rgrcherokee

Has anyone here ever taken an XJ completely apart? I am talking about removing all the wiring, take the body (inside and out) to bare metal, and taking it down to a rolling chassis. If so, let me know......I could use some pointers from someone who has done this before.

Abovetimberline

I have had mine all the way down to all that was left was the carcus. What is it you want to know?

rgrcherokee

I have the interior out completely and now I am going to start taking out everything in the engine compartment. For right now, what I would like to know, where there any "now I know for next time" things you ran into?

PingPong

I tore one down.. but it never went back together. I wouldnt know why anyone would tear an xj down that far,, and go to put it back together.

Abovetimberline

not sure what your goal is but I have tore down other cars and trucks also and the best advise I can give is to buy alot of baggies and make sure you put nuts and bolts small items in baggies, indentfy all parts,if not you will have many issues,also take pictures,alot of pictures,inspect every item,and have patience.
It is not different than other teardowns,my other teardowns were on older cars,my last one was a 72 chevy truck.

bigomudders

Check out the bare necessity build. Bare Necessity

Jamie57

What I've done is get a lot of paper bags of different sizes. Lunch bag and up. That way you can use a sharpie to write what is in the bag.
I also stapled them onto a wall starting low bottom left in a horizontal line going right. Fill that line and move up to the next line etc.

That way when I put it all back together, I started at the top left and worked my way right and then back to left, like reading.
I was able to open each bag and either clean and resuse the part or repair or replace it as needed. Didn't lose a single bolt and the rebuild was MUCH faster then my previous restorations.

EDIT!!!! I'm a dumb ***. Start low bottom right.

jiffy

wow..that's a pretty good method you got there!

rgrcherokee

To answer the question of what my goal is, let me try to explain. The past owner of my XJ knew enough about vehicles to be dangerous when it comes to working on them. Between all the splices, years of dirt and mud building up, rust on a lot of the parts, etc....it needed work. When I turned it on the interior lights on the dash did not want to work 95% of the time, the headlights had a mind of it's own, the rear defrost would go on and not turn off, the radio looked like it was installed with a weed wacker, water leaks, etc.

What I am going to do is install Dana 60's front and rear, lift, new engine and transmission, custom windshield, Line-X the interior and exterior, etc. With the amount of work ahead of me I decided to take it to the chassis, blast and refinish the chassis, and build it from the ground up. Also, with the body off, it is going to lineX where they will spray the entire thing instead of trying to work around installed parts. As far as the wiring out, I can install all aftermarket accessories into the harness and not have one splice when I am all done.

Doing all this in the driveway, in the winter, with basic hand tools is slowing down progress but I am determined to get it done. Thanks to all that posted advice !!!!

rgrcherokee

Bigomudders - I am glad to know that I am not as crazy as my friends say I am for doing this. I feel better knowing that there is someone else in the same project as me.

I usually do not take photos but is my tear down and rebuild project something anyone would even want to see?

Ranger187

I've done it a few times with all my Jeeps. And each time I have extra bolts Always take pictures so you know what came from where, and sooner or later, you'll be able to do it all without needing the pictures.