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

[spankrjs]

We were talking about "lube" earlier, this is what I use for a lot of stuff. Kink of thick and sticky, so stay put:



This is the passenger side pivot, last lubed over 5 years ago, grease is still present.



Was able to install the wiper motor cover, after trimming the rubber grommet. When I fold the WS frame up or down, this cover makes light contact with the Rock Hard in cab cage lower WS bar. Just light rubbing, really:



Installed the intermittent wiper switch, plug and play on the rest of the wiring:



I installed my wiper arms like so, at rest.



Anyway, very happy to finally have 100% functional wipers in this Jeep, and the added intermittent function is a nice luxury

 

[spankrjs]

Next, back to the cooling system.

My bran new copper brass radiator came with a plastic plug, WTF? Close to 1/2" diameter:



I installed a metal drain valve, much happier about this:



I bought a new t-stat housing from Hesco, came drilled for a second temp sensor. You could probably do this yourself, but for $40 AND my most recent luck with drilling stuff, no brainer:



Plenty of room around both sensors, original ECM coolant temp sensor and the added VDO coolant temp sensor:





Installed:



Enough room to use a 1/4" drive socket to tighten down the sender and mounting bolt:



Should of been easy, but it was late and I was tired, so of course, leaking:



I condemned the t-stat housing gasket, but it was actually the upper hose, I did not have it on right/clamped properly LOL. So, wasted a few hours figuring out this mess.

Anyway, the new temp gauge works, the Mopar temp gauge works, and the scan toot temp gauge works LOL:





With it 91 outside, 100% humidity so it feels like 107, I am never running hotter then 212, so should be good to go.

 

[spankrjs]

I have had issues with my headlights wanting to be finicky over the years. So, finally installed some headlight relays. I took the easy way out, ordered a universal kit off of eBay, worked/installed great/easy:







Removed all the headlight stuff:



Marked the buckets to keep them straight, DS and PS:



The included harness:



To battery:



Relay plugs:



Original harness connector, and a headlight plug:



The other headlight plug:

 

[spankrjs]

Make sure your ground points are clean:



I taped up the one unused headlight plug to keep dirt out. IF I ever have a problem with this harness or relay, simple matter of plugging back in the OEM stuff.



I reinstalled the original harness ground eyelets with the new harness ground eyelets:



The relay harness plugs into the OEM harness at one of the headlight plugs. I plugged it into the PS headlight plug:



Then, the relay harness will plug into the headlights:



I wrapped all the relay harness with the black plastic wire loom, extra protection. From the passenger side:



Down along the bottom of the grill:



This is a universal harness, and it was plenty long going over to the DS. I could have cut it, but I was able to neatly loop it up, then down, perfect length:



Make sure you leave enough slack in the harness to plug it into the headlight once the bucket is reinstalled:



Again, I wrapped the wires in loom for protection:

 

[spankrjs]

Tidying up all the wires behind the PS headlight. I also have my winch battery cables running through here. Even if you had AC, still enough room in the grill for all this junk:



I had an existing hole in the PS inner fender near the solenoid, I used this to mount the included relay bracket:



I then looped the battery hook up eyelets up, then back down to the positive side of the solenoid. There is enough slack in the included harness to reach the battery, if you so desired. The last 6" of wire at the harness eyelets is fusible link wire. OK, but I would prefer fuses.



And the headlights work:



Not really sure if they are brighter, that really wasn't my intent. My stock headlights, adjusted to OEM spec, work great. The problems I was having: running all that current through crappy aftermarket headlight switches/dimmer switches. It is not uncommon for me to run this thing 8-10 hours straight with the headlights on, which puts a load on these parts, and my original wiring harness. The relays should help out!!!!!!!!

 

[spankrjs]

Been driving around a bunch this weekend, temp's are still good, happy about that!!



One thing I have not been happy about: I have an annoying ass squeak/groan sound that is driving me crazy!!!!!! You to just happen sometimes off-road, now it happens non-stop!!!!! After ripping the Jeep apart, finally found it: my steering column to fire wall seal has dried out, rubs the paint, makes a God awful sound!!!!!

Pulled it all to pieces:





The dried out seal:



The two brackets, with the offending seal removed:



Close up of the cracking:



Of course, I didn't have a spare, so I made one out of the same foam stuff I used on the heater box flaps:





Doesn't look the best, but fits and functions.





And the God awful squeak is gone!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I actually enjoy driving this Scrambler again. That annoying sound was driving me bat $hit crazy

 

[spankrjs]

I went to turn on the headlights today, no bueno, they did not work? What the hell!!

Turns out, my dimmer switch harness plug keeps sliding backwards off the dimmer switch. The aftermarket dimmer switches are too "short", the harness plug too long, so the little prongs on the harness plug do not securely snap onto the dimmer switches raised tabs:



So, I cut off the dimmer switch harness connector arms so it would slide all the way on to the dimmer switch. It fits tight, but you know me, let's go overkill, so I added to zip ties to bind the plug to the switch. No way it will slide off now!!!!!!!!



It's the little things!!!!!!!

Anyway, besides an alignment/tire balance (don't really have any "pull" or vibration, so I might skip it), this one should hopefully be ready for SandBlast



Kind of funny, sometimes it takes planning to go on a long trip to get off my butt and fix nagging issues I have been having for the last 10 years!!!!!!!!!

That's it for now

 

[Randyzzz]

It’s funny you comment about procrastinating on fixing things. I can’t count the times that I have fixed stuff to sell a car only to realize that once everything was fixed it wasn’t that bad a car after all...

 

[spankrjs]

It’s funny you comment about procrastinating on fixing things. I can’t count the times that I have fixed stuff to sell a car only to realize that once everything was fixed it wasn’t that bad a car after all...

The wipers kind of bugged me. The damn squeak was driving me crazy

 

[ag4ever]

I rewired the feed to the dimmer switch so I have low and high beam when the highs are on. Clipped off the factory plug and used spade connectors. (Actually I think the factory connector had already been clipped off). Figured, when I want light, I really want light.

I also went with the relays to the lights, it did make a noticeable difference for me.

 

[spankrjs]

My paint finally showed up yesterday, but no time for paint work before SandBlast:





I ordered red primer, and two cans of the base coat. I already have a few cans of their clear coat floating around somewhere in the garage.

This will be an after Michigan project

 

[spankrjs]

I will post this in this thread, since this thing is used mainly with this Jeep.

I bought a Viair 400p air compressor four years ago. This is a small electric compressor, hook it up to your car battery. Anyway, I have used the hell out of it, never had an issue with it.

I run 33" tires, it will inflate one tire from 15 to 30 pounds in 2 minutes, 0 to 35 in 4 minutes. So, typically takes me about 8-12 minutes to air up all four tires. Seems like a long time, but I hook up the sway bar, check out other stuff while it inflates.

Well, on my last trip, inflated two tires no problem. On the third, it went "tink" really loud, then no more air. Motor was still turning, but no air comes out.

So, let's see what makes this sucker tick!!!!!!!

This is the compressor:





Pulled the head out, some scarring:



Don't think this cylinder wall will buff out!!!!!!!



Piston ring cracked/destroyed:



Shrapnel:



To take the compressor apart, fairly easy. Just a few allen head cap screws. To pull the connecting rod off the electric motor shaft, just a single set screw:







I pulled it apart last week, left it on the floor in pieces.

 

[spankrjs]

I could never figure out how to order parts from ViAir, or their distributor network. Terrible website. Anywya, ordered the parts from some LowRider/Horn website:



New on the right, piston looks slightly different:



Cylinder wall:



Head Plate thing:



Not too hard to reassemble. I lubed the seals/piston/cylinder wall with 30 weight motor oil:



Red Lock-Tite on this set screw:



Lower crank case to motor body next:



Cylinder part next. I actually ran the piston through the cylinder wall a couple of times before assembly everything, to loosen up the ring some. I did this with lots of lube.





The head plate part next. In the picture below, the orientation of the flap thing is important. As I have it pictured, I flipped the plate into position as it sits, flap thing inside the upper part, flap in the chamber next to the air outlet port:

 

[spankrjs]

This plate sits in here like so:



Put it all together, and realize these plate need to be put onto the upper part BEFORE bolting the whole thing together:





And back together. Needless to say, I used Red Lock-Tite on all the bolts.



Moment of truth. Hooked it up, it did not blow up or go "TINK":



Reinflated this flat tire on JeepAddict's Scrambler, 0 to 15 pounds in one minute, so seems to be working fine again:



I will torture test it in Michigan and report back

A whole new set up runs around $220.00. These parts cost me $115.00. So, if the thing would have been much older/motor problems, might have been better off just buying a new one. But, hopefully my $115 investment buys me a few more years of trouble free use

 

[Belizeit]

Thanks for that report and blow by blow disassembled unit. I've looked at a few of those over the years and that one in particular. Probably get one in the next couple years. I have a cheapo Ryobi I use once in a while but would be no good for several tires. Otherwise around the house I just use my 60 gallon Ingersol Rand compressor

 

[spankrjs]

Thanks for that report and blow by blow disassembled unit. I've looked at a few of those over the years and that one in particular. Probably get one in the next couple years. I have a cheapo Ryobi I use once in a while but would be no good for several tires. Otherwise around the house I just use my 60 gallon Ingersol Rand compressor

No problem

It has been a pretty good device, for what it costs, space it takes up, etc. 10-12 minutes to reinflate 4 tires is not terrible, and I think it can run about 45 minutes straight with the "duty cycle" rating. Not sure why it blowed up? The "ring" on the piston broke first, best I can tell. It was not hot when it broke, who knows All I know, it went "TINK" then wouldn't blow out anymore air

 

[spankrjs]

I was a total slacker on the picture taking for the Sand Blast #13 trip, too busy goofing off, did not take a single picture

Anyway, the Jeep made it to Michigan, wheeled a week, made it back home in one piece. A few "minor" issues:

1) The wipers worked 100% perfect for around 2 hours straight. Which was good, since it rained non-stop from Meridian, MS, all the way to the Tennessee state line. Not light rain, but I-65 had 2" of water standing on it rain. The wipers quit working, the driver side arm would drop down too far on the down stroke, and cause the system to stall. I had to leave the window partially down, reach out with my hand/finger, lightly flick the wiper arm back up, they would work again. Sometimes this fix would last a few minutes, sometimes just one stroke. While cleaning the Scrambler out, I found my custom made "C" washer on the floor board. My finger is pointing at it in the picture below. Maybe the bolt just came loose, causing the wiper motor to slide a bit and bind? Not sure yet, will investigate later and find out.



2) Brake light switch decided to break one night, so woke up with tail lights stuck on. No big deal, easy enough fix. But, while I was messing with this, I somehow got too rough with the wiper wiring, and yanked out all four wires from the wiper motor plug!!!!! Good thing I take/post a billion pictures here, was easy to go back a page, find a picture of the wires, and reinsert them into the plug to get the wipers functioning again.

3) On Saturday, the Scrambler quit starting up on the first turn of the key. I would have to spin it over extra long, or try to start it up to 3 times before it would fire up. The fuel pump is priming. No performance issues at all. I am "thinking" when I messed with the brake light switch, and unplugged/loosened up the ignition switch, something did not go back 100% correct. I have a very short throw back to "Off" from "Run" when I turn it off, which I did not have before. So, I will start here to try to find the problem. Really do not think it is a fuel/ignition/sensor issue, the thing ran 100% flawless on the way home, not a single hiccup. But, I did leave it running at the pump during gas/bathroom breaks, no reason to tempt fate

4) The Viair compressor worked fine, maybe a bit louder then before, was a good alarm clock!!!!!!!!!!!!

5) The headlight relay stuff worked fine, no problems, which was good. I drove from 4pm Saturday to 4am Sunday on the way up with the headlights on. Drove from 7:30pm till 11;30pm Sunday on the way home with the headlights on, no problems.

6) Need to rotate the tires, possible re-balance. My slight vibration at 65 is a little bit worse, but still barely there.

I already changed the oil, just need to clean it up and put it back together, fix the wipers (again) and figure out the start up issue, and it will be ready to roll again.

I do miss my V8 Scrambler in the dunes, but this one does just fine, pretty happy with it. This six cylinder Scrambler seems to stay a bit cooler than my old V8 tan Scrambler, inside where you sit. Which is very good, since neither had/have AC.

So, another cross country trip completed by 'RedneckRay".

That's it for now

 

[Belizeit]

Glad there were no REAL problems on the road !

 

[spankrjs]

I "mostly" fixed my hard to start issue.

When I changed the brake light switch in Michigan I loosened the ignition switch, which kind of knocked the "slide" part of the switch out of whack. So, I pulled the switch out, readjusted, key switch works/feels normal again.



It still will not start up all the time like normal, but will always start on the 2nd or 3rd try. I might try to clean the front crank position sensor, just for the hell of it. I spilled a bunch of anti-freeze when I was changing hoses/radiator, it might just have a bunch of gunk all over it?

As for the wipers, found the "issue", two of the three mounting bots worked loose, causing the linkage to bind. The bolt below backed out, allowing the "custom cut washer" to fall out on the way to Michigan, I found it on the floor board. Note the gold screw that is also falling out.



This bolt had also loosened up:



There is just enough "meat" left on the motor housing for this bolt head to fit against. No more room for adjustment, though:



Another strange find, all of the wiper motor bolts (gold colored) were falling out/loose, probably from the binding/vibration:



I tightened it all back down, now the wiper linkage binds 100% of the time as soon as the arms swing toward the driver side. Motor is still not in the correct spot, and I can not adjust it over anymore. POS replacement windshield frame.

I will probably have to leave the wiper motor cover off, and slightly loosen the wiper motor bolts, to get it working again.

Again, POS replacement windshield frame.

So, besides the wipers, everything good to go.

 

[walkerhoundvm]

I see a few millimeters on the motor +/- allen head that could be ground off