Another Scrambler Purchase/Road Trip - UPDATE- BODY ON FRAME AGAIN

[spankrjs]

One more thing I wanted to fix on this one before I start working on either my green Scrambler or my Spring Special again.

When I was in Michigan, sometimes when I would turn the key, to either start or shut down, it would not respond correctly, like something was slipping momentarily. A very strange feeling with the ignition key.

When I rebuilt this Scrambler, I never rebuilt the steering column, everything worked fine at the time. Well, seeing as I just upgraded the lower steering column bearing, what better time to rebuild this column. I have worked on plenty of tilt columns, but I never have dug deep into a non-tilt column.

I took lot's of pictures, it is fairly simple to rebuild a non-tilt column. Here we go.

NON-TILT Column Rebuild
​

I knew that the turn signal switch was cracked, so I bought that part ahead of time. I also "assumed" that maybe I had a problem with the sector/lock rack, so I also bought these as replacements. I ended up having to buy a new key cylinder, too, more on that later.

Disconnect your battery first. Trust me on this.

Parts I bought:





Remove horn button, it just pulls off (mine is a "Base" model steering wheel).





Remove the three screws, and the horn stuff comes off. I also removed the nut so that I could pull the steering wheel.



I used this cheap steering wheel puller, works fine.





Once the wheel is off, gently pry off this plastic dust cover.



Note how dirty everything is. A word of warning - every steering column I have pulled apart is disgusting inside.

Now to the fun part, the lock plate.



Using this compressor tool, the lock plate comes off easy.

 

[spankrjs]

Install the compressor tool like so, so that it pushes the lock plate inward.



You push the plate inward so that you can remove this little PIA circle clip.



Once the clip is off, you can remove the tool and the plate will move outward and can be pulled off by hand.



With the plate removed, note the splines on the steering shaft. The lock plate will only go back on one way. Make note of this. You can see the gap in the splines where the corresponding part of the lock plate must align with.

Not pictured, but pull off the canceling cam and the spring that is behind it. These two items are directly behind the lock plate.



You can now see the Turn Signal (TS) switch.



Remove the screw from the turn signal lever, unscrew the hazard switch, and remove both items.



Get down to the bottom of the column, inboard side, unplug the harness connector from the TS switch harness.



My turn signals still worked fine, but they would not always turn off by themselves. The plastic part of the switch breaks over time.

 

[spankrjs]

Once unplugged, and the three screws removed, you can pull the turn signal switch/wire harness out of the column.



Once the TS switch is out, this is what you will see.



To remove the key cylinder, insert a thin screw driver into the slot and depress the tab on the cylinder. Hard to see, but the thin vertical slot next to the screw hole at the one o'clock position.



The cylinder can then be pulled out.



I later found out that my problem was with the key cylinder. It was wore out. It would no longer go to the "Accessory" position, and was very loose. It actually fell apart in my hands while I was messing with it.

If you only need to change out the TS switch or key cylinder, this is a far as you need to go. BUT, it is not much more difficult to ttake it the rest of the way down of you have a problem with the upper column bearing, sector, or lock rack. I kept going.

Next, unbolt the Ignition Switch from the bottom of the column, out board side, and lift it off the remote rod. You can unplug the IS from the harness connector to make it easier on your self. The IS is the gold thing below the big rusty spring, two bolts hold it to the column.



Take out these four screws, they have hex heads in the picture below.



The service manual says you have to remove the whole column from the vehicle, BUT you don't have to. Just remove the four screws that hold the column up, and you will have enough room to pull the shroud, with remote rod still attached, from the vehicle. Two bolts on each side of the column, going vertical into a steel plate, NOT the two that are on each side of the column.



With the shroud screws removed, and the four bolts, you can carefully pull the upper column from the vehicle. Be careful with the remote rod, don't bend it. This is the rod that plugs into the IS .While you are pulling the column outward, grab the loose plate (that the four bolts go int), and move it out of the way. It sounds way harder than it actually is.

You are left with this: a hollow tube and the steering shaft, very dusty/dirty.



The big piece you just pulled out:



The big piece on the seat is two separate parts, held together by three screws. You need a long screw driver to take them out. Before you do, put some tape on the two outer parts and mark the alignment. You don't have to, they only fit together one way, but it will make life easier.

 

[spankrjs]

Once the three screws are removed, you are left with this:



Remove the thumb release lever and spring.



Don't lose this wave washer that site on top of the release lever. Mine was hidden in old grease/crud.



You can then remove the lock rack and plunger thingy.



And this spring tab.



Use a punch and a hammer, easily/carefully remove the sector from its shaft, driving it out through the key cylinder hole in the housing.



Carefully pry up the bearing retainer plate, where my screw driver is pointing. It is not hard, does not take much force, be careful.



The upper steering column bearing pulls out by hand.



And you now have all this stuff all over the tailgate. That's it, nothing more to take apart. Not too bad.



In the pic above, you can see my tape alignment marks, and i cleaned all the old parts up.

New sector on right, old one on the left. The teeth on the old one are smaller then the new one, BUT there is no real damage or wear evident. I ended up installing the new parts, but the old ones are fine. Sometimes the plastic teeth shear off this sector gear, or the aluminum rack can break.



Up next, reassembly.

 

[spankrjs]

Reassembly time.

The factory service manual says to use chassis grease on any moving parts. If you do, you will be smelling chassis grease inside the vehicle. I am not saying this is the best/correct stuff to use, but this is what I use inside the steering columns. It does not have a strong petroleum smell like wheel bearing/u-joint grease has. Nothing inside the column is really under any load/spins fast, you just need grease to keep everything moving freely.

Anyway, I use this stuff:





I packed the upper stearing column bearing with grease, after thoroughly cleaning it out. It was full of old grease, dust, dirt, etc. It is still nice and tight, spins freely, good to go.



Inserted into the column. It will only go in one way.



The retaining plate has a slight bevel on one side. I took a picture. But, in reality, it will only go in one way, so you don't have to worry about putting it in backwards.



Bearing retainer plate installed.



I used a hammer and punch to drive the new sector gear on to its shaft. It drives on relatively easy, you don't have to beat the crap out of it. MAke note of its direction.



I installed the little spring tab next. It is the rusty metal strip under the sector gear.




Assemble the rack and lock rod like so. Make sure the lock rod is free from burrs, nicks, rust, etc. Also, make sure its bore is clean and lightly greased. This is the part that locks the wheel when the ignition is locked. Basically, this little rod slides through its bore and engages into one of the many holes in the lock plate. This is why, sometimes, you have to turn the steering wheel a little bit to get the wheel to "lock". This rod has to engage in one of the lock plate holes. If your steering wheel doesn't lock, look for problems here. Sometimes, a bit of spray lube on this rod, working it back and forth with a screw driver, will get it sliding freely through its bore. The OEM grease gets old/hard/sticky, dirt gets in the bore, etc.



The most critical step: When you slide the lock rack into the column, the sector gear has to be sitting like so when you are done. This is the "Off" position IIRC.

 

[spankrjs]

Inside the column, the sector gear will be in the position as pictured above, the lock rack like this: Big tooth on sector shaft inside big notch on lock rack. VERY CRITICAL. If you do not get these two parts installed correctly/correct orientation, bad doo-doo.



Install this little spring on its post.



Install the release lever thing like so:



Make sure the spring is like so:



The release lever will be sitting on the back of the lock rack like so:



In my opinion, this is where the Factory service manual is WRONG. They say to screw the two shroud pieces together next.



BUT, if you do, it is about impossible to get the remote rod installed. So, install the remote rod first. The short nub end goes onto the lock rack like so:



Then, place the three screws inside their holes next. It is hard to reach these screws, the lower shroud part is DEEP. You need a long, long screw driver.



And the two parts screwed together. Note the alignment tape. Not necessary, but why not. Also, note the remote rod orientation, make sure you don't have it upside down or backward!!! Long screw driver pictured.



I then stock this washer thing over the top of the upper column bearing. The grease will keep it from falling out.



Before proceeding any further, make sure that your sector gear is on the correct orientation, the remote rod is correct, and your lock pin is sticking out like so. Also, make sure your Ignition Switch is still in the correct "OFF" position.

 

[spankrjs]

Next, bolt the shroud back on to the column, with its four screws. Be careful when installing the shroud back on the column, guide the remote rod, don't let it get bent. With the four bolts out of the column, it "hanging" down, pretty easy to install it.



Push the key cylinder in next. It's little tab will pop out and lock it into place. Put the key cylinder in the "OFF" position, it will slide right in.



Next, make sure the Ignition Switch is in the "OFF" position. Slide the remote rod into the hole in the bottom of the IS, then bolt the switch to the column with the two attaching screws. It should all line up and bolt right on. If Not, something is in the wrong position.

Don't lose one of the screws like I did and waste two hours looking for it all over the garage floor, when in fact it popped out, bounced off the fire wall, and is sitting on the ledge on the back side of the dash plate!!!!!!!!!



At this stage, STOP.

Hook up the battery, and try to start the vehicle up. As long as the sector/rack, key cylinder, and Ignition switch are installed correctly, all of your functions should work:

Accessory
Lock
Off
Run
Start

If everything is working correctly, proceed. IF not, then something is not installed correctly. Go back now and figure it out before proceeding.

This is when I found out my key cylinder was bad. It would not go into the Accessory position. I installed a new key cylinder, everything worked as it should.


Before installing the new Turn Signal switch, I removed the two "auto transmission column mounted indicator light" wires. Not necessary, but I don't need them, I have a manual transmission. You can leave them in place, does not matter.



Slide in the switch harness, plug it into the chassis plug, hook it on to its bracket on the steering column.



Install its three retaining screws.



At this point, STOP.

Hook up the battery, make sure all your turn signals/hazards function as they should. If so, disconnect the battery again, proceed.


Bolt on the turn signal lever, screw in the hazard knob, install the lock plate spring.



Slide on the cancelling cam. NOTE - it needs to be put in a certain position to correctly align with the lock plate. REMEMBER, the lock plate has a gap in the splines. There is also a hole in the lock plate for this thing to stick through. You will see what I mean when you reinstall the lock plate.



Note the gap in the splines on the lock plate. This aligns with a gap in the splines on the steering shaft.



Slide on the lock plate, twist the cancelling cam into position, like so. It should all slide together. If you have to force the lock plate on, it is NOT lined up with the splines correctly.

 

[spankrjs]

Reinstall the lock plate compressor tool, compress lock plate.



It only compresses so far. With it compressed correctly, you will see the groove where the snap ring goes.



Install snap ring.



Remove the compressor tool, reinstall dust cover.



Slide the steering wheel into position, tighten its retaining nut.



Install this weird horn washer thingy.



Screw the rest of the horn contactor part on like so:



Hook up battery. If horn functions like it should, proceed.

Reinstall horn button.



Make sure you bolt the column back into position with its four bolts. Reinstall the plastic piece that screws to the dash around the base of the steering column.

If your a redneck like me, reinstall your steering column mounted tachometer with its giant hose clamp.

FINISHED.



Mission accomplished.

All key functions work.
All turn signals/hazards work
Turn signals switch off like they should when cornering.
Steering wheel "locks".

All in all, about a four hour job. Its not too hard. I recommend a factory service manual to help you out. Also, take notes/picture while you are taking things apart to make sure you get it back together correctly.

This non-tilt was a piece of cake compared to an automatic/tilt column!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

That's it for now

 

[sdsupilot]

Great write up (as usual). I don't think the tilt is THAT much more complicated, I've never done an auto column though. You just have to pull the two pressed in pivot points, and tilt the assembly up until the spring flies out. Ironically I pulled my tilt/manual column apart today to tighten up the tilt assembly.

 

[spankrjs]

Not a technical update, but took this one wheeling this weekend, first time it has been really off-road since Michigan last August

Went to a place over in Alabama called Boggs and Boulders. Yes, lots of mud, but some rock trails and easy to moderate trails, too. We stayed out of the big mud pits, but all the recent rain made even the easy trails super slick.

We like our mud holes big in the dirty south LOL:



Me and another guy in a 2 Door JK Rubicon drove around for about 9 hours, had a blast. Never got stuck, but like I said, I know enough about this place to stay out of the big mud holes!!!

With both of us having 6 cylinders and 4:1 low range, wasn't too much mud slinging going on, Four Low, 2nd-3rd gear most of the day, barely any tire spinning action, which was good, Jeep stayed pretty clean. Was able to wash most of the mud out at the park before heading home.

Broke 40,000 miles since the "rebuild" on this trip



Need to finish cleaning it up this week, get ready for a trip to SMORE in a few months; then the National ride in June, then Michigan in August

Need to go wheeling more, that's it for now

 

[Randyzzz]

Nice tutorial! Last time I was in a Scrambler column, I removed that lever you have to push down to get the key out. Always hated that thing.

 

[mhinchliffe]

Spanks, I've decided that you're the Bob Ross of Scramblers. Your posts are the best.

 

[Ron84cj]

Spanks, I've decided that you're the Bob Ross of Scramblers. Your posts are the best.

 

[spankrjs]

View attachment 79434

Well, I'm about to post up a whole bunch more happy pictures!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[spankrjs]

I have been working on my CJ-7 so much that I almost forgot about my Scramblers!!!!!!!!!

And, since everything is kind of "doom and gloom", I'll post up a million more pictures of mundane stuff!!!!!!!!!!

I need to get the Red Scrambler ready for the National ride. The only thing currently broken on it: the 4.0 header/exhaust manifold. While I "need" to fix that, there are a few other things I "want" to do, so, here goes.

Red Scrambler back in the garage:



It is not necessary, but it is so much easier to get to the 4.0 header bolts by removing the fender. Took about an hour to pull the fender off, well worth it IMO:



Almost 10 years of driving/wheeling, no gasket of any kind, paint against paint, no rust:



Unplugging a bunch of wires, vacuum hoses, fuel lines, etc. to pull the intake out of the engine bay:



Easy to get to the manifold bolts with the fender missing:



One of the many cracks (rusty line above the weld):



One hour of work, a few tools, the fender out of the way makes this task so much nicer:

 

[spankrjs]

Some of the parts I completely removed:



Other things, there was enough slack in the wires/hoses to simply move them out of the way:





With a header on a 4.0, some of these bolts are real fun to get to if the fender is still in place:



Another crack visible:



Intake and exhaust have been liberated:



Some more cracks:

 

[spankrjs]

And one more crack:



Now, besides this probably being a crappy header, two other potential issues:

1) I smash into stuff with my tail pipe and muffler. My muffler looks worse then many people's skid plates. This is not conducive to long manifold life. I should drive better.

2) I will explore adding another hanger near the manifold, and maybe a flex joint, to take some strain off the manifold. I have a hanger right behind the muffler, no cat, so the manifold is only holding up 2'-2.5' of pipe. Maybe another hanger/flex joint would help?

Bare block:



I have been using these stainless ARP bolts, with anti sieze, love them. Slightly smaller head allows smaller socket/wrenches to more easily get into tight spaces:





The bolts I am using take a 3/8" socket/wrench, much better then a 9/16":



Got a call to go get some junk parts, so stopped what I was doing and picked up some treasures:



A spare vapor canister off of a 4.0 YJ. These things are impossible to find new, good spare to have.

More importantly, a complete 4.0 YJ air box assembly:



I am missing this plastic block off plate, will either make one or go junkyard diving:



Since it was nice weather, cleaned a bunch of parts:





I was happy to see how well my YJ treasures cleaned up with only soap and water, look almost new!!

 

[jak inc]

Wow, how many miles are on that header? Do they always fail that quickly?

 

[spankrjs]

When I installed this header, I noted that the header flange was fatter then the intake flange. To make up the difference, I used a 4.2 intake gasket on top of the 4.0 exhaust gasket, worked perfectly.



Using the new "replacement stock manifold", I only will need the regular 1 piece 4.0 gasket.



I used this Felpro part#:



I purchased a Dorman brand replacement manifold from NAPA:



This was the best "bang for the buck". Cost around $175, has a warranty, so i can keep breaking them and exchanging them.

Came with a manifold, crappy gasket, collector gasket/bolts:



This manifold has these "accordions", supposed to prevent cracking from thermal expansion/contraction. Will probably not help with my driving:



Hope its "clean":



The gasket it came with is pure paper. The Felpro gasket I used has metal around the exhaust ports:



Looks like the collectors almost fall in exactly the same spot:



Wiped the head off, ready for install:

 

[spankrjs]

Wow, how many miles are on that header? Do they always fail that quickly?

Maybe 10,000. A bunch of local riding, plus a few long cross country trips, i.e. to Hurricane, Utah, Michigan, etc.