Radio Flyer-84 Grand Waggy

[Yeller]

And the ice cream at Braums…… miss it every time I’m traveling and looking for ice cream, baskin robins just ain’t the same lol. Makes me think maybe I should go have some breakfast ice cream

Yeah turner falls has definitely become popular. We always go in the winter or early spring when it’s fairly vacant. It is now a city park and not a state park. For some reason Oklahoma has been turning state parks over to cities and leasing to private managers if the use fees don’t break even…. Thought that’s what our taxes were for….. I digress, the cities and private managers are charging entry fees, most of them are reasonable, for the most part parks are far better for it, facilities are better, grounds better maintained etc.

[dodgerammit]

And the ice cream at Braums…… miss it every time I’m traveling and looking for ice cream, baskin robins just ain’t the same lol. Makes me think maybe I should go have some breakfast ice cream

Yeah turner falls has definitely become popular. We always go in the winter or early spring when it’s fairly vacant. It is now a city park and not a state park. For some reason Oklahoma has been turning state parks over to cities and leasing to private managers if the use fees don’t break even…. Thought that’s what our taxes were for….. I digress, the cities and private managers are charging entry fees, most of them are reasonable, for the most part parks are far better for it, facilities are better, grounds better maintained etc.

Baskin Robbins is garbage, lol. I likened Braums to a mashup of everything good about Sonic and Dairy Queen, rolled into one with froyo options.

Interesting about the city control now. Guess it is better for the park as it gets a much greater chunk of the proceeds. Nothing worse than nasty facilities. Since I camp frequently, I specifically send the TN state park system extra $ via the specialty license plate on the Jeep.

[AtlantaDan]

Just wanted to say thanks for the rear axle bearing write up. Super helpful when doing the job yesterday!

[dodgerammit]

Just wanted to say thanks for the rear axle bearing write up. Super helpful when doing the job yesterday!

No problem! Pictures always help me. Along with being explicitly told what to avoid and NOT to do. I find if I know what to not do, then it's harder for me to screw up something. I hate vague instructions with no pictures.

[Srdayflyer]

Saw your post i would flush the motor and radiator with evapo-rust thermocure, see my post earlier and the pics will amaze you on the difference, also the box you held is a trailer brake controller for trailer towing , there should be a factory relay box mounted in the rear cross member that supports that unit.

[dodgerammit]

Saw your post i would flush the motor and radiator with evapo-rust thermocure, see my post earlier and the pics will amaze you on the difference, also the box you held is a trailer brake controller for trailer towing , there should be a factory relay box mounted in the rear cross member that supports that unit.

Again, the engine was disassembled for inspection before installation by the guy I purchased it from.

Not just valve covers.

Fully disassembled.

Heads off, crank and pistons out. Bearings inspected. Block and heads inspected, cleaned, and reassembled. New head gaskets. New consumable parts installed (water pump, alternator, thermostat, seals, etc).

I seen it.

This engine is clean.

New coolant that was properly mixed with distilled water introduced on the install. The radiator was clean as I only had it for about 3 years at the time. I just installed a new radiator before the long trip and did a full coolant flush at that time. Again, Green stuff with distilled water. The coolant was not even 2 years old at the time.

A 20+ year old motor that has never been inspected, Sure. There is a good chance someone just used tap water in the coolant and that causes all kinds of issues.

I use distilled. No minerals to react with the block material. Antifreeze has anti corrosion inhibitors that work pretty well provided you keep it changed out.

I had no engine temp issues with the old style radiator and the new one is even better.
The electric fans rarely kick on. When they do, they usually only run a minute and shut off.
The temp has to drop 10 degrees to allow that. It does better than my T/A did.
A 10 degree change in a minute during summer is pretty indicative of a good cooling system.

[Srdayflyer]

i had lots of rust scale come out of mine, but mine sat for 10+ years , found out a lot during my adventure in overheating
i ran every stat from160-195 , i figured i would run a 180 stat and it would run cooler being in phoenix during the summer at 110+ days i found in my 1975 jeep manual the procedure for manually testing the thermostat and it said to open the stat insert a .003 feeler gage allow the stat to close and then submerge stat in 195 degree water and the feeler guage will be released and fully open at 218, i spoke to stant and they told me the same thing and that a lower temp stat would aggravate the overheating problem by not allowing the coolant flow to regulate better (slower) and allowing flow to slow down in the radiator to cool better , i am running the sniper efi and it has multi display stand alone and when the cluster is at the bottom of the green the temp is 195-197 degrees and at 218 the cluster is middle of green band , im running the 195 degree stat that is called out and havent had any issues, im running a 3 core aluminum radiator severe duty clutch fan, clutch fan clutches have also their own duty cycles of engagement with severe duty having engagement of 85-90 % . the aluminum radiator has more cooling tubes and area of 18% more cooling than stock and is better shrouded too.

[dodgerammit]

i had lots of rust scale come out of mine, but mine sat for 10+ years , found out a lot during my adventure in overheating
i ran every stat from160-195 , i figured i would run a 180 stat and it would run cooler being in phoenix during the summer at 110+ days i found in my 1975 jeep manual the procedure for manually testing the thermostat and it said to open the stat insert a .003 feeler gage allow the stat to close and then submerge stat in 195 degree water and the feeler guage will be released and fully open at 218, i spoke to stant and they told me the same thing and that a lower temp stat would aggravate the overheating problem by not allowing the coolant flow to regulate better (slower) and allowing flow to slow down in the radiator to cool better , i am running the sniper efi and it has multi display stand alone and when the cluster is at the bottom of the green the temp is 195-197 degrees and at 218 the cluster is middle of green band , im running the 195 degree stat that is called out and havent had any issues, im running a 3 core aluminum radiator severe duty clutch fan, clutch fan clutches have also their own duty cycles of engagement with severe duty having engagement of 85-90 % . the aluminum radiator has more cooling tubes and area of 18% more cooling than stock and is better shrouded too.

Mine has a fresh LS That said, The old 360 never gave me a fit about getting hot either, but a new radiator, thermostat, and hoses were the first thing I purchased many years ago when I bought it.

[dodgerammit]

So, like many in the southeast, there's a winter storm hitting our area. I decided to take Radio Flyer and the doofball out to play on the unsalted backroads near the house before the really bad second round set in.







There was 2-3" while I was out. There is about 7" now, and it's still coming down heavy. We were originally forecast for 4-7". We'll most likely end up with 8-10". The areas originally forecast for 1-3" got 4-7".

If you have to be out in it, stay safe.

If you have a classic of any type, keep it out of the salt.

[Srdayflyer]

i agree, salt invites corroder bugs, i read a post where a cherokee driver found a nest of them in his driverside frame rail and a P.O. applied a scab patch on the frame to be corrected there are plenty of good frames here in az, to not mess with scabbing the frame together. but hey nice lookin g.w. keep it truckin

[dodgerammit]

Another month (or three) and another update.

So, a year or so ago, I visited a junkyard within a day trip that had some FSJ stuff available and snagged a piece I needed for Radio Flyer.

That piece is the little bit of metal between the trim bits above the tailgate window.




It is slowly getting more gnarly. Time to take care of it before it gets into bigger sections of metal





After a few hours of careful drilling, the metal underneath showed to be solid, so it just needed some cleanup and weld through primer




Then I could put the 'new' piece back on



Some etch primer, followed by a couple of coats of sanding primer for protection while I tackle the next part of this job.

[dodgerammit]

The next issue was the clear coat had been lifting on the roof. I purchased this ride about 7 years ago, and knew the paint job was a cheapie then. The fact it held up this long has been surprising, to say the least. About a year ago (or maybe a bit longer) the original paint underneath the repaint began to lift in a couple of spots. I scuff sanded those areas and used some Rustoleum that was 'close enough' to buy me a bit of time til I tackled the repair above. With the repair done, it was time to get me a tool to do this job.


Six hours later, I had both the respray and the original layers removed. I also used a wire wheel drill attachment to eat the seamsealer from the drip rails.


I used a single stage SEM seam sealer and applied a much more thorough layer than it originally had.



I got another date with a new paint shop (but same guy as before) to spray the roof


He buffed it out and I brought it home a couple of days ago.


I have some new roof rub rail gaskets on the way from BJ's, along with a couple grand worth of some 'heavier' pieces of metal. Stay tuned...

[Srdayflyer]

im replying to your pics, the box with controls is part of the factory cruise control, i removed all my factory c.c. stuff and went with a rostra c.c.system its all electronic works great, and works with the factory turn signal cruise functions, as a mater of fact they have a direct replacement if the factory turn signal unit is bad. hopes that helps

[Srdayflyer]

i hate to say, but you could have built yourself a real kick ass 360 or 401 for the amount of time on research and development and trial and error. IMO.

[dodgerammit]

i hate to say, but you could have built yourself a real kick ass 360 or 401 for the amount of time on research and development and trial and error. IMO.

Did you miss the part where I had a 'kick ass' 360 built after a bunch of research and development and it never was right?
I have a whole set of threads on the planning and research on building that motor.

I'm quite content on how quickly the Gen 3 motor install went. Much faster than the year of downtime waiting on the moron with 40 years of experience to f*** up my 360.

You do also realize you've replied about the cruise control 3 separate times?

[dodgerammit]

Well, I finally had the extra time and finances to fix something that had slowly been getting worse over time. The trip to Oklahoma really showed how worn the suspension of this Wag was. I had already lowered the front bump stops to protect the aluminum oil pan from being contacted by the front axle. There was almost no room for up travel (maybe 2-2.5" at most).

So, I opted for the BJ's/Deaver Spring Company 2.5" lift over a stock height setup.

The parts started arriving on Monday, and the springs showed up the next day.




I opted for the Bilstein shock upgrade


Broke out the necessary tools for the surgery. Had to cut two U bolts on the rear, and one of the rear main eye bolts had seized in the bushing. A sawzall and a lot of anger and rage finally prevailed in cutting it free from either side of the spring and inside the box that shielded it.


Ironically, the captive nut (behind the coffin tank if yours is original) gave me no fit whatsoever. And I used no penetrating oil or heat. I was lucky and discovered there was no rust in the frame after I removed it during the swap.

As far as the dreaded shackle alignment and lift springs being short, I only used a C-clamp to compress the spring behind the axle toward the overload leaf. About half compression was all it needed to allow for reinstallation of the shackle bolts.

The front axle was slightly easier due to AMC's rust prevention method of engine leaks. Everything came out. No heat. No penetrating oil. The 18v impact was very useful, though.

One thing to note on the front springs:
On my axle (1984 model), the centering pins are .5" originally. The pins in the Deaver springs mic at .575" and WILL NOT go in. The hole on the axle measured about .52", So I clamped the new spring pack together tightly and removed the center pin, turning it down with a bench grinder. I ended up tapering it from .5" to about .53" so it would snug up nicely inside the axle under torque.



I did one side at a time on the front axle, leaving the other side attached since I was working solo and didn't want to fight the axle any more than necessary. I bolted the main eye in first, then used a floor jack to lift the spring into place from behind the front axle. The center pin and axle locating hole didn't want to line up easily, so a ratchet strap looped around the axle and anchored elsewhere on the frame gave me the assistance I needed to plink the pin into place.

The Driver's front spring gave the greatest fit about lining up. The larger U bolt supplied in the kit just didn't want to go through the lower spring plate after fitting over the differential and being angled to match the original path. Pry bars, C-clamps, hammers, and ratchet straps all came into play. One thing I noted was the springs in the pack were slightly out of line with each other. Most likely, this happened while the pin was out for grinding down. Some whacks with a mallet lined everything up evenly again, and helped the U bolt situation.



From tired stock springs to the new 2.5s, I got exactly 4" of lift as measured from the rocker panel at each wheel.
This puts the Jeep at a comparable height to most factory spec SUVs. I am at eye level with stock Grand Cherks, Exploders, 4 Runners (not the lifted TRD Pwos with their Wittle Wadders and Jungle gym Woof Wacks ), etc.

This is, to me, the perfect height for a stockish FSJ if you want to keep the same tire size.
BJ's site states that you are good to 30x9.50s without any issues. I'm sticking with the 235s as the axle is staying 2.72 ratio. They're only 1" less diameter and most wouldn't be able to notice any difference.





Happy Doggo. She gets to go for Jeep rides again in her favorite vantage point. I just have to lift her wag half into the Wag now.

[dodgerammit]

Another 'modification' I wanted for a while is a wheel color change.
I know in the earlier years of production, you could get the wheels with gray or gold colored recesses.
Later, turbine style Chrysler wheels seem to only have been offered in gray.
Since mine is an earlier design, I had seen some garnet colored Wags with the gold wheels and thought they looked 'right'. IMO, the darker colored Wags look good with the gold wheels.

I picked up a spare wheel from another Wag in a boneyard a few years ago when I also snagged the hood and fender.
It was an early gold version that otherwise matches the other 4 I have.

Last year, I had to actually use it for a couple of days while the original rim was pulled due to a tire puncture. I used that time as an opportunity to compare the gold vs gray look on Radio Flyer. The gold wheel actually mounted on my rig convinced me it was a warranted change.

So, now that the lift was on, time to finish the look....

Now, I could pay good $$$ to have the wheels CNC machined and restored, but I can think of several things I'd rather spend the $1000+ on.

Namely, I'm vying for a hidden winch setup.

So, with about $50 spent on a trip to the local big box, I got some course steel wool, some medium Scotchbrite pads, some blue tape, a can of etch primer, a can of filler primer, and a can of this:



The rear wheels were in decent shape and only required the scotchbrite to scuff for prep.
Then after about 45 minutes and some tedious tape work the first wheel was ready.





A small bit of over spray got on the sidewall, but will wear off soon enough with a few good scrubs when the Jeep gets a bath.



The front wheels were more work. Years of disc brake dust had eroded the gray and needed more attention. There, I used the steel wool, then the Scotchbrite. I followed with some etch primer, then filler primer to 'build' the surface up and make it smoother along with giving a matching gray base (like the other wheels) to lay the gold paint over.



For a frequent driver, I'm very happy with the subtle change. I didn't bother to paint the 'ring' along the outer edge as mine was unpainted to begin with. If I did have to paint it (or decide in the future), I'll probably go with a garnet red to accent the gold and tie in with the Jeep. Since it was unpainted, I'm not that motivated to worry about it, so it'll probably never happen.



I'm still deciding if I want to do a gold/garnet themed center cap design or if I want the red/white/blue retro design.
I have one of those caps on the driver front wheel currently.

I have a couple of broken center caps I can play around with to make my decision.

Cheers!

[Yeller]

nice change! Gold just looks right on that wheel.

Wheel/tire combo can so make or brake a vehicle, like it!

[dodgerammit]

nice change! Gold just looks right on that wheel.

Wheel/tire combo can so make or brake a vehicle, like it!

I like stock look with subtle mods, so the A/T 3 peak tires combined with a small bump in height makes this thing pretty capable as far as ground clearance goes.

The best setup for a capable driver, IMO would be Truetracs F/R.

It would allow me to see everything I want to but keep me out of the more serious stuff that would easily cause damage to it.

Maybe I'll cross that off the list at some point, but honestly, I have not put or desired to place this thing anywhere it has not come out of on its own.

That's why I'll opt for the winch first. If I should get in something a little too deep, I can self recover with only a bruised ego.

[Yeller]

I get the bruised ego

I got denied there and then 150 feet later I messed up and got to do it again. it is the only time I’ve pulled it and I’ve done what most consider to be quite difficult trails like hells revenge and poison spider mesa in Moab. The pic spot was on Poughkeepsie Pass in Ouray CO.