Rig is a ’79 Cherokee W/T “Golden Eagle”. I bought it in Idaho from the 2nd owner. It was 100% stock when I got it w/ an AMC 360, TH400, QT, D44 f/r, 30” A/Ts. I drove it as my DD for a year or so and during that timeframe did a TFI upgrade, put some Hedman headers and dual 2.5” exhaust with flowmasters. The Hedmans and duals are long gone…now on factory manifolds and a single exhaust. In 2008, we moved to Maine and brought it with us. My wife drove it here for a few months, then the flex plate stripped out again and the rust started showing up. I decided to pull and rebuild the trans instead of just replacing the flex plate. While the trans and t-case were out, it seemed like a good time to go ahead and address rust in the floorpan. That quickly snowballed into what you see in the pictures in this thread.
This thread will start with some old pictures and explanation of what was going on back then. I’ll try to make it make some kind of sense, but its been in this project state for a long time.
Little Nostalgia
Couple pictures from Idaho, roughly 2006-ish. Unfortunately it doesn’t look this nice anymore.
Let’s get to work
Spring of 2009
I bought this transmission and transfer case from a local Maine FSJeeper.
Some of the goodies
Opened up the t-case and saw this.
rust reconnaissance
Then I pulled the rear seat and cargo carpet out. I was pleasantly surprised at the lack of rust on the rest of the truck compared to the passenger side. The inside of the body panels around the flares and rear quarters arent pretty. But I think I can clean it up and convert it well enough to stop the spread of rust. The fellow FSJeeper that I bought the spare tranny/t-case from stopped by with another t-case and tranny along with an old starter
I wound up using the case, diff and yokes from t-case #2 and the low range and input gear from #1. The needle bearing being trashed was likely related to the side gear in the diff being crooked and wearing into the pin. So I bagged the complete diff, even though it was nicer looking.
I tore into the transmission. Got it mostly cleaned up and had to order some new parts.
Summer of 2009
Trans parts ready to go back together
My tiny workspace/garage
As clean as it will probably ever be
My neighbors LOVED me
The badly rusted flare. Im getting a fiberglass replacement and a new lower quarter panel. This what a quarter panel full of towels to supress the jack/lug wrench noise looks like.
Back in Idaho in the springtime things started to warm up and I started noticing a foul smell. So I did some investigating thinking I had just left too much smelly/wet ski equipment back there. Popped open the access panel, saw a bunch of towels. So I started pulling them out wondering why there were towels stuffed in there. After about a minute or so of digging and pilling the towels in front of me, I noticed the pile was moving on it own. I dry-heaved for about 30 min. Finally got some gloves and a big trash bag and a water hose and flushed it. Im still wary of sticking my hand down in there.
Finished the trans up. One last look inside
Valve body mod to prevent unwanted up shift. Also plugged the hole.
BOOYYAAHH! It looks so dirty now.
1st automatic Ive torn into. I hope it moves.
Fall of 2009
Now getting deeper into the tear down.
Started sandblasting, using my 20 gal sears compressor. Got about 95% of the undercarriage to bare metal until it gave out on me. I emptied the shelf of old crap rattle cans and painted the bare metal I had been working so hard on
, then tarped her up, pushed her out and let her sit.In the spring of 2010, I went ahead and took the motor out. And really didnt do a whole lot else. The soon-to-be misses and I bought a house.
Here's a couple shots of the upgraded space.
Winter 2011
Got the engine on the stand and tore it down to the short block.
its going to get replaced, but is this considered normal chain stretch?
Spring of 2011
Pulled the body from the frame. Wound up having to "retrieve" the 2 rear body bolts. But it mostly went well. Got most of the front end of the frame completely disassembled (pics are before this).
Any of you scrapped the heat shield on the passenger side (or driver side for later rigs, if they have them) and ran without it? Ive had to take it off to finish the floors and may not put it back on.
Finally got some paint on the frame.
[/quote]New BJs poly body mounts in
body is loosely bolted on
rear springs/axle in
front springs/axle in
