• Notice for iPhone users: DO NOT use the image size reduction option when uploading photos to the forum. This causes portrait images to post as landscape. We have added a warning to the image insert pop-up as well.

Expedition Scrambler..?

problems.?.

What problems...hmm. basically one of those days that nothing worked out no matter how the BFH was applied. I traced out the innet fender opening as a guide and then built a jig to bend the tubing. Turns out the table wasn't secured to the floor so I ended up using a big ratchet strap to help. That worked, though it was very slow and not very accurite. Not having access to a torch didn't help either as bending cold tube by hand is tuff.
My next step was welding the 7 1/2" 16 gage to the tube. As we all know, heat from welding does things to metal. No matter how slow I worked it still deformed the sheet and the tubing. Nothing is even close to lining up and the one that is closest is warped pretty bad. Gonna have to scrap em and start again. I think this time I will try a different route. Maybe one that is a little more basic, if less professional looking. A deep breath and start over sometimes is the only answer.
 
Jeeptubes.com sells pre-bent tubing. Might be an option.

For the sheet metal, most places use 1/8". Even then you have to use a "Connect the dot" method- tacks about 2" apart, on the whole panel, then go back and do another series of tacks, eventually all the tacks form one continuous weld.
 
still mulling...

Not really any more time to order stuff and hope it gets here. I'm behind the power curve just with Parts mike and really hoping the steering stuff gets here ASAP. He said Wed or thursday but we shall see, As long as it all works I don't care but if I get it and there is a problem...oh boy.
I already know there will be an issue with the shocks. The guy I normally deal with at 4wheel parts has been less than helpful lately and I think he measured my shocks wrong. You would think a 4WD shop would understand these things but I don't think he cared to put much effort into it. And when I called to verify what was enroute I got someone else that happens to be the manager. All he was willing to do was give me the part numbers that were ordered. I asked if he would give me Ranchos specs for them and he said he didn't know. I told him to look in their catalog as they usually list them...duh. He gave me one of those "I don't have time for this" sighs and put me on hold. After 15 minutes of corp. comercials I hung up. I looked online and see that the shocks they ordered will likely be too short. So unless I decide to run limiting straps I'm screwed.
As to the flares... I may just build some super hack ones that can be removed without to great an issue after getting inspected and then just run the Bushwackers. Maybe one day I can address that correctly bit for now the priority is get it legit and functioning and call it a day.
I finally got intel from Parts mike today too. What a seemingly convoluted collection of parts to make this work. And so much for affordable. I sent the knuckles to him ($30 shipping) for mill,drill and tap for hysteer arms. 55 bucks is the price on that just on the machining. Then add in the arms, new ball joints, the arms, steering assembly (tye rod and drag link) with TREs and the HD (we shall see) diff cover (100 bucks) and I'm at 800 bucks before return "hurry" shipping. Wow. Guess doing it right is worth it but considering all the parts I provide for this that seems a little high? Maybe?? We shall see once it gets here...wish me luck. Wed I will get back at it.
Still SO MUCH left to get done...and time is ticking.
 
hurry and wait...

Since Mondays and tuesdays are not open for us to work at the shop I have been trying to track down parts. The stuff from parts mike will hopefully be here by thurs or friday...I HOPE! Almost a grand once I added the spring plates for the Ubolts I forgot earlier.Ugh.
Also talked to wheel parts about my stuff that was supposed to be there Friday but
"may have come in today. we will check and call you back." Uh...sure you will. Holding my breath now. LOL!
Also haven't heard boo from the gas tank cleaning people either. May go see to that in a minute. Days almost done and I have had a big goose egg in the success dept. Even getting my Army paperwork has been a FAIL! Must not be my day or something.?.
 
jeepdreamer - An idea about the shocks. If it doesn't look like you will be able to get the shocks that you really want in time, you might consider running down to a local auto parts store with your necessary measurements and see what cheapies they have on the shelf that would work short term just to get on the road. Then you can look for the ones you really want once you have more time. The cheapies will work fine for a while. I have done this in the past when I wanted to go on a run with my buddies and my shocks were on backorder from the supplier.
 
Shocking..

Thanks Bob. I am crossing my fingers that I have it sorted out now. I (bad idea) asked the 4Wheel parts guys to measure for the shocks while they had it in for the R&P install. Silly me I believed they must know how to do that, right? Haha. After talking with them it turns out they only measured it as it was suspended on the lift (unloaded) and called that good. As most of os understand it is a little more complex if acurite measurements are wanted. Esp. so if our rigs have excess flex. For me, extension (or drop) is more desireable than compression (stuff) as I can adjust the bump stops to keep the shocks from bottoming out. But I don't have any desire to use the brand new shocks for limiting straps...heehee. So i didi the best I could in getting the jeep sorta crossed-up and pulled numbers here and there. At the end of the day it looks like my fronts will be 29" extended and the rears come in about 27"s. The funny thing is that 4WPs took a week to get the "wrong" shocks in and then somehow tell me that they will have the correct ones in two days.?. If they are here today I will be extremely surprised and happy.
Today will be like a small Christmas. My stuff from Parts mike will be in today as well so I can work on the front axle and steering and brakes...etc. May even be able to drive it soon! Not wanting to jinx myself so I will just say I'm off to tinker and hope the Brown wagon brings my stuff soon.
 
Arrrrrgh!!!!!!!!!!!!

Not a break for me...Crap. At least mostly a bad and unproductive day. Went by 4WPs to pick up the newly reordered shocks. They may work...maybe. But I won't know until I can fit them and cycle the suspension. They look close and may have been worth the 1 1/2 hour delay waiting in the shop for them to unload the truck when I was told Noon.?.
Then went to my friends house to wait on UPS to deliver the steering stuff so I could get cracking. UPS (or OOPS) showed up at 3pm and handed me the two boxes. I thanked the driver and tor into them excited over the new stuff and the hope to get cracking...
Nope.
Figures that they forgot to ship some of the stuff and of that some of it is what I need before any real assembly can happen. Not sure if I believe it but when I called I was told they would "overnight" it and I would get it by noon tomorrow. We will see.
Then I headed bac to the shop to at least get started on the tear down and big surprise...the shop was packed! Not an open bay to be had. So I just sat in the truck till they started closing. When people started finishing up I quickly pulled my heep into a bay for tomorrow and am soon going to the house. I will be waiting at the gate in the morning for them to open and lord willing I can make some progress....What a pain.
 
progress pics and a deep breath...

Haven't had a chance to tinker with the camera yet and I know how everyone like pis with their updates so I figured I'd add a couple to whetten the 'ol whistle.
Went as far as I could on Sat with the parts I had and then went by to see if the "forgotten parts arrived after the shop closed..
THYE DID! Yippie!
So today is Sunday and I will be wrenching like mad trying to get it all assembled. I'm actually sitting in front of the shops gate waiting on the guys to open...haha. They don't open till 10 on Sunday and close at 5 so I have to push hard. I may load the jeep onto the trailer and take it with me to try and do some stuff tomorrow. I am off but the shop is closed for the holiday. Not sure what all can be acomplished from the "house" as it is almost constantly a sandstorm blowing out there so it kinda limits what can be done if you know what I mean.
Curious to see how all this will work out today as the list of parts from different sources is kind of long. Spindles from the CJ, Hubs and rotors from the Scout, knuckles and brake parts from the waggy...should be interesting. I will try and add some more pics this evening when I wrap up for today.
 
Those pics look like you're off to a good start.
 
saw your outdoor pics over at OJ Jeep forum.. quite the transformation.. you're ambitious to squeeze all that in before you PCS..
 
Kind wording...

Bushmaster6 said:
saw your outdoor pics over at OJ Jeep forum.. quite the transformation.. you're ambitious to squeeze all that in before you PCS..
Click to expand...

Thanks BM. Ambitious is the nice way of stating I'm an idiot.!. LOL! Really, I must have lost my freekin' mind taking on so much but now that I'm "all in" I am sort of over the barrel with my south side in the air. Not sure what I could have done different or how I could have cut down the work load and still gotten to where I want it to be but alas...
I'm having a very hard time now since the end is near. The end to my time that is. Far to much still to do and I just don't know....
To stop whining and offer some updates I will offer this. I spent yesterday that we were off for Pres day working in the parking lot with the heep still on the trailer. Managed to get the front up in the air enough to finish installing the brakes, shocks and front spring plates. Also set the toe-in to what I hope is close enough. I'm still dissappointed at the stuff I got from Parts Mike and haven't sufficently cooled off enough to call and speak with them. I ended up going to buy the correct thread direction TRE to at least get it all together. Wouldn't have been such a big deal except I had spent ALL MONEY with him to get what was supposed to be the correct stuff. Literally broke the piggy bank and counted change at Autozone for it. Yeesh.
The only thing keeping it from driving at this point is the front brake lines. I'm a little confused at what I have at this point. I was going to run the calipers off the donor (knuckles and various other parts) 77 dana 44 from the Waggy. But some how the front extended brake lines that came with my Waggy lift don't work?? They are a different shape on the caliper side so I am not sure how I will fix that but it needs doing. I also need to weld on the rear shock hangers so they quite dangling under the heep looking odd...haha.
Some stuff will not be happening and I will be deciding if it will get picked up with my house hold goods for shipping to Germany to do later. the list looks like this...
-Gas tank. Got most of what I need to do it and the tank is now mostly cleaned but I don't have time to run into an "issue" installing it so to the back burner with it.
-Intake and Carb (eddy-brock) will likely be a later install too.
-I will be tack welding some steel onto the back for a faux bumper and a place to hang the spare. That way I won't have to eat the high European steel prices and can get the Army to carry it for me. Won't be anything pretty and prob won't even function until I can mess with it but I have steel, may as well put it to work.
That brings me to a sidebar thought. Has anyone here mounted a second winch on the rear, incorperated into the bumper? I've been mulling over that idea as well so who knows.
I still MUST do something about the front tires not fitting the flares but I still am at a loss for working ideas. The tube flares are out as they are far to time consuming and the previous failure has put it beyond doable now. So I am going to try (don't laugh...well, not to much) to find some of that "universal flare" that is flexable rubber and try to find some way to affix it to the Bushwacker. The hope is I can make it work, cheap, and without damaging the BW flares (ie no drilling) so they can be removed when the inspection is over. No ideas other than that so if anyone has thoughts...PLEASE share em! I'm lacking about 2"s per side for the flares to cover and nothing seems to work in my head...Help!
I had intended to load up pics following yesterdays work but I somehow forgot my camera in my room....ugh. Sorry. They don't really show a lot so I guess its not a big loss. I will be trying to squeeze in work on it this week between clearing post and whatnot. I'm far, FAR behind the power curve so if I disappear I will be back, just busy. Thanks guys
 
here's a thought for extending your flares, take some thin flexible acrylic or plastic sheet e.g. 3/32 lexan or the white pebblized bathroom paneling (~1/8" thick) or even thin steel flashing or alum. Cut into appropriate width strips and affix to the bw flares with some small binder clips or the like, might need a box per corner but they are cheap and should get you through the inspection unless the inspector looks really close. or perhaps the two sided adhesive foam tape but thats harder to get off
 
Like that...

Yeah...something like that is the idea. Just not sure how to pull it off without either it costing a fortune, causing damage to the flares, or having Hans or Franz the inspectors look at me like a freak!
 
if I read you correctly, you were looking at shipping your fuel tank in HHG... I'd ask the transpo office about limitations on that first.. it may be okay in a vehicle but they won't ship other fuel tanks (ie: propane for a grill) with your HHG.. may be better to put 4 bolts in it and let it go empty under your Scram..

I feel for you man.. I've had the impending PCS/deployment/etc "wall" out in front of my on/off for years now and it sucks to have to force things to happen before a hard deadline.. I would've advised you to limit your objectives (WAY down) but too late for that now.. looking ahead: last thing you want to do is report in to the new boss with "issues".. you want to be a guy that shows up ready to execute, and it's hard with all this hanging over your head..

hopefully your next unit isn't on the patch chart in the near future.. have you checked?
 
Is it or isn't it...?

Thanks "6". My thoughts are that since it has been fully vatted and cleaned (took over a week!) and it will not be a sealed container then I should be able to call it almost anything. A water container or non viewable fishtank...anything but a fuel tank. I don't see any reason it wouldn't get passed as it has no fuel "smell" anymore and could not be pressurized during shipment due to not having the sending unit installed as well as all feed/return lines still being open. Its not light (about 50lbs) or small but shouldn't present a problem. I don't have time to pull the current tank and try to get the new one in and functioning which is why I don't. It has to have no more than a 1/4 tank to ship it and it has to run/drive. Not having it hooked up would kill that idea.
All in all I am close. Its just the combined stress of having no time left, no money now at this point to continue, and worst of all is dealing with the current unit full of inept lessrons that operate our S-shops. It is fully due to them not having their Sheite together that has jacked my time line. If it were not for me very actively pursuing my situation and strong arming and hand carrying paperwork I would STILL be late for my gaining unit. And that is without even counting the jeep at all!!!
My gaining unit is supposedly headed to sandbox #2istan shortly after I arrive. I will be doing my best to get sent along with them but the Army is getting kinda hard on enforcing dwell time. All those that have complained about having spent too much time deployed have made it hard for those of us that prefer it. I honestly hate garrison life and all the idiotic issues that come with bored soldiers with free time. I prefer to be earning my paycheck downrange where the BS stops and the missions happen. This will be my 1st to the stan and my 6th overall deployment so its not like I haven't done my time.
Alas...it will all work out I just need to keep swinging away at it. Thanks for the input BM!
 
Finding the proper brake lines to fit Waggy calipers to the CJ hardlines has been on my list for some time, but I haven't gotten that close yet. This link might help, although it seems to indicate what you have should work. Looks like there is a changeover year- 81 Scrambler lines have the same fitting as 78 and older Waggys, 82 and newer Scramblers are the same as 79 and newer Waggys.

http://www.rockymountainsusp.com/W_brakes_Jeep.htm

Interesting reading...

http://tc.wagoneer.net/sblog/static.php?page=fsj_rubber_extended_brake_hose

Some other stuff I found...

Quote:
from www.jeepgod.net

For brake lines I am running my stock CJ steel braided lines, but I had to drill out the hole for the banjo bolt. Where the bolt goes through it should be a piece of brass, you can just drill that hole to fit the banjo bolt from the Wagoneer caliper. Another option I found was to use some 1980 or newer Wagoneer calipers, these have the CJ size banjo bolts. In the future I will be using some extremely extended rubber lines that you can get at , they are like 33" long, might be a little long for most people but I don't want the lines holding me back. They are like $38 and the part number is 38286

thats a NAPA part number

Quote:
Originally Posted by jeepnmatt
go to NAPA and get PN 38622 and 38623. one is a right line and the other is a left line...not sure which is which.

change them both while you are in there.

look here for more info:
http://www.cjoffroad.com/forums/top...archTerms=38622


For future reference, these part numbers are the factory brake lines for '94-'95 GMC K15 6.5L Dsl. They are 25 3/4" long!

Hope something here will be useful. Good Luck!

Oh...I have seen the black flexible lawn edging used for temporary flare extensions. Install with washer headed sheet metal screws or small nuts and bolts, and fill the holes with black silicone when you remove them.
 
Last edited:
JD,

copy all the above.. it you're a dwell timer non-deployable.. become a rear-d superhero.. trust me, as a former BN XO.. having good help to the Rear-D CDR is like Gold.. and nearly as hard to find. That young CPT has the WORST job in the battalion.. wouldn't wish it on anyone.. so having some go-to guys to help him out is essential.

BM6
 
Working it...

I don't know if my posts go through when I use my phone or not so I will not repeat myself other than to say thanks. Thats good intel indeed. The lawn edging is a great suggestion...I may have to look into that as well.
"6"- I was my units armorer last deployment. Also a known scrounger of whatever I see that looks like it could be useful. At first most of my COC looked at me like I was nuts... until a plt lost all 4 of the MK64 weapon mounts they were signed for. By simply having amassed "extra" ones I saved the PL about 8 grand worth of flippo...Funny, they never thought my aquiring was a bad thing after that...LOL! Though some of the stuff I ended up with should prob have raised an eyebrow or two.?. But hey...why leave it in country for the local nats when our guys can use it for training purposes or as a buffer for a possible Zombie Appocolipse!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top