Some work since last update. The correct tires came in so I went to a friend's dad's shop and had the tires mounted and balanced on the plasti-dipped wheels. The wheels held up 100% and look great with the new tires. I definitely recommend plasti-dip for those wanting to change their wheel color.
I had not seen the process in person and it was really interesting and not as difficult as I had thought. It does take practice and know-how to get the tires inflated and how the hunter machine works for balancing. It was really neat to watch how everything goes together. And what the dots mean on the new tires (they line up with the valve stem, because the tire was balanced at the factory and the 1 oz weight of the valve stem throws off the balance of the tire).
Now that I have new tires, i can remove the old and start on returning the YJ to stock suspension and steering. However, there was a problem I did not anticipate.
Rhino-lining is great stuff; long lasting, strong, rust proof, and annoying to remove from nuts and bolts. Guess what the previous owner did? They rhino-lined everything they could on the underside of the vehicle, and I do mean everything. In addition, they also installed a 2" shackle lift and a dual stabilizer kit. Both will need to be removed.
I didn't realize how much the PO had rhino-lined until I started removing the shackle lift. Normally removing the shack lift would not require removing the u-bolts or spring plates, but the PO did 2 things
a) broke the driver side leaf spring plate
b) rhino-lined the passenger side left spring plate's threads
This meant that the u-bolts had to come off to replace the plates. It was then that we discovered that the rhino-lining had penetrated the u-bolt and nut, which made them one solid unit. Two snapped u-bolts later, it was decided to start cutting the u-bolts to save time and frustration. I didn't have the tools necessary to cut the u-bolts (they are tough!) so we called it a week and started up the following Sunday.
I didn't have an angle grinder, so off to HF to buy their $10 version along with some cutoff discs and got to work:
After removing the passenger side first, we mounted one of the new tires and got the first look at how the tires are going to look. I was super excited at this point
We finished the the driver side in short order a few days later. Heres how the driver side, with a better angle, looks today
We only had a few hours to work on the Jeep, so the Jeep sits a little funny because the rear still has the 2" lift and big tires. It reminds me of the hot rods from the 20s and 30s, with big fat rear tires lifted higher than the fronts. It has not been driven this way, so there shouldn't be any issues with frame stresses due to the extreme size difference in tires and lift.
One thing that I was expecting was a few Wranglers to be in the local junkyards. I was shocked to find out that there were 3 junk yards locally that had Wranglers, but that most of them had been stripped in the 3 weeks they arrived at the yards. I need a sway bar up front to complete the front suspension stock conversion and finally found one. I will be heading there tomorrow with a friend to remove it and a few other parts.
Removal of the rear shackles and installation of the stock shackles and front sway bar should be in the next few weeks. Once those two items are done, my suspension work is finished
After the suspension work, I need to remove the front fog lights and figure out the wiring since these are aftermarket and tied to a relay directly from the battery. Also will start removing the windshield mounted mirrors that I broke the bolts on, but wont come out due to the washer/nut combo hiding behind the windshield.
I've decided to go ahead and replace the entire soft top since the current one leaks when it rains, which will be a problem when I install carpet. The uppers also look more like they are from a TJ instead of a YJ. The soft top needs to be removed for paint anyways, so this will be a good time to remove and sell it during spring time along with (hopefully) the old wheels and tires.
"Item one fifty-one on today's project list. We've got all the problems of a major jeep project and a major restoration, and the jeep's not even on its feet yet."
So much for the transmission getting "better" as the fluid warmed up, as per the previous owner...
