Ben and Kami’s TJ Overhaul

RockChucker

Well-Known Member
Location
Highland
I think this needs to come back up to the top for some updates. It has been a year since you tore it apart for the motor. Did you get that worked out and get your trans working right?
 

benjy

Rarely wrenches
Supporting Member
Location
Moab
I think this needs to come back up to the top for some updates. It has been a year since you tore it apart for the motor. Did you get that worked out and get your trans working right?

Great timing to bring this back up! After a successful IVF attempt in May (twin girls due next month), I started tinkering with it again. Trans issue was fixed by replacing the valve body with a new unit from TCI. I had it out to the dunes on a family trip plagued with fuel delivery issues. Finally discovered blocked fuel lines (pre filter saved my butt), and now she's running great! The power can be downright scary. It has really highlighted the need for a good shock tuning session. Wheeling the auto has been a huge transition. I feel like I lost some finesse by dropping the clutch, but I'm going to try a different torque converter to see if that's the problem.

Had it out to the snakes for the last two weekends, and it is a ton of fun! I spun my passenger side tube on the front 60, and lost the yukon super joint on the driver's side (you can hear it go in the video). I've got some work before the next outing. But we also picked up a JKUR for light wheeling next summer with the girls.

[video=youtube;BRUqfuWXAbw]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BRUqfuWXAbw[/video]

Funny side note - Apparently after the original tear down I never hooked back up the booster. No wonder it was so hard to stop! The auto really pronounced that issue, but now I think the booster is dead.
 

Coco

Well-Known Member
Location
Lehi, UT
It was fun riding with you a couple weekends ago! The rig is a LOT of fun! Just riding in it you can tell it has power!
 

UFAB

Well-Known Member
Location
Lehi Ut
Any luck with the dash. I am serious thinking about ditching my dash and girly genright A pillar cage supports.

Possibly new cage as well.

I have had fuel problems hit and miss. I am building new fuel cell with integrated surge tank. 1 low pressure high volume pump and two bosch 044 pumps submerged.





Sent from my SPH-L720 using Tapatalk 2
 

benjy

Rarely wrenches
Supporting Member
Location
Moab
Any luck with the dash. I am serious thinking about ditching my dash and girly genright A pillar cage supports.

Possibly new cage as well.

I have had fuel problems hit and miss. I am building new fuel cell with integrated surge tank. 1 low pressure high volume pump and two bosch 044 pumps submerged.

I heard you're the guy to talk to about my spun tube. Can I just bring a housing in to you? How much $, and what should I do before I bring it in? Obviously remove shafts, but I assume knuckles also?

My dash is pretty blah, but the old TJ dash was falling apart. If you build a nice AL dash or something, post up your ideas, I might have you build a second one for me at the same time.

With my fuel issue, as soon as I suck air into the system, it won't run until I pull the line off the fuel rail and let the pump run a couple times. Then I hook it back up and it runs great. I guess I need to do something fancier than a tube that just dangles in the tank.
 

benjy

Rarely wrenches
Supporting Member
Location
Moab
Not much new... Just general maintenance. We moved to St. George last summer, and ended up wheeling it more last fall than we had in quite awhile. The girls have really been loving the jeep, so we took it out like 6 or 7 weekends in a row, then we did Hump and Bump in Logandale, which was an awesome event. Our trans had been having difficulty engaging, and as we loaded it on the trailer to go home it gave up the ghost completely. Had it rebuilt in December, finally getting around to installing it now.

It's always bugged me that it wasn't clocked flat and we didn't have a true flat belly, so I decided to reclock the atlas while it was out.

img_20160310_101831611.jpg

However, that means I'm going to have to cut out a bigger hole. Any advice on mending this? Last time I just formed some sheet metal with a hammer and riveted it down, but it's going to be bigger this time :-\

img_20160310_101849337.jpg

I went to pull it off to bolt the torque converter to the flywheel, and forgot that the bolt won't clear the exhaust. Our starter solenoid has been really finicky lately, so I needed a new one anyway.

img_20160310_101458409.jpg

I found a starter that doesn't have a bolt through the whole body of the starter on the passenger side. And tonight I'll cut out the bolt on the old one.

unnamed.jpg

Favorite pic from HnB. The girls were actually in the jeep for this. We take them out if we think it's too sketchy. This one didn't seem too bad but the guy after us flopped kinda hard :eek:

12244682_1059676094066847_1661212117911495516_o.jpg
 

Greg

Make RME Rockcrawling Again!
Admin
The TJ is looking great Ben & Kami! That's a killer pic!!

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RockChucker

Well-Known Member
Location
Highland
I feel your floor pain. I bet you have to clearance it all the way to the gas pedal to make room for the drive shaft. I redid (was talked into it) my whole floor and had to do a two piece shaft up front.
 

N-Smooth

Smooth Gang Founding Member
Location
UT
^ I pieced together my own kit with 3 Walbro pickups and it works great. I ran it down to like 1/2" of fuel and it was still running great.
 
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