1990 4.2 with ax15 and NP231 transfer case. I am the second owner..my pops bought it new and drove it for 14 years until he passed away after that my brother used it on the farm until last Feb when the clutch slave blew again. It sat in the same place where the clutch went out until I loaded on a trailer in Jun. I knew the original engine had been replaced with a Jasper crate motor and it has about 20k on it, the rear shocks mounts were gone and pretty much the back end of the frame was rotted off and the transmission had been replace. I also gather up the original transmission and a extra set of OEM wheels that had been collected over the years. I loaded it all up on a trailer and brought it home. Unloaded the trailer and put a new battery in it...it fired right up. I cut it off and began the tear down...
I mention there was some frame rot...after I got clean up and did and inspection I found that it need both shock mounts replaced and both crossmember and the shackles were about to fall out of the frame...Ordered up the sections needed from auto rust and went to work.
After I got the frame fixed I took some measurements on the frame and noticed it was out a few inces..so i addressed that issue and then broke down the axels to the housings. I then called a dustless blasting company they blasted the frame, axels, and a pile of parts all in my side yard. Pretty slick process and the grass grew right back over it in a few months.
All parts but the axels went to be powder coated. I got a quote for 200 bucks to PC the frame and parts so that's what I did. I painted the axels myself.
I plan to build this back as a sleeper jeep...I want to appear as stock as possible but I wanna be able to take offroad and not worry about getting around..Plan on making it a fun ride, take to hunt club, kids to sports practices..My daily drivery is a Ford Expedition EL Limited and while it's great for towing stuff and having plenty of room for the kids and all that entails..just me driving back and forth to work, 18 miles round trip, gets kind of boring so it mostly be used for that when weather permits.
Axels....so eventually I will probably go with 44 and 8.8 but for now with all the other things that need to be sorted out and not knowing exactly what I want I decided it was cheaper to just rebuild what I have and run it for a while till I made up my mind. So..
Dan 30
All new seals, new cad gasket and grommet, u joints, unit bearings, ball joints, slotted and milled rotors. I had the break calibers blasted and then I painted and rebuilt them..Axels and gears were in good shape so I cleaned them up and painted the axels. Getting the original ball joints out was almost as much fun as geting the original axel u joints out...lol
Dana 35
The spider gears were pretty chewed up and because I blasted the axel I replaced all the seals, bearings, and race bearings. They didn't look like the had a lot of sand in them but I didn't trust them. Ring and pinion were good to go so they got a good cleaning...Also got new drums, cylinders, drum hardware and shoes.
I know some of you are thinking it would have been cheaper to just pick up new axels from a pick and pull. Yep it would have but I wouldn't have known what I had..seals and what not could have needed replaced in those axels too...so for piece of mind a rebuilt them ones I had.
Before I started putting things back together I order up 2 cans of Eastwood internal frame coating...took the frame back out in the yard and used both cans..took it out side cause I was too lazy to tape up all the holes in the frame and I didn't want to get paint all over my garage. Got that finished up and a few days later my OME lift and OME shackles arrived. Time to get this frame off the jack stands. I flipped it over to install te springs so I wouldnt have to fight gravity..I am a one man garage...lol....I had also ground out all the skid plate mounts before it went to PC...only half of them actually worked and those had square plates added so that the bolt heads didn't come thru the skid...the original skid plate was very rusted. New nut inserts were also installed..very easy when the frame is upside down. Also installed the steering box mount and new skid plate while it was upside down.
For those of you wondering yes the old parts are piling up...gonna cash it in at the scrap yard and use the cash for silver bullets...the fuel for all jeep work!
Installed shocks, sway bar with disconnect links, bump stops, new drag link and tie rod ends, the OME steering stabilizer, and the extended brake lines..My wife still calls it the "heep" as in heep of parts in the garage but it's starting to look like a jeep again!
Now that I have it back to a roller I need to start replacing systems. This jeep spending 10 years on the farm there were some interesting field mods made to keep it running. When I tore it down there were 2 fuel pumps...the mechanical one on the block but there was also a in line universal electric one too...The gas tank skid was literally Swiss cheese. The sending unit had rusted thru but it had been jb welded back to the point it pretty much didn't leak. Once I pulled the sending unit I found another interesting field mod and the reason there was another pump added. My best guess is that the fliter on the sending unit plugged up after 15 yrs and the lawn mower filter was used until it plugged up and the e fuel pump was added instead of dropping the tank again...lol Beleive it or not it worked!
I was able to save the poly tank I replaced the shitty OEM gas tank skid plate with a rugged ridge. I like them...A skid that is closed on all 4 sides and drain holes is a good thing...I also added some poly sheeting to the bottom so it wouldn't hold water like the OEM tar paper did. Replaced the sending unit and did the 20 gallon mod. Installed it back in the jeep.
Got the motor and tranny split and the motor on a stand..think I am going to need a new clutch...lol
The motor doesn't have a lot of mIles on it since it was replaced but all the cork seals were 10+ years old. I ordered all new gaskets for the motor also got new timing gear and chain and harmonic balancer. There was a little slack in the chain.
Replaced all the seals/gaskets and replaced timing gear and chain with a Cloyes gear and chain.. Also painted the block and other pieces. I took the valve cover off and polished it then put a coat of clear coat on it...
Got most parts back on the motor and got new motor mounts...
And before any one asks yes my tub is setting on pallets..In one of my rare moments of Silver Bullet brilliance I took some funiture dolleys I had laying around and screwed them to some pallets i had laying around...that way one person could move the tub around the garage..:beerme:
Hey Scrit. Awesome build. I have no experience with the 4.2, but I just read somewhere that the flywheel on the 4.2 is slightly curved or convex. the guy who wrote it,(can't remember the post), said that he had problems when he resurfaced the flywheel. I have no idea if this is true or not, just thought I'd pass it on. Keep up the great work!
While I wait for my Clifford kit to arrive I went and and swapped the the bellhousing and other odds and ends so I could run a external clutch slave. Over 26 years it had been replaced 5 times. The slave letting go was the reason my brother finally retired it from farm use and how I ended up with it...guess I shouldn't complain too much...lol
The tranny was already out so the hardest part was already over...set it on some saw horses and secured with a cherry picker...I hate working on the floor...it was pretty striaght forward remove bellhousing, plate, replace with new...cleaned up the tranny and transfer case and gave them a fresh coat of paint.
Got my SWAG drop tailgate kit and took it and my grill to be Linexed. Not sure what I am going to do about the headlight bezzels...I went ahead and put them back in for now...also going to get the white signal lights with amber bulbs...
Started stripping the tub, doors and fenders for paint. I am doing as much disassembly and body work as possible and then I will have a local jeep shop paint it. Also managed to get the engine mounted back in. The old pilot bearing was shot a lot of fun to get out...lol
Great job!! I can't wait to see further progress. Have you decided on a color yet? I hope to get back on my YJ this winter. I can't wait to start turning wrenches again.
Got my new intake and header bolted on. Still waiting on my weber 38. Also got some pics from my bodyman...need to get this thing back together so I can set the tub back on.:beerme:
Got the clutch and tranny installed...went with a centerforce stage 2. Learned something interesting while I had the tranny out...I have the original Ax15 that came with the jeep..Its stuck in gear...eventually I will rebuild it...I have a mid 90s model AX15 in now...the input shafts are different diameters and therefore require different pilot bearings. The earlier AX15 have a smaller input shaft diameter. Also got my Weber 38 and got it installed. My throttle linkage is going to be interesting to figure out...The original linkage bolted to the intake manifold. My new Clifford intake has no bosses for the linkage bracket...looks like I will have to fab up something when I set the tub on...
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