Build Thread '85 CJ7 Renegade refresh of sorts

[Alec79CJ]

I feel your electrical pain!

I've spent a week running down issues with my parking lights and front blinkers. I ordered new headlight terminal ends and new parking light harness plug ends.

They are so corroded that it was easier to replace them then to try and work with what's there.

 

[mtnwhlr]

I think the electrical problems are the hardest to fix then any other problem you run into with these Jeeps, they can drive a sane man crazy.

 

[venom]

Sure is a party, those MORE parts are nice


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Yes they are. I've pretty much got the motor mounts done. I didn't grab any pictures, but I will tomorrow as I finish things up.

I feel your electrical pain!

I've spent a week running down issues with my parking lights and front blinkers. I ordered new headlight terminal ends and new parking light harness plug ends.

They are so corroded that it was easier to replace them then to try and work with what's there.

Replacing them is definitely the way to go. Where'd you order your plug ends from? I think I want to replace my horn relay plug, but haven't come across one in my Limited searches.

I think the electrical problems are the hardest to fix then any other problem you run into with these Jeeps, they can drive a sane man crazy.

My wife would argue I wasn't sane to begin with, so my agreeing with you may not count, but it definitely drove me crazy. I swear, I spent HOURS trying to figure out my passenger grill signal, only to find that the ground was giving me a false positive. I'm sure I created some new swear words.

Tomorrow is a new day, and hopefully I'll get things done in short order. I definitely got a good jump on things tonight.

 

[venom]

You may have seen yesterday that it was a party. Well, we got the party started last night, and shut'er down today. There was a bit of agitation, a bit of confusion, a bit of cursing, and a bit of rejoicing, and it got done. The motor mounts weren't all that bad to change out. Actually none of the mounts were from the perspective of getting the bolts out. Now, actually getting things back in and aligned is a different story. 

When I pulled the motor mounts, there was a ground strap on the drivers side that didn't reach around the new mount correctly. That threw me off, but eventually I was able to get new cables and replace some other grounds that were simply missing. Once again the guys at the Jeep-CJ forums were invaluable in getting me pointed in the right direction.

The transmission mount and torque arm was super easy to get out, even though it was literally caked with about a 1/2 inch of nastiness. I pulled it down and got to cleaning. I kid you not, I think I pull close to 15lbs of crud off the mounts and skid pan. Once I got everything cleaned up, I threw the new mounts on, and that's when the real fun began. I had a heck of a time getting the pan mounting bolts to line up on both sides of the frame rails. To add insult to injury, one of the captive nuts decided to pop out when I went to put the bolt back in. I'm just thankful it didn't decide to start spinning when I was taking it out. I'm not sure what I'm going to do about that, just yet, but for now it's got 5 out of the 6 bolts in place. Actually, that's the way it was when I pulled it out, just reversed.

And now on to the pictures. I dig the payoff, and I'm sure the jeep is going to thank me for it. Of course, I found a few other things I need to deal with, like the steering shaft and rear main seal, but at least now the motor's not going to torque out of the frame. I call it a win.

 

[Alec79CJ]

Yes they are. I've pretty much got the motor mounts done. I didn't grab any pictures, but I will tomorrow as I finish things up.



Replacing them is definitely the way to go. Where'd you order your plug ends from? I think I want to replace my horn relay plug, but haven't come across one in my Limited searches.



My wife would argue I wasn't sane to begin with, so my agreeing with you may not count, but it definitely drove me crazy. I swear, I spent HOURS trying to figure out my passenger grill signal, only to find that the ground was giving me a false positive. I'm sure I created some new swear words.

Tomorrow is a new day, and hopefully I'll get things done in short order. I definitely got a good jump on things tonight.

I ordered from Delcity.net They have all kinds of OEM terminals from ATO fuse block terminals to packard 56 terminals for your parking lights and all dash light connectors.

I even picked up fiberglass loom for under hood stuff.

 

[Alec79CJ]

I pick up a set of braided grounding straps from Oreillys Auto Parts. I used two since it's better than one!

 

[venom]

I ended up grabbing 2 copper negative battery cables, and then threw the old one on in another location for good measure. 3 ground should work for a while If I ever have to replace them, I'll probably go find the straps.

 

[venom]

Quite some time ago i was 4 wheeling somewhere I shouldn't have been, and my clutch went out. One of my friends who was a novice mechanic said that an "e clip" had popped out of the mechanism, which I now know is called a bellcrank. We ended up using duct tape to get it out of where we were, and sometime later it was "fixed". Now, I'm not saying I didn't "fix" it, but I will say I don't remember ever doing anything like what I found. As a matter of clarification, I remember putting an "e clip" in place and got a "mechanic" to do the "repair". (That's a lot of sarcastic quotes)

Tonight, armed with the correct repair parts (2 bushings, 2 boots, and 2 clips) and an idea of what I had to do i set off to refresh it. It was working, but after replacing all those mounts it was suggested that those being worn probably had an adverse effect on the bellcrank bushings and they'd be cheap insurance. Well, let me tell you, it was a good thing I did.

How it didn't fall apart, I'll never know. The side connected to the transmission was missing the boot and the retaining clip. The side closes to the outside of the vehicle didn't have the boot, the bushing, or the clip. It had, what I believe to be, a piece of steel wool stuffed in the hole to take up the slack. Did I mention that I took it to a "mechanic" to do the "repair"? Pictures don't lie.

The repair process was really simple. Two nuts, two bolts, and a bit of fidgeting and it was done. All in all it took about 20 or 30 minutes, and wasn't hard at all. Knowledge is power apparently. I still need to lube it, but I didn't have the time to go through and lube everything, so it'll happen when I do that. Hopefully it will last a good long while now.

So, check out the creative fix and my subsequent refresh...

Transmission side

Driver side

Creative aftermarket bushing

Repaired

 

[gert]

lol you sure you dont want to hit the under side of your Jeep with a pressure washer for awhile first? Its been a while since mine was that muddy and dusty, but I can still vividly remember the taste of oily mud

 

[venom]

lol you sure you dont want to hit the under side of your Jeep with a pressure washer for awhile first? Its been a while since mine was that muddy and dusty, but I can still vividly remember the taste of oily mud

I know it may not look like it, but Believe it or not my daughter and I spent pretty close to an hour knocking mud and stuff off of it. I'm far too guilty of neglecting it for far too long. One of the issues I ran into with the pressure washing was Limited to just high pressure water, no degreaser or soap. It was infuriating, to say the least As soon as I can manage, I'm taking it to the coin-op which has better pressure and degreaser I'll either be towing it or it will wait until I get a new radiator. Did I mention how I kick myself for being so neglectful?