The Little Red Wagon...

petej · Jun 10, 2015

Well, Lets get this started shall we?

The build theme: Overland Adventure vehicle.

Victim, errr... Vehicle:
1996
Jeep XJ
4 oh
Auto
NP231

Purchased November 2014
Bone stock.

Beginning of the build.

After a couple days 4 Wheel parts I brought her home.

I have a bad bearing in the T-Case (I knew about this already) and will be tossing in an SYE and driveline with the rebuild. She's a little rumbly in the belly area.

I have a Rear bumper W/ tire carrier, Borla Exhaust and a Hilift as well that I will be installing. All will get done here soon.

petej · Jun 20, 2015

Brought her home yesterday from the T-case rebuild and SYE install.

Gut wrenching noises and heavy vibes brought me to the decision of a full rebuild of the T-case. After discovering the horrid noises were a mis-installed shift fork (Which did send some metal through the case) from the previous owner. I had the case rebuilt as the SYE was being installed, just for peace of mind.

SO much better now!

I do have a little noise from the Transmission though.

Most noticeably on Decel from 35mph to 25mph. Audible, with a little vibration once in a great while. :eeek:

For now, AAA is on standby and I'm going to enjoy her while I can!

I have a 600 mile roadtrip this coming week, we'll see if she makes it. :corn:

junkyard jim · Jun 28, 2015

That sounds more like a bad pinion bearing on a D35.

WA-Wheeler · Jun 28, 2015

junkyard jim said:
That sounds more like a bad pinion bearing on a D35.

Looks like its an 8 1/4

petej · Jun 29, 2015

junkyard jim said:
That sounds more like a bad pinion bearing on a D35.

D35: that phrase is evil.

WA-Wheeler said:
Looks like its an 8 1/4

I do have an 8.25" under this one. :stirpot:

It's do for some major service. I'm not sure how this thing was used in it's life, but I did find a bunch of straw under the trim panels out back.... :eeek:

junkyard jim · Jun 30, 2015

How old are the Ujoints? (my current non-C clip D35 has 250,000+ on it and I have a D30 non-vac front and 8.25 rear to go in with 4.10s from a '97 XJ with only 70K from a 4 cyl rig)

petej · Jul 4, 2015

The d30 axle joints looked to be factory original with 200k on them.

petej · Jul 5, 2015

Fourth of July was spent on the family farm in Logsden Oregon.

Gorgeous out here.

Got some fishing in with my kiddos.

Where's the Beef?

petej · Jul 12, 2015

Today was Light bulb day. I've been watching bulbs die for a few months, so now is the time to remedy that.....

All the dash and cluster bulbs got changed. I found quite a number that were good, but the inside of the glass was blackened, those got changed too.

I also pulled the console and thoroughly scrubbed it in the sink. Talk about gross!

uke:

petej · Aug 1, 2015

Haven't decided on Front Bumper yet, but got a few more things out of the way today.

Picked up a tool set for mobile use (300 piece, because anything less is a waste on this vehicle), and a large storage tote (to replace the crappy small clear one) for hauling tools and fluids around. The tote is strapped to the cargo tie downs in the floor.

Ordered some Floor liners from 4 wheel parts and am waiting for them to come in. While I was out I picked up a Jerry Can, Tire cover and Tire chocks and got them mounted in their homes in the tire carrier.

Glenn · Aug 1, 2015

Have you ever thought of getting your windows tinted?

petej · Aug 5, 2015

Glenn said:
Have you ever thought of getting your windows tinted?

Happening soon.

Along with an alarm.

zukkev · Aug 5, 2015

I hate tinting on the driver/passenger windows...but I can agree on the rear 3 windows...

petej · Aug 5, 2015

The front windows will be lighter tint than the rear. More like a factory tint level up front. The rear may be limo dark, keeps the prying eyes away.

NOISYBOY · Aug 6, 2015

petej said:
The front windows will be lighter tint than the rear. More like a factory tint level up front. The rear may be limo dark, keeps the prying eyes away.

Idk about the limo dark on the back 3. if you do any wheeling at night you will hate it

petej · Aug 7, 2015

Not limo dark. My coworker has an xj that is limo dark. Not optimal.

Glenn · Aug 7, 2015

zukkev said:
I hate tinting on the driver/passenger windows...but I can agree on the rear 3 windows...

Why be a hater? I have legal tint on my driver and passenger windows and it blocks out a lot of the heat.

petej · Aug 7, 2015

Glenn said:
Why be a hater? I have legal tint on my driver and passenger windows and it blocks out a lot of the heat.

Going to the legal limit. After sitting in my coworkers vehicle... Limo is far too dark! More like "Did he put cardboard on those?"

junkyard jim · Aug 8, 2015

Or the cop's first thought "Is there a tweaker in there pointing a gun at me?"

petej · Aug 14, 2015

Boneyard haul today.

Little stuff like a Rear wiper motor, Pigtails for the Rear door dome light switches (it never had rear light switches), a replacement Console lid to replace the cracked one.

I bought new door jamb switches from my locals parts house as there are a one and done type of deal. They set their final shaft length when the door is shut for the first time.

The rear door light switch pigtails are unobtainium around here. The two Jeeps in my local boneyard didn't have them at all. Granted, the '87 that was there uses the old school GM jamb switch that grounds to the body, where is the newer one uses an isolated switch with a power and a ground wire to the switch. So I stole the front door switch pigtails from each side.

I had to modify the front switch pigtails to work with the rear, which involved cutting off the giant front harness plugs, removing the grommet and using some wire connectors for the driver side where I had the length in the body harness to make it work. The Passenger side... well, that I had to get creative, because I had NO extra wire length and could barely pull the connector out far enough to even look at it, so, after robbing the female terminal from the CHMSL which is no longer used (that plug fits the body side harness male plug for the dome light), getting all the wires joined up, plugged it in and viola! Lights when the rear doors are open!

I could have used the body side plug on the driver side as well, but it looks like somewhere in this things life, someone shut the plug in the door, crushing it.

The console cover needed a good scrubbing, but looks really good, minus a few scratches.

The rear wiper motor was a bolt on affair, no frills and thrills there.

The alarm is now fully informed on the vehicle status, the console now looks 100 times better, and I have a working rear wiper!

I wish I had taken a picture of the XJ I got the parts from. She was wrecked HARD on the driver front corner, airbag popped, column collapsed, wrinkled from front to rear.

I'll be going back to the bone yard later this week for the inner hatch trim panel, the hatch struts (Which were brand new) and some other little pieces just to have around.