Sinking Creek 4WD Association

Today I got my Jimmy driving and took it for a spin around the block. Ive spent the last several weeks working on it and getting it ready to be my DD for a few weeks while I try to sell it. I took some pictures of the process and figured id make a little thread of what Ive done. Its nothing special, but for anyone whos interested:

Bought a 1985 Jimmy for parts,


Sold the tires and a bunch of other stuff and got my money back plus $300, so I essentially got two axles and a tailgate for free.

I put in the two gasser axles with 3.73's (to get a better gear ratio for the 33's)




replaced the return lines


I replaced all the filters and changed the oil, diff fluids, etc.

Spent like 12 hours cleaning up the rats nest wiring form the PO

Cleaned up the tow hitch and front tow hooks form the donor truck and put them on the Jimmy

Greased the front suspension, and had to rebuild a few U-joints

Cleaned alot of the grounds and put antiseize on all the fasteners I could

Took out the old sound system and am working on tearing the carpet out to get the rest of the wires out

Re hooked up the half disconnected emissions system (Unplugging the EGR doesnt do anything positive )

Replaced a couple rubber junction hoses on the fuel system to fix a fuel leak that casued a hard start problem with he diesel. Its helped but I think Im still getting air somewhere, going to start replacing the O-rings on the hard lines.

Had trouble getting the brakes bled, had to bleed the master cylinder 3 times today before i could get any pedal, but I got it and have a nice firm pedal now.

Some more pics of the process:





Things I still ned to do:
Replace a tire
Mount the spare and swap the carrier form the two trucks
Finish fixing fuel leak
Run Seafoam through engine
Replace tranny fluid filter and gasket
Replace t-case fluid
Fix tranny leak at cooler lines
Put dash back together, clean carpets, and interior.
Finish painting the tailgate and installed
Try to fix dent in rear fender and paint rusty spots on truck
Wash the truck, get it licensed and inspected.


By no means am I expecting this to be anything special or nice, but Im pretty excited to get it finished and drive it around. Thanks for looking

Looking good man. What use do you have with an engine hoist, I figured you would just man handle that 350.

97JEEPTJ wrote:Looking good man. What use do you have with an engine hoist, I figured you would just man handle that 350.

didnt wanna show off you know...

A video of it running i forgot to post earlier.

I rebuilt the transmission over Thanksgiving.

I have spent the last few days putting it back in, and fixing other odds and ends that needed attention. Today I replaced the leaky diff gasket, replaced the return lines again (crappy Chinese rubber dry rotted in 6 months, reminder to self, never use Chinese condoms), welded up my broken TVC rod and adjusted the new TVC.

I took it out for a spin and have all 4 gears, the proper 4-3 and 2-1 kickdown along with firm shifts (the 700R4 operates off of a throttle cable that controls line pressure, shift points, and shift firmness, so its imperative to get this right or else the 3-4 clutch burns up fast). I am pleased that my first transmission rebuild went so well. Pictures to come.

Now I finally have a vehicle again.

Transmission out


Valve Body


Check Balls


Rod





The next step is to put find a nice used dashpad, install all the heating ducts, and clean all the dash grounds. Im thinking about keeping this truck for a while. If I do, my future plans will be to put a J code intake manifold and banks turbo on the engine, replace the injectors, glow plugs, and IP, put a large capacity transmission pan on, an auxiliary transmission cooler, transmission temperature gauge, tachometer, somesort of LSD or locker in the rear,and maybe some trailer brakes.

Looks great man!

I assume since you just test drove it last night you dont have any idea yet, but I would be curious as to what kind of real mileage you get with it. Is your speedo recalibrated?

willhf1011 wrote:Looks great man!

I assume since you just test drove it last night you dont have any idea yet, but I would be curious as to what kind of real mileage you get with it. Is your speedo recalibrated?

It is not. However, my gearing is only 4% deeper than stock.

Just borrow someones GPS to figure out how much its off. I can't wait to find you a deal on a Banks turbo kit next semester, this thing will be sweet. You just need to put a stack coming out the side like this, then you wouldnt need to reinstall the heater ducts.

dodgeguy119 wrote:Just borrow someones GPS to figure out how much its off. I can't wait to find you a deal on a Banks turbo kit next semester, this thing will be sweet. You just need to put a stack coming out the side like this, then you wouldnt need to reinstall the heater ducts.

Im thinking about getting a 6in hole saw and going to town on the fiberglass top, running a stack up through the cab/bed area and wrapping it in grey carpet to match the interior.

BadAssEddie wrote:

dodgeguy119 wrote:Just borrow someones GPS to figure out how much its off. I can't wait to find you a deal on a Banks turbo kit next semester, this thing will be sweet. You just need to put a stack coming out the side like this, then you wouldnt need to reinstall the heater ducts.

Im thinking about getting a 6in hole saw and going to town on the fiberglass top, running a stack up through the cab/bed area and wrapping it in grey carpet to match the interior.

Looks good man nice work on the rebuild

FYI for any who are interested. I just went to the pump and I got 16.5 MPG this week. I had the hubs locked in for most of that (due to the snow), a good bit of 4x4 and 4lo, probably 80% of that was city driving, and I had a heavy foot while figuring out TV cable adjustment.

Discounting those few things I am hoping to break 17 or maybe 18 with the next fillup. Getting over 500 miles to a tank is amazing for me. With my bronco I would get 3xx.

I also made a friend at the pump who owns a biodiesel taxi service who said that he would help me out if i was interested in getting some from their stock. So, that might be something interesting for me to think about.

So, all in all. When I take into account the higher price of diesel, I am 13% more economical.

BadAssEddie wrote: I also made a friend at the pump who owns a biodiesel taxi service who said that he would help me out if i was interested in getting some from their stock. So, that might be something interesting for me to think about.

Ya hippie