'Mater - '77 Cherokee S 4-door

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bigwalton
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'Mater - '77 Cherokee S 4-door

Post by bigwalton »

My 7 year old already named it 'Mater, bought it this week.

I was actually looking on Craigslist for a specific, different FSJ that I'd seen on the side of the road (84 Honcho) when I came across this. Funny how things work. We've always hated that we had to get rid of the Grand Waggy we had in NC before moving to MI.

Short summary:
154k miles, part time kit in tcase with Warn lockouts on front axle, tow bar setup, spare quadratrac tcase and a spare D20 (for some reason I don't quite understand), Aero tank aux gas tank, aftermarket trailer hitch, a couple boxes full of seals/gears/parts/bearings, a brand new uninstalled set of rear air shocks (he was going to try to help the sagging rear end but never got to them), and more that I'm forgetting.

The only really significant body rust is on the rear quarterpanels behind the rear tires. Through hole on the left, just getting going on the very lower edge of the right.

All of this is in last 20k miles with paperwork:
stock 4-barrel removed-but comes with Jeep, replaced with new Edelbrock that has a new tuning kit with it, new Edelbrock intake, new Mallory HEI not installed, new radiator, new water pump, new plug wires, tires with couple hundred miles max., both axles gone through with bearings/seals, rebuilt tranny, rebuilt tcase, rebuilt 360 but it started having overheating and cam/dizzy gear munching issues (that's what parked it)-we turned it over briefly with starter to check that it wasn't siezed but didn't run it, all brakes redone

York compressor and underdash unit with working fan-but AC isn't complete/working, cruise control, stereo/speakers work, rear electric window works from key in gate and dash switch (needs cleaned/rehabbed badly though), someone had put offroad lights on the roof that are now removed and holes crudely plugged, someone had a towing side view mirror mounted to the drivers door, so there's three holes in it that need to be dealt with somehow.

Pictures
All these pictures suck because I didn't get there to look at it until after work and I was crawling in/under/around it and going through his folder of receipts/paperwork until it was nearly dark and realized I hadn't taken any pictures yet.

https://picasaweb.google.com/1054921278 ... directlink

Seller's ad picture....you had me at "patina"
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Brand new old tires (bought in '07, practically no miles, no cracking, still hold air) like everything on this Jeep, the patina on the center caps just made me smile.
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Worst rust I could find on the frame and it's just surface rust.
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That's his electric fence controller dealio zip tied to the grille. The tow hooks are for a tow bar setup. Might try that out to get it home if AAA won't get it done.
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More patina. Not the kind of thing you see much in Michigan. Jeep lived the vast majority of it's live in Sacramento apparently, judging from receipts. Doors/windows seem to have stayed sealed well, very few to no signs of water in the cabin.
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Oh YEAH!!! I've always thought this was the coolest factory-applied sticker setup ever.
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The one oddity (but I think there's an interesting reason) the rust from gas out of the filler. Someone installed an Aero Tank auxiliary tank in the rear end. It's supposedly connected to the main tank but there's a switch on the dash for main/aux. The seller didn't drive long distance and just left it on main, so he's not sure on the details. I wonder if all that extra gas sloshing between the two tanks didn't often push gas out through the filler.
This is what's in the back end, 29 gallons!! http://www.aerotanks.com/inventory/1924.html
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I freaking LOVE this!
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For Michigan, this is SPECTACULAR underbody condition on something this age!!
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Game on!


Plan

(Other than all the routine stuff for fluids, checking steering, ball joints, etc.)

Main thing is that this will be a solid good-weather runner, DD, occasional tow rig, not a restoration project or offroader. Tires won't be bigger or more aggressive than they are now (I'd love to be able to just run these for years.)

See what I can do with the stock paint with some elbow grease. Deal with holes in roof/drivers door.

I haven't completely decided, but I'm thinking just start over with a rebult 360 a friend has at a great price and using the good bits off this motor. Not sure if I want to bother putting time into a questionable motor that might have had metal gear bits circulating for who knows how long. Seller changed them twice and I'm not certain I believe him when I asked if he changed oil after they went. His expression said "Oh yeah, probably should have done that."

Pull the Aux tank or possibly use it as the main and pull the stock tank.

2" BJs lift springs or find used setup cheap.

Shocks

Can you put 3-point belts in the back of these?

Clean up/treat/paint rust.

Excited to be back in the FSJ club with squid launchers and all...
'77 Cherokee S - EFI 401
'84 Alaskan Postal Scrambler
'18 JKU Rubi Recon
'01 XJ - kid's DD
'01 XJ - winter beater
'18 Renegade
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lindel
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Re: 'Mater - '77 Cherokee S 4-door

Post by lindel »

Looks like a relatively clean, mostly un-molested Cherokee! Nice find!
Lindel
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bigwalton
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Re: 'Mater - '77 Cherokee S 4-door

Post by bigwalton »

It pretty much is, lots of little things/issues, but mainly pretty basic/untouched.
'77 Cherokee S - EFI 401
'84 Alaskan Postal Scrambler
'18 JKU Rubi Recon
'01 XJ - kid's DD
'01 XJ - winter beater
'18 Renegade
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bigwalton
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Re: 'Mater - '77 Cherokee S 4-door

Post by bigwalton »

Got him home today finally. Was a little worried with how much snow I had to drag it through with the Wife's JK. All good though, very slow ride on all back roads.

First two things that happened after it hit the garage was Mr Dancing Bacon (Christmas present) was set in what will be his new home and I had to grab the polish to see what might be possible with the silver paint :D


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'77 Cherokee S - EFI 401
'84 Alaskan Postal Scrambler
'18 JKU Rubi Recon
'01 XJ - kid's DD
'01 XJ - winter beater
'18 Renegade
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jaber
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Re: 'Mater - '77 Cherokee S 4-door

Post by jaber »

Congrats on getting it home. Love the dancing bacon. Image
Jeff

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bigwalton
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Re: 'Mater - '77 Cherokee S 4-door

Post by bigwalton »

The Dancin bacon is way up there on the best small Christmas presents ever list fo' sho.


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'18 JKU Rubi Recon
'01 XJ - kid's DD
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Brizio
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Re: 'Mater - '77 Cherokee S 4-door

Post by Brizio »

Congrats!
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bigwalton
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Re: 'Mater - '77 Cherokee S 4-door

Post by bigwalton »

thanks, been sick since yesterday afternoon and it's killing me not to have played with it more yet...
'77 Cherokee S - EFI 401
'84 Alaskan Postal Scrambler
'18 JKU Rubi Recon
'01 XJ - kid's DD
'01 XJ - winter beater
'18 Renegade
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Re: 'Mater - '77 Cherokee S 4-door

Post by Stuka »

Sheesh, the JK looks huge next to the Chero.

Flat towing in the snow is a brave thing to do ;) But good to see you made it home.
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Pevious Jeeps: 1981 J10, 1975 Cherokee, 2008 JK, 2005 KJ, 1989 XJ
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bigwalton
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Re: 'Mater - '77 Cherokee S 4-door

Post by bigwalton »

There was no snow on the roads, that was old snow from last week. Roads were mostly dry and I wasn't over 20 for most of the short drive.

I'd not really thought about the size comparison, that's a good point. Cherokee takes up plenty of garage though for sure.


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'77 Cherokee S - EFI 401
'84 Alaskan Postal Scrambler
'18 JKU Rubi Recon
'01 XJ - kid's DD
'01 XJ - winter beater
'18 Renegade
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bigwalton
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Re: 'Mater - '77 Cherokee S 4-door

Post by bigwalton »

Almost have the engine pulled, picked up a newly rebuilt bored .030 over 360 this weekend. :-bd
'77 Cherokee S - EFI 401
'84 Alaskan Postal Scrambler
'18 JKU Rubi Recon
'01 XJ - kid's DD
'01 XJ - winter beater
'18 Renegade
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Re: 'Mater - '77 Cherokee S 4-door

Post by bigwalton »

Got the engine in and fired up, working on breaking in the cam, I overfilled the coolant system first go round which made quite the mess.

Had to get new spark plug wires because the Mallory came with 90 degree plug ends and I needed straight shot wires. Started a small fire with some melted silicone on an exhaust header.

Image

Cleaned out the cowl, could have planted a garden in there.

Image

My daughter taking the shop vac to the interior. Cleaned up pretty well.

Image

Our dog wondering when we can take the first ride.

Image

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'77 Cherokee S - EFI 401
'84 Alaskan Postal Scrambler
'18 JKU Rubi Recon
'01 XJ - kid's DD
'01 XJ - winter beater
'18 Renegade
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66stepside
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Re: 'Mater - '77 Cherokee S 4-door

Post by 66stepside »

That's a great score- it's good to see the family involved, too!
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Re: 'Mater - '77 Cherokee S 4-door

Post by bigwalton »

Thanks. I agree on both counts :)

Needed an update anyway...

Got a new power steering pump/reservoir as old one was leaking too much and pushed me over my "better safe than sorry" limit. Installed with new return line, pressure line must have been newer, it's in great shape with a little cleanup. Needs bled out.

Scored a brand new one-wire Powermaster 140A alternator from a neighbor, bolted right in after stealing a spacer off the old motor (powermaster had 2" mounting boss and stock was 3") and is the last piece of the wire cleanup. This made me stop my other progress and attack the engine wiring for real, removed the yellow ammeter wire from the circuit in a temporary fashion in case I want to use it as an aux power feed to the interior (wire in good shape actually). I have a voltmeter in a 3-guage combo deal sitting on my shelf that I'm going to add in place of the single mechanical oil pressure unit there now, that will replace the ammeter and let me keep an eye on the charging setup. (I'm aware of the complaints/limitations about the one wire setup, but I don't plan to run much aux stuff as of now and the theme of this build is SIMPLE SIMPLE SIMPLE.)

Current (original I think) MC was obviously leaking, so I searched and found the bolt-in dual diaphragm "upgrade" from a J-truck, so I bit the "better safe than sorry" bullet here again and got a new (not reman) MC and dual diaphragm booster setup. Have it in, just need to bench bleed the MC, bolt it on and bleed out the system. I did a dual setup in my Scrambler and it was a great improvement. Also going off my experience with our old Grand Waggy that had an entirely new stock-like brake setup. It stopped ok, but could have been better.

I also remembered to get proper mag/AL polish and WOW, will these rims shine up awesome! Couldn't believe it!! Also got chrome polish and hit the bumper, just awesome.

I'll get pics, they're on my phone.

Also found out in the wiring effort that the aux tank has it's own sender in it already, they spliced the sender feed into the switch for the tanks (which still works) so that the sender feed from whichever tank is "on" goes to the guage. SCORE! So I'm thinking I'll cut/plug the overflow line from the aux tank to the stock tank (filler runs into aux tank) and just run it as-is after draining out current gas using the aux as the only/main tank. Saves me some money and having to drop the aux tank! So the new end goal now will be to put a transfer pump/line between the two tanks so I can, when needed, fill the main (now aux) tank from the aux (now main) tank for extended range. Only issue is finding a one-way valve to splice into the filler tube to eliminate the overflow issue the Jeep seems to have had for a while. Might be that uncoupling the stock tank could be the trick, when slam full, the position of the tube between them (the stock fill location) would allow the gas in the main tank to flow back suddenly into the aux tank, which I could see causing the gas to push out the filler on hills or acceleration. Just a theory.

Now that I don't need to totally rework the fuel situation and with the other progress this week, I'm HOPING to have a test drive this weekend (barring any gotchas, which I know enough to realize is entirely possible).
'77 Cherokee S - EFI 401
'84 Alaskan Postal Scrambler
'18 JKU Rubi Recon
'01 XJ - kid's DD
'01 XJ - winter beater
'18 Renegade
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bigwalton
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Re: 'Mater - '77 Cherokee S 4-door

Post by bigwalton »

Pics

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Image


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'77 Cherokee S - EFI 401
'84 Alaskan Postal Scrambler
'18 JKU Rubi Recon
'01 XJ - kid's DD
'01 XJ - winter beater
'18 Renegade
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[ O o \\|// o O ]
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Re: 'Mater - '77 Cherokee S 4-door

Post by [ O o \\|// o O ] »

They make a full size Jeep beer, why not a cola? Full size Jeeps are in good taste, right?
Sorry I didn't get it to blend in better, that's the best I can do in eight minutes. Gotta go.

Image
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Re: 'Mater - '77 Cherokee S 4-door

Post by bigwalton »

That's AWESOME!!
'77 Cherokee S - EFI 401
'84 Alaskan Postal Scrambler
'18 JKU Rubi Recon
'01 XJ - kid's DD
'01 XJ - winter beater
'18 Renegade
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bigwalton
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Re: 'Mater - '77 Cherokee S 4-door

Post by bigwalton »

Broke two bleeder screws, one on each end. Had new wheel cylinders from the Scrambler (duplicate axles rocking already :D) and put those on, headed to get new calipers and front shocks now with assorted odds and ends. Brakes look real good otherwise, just old but in good shape. Same with ball joints.

Pulled apart front hubs to clean and repack bearings. Nice Timken sets that look great. So making solid progress! :fingerscrossed:






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'77 Cherokee S - EFI 401
'84 Alaskan Postal Scrambler
'18 JKU Rubi Recon
'01 XJ - kid's DD
'01 XJ - winter beater
'18 Renegade
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Re: 'Mater - '77 Cherokee S 4-door

Post by Tad »

Looks great!
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bigwalton
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Re: 'Mater - '77 Cherokee S 4-door

Post by bigwalton »

Brakes done and bled. Oil changed (used Brad Penn break in oil for startup), diff fluid changed (it looked great though, but just being safe after it sat so long). Rerouted oil pressure line.

Didn't get to start into the electric fuel pump, but that's all that's left before I think I can try it out. Maybe, hopefully, fingers crossed.
'77 Cherokee S - EFI 401
'84 Alaskan Postal Scrambler
'18 JKU Rubi Recon
'01 XJ - kid's DD
'01 XJ - winter beater
'18 Renegade
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