97 Jeep TJ fixer upper

[Ackattack]

Just got a "new" 97 TJ. I got a pretty good deal on it, but it needs a little TLC

First some pictures:





It has a rough country lift on it, I'm guessing 4" and the tires are 33x12.50s. Has a 4.0L and 5 speed. It appears as though it had a plow on the front of it at one time.

So I just got it yesterday and here is the list of needs.
1) The track bar has a tie rod end on it that wobbles around in the hole. I tried tightening it up, that helped a little, but IMO its dangerous so it won't get driven until its taken care of. To remedy it, I ordered a rod end and an adjustable track bar bracket that will remove the slop, and obviously work better off roading.

2) The front axle u-joints are completely shot, I'm surprised they haven't fallen out. Ordered new u-joints.

3) One of the rear shocks' lower bushing is completely gone, so its a little bouncy. Ordered new rear shocks (pro comp es1000)

4) The door handles don't work (interior or exterior). Ordered a new set of both.

5) Both side mirrors are broken. Ordered a new set of those as well.

6) Tranny grinds, especially when downshifting. I don't know if I'll rebuild it myself, or pop it out and take it to a tranny shop. I just finished rebuilding/upgrading the NV4500 in my Cummins powered GMC truck, so we'll see.

7) No rear bumper and dumb looking front bumper. I'll probably just make my own.

8) Rust holes through both front fenders. Probably get or make some tube front fenders

9) Cracked hard top in the back and the back vent is popped out. I'll probably do a little fiberglass repair and pop in a new vent.



Now, I have not driven it on the highway or verified the gearing to know what's in it as far as compatibility with the 33s. The 3 miles I have driven it, it seemed to start out fine

I initially bought it just to fix up and flip, but I might just have to keep it to have some fun wheeling with I've always wanted a TJ, and had a lot of fun in my ZJ that I sold a few years ago.

So if I do keep it, I would probably put a long arm suspension kit on it, 14 bolt rear (have it sitting in the garage that came out of my GMC) and Dana 60 front with lockers, gears, SYE, winch, reinforced cage, bla bla bla. So we'll see what happens.

[NONHOG]

Always liked that style!

[71blksuper4x4]

Welcome to the Jeep club.... I have some modified Poison Spyder Defenders on mine.

and something I have been brewing up for the front.....

Trevor

[72BlckButy]

Love it Ack!

Can't wait to see what you turn out

Glad to see you back on Trevor.

I've been eyeing jeeps lately.
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[Ackattack]

Well after 3 months I finally got my welder back yesterday.

Since I got the jeep I did change out the mirror and door handles. Tonight I plan on getting the rear shocks installed, track bar modified, and frame repaired. I'll post a picture later of the rust hole in the frame. I also have new front u joints. So hopefully late tonight shell be on the road.
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[Ackattack]

Well things have been going slower than expected. I got the rock track ad bracket cut off and the new one welded in. It was kind of a pain just getting grinders up there to work. Then I went to install the new rod end on the track bar and it doesn't fit. I got a 7/8 rod end, but it turns out it needs to be 22mm. So after some Internet searching I found a bushing with a 22mm stud on it that should work (may need some modification to work though).

Then I removed most of the plow bracketry.

Then moved on to the front axle u joints. I got the axles out easily. But the u joints were a pain. I ended up having to cut them out and pressing out the caps.

Oh, while taking off the pass. Caliper I broke the mounting bolts, but luckily was able to get them out easily. Also while taking stuff apart I noted the brake pads were essentially gone, so I got new pads and rotors. Then the caliper wouldn't compress, so I just picked up new calipers as well.

So like I said, things are moving along slow, but hope to having her back on the road soon.
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[Ackattack]

Here's the frame that needs a little work


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[Ackattack]

Last night I got a little time out in the shop. I got the front axles installed along with new rotors, pads, and calipers. Just need to bleed them now.

I also got my track bar bushing thing. It should work after a little modification. Got to get a 5/8" I.D. metal bushing to go in it to match the hole size in my track bar bracket.

[Ackattack]

New track bar end. It came with a metal sleeve for a 1/2" bolt, but my bracket is set up for a 5/8" bolt, so I got a new metal sleeve with a 5/8" ID.



Then I got it installed (temporarily). My 5/8" bolt isn't quite long enough, so I'll have to get a new one tomorrow.



Then I soaked the rear shock bolts down with some PB blaster and cut off the outside "wings" on the front bumper....makes it look a little better.

Hope to have it on the road tomorrow night.

[Ackattack]

Last night I got the frame welded up. The upper bolts on the rear shock were siezed to the point I couldn't get them out. I also broke the lower bolt getting it out. So I just installed a bushing in the shock, and put that back together. I'll get the new shocks installed later. Got all of the wheels installed and took it for a test drive (at midnight).

Well things were a little better, but it still had a wierd movement, that felt like it was coming from the back end. When I got home I put it back up on jack stands and slid under it. I was thinking it was the rear track bar just the way it felt, and sure enough I found that the track bar was loose. Basically the bolt that mounts the track bar to the axle was loose. So this morning I went to fix it. The loose bolt allowed the track bar to move all around and wallowed out the track bar mount hole and the bolt was worn where it went through the bracket. I also had to cut this bolt off. I didn't fix the track bar bracket for now, but I installed a new bolt and got it all tightened down.

Then I went for a test drive. It's much better, but there is still an odd movement. This may be due to the lift on a short wheel base vehicle, or maybe the track bar is moving a little.

While driving around, one thing I've noticed that I hate, is this itty bitty steering wheel. It has to be around 12" diameter. I'm going to try to find something else. Maybe the stock wheel from my 69 C-20 I had will fit in it

I also have a bikini top to install, but that will have to wait.

I did note the speed/rpms and it looks like this still has the 3.73 gear in it. On 33 inch tires, it really seems OK power wise.

[Ackattack]

Looked over the jeep a little more looking for obvious reasons for the dartyness. Got to looking at it, and realized dropping the track bar in the front should help improve the bump steer. So I move that down on the bracket and take it for a test drive. Its improving, but still a little darty.

When I got back from my test drive I was looking at the centering of the front axle. Its not perfect and I can adjust it. But I also noticed that the front end is toed out. If I remember from my autocross days, this also causes dartyness. Hopefully I can get an alignment and they can center up the axle and steering wheel all at the same time.

[72BlckButy]

Glad to hear you're starting to figure out what's causing the problem.

[Ackattack]

Got the jeep aligned. It drives much better. It does still have a weird feel to it, but that's probably just a lifted jeep.

I took the top off and loaded up the family and we all went for a cruise.

Later I started on the rear bumper. I got DIY bumper kits from JCR off-road.
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[Ackattack]

The rear bumper is pretty much finished. Here it is mocked into position:



So this comes as a flat sheet that is cut along the fold lines, you fold it into shape and then weld it up. For the basic bumper shell you fold the two bends, then bend and weld on the end caps, then the D ring hangers, then the bumper mounts, then I opted for the reciever hitch, so I welded that in.

So after I got it all welded, then I cleaned up all of the corners and started spray painting it. I ran out of paint, so I didn't get the inside done.



I also had to work over the rear bumper mount/frame on the jeep. It seems as though someone either backed into something or got rearended and bent the area up. This might explain why there wasn't a factory bumper on it too. So I had to cut and weld on that as well.

As I mentioned earlier, this thing has a good coating of rust underneath. So the reciever that was on it required bracking off/cuting off several bolts to remove it. Additionally Jeep used nuts on the inside of the frame that have these little tabs to keep them from spinning (in theory). Well mine didn't work that way. In addition to the rear bumper, I also bought these corner reinforcing plate things. Normally these would bolt into the side of the frame where the reciever was bolted into. Well, no fancy nuts any more....what to do???? Think I'll just weld them to the frame.

So I have just a little more welding and more painting to do and I'll be done with the rear bumper. Then I can move on to the front

[Ackattack]

Finished welding up the front bumper last night. I have to drill out the bolts on the bottom of the frame to bolt it in. The old bolts are rusted into the frame

[Ackattack]

Yesterday I installed the bikini top, took off the doors and loaded up the family. We took a little trip to a nearby town and went swimming. Made it ~60 miles without any problems. It gets pretty windy above 50 though

[CherokeeC10]

I ran 4.56 w/ the AX auto 4 speed on a 4.0L on 33s w/ a 4:1 transfer kit. Perfect streetability and driver combo. Did El Paso to Maryland numerous times w/ no problems. Don't skimp on steering stabilizers though. I built this truck ground up and have WAY more Jeep knowledge than 67-72 knowledge. Let me know if you need anything. Big fan of Rusty's offroad too. Good luck and nice Jeep.

[Ackattack]

Originally Posted by CherokeeC10

I ran 4.56 w/ the AX auto 4 speed on a 4.0L on 33s w/ a 4:1 transfer kit. Perfect streetability and driver combo. Did El Paso to Maryland numerous times w/ no problems. Don't skimp on steering stabilizers though. I built this truck ground up and have WAY more Jeep knowledge than 67-72 knowledge. Let me know if you need anything. Big fan of Rusty's offroad too. Good luck and nice Jeep.

Here's my old ZJ. I sold it shortly after I bough my 68. Figured I didn't have time to offroad and do a frame off resto



After trying to find a cheap XJ with a good 5 speed to swap into my TJ (and then part out the XJ) I said screw it,and ordered a tranny rebuild kit last night.

[07XCSBZ71]

Very nice project Jeep. I got a 02 I play with.

[Ackattack]

I gave up on finding a donor transmission (AX-15) I could just swap in and started rebuilding this one.

I got it out and started tearing it apart. The fluid looked about like chocolate milk. I have the bell housing and transfer case removed. Then I took off the shifter tower, rear adapter piece, and then the main case. So the middle plate with the 2 shafts are in the vise. I started tearing down the back end. Getting the 5th gear syncho assembly took me a little while.

Luckily there is a "series" on you tube that takes you step by step through rebuilding one of these things (plus I rebuilt my NV4500 a few months ago......this one looks easier )

[Ackattack]

I finished up the tranny rebuild a few days ago. Got into the garage tonight and took off the clutch to check the condition.

The flywheel side didn't look too bad:


Then I flipped it over and noticed the chunk of clutch material missing



I guess I didn't luck out on this one either. Hopped on jeep forum and found that people seem to like one particular brand of clutches that last a long time and hold up and are cheap so I got one of those on its way.

[Ackattack]

I got the transmission in and all is working good there. So I moved on to the next issues.

The radiator had a slight leak out of it, just a drip every once in awhile. It made a 4" puddle in the garage during the month+ that I was rebuilding the transmission. It was coming out of the trans cooler fittings. So I tried tighting up the retaining ring and it started leaking worse and worse. Finally it broke, draining out all of the fluid.

So I figure I'm going to have to replace the radiator. But before I do, I'm going to try to fix this one. I pulled off the lower plastic reservoir and the trans cooler is interesting setup, but I removed it. So tomorrow I'm going to get a couple of fender washers and seal it up with that. Then I'll put the lower reservoir back on, ratchet strap the reservoir on tight and bend the tabs back and hopefully it will seal up....otherwise....back to buying a new radiator.