Project Red Roof Inn

[BigDaveZJ]

Just buttoned the diff back up with new axle seals and a new Lube Locker. New steering brace comes in a couple days, going to pick up a new Waggy box at the same time, hopefully get this thing driving better on the road. Have quite a laundry list of things I WANT to do to it over the winter, but once the new box is in it's ready to go wheeling.

[Ted_Z]

If you get a JY box, you can rebuild it for about $20, and tap for hydro at the same time. After tearing a steering box apart, it is a lot less intimidating.

[BigDaveZJ]

I've already got my old Waggy box that I was going to use as a core, where did you find a rebuild kit?

[Ted_Z]

www.Rockauto.com

EDELMANN 8522 Power Steering Repair Kit $18.47

Comes with bearings and seals.

[BigDaveZJ]

Sweet! Amazon has it on Prime too for the exact same price as Rock Auto w/ shipping, so I get it in 2 days instead of a week. Thanks!

[BigDaveZJ]

Had my old waggy box and the PSC. Followed some write up on PBB and snapped the adjuster screw on both of them trying to take it apart. Didn't even really need to take that part off to get it out, guess that's what I get for following a write up on the internet. Working on trying to find out if I can replace the adjuster or just grab a new sector shaft from a junkyard box.



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[Ted_Z]

Weird, that's a new failure to me, looks like it broke right at the hex key.

When I took my box apart, I just removed the 4 bolts on the adjuster plate and removed the plate, screw and sector shaft all together.

[BigDaveZJ]

Yeah I found out later that's how you do it, the writeup I found said to use the adjuster screw to remove the sector shaft. I might just grab another box from a yard and use that sector shaft.

[BigDaveZJ]

Finished rebuilding the box tonight. Really wasn't as bad as I expected once I figured out what I was doing. Installed the new Ironman steering brace when I put the box in. Takes a little finagling on a ZJ as beat as mine to get it all lined up but it's pretty beefy and I like the little touches like the set screws to keep the pitman arm nut from backing out.



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[BigDaveZJ]

Got everything back together this afternoon. Also put the little spacer on the tie rod/drag link joint that Ruff Stuff sells. Haven't gotten around to putting the sway bar back on yet, but drove it around the block and have to say the steering on my ZJ hasn't been that nice in a LONG time.

Thanks Ted for the advice on rebuilding the box too. It was certainly a learning experience and taking on something new, and saved me about $100 from buying a reman box that likely didn't replace the bearing on the sector shaft.

[BigDaveZJ]

Ordered up some more parts today to help get things ready for wheeling season. Got a new header panel and headlight assemblies, Rick is going to work his magic on those with his fancy lights so I can actually drive at night again. Prior to having the ARB I mashed the front end into a LOT of rocks, so everything there is loose and in poor condition. Looking forward to better lighting, and it'll be nice and protected with the ARB bull bar. Also ordered up the DCC controller and a Taurus fan so I can ditch the hydraulic fan.

Now I just need to get the Ty going so I can get it out of the shop and get to work on the ZJ.

[BigDaveZJ]

So in moving the ZJ around tonight to get my truck out I discovered my rear locker may not be working properly. Did the one wheel peel in the ice in the street in front of my house . . . guess I need to add that to the to-do list.

[biggoofy]

It's always something that's for sure.

[Kraqa]

i don't think the set-screw is to stop the nut from backing off. i think it is just a circumstance of the readily available nut.

i made my own support just like this one. the cheepest way is to start with a coupling nut and machine down the OD to fit the pillow block. the length of a standard coupling nut isn't long enough to have a hex portion to tighten and a post long enough to go through the entire pillow block. if not, then you would need to machine a totaly custom nut.

[BigDaveZJ]

Well the Ty is mostly running again, so I tore into the ZJ today.

Got the old fan and shroud out, piece of cake of course. Everyone says the Taurus fan is supposed to clip into the bottom of the rad, mine doesn't. Don't know WTF is going on there, can only figure the part I ordered (went new instead of JY) doesn't have everything that it's supposed to coming out of the car. So I started tearing the old header panel out so I can get the new one in. Had to cut the old one out since the ARB was in the way. That's not going to work when it comes time to put it all back together, so I guess I'll be dropping the bumper and winch at some point. Also need pretty much all new parts for the headlight mounting hardware. I only have 4 of the 6 mounting rods and none of the adjusters work. So that'll be fun.

[BigDaveZJ]

I had been getting ready to clean up and call it a day when I remembered the bolt that snapped off in the unibody when I was putting my swaybar back on. Tried to drill it out, and the bit actually went through the bolt pretty easy. Then the extractor snapped off in the bolt. FML.

[jsteves]

Well, shit...


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[Ted_Z]

Extractors are the devil.

[JohnBoulderCO]

Extractors are the devil.

[BigDaveZJ]

I've moved on from the swaybar mount as that's not a GSW necessity, but plan on going back to it if time allows.

My Taurus fan is almost done. Turns out the radiator I bought last summer doesn't have the lip that everyone else uses to mount their fan to. So I basically used the same method that most use for the top with aluminum strap, but instead of bolting the strap on the bottom it slides through the slots where the old shroud went. This way I can remove the fan without having to remove the radiator if needed. I still need to wire in the air conditioning piece to the DCC controller, and go back in and add the status light if I feel like it, but then the fan is done.

Went to the yard today too and managed to get every adjuster piece for the headlights on the header panel out of a ZJ without breaking a single one. So I'm going to clean those up and put some lithium grease in there to allow everything to move a little easier. Still need to pull the ARB off so I can put the new header panel on though. Best part was the cashier at the yard couldn't figure out what all of the parts were, so she let me have them for free. Also picked up the other end of the Taurus fan wiring harness so it's plugged in instead of hardwired in the event that I ever need to replace the fan.

I've got some pics I'll get up later.

[BigDaveZJ]

Pics.

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[BigDaveZJ]

Header panel is all set to go in with new headlight mounting posts and harness rewired to the factory style headlight plugs. Need to drop the ARB to get it in though, that'll suck. Have a couple of other little things to tighten up before GSW, but should be able to finish things off at a nice pace as there really isn't that much left.

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[BigDaveZJ]

New header panel in and ready for the new headlights. Got luck and didn't have to drop the bumper completely, just undid the top two bolts and loosened the bottom on each side and it rotated out of the way.


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[ELLLLLIOTTTTT]

Looking good! That ol' ZJ has lived at least 9 different lives since the JU days. Are there any original parts left besides the firewall?

[BigDaveZJ]

Firewall, most of the frame/body, tranny, most of the motor. I think at this point the only bolts I haven't touched are the tranny and bottom end of the motor.

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