New member, first time Jeep owner

[PlasticBoob]

Welcome JBoy and Ghostmedic! Ghostmedic, love your avatar!

[jboymechanic]

Still not home or running yet

The driveway it is sitting in is not mine, I will be heading over to prepare the engine to run next week. Once it's running I'll drive it onto the trailer and get it home. It hasn't run or moved in 15 years, but the pictures are from this year.

I've ordered a pertronix ignitor kit for the distributor to do away with the points and I have a new battery. I will be pulling the plugs and putting a small amount of oil in the cylinders and then I'll let it sit for a week or two and then I will come back and change the oil and coolant. I will then crank the engine over by hand with my 3/4" drive ratchet to prime the oiling circuits. After all that I'll actually fire it up with gas in a portable boat gas tank.

For those who asked, it is stick on the floor, but I don't even know if it is a 3 or 4 speed yet. I hope to go over the truck more closely next week and really get to know it.

[letank]

Welcome to the asylum, great purchase, and wise decision on the pertronix.

As for priming, turning the engine w a wrench is still going to damage the dry bearings.
The ideal way is to prime the oil pump directly .... Not too sure about the tornado, but on the V8 360 you pull the distributor and slip a modified rod that one of our member is selling and rotate it for a minute or 2 to circulate the oil. For those of us who have a mechanical oil oressure gauge, the pressure is up to specs within 20 seconds, but you need to keep priming so the oil has circulated though the oil circuit.

http://www.ifsja.org/forums/vb/showthread.php?t=137760

And the tool

http://www.ifsja.org/forums/vb/showthread.php?t=64804

[threepiece]

Hello and welcome. Have you seen a blue J20 rolling around Waterford? that would likely be mine. I would like to take a look at your truck if you don't mind. I have been playing with these for thirty years. I actually took apart a 1966 J2000 last year and have several other FSJ's.

I am interested in seeing the early 232 engine, particularly if it has a four speed. I have only seen one other one but it was dark. I have a 258 (basically same engine) and four speed with PTO on my J20.

[jboymechanic]

letank,

You are right, running the pump without turning the engine over would be the best way to prime the oil system. But slowly turning over the engine by hand is a close second. I've done this many times and never had a problem with bearing damage.

threepiece,

I'm in Waterford, WI but I'm guessing you're in Waterford, MI?

[jboymechanic]

Motor is free

Finally spent a little time on the Gladiator last night, pulled the plugs and oiled the cylinders. The guy I bought it from went ahead and turned it over right away, but it did do so freely. Did the old "finger in the spark plug hole" compression test, seems ok. It ran when parked and it turns over, so that should be enough to know it will run.

I went to check the condition of the points and the Expletive Deleted!Expletive Deleted!Expletive Deleted!Expletive Deleted! screws for the dist cap wouldn't budge. Solution: purchase a remanufactured distributor from rockauto for $45 that includes all new points, rotor and cap and send in my old one and let them deal with the screws that will most definitely break off.

Finally, I got to know it a little better. It is a T18 4 speed and it has a Dana 60 rear end. Hoping to have it running once I get the new distributor. Until then, any one know how to tell if the Dana 60 would have the Power Lock?

[Carnuck]

I always bust the cap down to the screws (after soaking with PB'Laster a bit) then use visegrips to turn them if the screwdriver can't by that point.

[jboymechanic]

Now Running

Well I got the engine running. While the oil was draining I put a new vacuum line from the car to the vacuum advance and hooked up a new fuel line to the fuel pump inlet and just placed the other end into a 2 gallon tank that I rested on the inner fender. After I refilled the oil cranked her over and no luck. Turns out I wasn't getting any power to the coil so I hot wired the coil direct from the battery and tried again and it fired right up. It was cold blooded and wouldn't idle on its own as the choke cable was froze up and stuck wide open. WD40 took care of that and soon enough she idled nice and smooth for the first time in 14 years.

The next step will be to get it home.

[vahokie9539]

Great work and welcome from Virginia

[jboymechanic]

Picked up a new front axle

This weekend I picked up a 1975 GM 3/4 (8 lug) Dana 44 with disc brakes and 6 wheels and tires with matching bolt pattern for $100 on craigslist. Once I get the truck home I'll do the swap. Also, the rear is a Dana 53, so I plan on upgrading to a 8 lug full floating axle in the rear as well.

[mic63]

Build date 2406Y 200433 Jun '66

[jboymechanic]

If all goes according to plan, the Gladiator will finally make its way home to my garage this Saturday.

[jboymechanic]

Made it home without issue

Saturday went well other than all four wheels being locked up initially. Truck wouldn't budge under its own power moving forward, so we dragged it forward in the driveway about 10 feet, all four tires skidding. But once I had room to back up all four tires broke free quite easily but the brakes continued to drag. From there we just drove it up onto the trailer and that was that.

Made a quick stop on the way home to a manual car wash and pressure washed 14 years of dirt, sap and mold and the results were pretty impressive. Next moves are to clean out the cowl and bed and then I'll post some after pictures. Then I'll get at the brakes.

[Jjkage84]

Not worthless, but come on now, we love the pics! Keep up the good work!

[jboymechanic]

Some picks of clean up

Had a little time tonight to do some minor cleaning, still need to get it out of the garage to blast out the cowl, bed and air compressor. Also discovered that my gear ratio is 4.89, I'm hoping to get down to a 3.54. I plan on swapping a newer, full float rear axle assembly into the rear but want to keep the closed knuckle up front (DON'T TRY TO CONVINCE ME OTHERWISE), will the gears out of any front low pinion standard cut gear Dana 44 fit?

Here is the Jeep safe in my garage and slowly drying out.


Cowl full of pine needles and compost basically.


Cowl cleaned out, still needs a good flush.


Good shot of the PTO driven air compressor behind the cab.


Gear ratio tag on the rear Dana 53.