Ordered this after WF and installed it. No pics of the install.


Finally got to test it this weekend at The Cliffs. What a difference being locked front and rear does, total game changer. Still didn't help out with this though.







So I spent part of Easter Sunday ripping out my interior.


Got to pull the plugs out and rinse it out with a hose. Lots of silt in there. The brakes also need to come apart to be cleaned and fluids changed. The carpet is staying out from now on and I'm going to bedline the floor. I don't want to have to do this again, too much of a pain in the ***.

 

Turning your Jeep into a mud-tub sucks. Engine suck in water? I like your style and fleet of Jeeps.

 

Thanks man! I was fortunate enough that she didn't get any water in the motor.

 

So more of an update really.

Obviously had to tear into all the brakes. I think this about sums it up.


Also found out I have water in my trans. Dropped my pan and found silt in the bottom of it. The filter looks like it did an ok job of keeping most of the crap out, but I wasn't happy. I did a drain, filter, and refill. I took it over to a friends work and ran 28 qts of trans fluid through it. Yes, this is sort of a last ditch effort on my part.

I've since lost 3rd gear and it favors taking of in 2nd. However, I can still manually shift from 1st to 2nd... but 3rd is still MIA. I'm **hoping** it's my tv cable... really, really hoping. I'm going to try rigging up a return spring and see if that works. If not... v2.0 will be happening a lot sooner than I anticipated.

Good time to remind everyone to check their vent locations.

Got the "interior" back in, which now consists of only the two front seats. No carpet, no center console... no drink holders

3 of the Jeeps hanging out...

 

Well, I'm down to only 1st gear on the trans. The spring didn't do jack.. So either I rebuild it and at the same time swap in a 231... Or I can swap in a sbc. I was really wanting to hold out on the sbc swap till i could swap in my d60/10.25. Bah. I got to do some serious thinking. Any input, good, bad, or ugly... post it up.

Here's a pic of the current interior setup for visual stimulation.

 

Badas$$ jeep for a V6. How does she do Crawling?

 

Good job on the budget. How many miles currently?

 

You thinkin 5.3? I say do it. Keep this build going. Seems like a good unibody still, plus you know a lot of the bolts on it. One of the other guys might be worth fixing first for a DD while the 86 sits. The MJ, 2wd and 8cyl, would be a fun summer DD.

 

Thanks. She does good, all things considered.

Thanks. I think she's around 89k.

I'd probably use a carbed 350. I have a few of them laying around here, so that's free. I want to run a TH350 behind it and mate it with a 231. The cost for the adapter kit though is going to slow me down. I already have my axles as well, but again, cost to get everything setup how I want them. I'll be running them full width and probably step up to 37's at that point. I can do my motor swap and related stuff first and then save up to build my axles. This will be my first big build, so I'm looking forward to stepping up my game.

 

Not much progress on the Jeep. I've been pretty busy working on some other projects. I did do a couple of things though.

I bought an IRO steering spacer. Took less than 10 minutes to install. No pics, since it's pretty straightforward.


I also picked up a '86 parts Jeep. The plan is to swap the trans out of it into my rig and rebuild the original trans as a spare. I'll be replacing the 207 with a 231 as well.


Replaced my rusted out trailer hitch with one I had laying around. Glad I never got around to selling it. No pic of the after, just imagine non rusty and black.


So, obviously I've ditched any serious upgrades for now. I just want to go wheeling and it worked well the way it was. Maybe over the winter I'll consider ripping into it. For now, I'm trying to get my ZJ up to par as a dd. I'm driving a car right now and I can't stand it.

 

Well, she's back on the road again, which is good news. I can't wait to get back on the trails. I bought a new Ruffstuff diff cover for the D30. Going to install it this weekend. Hopefully it'll help some with case deflection with the locker. I still want to make a truss for it at some point.



Also finished painting my zj. Which went from this:


To this:


Some things on the menu for upcoming updates: moving the shock mounts up on the rear axle, rear quarter cut and fold, 2x6 sliders, and shackle relocation boxes.

 

sorry if it's already stated, but you went with ford shocks on rear? what year/model are they from? I'm currently doing a budget build on my 95 xj, going to do the xj/xj bastard pack as well. It may be a little stiff but I always carry too much gear in the back while on the trail anyways. I'm looking for about 3" lift, i'm running 33" thornbids on 10" wide rims. your setup rub at all at full stuff?

 

Yes, they were off my truck and just laying around after i had lifted it. 1980-96 4wd F150, they're the same over these years.

I'm bump stopped at all four corners. In the rear I'm running 1/4" plate steel. One side was missing the factory bump, so I ran one off a Chevy d44 bolted to the plate. The other side uses the factory bump.

I drilled two holes in each plate for the inner u-bolt to slide through and they mount over the existing leaf spring plate. The only thing I didn't do, that I wanted to, was weld a 2x2 stanchion on the underside to keep the plate from bending. Both sides are bent now, but I still don't rub on full stuff.

Let me know if you have any other questions.

 

Got the cover installed this morning. Beefy as always.


Cover to tie rod clearance.


Can't wait to bounce it off a few rocks the next time I'm out.

 

Not much to report. I changed my fuel filter, cap, rotor, and plug wires today. I've been dealing with a misfire and bobble under load. Took it out and beat on it, seems to have cleared up.



Forgot to mention this, but after killing another coil a few weeks back, I moved the new one up to try to prevent heat soak from the manifold. I'd like to move it further away, preferably on the firewall. This is just a cheapy AutoZone coil I got for free, probably going to replace it with a MSD unit.



Going to the Cliffs this weekend. I haven't been wheeling in a few months and I feel like as the the weekend gets closer!