Build Thread 78 CJ5 Farm Find

[jpeck71]

Went to clean up the sealing surfaces of the differential cover with brake cleaner. Found out what brake cleaner does to spray paint, especially when it hasn't been cured yet. So now I'm repainting the differential cover.

Got the inner and outer hub bearing races seated in the hub. Should be able to grease up the bearings tomorrow.

 

[jpeck71]

Excited to make some progress. Got the spindles all cleaned up, regreased and the seals and washers replaced. Spindles went on the knuckles, followed by the caliper bracket and the dust shields.






Now its ready for locktite (blue) I guess and tighten those bolts down.

Repainted the differential cover, and this time I won't be spraying brake cleaner anywhere. Wanted to use different paint since I wasn't sure how much of the blue I had left.



Tomorrow will be the bolts on the brake bracket and packing the hub bearings with grease.

 

[jpeck71]

Got the rotors and hubs put on. Had to do passenger side multiple times since I had rubbing issues with the brake dust shield. Had to cut this off. It was the outer lip of the inner ring on the dust shield. Must have been rubbing on the inside of the rotor.



Here's the finished rotor set:



I thought I could get away with just bleeding the fronts since the rears weren't working before all this, but decided I should at least look into them. I did attempt to bleed the fronts manually with the help of my son. We worked on it for a while as I figured out what I was doing.

I was also trying to get away with not bench bleeding the master cylinder, in spite of what I've read. Tonight I bought a bleed kit with the right fittings and tubes. When I finish up with looking into the rear brakes I'll use it on the master.

Here's the rear brakes as they stand now. I'm going to be trying to figure out what needs replaced to make them work. The rear portion of the MC was empty, so I'm guessing the wet spot on the passenger drums is from a leaking brake cylinder.

Passenger:











Driver's side:

 

[mtnwhlr]

You have to bench bleed the Master or you will never get them to work right. IMO don't cut corners it will just cost you more time and aggravation in the long run.

 

[jpeck71]

Yep. Came to that conclusion myself.

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[jpeck71]

Rear wheel cylinders got replaced. All parts got put back together. I think both cylinders were defective and needed replaced. Once everything was reconnected I started working on bench bleeding the MC. Got the fittings and tubing to do it attached to the Jeep. Found that air was bubbling up from the back of the MC. I think air is getting in on every pump of the brakes. I've got a MC on order and should have it in a few days.

In the meantime I started it up to make sure it runs still and tried to put the new timing light on it so I could set it right rather than guess based on sound. Once I got everything hooked up and ready to go I started having problems with keeping it running. It would die unexpectedly. Eventually I had a problem getting it started even with shooting starting fluid into the carb.

Now I've got to start going down the path of determining if its fuel or spark. I ran out of time today to do the diagnosis but I intend on doing that tomorrow night. I'll pull a plug and see if I get spark out of it during cranking. If that is good then I'll hook up a fuel pressure gauge and see if it gets fuel pressure. I know it could be a plugged fuel filter so I guess I'll get one. It looks like an older fuel pump so I suppose it could have gone bad on me when it ran out of gas.

This has been quite an experience so far this year. Can't wait to get it running and on the road again.

 

[mtnwhlr]

Rear wheel cylinders got replaced. All parts got put back together. I think both cylinders were defective and needed replaced. Once everything was reconnected I started working on bench bleeding the MC. Got the fittings and tubing to do it attached to the Jeep. Found that air was bubbling up from the back of the MC. I think air is getting in on every pump of the brakes. I've got a MC on order and should have it in a few days.

Reading this I don't think you understand the meaning of bench bleeding a master cylinder. You want to put it in a vise and bleed it before you install it on your Jeep. Hope this helps you.

 

[jpeck71]

I understand the procedure but I've never removed the cylinder from the Jeep. I disconnected the brake lines from the MC and put the hoses on that run up to the MC reservoir. I assumed that the air was getting into the system from outside but after watching a few videos perhaps I just need to keep pumping longer.

There's nothing magical about using a screwdriver with it attached to a bench vise is there?

 

[mtnwhlr]

Hey it's all magic with a Jeep No but the way you did it should be fine I didn't understand what you were saying.

 

[jpeck71]

Good. I thought I was on the right track. I just couldn't imagine that it would have that much air. I think I'll give the one I've got another try with more time on the bleeding.

 

[jpeck71]

Getting so close to back to running!

Ok, checked for spark and there was none. Went through the diagnosis section of the service manual and traced it down to a faulty Ignition control module. Go figure! Got that replaced and the dang thing started right up! After doing the diagnosis I decided that there are way too many extra wires that are just taped up and left hanging. Once it's running again I'm going to spend some time unwrapping wires and figuring out what is necessary and what I can remove from the engine bay and try and clean it up a bit. Maybe even use the appropriate connectors rather than 110V wire nuts.

Spent some more time trying to bleed the master cylinder and after sitting there pumping for nearly 30 minutes I gave up and checked inside the tub where the plunger attaches to the pedal and sure enough it was dripping brake fluid. Back to my original plan of replacing the MC. That's going on tonight or tomorrow morning.

I'm hoping I can have everything replaced and the system bled in time to catch the 70 degree weather we're supposed to have tomorrow.

 

[whodathunkit]

How tough was it to replace that rear main seal? Can it be done without pulling the engine?

 

[Petescj]

How tough was it to replace that rear main seal? Can it be done without pulling the engine?

Its pretty easy. No pulling motors or the Transmission . Read this thread:


http://www.jeep-cj.com/forums/f2/rear-main-seal-help-21871/?highlight=rear+main+seal

 

[jpeck71]

New master cylinder got replaced. Bench bled it and got it on. Had some issues bleeding the lines. One was plugged or at the very least restricted. Got all of them to where they had fluid flowing.

Took it for a slow speed test drive and they at least worked. Decided that it either had a leak or air trapped somewhere. Went back today and found some loose fittings at the proportioning valve. Tightened them up and the brake feel is much better. I'll keep working on it checking all the lines and give the bleeding another try once I'm sure that all the fittings are tight. Probably have to check the adjustment of the rear brakes to make sure they are positioned right to make contact with the drums.

Also went around and attempted to tighten the body mount bolts. The PO had drilled through and put new bolts in. One is at a weird angle and not accessible unless the seat is removed. The other is a carriage bolt making it difficult to tighten. Most of them are tighter at least. I will likely at some point replace those two oddball ones.

Once I get the brakes squared away I'll move on to a rear seat so that I can pick my son and a friend up from ball practice or church.

The best part is it is back on the road.

 

[Saddle Tramp]

Oak Leaf Brown, that's what color mine is, yours looks close, I like it

Elwood- The book says the brown 1978 CJ paint color and code should be 7B, Mocha Brown Metallic.

It is a Golden Eagle body color. The Golden Eagles also came with both a clock that either didn’t work for long or drained down the battery or both, and a tac.

 

[Petescj]

The best part is it is back on the road.

That feels good doesnt it?

 

[jpeck71]

That feels good doesnt it?

It absolutely does. Especially after getting better brake feel yesterday. Made it feel like all the work over the winter was worth it.

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[jpeck71]

It is a Golden Eagle body color. The Golden Eagles also came with both a clock that either didn’t work for long or drained down the battery or both, and a tac.

Just checked the paint code and it's 7E so I guess originally it was Oak leaf brown. I have the broken clock and tach and some speculation from the PO that it was a GE. It has been repainted so i guess they used a similar color to the original.


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[jpeck71]

So I've been driving it around this week and the brakes are great! Nice to know I can actually stop.

I actually got a chance to hook my timing light up last night and get some readings and try adjusting it. I determined that I need to actually determine where TDC is on my engine and see if everything is still lined up correctly, at least for my own knowledge. I tried setting it up at 8* at idle and while it started well and idled well it had terrible power and lots of issues on acceleration.

I also decided that my next step was to do a carb rebuild since it's pretty cheap and unknown when the last time that was done.

One thing I'm considering doing as well is to replace the Transmission mount and bushings. I was looking at them and the last time I looked at them they looked pretty bad and those are pretty cheap as well. From the instructions and steps I've seen it looks like this can be done by just jacking up the Transmission and dropping the skid plate. I'll look into it a bit more to make sure. I think I've got a Transmission rebuild in my future but I'm trying to put it off and I'm thinking it might be a good idea to get the Transmission I do have supported well before I start driving it a bunch over the summer.

 

[jpeck71]

I got my back seat in last week and got it put up on the Jeep over the weekend. I found that the rear had been repaired at some point and I had 2 layers of steel to drill through. Because of this the room I have in the rear was narrowed a little bit. I ended up having a friend fabricate the bracket for the fold and tumble rear seat. Picked it up yesterday and got it installed last night and I think it's going to work. Also got the seat belts installed last night.

Here's the finished work on the seat.




And here's the bracket we made. A PO put carpet on the rear fender walls that I cut away. Not sure what I'm going to do going forward with that.




I also have been looking around underneath and doing a lot of reading on here and noticed something with my front springs. I'm pretty sure that a PO put the wrong spring bushings on the frame end of the front spring. I've got a large gap between the spring and the bushing shoulder. It'll have to go on my list of things to work on.




Next on my list I think is to rebuild the carb. I have the rebuild kit already and just have to clear the time and space in the garage. I've accumulated a lot of tools and stuff that needs to be put away so I can work on the next step.

I have to say I've learned a ton just spending time reading through posts on here and comparing mine to pictures I find. Love having access to sites like this.