Operation Phoenix

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And here's what's left of a 97 TJ ...

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-Mac
 
Home from Moab. Time for a battle damage assessment.

First up is the front seal on the 231J. I'm thinking this is where all the fluid was hemmoraging from...but no smoking gun. Can it leak from the shifter shaft? No obvious cracks.

Seal is pretty crunchy. Don't recall replacing it when I did my SYE. Headed into town for parts. Getting this seal and a pinion seal for the Dana 35.

Then I need to address why my spare tire is at a strange angle.

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-Mac
 
Ok...231J front yoke seal replaced, rear pinion seal replaced. Everything cleaned up enough I can tell if they're leaking again.

Also messed around with my pressure switch. Unfortunately it's not a clean, crisp cut off at a certain pressure. As the tire pressure approaches the target pressure it slowly cuts the ground off from the relays... causing the VIAIRs to do weird things. This might also be the relays I'm using...never seen a relay act like a potentiometer.

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-Mac
 
Biggest issue is this area not being supported. The tailgate having only one latch lets the tire start bouncing moving the lower DS edge of the tailgate in and out. The only way I have found to stop that movement is making a spacer for the lower valance rubber snubber to create a small amount of preload when the tailgate is shut. This prevents the tire from moving and will help everything survive much longer.
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In the middle of installing my Black Magic Big Brake Kit and I discovered a back rear shock and bad lower ball joints...at least I think they're bad...opinions would be appreciated. Have two Moogs arriving tomorrow at 2 PM. Best I can find inside a week.


-Mac
 
  • Wow
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In the middle of installing my Black Magic Big Brake Kit and I discovered a back rear shock and bad lower ball joints...at least I think they're bad...opinions would be appreciated. Have two Moogs arriving tomorrow at 2 PM. Best I can find inside a week.


-Mac

How'd it feel on the drive home with a shock like that?
 
How'd it feel on the drive home with a shock like that?

Actually pretty certain it was bad before Moab which was why I was having so many anti squat issues.

Really don't notice the difference.

Really overdue for an outboard.

Think I need to move the rear axle forward 1/2" to get less interference with the gas tank and lower springs.

-Mac
 
Sarhara or sinora?

If you know, you know I got this Jeep in Roseburg. 2000. 180k. Paid $2k. Owner didn't want to pursue the folks that ripped her off... enough said. Automatic.

Here are my options as I see it...all of this counciled on me promising my wife I'd put the $2k back in savings within a year.

1. Have a frame already. Find a tub. I have 4 cylinder axles. Tub and frame swap the Jeep and flip it.

2. Part it out. I'm leaning this direction with a twist. I can probably get $1500 for a hard top with rear wiper here in the PNW. Get $500 for the tires and a couple hundred bucks for the 231...or is this that part time one... that's what it said on the dash.

Keep or sell the engine. Keep the 32RH and goodies like the pedal box and shifter. Keep the title and VIN for rescuing another TJ. Keep the full doors...address the cancer in the doors...keep the tire carrier. Everything else can go.

3. 97 with a twist...take the engine, transmission, PCM, harness and factory cruise control steering wheel to my 97. Maybe with an engine refresh. Move the 97 stuff along with a clean frame and tub and assemble a Jeep from spare parts and sell it.

Thoughts?

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Thoughts?

-Mac
 
A lot of guys here would be pissing themselves to have an auto swap donor jeep for that price? Your 5.13's wouldn't be good on the freeway though.

If you start trying to swap a frame,etc into that you'll wind up needing yet another parts jeep to get away from the rust.
 
Sarhara or sinora?

If you know, you know I got this Jeep in Roseburg. 2000. 180k. Paid $2k. Owner didn't want to pursue the folks that ripped her off... enough said. Automatic.

Here are my options as I see it...all of this counciled on me promising my wife I'd put the $2k back in savings within a year.

1. Have a frame already. Find a tub. I have 4 cylinder axles. Tub and frame swap the Jeep and flip it.

2. Part it out. I'm leaning this direction with a twist. I can probably get $1500 for a hard top with rear wiper here in the PNW. Get $500 for the tires and a couple hundred bucks for the 231...or is this that part time one... that's what it said on the dash.

Keep or sell the engine. Keep the 32RH and goodies like the pedal box and shifter. Keep the title and VIN for rescuing another TJ. Keep the full doors...address the cancer in the doors...keep the tire carrier. Everything else can go.

3. 97 with a twist...take the engine, transmission, PCM, harness and factory cruise control steering wheel to my 97. Maybe with an engine refresh. Move the 97 stuff along with a clean frame and tub and assemble a Jeep from spare parts and sell it.

Thoughts?

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Thoughts?

-Mac

While I hate to see another TJ go the way of being dissolved and not restored - I think opt #2 is your best bet. Part it out or re-sell it as a project vehicle.

Hardtop - big money there

Doors - good money there; or keep them if you want (as you indicated)

See if there is a market for the wheels - you could perhaps sell the and pick up some really cheap/trashed wheels & tires to keep it a rolling chassis.

Interior - Looks to be in decent shape so could be some good parting out there

Then - as @Rickyd mentioned - sell the tub/frame & drivetrain to someone looking for an auto swap and/or engine swap...

This way - you're parting out in fairly big pieces (interior could be where there is smaller parts, depending how far you go down the rabbit hole to part it out). Keeps from having to manage a bunch of posts/sales and spending a bunch of time shipping a lot of the smalls - that time could eat into actual 'profit' since your own time isn't worthless...
 
Ok...so one thing that I screwed up on fixing my double adjustable control arms was pinion angle...I increased it...which I didn't notice...wheeling trip up in Washington with @Wildman and friends zero issues.

Fast forward to last Friday night...drove down to the Rubicon Trail to meet @MagnumV8 and friends to run the trail Monday.

Turns out my pinion angle increase meant my lower spring perch clearancing wasn't sufficient. Bent the passenger rear shock. Ripped off the driver from the upper mount. That caused the spring to pop off the upper perch.

Put it back together sans shock. Suggestion was to make a limiting strap... I thought that wouldn't work. As such the spring would pop out...out came Bob's Hi Lift...we got pretty good about stuffing the spring back in...five times. On turn 4 the lower bump stop extension ripped off...and I threw it in the passenger foot well thinking this makes reinstalling the spring easier.

Bzzt. Next obstacle. Axle hop. Track bar bracket came up and severed two fuel pump wires. Scotch locked them back together. Spring back in. Didn't see the bypass right next to me...tried again... completely exhausted... failing to think... rushing trying not to let folks down. Same thing happened...track bar went up...smashed both sides of the fuel pump connectors...and severed the fuel line at the connector...barb was still in the plastic hose.

Everyone wanted to camp at Rubicon Springs. I sent them ahead. Got towed 50' and joined some great folks in another party and camped at Loon Lake.

Cooked a steak. Slept. Woke up the next morning. Taped the wiring connectors together. Found some other folks with some 3/8" hose. Had some 3/8" fuel injector clamps. Fixed the bump stop. Made a limiting strap.

Drove to Rubicon Springs. Met up with folks. Finished the trail. Drove 8 hours home. Made it home at 11:30 pm.


Started ordering parts for an outboard. Poly Performance mounts. Looking at Accutune sourced Fox 2.0 RR 12.1" shocks with the adjustable knob.

Meanwhile I dug some brackets off a shelf that I bought on sale a couple of years ago. Hardware was awful chrome crap... replaced it with black oxide M8 bolts. Ordered some 1/2 13 black oxide bolts for the jack mount. Have some aluminum "thumb" screws/knobs from a mount I was going to put on the other side of my dump trailer.

I certainly don't love it. But I don't completely hate it. I don't want it on my tailgate or bumper. I think. But I will say that we absolutely needed a Hi Lift at Moab. We needed a Hi Lift on the Shoestring Trail in Washington. And I never would have made it off the Rubicon without one. I also use a Hi Lift weekly if not monthly recovering vehicles, illegally dumped RVs and around the property. I've got a healthy welt on my right arm when the jack popped off and smacked me... barely got my arm out in time.

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-Mac
 
HiLifts are stupid and worthless. No one should ever carry one. They kill a lot of people every year just like guns. Just use the factory jack if you dont want to die. Learned all that here so it must be true 😄



I ❤️ the HiLift. Sometimes its the only tool for the job.

Great job getting off the trail.

If your woman was driving none of that would have happened 🤭