Work is cruising now! PS, 12si, drive shafts, and more

Haha, yes caster. Thats what I get for multi tasking.

 

So I was wondering yesterday if I had the motivation to pull the rear axle, cut the tack welds off the spring perches and set my pinion to the correct angle. That question was answered when I pulled the jeep out of the garage to sweep the floor and ran through a little oil. I thought I would run it up and down the alley a few times so I didnt track oil back into the garage, let the clutch out a little to fast and heard a pop. I hopped out and the pinion was sitting almost straight up. Question answered, broke my tack welds, gotta do this now.

So, put it in gear, loosened the u-bolts, and rocked the pinion back where it needed to be. Tightened it all back up and welded it in. Haha, turned into much less work than I had planned on. While I had the welder out, I cut another chunk of rust out of the floor and welded in a new piece. I really should just do the whole floor like the pass side, but I dont want to open that can just yet.

Anyway, one more patch and the front will be ready for bed liner. Slow but steady, she is getting there.

I also rewired the engine compartment, turning my 3 wire 12si delco into a one wire before spring break, and rewired the electric fan so rather than use a 12v source for the incab switch, its using a ground instead, which should enable me to run a 3 way switch when I get the thermostatic switch plumbed and wired.

 

Oh ya, before spring break I also ran a new break line from the master cylinder to the rear block, so with the exception of 2 newer looking lines, it has all new brake lines. Im a fan of brakes, for the record.

On the flip side, I noticed the rear driver drum was hanging up a bit, and the pedal was softer than it should be. Went to adjust it and something was blocking the star adjuster hole. Upon pulling the drum, I discovered parts everywhere but where they should be. Rust had taken its toll on the springs and hardware. So, when I pull the rear apart to do bearings, Ill be putting new break hardware in as well. Good times!

 

Went out on friday and pulled the driver seat and cut it up a bit because it was about 1/2" off of square, and the seat bracket wasnt in the right place. I also cut the rear mount down an inch to get my head off of the bikini top.

From there things sort of snow balled. The back story goes like this. I got the tub with fenders and stainless dash, gauges and extra for $350 about a year and a half ago. I got it cheap because where it looked good on one side, the floors were rusted out and it had been tipped on its side by the previous owner.

So this weekend, I decided to straighten the fender well out and re weld it to the side to return some structural integrity for the roll bar to mount to. When I tried to set it up with my portapower, the seal blew out on the main ram. So after some contemplating, I went to town with the hilift and some cargo ratchet straps, some short leaf spring pieces as a dolly and a bfh. Its not perfect, but a hell of a lot better than it was.

Here is what I started with. Notice the bow in the passenger side.


And the beating and bending begins.


And that rail is straight again.





Still have a bit of work to do smoothing things out a bit, but its getting there. Im afraid to get it too perfect for fear of not wanting to use it, but I do want a respectable looking Jeep.

 

Well, by buddy is flying in from Houston the second week of June, and we have a hair brained idea to drive this thing to Vancouver BC, then to Northern Cali and back. Doors and a top arent in the cards as far as the budget goes, so this outa be an interesting trip.

That said, I have been working on getting the Jeep road worthy asap to get a few test miles on it. As long as Ive owned it she has never been anything but scary as hell to drive on the road, so I never did. Although throughout the build Ive had it in mind to make it road worthy, Im not sure I planned on driving it 2,000 miles in a week and a half. Haha.

So time to get some road/trail gear mounted and get on the ball wrapping loose ends up. I was going to build a hilift mount onto the hood hinges, but realized I didnt want to look at it all the time, and I wouldnt be able to fold the windshield down if I did that, so I devised this down and dirty angle iron hilift mount on the rear. Its not great, but should work fine. I welded the nuts on the back of the angle and leter on will weld a handle onto the 1/2" bolt so you can spin it on and off by hand. I also need to drill a few holes for a pad lock I think, but for now, thats mounted and done.

I also ordered a pair of ford shock mounts for the front, which Ill install next week, reconfigured the rear shock mounts a bit and mounted those, and started figuring out how Ill mount the gas than in a way that I can get it in and out without it being too much of a bear. No skid plate in the plans yet, as again its not in the budget, but I think Ill make one a little later in life.

The one question I do have though is where to get the e-brake retaining strap for the lengths from the drums up. Im talking the 2 straps that bolt to the crossmember holding the ends in place. Anyone have a pair kicking around?

Anyway, here is a few pics of the highlift mount. I not usually a fan of building thinks with angle iron, but like I said, its just kind of down and dirty. Ill probably change to 1x2" box tubing later on in life, or mount to the rear bumper when I make it.

 

The ford shock towers came in today so I mounted the front shocks and must say, I think it was Posimoto that suggested them and they work great. Very easy to install. The hardest part was realizing that the best spot for the shock mount on the axle was back on the spring plate, so I welded the studs back on.

I also made some mounting brackets for the gas tank. I wont be running a skid plate for it for awhile because its not in the budget, so Ill have to drive accordingly. I really cant even do much offroad until I get the front drive shaft lengthened an inch or two but just getting it on the road should be pretty awesome.

 

Last weekend I was talking to a buddy and found out a bunch of them were heading to Browns Camp tomorrow. So between my parents coming to town and homework I managed to bang out some serious work on the Heep.

Started in relacing the temp gauge and installing a cheap kragen tach, securing the battery, worked on getting the lights fixed, replaced all the brake hardware in the back, replaced the front transfer case seal, mounted and plumbed the gas tank, oh And got my new driveshaft lengthened! All in all, it was a pretty good week for the Jeep, and where I decided I dont trust it enough to drive it to browns camp and use it, I did wrap up a few loose ends today and put a few miles on it. The BIG payoff was taking it on the freeway for a quick Jaunt up I-5 at about 62 mph and was relieved it didnt try to kill me. This is the first time the Jeep has seen over 45 mph since Ive owned it.

Still have to do a few things like change the oil and coolant, change the heater hoses, change the fuel filters and a few little knick knack things like that, but tomorrow I think Ill drive it across the bridge to Portland and do some Spanish studying. I hope the force is strong in that one, it will need it!

 

One more update. I hit it this morning and replaced a heater core line with a longer one that didn't rub on the alternator bracket. Then I changed the water for some 50/50 coolant mix now that I know it doest leak. Took a few minutes checking all the bolts for tightness and just generally inspecting things over and seems to check out fine.

The big reward came in the form of taking the rig for about a 60 mile ride to Gladstone and around Portland a bit then back home. She runs down the highway really well for what it is, tracks fairly straight with just a bit of wandering but nothing unmanageable or deathtrap like.

A few problems developed like a new oil leak that I suspect may be a rear main seal. It smokes a bit on startup which I suspect may be rings but are probably valve guides due to it sitting for a while. I still need to properly gap the plugs wider for the hei, time it and tune the carb a little more and replace the rear fuel filter. Also the tranny started lightly whining so I think Ill change the fluid in that and the transfer case again.

All in all, not a bad weekend and a few steps closer to running her to California in a little over a month.

 

Still chugging along on the Jeep and driving it at the same time. I went out and changed the fuel filter and retimed to attempt to tune it to no avail. When coming off the highway or coming to a stop after harder acceleration it stalls. Once it stalls, crank it over a few times and it fires right up and idles fine. It almost seems like its loading up coming off more than half throttle. Ill probably pull the carb off tomorrow and inspect and clean it up. I rebuilt it a few years ago, so maybe Ill pick up another kit.

Also before I drove it to class this morning I had to replace the alternator belt because my pulley alignment got tweaked enough to whipe it out. A few washers for spacers and we are charging again.

After class I hit it again. I dont usually pull late nighters on school nights but its supposed to be 71 tomorrow and Im not missing a chance to Jam the Jeep to school again. I think I figured out the source of the wandering on the road was the open shackles in the middle. When setting the front suspension up I never intended it to be much of a road rig. So I pulled the shackles and boxed them with a piece of 1/4" flat bar I heated and bent to a 90 degree angle and welded up so I still have most of the suspension travel before the center section of the shackle hits the frame. In fact, Im not sure it even will. Id post pictures but it was kind of down and dirty and I was fighting birdcaged wire in the welder I finally just tossed and started a fresh one.

Anyway, Im taking her down I-5 to school tomorrow again so we will see if that fixes the wander. Even if its only a little better Ill be golden!

 

Ive been Jamming on this Jeep every night getting kinks worked out and driving the heck out of it, which has been a blast. Made a huge mess on the garage floor redoing the fittings on the block temp gauge and changed the thermostat. It all worked out well. I did a few other little things and tried to tune the carb a bit more to no avail. I also changed the tranny and transfer case fluid becuase they still had a little milk in there from swamping it in its last life. So today after class I pulled the carb off and really took my time rebuilding it, setting it perfect as per the instructions. Well, the results worked out really well. I took her out and flogged it up and down the road a few times and ran like a raped ape.

Im thinking tomorrow Ill replace the valve cover gasket, change the oil to 10-40 and recheck all my brakes, lines and bearings.

 

Ive been sort of neglecting homework to work kinks out of the jeep for the last week and a half, but I think Im almost at a point I can get refocused on school. I changed the oil and the valve cover gasket hoping to slow the flow out of the engine, but that only seemed to accelerate it. I also changed the pvc on it.

Anyway, after a pull down the highway for about 30 miles, pulled in the garage and she was just running out nearly. Lost a quart in that mile. So last night I went out and dropped the pan and replaced the pan gasket and the rear main seal. What a blast that was. Anyway, took her to school this morning and drove about 60-65 all the way and it still has a drip here and there but much cleaner than it was before.

Tonight I will be pulling the wheels and pulling the tires off. My brother in law is getting rid of his old beater ford that had nearly new bfg km1 tires, same size as this and my truck. So he is sending the tires up from California with my parents and Im going to mount them tomorrow night, just in time for a trip to the Winchester Bay dunes for testing! Ill post pictures as soon as those tires get mounted.

 

430 miles done and done. Drove to the Winchester Bay dunes Friday as soon as class let out and it was a mission success. 210 miles one way, averaged 16-17 mpg heading down there, runs straight as an arrow down the flats and was actually a pretty comfortable drive. I think I will rig up a hand throttle and mount it to the shifter, but even that was not bad. I also need to fine tune the alignment and redo the rear shock mounts as they are not going to work out.

When I left school I couldn't have asked for better weather at 70 degrees and sunny. The drive was awesome, loud, and fun. But once I got within about 50 miles of the dunes, the air temp dropped about 10-15 degrees and I damned near froze to death until I unpacked a few layers and put them to use.

Friday night we went on a trial run in the dark. It was fun and fairly uneventful aside from the fact that 4 low makes an aweful lot of noise. I am pretty bummed about that. 4 hi makes some noise also, but not nearly as much. At some point Ill have to rebuild the t case but Im not in a hurry. Im still thinking about whether the 20 will be in there long term or not as I know 4 speed tranny is in the future. Anyway, saturday I got some more time to run around on the dunes, and even let the stepdad drive it around a bit. I was surprised it did very well for what it is, soa, soft springs, unlocked, ect. But I aired down to 20 lbs and just tootled around. It never ran out of traction, but ran out of poop instead. That little one barrel is killing me, and the motor is a bit tired so it would bog before the tires started turning.

Today I hit the road home planning to get hammered by rain and thunderstorms, but that never happened. It was cool, and a few pockets of rain but stayed dry and made it home in decent time. Its been a fun build but now its about time to enjoy this Jeep!

 

Here are a few pictures of getting tires, and the trip to the dunes.

 

And a few more.

The new tires. The rest have about the same tread. Like new tires.

In the yard t-21 hours.

Gear loaded and ready for liftoff.

And camping with the fam in typical Oregon Coast weather.

 

I drove up to Kalama to bbq with a buddy, then we went up in the hills east of Woodland Wa for a great day of trail riding on Sunday.






We went up by ourselves so we didnt get crazy, but did hit a few decent Jeep trails and finally fulfilled our never ending quest for the perfect camp spot. Running around up there though I realized the importance of a winch, luckily not the hard way but none the less. 4wheelparts was having a %15 off sale so I bought a new Milemarker SEC 8. Im heading down to pick it up tomorrow and hopefully I can mount it and use it before this weekend!

 

Great photos, looks like fun!
How did the knobby tires do in the sand?

 

Well, not as bad as one would think. In fact they did pretty well, but it has been raining so the sand was pretty well packed. I only aired them down to 20 psi and had a good time. The 258 ran out of power before the tired ran out of grip climbing some of the dunes.

 

Did a little trail trolling with a buddy since there was no work for me today. It was great and the Jeep seems to be holding up very well. Since the last update I mounted a Milemarker 8k winch which I still havent needed. I think its sort of like a tool kit, as long as you have one you never need it.

If I hadnt been tired it never would have made it inside with those dirty shoes!

 

Great looking Jeep. Glad you are able to get out and enjoy it. Trails are still snowbound here.