Full Size Jeep Network

Took the Wagoneer on a short jaunt to a trailhead for some hiking today. It's running great and no leaks.

However the ride quality is dog water. My two guesses here is the springs were installed and tightened without the weight of the vehicle or it's the Bilstein shocks. I'm going to loosen the springs at the shackles, shake the heck out of it and torque it down to see if the bushings are bound up now. Any experience on the forum with the bilstein 5100 series? Also open to any other suggestions!

And if this is going to cut it for long road trips, I need to stop puttering around and get the cabin noise down. Way too loud as it is! But that's going to roll into the rewiring plan as I want to get the old carpet out anyway to run new trunk lines and loom.

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I’ve had good experience with 5100’s however they could be too heavily valved. I’ve had issues with leaf springs not aging well and ride being the biggest issue more than sagging. Along with that the choices of off the shelf replacements are appalling and really well engineered custom replacements are quite expensive and very few options for quality builders.

The above reasons are why I did the 63” leaf swap in the rear and doing links and coils up front.

Search eBay for "Kilmat" sound mats. Did the inside of a '58 Ford and made a world of difference.

jaber wrote: ↑Sat Dec 04, 2021 8:49 am Search eBay for "Kilmat" sound mats. Did the inside of a '58 Ford and made a world of difference.

I second this. Eastwood also sells kits that are well priced and way cheaper than the name brand Dynamat. Eastwood calls it X-Mat. They make several types for floor and roof etc.

Okay This guy can teach you everything you want to know about making your vehicle interior quite and insulated from heat

https://www.youtube.com/c/BatdogGarage

bigun wrote: ↑Mon Dec 06, 2021 11:35 am Okay This guy can teach you everything you want to know about making your vehicle interior quite and insulated from heat

https://www.youtube.com/c/BatdogGarage

Thanks for this Bigun- I am working through his videos.

Happy New Year everyone. Had some travel and work shifts keeping me away, but now back to working on the woody.

UPDATE

I figured before I sound deaden/replace the carpet, it would make sense to get the electrical cleared up( before I cover it up). Man oh my it was a thread that once you pulled at it, it came apart.

First the fun new shiny bits- going with a bunch of blue sea busbars to clean things up, Bussmann circuit breakers to keep the runs to the fuse blocks safe, panel mount pass through a to clean up/replace the firewall connection, and new fuse blocks to replace the original/add auxillary.

Additionally I am going to be adding a rear 'subpanel' behind the driver side panel in the cargo area. This is the same 12 circuit Blue Sea fuse block with an under frame auxiliary battery and a MPPT charge controller for the Sun power panel on the RTT. To keep the house battery and the starting battery connected/disconnected based on voltage, I am using a ML-ACR auto charging relay.

That's the fun side- today was me digging into the engine bay wiring harness and assessing what I can reuse, where to put the relays/fuse blocks, and what I can cut out entirely.

Hopefully will finish up the engine bay tomorrow and then can start in on the interior. Next weekend should be me working on the aux panel with the second battery. Here's the hoping until the one gremlin ruins the plans .
600A busbar, 100A bus, 12 Ct Fuse block & aux switch panel for relays.

100% safe and not crusty at all

The bulkhead is actually cracked straight down the middle

Rear of the bulkhead. For me about 25% of these are not currently used.

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Progress has been made. Less than I had hoped, but I am really glad I tore it all apart and am slowly putting it back together. I found quite a few sketchy connections and WAY too many unfused runs. Most of them will have to hold out for the fuse block install, but I feel good about the main interconnect upgrade.

The battery runs two welding wire runs- 1 to the starter and the second to the 600a bus. Then there are currently 4 OCP'ed outputs/inputs. The 150a for the alternator(max output is around 125-130a), a 100a for the new fuse block, the glow plugs for the Cummins with a fusible link, and a 30a in line for the ancillaries of the ECU. I have 2-3 more connections in the future, but for now this is what's needed.

Currently all of my feeds to the in cab factory fuse block had their fusible links removed(!). Not ideal in the slightest so I am going to remedy that as soon as I can. Also had a number of bad splices and tired connectors.

So question for you all- what is your go to high-conductor count(>6) connector for replacing factory? I have use weather packs but they are limited to 14awg and I haven't found greater than 6 pins.

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A whole bunch of progress this week. It's going to be a few posts to catch it up.

I got the new carpet on order. I talked with Ryan at BJs and ordered 3 samples for the best color match. Went with Caramel. Here is a pic with the different samples to help anyone in the future.

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Been making progress on getting the transfer case linkage & 4x4 working.

With all of the factory vacuum gear removed, I went with Rock Laurence's kit- https://rocklaurencevintageautoparts.co ... k-or-wagon. Really nicely put together and he sent along detailed instructions. I am happy with the adjustability since the 2.8/4l60E shift lengths and placement. I have the hi-low linkage set up, and waiting on the missing linkage for 2WD/4WD from Ebay to get the whole set up running.

Placement before cuts.


Shifter


Linkage below


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Received the rear crawler bumper from BJs- https://www.bjsoffroad.com/Crawler-Rear ... p_392.html

Robust bugger of a bumper! I am in the middle of getting it painted. Going with the gray rustoleum hammered paint. For anyone who wants to use this paint in the future- the instructions are a lie! this paint needs at least 2 coats with the first coat the sacrificial lamb. Then for the hammered look, you need to put a decently thick coat on then not brush it again! The effect is pretty much immediately and any addition brushing will undermine it.

Knocked off surface rust & IPA wash


2 coats primer


First coat of Rustoleum Hammered Paint


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Its always cool to see your Idea used on a project--a Really Nice Project

rocklaurence wrote:Its always cool to see your Idea used on a project--a Really Nice Project

Thanks Rock Laurence! Your kit is great- really saved the day with it.

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Today's mantra that I wish the previous owner knew- duct tape is not electrical tape and electrical tape isn't wire loom!

Time for a drink and find some new skin for my knuckles.

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Blame not the PO. The Factory used it on several crimped splices in the harness.

SJTD wrote: ↑Tue Feb 01, 2022 10:27 am Blame not the PO. The Factory used it on several crimped splices in the harness.

Ive seen that also

Yeah, I actually had a short in my J10's wiring harness that I tracked down to factory tape around a factory splice. Was a bugger to track down as it only happened when hitting certain bumps in the road.

Wow. I made the mistake of looking at it and thinking "AMC would never have done that.". Lesson learned- never underestimate the cost cutting measures of AMC at the end.

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Sound deadening phase 1 underway- remove interior & old carpet. I need to have a conversation with the seat belt bolts with a breaker bar tomorrow, but besides that relatively smooth.

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Progress today. Had a good conversation with the remaining bolts and got the rest of the interior removed. I have all of the old carpet staged on the side so I can chalk up the new one for where holes need to be. Started getting the CLD tiles down. I know I only need 20-30% coverage, but I don't plan on doing this again and and the extra weight isn't a substantial adder.

Also was able to get the 4X4 lever for the transfer case drilled out to 5/8" to accept the new bushing with the help of a friend & his drill press. I have no idea why but its some type of hardened steel that's a real pain to drill.

I have 1 small patch of surface rust that I am going to treat and paint over before I sound deaden over it. I am very pleased with the quality and solidness of the floor.

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