Transmission Swap

[Duke Winch]

Well the weather is clearing and decided the barn Jeep need to come to life. Besides I need the room for the boat.

So looking for opinions. I want a Jeep I could use for a daily driver, but something I could take off road on a road tour of the states. So 1st questions ...
1. Short or long arm lift? and what size tires?

(Remember I already have a decent off road Jeep for the really tough stuff.)

Duke

[TSEJEEPERS]

Boat?
Which lift rides better and is maintance free?
If I remember right that Jeep had a Dana 35 in the rear what do you plan on doing with that?

[Fraser]

2-3" short arm lift, just springs, shocks, brake lines and a drop pitman arm, with 33" tires.

[Duke Winch]

Boat?
Which lift rides better and is maintance free?
If I remember right that Jeep had a Dana 35 in the rear what do you plan on doing with that?

jeep
44 rear

[Duke Winch]

Well I decided to finally stop sleeping in and taking naps and do something useful. Pulled the frame from behind the barn. Next pulling parts clean, wire wheel and paint it.

My new Jeep.

Transmission Job.jpg (188.8 KiB) Viewed 41807 times

[W_A_Watson_II]

Great to see!

[Duke Winch]

Spent Four days removing parts, wire wheeling and painting and the frame is ready for hanging parts if I had parts to hang. Need to move some stuff about in the barn and get the old trailer I pulled out of the woods rolling, wheel bearing froze up. I'm going to use that to put the body of the 98 on so I can roll it about.

I hope this is not a bad omen ... it's already up side down.

Jeep Frame Painted 10-26-15.jpg (164.36 KiB) Viewed 41772 times

[Duke Winch]

Started taking apart the 98 and it's worse than I thought. Transfer case skid pan rusted junk. Gas tank skid rusted junk. Body mounts rusted though/out/seized and generally being extremely difficult. Didn't realize the Jeep had been modified with a Flintstones braking system ... floor pans rusted through. Still working on pulling the body but switched back to the frame. Cleaned, painted and installed the transfer case skid pan, steering gear and the gas tank skid/tank ... All left over parts laying about and in decent shape from the 2000 TJ.

Hoping to have the body off by Monday so I can pull the engine, remove all the stuff bolted to it and get it to the machine shop to freshen it up a bit.

Disassembling Jeep 10-30-15.jpg (126.88 KiB) Viewed 41748 times

[Duke Winch]

Some Pics of my progress. Have a couple of thing yet to disconnect and the body should be coming off tomorrow.

Stripped Interior 11-01-15.jpg (122.33 KiB) Viewed 41726 times

Drivers Side Flintstone Braking System 11-01-15.jpg (134.66 KiB) Viewed 41726 times

[Duke Winch]

As I got a better look at the condition of the tub and started adding up all the work that needed to be done;

1. Replace passenger side floor pan and part of tunnel.
2 Replace the body mount channels down both sides.
3. Replace body mounting box across the back.
4. Replace the body panel below the tailgate.
5. Bottom half of both rear quarter panels on the back.
6. Replace the trusses under the rear floor pan.
7. Drivers side rocker panel.
8. Stuff I haven't seen yet.

All of the repairs are certainly doable as there is solid body work to tie into, however the cost of the repair panels and all the consumables, (body filler, etc.) not to mention my time, (I guess I just mentioned it), stared to really add up. So .... Plan B

1998 Jeep Tub.jpg (13.41 KiB) Viewed 41614 times

This was cheaper than repairing the old tub.
Down side is I have to make a road trip to visit my brother in Philly to get it.

(No ... visiting my brother is not the down side. The trip is.)

Cool thing ... color code is an exact match for the one I have.

Heads up ... Not all TJ tubs are created equal. 97-98 model years are different than later models. There was also a change in the line a few years later. The older tubs can be made to work on the newer Jeeps, but not the other way around. The fire walls are different, most notable is how the heater blower is mounted/routed.

[Duke Winch]

The chassis is done less fuel and brake line runs. Started in on the drive train by installing a SYE in the transfer case. While draining the oil there wasn't much oil to speak of, which was odd since none of the seals were leaking, which makes since as there was no oil to leak?. My worries were confirmed once I split the case. The first was the magnet in the bottom of the case which was covered in copious amount of filings and nondescript chunks of metal. On closer inspection after tearing it down the shifting fork was pretty much ground down to nothing. Time to quit for today. Can't wait to drain the tranny. Anyone have a np231 transfer case laying about of known owner maintenance practices? See Wanted Section.

Completed Chassis 01-13-2016.jpg (135.03 KiB) Viewed 41342 times

[Duke Winch]

It just keeps getting to be more and more fun.

The machine shop called and asked if I had a spare oil pan for the engine. Why I asked? They sandblasted the old one and once all the rust was gone so was the oil pan. Full of holes.

I'm ready for the motor but sourcing a new performance cam has been a problem. The Jeeps a 99 but the motor is a 98 which has a slightly different cam to gear arrangement. Every supplier says they show one in stock, but their inventory is out-of-date and they don't. Solving problem by converting to the 99 design which means adding a new timing gear set to the list of things to buy.

Good news is the block and head are in great shape.

[W_A_Watson_II]

WOW, you sure are hitting some unique snags.

[Duke Winch]

Need some brain power here. I do not have any fuel at the engine rail.

I have ...

1. Replaced the fuel pump.
2. Checked the power going to the fuel pump, okay 12 volts with the switch on. (plus gas gauge works)
3. blew down fuel line. Clear
4. Don't know were to go from here.

Any and all (useful) help would be appreciated. (and yes there is gas in the tank).


Steve

[Fraser]

Does the pump run when the key is turned on?

[TSEJEEPERS]

Does the check engine light come on when you turn the key?

[Duke Winch]

The check engine light clears after going through it's initial check all the idiot light thing. I did some reading and at this point I'm not clear if I have power to the pump or not. I need to be in two places at once and haven't figured out how to do just that yet.

I eliminated the relay being the issue.

[Duke Winch]

Solved the being in two places at once, using mirrors and contortion. The harness is definitely sending power to the pump when the key it turned.

[vlucdog]

Feed and return fuel line hooked up wrong.

Maybe put a length of garden hose in the tank fill, the other end to your ear. Turn the key to run, listen for the fuel pump to run.

Connect 12 volts positive directly to the pump connection, at the tank, listen at the fill spot.

Loosen the fuel line at the engine, to allow any air to escape when the key is in the run position. The key/run may need to be cycled a couple of times.

[TSEJEEPERS]

Did you change the fuel filter?
If not change it, if so is it running the right way?
Is the crank position sensor hooked up?
Check and see if you have any codes.

[Duke Winch]

Hey thanks guys for all the help. Here is what I have so far.

Hot wired the pump and it runs fine, pumps fuel to the rail and the #1 fuel injector leaks at the rail. (Will need to address that at some point.)

When you first turn the key to on, I have juice at the connector going to the pump for a couple of seconds, then power drops off, which is as designed.

When you to turn the key to start, I have juice at the connector going to the pump until you release the key, again as designed, but with the fuel line disconnected at the engine, no fuel.

The pump is brand new and there no filters in the system except on the pump.
Crank position sensor works as I have spark and it will start with starting fluid.
Don't have a code reader, but probably should get one.
There is no return line only a feed. (there is a tank vent that goes to the carbon filter, all new)

I have a spare pump going to hook it up to the feed line to the one in the tank. Though I show current when turning the switch it isn't enough to spin the pump. So I have a wire that has just enough connection to trigger the tester but not the pump.

[W_A_Watson_II]

If you hot wire the pump will it start and run?

I don't remember which year you have, but the distributor signal is used to fire the injectors, and the flywheel sensor is used to fire the plugs.

[TSEJEEPERS]

You can check your codes this way.

Some of the earlier Jeeps you have to count the number of times the check engine light comes on.

[vlucdog]

A little fuel could be poured down the throttle body.

[Fraser]

Bill - he's already had the engine running on ether, so getting the fuel pump running is really the only objective.