Getting a direction on this new project...

[CJHoss]

Hey guys, I'm brand new to this forum and to the Jeep CJ. All of my experience has been with my 01 XJ, I know that Jeep inside and out. But now I am wanting to tackle an 84 CJ7 Laredo and get her back up and running again. This is not my Jeep yet, I am fixing it up for the owner, my uncle, which lord knows what the heck he will do with it after that. Now I picked up this truck when it had been sitting in a car port for the past, oh say 8-5 years maybe? It was still running pretty good and very drivable and in great condition when the owner stopped driving it. He claimed it was "unsafe" to drive around in. Guess he was scaredy cat to the open body type and that it was not too gas-effiecient. In any case though, I've taken this thing home and stripped the interior to inspect the floor and all of that (but really I'm pretty sure I did it just for fun). And then removed the pan and the rear bearing saddle to find it pretty worn down. So now I'm not sure where to go though, where to start from this point. I'm sort of fighting with myself about taking the engine out and rebuilding that, because I know the main bearings are all pretty much shot. The only thing is my uncle just wants to get it running I'm sure, and as fast as possible. So I've had people tell me that they have had cars lyin out in fields for years and they just put new fluids in it, cranked the starter a couple of times with the coils disconnected, and then tried to fire it up and it started just like that. Now I don't know if this would really work or not, I have my doubts and all. Now I would remove the engine in a heartbeat and rebuild the whole thing, if only I had the tools, and the time my uncle is expecting it to be a fast fix up, but I don't think It will be any of the sort of what he is expecting. So right, to the questions of the thread:
1) Where should I start, in order of parts of the drivetrain and then to the body.
2) Would you guys recomend:
a) Taking the time to Rebuild this thing from the frame up, or..
b) are these pretty rugged old trucks that'll start up and run fine with a few fixes?

 

[Jimbos76cj]

you got quite the delema.. My motor had 2 cylinders full of water and pistons were rotted in place. I was able to pull my top end, soak here with various fluids, clean the cylinder walls with emory cloth then fire her right up.. runs like a top.

However if you think the bearings are shot thats a different animal.

If it were mine to keep I would atleast pull the motor and replace the bearings. if I were trying to get it running to dump it off I would

#1 pull the plugs
#2 turn the motor over by hand (socket on the big balancer bolt and long handled ratchet) a few times.. if its hard or really hard to turn the motor is shot. If it turns over relatively easy I would
#3 drop the gas tank and drain all the bad gas. with the lines removed from the tank shoot some compressed air from the motor side back to the tank area to clear out any . refill tank and replace. change the fuel filter
#4 Check rotor, cap, plugs and wires..
#5 Keep one plug out and ground it while some one cranks the motor over. If you get spark replace it and spray some started fluid down the carb while some one is cranking it. It will take a few minutes to get fuel from the tanks back to the carb. If you get no spark let us know because that is some one else cup of tea.

Hopefully the electronics are good and it will run for ya with out knocking on the bottom end. you may also need to rebuild the carb.

You can waste your time redoing the body but if the motor and Transmission are no good it might not be worth the time. If you were keeping here for yourself then I would polish it like a penny!

 

[CJ]

Why do you believe the main bearings are shot? The AMC 258 i6 / 4.2l has one of the most bullet proof lower ends of any I6 ever produced...

Lust curious.

 

[CJHoss]

Rolled out the CJ yesterday left it in neutral and tried to turn the engine over, first by the blancer at the front, then by the flywheel, niether would budge. Does this mean the engine is pretty much locked up?
The bearings I took out awhile ago to look at, well, actually just one bearing, the main rear. This is what it looks like:

As you can see, the overlay is almost gone, worn down to the copper underneath, and there are pieces of dirt embeded in it and what not. This would indicate a lack of oil while running, and not frequent oil changes, correct me if I'm wrong.
I've shown this to two mechanics and they both said if this one was like this they all needed to be replaced.

 

[Old Dog]

I agree, I'd change them and see how the rest of the engine looked.