Build Thread 1986 CJ7 Rebuild - Chasing my youth

[gert]

Thanks Gert, your build has had me sucked in for hours!

Let’s go buy some stuff!

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Freaking sweet I love buying stuff.... my wallet not so much lol


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[mtnwhlr]

Freaking sweet I love buying stuff.... my wallet not so much lol

Me it's Freaking sweet I love buying stuff... my wife not so much

 

[Scout1067]

Me it's Freaking sweet I love buying stuff... my wife not so much

Yep, this right here!!

 

[Masscj7]

A wise man once told me, you must have an offshore account.


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[gert]

A wise man once told me, you must have an offshore account.


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I keep draining mine every time it has enough in it for Jeep parts


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[Belizean]

I keep draining mine every time it has enough in it for Jeep parts


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Man if only I could get a piece of that power ball, I could do some damage in the jeep market.

 

[gert]

Man if only I could get a piece of that power ball, I could do some damage in the jeep market.

Lol I was trying to get a piece of that power ball to


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[Masscj7]

No powerball winnings here, but I’ll still say this was a score. Scrapped a hood, two front fenders and all sort of miscellaneous scrap and for a whopping $18.



But big Craigslist score for $40, and with the scrap we won at a total cash outlay of $22!!




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[Masscj7]

So didn’t get done as much as I wanted again over the weekend. I really thought I could get all my leaves painted in one shot. But no chance. Between losing the filter for my spray gun, fighting the wind, and twisting and moving leaves, I only got about 2/3rds done. Trying to shoot the tops, edges, and especially the bottoms took lots of time. And this top coat takes forever to dry.

Getting good at hanging paint art! Not as classy as Shum hanging them on his front porch, but don’t have to duck the wife doing that.



Hoping that with 65 degree temps this weekend I can get the rest finished and assembled


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[Masscj7]

So I got quite a bit done this weekend. Saturday got the rest of leaves painted. Even with the warm weather, this Imron takes 72 hours to fully cure. But man, when it’s cured, it’s hard. This was 5 min or so with a 80grit on my air DA. This one fell off the hanging hook and collected a bunch of debris in the paint. So knocked it down and repainted it.



I also got my ‘20’ broken down. I tried a 3 jaw puller from the auto parts store to pull the hubs and no chance. So I pulled them by the backer plates and then had my buddy torch the rear bearings. From there they went into the press and holy these are loud and basically explode when they let go.



My first Homer Simpson Doh of the weekend was to put my old rotors in the scrap bin before pulling the studs.! So I figured since I’m upgrading to 1 piece axles, I’ll rob the ones from the rear hubs. Again more press explosions when they let go!



Then it was time to press the pinion out and then a good cleaning.

I think I may have the housing gusseted. Anyone have any pics of their gusset jobs?


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[Belizean]

I would if I had my whole axel out. There is a company down the road that sells one they make as a kit.

 

[Masscj7]

So most everything has finally cured. Only the rear axle housing and some misc small things to shoot.



So that felt good. So now for the step back. Figured tonight I’d do some easy stuff, put the u joints in the front axle shafts. Diff side went in pretty smooth. Little tight, but in and clipped. Go to put the other ends into the spindle side of the axle shaft, not a chance of these things fitting! Off by at least an 1/8”. I’ve done these several times in drive shafts and at least once on my old CJ7 on the axle shafts, but what gives?

Is it these Crown branded Spicer joints? Any ninja tricks? Really bummed, was excited to start putting fresh new parts in.


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[Masscj7]

So tonight was a productive one. First I got my $40 air compressor running finally. It was running when I bought it, but had a spliced extension cord in place of original proper cable as well as it really needed a new pressure switch. So picked up both online and replaced over the weekend. And of course kept popping my breaker. Couldn’t for life of me figure out till my buddy told me to stop thinking 12v DC and think AC. Had my wires crossed on switch.

Junk pressure switch


Then it was on to the axle u joints. Did some digging today and found out that prob my issue with my yoke ears was that my C press bent my ears inward. I did have to crank the heck out of them to get the rusted ones out.



So thinking about how to open the yokes, was running up against nothing with pry bars and my yoke slipping in my vise when I thought about creating a spreader tool. Then I piggybacked off mdeluca’s windshield frame straightening truck with treaded rod. Got myself a grade 8 bolt and bingo!



So with the yokes opened up it was go time! Got all pressed in except one side where I dropped a cap and needle bearings explosion. Grrrrr. Couldn’t find them all, so that’ll have to wait till I get another cap. Drive shaft ones went like butter!




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[Masscj7]

Had a mostly working weekend. Spent most of Friday and Sunday doing yard work as weather was good and it’s that time of year.

But I did get my rear ended back. Got my tubes welded to the housing and got it trussed. Today, good temps and was able to sling some paint on it. I tried to get my new bushings in my leaves and frustratingly I have the wrong size bushings. Pretty upset as I called Pro Comp to get the proper part number before ordering from 4wd Hardware as they didn’t know correct part. The bushings they gave me were 7/8” but my eyelets for my leaves are 1 /16th. Grrrr. Back in the phone Monday.





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[gert]

wow what a brace

 

[Masscj7]

Simple and hopefully effective. Everyone says don’t spend money on the 20, but to not have to cut down, have all same matching wheel lugs, no relocation of perches, add some one piece axles and very minimal investment of $ for the brace and weld the tubes, I don’t expect I’ll ever have to touch it again. If this was going to be a hard core wheeler, then maybe not the best choice.


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[Masscj7]

Wow, a month goes by fast since last post. Went on vacation, started a new job (more hours, but significantly better salary, catch 22, more money for the Jeep, less time to wrench), and biggest had to rip out all the first floor carpet and install hardwoods and new moldings. That took two and half weeks, but had to keep the Mrs happy.

So to have a first evening in the garage in weeks was great. Nothing huge to show except new painted leaves and installed new bushings. And of course now I’m 2nd guessing the 2.5” suspension lift and body lift combo it came with and might just upgrade to a 4” lift.

Hmmm, wonder if there is a market for a freshened up 2.5” lift with all new Ubolts and Currie shackles...

My thorn for last couple weeks.

And my return to evening in the garage!!




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[Masscj7]

Been a good week, old lift sold for what I was asking, new BDS lift with YJ conversion after great feedback from forum members, and my dad and I had a great time getting my low end assembled!



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[gert]

Good looking floors, I love engine work as well best part, are those YJ 2.5 leaf springs?


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[Masscj7]

No, those were CJ springs from Pro Comp. Upgrading to YJ springs for the new BDS lift.

First attempt at a low end. Pretty straight forward and if it holds together, will be ultra rewarding.


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