neohic Posted March 22, 2015 Author Share Posted March 22, 2015 Trying to clean up some piles of stuff out in the garage as I add to them. The roof basket is done (minus a few little things) so that got put in the "to paint" pile and the old bumper off of the Eliminator got a second look. The width was just about right so I decided that it would for sure be a part of yet another Jeep... that makes #3 for both the front and now rear bumper. Plan is to make up some extensions to go under the freshly cut quarters but until then I just wanted it off the garage floor and out of my way. Then in the spirit of finding homes for things, I made up a carrier for the spare. Should be able to finish it up tomorrow. Yeah... it's a little low, but I wanted to be able to see over it fine. I put a license plate light on the bumper when it was on Jeep #1 so that won't be a problem to try and find somewhere new to put it. Also ran a couple new wires for the light and also for a reverse light. On that note, everything in the taillights work again! Everything did... kinda... when I first got it and then the passenger side just sort of quit. Cut out and redid the wiring, new tail/brake lights, and added some resistors to the indicators to get rid of some hidden bulbs to put enough load on the flasher. This thing is really one surprise after another. :shake: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doc. Posted March 22, 2015 Share Posted March 22, 2015 Did Austin get this Jeep from Gump? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neohic Posted March 22, 2015 Author Share Posted March 22, 2015 Yup... me from Austin, from Gump, from you (as far as I know). This thing has sure gotten around. Got the rest of the rear facing lights working today. It's like a Christmas tree back there! Need to make a plan for the rest of the bumper now. Changed gears again and got thinking about finishing the tube doors. Started with the passenger side by stripping out all the wiring from the door that didn't need to be there. The power locks don't work... gone... the mirror is missing the actual mirror so there's no need for it to be able to move... gone... the window is all sorts of sketchy so it's now powered by just the driver's side... gone... moved the speaker... gone... I got the wiring down to the two wires needed to move the window up and down. Much better! Those two wires got spade terminals for easy door removal in the future. The speaker was relocated to the little hole next to the glove box. Sound quality?... probably down, but... meh... As for the door itself, the holes from the switches got filled. Started on the driver's side and decided that it's going to be a bigger job to move and cut things down. The dash was taken apart on that side with hopes that I'd be able to find a good place to reroute the door harness. The plan is to delete a dash vent and move the door switches. Probably find a similar spot to stuff the speaker too. Then I'll be down to the two wires to the window regulator and whatever it takes to keep the mirror functional. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doc. Posted March 23, 2015 Share Posted March 23, 2015 Gump got it from me in stock condition, can't remember how many years ago that was. Nice to see it getting a face lift, keep up the good work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neohic Posted March 23, 2015 Author Share Posted March 23, 2015 Thanks. Unfortunately it's still a "toilet paper" XJ that gets used and flushed... and it's definitely been used... and used... and used some more. Right now it's got 252k miles on it and the lifters are starting to make it sound like a diesel. :ack: With that in mind, everything I'm doing with it is easily movable to another. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neohic Posted March 27, 2015 Author Share Posted March 27, 2015 Ugh... wiring today... it's self inflicted though. :doh: The left side got taken care of today just the same as the right was. Same deal... pulled the harness back, shortened some stuff, lengthened some stuff, got rid of a few things, and moved the speaker. Pulled everything out of the door... Relocated the main switch control to the dash... First try after some dash hacking... Vented needed to be trimmed back... not that it's needed anymore anyhow... I was planning on using a trailer plug but I had a couple bits of other wiring stuff around. Found this connector with six wires running through it. Perfect!... Then to clean stuff up... Overall, very happy with how it turned out. I got rid of a couple switches though... again, nothing that's needed anymore. In the end, everything works as it did before cutting. The passenger side front window sometimes works (regulator?) and the driver's side rear window still doesn't work (maybe another regulator?). Might be able to have a look at removing the doors tomorrow and finishing up the tube doors. As for the rest of the day... ... 'cuz race car. :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete M Posted March 28, 2015 Share Posted March 28, 2015 pins for the win! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neohic Posted March 29, 2015 Author Share Posted March 29, 2015 We have lift off!... of one of the doors, anyhow. Pretty straight forward stuff here as far as cutting the hinges, but I made the mistake of wanting to take the door off first so I could do a better job on the cuts. All of the bottom three bolts were rusted solid. Broke one off and the other two needed some hot persuasion to come out. Then my torx bit broke after a couple of the heads stripped out so I had to weld a nut onto the heads to get them out. Turned into a real soup sandwich real fast. Anyhow... then this happened which I was pretty excited about... Again, pretty straight forward stuff here. I left the top hinge long so I could put a lock nut on it if the tube doors were to be on there for a while. Not that a lock nut would keep anyone from walking off with them, but they'd at least slow them down. The latch got a keeper spring to keep things tight. Overall, very happy with how it looks! Just like anything else, something had to go wrong, right? The passenger window was bugging me so I took another look at it. With the door panel off I could jump the regulator and found that it still works fine... as far as I know. The I tested the wiring from the main switch... no dice. The switch came back out, taken apart, and cleaned. Everything worked again minus the left rear window. Then I got a little fancy and jumped the selector switch for the side view mirrors so it's always on the driver's side. While I was in there, all the other soldered joints got resoldered. Maybe get back to the passenger side door tomorrow? Stay tuned. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neohic Posted April 4, 2015 Author Share Posted April 4, 2015 And then there were two... talkin' about the doors. I started looking at the wiring for the wireless control for the winch today too. Got sidetracked trying to figure out why the horn doesn't work. Got sidetracked some more doing other odd jobs on it. Waiting for slightly warmer weather too... got a whole pile of stuff waiting to be painted. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neohic Posted April 10, 2015 Author Share Posted April 10, 2015 Finished a couple things today... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete M Posted April 10, 2015 Share Posted April 10, 2015 mirror? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neohic Posted April 10, 2015 Author Share Posted April 10, 2015 Yup... got a mirror mounted, hung the new fenders, got the doors painted, I even painted and mounted the roof basket... not pictured, of course. :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neohic Posted April 18, 2015 Author Share Posted April 18, 2015 Had a very unfortunate surprise today that got my thinking about scrapping the whole thing. :( The rust belt strikes again along with the aid of a previous owner. My plan was to be working on finishing the rear bumper so I could scratch that off my list. I unbolt it and crawl under to find this... WHAT THE?!... WHY THE?!... I was trying to figure out why the frame would've been cut like this as it's nowhere near the internal plates for the hitch. Who knows... the problem now is that it's there and there are some major stress cracks going in just about every direction from it. To add salt to the wound, Minnesota has done just that... added SALT to the wound. Rust crept its way all the way back to the bumper mounts. The passenger side looked pretty good, which was surprising. So... the tank needed to come down to make room. Here's my fix... With that, and the first half of my day, taken care of it was time to move on the intended task at hand. 33s on Sunday... for sure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neohic Posted April 18, 2015 Author Share Posted April 18, 2015 Just ordered a copper three core radiator for it too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HOrnbrod Posted April 18, 2015 Share Posted April 18, 2015 Just ordered a copper three core radiator for it too. Copper will probably rust up there too Ben. :( Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neohic Posted April 18, 2015 Author Share Posted April 18, 2015 You're probably right. I'll be sure to coat the fins real good with undercoat before installing it! :idea: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HOrnbrod Posted April 18, 2015 Share Posted April 18, 2015 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neohic Posted April 19, 2015 Author Share Posted April 19, 2015 Rightfully back on 33s today. Obviously need to do something about the rears but the front flares are just about right... legal, anyhow. So what else does one do after putting new shoes under their Jeep? What else but poser shots?... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete M Posted April 19, 2015 Share Posted April 19, 2015 So what else does one do after putting new shoes under their Jeep? What else but poser shots?... damn straight! :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neohic Posted April 24, 2015 Author Share Posted April 24, 2015 Radiator came in today and it's beautiful! :banana: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neohic Posted April 24, 2015 Author Share Posted April 24, 2015 Trying to work up the ambition to go out and work on this thing this morning. It's raining and crappy outside and it's really taking the wind out of my sails. To trick myself into thinking that I'm getting something done, here's the dreaded list that needs to be taken care of over the next few weeks... Make up a steering box brace Swap in another drag link Change oil in the diffs Change motor mounts Start and finish the rear fender flares Fix drain plug in the oil pan Get windshield replaced Update OHV registration Maybe weld up the exhaust to do away with a few dozen exhaust clamps... that all leak Wire in the wireless winch control module Make a mount for the tube doors to keep them secured somewhere inside Change out the radiator Brakes I'm hoping to not find anymore surprises as I really don't have time for them. Going up to Gilbert May 29th in it. Will it all get done?... probably not. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neohic Posted April 24, 2015 Author Share Posted April 24, 2015 Couple things taken care of today... oil pan and steering box brace. I decided to leave the oil pan under it and just weld on half of a 1/2" pipe coupler. That went well... tight squeeze at times... but went well. Then the new brace. I tied into the old sway bar mounting holes on the passenger side on made a clamp similar to most aftermarket units. Still needs paint. Make up a steering box brace Swap in another drag link Change oil in the diffs Change motor mounts Start and finish the rear fender flares Fix drain plug in the oil pan Get windshield replaced Update OHV registration Maybe weld up the exhaust to do away with a few dozen exhaust clamps... that all leak Wire in the wireless winch control module Make a mount for the tube doors to keep them secured somewhere inside Change out the radiator Brakes Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neohic Posted April 26, 2015 Author Share Posted April 26, 2015 A very wise man once told me that when going downhill offroad, all you need is to pick two of three things... good brakes, a good shifting transmission, a horn. Figured since I still don't know why my horn doesn't have any power, I'd better take a look at the brakes. That was this afternoon and HOLY CRAP!!! When all you know with a vehicle is how you got it, one sometimes doesn't realize how bad things are until they work properly! It'll actually lock up all four now! I had most of the parts on my shelf for a ZJ disk brake swap in the rear and the front just got new pads and rotors. Shiny! I didn't use the backing plates or the parking brake though. The plates were in sad shape and the parking brake was missing a bunch of parts. This was another thing that has never worked in this Jeep for me either so I don't miss it. The cables were mangled so they got removed so all that remains is the handle in the console, the cable going from there, and the splitter bracket. Another fun find was taking the diff cover off and finally finding out exactly was going on inside the axle. All anybody could tell me about it was that it was welded. Didn't know if it the spider gears were welded to the carrier or not. I even talked with the guy who welded it about ten years ago and he didn't even know! So?... nothing was welded to the carrier! :banana: This means that I could easily remove them and swap in a locker in the future with little fuss! I was very happy to see this. As for the cover itself... ... it looks more like a golf ball than a diff cover. :laughin: Inside there's a couple grooves where the ring gear was actually rubbing away at it. Just about paper thin! I had another stock cover on the shelf so that was used with a couple new patches of steel. Took it down the road and back. What a pleasant change! No more planning ahead when wanting to stop. On an added bonus, I think the steering is in good shape too. I was planning on swapping in another drag link that I have, but after seeing how warped and rusted the front rotors were, I can see how they would've added to the problem. Picture just because all the other ones in this post were kind of boring... Make up a steering box brace Swap in another drag link Going to run it as-is. Change oil in the diffs Still need to change the front. Change motor mounts Start and finish the rear fender flares Fix drain plug in the oil pan Get windshield replaced Update OHV registration Maybe weld up the exhaust to do away with a few dozen exhaust clamps... that all leak Wire in the wireless winch control module Make a mount for the tube doors to keep them secured somewhere inside Change out the radiator Brakes Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete M Posted April 26, 2015 Share Posted April 26, 2015 ... it looks more like a golf ball than a diff cover. :laughin: Inside there's a couple grooves where the ring gear was actually rubbing away at it. Just about paper thin! I had another stock cover on the shelf so that was used with a couple new patches of steel. nice! :rotfl2: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xjrev10 Posted April 29, 2015 Share Posted April 29, 2015 Turd polish level: EXPERT :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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