Author: Jonathan

I haven’t been good with updating the blog, mostly because I’m lazy and also after I’m done working on the Jeep my hands and fingers are filthy so I can’t touch anything.

I’ve accomplished a lot since my last update,  the clutch and flywheel have been replaced.  I upgraded the carburetor by getting a Weber 38 carb. Before upgrading the carb, I also had to perform the Nutter Bypass which essentially takes the computer control out of the emission system.  I also performed the Team Rush upgrade which utilities a larger distributor cap, plugs, wires and ignition coil to provide a better and consistent spark.

I’m also able to stop the Jeep now!  With new front rotors and discs and new back drums the Jeeps stops on a dime.  After installing all new brake parts, I had to also install brake lines, during the brake bleeding process, I started to pump the brakes and brake fluid was squirting all over the place because of holes in the old lines.

I’ll be updating the site with all the changes/upgrades I have done to date including images…but for now here are two images of the Jeep as it stands today.

Once I removed the skid plate, getting the transmission down wasn’t that difficult.  I read enough online to know that there are two ‘hidden’ bolts at the top of the transmission that usually get overlooked.  I carefully removed all the cables, unbolted the 4WD shifter and disconnected the stick shift.  I also had to remove the fluid line going from the master cylinder to the clutch.  This proved more difficult than it sounds and I eventually ending up cutting the line since it seemed like a rusted piece of metal anyway.  I disconnected the front drive shaft and the rear drive shaft.  As I removed the drive shafts the U-Joint caps came apart, they were in pretty bad shape so I guess I need to add u-joints to the growing list of ‘need to replace’.

To remove the transmission the exhaust pipe needs to be removed because the pipe travels from the exhaust manifold at the engine,  under the transmission to the catalytic converter to the muffler.  As I start to unbolt the pipe from the catalytic converter I notice a pretty sizable hole in the pipe. Examining the converter and the muffler they seem like they were the original stock. So a 30 year muffler, catalytic converter and pipes, looks like I won’t need my socket wrench, I can use the saw to cut those pieces out, they are all going to be replaced.

The transmission jack has a strap that goes on top of the transmission to keep it from rolling off the jack, because the transmission is bulky and the weight is not centered, it definitely came in handy.  I pulled the transmission away from the engine and lowered it out of the way, the beast was out!

Now it’s time to remove the clutch and flywheel.

I had two choices.

1. Keep a 3/4 wrench in the Jeep, open the hood, manually crank the engine just enough to move the flywheel to a spot on the gear that would be caught by the starter.
2. Replace the flywheel.

Seems like an easy choice…  Clearly replace the flywheel, OK how do I go about doing that?

Step 1 Remove the skid plate from underneath the Jeep. Sounds OK.

Step 2 drop the transmission.  whoa whoa whoa there must be an easier way.  A work around.  A cheat code.  Dumping the Jeep in the ocean. (not that I could get it out of my garage at this point anyway).

Step 3 remove the clutch. Might as well tell me I have to build a moon module.

I told myself I was gonna do this, I knew it wasn’t going to be easy, but I thought I would ease myself into it, I didn’t know I was gonna jump right into the deep end.

The skid plate is at the bottom of the Jeep and protects the transmission and transfer case.  It also holds the transmission up.  The skid plate is held onto the frame with 6 bolts, my 28 year old Jeep only had 4 bolts connecting the skid plate to the frame.  It took a whole can of PB blaster and a breaker bar to get three of them off, they were really rusted over.  I have two jacks under the skid plate, I don’t know what is going to happen when this last bolt comes out, is the skid plate going to slid forward, backward or drop to the ground like a turd, with the transmission crumbling into 1000 pieces.  As I try to work that 4th and final bolt, I feel it break free, but something doesn’t feel right.  It is just turning, no friction of an old rusted bolt turning out of the hole. The hole that was in the frame broke loose and is now toast.  Unbelievable.  Now what?  Head over to Home Depot and buy a angle grinder with a metal cutting bit.  Once I cut through the bolt the skid plate slowly rested on the jacks.  I removed the plate with a jack under the transmission.  This process took me most of the day, the time it takes to do anything on this Jeep is automatically quadrupled due to the rusted over bolts.    Obstacle #1 down, many more to go!

After carefully documenting the order of the spark plug wires,  pulling the old plugs, changing the wires, I was anxious to start it up and hear it purr like a cat. Surely after investing a whole $30 at AutoZone, the YJ would sound like a brand new Jeep. I hop in the ripped up seat turn the key and the most horrendous sound erupted from the engine.  Metal on metal and then spinning, nothing happens the Jeep doesn’t turn over.  I try again, now all I hear is spinning, not good.  My first foray into becoming Mr. Goodwrench and I blew it.  There is no way I could have screwed this up, I wrote everything down, took pictures, I didn’t touch anything else beside the distributor, ignition coil, the plugs and the wires. So I go thru each wire, making sure it is tight against the plug, checking each connection.  Everything look OK, let’s start it up and try again…Nothing but spinning.

Now it’s time for my Ninja Google skills to take over. Google, YouTube, JeepForum.com, WranglerForum.com, hours of researching.   New starter, new ignition coil,   same result.  Test the battery, test the ground, test the fuse and relays, same result.  Search some more, some people mention the flywheel could be bad… What the hell is a flywheel?

Seems that the starter spins the flywheel which in turn cranks the engine. To troubleshoot the issue, all I need to do is hand crank the engine and see if the Jeep starts.  Apparently, the flywheel spins but stops around the same spot everytime, so that section of the gears get dulled.  Now how the hell do you hand crank an engine???

More ninja searching, I figure out how to move the flywheel.  Turn the key and it starts up.  Now how do I replace the flywheel??