus, I never can tell when I'm going to have to toss a corpse into the back of my Jimmy on short notice, so I want to get the easiest possible access a.s.a.p.

Obviously I'm just going to have to bite the bullet and take the darn ww fluid reservoir OUT of there and see what the deal is. I didn't want to have to do that (because I have twiggy arms and I'm about as strong as a 106 year old woman) but there's just no other way to really figure out where it's leaking.

Thanks for your help, everyone!

I'm having the same problem with the washer fluid tank on a 1995 jimmy. Mine leaks around the rubber seal around the top washer pump. I did almost everything one could think of. Tried every calk, sealer, gasket material in the book. Still drips and drips and drips, till half (or just below the top pump opening) then it holds just fine. I've given up. As for the hatch. try ebay and also acdelco.com from there you should be able to get a reference part number. Ok, as for the cd player, you have a little cubby below the stock one, right? Take the screws out for that also, along with the ones above the cd player, the cubby and cd player pull out as one unit, and are bolted together along the sides. You'll see what I mean. Good luck with all of it. And that is one idiot you bought it from (bondo/jb weld on the transfir case) pure stupidity.

oh, crap, yours is a 1985 jimmy, or a 1995 jimmy? I am so sorry, must have read that wrong. Good luck with everything. I dont know much about 1985's

Oh, jeeeez.

It's a 1995.

I have NO idea why I said 1985.

This morning, I told someone that my youngest son is 2 1/2 when he's actually 3 1/2.

Clearly, I need to stop drinking vodka in the morning and go back to coffee.

Saturday is *THE* big day. My dad is replacing the spider assembly, nut kit and gasket, I'm going to investigate the ww fluid reservoir problem, install the radio and attempt to hook up the cd changer.

Keep an eye on CNN for any reports of a father/daughter freakout in the Midwest. It'll be us.

You need window struts (auto parts store, easy fix) Fir the washer fluid resivour, check the seals on each pump. Get rid of the factory radio

Because I'm deranged and/or obsessed and because I can't stand it that my only
options right now are AM or FM radio...with the cassette player and a cd changer
just SITTING in the back of the truck waiting to be installed and enjoyed...I
just spent my lunch hour screwing around with this to see if, with your helpful
instruction to remove the cubby under the radio, I could finish this during my
lunch hour.

What the?

Okay. I unhooked the battery.

I popped out the dash trim.

I removed the two screws at the top of the radio.

I removed the right screw at the bottom of the cubby.

STOP~can't get TO the left screw under the cubby because there is a metal piece
in the way.

Thinking that there had to be a way around this and being pressed for
time....okay, and not wanting to have gotten THAT far into it for the second
time in a week only to have to put the whole thing back together again without
getting the job done.....I removed the scerws holding in the a/c and heat
controls.

That gave me hope for more / better access, but only briefly as I then saw that
on both sides of the radio, the cubby is ALSO attached by a bracket that I can
get to easily on the right side, but can't get to without a struggle on the left
side. Oh, and it requires that I exhaust my entire vocabulary of vulgarity.

So now...my question is what in the holy heck IS that metal bracket under the
cubby and HOW do I get whatever it's attached to taken off of there so that I
can FINALLY get the stupid screw out and get this radio OUT?!?!

It's times like these that make me have to say yes, I can totally understand why
the entire world thinks all engineers are idiots. I actually just might BE
one!!!

Thank you!!!

Oh, jeeeez.

It's a 1995.

I have NO idea why I said 1985.

This morning, I told someone that my youngest son is 2 1/2 when he's actually 3 1/2.

Clearly, I need to stop drinking vodka in the morning and go back to coffee.

Saturday is *THE* big day. My dad is replacing the spider assembly, nut kit and gasket, I'm going to investigate the ww fluid reservoir problem, install the radio and attempt to hook up the cd changer.

Keep an eye on CNN for any reports of a father/daughter freakout in the Midwest. It'll be us.

good luck with the replacement, and let us know how it goes. also i saw a friend try to install a head unit in a 95 and he had a hell of a time. when i bought mine it was installed for free so i didn't have to worry about it, lol.

Remove the 2 screws above the cluster

Pull out the right side of the dash bezel first

Disconnect the 4x4 wire

Pull out the left side

lower your steering wheel as low as it will go

Pull the top of the dash bezel towards you..Watch the hazard switch Make sure you don't put any SIDE pressure on it or you will need to replace it

Once the bezel is over the hazard switch rotate it left and let it hand there.

(optionally you can remove the knee bolster, then remove the 2 15mm bolts under the steering column and drop the steering column clear to make it easier)

Now you should have 2 screws on the top bracket of the radio (7mm) and a 10mm nut on either side. Remove these and pull the radio out. Disconnect the harness.

Install in reverse

Remove the 2 screws above the cluster

Check!

Pull out the right side of the dash bezel first

Check!

Disconnect the 4x4 wire

Check!

Pull out the left side

Check!

lower your steering wheel as low as it will go

Check!

Pull the top of the dash bezel towards you..Watch the hazard switch Make sure you don't put any SIDE pressure on it or you will need to replace it

Nope, it would NOT go that far. Not possible.

Once the bezel is over the hazard switch rotate it left and let it hand there.

Nope.

(optionally you can remove the knee bolster, then remove the 2 15mm bolts under the steering column and drop the steering column clear to make it easier)

Now you should have 2 screws on the top bracket of the radio (7mm)

Check!

and a 10mm nut on either side.

Check!

Remove these and pull the radio out.

Oooohhhhh......that's where it all ends. IT WILL NOT COME OUT. With two adults and four hands, IT WILL NOT COME OUT.



I have now taken my dash apart three times trying to get this radio out to replace it and install the cd changer and ended up having to put it all back together without installing the new radio or cd changer. Next effort will likely involve an ax. I've lost my facking sense of humor about this.

can you get a pic of either side of the radio and post it?

you do know that to remove the dash, you will have to tilt the wheel all the way down, set the e-brake, turn the key to on, and then put the gearshift all the way down to 1 or low, then you may have to "force" it out "gently" but it is possable. As for the metel piece? I do not know of anything like that blocking a screw, can you post a picture? And if I remember right, you have to take the heater/ac controlls out also, or at least just unscrew them and leave them hang there. This is so you can access a screw behind them. Could that be the metel thing thats in your way? i donno, if I were you, I'd just buy an aftermarket, and have it installed for free. I installed an aftermarket cd player in my 95 jimmy and didnt have any problems.

does it by some chance have that annoying security bracket installed on the back of the radio, you know the one that bolts the back of the radio to a bracket connected to something like the firewall or dash structure? I think i remember when i installed mine, there was a bracket in the back of the radio.

Okay. First, let me thank you guys for helping me out because this should not be such a difficult thing to figure out.

Thank you.

There *has* to be a bolt in the back holding this radio in because I'm not kidding - it wasn't just my chicken arms pulling on the darn thing. My favorite neighbor to call when I need some elbow grease works for a paving company during the day and as a bouncer at night...he's always there for me whenever I'm trapped under something heavy, etc. and he couldn't get it out either. He said - you see there? He's a guy and he knows stuff - that there is a bolt in the back and that I'd probably have to get "up into or under" the whole dash to get to it.

I'm going to have to take some pictures and show you what I'm talking about because no matter which way I go at this thing (and remember now, I've attempted this THREE TIMES!) there's something in the way.

I've had it. I've had it with driving around every day with a new radio and a tits cd changer in the back of my truck, uninstalled. I've had it with knowing that I can't so much as pop in a mix tape of Disco Homicide for my drive home if Dr. Laura offends me before I get to my driveway.

To answer some of the questions above here -

Yes, I took out the heat and a/c controls as well (all three times that I've tried to take this radio out).

Yes, I had the steering wheel all the way down, as far as it would go and I put on the parking brake so that I could get the gear shift all the way down and I still can't work the dash trim out enough to swing it over and out of the way.

A wiser woman than I would say it just isn't worth it but ohh....we're talking about MUSIC here!

Having it installed - - - I wouldn't think an audio joint would install a radio and cd changer that I already bought. Would they?

I'm so stupid! Why didn't I think of this before? What I need to do is pick up a hot car audio guy! Then I can just have him do this for me!

it is hard to get too, try unlatching the glove box to get behind it, very tight but between removing the dash cowel and unlatching the glove box you should get too it, I just cut mine.

to unlatch the glove box just open it up and on the upper right or left corner is a little metal U shaped clip that just springs up and down, push it up and you can get into the area behind their, lot of wires though.

As for removing the dash, screws one in top of instrument cluster, then you also have to undo the screws in the kick panel below to get to the screws in the bottom of the panel, now push down the steering wheel, now you pop out or disconnect the 4X4 and i think the rear wiper controls, these are to the right of the wheel. sitting in the driver seat grab the passenger side and start to pop it loose, pop loose all the clips and sort of bow it up and over the wheel, I normally leave my door open with window down and prop it across the dash and door.

I have done this a few times, installed new stereo, re-installed old stereo, re-installed new stereo,(was swapping from daily driver to daily driver... added RCA and remote wire for subs, added CD changer to RCA for iPod, so lets see I have pulled the dash at least a half dozen times.

The easiest way to get a stereo out is to take out all your valuables, drive through the bad part of town with the old one cranked as high as you can (trying to make it sound good) and then park it with the windows down and leave it for about 30 minutes or so. Worked for me! - Sorry couldn't resist.

Good luck, the 95's seem to be a blend of old and new, their "oddballs".