Pappy's Adventure - 1981 restomod

[TimmyTooTall]

Pappy is officially back on the road!

Finished up the YJ spring swap. I went from 4" super lift springs to BDS 3.5" and somehow gained an extra 1+ of height . Shows how old and worn out the super lifts were. The BDSs are soooo much softer. The ride and flex are night and day. With that comes a bit more body roll when the sway bar is disconnected. Have to keep that in mind. The YJ springs moved the axle forward enough I don't have any rubbing on my rock rail so very happy about that as well.

Got the engine side ac condenser and compressor mounted up. Evap fitting is next week. Roll cage is still in paint. Strong hold shift boot should be here in the next week. Bunch of little stuff and we'll be ready for Kentucky!

 

[TimmyTooTall]

We made it up to Ozark National Forest for a few days to test out everything. Transmission is solid. Transfer case rebuild with the heavier detent springs proved to work great. No more rear stick popping out. I had to make a small adjustment to the clutch pivot pin and back it off as the throw out bearing was coming in contact when I started to flex a bit. Over all everything was rock solid and I'm very pleased.

Couple pics and videos of the trip.

 

[TimmyTooTall]

https://imgur.com/9Yzhh18

https://imgur.com/C1OUgCy

https://imgur.com/lip8ENZ

 

[TimmyTooTall]

https://imgur.com/h2N6xoz

https://imgur.com/he77Ouf

https://imgur.com/rD5cpiP

 

[TimmyTooTall]

Nothing crazy in the garage this winter. Mostly just small project tinkering with this or that.

Referencing this post... https://www.cj-8.com/threads/25-7-h4-headlight-upgrade-kit.53736/ I installed the Toyota PN 81110-60P70 for FJ Cruiser headlights. Also compared the H4 55w bulbs vs 80w bulbs.

https://www.cj-8.com/threads/25-7-h4-headlight-upgrade-kit.53736/post-475039

For comparison shots

I cut out nearly 4' of the harness between the lights to clean it up a bit. Enjoying one of my crisp Kolschs' from my secret Santa on this stupidly warm January.

 

[AdamH]

Hope that NC beer helped!

 

[TimmyTooTall]

Well it's time to get Pappy back on the road. Been going back and forth on what to do to replace the rear axle. I have weighed various junkyard swaps, full crate axles from ECGS or find another AMC 20 and just rebuild another one. I never had a major structural issue with my 20 it failed because my ring gear bolts backed out then punctured the housing. My bad on the original install .

So other than spending 5k+ on an ECGS D489 and associated mods I need to find a localish wide track AMC 20. Anyone around a days drive north texas got the location on one?

I figure I can reuse a lot of the stuff from my current 20 build. New gears, bearings ect but swap over the locker, brakes ect and be out the door for under $1200ish.

Thoughts? What am I missing?

Note to self, use red loctite on the ring gear bolts this time....

 

[CHIEFWAHO]

I'll see what we might have in the bone pile.