Two trips out so far running 6psi so far so good. I have chromoly shafts coming though from a buddy once he gets moved into his new place, buying them used. I haven't installed the doubler yet and don't plan on doing front digs, more likely i'll be throwing the front out of drive, leaving the rear in lo/low low for those tight turn areas.
Two trips out so far running 6psi so far so good. I have chromoly shafts coming though from a buddy once he gets moved into his new place, buying them used. I haven't installed the doubler yet and don't plan on doing front digs, more likely i'll be throwing the front out of drive, leaving the rear in lo/low low for those tight turn areas.
That low/low is whats up. I had seen tereflex now offers a 2-low range selector for the 231. Pricey bugger but pulling that shifter back passed 4L into 2L is pretty tempting. I started on backyard engineering a 2 piece mode/range selector to have independent shifting between 2wd - 4wd and 2L - 4L. I don't have the doodles handy but i might be able to dig them up. Its a pretty simple getup really - just mapping out which fork is where by rotation. The 2-low part by teraflex just tightens up the standard 231 shift pattern of 2wd.H - 4wd.H - N - 4wd.L and then adds a little extra range to achieve 2wd.L. The tricky part was having the 2 forks work independently through the same 3/4" hole in the case where the factory part slides through. I just might revisit it one day - we'll see
Its been a little stale around here but i did get this 14b cleaned up and ready to start setting up the new gears/locker. I unfortunately didn't plug the ends of the tubes when i had it blasted so the housing had a bit of mess to be addressed!
With a little impatience i devised this custom blessing!
This only took prolly 10 cans of contact cleaner but those were cans well spent!
I plan on bringing the carrier into work to get the new gears and bearings installed then finally start setting them up. Might get the trans into my buddies shop this week and fix those broken mounts - we'll see!
So i started to get some prep work done to this "new" motor. replaced the rear main seal and also cleaned out the oil pan and new oil pan gasket. Then carefully seated that torque converter properly this time! Things lined up much better this time and the T-C even spins freely after everything was tightened up!
Literally said this out loud as my wife came out to see how things were going - "How many times am i gonna take this same picture?! Oh finally back on its own weight - again". New 14b got new 5.13 gears and the grizzly locker installed. Slapped some barnes4wd perches on the axle and slid it under the truck. A pair of Titan wheel spacer/adapters gets these metric pattern wheels onto that old standard bolt pattern.
Potentially next weekend im gonna sling that drivetrain into place and then consider fabbing up a new crossmember - ive learned a few things since i built the first one and i'm thinking i can definitely do better this time around!
Lets dust this turd off a little and get things back up to speed.
Small setback with the trans i forgot to bring up... please enjoy my very green level of experience with aluminum tig work. Clean Brand new aluminum is pretty easy to get adjusted to, this old cast aluminum however . . . is another story.
Lots of cleaning and prep work, as i had stated - pretty darn fresh so they are not great but i'm willing to see how it holds up. I already plan to have the trans rebuilt at some point so i guess i'll be getting a case added to the bill on that deal Yee-ha!
So now lets jump to the current status... What do ya know - it moves again! The same old routine of shuffling jeeps around for the winter I decided to sneak the MJ truggy into the corner and then try the J truck broad side across the garage vs straight in with the garage door. Try to maintain more open work space this way.
Started off by once again digging all the parts and etc from the inside of the truck and also the bed.
Gonna start with the inside of the truck - clean up the floors and coat them down with some POR-15 or maybe raptor liner. We'll see what strikes me after the floors are clean. Then i want to start figuring out some wiringm get this ball rolling!
This wasn't nearly as complicated as i had anticipated. What you see on the floor there is the entire wire harness from under the dash. interesting side note - I didn't realize the 2 ***** on either side of the steering column and lowest part of the dashboard are for side vent doors. This makes sense as being part of the hvac system but had never considered separate ***** to control either drive/passenger side. Creative word play and painters tape clears up some of the confusion of what is supposed to go where. Also closer pic of the side vent and cable to adjust blend door. Finally gutted! Gave it a quick wash with some purple power with an exception to the surface rust on the floors, this cab looks excellent! And so i started sanding out the passenger floor. Started course with 80grit and finished it off with 320grit. Gave it a wipe down to end my evening in the garage. Going to hit the finer spaces with a wire brush and then hand sand those out by hand the next time i get out there.
Got to thinking about what else i can do on the days im not in the garage, like when im stuck at work... That glove box tray has been calling me! It says "Hey im just a cardboard type material and i will absolutely deteriorate over time! Take advantage of your empty dash and make me a steel twin!'
I could not resist! I carefully dissected the the tray and removed the staples which kept this things form. Laid it out flat and while i wanted to duplicate this as one piece like it comes originally however the cardboard material im taking advantage of at work arent in big enough for a single piece version. As it is making all these bends in one sheet of metal is not what i intended anyways. I don't have the tools or skills to make that happen! Soo instead i traced the various corners and fold points and transferred them over in just 5 pieces.
With the help of some masking tape this version fit remarkably well.
Like a Glove! Absolutely well enough to give me the confidence in making a couple changes and then transferring them to steel soon!
Fwiw im aware BJs offroad makes a plastic variant of this (Unsurprisingly cant speak of this side project and not be reminded of them) and its not terribly priced. However i have more time and materials than extra $ at the moment. Taking a break on the funds through the holiday - this gives me something to play with in the mean time... Along with prepping the floors as well off course.
Glove box rebuild progress again! My template's transferred to metal and then hit them with the plasma gun. Guide piece and drag so cuts not perfect but functional. Small cutouts for hinge(s) and latch by free hand.
This 1st assembled cutout fits really well (especially as one piece ) but could be tighter. As is right now the overall opening is just a little oversized. If I were to tighten the fasteners down it would have to favor top or bottom. Some trimming will fix that!
Material is 13g sheet metal - absolutely could be done with thinner material but i state again - utilizing leftover materials so it is what it is.
Got to thinking about what else i can do on the days im not in the garage, like when im stuck at work... That glove box tray has been calling me! It says "Hey im just a cardboard type material and i will absolutely deteriorate over time! Take advantage of your empty dash and make me a steel twin!'
I could not resist! I carefully dissected the the tray and removed the staples which kept this things form. Laid it out flat and while i wanted to duplicate this as one piece like it comes originally however the cardboard material im taking advantage of at work arent in big enough for a single piece version. As it is making all these bends in one sheet of metal is not what i intended anyways. I don't have the tools or skills to make that happen! Soo instead i traced the various corners and fold points and transferred them over in just 5 pieces.
With the help of some masking tape this version fit remarkably well.
Like a Glove! Absolutely well enough to give me the confidence in making a couple changes and then transferring them to steel soon!
Fwiw im aware BJs offroad makes a plastic variant of this (Unsurprisingly cant speak of this side project and not be reminded of them) and its not terribly priced. However i have more time and materials than extra $ at the moment. Taking a break on the funds through the holiday - this gives me something to play with in the mean time... Along with prepping the floors as well off course.
Nicely done ! you put your heart and soul in it ! I love that
More glovebox work. Thinking about the amount of work ahead of me on the 1st metal version of the glove box tray had me thinking of a simpler solution to keep on this metal version. Fortunately i found a bigger sheet of the same cardboard material i made the 1st template out of, this made for a duplicate single piece glove box tray. Bends and dry fitment of this version was excellent and soo the easier way i could duplicate exactly that was to go with thinner sheet metal. This led me to the parts pile out back and an old XJ hood - perfect use of a rust hood!
Traced out and cut out, then duplicated the bend lines.
I then grabbed a chisel and rubber mallet and went over all my bend lines.
2 passes, 1 light and 1 hard and this version of the tray got pretty simple to form and manipulate.
before i knew it the tray was basically in final shape!
its a beautiful thing!
I marked up the mounting holes and after i source a few sheet metal retaining clips and hardware i'll drill the holes and mount it up officially. For the over lapped section(s) my thoughts for now is to use a couple rivets to secure is final form.
So ealier this week
Soo lately there hasn't been much going on, just poking around here and there. Pulled the airbox and blower motor assy off the firewall and dissected the heater core to find a leaky unit. Cleaned them up and tested both blower motors (factory and the one on the A/C unit) and all is well surprisingly.
With the cooler temps it hasn't been ideal to raptor line the floors soo holding off on them for now, Instead i put my attention towards this wiring ordeal im up against. Below is a trimmed down wire harness from my donor truck. Only the essentials.
After plugging in every connector for the engine and laying out the donor wire I actually got motivated to tackle some of the factory harness. Engine bay harness was up and the old wire loom had to go! Also wanted to clean up the wires and inspect them for cracks or damage.
Dirty stuff!
no more old wire looma and clean clean clean wires!
Pinned out the firewall connector and labeled Everything!
Snuck the Dakota digital cluster into place (loose fit) for a moment. I'm digging it for sure!
Pulled the under dash harness onto the table and was going to start working through inspecting all the wires and i hit a little wall on decision. To keep this factory fuse block or ditch it in favor of a universal unit that doesn't use the tube style fuses.
Lastly for the night I started reading through the setup manuals and noticed the dakota digital cluster requires the use of their supplied sensors for coolant and oil pressure. Now this is my only gripe - with the design of their hex body and 11/16 wrench in required - also an adapter as well BUT at the back of the block it turns out there is ZERO room for a combo wrench and because of the sensor plug is bigger than the hex itself it means a socket isn't going to cut it either! So i re-installed the factory sensor for now and im planning on buying another oil cooler bypass that is tapped for for a fitting/sensor.
