Andrew's Yellow Jeep Build.

Amills60 wrote:Installing the new starter in just a few minutes.

Easy peasy install. Have fun!

Well the install was easy, but the starter wasn't the problem... I'm out of words right now. Still making the same sound, it's got to be inside the transmission.... $@&?

What is it doing Andrew?

I now have a loud screeching coming from the jeep which initially though was the starter. After tonight's new starter install, the screeching is still there. Someone on the run yesterday mentioned the flywheel. By the looks of it, i need to take the transmission out again, thats ok because im like a professional at taking the transmission out and then putting it all back together. This couldnt have come at a worse time, i got finals and a few papers i gotta write with in the next 2 weeks, and 2 jobs on top of that. Looks like im gonna be walking/running, gives me a good opportunity to get back in shape. Not sure when she is going to be up and running again, hope it is sooner than later.

When did this happen

It started making a slight screeching noise at start up back just before thanksgiving. Much worse now

Maybe you can remove the bolts that hold the shield to the bell housing down by the lower rear section of the oil pan and look inside.
Did you dent in the shield so that it is hitting flywheel.
bell housing bolts loose by some chance ? You say it is a scraping noise, It sounds like it it something in that area. Trail debris in there? where crank sensor is mounted .
Is clutch working ok ? and does noise change at all when you depress clutch?

Well, in the upcoming months i will be replacing 2 frame sections, rebuilding the transmission, buying a new battery, and doing a couple axle swaps.

Got a quote at a local junkyard for an 8.8 out of a '99 V8 explorer for $175 w/3.73's. Obviously the gears will change.

what are you putting in for gears

If my bank account will let me do all the upgrades i want at once, then ill do 4.88 gears and run 35's, if not im thinking 4.10's and sticking with my 33's for a bit. Its probably a horrible idea to plan on doing axle re-gears twice, 4.10's then once i have the money for 35's go to 4.88's. I think i might still hold off on the transmission rebuild until the fall, it definitely needs to be rebuilt before next winter, she doesn't like the cold with hardly any synchro's.

If you are going with 410s for now then maybe buy an 8.8 that already has 410s, that would save you a bit of dough .

If you go to 35 tires you also "should" look into brake upgrades. The easiest of which is Black magic pads and rotors, and if you get an 8.8 with discs you are already upgrading your rear brakes. If you decide to upgrade the front you can either swap your knuckles (this only works if you use a D30 high or low pinion) With a set of WJ knuckles and use the WJ calipers and put the TJ hub back in, OR Vanco makes a kit called "The Vanco Big Brake Kit" but that is an expensive upgrade.

LUK clutch or a Centerforce clutch? The jeep is headed to the transmission shop hopefully at the beginning of next week. Transmission is getting rebuilt.

Your call Andrew, I installed a genuine jeep clutch assy about 60 k miles ago and all is great.
When I worked at Domenic's jeep we only installed factory clutches.
Do you know anybody that has had luck with a luk clutch? they're probably fine.
What you don't want is a clutch that makes it constantly hard to push the pedal in,(too strong of a pressure plate spring) you will suffer from left leg fatigue in the trails and in heavy traffic.
If your gearing is low enough you wiil have less friction and less heat at the clutch because you won't have to slide the clutch as much to take off, that applies to heavy stop and go traffic and the trails where nothing cools off because of slow speeds and little air flow..
Heat kills clutches.

Thought I'd share some updated pics just because I haven't posted in my own thread in a while, im sure most of you have seen these on facebook or instgram.

Hey Andrew,, how did the jeep do in the sand?

Mark wrote:Hey Andrew,, how did the jeep do in the sand?

Welcome back Mark!
The jeep did great in the sand, i aired down to about 10-12 psi everytime i went out. The jeep never wanted to stop!

The latest: Got some MT/R's, much needed.

how easy/hard was balancing the tires? i havent had good luck with balancing. might try road force but it atleast $100 around here for all 5 tires.

eldomi809 wrote:how easy/hard was balancing the tires? i havent had good luck with balancing. might try road force but it atleast $100 around here for all 5 tires.

They were ok, I think they are all about a 1/4-1/2 an ounce off. I think I am going to get them rebalanced though after I put a couple hundred miles on them. I know some people with shops around here that help me out. It's nice to get a discount

I do have some shimmy after about 50 mph, but anything under 50 is really smooth. It's not shimmy in the steering, but shimmy in the body/frame. I do need to get another section of my frame fixed due to rot, as well as the body mounts plates on the underside of the body. I'm hoping that will tighten everything up once that is all fixed. I almost think I might have a bent rim, but I would think that I would feel shimmy sooner than 50 MPH. We are dealing with mud tires here, so I guess it could be a number of things.

Was it like that with the old tires? Are those the same rims?

Well, the jeep needs a ton of work. The frame needs to be repaired yet again. It is to the point where it is simply just frustrating.

I have ideas of doing a rebuild in 2015. Frame swap, tube fenders, SYE, driveshafts, Monster line the complete outside and inside of the jeep, axle swaps, and 35's. But then I think of all that and say to myself, shit that's a lot of money. It would be nice if I could get that all done at once. Even just a quick frame swap and axle swaps done in 1 weekend. Although I doubt that will happen.

In other news, the jeep hit 175K the other day and it runs like new.

At some point you have to decide if it's worth all of the work. I think if I was at that point I may consider a JK.

I agree with Shaun you gotta start to consider if you'll ever get your moneys worth.  Obviously when we do these mods we don't expect to get back even close to every dollar we spend, but there is still something to say bout dumping a ton of cash into a decade and a half old vehicle that keeps rotting

Would you consider looking for a jeep thats been in an accident? Maybe just has bent axle, CA's, steering and other slight damage but frame is still good? You could start swapping your quality parts onto a good building block and be comfortable knowing you won't have more problems 5-10 years down the road