[NashvilleTJ]

Full hydro.

I just got back from a wheelin’ trip with my hardcore buddies. I’ve pretty much decided to rip out the hydro assist and go full hydro - mainly to be able to push the front forward and fit some 43 stickies in there. I’m at the limit as to what I can do with a mechanical / hydro assist setup.

Every single rig in the group was full hydro.

 

[Grewe02]

Well yesterday was the 4th, and I was reminded of how much freedom I've spent on the CJ in the past year. So I decided to update my thread here. Went wheeling in early November last year (21) and cracked the water pump. It lasted a long 10 years and was over heated more then a few times. Grabbed a new one and tossed it in. It was a worthy upgrade. Thankfully it waited until I was getting on the trailer to fully spill its guts.

Thanksgiving trip went well for the first day, ran a few trails, had some fun, then climbed a steep waterfall that almost rolled me over a few times. Finally was able to climb up it, but it seems to have done some damage. Heard some knocking on the way back to camp, once I got out of the hills and onto the flat desert, I shut it off and had Jeff tow me back to camp.

Got home and pulled the oil pan off, found some magnetic oil. Ugh.

Pulled the crank, found a few spun bearings. Ugh.

 

[Grewe02]

Weighed my options, didn't want to waste the whole wheeling season tearing the motor down and rebuilding the whole motor, so after lots of reading and lots of youtube-ing, I decided to go with the redneck rebuild, replace the crank and send it. Figured that would only have me down a few weeks, let me finish the wheeling season, then rebuild / replace the motor in the summer. So I set on that path. Picked up a new crank from O'reilly (yes, really), as well as a new oil pump, timing set, and a few other small things. Used a ton of assembly lube, and packed it all back together.

Also while I had it all apart, I decided to waste some extra time by installing a few more accessories to hopefully help prevent this from happening again in the future. First up was a new oil cooler:

Oil accumulator:

And a fancy fitting on the oil pan to accomodate the new hoses:

While I was at it, I decided to just get it over with and upgrade the assist instead of going full hydro. I figured that was the easiest and cheapest way to get me back on the trail, and figured this was as good a time as any to do it. After searching the internet for literal months, I finally settled on the PSC TC pump:

And the remote reservoir:

The pump, if any of you have an LS with car accessories, had the inlet on the opposite side as the factory pump. So the inlet would have been pointing straight up into the air, making gravity filling a bit of a challenge. I found this Holley bracket that rotates it 90 degrees and points the inlet towards the driver tire. Routed the hose and it has an ever so slight downward curve to it from the reservoir. PSC told me that it would work so long as the top of the reservoir is above the pump inlet. In my case it's about 8" - 10" above the pump inlet, so I decided to go for it.

Even went the extra mile and put some new (to me) tires on it! Scored these for only $300. Repainted the wheels and bead locks, nice and shiny.

 

[Grewe02]

Got everything buttoned up and re-installed, took it around the block a few times, took it to the gas station, and even the grocery store!

Took it out to Johnson Valley and had some real fun on the first day, had so much fun I didn't even get any pictures on the trail. Ran a few trails, and it was awesome! New steering really made it feel like a whole new Jeep, almost made me want to start racing it. I hadn't had that much fun since my last Jeep, felt really great to finally be able to drive around and make the Jeep actually go where I tell it to.

Then on the way back to camp on the first day, the knocking returned. I'd probably put 100 - 200 miles on it since the rebuild. So I parked it in camp right behind the trailer, fully ready to just let it sit and figure it out when I got home. Well of course I can't just let it sit there all weekend wondering what is wrong, so a few of us surrounded it and started listening, trying to determine where the knocking was coming from. Apparently it was coming from another loose rod bearing, because as soon as I applied some throttle, it blew a hole in the side of the block and came clanking to a halt.

This is where the journey ends, I haven't done anything to it since February. I haven't even pulled the oil pan or inspected the block to see where the rod came through. I just winched it on the trailer and left it there for months. I'm starting to get some motivation now finally, I've been searching online for some motors and debating how much more work I want to put into it. Everyone keeps trying to convince me that now is the time to stretch it to CJ6 length, but my OCD won't let me cheap out on that, I'll want to actually match factory CJ6 length so I can put on a soft / hard top one day. I think for the time being, I just need a motor and some motivation. See you guys next year for my annual update!

 

[daddyjeep87]

I look forward to your annual update, but I do hope you get that thing back on the trail soon.

 

[Grewe02]

I found these guys through eBay, apparently all they do is factory / custom rebuilds of junkyard motors. Not the cheapest option out there, but very very much cheaper than a crate motor.

OEM Engines

Pricing on the far right:

They have lots of other LS motor options as well, 5.3 and 6.0 plus some. I think I might call them and see if they can do aluminum block and heads with a torquey cam. I think I might pull the trigger on one of these after taxes. The main benefit I see here is that I can reuse all of my front end accessories, most of which are new-ish, reuse my wiring harness, computer, and sensors. I'd probably get a new flywheel and crank pulley but that's about it I think.