After disassembly, I found that the first few soaks in white vinegar did not clean it as much I had hoped for.









Since I'm disassembling it to rebuild it stronger, I figure I might as well clean it again. First few sessions were white vinegar which did a great job, but also had bough a gallon of WD-40, so I'm going to run it through that.


WD-40 bath.

The WD-40 did a much better job at a quicker rate (obviously) but for the price I think I'd rather just use the white vinegar. There's another product call EvapoRust that I heard of that is supposed to be comparable. Adam Savage did a non-sponsored review on it. It's reusable and is okay to get on your skin for relatively the same price as the WD-40. I couldn't find any locally but definitely plan on trying it out in the ultrasonic cleaner soon!

 

There's too much play for my liking in the stock rivet. I wanted to salvage as much as I could, but I think I'm just going to press it out and replace it with a bolt.


It may not look like it, but it does wiggle a lot even after compressed.


The shaft also steps down right where the two plates meet which is exactly where I want to drill one of the two grease holes. The other one will be at the bottom of the shaft.

As much as I thought about how to salvage the stud and find a way to make the assembly greasable, there is no common ground. I will for sure have to replace it. It's for the better anyways because I don't like how much material is at the top. If I drilled and tapped it for a grease point, there's wouldn't be much side wall and I am definitely not trying to pull this back out once I'm done. It shouldn't be too hard to drill the top bracket to match the lower brackets diameter and find a bolt to fit snugly. The only problem I think I'll have is finding one that has the proper shaft diameter WITH the threads on the right portion of it AND the grease holes is the right spot. That's like a needle in a haystack so I've already accepted I will have to tap and die a pivot pin in order to make it work specifically for my application. Not too hard but it's enough work to do that I'll probably just make a spare in case the first one fails.

 

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Make sure to tag me in your thread!

 

So I wasn't able to do exactly what I wanted, but it's a second best. I still want to go the original route as planned but this will work for now.

So what has changed? The grease point. Honestly, as often as it wont get used, it would definitely be overkill adding one, but I think greasing it by hand before assembly would be just fine. The problem I had is after many hours of online research I couldn't find one that would work (either directly or one that I could modify) so that left me with making one from scratch. This is what I ended up doing:



This is what's called a shoulder bolt. I believe its hardened steel because its black (like impact sockets) and the shoulder part is not black so I'm guessing it's a soft metal sleeve pressed over the actual bolt. Anyhow, the shoulder is half inch in diameter and I believe an inch in length, I'll double check later.


It fits nearly perfectly inside the larger of two holes. There's a very slight play in the bracket, which actually may be a benifit for the grease. Either way its acceptable.


Time to drill the smaller out to 1/2 inch. This bracket sits ontop of the taper of the rivet.


This is how much shoulder is leftover after the width of the two plates...


Which is perfect enough for a fender washer.

The only thing left to do on this portion is to grind down the rivet and drill and tap the base of it to accept the shoulder bolt. Honestly, there not too much left to do.

 

I had only used the white vinegar. I'll run it through the WD-40.

 

I've got some more progress done. Soon enough the assembly will be complete, and I'll I'll have to do is mount it, run the brake cable, and wire the brake light switch!





I got another shoulder bolt just like the main pivot point for the ratcheting pivot point. The shoulder on this one is 5/16 and all I had to do was drill out the hole in the main bracket. The release cable bracket glides right over the head of the bolt, so it was super easy to install!

 

The threads are too long and will need to be trimmed to sit flush inside the cab. My hardware is sourced from Ace Hardware if anyone is curious.

 

I was able to get a fender washer for the main shoulder bolt. It worked out perfect with the length of the shoulder and the washer. I do think I will have to trim the threads after I drill and tap into the large rivet that was installed from the factory.

After that, it's just paint, grease, and reassembly, before moving on to the second half!

 

I've roughly assembled the ebrake delete plate into the center console.






I wanted to plastic weld it in but for now it's glued; Iplan on reinforcing it on the backside. I am going to apply body filler, sand smooth, and apply paint to the topside. I'm still debating on what kind of texture paint I want to try out.

Soon I'll be taking out the stock emergency brake. I'll keep y'all updated.

 

I was able to remove the old parking brake. One of the bolts snapped inside the bracket. So I've got to get that out so I can fabricate a delete plate so outside elements stay outside.



After that block off plate is made, I need to take out the driver's seat and pull the brake light switch connector to the front where the new brake is going. Slowly, it's all coming together.

 

I am in the final stages of the refurbishment before installation. This is what I've done:


Ground down the factory piviot point and drilled it out


Tapped the hole for the shoulder bolt


Its looking good! Theres slightly more play then what i would want but im going to look for a shorther shoulder, or thicker fender washer


Excess needs trimmed to fit snug against the foot well

Before installation, I need to trim both shoulder bolts, soak the assembly one last time, was and grease removal, paint, regresse, final assembly. But that's just short term, there is still a whole list of stuff that needs done before this is considered complete. Stay with me!

 

Sorry for jumping around some, but this is where I am!


I had to trim the bolt to sit flush against the footwell. (Sorry i didnt get a picture of it afterwards, but you get the point)


Main shoulder bolt got trimmed also.


The green is the XJ switch, and the blue one is the MJ.


The MJ copper contacts are thicker, lightly longer, and have a different angle and shape. Also, you can see the connectors are oriented in opposite directions. The bolt holes are the same placement and even the plastic is extremely similar.


The XJ switch will work. I can bend the tab that closes the circuit and it will function just fine. However, even though I can use it how it is, I do not like the direction the electrical connector is facing.


The proper MJ switch is the one I will use since it has a better approach angle, thicker copper, and a better connector posistion.


Here, you can see here why I want it facing this way.

Everything is seriously coming together. I am going to try to find a NOS MJ switch simply because I don't trust the quality of reproductions and I do not want to have to go back into this once it's mounted.

Everything listed in the last post apart from what I've done here, I still need to do. I am super close with getting this installed. I am super excited to see this come together!

 

So I ran everything through the ultrasonic one last time, and went over everything with a series of wire attachments on my drill.



I have just one more part to buy, and that a brass washer for the main pivot point; there's slightly more play than what I would like. I'm hoping by adding a spacer it will make the whole thing last longer by aligning the teeth in the correct place. With it going to be brass, I'm hoping the softer metal will wear before the main assembly parts do, that way I don't have to buy a whole new assembly down the line and do it all over again. The brake assembly won't get used often and it's not really load bearing so I doubt I'll ever have to rebuild it again, but I'd rather be safe than sorry.

Once I get this washer and make sure everything operates smoothly, I can then move on to paint. I will degrease the whole thing, and apply self etching primer and finally some decent quality black paint before final reassembly.

After its put back together, I've got a couple of other challenges to overcome that comes with installing it:

1. I will have to create two bolt provisions. I plan on bolting it with the one thats already on the jeep from the factory. From there, ill mark the other two, drill holes, and put in rivnuts since I don't have a welder for the backside.

2. When mounting it, I'll need to reorganize the wiring in the kick panel because it it is a 1996 it has OBDII, and my jeep specifically has power windows, locks, and mirrors. I don't expect a big challenge here, just some thoughtful planning.

3. I will need to reroute the brake switch and cable. The brake switch will be easy. Depending on how its routed, all l I'll have to do it extend the wire. The cable is just as easy, I'll have to buy the appropriate length cable and install it where the old one was passing through where the old one did.

4. I will have to buy or cut the kick plate to match what was installed in the MJ's.

It's pretty cut and dry. Let's get it!

 

Today I extended the connector for the brake switch.


For those who dont know or cannot see, the emergency brake switch wiring is in the same harness as the seatbelt switch. In a perfect world I would have taken the carpet out, opened up the harness, and pulled the wire out just like how I did when I installed the 97+ windshield washer reservoir swap.


I snipped the connection off. Also, a keen eye can see the bolt I broke that will have to get drilled out and replaced with a rivnut.


I ran new wire of the same gauge and color under the carpet.


I opened up the plastic connector so could preform surgery. I do not like using these type of crimp connectors, but when I do I make sure to do a pull-test, check connection with a multimeter, and use heatshrink afterwards. Preferably I would like to use the ones that have the solder prepackaged inside of it.


I had to take it out of the plastic connector because I cut it too short. I did this because I would rather have the length on the other half that I could not manipulate well.


I butted the heat shrink tubing all the way to the base.


And as an extra step of insurance, I used tesa tape to secure the connection back to the origional harness in case if it gets pulled on.

Now that that step is out of the way, the only thing stopping me from installing the brake assembly is the last washer I need to go buy before I reassemble it.