Project "Daddy's Junk"

[tank29]

Well, I have been slowly gathering parts and finally have started the major over-haul on my Jeep. Let me start by saying giving some back ground information about my Jeep.

I was looking for another ride so I couold split the miles that I was putting on my 04' Hemi Quad 2500 a week. I talked it over with my better half and she said if I could come up with the cash she would have no problem with me getting a second vehicle. Well, I happen to get a side job, installing 2 heating & cooling systems, so I had some cash when it was done and I wouldn't have to get any from "HER". So, I started looking around at cars and nothing really appealed to me, then one day I came across a Jeep (97' TJ) that was for sale in a store parking lot. The asking price was $4000. I had owned a 99' TJ before I traded it in on my truck -- needed something that could tow a 20' trailer. I talked to the guy a couple of times and got him to get his price down to $3200. It was a 4.0 automatic with 147,000. I talked to the wife and she said if that is what I want then go ahead and get it. I thought about for a few days and then a friend of mine told me about a YJ, wasn't sure of the year, that was for sale at an Off-Road shop by him. I went over to see what he had found and this is a picture of it...



It is a 91' YJ, 2.5l, 5spd, 3.5" BDS lift, 3" BL, w/33's, 198,000 miles. There is some body damage and it looked like the motor was leaking a little oil. I asked how much they wanted for it and they said $3000. I thought that was high but there was a story behind the Jeep. They owner of the shop said that a kid kept bringing this thing in and getting work done to it for the past 3 years, he showed me all of the billings. The kid had brought it in August of 2006 to have the BDS lift put on it, it was in the shop 2 weeks and the kid had been a good customer so the owner let him take it out before his bill was completely paid. The kid taken it out 1 time and bent the front passenger side spring which dented the fender. The kid brought it in to get the spring fixed and a few other odds and ends but never came to pick it up. The owner of the shop said that they finally found out about 4 months later the kid was serving 6 months in county lock-up for something. When the kid got out he no money to pay the repair bill and the storage bill so he just signed over the title.

So, now I had to make a decission as to which one I would like to have. I like the ride of the TJ but I also knew that the YJ had basically a new lift already on it. My wife went to look at it with me and wasn't that impressed but she said that it was my money. She thought I should get something that was in a little better shape. The inside wash trashed so that was what she was really looking at. So, 3 days later I ended up picking up the YJ.

I drove it for about a month and the both kids (5yr & 3-1/2 yr boys) loved it and I think it was growing on the wife. She has a 06' Jeep Commander so she is spoiled. I had no problems until about the 5th week and then the clutch decided that it was not going to work anymore so I had to wait a week till I had the $$$ to buy a new clutch. A couple of friends helped put the new one in and then I drove it for about 2 weeks without a problem. I noticed that the Jeep was starting to pull to the driver's side so one night after work I pulled the wheel off and found that the caliper had hung-up and tore the brake pad to shreads and messed the rotor up. My wife then started to make little hints that I had bought a piece of "junk". I replaced the rotors, calipers, and pads on both sides and I assured my wife that this was it and it would function just fine. She had made me promise that I was not going to do anything major to it until we had bought a new house and sold ours. I told her that I wanted to do some stuff to it but I would not do anything until we had a new house.

That's funny..."I won't to do anyhing until we get a new house---It's a Jeep!!!!

I drove the Jeep a few more weeks without any problems and then one night on my way home from work I started hearing this grinding sound. It wasn't loud by you could hear it. I thought that I would just drive the rest of the way home (4 miles) and then look into the noise. About the time that I made the decission to drive the rest of the way home, I heard a LOUD BANG!!!! I pulled off to the side of the road and looked under the Jeep. The only thing that I noticed right away was the passenger side rear shock mount had sheared perfectly off the axle tube. I called my buddy and he said he would be there shortly with a friend. In the mean time I started to check the tranny and t-case not thinking the rear D35 could have been the problem. Once my buddy showed up we removed the rear drive shaft and low and behold the D35 had blew apart!!!! Now I had to call my wife and tell her that the rear axle had just broke and that it would be a waste of time and money to rebuild that axle---it wasn't a phone call that I wanted to make . So, I called her and told her what had happened and that I was taking it over to my buddy's house, he has a garage, and I would be home later. She really didn't say too much....at the time.

A few days went by and then she had our kids up to my buddy's house visiting his wife and letting the kids play together. When I got home that night the kids started coming up to me and telling me they had seen my "piece of junk" today. I asked them what they were talking about and they told me "mommy showed us your piece of junk today when we were over to Dustin's house". They procceeded to tell me how she had taught them to kick the tires while saying "daddy's Jeep is a piece of JUNK!!!!" She stood in the other room laughing while the kids were telling me this!!!! I looked both of them in the eyes and said "you tell mommy that daddy's piece of JUNK didn't cost him $35K and I have no payments!!!"

So, that is the back ground on my Jeep. Did I pay too much, I don't know. Some days I think so and some days I don't. I have been telling my wife that it has turned into a 2 year project and I will have something nice when I am done. The kids love to look at all of the Jeeps on this website and ask me if my Jeep will be COOL like the ones on here. I hope someday they think that it looks COOL and it fits in the all of the COOL Jeeps on the forum.

Todd

Next post: The search for parts!!!!

[set4lifenj]

Anyone have cliff notes for me?

Nice looking jeep

[tank29]

So, now the Jeep is sitting at my buddy's house and I had made the promise that I would not do anything major to the Jeep until we bought a new house. I found some side jobs and made a little extra cash and I had cashed in about 800lbs. of copper wire, 500lbs. of #1 copper, 200lbs. #2 copper and 200lbs. of brass that I had saved over 3-4 years of side jobs. I had some extra money now and I wasn't getting any of "our" money to spend on the Jeep.

Okay, I needed to come up with a game plan for the "Daddy's Junk" project. I wanted to go SOA, run 37's, V8, winch, roll cage, ect...but the first thing I needed to do was research!!!!

I started searching the web and found TONS of info and this website. I started reading the threads and got hooked even more on the "Jeep thing". I spoke to the off-road shop where I bought the Jeep and the owner told me the same thing that I had read on the web, you need to find a set of axles out of a 1978 F250 or F350. I searched the local junk yards and had friends looking high and low for a set when a friend said that he knew a guy that had a front D44 out of a 78' Ford and a rear D60 out of an early 80's 1 ton van. He told me that these would work and that the guy only wanted $200 for both. I thought $200 for both was a great deal and gave him the money to go pick them up. When I got the axles the rear would have worked but the front was out of a 1/2 ton Ford and had the cast "wedges" on it. The front was JUNK to me so I basically paid $200 for a rear axle. We searched and searched for a front axle locally and didn't find anything. I started searching the web and found a place on eBay that was located about 2 hours south of me. They had a matching set of J20 axles (rear D60 & front D44) 8 lug from a 83' pick-up. I asked how much for the set and the price was $800. I tried to get the price down and basically they delivered them to me for free but I still paid $800 for a set of axles. Now that I have a set of axles, I need to regear to 4.88's so I can run 37's or 39's. I start searching and find that forum member CCOR (Jason) could get me all of the parts I need to rebuild both axles cheaper then any place I found on the web. I palced the order and he shipped everything to rebuild both axles.



Now I had to make a decission on whether or not I wanted to run full-width or narrow the axles down. I chose to stay full-width and try and find a set of wheels that would allow a little more B.S. to try and "hide" some of the axle width. The J20 axles WMS to WMS is 65.5" and the YJ was 60.5", that's only 5" difference. I had planned on tube fenders so I figured if I needed to make them a little wider to cover the tire then that would not be that big of a deal. To me it would be cheaper to stay full-width and make the fenders to fit then spend the money to narrow the axles and get custom axle shafts. I wanted to go rear disc and started the search for information and found that I needed to get some weld-on caliper brackets, front rotors for a 87' Chevy pick-up, rear calipers for a 78' Cadillac Eldorado with e-brake and some new studs for the lug nuts--I was told that the front studs on the J20 D44 would be perfect for the back when converting to rear disc, we will see if that is true. Now the only problem is getting the brakets and hardware to make the YJ e-brake cable connect to the Eldorado calipers. The search continues....

Now that I had the axles and a plan for them I needed to think about the motor, tranny, and t-case. I had talked to the owner of the off-road shop about this when we discussed the axles and he said to get a 350 sbc, an Advance Adapter to an AX-15 (which I would have to buy since I have an AX-5), and run a NP231 with SYE. So I started looking around and didn't really find any "real" deals. One day the owner called me and asked if I would be interested in a 5.7l Vortec sbc out of a 98' Chevy pick-up, I asked how much and he said $600 and it comes with a set of headers. I said I will take it and went over to pay him for then he said that the he forgot to tell me he was taking the intake and fuel injection system for himself, I asked well how much for the rest, $600. I told him that I would think about it and get abck to him. I started a thread on here asking for people opinions and pretty much everyone told me to stay away. I never called him back and time went by (2-3 weeks) and then he called with a new offer. He said for $600 he would sell me the rest of the motor, headers, a set of new BDS quick connects, a soft-top and a new windsheild frame. I figured that was worth it and agreed. I should have thought about it more or at least asked on here what everyone thought of the deal because I didn't realize that the intake and fuel injection would cost over $1200. I started to give up hope that I would be able to find a reasonable way (cheap $$$) to get this motor to work when I happen to stumble across a complete intake off a 99' 5.7l Vortec motor on eBay. I started bidding and told myself that if I could not get it for less then $500 with shipping I would keep looking. I even thought about selling the motor and seeing what I could get out of it and just take a loss. I happen to win the "bidding wars" and got the intake for $425 shipped to my door. So, now the motor doesn't look too bad but I know I could have done better and found something more complete for the same price. I guess you live and learn.

Now that I am gathering up parts and I have a motor, I need to find a tranny. My buddy was over at one of the local junk yards getting a few parts and he noticed a 85' K5 Blazer being stripped down. He walked over to see what all was there and found that there was a 350 sbc, sm465, and a NP208 t-case. He asked how much and they said $400 for the 350 sbc, $150 for the sm465 and $50 for the NP208. He talked them down to $350 for all of them so he bought them. He called me and said that he had bought me something and told me to stop over after work. When I got there he showed me the sm456/NP208 and said that he was giving them to me for my Jeep. I said thank you and told him that he didn't have to do that and he said that we have been friends for a awhile and I have helped him out quite a few times so this was a way for him to say thank you. I had met a few people that are running the sm465 and they like it so I told him that I would take it and he took it to his house. The NP208 was junk to me but it came with the tranny so it was mine now. I started the research and had asked a few questions on here and pretty much 80% of the people on here said to sell it and go with an automatic. I like a manual tranny and I liked the idea of having the low gear for crawling but I understood what the people that said go with the auto were talking about. I had mixed feeling about the sm465 or an auto. I had already paid for the tranny and if I went with an auto I would have to spend even more money. I had chose to stay with the sm465 and started making a list of parts that I would need to get to make this work and the list of parts grew to about $750 ---bell housing, clutch kit, slave cylinder, and an Adavance Adapter for the NP231. I started searching the web for better prices and found that there was no way of getting a better price. I had started reading back over some of the responses that I got to the threads that I started and found one that Tomb Raider had sent me in response to my axles and the drivetrain set-up. He had said to get a 700r and a Chevy NP 241 which would work with my axles. Well, the J20 axles are a driver side drop and most of the t-cases out there are passenger side drop unless they are Jeep t-cases. I thought that maybe I had miss read what Tomb had sent me and started searching and found that Chevy had made very few driver side drop NP241's but they did make them. I started calling the local junk yards and ended up finding a 700r and NP241 driver side drop t-case for $400. So I bought them and now I have saved myself $350 by going to the 700r instead of the sm465.

So, now I have gathered up some of the parts and I have some what of a plan. We are still looking for a house and have made an off on a few, just waiting to see if one of them will be accepted. I have been working on the Jeep maybe one night a week for the past month and I have some pics to show what has taken place which will be in my next post. They aren't the greatest pics and I don't have any from the last night that I worked on it but I will try to keep this updated on a regular basis.



Todd

[Tom G]

Its always an epic battle when you're dumping loads of money into a jeep and thinking, "Is it really worth it?" But after you get everything working and take it out on the trail, it totally feels like a great accomplishment and most people just don't understand that. Nice story dude, and I'm looking forward to watching the build!

[blue1989yj]

Yes the Jeep projects never end. I picked up mine almost 2 years ago and have less than 2000 miles on her so far. I am hoping to have it ready for the summertime. Keep the updates coming and the hope alive. One day you will be cruising around and just thrilled it is done... at least until the next project...

[tank29]

So, as the house search continues and the wish list grows for the Jeep, it is time to start working on the "Daddy's Junk" project.

We started working on the rear axle and since my buddy and I never rebuilt one before it has taken awhile to do. I have bought all new tools to do this and I am getting a 20 ton shop press later this week. With that said the axles are just sitting right now.

The Jeep has the "sport roll cage" and I wanted the "family style roll cage" since I have two little guys that I want to be protected. I contacted the place that I got my axles and they said whatever I wanted to get rid of they would take and they had the "family style cage" that I wanted. So, we needed to do an evoluation of the Jeep and see what was staying and what was going. Well, I knew the motor, tranny, t-case, axles, and sport cage was all "junk" to me so it was going to be removed and sold/traded for cash/parts.

We pulled the Jeep in the garage one night after work and we had planned on removing the front clip. I am planning on tube fenders so the stock fenders would be coming off anyways. It makes it easier to pull the motor without the grill and fenders too.












Now with the motor and front clip off we started talking about all of the ideas/things that I needed/wanted to do and the decission was made to just remove the tub and start from the frame up.

Todd

Next Post -- Tub Removal

[tank29]

Now that the decission was made to remove the tub and do a complete frame up build, it was time to get busy. Here are some pics of gutting the Jeep. If there are any questions I will answer them later.












This is pretty much where it stands right now. We removed the front axle on Monday and tomorrow night we are loading up all of the old stuff so I can trade/sell it. I will try and get somemore pics on Friday and hopefully finish stripping the frame. There really was only one spot on the frame that rusted pretty bad and it was the passenger side rear shock mount. It is where the mount is welded to the frame. The tub had some rust on the driver's side floor and the roll cage mount right behind the driver's seat. Other then that it really didn't seem all that bad. I will get more pics of the rust areas too.


Todd

[jeepjared84]

I am looking forward to seeing the end product.

Keep up the good work!

[tank29]

Originally Posted by set4lifenj

Anyone have cliff notes for me?

Nice looking jeep

Thank you. It's a long way from where I would like it to be but it will get there.



Todd

[tank29]

Originally Posted by Tom G

Its always an epic battle when you're dumping loads of money into a jeep and thinking, "Is it really worth it?" But after you get everything working and take it out on the trail, it totally feels like a great accomplishment and most people just don't understand that. Nice story dude, and I'm looking forward to watching the build!

My wife said the samething "Is it really worth it?" and then laughed. She has been pretty good about it so far. She was going to get me a windsheild sticker made that said "What Was I Thinking?" and put it on my Jeep as a joke. There have been days that I have asked myself that very question but I look at the big picture. I know that it will take me awhile to do it and do it right so I am okay with it.



Todd

[tank29]

Originally Posted by blue1989yj

Yes the Jeep projects never end. I picked up mine almost 2 years ago and have less than 2000 miles on her so far. I am hoping to have it ready for the summertime. Keep the updates coming and the hope alive. One day you will be cruising around and just thrilled it is done... at least until the next project...

The hope is there my friend!!!!! I am trying to realistic with the time frame so I hope to have it back on the road spring 2009. I will get it there!!!!!



Todd

[tank29]

Originally Posted by jeepjared84

I am looking forward to seeing the end product.

That makes two of us!!!!!

Like I said before I will be working on it as time and $$$ allows and in the end I will have one SWEET ride!!!!



Todd

[YJ_]

I'm jealous, your frame looks way better than mine...

I wish I had a garage big enough to pull the tub off

good luck!

[richmond1273]

keep up the good work. there are not nearly enough build threads on here

[tank29]

Originally Posted by YJ_

I'm jealous, your frame looks way better than mine...

I wish I had a garage big enough to pull the tub off

good luck!

There is only one spot on the frame that needs some work. Nothing major.

The garage is my buddy's. He has helped out alot with letting me do the work there and store all of the parts and Jeep there.

I will keep updating this thread as I get time and $$$ to work on it.

Todd