Norcal69's Common Sense Build.

ARB switches final mounted. I am waiting on a new front t-18 bearing retainer before I can continue with the swap. Last night I tore my cluster apart and fixed a grounding issue with the fuel gauge. I guess it's time to peel the old shift pattern logo off the dash.....

 

I don’t like those newfangled switches. Too new—ruins the aesthetic.

But I can dig the vintage panel they’re mounted in.

You shoulda done old fashioned metal toggle switches and some jeweled indicator lights.

 

That's the future plan. Right now there is allot going on between the clutch swap, new axles, new t case, bigger rear brakes with e cables.

 

Are the arb switches electric or air?

 

The ARB switches are electric.

 

Gentlemen,
Project creep is a real thing.......
Somehow staring at my stalled transmission install with a beer in my hand led to a speedometer restore.




I picked up NOS fuel and Temp gauges from Bluemoonscooter on ebay. Perfectly preserved in some cancerous wrappings....





I painted the speed needle with Testors flourecent flat orange model paint.

 

Sweet, can I send you mine to restore?

 

Your funny.......
I actually had mine apart 3 extra times trying to get it clean. After the 2nd assembly I noticed a white dog hair in the odometer

 

I have been wanting to ditch my stock cross member for a long time.
Before I added the transfer case skid plate, it was lighter than the stock cross member.
Picked up right at 3" of ground clearance. Of course there will be some more transmission floor plate mods as it now sits higher.







This is the mount of the right side of the transfer case.





The transfer case mounting bolts will be inverted so the heads will not protrude below the cross member.



Right side transfer case mount.

 

Sweet!

 

Well done!

 

Next victim.
I have been running this clutch cable 1966-72 Jeep CJ5 Manual Transmission Clutch Cable USA Made Stainless Steel | eBay for a few years. They are waaaay better than the crown and omix brand, but they still succumb to the common problem of dirt and sand getting packed in the cable. I have found that they last much longer if they are run without lubricating them, but eventually they collect oil from the usual leaks which attracts grit and contaminates. This makes the clutch much harder to push.
Of course a hydraulic system would alleviate the clutch effort and eliminate the sand/ grit problem. I have witnessed and/ or experienced almost every brand of hydraulic clutch component fail at some point. Wilwood, Tilton, CNC, Quarter Master and Mcleod across multiple classes and chassis. Many of these parts were installed properly by my former car chief, a 3 time Nascar golden wrench award recipient.

I like the pedal effort/feel of a hydraulic clutch and daily drive one that I installed in my tahoe; but the cable clutch setup is simpler and requires less spare components to be carried in the jeep.

Solution.
I purchased another cable from the link above. Installed dry, clutch effort was acceptable but still not even close to a hydraulic clutch. I picked up a cable luber and shot some tri-flow from one end to the other. Instantly the clutch effort was substantially less when pushing with either my left arm, or leg. (Side note, My left elbow was broken in a crash. At one point I had 12 screws and a plate holding it together. That was 4 years ago, hurts every day.) I would gauge it at about 15-20% more effort than the Hydro clutch in my tahoe with NV4500. With the pedal effort now very manageable I needed to come up with a way to run the cable wet and keep the grit from sticking to it.
Mc Master Carr is my go to for odd tidbits like this. I picked up two of these 1/4" ID x 11" long bellows.



First I removed the ineffective cable wiper that the manufacturer installed. The clutch fork end is easy to install with a little lube on the inside of the bellow, it slips right on.



Fully compressed.



Now the pedal end is a little harder to do.



A very careful slice with a cut off wheel and the clevis is easily opened with a pry bar.



A little more lube and the other bellow is slipped on. Trimmed to proper length of course. You must account for the stretch on the pedal side and compression on the fork side. A tack weld to restore the clevis to operation condition.



Here is the clutch cable installed. I put a quality zip tie in the groove where the old wiper snapped in.

 

Awesome!

 

Kyle , I've ran those cables for years........and tried to refine them.........in fact the only thing that did work for me was to take it off a few times a year and hang it up and dribble in some motor cycle chain lube from both ends.....I hope that cover works which is a great Idea , but when you go through a stream it still may get some moisture in there..........

Years ago I had an old KW dump truck that had a Cable operated PTO......and on both ends where it attached it had a zerk fitting made right into that cable end housing.........which worked like a charm to keep the cable ends greased and sealed off.........problem is the cable size was about 3/4" in diameter.......I looked forever and talked to many guys that do that and could never find one in a smaller housing size.......

 

I am hoping that the stainless helps out with the moisture issues; and I can always cut the zip tie and blow it out with the cable luber.

 

Have you posted any info on your auxillary fuel tank installation?

 

There is a little info on page 3. Is there anything particular that you would like to know?

 

Final shot of the new cross member in painted and in place. Before I started this I hit the underside with the steam cleaner. I'm thankful for the years of oil leaks that preserved most of my floor.

 

Another fine example of project creep........ I slid my new axle under the jeep and was ready to bolt it down when I realized that the axle tubes were a larger diameter than the offset D44. After some digging, I found the correct size U bolt but only had one. My old spring plates would not work. For a long time I have been dreaming about building a U bolt flip setup. Adding to my frustration, for the correct square U bolts for 1-3/4" springs would have to be made---Not happening. Replaceable items like U bolts must be off the shelf in my opinion. I have been wanting to install 2-1/2" yj springs for a while now. Clearly this is the time to do it and I happen to have two square U bolts 9/16" dia x 8" long x 2.5" wide, these are off the shelf items.
With all of this coincidence piling up..... 4 Old man emu CS036R yj springs are now inbound .
While waiting for the springs I decided that I could go ahead and build the U bolt flip.
In my odd stuff pile I just so happened to have 4 weld on spring perches. I picked up some 1"od x 5/8" id DOM tube and started chopping up the spring perches.
Here is how it went......





I missed a bunch of boring picture taking steps in the middle.......





Now I have to make the U bolt retainer skids for under the springs. Oh and I have to make one more of these that hopefully comes out just as nice.......

 

just getting caught up. Nicely done. Some, I wish I could hit the 'like' button multiple times, so I piled on other's comments.