derf

Given 2020 as a whole, I guess this doesn't surprise me in the slightest. A few weeks ago I noticed a wet spot on the basement carpet away from anything that could have spilled. And the basement started smelling musty. Great. A water leak. Turns out it's a partial backup of the sewer. The water was coming up from the floor drain after a shower or running something like the dishwasher or clothes washer. The water drains away within a couple of hours so by the time I bothered to get down to the basement to look the water was gone except for where it soaked into the carpet padding. I checked after a shower last night and sure enough, there was just a little standing water right by the drain. Enough to get out under the wall into the carpet in the neighboring room. So yeah, I get to replace the ugly carpet sooner than I wanted. The plumber will be here in a couple of hours and figure out exactly what the blockage is. Hopefully it's not a tree root. I'll be pissed if it's that. But if they don't have to dig or only have to dig up the yard, that would be better than trying to fix a pipe under the basement slab. So since poop water got into the padding the plan is to pull the carpet and throw it in a WM Bagster Bag, then grab some of the adhesive backed carpet tiles from Home Depot that are basically remnants from industrial supply randomly thrown into a box so you get a scatter pattern of different carpet styles. Hey, it's under $1 per square foot and it's easy. If they have to dig inside the house, that will change. If this is the worst that happens to me this year, I'll be grateful. Still, it bugs me I have to deal with this right now.

I do like a challenge. But I also don't like friends who want me to show up and figure it out for them and then do it for them too. I would have just walked away from that pile of metal.

No real progress. I just wanted to take a picture. I'm going to get started with Cruiser's tips to get this Renix 4.0 back to life. I haven't tried to start it yet but I want to head off the obvious problems first.

I've seen people break JK 30s on stock tires. It's all in how you drive. The more careful you are, the bigger tire you can run safely. I had 35's with my JK 30 and it's still alive 8 years later. If I'm running big tires, I don't want to have to baby the axle to keep it from breaking.

I have a Haynes manual that helps with 80-90% of what I need. Nothing really beats a factory service manual though. There are plenty of places to download and/or buy print manuals out there.

Same as an XJ front axle. I ran one for a while and it was under an inch difference between the two.

Other way around. The 44 uses a lot of 30 level stuff. The Rubicon 44 is a Dana 44 center section with the rest being Dana 30 spec parts. The Dana 30 center section is smaller than a 44. The JK version of both is bigger than the XJ version. But very thin wall. The JK 30 is stronger than an XJ 30 but it's still not a full Dana 44 strength by a long shot. There are ways to reinforce the weaknesses, but I wouldn't run anything bigger than a 35" tire with one.

So the 80 is in a different location right now but preliminary measurements say a cab & chassis axle has springs perches right where the MJ springs land. So it will bolt up for a rear SOA with basically no modifications other than shock mounts. So I got that going for me, which is nice. I will probably play with the front axle position a little to maybe alter wheelbase and improve approach angle.

Does this axle make my rear end look big?

What started the wrenching was someone looking for a 3.07 geared MJ axle. I figured I would end up scrapping it because it's a Dana 35 with 3.07s and an open diff. But he wanted a quick bolt in axle for cheap. So I pulled it and sold it to him.

I've been sitting on this project for a while. I needed to have a house of my own before I got rolling and the parts accumulation is going to take a long time. But I started turning wrenches on it today so I'm going to start the build thread. This is the starting point: 1987 low option 4.0/5 speed 2wd that has been damaged in the rear a couple of times. The plan for it is simple. I'm going to make it into a trail beast that will do duty on some of the harder trails out there. Minimum 40" tires with lift and fender clearance to match. Right now, it has a Renix 4.0. It has been sitting for several years so I'm doing a bunch of preventative work before I fire it up for the first time in a long time. It has fresh oil and filter, coolant topped off, new air filter. The state of the gas tank was unknown so I dropped it to make sure it wasn't running on varnish. Turns out the fuel was still halfway decent so I'll be putting the fuel system back together with a new sender in about a week. I'm going to get the engine running first to see if its worth saving. Long term plans haven't fully set yet. I may keep the 4.0 that's in it (or a remanufactured one). I may upgrade to a 4.6 stroker. I may do an LS swap. I've entertained the idea of doing something like a 5.0 from an Explorer or F150 just to be different. We will see. Regardless, it will get an automatic transmission.. Either an AW4 for a 4.0/4.6, or a 4L80E for the LS, or the automatic that comes with the 5.0. For rock crawling, I've done stick shift enough. I'm going with a slush box this time. The transfer case is still open. It will probably end up being an Atlas 2 speed with 4.3 or 5.0 low range. I'm entertaining the idea of going with an ORD Monster Box with a Ford NP205. I have some of the parts for that already left over from a previously abandoned project. Again, the monster box/205 would be something different. It would give me 1:1/1.96/2.72/5.33 low ranges to pick from And it would be triple sticked, making for good conversation. I'm doing a fair bit of lift for the tires I want (which may be one of several, all 40"+). I will be doing a custom long arm in the front. I have frame brackets from StinkyFab Racing. They're ready to go in. I'll make my own links to go with the axle that's being swapped. I'm also going to do coil overs but I haven't picked out what I want yet. In the rear, I'm still not 100% settled on what I'm doing there. I like the idea of doing a triangulated 4 link. Better articulation, etc. etc. But I may stick with just a spring over conversion with maybe a little lift on top of it. That would keep costs down and let me finish sooner. I may end up doing SOA first and then go back and put in the 4 link later. The front axle is a 2002 Ford F350 Super 60. Sure, people like the 05+ for good reason. But I chose the 99-04. I got a decent deal on it and it's narrower. On an MJ, it will just look a little better. I have the Artec truss and high steer brackets all ready to go for the swap. I'm going to convert it to 35 spline outers, throw some 5.38's in and an ARB air locker, and do a high steer along with a hydraulic assist. The rear is a Dana 8 out of a 2000 Ford F350 chassis & cab truck. It's just under an inch wider than the front axle so it will look right sitting under there. It's going to get 5.38's and an ARB locker as well. It's a 35 spline and will probably stay that way. It also has the same 8 on 170mm bolt pattern as the front so one set of wheels works across the board. I'm still probably going to have to cut up some sheet metal to make room for the tires, even with the lift I'm doing. The front fenders will stay intact and be removed. I found some cut up XJ fenders that I'm going to bolt on and probably cut some more. The rear bed, which you can't see well in the pictures, is shot. It's been hit. Several times. It has thick bondo on it and it's been damaged since. It's not going to make it. But it will be perfect for a trail rig. I will be putting the rear plastic fenders for sale once they come off as they are still in good shape. And then the sheet metal will get cut. I'm planning an exo cage that will integrate fenders that (mostly) cover the tires once they're on. It will also stiffen up the chassis and provide some protection, as well as mounting points for things like gas cans and other accessories. I'm not an LED light bar kind of guy but I will be doing some lights of some kind as well. It's probably going to get another coat of paint, perhaps after being blasted. I think I've settled on Allis Chalmers Orange, as my grandfather was an Allis Chalmers dealer for decades. It's going to be a great truck, but I work for a living and all of the parts and tools I need will take time to acquire. Probably a couple of years. So that's why this is "Project Slow Cooker".

You can find a lot of helpful people (and others) at www.fsjnetwork.com and www.ifsja.org.

According to this: https://oljeep.com/gw/vin_81-86.html 1 = USA J = Jeep Corporation T = Truck N = 360 V8 J = Automatic, column shift, part time transfer case 25 = Short Bed J10 - 119" wheelbase N = 5979#/6200# GVWR 1 = Check Digit D = 1983 T = Toledo manufacturing plant 003916 = Serial number.

That would do it.

Not the whole frame but I've worked on cut and shortened frames. Best thing to do is to weld on temporary reinforcement bars on the parts you are going to keep. That keeps them aligned so they can go together easier and have a better chance to be straight. Once you've got the frame welded up, the bars get cut off. Get measurements before hand. Lots of them. Measure distances to fixed points like suspension mounting points. Measure the angles (top and side) on both sides of the cuts so you can get it back together straight. Measure diagonally to ensure you're square. The more measurements you have, the better the finished product will turn out. Make sleeves for the weld point for extra strength. Either that or butt weld the pieces and then weld on reinforcement plates around the outside covering the joints. You want the joints to be stronger than the factory metal. Just like a paint job, the prep work takes 90% of the time and makes all the difference.

Tail lights and license plate lights. All connectors intact. Let me know what zip code and I can get some shipping quotes. Or I can do a flat rate box for maybe $15 or so, I'd have to look ot work.

I have one from a junkyard pull that I'm not going to use. I can probably toss it in a box and ship it to you for a reasonable price.

That's my theme song.

How much weight are you planning on putting in it? It's sheet metal so it has its limits but it's a small space so I wouldn't expect you would have much that will fit back there. You could always build a box that rests on the floor and just attaches to the wall to keep from tipping when you fold the seat forward. Then you could put a bunch of weight in without worrying about it. Even if it just had some legs rather than fitting to the floor, it might be a better design.

Get the thickest radiator you can fit. More surface area means more cooling. Get a regular (not high flow) water pump. More time in the radiator means better cooling. Get a good mechanical fan in the stock location. Mechanical fans move more air and more air means more cooling. Put the factory shroud around the mechanical fan. It improves air flow by a significant amount. More air means more cooling. Replace the factory electric fan with the highest CFM fan you can find that fits there and use a good shroud. More air.... you know the drill. Add vents on the hood or fenders. Better air flow... Add an oil cooler. Maybe look at one you can mount under the bed or on the frame rail away from the engine bay (and exhaust). Using different air to cool it will make it more efficient.

Yeah, looking at those, I'm going to pass. The set of 3 is for an XJ with a tailgate. That's not good for the ignition switch. And all of the Crown locks use non-standard square head keys for the door locks instead of the oval head. I'll probably do OEM or just have my factory units rebuilt locally.

I had good luck with an oil cooler helping me keep temps under control.

How do I actually get them online? All the websites I've tried so far don't go back far enough.

Part of the work on my 87 will involve getting new door lock and ignition cylinders. I found some on Rockauto but it looks like the key for the doors is for the 91 and newer. I'd prefer to use the GM style key that it had from the factory. Where is a good place to buy replacement lock cylinders with keys? How expensive/difficult would it be to have a locksmith repair/rekey the ones I have?

Meh. I wouldn't. Looks out of place on anything but a CJ/Wrangler to me. But it's your Jeep. If you want to put a star on it, go for it.