Abyx Posted December 24, 2011 Share Posted December 24, 2011 Hey guys, this is my first post here...I registered a little while ago and it took me a bit of searching to learn how to get my account activated...doesn't matter since I'm here now! I'm the some-what proud owner of an 87(I was told it's an 88 but the title says 87, I haven't checked the vin to verify), 4.0, BA 10/5, NP231, Dana 30/35 short bed. I picked it up about 90 miles north of me from a guy who's wife left him; he sold it to me for 300$ in this condition: It came with an optima redtop, high speed wiper blades, a +97 door conversion, a factory hitch and head unit. Also a chopped up tailgate. :( The backstory is that it was a company truck for a crane rental company; the phone number is even still on the side. The floors rotted out and the gentleman I bought it from had already gone through the trouble of repairing the floors with patch panels, the only part he didn't finish was a final wire wheel and paint. I took care of that. Other problems included it's obvious state of 'in construction', it didn't have a functioning clutch, it didn't have functioning brakes(He repaired 90% of the lines using compression fittings....those had to go.), it had some minor electrical problems and he couldn't figure out how to put the steering column back together. There wasn't much else wrong with it; it has a junkyard motor and trans in it, for some reason there was a cut in the transfer case so it makes me wonder about the integrity of it, but it's fine for now. After I bought it, he allowed me to leave it there overnight..I started with 600$ during this excursion; between the 360 miles I had to drive to and from the jeep, the rental, the jeep itself and other misc stuff; I had 18$ left...to get me through a week of work. It was quite a stressful time but I was way too excited to care. Obviously the next step was to get it home, I still can't believe that I did this but I hopped in my trusty 91 Cherokee that's been rebuilt entirely except for the body panels and it's riding on factory rears. She sits at 252k miles on the body, and runs amazing. I towed my jeep home using my jeep. I'm pretty sure I was approximately 20 pounds under the maximum safe load tow capacity of my jeep; and to top it off if anyone is familiar with Washington, New Jersey...that's where I had to bring it down from. My clutch got a real workout bringing that pig home. I got quite a few stares from many different people that day, hah. From that point I started small and went to putting the interior back together; here's a few pictures of the process. (I cleaned this up using a wire brush using careful strokes and a vaccuum cleaner. It actually came out really good! Left side is the clean side, right is how it looked before.) I took me awhile to figure out why the steering column was taken apart, but since I got it back together I figured out why - the turn signal switch is bad. Good thing I got another one of those. I spent a good amount of time repairing small snags, replacing parts..he was kind enough to sell me the whole thing with ALL of the missing parts in the bed, boxes, in the cab, every nook and cranny was stuffed with parts. It took me awhile to get them all back together; but it got there. I had to replace a good amount of the hardlines for the brakes, replumb them; I rebuilt the rear drums, I have new parking brake cables that he gave me, I fixed up the rear good and tight(turns out I had towed it home dry of fluid...:X it should be fine, since it was just rolling with no torque added but we'll see.) One night I decided I would tackle the clutch problem; experience taught me that it would be the Slave cylinder....well, it took me 3 hours one night after dinner to drop the driveline - It was a headache and a half, during the process I broke the clutch line, I broke 5 of the 8 bolts that support the crossmember, I ripped the pad of my pinky finger off and I didn't even have the money to buy a new slave cylinder. She sat like this for about a month - Enough time passed that I was able to repair the broken bolts by drilling them out and re-tapping threads, I replaced the clutch line and the slave...I didn't have the money to replace the pressure plate and clutch so I didn't...my mistake. Following a brand new mastercylinder, and about 48oz of brake fluid, I still couldn't get the clutch to actuate...it does not feel like a hydraulic issue though; I currently have the belief that the clutch disk is seized to the flywheel preventing disengagement..reason for my belief is that I've bled enough of these things to know that it's working right, but something mechanical is up. I could be wrong, but I don't know what else it would be. The gentleman told me it sat for three weeks and he went to put it in gear and it didn't work. The area he kept it in was very promoting of rust. Luckily the body itself is very clean considering it's age...I can't say the same thing for all of the replaceable parts like the front rear, steering box, ect. Odd, but lucky enough for me. This is how she sits currently - She needs a paintjob, a lift, wheels and tires; some wire repairs, clutch repair, exhaust repair and a vaccum leak repair...and she'll be very road worthy. I can't wait to get this pig done, but it's cold outside. I may just let it sit for the winter. I recently re-dropped the transmission in about 20 minutes...gotta love a handheld electric impact and freshly anti-seized bolts. I'm looking to replace the clutch disk and pressure plate..we'll see where it goes from there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonb8 Posted December 25, 2011 Share Posted December 25, 2011 Nice MJ, check the clutch pedal. I had a MJ that the clutch pedal was cracked in the back toward the firewall and I pulled the tranny 2 times and still couldn't get enough pedal. Everytime I pumped it, the crack would separate and it wouldn't push the master cylinder enough. Just something to check. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MancheKid86 Posted December 25, 2011 Share Posted December 25, 2011 :drool: sexy truck! great score Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
terrawombat Posted December 25, 2011 Share Posted December 25, 2011 Tyler? That you? Truck looks pretty good. Best of luck with the clutch issues - wish I could help you out, but I live kinda far away now... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drcomanche Posted December 25, 2011 Share Posted December 25, 2011 If you are looking to check your vin, there is a link to a decoder in the DIY sections of the forum. It will tell you what you need to know. Otherwise, the truck is looking good, keep it up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Abyx Posted December 26, 2011 Author Share Posted December 26, 2011 Tim, yup its me, took me awhile to get the thing going enough to post something up here. You went through with your move down south then? I hope everything is working out good! Thanks everyone, my eventual plan is 35s and all that but for now I wanna throw some shackles on it, some coils and run my brand new 31s for a good while. They ride too good to not use em. I'm thinking ill pickup a clutch kit sometime this week and see where it goes. Unfortunately that leaves me stuck with the puegot. :/ ah well maybe I'll drop the AX15 out of ky Cherokee and throw it in the MJ some day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NJMJ87 Posted December 27, 2011 Share Posted December 27, 2011 Another jersey MJ... sweet :chillin: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
terrawombat Posted December 27, 2011 Share Posted December 27, 2011 Tim, yup its me, took me awhile to get the thing going enough to post something up here. You went through with your move down south then? I hope everything is working out good! Yea, I moved down to MD in September and started a new job the day after Labor day. Looking to buy a house and build a shop ASAP. Obviously, the shop will be a little smaller than the one I previously had :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Abyx Posted January 2, 2012 Author Share Posted January 2, 2012 Haha a little disappointed to say the least, that shop was something! I'm also disappointed that I never made it up there to help you work on your jeep...but I was useless at the time, I hadn't learned how to weld yet. That changed though; I'm the welding b*@$£ at work now. You gonnna build a shop yourself or hire a contractor? If you're looking to build it yourself I might have to make a trip down there and give ya a hand with it. Good to hear you're doing well though! Progress has been slow; lack of motivation and lack of availability of parts has slowed my progress considerably. The jump in tempature has been quite the annoyance as well; I went jacket-less all day today and it's supposed to be 14 degrees on Tuesday. So, to prepare for the winter I decided to wirewheel all the surface rust on this pig and paint it up to hold it over until spring. I also got around to test fitting my new hubcaps(lmao, got them for free from a friend) and sealing up the windshield. Also, what can't you do with Vicegrips..!? Some swaybar drop brackets for my cherokee that I was making out of angled steel today...I knew you could buy them, but I couldn't seem to find them online for the life of me...soon as I finished burning them together...I found them online. Typical. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
terrawombat Posted January 2, 2012 Share Posted January 2, 2012 Haha a little disappointed to say the least, that shop was something! I'm also disappointed that I never made it up there to help you work on your jeep...but I was useless at the time, I hadn't learned how to weld yet. That changed though; I'm the welding b*@$£ at work now. You gonnna build a shop yourself or hire a contractor? If you're looking to build it yourself I might have to make a trip down there and give ya a hand with it. Good to hear you're doing well though! My old shop definitely had the square footage...definitely won't ever have anything close to that size again. I'm going to be putting up a pole barn, but will hire a contractor to do it. Need to get a house first, though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Abyx Posted January 19, 2012 Author Share Posted January 19, 2012 That'll be real nice when it's done; how are you going to set it up? Just as a barn or are you dedicating it to a workshop?? Maybe someone can chime in here... I'm not sure I can stay motivated with this truck; every time I look away from it I seem to think that there's not much left until I can start driving it...that's until I look at the wiring harness in the fuse panel; that's until I realize the manifold needs a new gasket, that's until I realize it needs a clutch, that's until I realize how much work it's going to be to paint the thing. The steering box bolts are completely seized and one isn't tight, so I'll have to put a new box in; the front axle is completely rusted and worth replacing especially with 210k miles on it, it needs new shocks all the way around, it needs rebuilt driveshafts, it needs a ton of TLC. I just can't seem to win with it, every time I manage to fix something, I find two more things that need to be fixed. My weekends are taken up by my girlfriend, my weekdays are spent working, by the time I come home it's too dark and too cold to work on; even during the summer I'm not sure if I'm going to muster the motivation. Half of this stuff I don't even know how to go about fixing..the fuse panel for instance; nearly all of the fuse contact points can be pushed out through the front of the panel; I'm not sure why that would be..half of them are corroded, some of them work when they feel like it, a few of the wires are completely melted in the bundle behind it, one of them is melted together. I'd like to go about replacing this stuff; but I'm not sure how to begin fixing it, I don't know if I should just remove the wiring harness from the vehicle but that's more work than I'm interested in, especially considering the fact that I still don't know how to repair a fuse panel. Should I just get a new one? Should I just cut the bad wires out and leave enough on the contacts to solder new ones in? Should I just tape them up and forget about it? I really just don't know what I should do to fix it. Then it begs to ask, is it even worth the hassle? It's an 87 with 211k on the thing, should I waste my time and money for it to just die down the road? It'd be different if I had deeper pockets and a garage, but I don't, and I probably won't for a few years, I'm not sure if I can keep a project going especially having to keep my daily driver going(which is certainly going now after 254k hard miles). Help? :/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Globex Posted January 19, 2012 Share Posted January 19, 2012 I have a nearly mint wiring harness from my 90 project if you are interested. It was a 2wd 4.0 with a ba-10 in it. I'm in jersey to. It's a pretty simple swap to change it out. I've got a ton of parts off it if you need anything. I'm in the middle of doing the late model swap. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thunderbear Posted January 19, 2012 Share Posted January 19, 2012 That'll be real nice when it's done; how are you going to set it up? Just as a barn or are you dedicating it to a workshop?? Maybe someone can chime in here... I'm not sure I can stay motivated with this truck; every time I look away from it I seem to think that there's not much left until I can start driving it...that's until I look at the wiring harness in the fuse panel; that's until I realize the manifold needs a new gasket, that's until I realize it needs a clutch, that's until I realize how much work it's going to be to paint the thing. The steering box bolts are completely seized and one isn't tight, so I'll have to put a new box in; the front axle is completely rusted and worth replacing especially with 210k miles on it, it needs new shocks all the way around, it needs rebuilt driveshafts, it needs a ton of TLC. I just can't seem to win with it, every time I manage to fix something, I find two more things that need to be fixed. My weekends are taken up by my girlfriend, my weekdays are spent working, by the time I come home it's too dark and too cold to work on; even during the summer I'm not sure if I'm going to muster the motivation. Half of this stuff I don't even know how to go about fixing..the fuse panel for instance; nearly all of the fuse contact points can be pushed out through the front of the panel; I'm not sure why that would be..half of them are corroded, some of them work when they feel like it, a few of the wires are completely melted in the bundle behind it, one of them is melted together. I'd like to go about replacing this stuff; but I'm not sure how to begin fixing it, I don't know if I should just remove the wiring harness from the vehicle but that's more work than I'm interested in, especially considering the fact that I still don't know how to repair a fuse panel. Should I just get a new one? Should I just cut the bad wires out and leave enough on the contacts to solder new ones in? Should I just tape them up and forget about it? I really just don't know what I should do to fix it. Then it begs to ask, is it even worth the hassle? It's an 87 with 211k on the thing, should I waste my time and money for it to just die down the road? It'd be different if I had deeper pockets and a garage, but I don't, and I probably won't for a few years, I'm not sure if I can keep a project going especially having to keep my daily driver going(which is certainly going now after 254k hard miles). Help? :/ You mean all MJs aren't this way? :fs1: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
86customanche Posted January 19, 2012 Share Posted January 19, 2012 That'll be real nice when it's done; how are you going to set it up? Just as a barn or are you dedicating it to a workshop?? Maybe someone can chime in here... I'm not sure I can stay motivated with this truck; every time I look away from it I seem to think that there's not much left until I can start driving it...that's until I look at the wiring harness in the fuse panel; that's until I realize the manifold needs a new gasket, that's until I realize it needs a clutch, that's until I realize how much work it's going to be to paint the thing. The steering box bolts are completely seized and one isn't tight, so I'll have to put a new box in; the front axle is completely rusted and worth replacing especially with 210k miles on it, it needs new shocks all the way around, it needs rebuilt driveshafts, it needs a ton of TLC. I just can't seem to win with it, every time I manage to fix something, I find two more things that need to be fixed. My weekends are taken up by my girlfriend, my weekdays are spent working, by the time I come home it's too dark and too cold to work on; even during the summer I'm not sure if I'm going to muster the motivation. Half of this stuff I don't even know how to go about fixing..the fuse panel for instance; nearly all of the fuse contact points can be pushed out through the front of the panel; I'm not sure why that would be..half of them are corroded, some of them work when they feel like it, a few of the wires are completely melted in the bundle behind it, one of them is melted together. I'd like to go about replacing this stuff; but I'm not sure how to begin fixing it, I don't know if I should just remove the wiring harness from the vehicle but that's more work than I'm interested in, especially considering the fact that I still don't know how to repair a fuse panel. Should I just get a new one? Should I just cut the bad wires out and leave enough on the contacts to solder new ones in? Should I just tape them up and forget about it? I really just don't know what I should do to fix it. Then it begs to ask, is it even worth the hassle? It's an 87 with 211k on the thing, should I waste my time and money for it to just die down the road? It'd be different if I had deeper pockets and a garage, but I don't, and I probably won't for a few years, I'm not sure if I can keep a project going especially having to keep my daily driver going(which is certainly going now after 254k hard miles). Help? :/ You mean all MJs aren't this way? :fs1: I'm sorry to say but most of us are in similar situations. Not to say that you're having a tough time getting movitavtion to fix yours up, which is unfortunate, but I feel as if most of the people on this forum, myself included, have these trucks and are fixing them up with limited time/knowledge and know it's a long road ahead. Best of luck with you're truck and don't give up hope just yet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
terrawombat Posted January 19, 2012 Share Posted January 19, 2012 That'll be real nice when it's done; how are you going to set it up? Just as a barn or are you dedicating it to a workshop?? Pole barn is just the style of building - it won't be an actual barn, but a dedicated shop with at least two bays and a fairly large area for my CNC machine and other machine shop tools. As for your problems, I've never been known to be a motivation speaker by those who know me and usually tell it like it is. So, suck it up, fix the damn thing, and enjoy the fruits of your labor. Park it, remove it from insurance, and start fixing the things one by one. The wiring harness will be a pain, but it's not the end of the world - I'd go after that first since it seems to be the most likely cause of your vehicle randomly dying down the road, then go after the steering box. Shocks are easy as long as you don't snap the bolts off, so start soaking them in PB blaster or Kroil today and continue to soak them for a week. Driveshafts are also easy and u-joints aren't terribly expensive. A u-joint press can be rented from an auto parts store (don't you work at one?) for free. Wouldn't worry about the intake/exhaust gasket until you've got the other things fixed. The clutch is still giving you problems? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Abyx Posted February 7, 2012 Author Share Posted February 7, 2012 Well, today was pretty terrible; my girlfriend might have left me and I got laid off from my job. So, now unemployed I'm waiting to hear back from a few job sources while simotaneously trying to recover from the sudden badnews influx, I decided to relax a bit and spend my next few days fixing my jeep. Luckily my Cherokee problems are for the most part worked out so I can afford to do this instead. I pretty much took your guys' advice, I sucked it up and went to the local Junkyard(Blaceys for the local folk) and found a renix era fusebox out of an automatic Cherokee. I got it as is for 25$ and the condition its in is well worth it especially since another Junkyard wanted 75$ for the same thing! I spent the past four hours soldering it in, i plan to reconnect the inner harness to the engine harness tomorrow and throw the baery in with a fire extinguisher on hand, hopefully all goes well! Does anyone have any suggestions on how to clean the goo off of the inner/outter wiring harness connections and what to replace it with? It's almost like a glue and I assume its similar to dielectric grease, but I don't think its the same thing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
89Comanche4x4 Posted February 7, 2012 Share Posted February 7, 2012 Well that sucks :fs1: Just wondering why there is a 97+ door conversion and old mirrors! Also are you going to have power locks and windows? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Abyx Posted February 8, 2012 Author Share Posted February 8, 2012 To be honest, I'm not sure why there doors were converted over, haha. But no, they're actually manual windows and locks! There's buttons for power mirrors, but I'm not going to bother wiring those in. Eventually I'll get a set of +97 mirrors and bolt them on like I did on my Cherokee, but that's a farcry from important right now. Electrical gremlins continue; I may have completely fudged all of my work over the past two days by shorting power from the fusebox, grounded to the dash, through the headlight switch...Not sure exactly what I popped or melted, but now the headlights don't work and when I turn on the headlight switch, the dash illuminates the turn signals and the highbeam indicator...but that's it. Also, the turn signals no longer work. Ughhhh, great. No fuses seem to bad, I guess I have to pull the box back off the wall and see what I melted. Damn it. On the bright side; I got these!! I'm not sure if they're year specific considering they came off of a '90, but these are extremely hard to find around here. Mike over at Globex in Toms River hooked me up with these along with some harness specific diagrams for the electrical problems I'm having. Great shop they've got over there and real nice guys. Back to work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Naterenfo1 Posted February 8, 2012 Share Posted February 8, 2012 I know how to get that nasty goo off! I ran into the EXACT same problem on my manual MJ. Its from brake fluid dripping down from a leaky slave cylinder into the fuse box--- FIX THAT FIRST!!!! the brake fluid mixes with the tape, and the di-electric grease and creates, well, a hellish nightmare goo... use mineral spirits! I found using mineral spirits eats that stuff right up! the goo is almost the consistency of roofing tar... the mineral spirits with a tooth brush eats it like nobodies news! Hope this helps! Don't give up! my MJ is in FAR worse condition than yours, no electronics work, no flashers, no headlights, no ANYTHING! all it can do is start up, and move. On top of that, I don't have any matching color interior pieces my headliner is gone, and the ducts for HVAC are full of mouse poop. But somehow, I still LOVE wrenching on my MJ- Go figure! Good luck with this project and don't lose hope! I look forward to seeing this completed! :cheers: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Globex Posted February 8, 2012 Share Posted February 8, 2012 Glad someone will be able to use the badges. They would just sit around the shop forever after I took them off. Hopefully we will get some of the electrical stuff taken care of on Sunday. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Abyx Posted February 9, 2012 Author Share Posted February 9, 2012 I've more or less narrowed it down to the idea that I must've fried Fusible Link J....whatever that looks like, I have yet to find it. Naterenfo1, I will definitely give that a go! I thought that crap was 'supposed' to be there....apparently not, though! Globex, Hopefully! I'm getting real tired of electrical work, haha. I've narrowed it down to two problems beyond my recent episode...just the back turn signal/brake light and the gauge lights. Aside from the whole headlight thing now, heh. Also, I decided to install my new brake lines and get rid of the very last compression fitting. You can see the overall condition of the frame thing and the not so good condition of everything involving the front axle. :X I used '95 Wrangler brake lines for the extensions on them, for when this thing eventually gets lifted. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Abyx Posted February 13, 2012 Author Share Posted February 13, 2012 Well thanks to Mike, I have all of my electrical issues solved! Everything works! In the mean time, I've gotten it running again although the starter decided to crap out today; so I'm gonna end up pulling that and re-building it. I finished the power steering assembly, bled it up...turns great with no noise. PRO TIP for everyone; the 16mm fitting on the top of the power steering pump for the pressure hose, will actually thread into the return hose fitting on the steering box. So, if you're like me and can't find a replacement...take a pipe cutter, two hose clamps, some new hose, and put it all together to make a new return line..works GREAT if you're replacing the pressure hose already. Brakes are all good to go, I just have to replace the main E-brake cable..but that's not very important right now. Motor runs great, I have most of the accessory pieces bolted back on, everything is good to go, aside from the interior the only thing that has to be re-installed is the front drive shaft, but that needs a whole lot. Now only if I could get the clutch to work....if the clutch could work, I'd have this truck on the road, and then I'd work on leaching the parts I want/need off of my cherokee in preparation to sell/scrap the cherokee. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Abyx Posted February 15, 2012 Author Share Posted February 15, 2012 Got the clutch working. Now to repair the exhaust(mid process and it rained on me), build an old lady stopper(rear bumper) and put 'er on the road. The clutch fittings were loose, every single one of them. The MC fitting, the hardline-slave joiner 'and' the bleeder nipple adapter. She runs and drives great! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zenobian_84 Posted February 15, 2012 Share Posted February 15, 2012 Awesome work. :cheers: Makes me think of when I first got my 87. The problems seemed never-ending, but now everything's finally going right. Biggest tip I can offer, is, swear at it all you want, and maybe hit it a few times, but don't ever give up on it. My truck hasn't ever left me stranded, not even once after everything I've ever gotten mad at and yelled at it for. :D Can't wait to see more :clapping: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Abyx Posted February 16, 2012 Author Share Posted February 16, 2012 Hey thanks a lot man, the encouragement is appreciated! I can definitely say the same about my cherokee; but it's time to put the old girl to rest. She's tired. I got something cooking though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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