I Need A Shoulder To Cry On

[The Preacher]

Just pulled off the oil pan and it is worse than I had even considered. The bottom of the pan is full of metal chunks. These are not shavings but little chunks. I am guessing the noise I was hearing was the bearings.

Now what do I do???

Anyone want to by a jeep?

[CowKiller]

it is only a 360
they can be replaced, or just do the work and get back in there

[Stolen76]

you might want to go the route of a long block from a parts chain. as long as the parts are there, they don't take it apart to check the condition. A few guys here have bought them from autozone and places like that, it may be the best route for you.

there is however another option... on pine island road just west of burnt store there is a newer GW that has been there for 4 months, new engine, looks to be in decent condition. I think it was $2200 obo, maybe a relative could drive it out to you !

[Chero77]

AMC 360's are common and relatively cheap, so you could go the used engine route. If you are going to do the R&R yourself you may want to consider it as its the cheapest way to get running again. If you are going to pay someone to do the R&R, I would suggest a chain store engine.

Also, there are machine shops in Ridgecrest and they don't get a lot of business even in the best of times. Right now, you may be able to get a pretty good deal on having your present engine rebuilt.

If I remember right, you have said in the past that the Jeep is not your daily driver. So you may just want to let it sit for awhile till you get time to evaluate all your options.

Good luck.

[RDgladiator]

preacher, thats terrible, but look on the bright side ...engine upgrades smile.gif

[Tad]

NO CRY, IT'S TIME WAS UP
Where exactly is Trona?

[ November 16, 2002, 08:30 PM: Message edited by: tadsal ]

[Rompn]

Preacher,
Sorry to hear the news. However, I may be able to help you out. I have a 75' Cherokee N/T with a 360 (15,000 miles on rebuild),TH400,Quadra-trac. It has a new paint job that was repainted the original factory two tone brown and white. In 75' the front brakes were drum along with the rear but the p.o. upgraded the front to disc. Dana 44 front and rear axles with open dif's. The interior has a custom aluminum dash with Auto meter gauges (including a tranny temp gauge) and the entire interior was Rhino lined gray. The seats (front & rear) are tan and are in perfect condition. It also has a headliner that was redone the same color as the seats that is a 7 out of a 10 in condition. All the windows and glass is there and all operate no problem. The rear window is a hand crank and rolls up and down with ease. It has a factory lugage rack on the roof as well. The entire Jeep (besides the engine,tranny,transfer case) has 3,500 miles on a complete teardown/rebuild. I have all recipts. I picked up this Jeep last year at a good deal and stuck it in the corner of my house and haven't touched it. I haven't even driven it once! I had it towed to the house cause I couldn't get off of work early enough to get it before the guy needed it gone. I am asking $2000 for it. Anyway, I live about 3 hours from you and go through Trona about 4-5 times a year in my Cherokee to visit the Panamint Valley. If your interested, I could tow it out there behind my Jeep one of these days so that you could check it out. Later.
Pat
bmxtrme@aol.com

[The Preacher]

Hold it!!

Stop the pressess!!!!

SOMETIMES IT IS GREAT TO BE WRONG!!! smile.gif smile.gif smile.gif smile.gif smile.gif

Here's the story,

A guy in my church named Eric, who just so happens to be a machinist, (he works in Ridgecrest Chero77) stopped by to have a look at my pan. "That's not metal," he says. I told him he had to be kidding me. "Nope, it is sludge and what looks like a whole bunch of broken down sealer material." So we get a magnet out and this stuff won't even get close to it.

He also looked things over on the underside and said the engine looks great, piston chambers - everything! He is trying to talk me into doing a pressure check on the crankshaft main bearing/seal while it has it's drawers off. With his help that should give us a read on whether to change the bearings.

Something important to note is the oil pan gasket was glued to the block with orange rtv. It looks like they way over did the job and probably squished a bunch of it into the pan when they put it back on. Eric says if you are going to use gasket sealer, always seal it to the pan and not the block.

Another point is both times I have changed my oil, I substituted a quart of Marvel oil. That may have loosened so much stuff up causing a problem with the oil passages. You should see the pickup screen, it is really loaded up with that gunk.

I will try to take some pictures of all this and put them on a new post.

Stay tuned: to be continued...

[The Preacher]

Originally posted by tadsal:
NO CRY, IT'S TIME WAS UP
Where exactly is Trona?Well, it is not at the edge of no where but you can see it from here. :D :D

Maybe this will help,

Next to death valley. 70 miles north of Barstow, (by desert). Not that far from Mt. Whitney, just a bit south and east. Near Vegas on the map, by road it is 4 hours. 100 miles north east of Lancaster, by road.

[Paul]

Glad to hear things aren't as bad as they at first seemed!
Paul

[Marvin Gates]

Hey John, glad to hear your problems aren't near as bad as you thought. Good Luck Buddy! MG :D :D :D

[The Preacher]

Well Marvin & Paul,

I have only had this Jeep since April and it has been some kind of a journey me. I am not a dummy but it helps so much to have someone by your side to teach you things as you go. All I knew how to do a year ago was change the oil.

In addition to the little things like oil and plugs, since owning this rig I have: installed new rear glass, replaced carb, changed front seal on tranny, replaced seals in transfer case, tranny pan & filter, replaced exhaust manifolds, installed new filler neck hose, replaced thermostat, changed anti freeze, installed new heater core, packed front bearings, replaced broken air conditioner with another broken air conditioner from junk yard, had the grille off twice, changed the battery, changed starter silenoid, new battery cables, new fan belts, installed elec. fuel pump, new dist. cap & rotor, cut off catalytic converter and done what I could to clean up the inside.

Is that enough? Now I am under the engine seeing what I can get in to down there, oil pan gasket, new pick up screen, rebuild oil pump. I may get in to replacing bearings while I am down there too. We'll see about that when I get back from Florida for Thanksgiving.

So what's my point? For me, the joy (and sorrow) of owning this rig has been learning how to work on cars. I have spent so much more time working on it than driving it that it isn't funny. That is why this has been such an amazing journey. We won't even talk about money.

[Stolen76]

Glad to hear you may have better news, especially after all you have put into it. Be sure to drop your oil filter plate off of the front cover and check for grooving in your pump housing. Best of luck to you !