I've got so many things to fix on my Jeep that I've had to create some way to prioritize the work. I give you the Universal Repair Prioritization Schema (or URPS for short)
Step one: make a list of every problem, repair, or project in the spreadsheet software of your choice.
Step two: assign everything on the list a priority category number based on the following breakdown -
- vehicle cannot be driven til this Repair Item (RI) is fixed
- vehicle runs and drives, but is not safe for public roads until this RI is fixed
- RI limits general usage
- RI limits one particular use of the vehicle
- RI is causing some damage during vehicle use
- RI isn't causing damage but could if condition worsens
- RI isn't causing damage and will not fail further.
- RI will increase or restore function in a system that is functioning acceptably but below design spec
- RI will restore function in a system that is seldom used or insignificant
- Work is an improvement to a system currently functioning as designed.
Step 3: sort the list from lowest to highest category number and start working at the low end.
Some category examples:
- Transmission is shot.
- Brakes are shot
- AC doesn't work in the summer. Something that keeps me from driving further than a few miles reasonably
- Parking brake doesn't work, so can't safely launch the boat at the ramp.
- Alignment is off and it's eating the tires
- Tcase seal is leaking. If it blows out it cooks the case. See also rear main seal.
- Plastic structure behind headlights is busted but secured with zip ties
- Power Door locks are noisy and take a few toggles to get all doors locked
- Rear psg power window switch is missing, but window works fine from drivers controls
- Upgraded glass Euro headlights will be a massive improvement over frosty stock plastic units.
Now I actually need to apply this.
This is a good idea! Usually my Jeep fixes just get put on the whiteboard in 3 columns for priority: low, medium and high.
Thanks! Yeah, this grew out of someone on here saying "make it run, make it safe, make it cool." I just needed a more subtle ranking because I have so many problems to fix. Plus having the category definitions helps me realistically evaluate the severity of the problem.
Yup. Safe, reliable,and cool. In that order.
So I'd put brakes at #1, even though no trans means they're not needex.
My father once said "not running is an inconvenience, but not stopping will kill you."
Although I take y our point, luckily those were just examples. So far going and stopping aren't problems in my particular case.
Hard to test brakes if the car won't move, but also can't really t eat a trans without brakes. Pick your poison.
In reply to ultraclyde :
I'd put that as "if you know what the brakes need, do it and plan to test it when you test the fixed trans"
tester
New Reader
3/17/18 9:14 p.m.
In reply to rslifkin :
Ha ha. I own a Jeep TJ so I can really relate to this entire thread. They realy are the best worst vehicle ever. The ability to do triag and having a spare vehicle are key to enjoying these things. 
There needs to be an intensifier coefficient to account for parts you already have because you saw them on sale years ago and grabbed them "just in case".
In reply to Knurled. :
Good point. On hand parts give a +1 to category.
I used to go with "make it run, make it drive, make it cool" and then put tasks into those three categories. Then I got a car with completely seized brakes and had to add "make it roll" to the front of the list.
Incidentally, the further along the continuum the car is when the purchase is made the easier life is.
mazdeuce - Seth said:
I used to go with "make it run, make it drive, make it cool" and then put tasks into those three categories. Then I got a car with completely seized brakes and had to add "make it roll" to the front of the list.
video: Knurled spraying water on, and beating with a hammer, the front calipers on an RX-3 that had been sitting in an open-air barn since before the Iran Hostage Crisis, so that it could be pushed onto a trailer, in hovering-freezing temps.
Could have been worse. It was -5F when trying to load the '84 onto a trailer at 5am in central Wisconsin with a 6' long come-along, no tools, only two people, and only one pair of gloves between us.. We ended up dragging the car around chained to the trailer until all the brakes unseized.
The more I think about it, the more I think my brakes example was bad. A repair item that keeps the car from rolling, or completely nonfunctional brakes would both fall under category 1: vehicle cannot be driven until this is fixed.
Maybe a category 2 would be something like seats bolted down and seatbelts functional.
Priority 2 is more like brake lights don't work or windshield has a spiderweb in front of the driver.
My list is more like fix what prevents me from:
-Getting it off the trailer
-Moving in/out of the shop under its own power.
-Making it to the hospital in an emergency.
-Making it to the hospital in an emergency with my wife driving.
-Taking it to the gas station and back without getting pulled over.
-Taking it to work and making it there on time.
-Taking it 200 miles to the in-laws cabin and back.
-Driving it in cold/hot/rainy weather
-Trading it in.
-Driving it to TX and back.
-Letting my wife drive it to TX.
-Giving it to my millennial niece.
-Selling it to a friend.
For your viewing pleasure. An alternative. Swap parts you like, part out to recoup. Just a thought.
https://macon.craigslist.org/cto/d/jeep-grand-cherokee-limited/6534331708.html
Lol. Did I mention I overpaid?
