Working Through The Week to Get Done

Our Moab trip is only about 7 weeks away and we want to have the Jeep done in plenty of time to test it out. So, needed to kick up the pace a bit and put in some longer evenings through the week, not just the weekends.

Items accomplished in the past 4 evenings, since my last Sunday post:

• Painted new diff cover bolts (front and rear)
• Painted valve cover bolts and spreaders
• Caulked rear of tub at tailgate
• Designed dash panel locations for Front Locker, Compressor, Rear Locker, Front Light Bar, Interior Lights, Winch Power, Winch In/Out, 12v outlets (2), CB, CB mic, CB speaker
• Installed hood latch into grill
• Clear coated valve covers
• Painted windshield knobs
• Removed drive shaft u-joints
• Sandblasted and painted drive shafts
• Painted raised letters on gas filler neck shroud
• Installed gas tank filler neck
• Touched-up undercoating (frame, fender wells, etc)
• Undercoated back side of diamond plate for roll cage
• Sandblast air cleaner
• Installed valve covers after painting
• Replace all engine compartment fuel lines
• Replace long bypass heater hose w/ flush kit
• Fill radiator
• Changed oil/ filter
• Bed linered tub

Drive shafts Before

Drive shafts After Sandblasting

Drive shafts Completed!

Decided to freshen the paint on the gas fill neck shroud. Covered in tape and cut the letter out with an Xacto knife by hand.

After installation, picture is a bit blurry.

Air cleaner sand blasted and ready for paint.

Jeep cleaned and ready for bed liner.

Bedliner all complete!

Painted valve covers installed, all new hoses, gas lines, etc.

Getting an oil change while the bedliner was drying.

Coming along, day by day!

Assembly Continues

We continued assembly this weekend. Here is a list of what we were able to get done:

• Sorted and organized remaining parts (new and old)
• Sandblasted emergency brake equalizer bar & primered
• Sandblasted exhaust flanges & primered
• Sandblasted front brake flat bolts for caliper sliders & primered
• Remove, sandblasted, primered and painted valve covers
• Installed last tail light, license bracket and license plate
• Installed new steering stop bolts
• Installed plastic drain plugs in tub
• Installed gas filler neck, gas tank hoses
• Sealed seems inside tub
• Cleaned carburetor and tightened all nuts/ bolts, lubricated
• Replaced rear axle housing vent hose, installed new vent check valve
• Tighten front grill body bolt
• Flushed brake lines
• Cut, sand blast and sealed roll bar strengthening plates
• Installed front hub inner and out bearings
• Installed front hub outer seals
• Inventoried and prepares rear brake parts
• Assemble front hubs, brake rotors and wheel studs
• Installed and test new fuel and temp gauges (they work!)
• Installed windshield hinges
• Installed windshield lower rubber gasket
• Installed windshield
• Installed visors
• Installed windshield wiper mechanical parts
• Installed windshield wiper motor and housing, tested (it works)
• Mounted ARB differential compressor
• Installed tailgate seal, hinges, latches and bolted to Jeep
• Installed rubber backing to rock sliders with contact cement

Both tail lights installed

Back of speedometer assembly before replacing the temp and fuel gauges

Painting the valve covers to match the Jeep

Windshield installed and looking good!

Tailgate from the inside. When we got the Jeep there was no working tailgate, it was actually welded to the body, had to grind the welds and get a new tailgate and all the parts.

Tailgate from the rear, dirty finger prints and all!

The original seat belts were a mix of pieces and largely in working order, just different colors and faded. We "dyed" them all black to make them uniform and to freshen them.

Installed the ARB air compressor on the firewall inside the engine compartment. This will be wired to a switch on the dash and then hoses will connect if to the front and rear ARB airlocking differentials.

Here are the rock sliders that will be mounted on each side of the Jeep along the rocker panel.

Preparing to install a rubber backing on the rock sliders. We thought this would be a good idea to protect the body and other parts and to help seal out debris and prevent rust if we seal around the edges to keep water out. (which we will do after installation)

Rubber all installed and trimmed, ready for installation, but that is weeks away still.

Picture from the inside of the windshield. The wiper motor and all the "internal" mechanical parts for the windshield wipers are installed. We tested with 12V and they work great.

Slowly coming along........

Assembly Begins!

We started the assembly process this weekend. We still have the differentials to replace but our differential spreader tool did not arrive this week so we have to delay that one last big project. This weekend we did the following (that I can remember):

• Finally were able to get the rear axles out after getting a heavy duty puller designed to allow you to use a sledge hammer! It worked, at least for one side, the other side we went a different route and then used the 20 ton press to get the hub of the axle shaft, but it is done!
• Installed the upper and lower ball joints
• Replaced the motor mounts
• Installed the radiator, radiator shroud, new radiator hoses and the front grill
• Installed new rubber bumper guards on the grill for the hood
• Installed the firewall to grill strengthening rods
• Installed the battery box and supporting brackets
• Installed the brake, clutch and gas pedals assemblies
• Installed a new gas pedal to carburetor cable
• Installed the master cylinder
• Installed the ignition module
• Installed the new oil line for the new oil gauge
• Installed the sending unit and line for the temperature gauge
• Installed the main fuse panel and the main wiring harness under the dash
• Did troubleshooting of the OEM gas gauge and temperature gauge, ordering new gauges, wiring OK
• Installed the new fuel tank to filler neck hoses
• Rebuilt front brake calipers
• Wired in new LED tail lights, installed one of them, need to paint the license plate bracket before the driver side can be installed
• Cleaned up the engine compartment wiring, re-sheathed all the wiring with fresh sheathing
• Installed new U-joints in the freshly painted front axles
• Painted the roll bar
• Installed the OEM exhaust manifolds

Roll bar before painting

Headlight assemblies, all sand blasted and ready for paint.

All the cleaned, sand blasted and painted parts, before we started assembly.

Our "huge" puller to get the rear hubs off the axles. It was not easy! If you ever need one this big, we have one now!

One of the rear axles, we won't be re-using them, we purchased new G2 rear axles.

Rear axle housing after removal of all parts, oil seals and bearings. Ready to be cleaned and everything re-installed (after differential replacement).

The pile of removed parts that we won't be re-using is about complete, just the differentials and some small parts here and there and we should be done.

Freshly painted steering knuckles, with new upper and lower ball joints.

New u-joints in the front axles.

Rebuilding the front brake calibers.

OEM exhaust manifolds re-installed after sand blasting, high temp primer and paint. We removed the headers for the rock crawling trip to Moab.

All freshened battery tray and support brackets. Just need the front fenders to finish the one lower bracket bolt.

Starting to look like a Jeep again.

Brake, clutch and gas pedals installed. Fuse panel and main wiring harness roughed in to allow us to troubleshoot the fuel and temp gauges. They were not working when we bought the Jeep.

Our OEM to new technology LED tail light wiring diagram.

Another high quality Farver wiring job, everything stripped, soldered and shrink wrapped. We never have a wiring problem when we take the time to do it this way.

And finally, one of the tail lights installed and wired with extra protection from trail hazards. You never know what we might get in to. Especially in the woods on our property and in the Eastern US.