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Picked up a shitbox!

Kartek and or PolyPerformance should have a spring plate for you if you can’t get one from the company who should have included them. Might have to call to ensure you’re getting the right color / size / options.
 
Opiebennett said:
Kartek and or PolyPerformance should have a spring plate for you if you can’t get one from the company who should have included them. Might have to call to ensure you’re getting the right color / size / options.
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I ended up contacting Fox directly and they are sending me the spring retainer parts for all 4 shocks. Fox said they 100% should have been on the shocks and after I gave the guy the run numbers off the boxes he said they would get some mailed out today!
 
AXLES ARE HERE!
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Heater is installed and hoses routed to engine. I ordered 1.75" hole rubber gromets to slide in the holes I cut in the dash, but they wont be here until monday or tuesday. I have the jeep back on the lift to take the front axle apart and install the chromolly axles, new bearings and ball joints.

Sunday I should be wiring up the heater and prepping everything for the new dash. This coming week is going to be balls to the wall. I am going to prep everything for the coilovers- pre-build the new rear control arms, build the new upper shock towers. That way as soon as I get my springs and spring plates I can try to do all the work really fast.
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DFW Rusty said:
Got the front drive shaft re-installed with new spicer u-joints, filled the trans & Tcase with oil. Test fitted the skid plate last night. I have to open the notch for the drive shaft just a little bit, and it should work out really good, hoping to get it bolted on tonight and get the trans mount mocked up and get the link brackets located tonight so I can build them this weekend.

Also, canceled the King air shocks yesterday. I was already having doubts about 2.0 being strong enough and I did a rought weight calc on my jeep and I am figuring that the jeep will weight about 2,600-2800 #'s with fuel, gear and 2 people. That puts me just over the recommended weight for 2.0 air shocks. I didn't want to spend $500 a shock for air shocks (not to forget that anything King is 4-5 months out) so I found a set of Fox 2.0 x 14" travel coilover shocks.

It has been almost 12 years since I setup a set of coil over shocks from scratch. I am going to have to go back to school on this one. I was googling last night hoping that there was a write up on doing a CJ to help save me some headache, but couldn't find one. If someone knows the base numbers to setup a 2 stage with preload that would be MOST APPRECIATED!
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You're on some good stuff if you think this thing will be under 3k lbs :flipoff2:

Also, that's well within 2.0 air shock range. My buddy ran airshocks on the front of his 4.0 full body 1ton xj and they were great. People told him they would just heat up and blow out in one trip, but he ran them for years, later on a 1 ton YJ and Toyota axle Isuzu. Worked fine, they're not a coil over by any means, but they work just fine for the average trail rig.
 
YotaAtieToo said:
You're on some good stuff if you think this thing will be under 3k lbs :flipoff2:

Also, that's well within 2.0 air shock range. My buddy ran airshocks on the front of his 4.0 full body 1ton xj and they were great. People told him they would just heat up and blow out in one trip, but he ran them for years, later on a 1 ton YJ and Toyota axle Isuzu. Worked fine, they're not a coil over by any means, but they work just fine for the average trail rig.
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I was referring to sprung weight... However looking back I think I was shooting a little low. Probably a little over 3k sprung weight with 2 people and gear. However I'm not good at estimating weights at all... I used to tell people my TJ on rockwells was about 4500-5000 pounds over all until I took it to some scales one day and it weighed 6000 pounds with no one in it...lol :homer:


I agree, I literally have seen full bodied jeeps on 2.0 air shocks doing just fine. However when you start reading the specs on them the weights per corner are stupid low. Like radflo 2.0 air shocks is like 500 per corner or something and the guy on the phone with polyperformance when I originally ordered the shocks told me that king 2.0 are good for about a 2500 lb sprung weight roughly. So it scared me... However, it's all good now cuz I have the coilovers now and hoping to slap very soon!
 
DFW Rusty said:
I was referring to sprung weight... However looking back I think I was shooting a little low. Probably a little over 3k sprung weight with 2 people and gear. However I'm not good at estimating weights at all... I used to tell people my TJ on rockwells was about 4500-5000 pounds over all until I took it to some scales one day and it weighed 6000 pounds with no one in it...lol :homer:


I agree, I literally have seen full bodied jeeps on 2.0 air shocks doing just fine. However when you start reading the specs on them the weights per corner are stupid low. Like radflo 2.0 air shocks is like 500 per corner or something and the guy on the phone with polyperformance when I originally ordered the shocks told me that king 2.0 are good for about a 2500 lb sprung weight roughly. So it scared me... However, it's all good now cuz I have the coilovers now and hoping to slap very soon!
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Only somewhat similar jeep I personally saw weighed was my buddies YJ 258/ax15/klune/205/D60s/40s on steelies/links w/ airshock front coil rear

Caged, no windshield, no winch an no trail gear/parts it was 3800.

So even with a 258 and 205 doubler, he was waaaay below 3k sprung. I think you were closer on the 2500-2600 sprung. It will be easy to see the sprung wieght when you get the c/o's on though.
 
YotaAtieToo said:
Only somewhat similar jeep I personally saw weighed was my buddies YJ 258/ax15/klune/205/D60s/40s on steelies/links w/ airshock front coil rear

Caged, no windshield, no winch an no trail gear/parts it was 3800.

So even with a 258 and 205 doubler, he was waaaay below 3k sprung. I think you were closer on the 2500-2600 sprung. It will be easy to see the sprung wieght when you get the c/o's on though.
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I got ya.... I am excited to get the coilovers on to see where it comes in at.. Hoping for about 8-9" of preload, but will see.
 
Had to work Saturday and Sunday, but still managed to get the front axle done. The driver side ball joints were a bitch (seized in the C on the axle), but with a little heat and a BFH they came out. Wife had me put her grille lights in her bronco, they are cool, but like I told her, give it a couple years and every soccer mom bronco will have the grille lights. Also used her old letters and converted my buddies XJ to a bronco (I cannot wait to see him get pissed over this).

My review of the Revolution Chromoly front axles- I think they need to step up their QC. The short inner shaft didn't have the finish buffing done so it didn't fit through the knuckle, so I had to buff it down with a flappy wheel. Other than that they are pretty nice. Time will tell how they hold up.

On a side/ bonus note- pretty sure the long side that I removed was chromoly or atleast newer. The stub shaft looks newish and black coated and the long shaft looks newer.

Drove my Green CJ5 yesterday because it was an absolutely beautiful day, so I had to pull it in the shop for a pic.
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Doing the wife's bronco-
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Converted an XJ to a bronco- HAHAHA.... :lmao: I know the letters aren't straight, but he is gonna rip the shit off as soon as he sees it.
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Passenger-short side, after my in house machining with a flappy wheel.

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Looky looky..... Just need my flipping spring retainers to get here from fox and I can put these bitches together!
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Got the dash in and fullly hooked up with the heater vents ducted and everything. I am very very happy with the way it turned out. I purposely used a junky old piece of metal for the dash so it kinda matches the jeeps beat up look.

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Last night took the jeep out cruising dirt roads and pastures as a shakedown for it's maiden wheeling voyage coming up and a couple things seemed to plague the jeep.

I knew it when I bought the jeep but ignored it until last night. The starter is either worn out or is just a piece of shit. Got a new one ordered from autozone.

Alternator seems week, autozone claimed they could have me a 100a single wire at the counter for pickup today.

The jeep has a 50a circuit breaker w/ reset that popped twice last night. Talking with a couple buddies, they believe that I have just enough electrical on the jeep that I need a 150a. Got that on order.

Otherwise, the jeep is awesome, feels tight, drove really good. The EFI seems to really have brought the 304 to life!
 
Picked up the alternator and starter from autozone and the starter 1000% helped the jeep, however all though I told autozone that I needed a 1 wire they sold me a 3 wire. I ended up having to make a trip to Summit racing sunday to get the right alternator.

Saturday evening was just not my day. Along with the alternator not working I had the dumbest fucking freak accident happen that cost me $300. I was drilling the hood and grille for the hood pins with a 1/2" drill bit. Apparently the bit was cracked or something because as the drill bit punched through the last piece of metal on my grille the tip exploded (didn't even bind). It splintered the drill bit and blew holes in my radiator. FAWK.... Called every auto shop local to me and only one had a radiator and it was almost $500 for a OEM style radiator :eek:. I got on summit racing and found a Frost bite all aluminum 3 core radiator for a CJ for $338 in stock in Arlington (god bless summit racing). At that point I decided to buy the alternator from them as well, got a PowerMaster 100 amp single wire.

Got everything on the jeep Sunday and it's pretty well ready to go. It is sitting on the trailer here at work right now waiting to go to the muffler shop in about 1 hour.

I alsot got the back hoop on the jeep to help protect the fuel cell... It's kind of... meh, but it will work if I back into a tree/ rock or roll over.

Couple small things to do to it tonight and it should be 100% ready for our trip this weekend.

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Like I said, it's meh.... but it will work.... I don't know if it's permeant yet, but I had to do something for this weekend. It's been almost 7 years since I used the tube bender, but did one test bend and after that is was kind of like riding a bike again.
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YotaAtieToo said:
Learn how to tie your shit down man... :homer:
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I have axle straps and 99% of the time I put one on each corner. However, that evening before I didn't have any of my personal straps, just the 2. Made due for the trip to the muffler shop.
 
The first wheeling trip in the jeep didn't go 100% as planned at all.....

Fuel pump under the hood kept fucking up. It would work as long as the jeep was running and the fuel kept the pump cool. As soon as the jeep was off for a min or 2 it would heat soak the pump and not work worth a shit. I bought a oreilly auto 95psi fuel pump hoping maybe it was a faulty pump but it was not, it did the same thing.

The 1 trail I did in the jeep it did handle it great (until the fuel issues). So far, I've only got one pic from the trip, hoping maybe someone got a pic of me on the rock gardent....

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Kinda not been monkeying with the jeep lately... However, fixing to get back on it with installing the coilovers in the next few weeks and other little doodads... like install the back seat, install my smittybilt winch off of my other jeep onto this one.

I NEED A LITTLE HELP PLZ!

Over the weekend I was cruising around with some friends in their jeeps and during that time it kept getting a little warmer than I like, temp was running in the mid 215 to 220 range.... Which isn't terrible, but not great. I decided to install a new single 16" 3000 CFM fan from Summit and drop in a 195 thermostat. Finished everything Tuesday night, took it for a test drive and it ran right at 195 for over an hour of cruising... Was very happy. Then when I pulled the jeep in the shop I smelled coolant, popped the hood and the thermostat was leaking. Now gets to the bullshit... I've installed tons of thermostats on vehicles and never had my ass kicked like this before! I've removed and installed 3 differnt thermostats, and 4 different gasket orientations.

1st- paper gasket only. Held for about an hour and then blew.
2nd- paper gasket with red RTV on both sides. blew almost immediately.
3rd- paper gasket with black gasket maker. lasted about an hour.
4th- black gasket maker only and it lasted about 2 hours and the next time I fired the jeep it blew out the gasket.

Tonight I am going to sand the engine side and the housing faces and see if there is a burr somewhere. It feels smooth to the touch, but there has to be something I'm doing wrong. I also replaced the bolts with new ones during this. This has become a major pain in the dick!

If someone knows some shade tree mechanic trick, let me know... PLZ!
 
You're probably getting the thermostat caught up in between the housing and block or something dumb like that.
 
Is the water pump weeping at all?
Ive also seen radiator caps stick and over pressurize. Pretty quick and simple to swap another cap
 
Coat a paper gasket on both sides with "The Right Stuff" Black and put it back together. I guarantee you the gasket will not blow out again unless something is seriously warped.

Head gasket isn't bad, is it?
 
SLOWPOKE693 said:
Coat a paper gasket on both sides with "The Right Stuff" Black and put it back together. I guarantee you the gasket will not blow out again unless something is seriously warped.

Head gasket isn't bad, is it?
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I will try that this evening. I'm going to buff the surfaces really well first, I am starting to think that may be a contributing factor that the surface is not perfect.

I'm going to say no, the head gasket is not bad. When it starts leaking it's leaking right out the front of the thermostat housing.
 
arse_sidewards said:
You're probably getting the thermostat caught up in between the housing and block or something dumb like that.
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That is what I keep feeling like I'm doing to be honest, but when I pull it all apart the gasket is sitting exactly where it is supposed to be.
 
Ordered a new thermostat housing. Inspected it really close last night and it looks like it's leaking from the top side of the gasket where the thermostat housing is making contact with the gasket.

I was visiting with an old jeeper guy over the weekend and he told me that there is a 3.0:1 kit for the dana 20 t-case. He said back in the day they wre like 500-600 bucks and were really great. I did a quick math equation and that would put with a crawl ratio of 95:1 which is almost perfect! This would be the absolute best budget setup for now in this jeep. Until I go atlas at which point I am going to drop in either a t350 or t400 trans. Once I do that I'm going to take this t18 and dana 20 out of the shitbox and drop in my CJ5 (jeep in my avatar pic).
HOWEVER, when I was doing a quick search, no one seems to make the kit any more for this t-case. 4wp still has a price at $975 on it, but shows "Unavailable" on their website. Does anyone know where you can buy this kit?
 
Never done it, but I think the Early Bronco dana 20's had the lower gears, and people used to put them into Jeep D20's to achieve what you're looking for.
 
So.... Did some hard investigating and I feel if I lived near Teraflex I could probably pick up a kit if I paid cash with no receipt... lmao...

Called advanced adapters- they discontinued the Jeep D20 t-case gears. Not enough sales. However they do sell the D18 3.15 gears.
Advanced adapters told me they sold whatever stock to Teraflex years ago on these kits.
Advanced adapters told me to call Novak. Called Novak and left a voicemail.
Called teraflex and the guy turned into a robot when I asked about D20 gear sets. He goes "No......... ...... .... They were discontinued years ago".
He then followed up with there are some small 4wd places that still have them on the shelf. But when I asked who he didn't know, but definately acted like he knew... The phone calls left me feeling like if I really want to search hard I might find a kit, but probably wont have any warranty if anything is not good.
 
Finally whooped dat thermostat's ass (I hope...lol).... Put the new thermostat housing on last night and after about 2 hours of putting around and toying with it no leaks... I've never had such a fight. I did have another hickup that I ran out of time to fix which was on my top coolant hose I have an air pocket I need to get out, but it didn't run hot so I didn't sweat it.


I am officially in the market for a turbo 350. Almost prefer a 2wd. I am going to get a turbo 350 and an np231 transfercase for the jeep. It's $800 for the adapters from advanced and this will set me up nicely for the future when I go atlas, because I can order the atlas to match the splines of the np231. This also puts me drivers drop which opens up the genre of d60 I can find for a fair price. This will be a slow assembly of things, but it all starts with finding a good deal on a turbo 350 2wd, then a good deal on an np231 and then order all my adapters and then start looking for axles!
 
I might have finally found a source for the 3.15 gears for the D20- They are $950 for the kit, or 1550 for it installed in a new rebuilt d20 t-case. I just e-mailed the guy to find out availability. Just in case someone was hoping to find out info on d20 gears.

 
YotaAtieToo said:
Only somewhat similar jeep I personally saw weighed was my buddies YJ 258/ax15/klune/205/D60s/40s on steelies/links w/ airshock front coil rear

Caged, no windshield, no winch an no trail gear/parts it was 3800.

So even with a 258 and 205 doubler, he was waaaay below 3k sprung. I think you were closer on the 2500-2600 sprung. It will be easy to see the sprung wieght when you get the c/o's on though.
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My truggy XJ is over the limit on the 2.0 Walker Air's. Any they have the highest rating of the 2.0. You must mean the 2.5" which are significantly more and would recommend to anyone wanting air shocks.
 
Weasel said:
My truggy XJ is over the limit on the 2.0 Walker Air's. Any they have the highest rating of the 2.0. You must mean the 2.5" which are significantly more and would recommend to anyone wanting air shocks.
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I honestly have no idea what the ratings are, just speaking real world experience.

His 2.0 saw's worked fine on a full body XJ and that aforementioned YJ. I still agree with the last part though. 8 have some 2.5s for my build.
 
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