Build Thread Goin Postal

[mtnwhlr]

You are right it looks very cool. I hope you get all the bugs worked out.

 

[bjkttr]

I love these postal jeep projects.

 

[gliryan]

I love these postal jeep projects.

Thanks. They are fun!

chopped fenders, replaced oil sensor, and checked for fender clearance in yard. I still have an issue with the idle. It'll idle just fine, then it seems like the idle controller closes and it kills the motor or barely stays running and then jumps the idle way up. Ideas?

 

[Les]

My neighbor has one of these old postal Jeeps for sale and I have been considering buying it for a project, but I'm watching and waiting to see how your project works out......so far, it looks very nice!

 

[gliryan]

My neighbor has one of these old postal Jeeps for sale and I have been considering buying it for a project, but I'm watching and waiting to see how your project works out......so far, it looks very nice!

They are very fun! Go for it!


Got it on the road today, two things to say about that, DEATH WOBBLE. I have no speedo, but it happens near 30. I got it back home to check everything out. Everything is tight, the only movement up there is in the shackles. They flex some side to side when turning the wheels. I noticed a little gap between the shackles and the bushings up top. So I took them out and ground down the metal insert so the shackles would tighten more on the bushings themselves. Haven't checked to see the results yet. If death wobble still exists I'm going to pop the beads and dump half a pound of BB's in them to try and balance the tires. I'm guessing thats a big part of the problem.

Today I mounted the rear brake line on the axle, modified my Transmission crossmember so that the front dshaft would stop hitting it, put on an air filter, and attempted to get the cooling system working (seems like it is now). The idle issue is the idle controller. I unplugged it and am manually adjusting the idle now. Works better than the controller was lol. Need a new one...

Super awesome Spectre air duct. Honestly it worked out perfectly and I'm happy they put out such a ricer product

 

[Dougget]

I tried to dynamically balance my tires (2000 TJ) with airsoft bb's to fix my death wobble. It did not work. I belive that you need to start off with balanced tires, not count on them self balancing as you begin to roll.
Doug

 

[gliryan]

Seemed to help at least some, putting the bb's in.

Good news! So far at least, the thing is back to working. Drove it around for about 15 minutes and didn't get full on death wobble. But when going around a sweeping corner I hit a rough spot on the road and I could feel it starting to get into the DW. I slowed down so it would stop and it did. Got some good looks and "nice jeep!" cat calls. Also replaced the plugs and wires to make sure no stone was left unturned, and its good. Missfires a little at idle, and hunts for an idle sometimes, but otherwise is really good. Doesn't seem to want to overheat either, it is like 50 degrees out though.

rear is stuffed up all the way, shock is stopping it from going up more. front seems to have another 1" or 2" of up travel.

 

[Petescj]

I love what youve done with this. It looks great with the paint scheme as well.

 

[mtnwhlr]

I love what youve done with this. It looks great with the paint scheme as well.

I showed the pics to my wife and the first thing she said is that looks like a mail Jeep and I said yea for mail in Alaska

 

[gliryan]

I showed the pics to my wife and the first thing she said is that looks like a mail Jeep and I said yea for mail in Alaska

Thanks guys! I'm really happy I was able to finally get this this working. I didn't get out today, but I'm going to try and get out soon… I've had it up to 30 mph a few times now, no death wobble apparent yet (as long as I'm not getting into any real rough sections).

 

[TroyaCantrell]

Great looking ride, love the postal look.

 

[gliryan]

Thanks!

Today I took the jeep on its maiden voyage. It worked very well! Minus the slow shifting from the T-18 . I put on at least 15 miles and hit 50 mph. It wasn't even scary at 50, which I was happy about. The bumpy road I went down sucked though, the roof is very loud on this thing. A couple of times I felt a little bit of death wobble, but it went away and didn't effect driving at all above 30.

 

[PetesPonies]

this I don't get . . . . .

 

[McFlannelman]

Freaking awesome dude... love it!

 

[gliryan]

Freaking awesome dude... love it!

Thanks! It was freezing and windy today, so I didn't take it out like I had hoped for… Probably will take it to school in the late morning though as its only a couple slow miles.

this I don't get . . . . .

I'm not entirely sure whats not to get…I'm building a wheeling rig and wanted to check clearance of things when articulating, and to see how well the suspension works… 33" of tire is about the easiest way in your driveway to get to check this
sure go ahead and call it a poser shot, whatever, it suits the purpose fine for what I needed.

 

[plumbstraight]

Just stopped by and saw the post as I Am new to this forum. What a nice build.
When my son became eligable to drive I spotted a postal jeep, been a while ago, about 92. 600 for it and I drove it home for him. Didn't want him on hte freeway in something so short.
As we live in more or less a rural setting 45 is about as fast as we go around here. I told him there would be no passing as it was righthand steering. He agreed and it was great transportation for him and his gal. One kid was doing an essay and named the jeep oliver and it stuck.
When he went to a campout with the scouts my wife and I repainted it from the postal colors to maroon and gray, school colors and as we are the Bulldogs, I came up with the mack bulldog for the hood and shifter.
It sits now and won't be long before the gsons are parading their gals in it.

 

[plumbstraight]

Was thinking about your death wobble. You might consider putting on a shock absorber on the tierod. I think the spacers you mentioned earlier for widening the wheel track might be the cause as the wheels aren't centered vertically on the kingpins. With them a bit outside a bump would want to push that side back and the flexing of your steering system is causing it to chatter.

I am probably way off, just a thought

 

[gliryan]

Awesome story about your postal! Very cool!

On the death wobble it's pretty much gone. I've had the jeep up to 50 mph and got nothing. I don't remember if I said it, but when I popped the beads to dump air soft bb's for dynamic balancing, I found a full size pair of linesman pliers inside a tire!!!!! No wonder that one was unbalanced, and probably causing a majority of my death wobble. I felt a little wobble today though, I was braking coming up to a stop sign and the road was pretty rough. Started to feel some sort of a shake, not sure exactly what it was though.

I drove this around today, maybe 10 or 15 miles. The stupid thing when warming up starts to run like butt. I made it 2 miles, my first destination, and it started missing really bad again. I was there for 10 or 15 minutes and when I returned it was totally fine, and fine for the rest of my trip. It did however start to overheat I don't think either my fan setup or radiator is big enough. Tooling through town it slowly made its way up past 210 degrees, and then up to 220 by the time I got home. Idk, I'll probably spend $100 on a good powerful pusher fan.

 

[plumbstraight]

Line pliers, now that is a find.

As I am going to put a 350 chev in mine and of course a larger radiator, was just wondering if the electric fan is the way to go. Building a shroud might be a challenge.