Cheap Chief

[j20owner]

Good update. I like the looks of those tires. Should be decent offroad, not great on icy roads, but you probably don't get that much down near Austin.

[jsinajeep]

Just how cheap is this " CHEAP CHIEF" now. and it not going to get any cheaper either.

[ross80truck]

Just how cheap is this " CHEAP CHIEF" now. and it not going to get any cheaper either.

Yeah, things started getting a little out of hand. I will admit that I am a little further along than what I have posted here. I am trying to get the build thread updated to match where I am at now, but I need to go take some more pics to post here first. But, as of right now I am at $5500. I was hopping to keep it under $4K, but when I started lifting it and buying tires, things got a little carried away. Stay tuned for more updates though.

[ross80truck]

While I was working on the front, I also fabricated these brackets to weld to the frame. This will give me a good place to attach my winch bumper that I plan on building. The 76 and earlier jeeps did not have a very good way to attach anything other than the stock bumper. Since I subscribe to the philosophy that bigger is always better, I probably over killed on these bumper mounts. But, oh well!

[ross80truck]

Once I got the front end bolted together and sitting on the ground, I found that because of the lift, the sway bar was not angled down towards the ground at a steep angle. So, I cut the sway bar links and welded in a bushing. This leveled the sway bar out making it not only clear everything better, but work correctly. Eventually I plan on going back and making my own quick disconect sway bar links, but for now this gets me going. The reason they are rust is because I went to the beach with jeep before I painted them and before I took the picture.

[ross80truck]

One of the other issues that I ran into was when I tried to install the front drive shaft after I had installed the lift kit. When the jeep was sitting on the ground the drive shaft would just barely clear the exhaust, but when the axle went to full drop the front drive shaft and exhaust were hitting in a bad way. So, back to summit racing for some more J bends and exhaust tubing and I moved the point were the two pipes coming out of the header further back towards the transfer case. I was able to keep everything tucked up under the jeep nicely and still clear the exhaust. Again, the reason it looks rusty is because I took it to the beach before I took these pictures.

[ross80truck]

The back half of the exhaust was shot as well. So, I built a whole new back half to the exhaust. Because of the lift kit I did not have to put the hump in the exhaust over the rear axle. It would have looked nicer if I had, but I was pushing my exhaust building abilities as it was. I used 2.5" pipe and ran the largest Thrush muffler they make. I really like the sound. I had a chrome tip laying around that I welded on the rear. Like I said, I really like the way it sounds. I added the flange in there so that I could easily take the muffler out if I needed too.

[ross80truck]

Once I got everything done underneath, I moved to my next problem which was underneath the carpet. I pulled the front seats out and removed the carpets and this is what I found. Not to bad compared to some I have seen on here, but worse that what I would like.



So, we wire brushed the floor pan as best as we could and cut out the major sections.

[ross80truck]

For a temporary fix until I can get back in here and do it right, I cut a piece of sheet metal out and tact it over the rusty floor pan and then used some calk to seal it the best I could. I have some trips coming up that I really want to use the Jeep on, so I am patching this and will come back latter and cut the whole floor pan out and weld in a new one.



There were a few bad spots on the passenger side, but they were nothing like the drivers side. So, I patched them real quick and calked around them as well. Then I put the carpet back down. This makes the wife happy knowing she will not fall through the floor boards.

[Road Trip]

Ok, I'll be the bad guy, what are you going to do underneath the patches to stop the rust? If you've looked at my build, you'll know I HATE RUST! The way the patches are lapped over the old floor will need some treatment from the top and the bottom won't it?
I like your priorities!!!

Keep the pictures coming.

[ross80truck]

Ok, I'll be the bad guy, what are you going to do underneath the patches to stop the rust? If you've looked at my build, you'll know I HATE RUST! The way the patches are lapped over the old floor will need some treatment from the top and the bottom won't it?
I like your priorities!!!

Keep the pictures coming.

Road Trip, you are absolutely correct. That is why this is just a temporary patch. After I take the few trips with it that I have planned over Thanksgiving and the 1st of November I will go back and pull these patches out and actually cut the floor pans out and weld in new pans and do it right. This is just a temporary fix.

[ross80truck]

Here are some pics of the bumper I built for the front. I wish I would have taken more pictures of the different stages of the build, but once I was making sparks, I forgot to shoot pics. The base bumper is a piece of 8" channel that we cut and bent and cut some more. The winch is a used Warn 9K I picked up for cheap. I will get the bumper blasted and painted black when I get my steps built.

[serehill]

Awesome Ross looks great!

[ross80truck]

So, the wife and kid are out of town today and I have some time, so I am going to try to get my thread updated to where I am at presently.

So, I made it to the coast this summer with Jeep. We go to Port Aransas, TX every summer and also spend some time on North Padre Island as well. So, my goal was to get the Chief together by then. And I made it. Here is a pic of here on the beach.




Before we ever left though, I was able to drive it for a couple of weeks and found out that I had a few problems that I needed to fix when I got back. Good news first, the motor appears to not be burning any oil, but it is hard to tell because it leaks so dang much on the ground. Once I got back from the beach we pulled the oil pan and front cover and resealed everything. We also put a new rear mail seal in while I was at it. One thing that we also found out at the beach is that the chain in the my transfer case will slip under heavy loads. So, when I got back we pulled the transfer case and put a new chain in and all new seals as well as a new filter and pan gasket on the transmission. A couple of good this came from all this. I now have no oil leaks. I also found out that the clutches are good in my transfer case. So, with a new chain, new seals and fresh oil, I should get many years of good use out of it ( More on this latter ).

[ross80truck]

Once I fixed all the leaks, my wife would finally let me start driving it home because now it would no longer leave big spots on her driveway. I found a few other things I wanted to fix. First off, with the weight of the front bumper and winch, the front now set lower than the back by about 1-1/2". So, I bought a set of extended shackles from BJs. I also learned that this thing will not flex at all until you disconnect the sway bar. So, I ordered a set of sway bar disconnects from BJs as well. The shackles raised the front up perfectly and now the front sits 1/2" lower than the rear or level, depending what I have in the back of the Jeep. And honestly, I have been so busy, I have not had a chance to play with the quick disconnects yet.

[ross80truck]

I also found out from daily driving it that I hated the seats. They were uncomfortable and I could not get them to sit up straight enough for me. So, I got on craigslist and found a set of seats out of a Durango for $50. I had read that this was an easy swap. I could not believe how easy it was and I love the seats. They are so much more comfortable and I now have a center console and a set of cup holders. Life it good!

[ross80truck]

I needed some gas for the chainsaw at home, so I put a gas can in the back of the jeep. I should have known better and spilled gas on the carpet. I tried cleaning it out, but could not get rid of the smell. So, out came the back seat and all the rear carpet. Then I thought, which was my first problem, why I have the carpet out, why not Rhino Line the back instead of putting different carpet in. Then, I thought, why not Rhino line the sides as well since all the fabricate is coming off. So, after one thing lead to another, I pulled all the interior and side windows. Rhino lined the entire back half of the jeep. Painted the headliner and re-installed it. A quick get the smell out of my jeep job turned into a 2 week pain in the rear, but it turned out awesome. The only problem is, with the carpet out, it is noticeable louder in the jeep. So, I am eventually going to get another piece of carpet put back in it, and just pull it out when I go to the beach or have to haul something nasty in the back.










I used the Rock-IT Liner from Summit Racing ( http://www.summitracing.com/parts/smm-42260/overview/ ). It is good and I liked it a lot. I bought the one that you can add color too and made it tan. The only problem is that I wish I would have bought twice as much if not 3 times. I barely got everything covered with one coat with what came in the kit. I could have ordered another kit and shot it again, but you are suppose to put the second layer on while the first is still tacky. I have afraid trying to add another coat several days latter would have not bonded.

[jsinajeep]

Glad you made it back to give us an update. I like the seats. And the liner you put in the rear.

[ross80truck]

One of the things I also did while I had everything out Rhino lining the interior, was to modify the dash. The previous owner had very cruidlly made the radio slot bigger for a different radio. The ash tray was broken as was the mounts for it. Also, the glove box was shot. So, I cut all of it out and made this panel. It did not turn out quite as nice as I wanted, but it is functional and looks better than before.



The vents are AC vents that I tied into the AC unit under the dash. This helps get a little more AC to the back seat. I have a temp gauge and a Wide Band O2 gauge to help me jet the Holly Street Avenger carb on the 401. The switch under the radio is for the Emergency Drive, and the toggle switch is for the rear window.

I do not think I have mentioned it yet, but I bought one of the rear window wiring harnesses from Serehill here on the forum. One of the best upgrades I have done. I highly recommend getting the remote. I hardly ever use the switch in the jeep, I always use the remote. I ended up buying a second one for my wife. It was either buy here one or give here mine. So, she got here own. I also bought the headlight wiring harness as well. After hooking up to my trailer and towing it at night and having the lights go out on me because it was pulling to much amps though the switch, it was time to add relays. Once again, Serehill's kit was easy to install and works great. I will be buying another set of both kits from him in the future for my Diesel Wagoneer.

[ross80truck]

Every year my wife and I rotate holidays between here family and mine. This year for Thanksgiving it was just going to be my wife, my son and I and my wife's parents. So, we decided to go to Port Aransas for Thanksgiving. If you have not noticed, we like the beach. So, my mother in law just had hip sugary. This gave me an excuse to build some steps for the jeep. I also at this point had not tried the heater yet.

The heater was not working at all. Found out that I was not getting any flow through the heater core. Flushed the heater core and now I have heat, but I also have an aweful musty muddy smell when I turn on the heater. So, out comes the heater core and fan. Found a bunch of wet leaves and dirt down in the heater core and blocking the temp control door. Put it all back together. Smell is now gone and heater still works great. This is a pic of all the crap that I took out from the heater core area.