Misadventures in Jeep Ownership

[GSequoia]

As many of you know I took my trusty old '96 to Panamint Springs Resort/Death Valley of Thanksgiving and it ended up being a bit less trusty than usual.

I done blowed it up. The backstory was I had what sounded like a lifter tick, did a lifter job and still had the noise. With an approaching deadline and no change to the sound over a few thousand miles I decided to roll the dice and run it. When I got to PSR the noise was louder so I decided to stay close to pavement and put my faith in AAA.

On the way out to Reward Mine on a cold Saturday morning I noticed an unexpected temperature spike from 180º. I immediately dropped power and started to pull over as the gauge climbed up to about 220º before I powered it off, as I rolled to a stop I released a great big cloud of steam and noticed a miss.

I popped the hood, jumped out, and found a mess of oily coolant that had blown out of the overflow bottle and wonderful chocolate milk in my crankcase. I called AAA and had them drag me back to Panamint Springs Resort, the driver said he'd been at that job for six years and this marked the first time he had ever towed a car into Panamint Valley.

After some hemming and hawing I decided to leave the vehicle there and drive David Bricker's Jeep back to L.A. since he wanted Avery to do some work to it anyway. I packed my stuff up and headed home, ruining one brand new tent and losing my wedding ring, that trip had it's problems.

Anyway fast forward to now. We finally arranged for the Jeep to come home a few weeks ago and today was the day I could tear into it. Since there was no good reason to blow a head gasket and I had that mystery sound the goal today wasn't a repair so much as post-mortem.

Dropping the oil was as ugly as I expected.

I stared tearing it down and noticed that #3 exhaust looked like it was my bad cylinder. Pulling the plugs verified that.

I was very surprised to see pretty damn good looking coolant in the radiator and bottom end of the engine considering the amount of crap in my overflow tank. I still did a thorough flush with 180º water through all systems.

Not a very good picture but I had slight surface rust on the rocker arm bridges.

#3. No obvious cracks, no obvious blowouts in the gasket.

The rest of them

After that I took a look at the cylinder itself. The piston was washed of carbon, as you'd expect, and I saw a couple of light but evident vertical score marks in the bore. I spun the balancer to run the engine through a few revolutions to check for grittiness, etc. and noticed an issue.

#3 TDC, looks normal.

Uhhh...

I'm guessing that when I open up the bottom end I'll find some remains of the piston skirt. I guess it's time to do some real work now.

 

[David_Bricker]

Well, hopefully, this engine can be fixed. The tent is fixed, and on it's way back. That just leaves the wedding ring. We'll keep our fingers crossed on that one.

At least Gomer has it's shady parking spot back, if I can ever get Noah to put it away.

David Bricker / SYR

 

[GSequoia]

At least Gomer has it's shady parking spot back, if I can ever get Noah to put it away.

You might need to help him make the MJ cooler than Gomer to achieve that.

 

[itscheesey]

Holy mackerel that's a bummer.
Hopefully the cylinder wall isn't too damaged.

Sent from my XT1585 using Tapatalk

 

[JohnX]

Looks good to me, run it some more.

 

[David_Bricker]

You might need to help him make the MJ cooler than Gomer to achieve that.

Gomer, the SoCal whore Jeep. Is there anyone who hasn't either driven it or had it sitting at their house?

David Bricker / SYR

 

[sidewaysstarion]

Gomer, the SoCal whore Jeep. Is there anyone who hasn't either driven it or had it sitting at their house?

David Bricker / SYR

:wave1: But I have towed it a hundred or so miles.

 

[Bent]

Looks good to me, run it some more.

Just run 30w in the radiator, right?

 

[Anak]

Gomer, the SoCal whore Jeep. Is there anyone who hasn't either driven it or had it sitting at their house?

David Bricker / SYR

I don't think I have ever even been at the same event as Gomer. Gomer is one of the builds that I am curious to see, being of the AX-15 persuasion and seriously considering one of Russ's strokers.

 

[Johnnie Walker]

Time for one of Russ P's strokers?

 

[David_Bricker]

I don't think I have ever even been at the same event as Gomer. Gomer is one of the builds that I am curious to see, being of the AX-15 persuasion and seriously considering one of Russ's strokers.

Gomer will be back down in the LA basin later this summer. We'll have to make it a point for you to drive it.

David Bricker / SYR

 

[Anak]

I would appreciate that.

The low end torque, which I understand was the goal with that motor, is very much in line with my style.

 

[GSequoia]

Gomer is damn difficult to stall with that engine. When Gomer gets down here David's going to need to fly out for AAT.

 

[GSequoia]

So as is fairly common knowledge us Armstrongs are pretty well known for having dodgy tires. I got great life out of my Maxxis Bighorns but, after ten years, I know they were on seriously borrowed time (not to mention that once the hit about eight years old I stopped rotating them so the fronts were worn down badly).

Knowing this I bought a set of Goodyear MT/Rs for the Jeep and let them season for awhile in my side yard while I lined up wheels. Each trip out I'd say to myself "that's the last trip on these tires" and then, inevitably, I wouldn't get around to the job. Well on the drive out to September Adopt-A-Trail work my hand was forced...

So I deiced to take a day off work coupled with a half day and take care of a few issues on the Jeep before the October Adopt-A-Trail work last weekend. I started out with a bit of fun with teflon, rubber, and oil.

While I was in there I drilled and tapped it, of course. I have no immediate plans for hydro assist but it is a do-want for the future. This is actually my second steering box rebuild, the first box I did was a horror show and developed an odd leak from the top cover and never did feel right. I don't know what the original owner did to the box but it was so messed up that I had to really wail on it to take it apart, even.

While I was at it I tossed a new pump in since the old one had seen low oil on more occasions than are smart (one of which was an extended run in Death Valley).

I buttoned the new box up, adjusted it, and put everything back together. Since I was taking wheels off anyway I decided to replace my brake fluid using my new pressure bleeder.

Man I should have bought one of these a long time ago, it really made bleeding a breeze for a one person job. Now time to get the new wheels and tires on and I should be ready for some AAT work! Rears went on well and as I was tightening the lugs on the front right I noticed an oddity.



Crap. That ain't right. Over to the left wheel, same issue. Some backstory here... Earlier this year I had noticed an intermittent noise coming from the front end that sounded a lot like bearings so in April I installed a pair of Timken unit bearings since they have a good reputation. A few days later I heard the noise again and figured it wasn't a bearing and chased it around, I looked at all the normal stuff but didn't find it, figured I'd bump into it in time since I had already cleared all the important stuff.

As I tore it down I found the castle and cotter pin on the axle nut just as they should be. When I installed it I torqued the nut down to the factory spec of 170 ft-pounds, after I removed the pin and castle I found the nut to be finger tight on both sides. Clearly either the bearing races were too soft and compressed or the bearings were set in crooked. After I removed the nut I was able to pull the hub apart with very light force of hand.

That killed any chance of AAT work. I ended up cancelling my attendance and focused on getting this old junk back together. I bought a new set of unit bearings locally, installed them, and buttoned it back up. I even took the time to center my steering wheel, a project I'd been meaning to complete for a couple months.

All set, took the Jeep out Sunday night and it felt great! I did find a weird steering phenomonon when cycling between left and right but quickly diagnosed it to having installed a steering stabilizer for the first time in ten years. :listenmus

 

[GSequoia]

Today I had an afternoon appointment down by the house that ended up being pushed until later. I suddenly found myself at home with about 2.5 hours to spare so figured I'd take care of one last project on the Jeep.

Back in 2002 when I put my first lift on the Jeep I broke my passenger side sway bar bracket off. Since I didn't weld I drove it around without a sway bar until 2004 when I swapped a different axle in. I ran that until 2006 when I built these axles for my 35s, using my original D30 with the broken bracket. Since I still didn't weld then I just coped with no sway bars, whatevs.

Well the other day I happened to pump into the broken off sway bar bracket and decided today was the day to fix it. I'll probably be swapping away from this housing pretty soon but I'll enjoy flat turning until then, at least.

Cleaning up the stub.

Burn, baby, burn! After welding it back up I put a band-aid over the ouchie to help. Not quite the best job but it ought to be good enough.

Now the Jeep has a steering stabilizer, a sway bar, the previously installed Currie steering, and working power steering. So now I guess I can ignore that part of the Jeep for another ten years.

Next up (eventually) will be bushings all around. It never really ends.

 

[Anak]

Nice spiffy new shoes.

Cool.

The issue with the Timken bearings piques my interest. I have something just barely loose in my front end. If I hit rough pavement at 70+ I get DW. I had mentally ruled out unit bearings because I am running a pair of Timkens which I put in last January. I am going to have to revisit my assumptions on that issue.

 

[GSequoia]

Nice spiffy new shoes.

Cool.

The issue with the Timken bearings piques my interest. I have something just barely loose in my front end. If I hit rough pavement at 70+ I get DW. I had mentally ruled out unit bearings because I am running a pair of Timkens which I put in last January. I am going to have to revisit my assumptions on that issue.

I suggest pulling the wheels, removing the pins and castles, and checking that nut. Sidewaysstarion had the exact same issue with a set, as well.

 

[Anak]

Will do.

Thank you.

 

[GSequoia]

I realized that I never updated this thread with my findings in the engine from a few months ago.

I started by pulling the harmonic balancer off so I could take a look at the timing set. If you've ever had a hard time getting the balancer off without the engine turning (especially when you don't have spark plugs or a head on) I'll show you an old trick I learned years ago. Take a 10" crescent wrench and open the jaws such that they'll grab the spokes of the balancer. Now jam the tang of the tool under the radiator support so that it cannot turn.

This also works to hold it in place when you're removing the pulley.

The timing set itself looked good but I did find that my bumper was broken.

So I found that I had no hole in there causing the oil and coolant mixture. I still don't know exactly where that came from.

Next up came removing the oil pan. What I found in there was no surprise.

#3 piston

What do you do when you're sending an old friend off to the great beyond? Toast with whiskey, of course.

That's pretty much where it sits now. Instead of taking further action on this engine I'm building another.

I got a call form my dad that he had to move. He has a few dead vehicles I had to move so I borrowed Mark Nelson's Superduty and rented a U-Haul tow dolly locally to get it done. As long as I was in the neighborhood I swing by Asa's to pick up a complete engine from a '97 to base my new powerplant on.

When i got home I had to unload. Being in a hurry and by myself I had to be a little creative in the process. I started by backing his truck up to mine. I was pretty surprised how close the tailgate height was between a 2003 4x4 Superduty and a 1971 2WD F250. The Superduty feels so much taller I was expecting a larger gap.

I had loaded the engine onto an old 31" tire for damping that sat on a long pallet that Mark graciously donated so it was as simple as getting into the bed and sliding it out of his truck and into mine.

Since I had some stuff in the truck (AAT tools and my hoist) I had to get the trusty Sawzall out to shorten the pallet, yay free firewood!

(on a side note I looked all over for my cordless sawzall and ended up taking the corded one out. Of course as I put it away I found the cordless one right next to where I had picked the corded one up from!).

I figured I could keep it stashed in my truck for a couple weeks until I had time to deal with it. Then I remembered I had two 65" televisions in storage that had to go to work the first week of January. Damnit. Had to move on it now.

Out comes another old trick. How to unload a Jeep 4.0 by yourself. Start by pushing the engine out to the tip of the tailgate (luckily '71 F250 tailgates have a 2000 pound rating!). Then put the engine stand bracket on.

Next put the engine stand onto the bracket then pull the truck forward down the driveway such that the wheels just touch down.

Last - Pull!

The engine is safely in my garage. The next step I did was to call Russ Pottenger.

 

[Anak]

Does this mean a stroker is in your future?