So a lot of people on here are making build threads and Im jealous. So here is mine. Ill tell it with a story format. It was the end of February 2011. I found my jeep on craigslist outside of Milwaukee WI, the guy was asking 3500. The clutch was shot in it, and it ran rough. I offered him 2800 and he took it. It would be my first and probably only jeep. So naturally I went to autozone and bought a haynes manual instantly. I could not wait till the weekend.
-So I got a hold of my uncles f350 and a trailer drove down there and picked it up. In the middle of a snowstorm. (maybe this was a sign)
-Got it back to the garage and put it up on blocks where it would sit for the next month or so.
-Just some quick pictures to send to my buddies about whats on my new jeep.
-Started searching everything online about replacing a clutch on a YJ with the BA/10. booo! Was going to take it in to have it done professionally. Because Ive never done a clutch before. But 700 bucks for a clutch made me go hmmm how hard could it be? Took a bunch of pictures to make sure I didn't mess anything up. I was a little nervous. But it wasn't that bad. The worst parts were getting the transmission in and out (heavy and awkward), and removing the pilot bearing with grease and a socket.(worked great for a cheap technique)
-metal filing on the transmission drain plug. Scared the **** outta me. Turns out its nothing major, more like typical.
-While I was working on the clutch I checked out some more things with it. Found out I had 3.07 gears in it with 33's. boooo! So I pulled off the 33's sold them and hunted down a set of 31's. To make it a little easier on the drivetrain, and gas mileage aka my wallet. Replaced all fluids. Put on new pads and shoes. replaced u joints on driveshafts. Figured out how to take the top off. Fixed any rust spots I found on the body. Primed whatever part of the frame and axle I could get to. Installed an ignition tumbler to replace the push button start on there. new steering stabilizer. removed the second one. grease any fitting I could find. a lot of other little things.
- 33's gone waiting for a decent set of 31's. Started to prime everything I could find. The best part about the BA/10 is that it was so oily from the blown rear main seal (that is now new) that it didn't need primer.
Fixing rusty spots, and prime as much of the frame and axle as I could reach. I don't like rust, and at this point I was thinking if things didn't go well I could always sell it and wanted it to be in the best shape possible.
-New pads and rotors.
-fixed the windshield wipers. (they didn't work) melted wires. So I ran new wires to a three way switch, off, low, high. Gotta love custom work
-got my 31's mounted and balanced.
-Next step was fixing the rough running issue. I went straight to the carb. It already had a MC2100 so I was pleased. It seemed to be running rich so once i had it apart I found a I believe it was a 48 and a 49 size jet in there. I know they were different. So I ordered in some #47s and a rebuild kit. rebuilt it. Set the float properly. (twice) Again a little nervous about the rebuild. But it wasn't that bad.
I'll never forget the feeling I had once i had her running good.(the first time) Its quite the feeling of accomplishment.
-Now finally it was time to get out and have some fun. Ive had the itch for around a month now.
Now comes the dark days of my YJ.....
-I pulled the plugs before I even had it running and one of them looked like this.
-So I posted to the forum immediately. Was told it is probably no big deal so I put in new plugs and went with it. No dice. After 2 weeks I noticed it was idling a little off. So I pulled the plugs again. Lo and behold the same one was crusted up again. Ran a compression test, no good. one cylinder dead. and another with bad rings.
Now it was the moment of truth. It is now the end of May 2011 and I need this Jeep in a month to pull a small trailer 2000 miles to Albuquerque where my new home will be. Do I rebuild it, ignore it and try to make the run on a injured engine, or do I sell it in hopes of getting another acceptable vehicle. My Dad strongly suggested that I do not try to half *** it and just rebuild it.
So a rebuild it was.....
-So I got a hold of my uncles f350 and a trailer drove down there and picked it up. In the middle of a snowstorm. (maybe this was a sign)
-Got it back to the garage and put it up on blocks where it would sit for the next month or so.
-Just some quick pictures to send to my buddies about whats on my new jeep.
-Started searching everything online about replacing a clutch on a YJ with the BA/10. booo! Was going to take it in to have it done professionally. Because Ive never done a clutch before. But 700 bucks for a clutch made me go hmmm how hard could it be? Took a bunch of pictures to make sure I didn't mess anything up. I was a little nervous. But it wasn't that bad. The worst parts were getting the transmission in and out (heavy and awkward), and removing the pilot bearing with grease and a socket.(worked great for a cheap technique)
-metal filing on the transmission drain plug. Scared the **** outta me. Turns out its nothing major, more like typical.
-While I was working on the clutch I checked out some more things with it. Found out I had 3.07 gears in it with 33's. boooo! So I pulled off the 33's sold them and hunted down a set of 31's. To make it a little easier on the drivetrain, and gas mileage aka my wallet. Replaced all fluids. Put on new pads and shoes. replaced u joints on driveshafts. Figured out how to take the top off. Fixed any rust spots I found on the body. Primed whatever part of the frame and axle I could get to. Installed an ignition tumbler to replace the push button start on there. new steering stabilizer. removed the second one. grease any fitting I could find. a lot of other little things.
- 33's gone waiting for a decent set of 31's. Started to prime everything I could find. The best part about the BA/10 is that it was so oily from the blown rear main seal (that is now new) that it didn't need primer.
Fixing rusty spots, and prime as much of the frame and axle as I could reach. I don't like rust, and at this point I was thinking if things didn't go well I could always sell it and wanted it to be in the best shape possible.
-New pads and rotors.
-fixed the windshield wipers. (they didn't work) melted wires. So I ran new wires to a three way switch, off, low, high. Gotta love custom work
-got my 31's mounted and balanced.
-Next step was fixing the rough running issue. I went straight to the carb. It already had a MC2100 so I was pleased. It seemed to be running rich so once i had it apart I found a I believe it was a 48 and a 49 size jet in there. I know they were different. So I ordered in some #47s and a rebuild kit. rebuilt it. Set the float properly. (twice) Again a little nervous about the rebuild. But it wasn't that bad.
I'll never forget the feeling I had once i had her running good.(the first time) Its quite the feeling of accomplishment.
-Now finally it was time to get out and have some fun. Ive had the itch for around a month now.
Now comes the dark days of my YJ.....
-I pulled the plugs before I even had it running and one of them looked like this.
-So I posted to the forum immediately. Was told it is probably no big deal so I put in new plugs and went with it. No dice. After 2 weeks I noticed it was idling a little off. So I pulled the plugs again. Lo and behold the same one was crusted up again. Ran a compression test, no good. one cylinder dead. and another with bad rings.
Now it was the moment of truth. It is now the end of May 2011 and I need this Jeep in a month to pull a small trailer 2000 miles to Albuquerque where my new home will be. Do I rebuild it, ignore it and try to make the run on a injured engine, or do I sell it in hopes of getting another acceptable vehicle. My Dad strongly suggested that I do not try to half *** it and just rebuild it.
So a rebuild it was.....