1977 Jeep 401 Wagoneer (Wedding Wagon)

[rang-a-stang]

Can you get to the Vacuum Actuator from underneath?
Or do you have to get to it from the floor?

You may have answered this.

You can get to it meaning you can reach up there and fiddle with it, but it is almost impossible to remove without either splitting the case like I described above or removing the whole case. I don't think you can get to it through the floor without cutting a hole.

[Wagoneer Taylor]

You can get to it meaning you can reach up there and fiddle with it, but it is almost impossible to remove without either splitting the case like I described above or removing the whole case. I don't think you can get to it through the floor without cutting a hole.

Darn it! Thanks

[Wagoneer Taylor]

Haven't had much time to work on the Jeep, but did some tinkering on the clock that Rang so kindly donated. I think I found what is wrong with it!

First pics are just of what it looks like before and apart, will have after revamp pics later.


Doesn't look too bad on the inside UNTIL:

There seems to be the culprit, a broken connection to power. Rang you may want to take yours apart and check this. It looks like this spool is really fragile i will attempt to fix this, this weekend and post my findings.

[rang-a-stang]

Oooh! I hope that fixes it!!!! that would be fantastic!!!! I'll get to mine... someday....

[Wagoneer Taylor]

Hey Folks,
This happened over the last several weeks but thought I'd share it.
I was having ignition troubles off and on starting just after I got married. Most times it would start right up after some cranking, but other times i would get absolutely nothing. Or it would crank and crank and crank and never fire. I already knew i was getting fuel, because i had just re-done the system and could get gas pumping while cranking. Our thoughts were its definitely spark or something not allowing us to spark. After going through the aftermarket HEI distributor we concluded (trust me i am shortening the story here, this "concluded" took many many hours) it had to be the ignition, ignition switch or neutral safety switch.
So I dug right in, I removed and cleaned the neutral safety switch (which i sadly dont have pics of) this for sure could use a cleaning on the contacts. Re-assembled and still the starting issue persisted.
Nest came the ignition switch, again i removed, cleaned and re-installed. To no effect.
Last the ignition itself, i began removing the steering wheel, slid a small bit of metal into the ignition release slot, popped it out and replaced it with new.
Re-assembled the steering wheel, promptly breaking the small plastic circular ring that sits right behind the steering wheel (so if you know where to get these or have a better decorative option i am all ears).
But surly this will fix the problem. NO big fat NOPE.

Now after letting this stew for a couple days, we went back to the distributor. Using a DMM we were measuring the proper voltage getting to it. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary until, bam we got some fluctuation, 6 volts, 8 volts, 12 volts, back to 4 volts. We began tracing the wire back to the source which we should have done from the start. The power wire goes into that black bundle of electrical tape pictured below. What could be in there???

Here's what was underneath the electrical tape. Not just 1 but 4 different spices for the distributors power wire to run through. This is where we were getting our fluctuation.

Needless to say we cut all that out, ran a new dedicated wire and now i have no issues starting up. Learn from my mistakes folks always check the previous owners work!

[Wagoneer Taylor]

This weekend starts a newer mission to make the Wagon more streetable, so the wife and i can drive it on weekends leading up to total tear down for rust repair and engine swap later this year. This is all little stuff that needs doing (like heat/defrost), but was not essential for driving it at the wedding. I don't have many pictures but did a lot of tinkering.

First on the list was the clock(because I thought this would be an easy one). I re-soldered the connection that was broken. Then used a DMM to check if i had voltage to the plug in the dash, which i did. Upon plugging it in, the rotating actuator that should allow the second hand to tick, snapped into position but the clock did nothing more. After an hour of tinkering with it i got no further. I may come back to this but having a working clock is not a priority.

To make a long story short, I investigated getting heat/defrost to work. I cleaned up and got power to my fan, routed new vacuum line to the the dash push buttons. Ultimately this got me a working fan, but the flappers that change the direction of air flow must be stuck in the off position. Or the wiring might not be making good connection. It will need further investigation.

I also routed all new vacuum lines to my 4WD system, found a major leak in the valve in the glovebox so this also still does not work but I'm one step closer.

Question: Does anyone know where to get a replacement valve for the glove box that switches to E-drive?

[Driftwood]

I bought my replacement from BJs Offroad.
It works very well.

Question: Does anyone know where to get a replacement valve for the glove box that switches to E-drive?

[rang-a-stang]

You don't "Have" to have the switch. I operated with vacuum line coupler for a couple weeks. Just hook vacuum source to normal and it stays in normal, then when you want to go to e-drive, you unhook the source from the normal line and plug it into the E-drive line. Then back when you're done.

I went through 4 switches and they all leaked the same (through the stem). I didn't want to spend the money on the BJs switch because I thought it was expensive and I LOVE the look of the stock switch. So I disassembled mine, cleaned it out, and used dental floss as packing around the stem. So far it has held up for about 2 years. Taking the switch apart is easy (I don't have one in front of me so I don't remember how but you took apart the clock so I am SURE you can figure out the switch, too) then you wrap the stem with floss and keep trying until it fits correctly. The wax on the floss keeps it from drying out. It doesn't stop the leak but the leak is pretty insignificant if you take your time and do it right.

[Wagoneer Taylor]

Yeah I can get nearly the same unit off of amazon for a bit cheaper. I may go this route.

Good thought Rang, not sure why i didnt think to try that then

[rang-a-stang]

Hey just noticing as I was looking at your pictures again, I notice you didn't get a flex plate with your 401, at least I don't see them in the pictures. When you go to install it the 401, make sure you get a 401 flexplate (it's not the same as the 360 or 304 flexplate). You may have a 401 flexplate on your 360 (maybe whoever did the swap, did not swap the flex plate) or you may not. Just make sure you are accounting for it when you plan your build.

[Wagoneer Taylor]

Hey just noticing as I was looking at your pictures again, I notice you didn't get a flex plate with your 401, at least I don't see them in the pictures. When you go to install it the 401, make sure you get a 401 flexplate (it's not the same as the 360 or 304 flexplate). You may have a 401 flexplate on your 360 (maybe whoever did the swap, did not swap the flex plate) or you may not. Just make sure you are accounting for it when you plan your build.

Good looking out, I do have the flex plate it is in a box with other engine parts.

[Wagoneer Taylor]

Finally Back At It

Hey all, been awhile since I could make it out to work on the Wagon.
But here she is!

I am happy to note that after sitting for about 3 weeks all i had to do to start it was crank it over until the fuel pump got fuel to the carb and she started right up to a happy pur!

[Wagoneer Taylor]

Picking up where i left off with the 4WD, i have since ordered parts for a vacuum switch and fittings. It is similar to what Bjs offers but an actually switch rather then push/pull operation. (Bonus it was cheaper too) Ill add pics when i have it in hand.
I went ahead and tried just applying vacuum direct to the lines that go to the vacuum actuator (as mentioned by Rang) sadly to no end. I bet my actuator is bad or the vacuum hard lines are plugged. This did not discourage me as i assumed i would have to go through that system at some point anyway.

Abandoning this for now i went back to work on my dash. Attempting to get the flappers that direct air to work and seeing about my gauge cluster. My gauge cluster does not work except for my speedo.
Last time i attempted to get the flappers to work, i was unsure if i was getting vacuum to them or if my buttons were not working.

So i did the only sensible thing and pulled the whole cluster out! This was a good thing because i found 2 issues. 1: The vacuum line that comes from the engine had fallen off and was so old it was falling apart, and 2: that the placard that tells you what fan speed and heater controls are had fallen down and was stopping 2 of the buttons from fully engaging as seen below.

[Wagoneer Taylor]

I replaced the vacuum line from the engine, routing it through the hole in the firewall, which let me tell you was a pain in the neck with the jumple of wires behind the gauge cluster. The pic below is after i zip tied some of it into neater bundles.

Last thing i did before moving on to other miscellanious items was test if the new vacuum line worked and if i could get my air flappers to move. By hooking it up directly i was able to hear both the heater and defroster actuators move which was the main goal for the day. I was pretty happy with this small victory.

I will be holding off on putting the gauge cluster back in until i can either repair all the gauges, or have them repaired for a decent price...

[Wagoneer Taylor]

Seeking advice here:
Here are my thoughts on the gauge cluster, I plan on looking into it myself and seeing what i can fix/hook up, if i can't seem to figure it out i may send it to a shop to repair. Does anyone have experience with this?
Second, if that doesn't work i want to look into building my own cluster in the same housing as the original. I have seen a couple guys on here build their on but they end up with a custom surround and i like the look of my original one.
Lastly if the price on making my own comes in a bit high, i may honestly fork up the dough for on of the those sweet Dakota Digital drop in units.