neohic

Still a rad truck and it’s good to see it being used.

For real. UTVs had a tough time in the rain but it made for great following day for the Everyman Challenge. I need to get out there one of these years.

What a year for KOH! I haven’t been following the 4400 cars, so I’ve had yesterday's feed of the Everyman Challenge. 4600 class for the win! I love rooting for the underdogs! Been an awesome week!!

Nothing wrong with the plucky little 4.8s.

I think the spacer is required to keep the ball joints and the u joint in the shaft assembly aligned properly. A long while back I had all the parts sitting around that I started bolting it all together to see what’s what. It all physically went together, but there was binding in the joints when rotating through a turn. I never had the setup on the road though… only mocked on jack stands.

Same. I had some big dreams with my old ‘86 that this project truck rekindles in my head. King of the Hammers week isn’t helping either.

Nope. That’s a Ford 9” in the rear and a hybrid front out of a 9” center section and Dana 44 outers. Looks like a fun project to take over but a very small market to gain interest from.

Not an event I’ve been to but I’d love to see everything at some point. The two automotive events I really get into each year are the Pikes Peak Hill Climb and King of the Hammers. This is a great week to get home after work and watch the qualifying runs!

The paint is still as it was… shiny(ish) but still pretty bad.

I love it! Fuel injection really wakes up a 4.2. I recommend dumping the carb to anyone who drives their CJ.

Another sewing machine day with finally making a new winch cover.

I think it photographs a little better than it is. Quick project today. When I made the transfer case shifter a LONG time ago I used a GM style column shifter knob. It finally cracked and fell apart. Gone are the days of just picking up another one off the shelf at a parts store, I guess? I improvised at the hardware store.

Not a kit. It was a one-off I did in my old ‘86. The small hoops were for the straps to loop around since I used harnesses without tabs at the ends of the straps. There wasn’t near as much support as if there were door bars, but there was a noticeable difference in the structure after they were added. My original plan was to add tabs to tie the hoop into the original upper seatbelt mount also.

I didn’t use stock seats, but there’s no reason the same idea couldn’t work.

I’d be curious to see what the 5.0 swap is all about along with the axles.

Not really CJ specific type project, but I’m trying to get hard measurements on things that would live in or next to a future center console. I’ve got two grandfathers represented here. After my first grandpa passed, I grabbed one of his shirts that was used to wrap around pictures while boxing up their apartment. It was in sad shape, but I’ve held on to it for years now waiting for something like this. As for the tools, my second grandpa passed a couple years ago now and I recently received some of his wrenches. Nothing matches, and they aren’t a great set, but I love them. I threw in my old Boy Scout knife for good measure. Should keep things a little more tidy than the current over stuffed small ammo box bolted to the floor. Next is to decide if I want to modify the aluminum fuel tank I’ve got to fit under the seat or to move forward with a console.

Excellent! This is still very much a bench mark type truck.

Welcome! I love it when this truck pops back up. Are you a new caretaker?

Probably. The CJ has been getting out for little errands around town. Think I’m learning the secret handshake with the new transmission. It has been really nice driving this truck daily but I’m making a list of things that need attention.

Small update on this old truck. Daily driver status has been moved from our Focus to the Eliminator. Last weekend I noticed that the car was low on coolant and I ended up dumping a gallon into it. “That’s weird… it’s practically new!” I did some poking around and found a crack in the side of the cylinder head right next to a water neck. It’s under warranty yet so off to the dealership it went. Enter the Comanche to pick up the slack. Of course, the weather hasn’t been great… seems like whenever we need a second vehicle there’s typically snow in the forecast. Driving has been pretty well uneventful minus the alternator dying on me, and then today it was stumbling bad followed up with a no-start. Harrumph. It felt to me like a fuel issue so it got tested at the rail and things looked great. Ignition maybe? The coil tested fine, but not great. I replaced the coil with my fingers crossed only for it to start and then immediately die. Then I knew… the bank of relays got rearranged then the starter wouldn’t spin. I obviously had a failing fuel pump relay. For now, it got a cheap relay thrown at it with another one on standby in the center console. Runs great again! Found more oil where it doesn’t belong than I’m happy about though while I was under it. Lately, this truck has taken the personality of, “Oh! So you need me now? Well that’s just interesting, isn’t it?!”

Fun little project at the sewing machine today. Might add a few more bolts along the sides… maybe. Otherwise I took it for a little drive around town. Feels like the fuel injection is relearning itself that there’s a little more hitch in its giddy up.

Sure does!