A 4-day weekend means lots of progress

What happens when you mix a 4-day weekend and an insane focus to try and get back on schedule? Lots of parts removed from the Jeep, of course!

It almost seems fitting that on the one-year anniversary of bringing Ike home, I was able to spend HOURS out in the garage working on him. Over the last four days, I probably spent about 12-15 hours methodically removing parts. Here’s what I finally got removed:

• Transfer case/Transmission skid plate (needed to remove it before draining transmission gear oil)
• Transmission gear oil
• Transfer case gear oil
• Speedometer cable
• Carburetor
• Exhaust manifold
• Intake manifold
• Clutch linkage assembly
• Front propeller shaft from the transfer case
• Generator and serpentine belt

I’m sure there are another dozen or so smaller parts that got removed as part of all that, but those are the “big” areas that I was focusing on.

However, with all that progress has come some maddening delays. The head buts, especially those that hold on the oil filter assembly and the air intake crossover tube have proved to be exceptionally stubborn. My dad let me in on a little secret that he’s been keeping from me that has become my new favorite tool in removing these old bolts: Aero Kroil. Let me tell you, it’s been magical. I’ve attempted to remove the intake manifold and exhaust manifold (and even the exhaust itself) with absolutely no luck in the past. I nearly broke off a bolt on the rear of the manifold assembly before. A few sprays of this stuff and  a few minutes of waiting, and off they came with no fuss.

However, these block studs/nuts are proving to be far more difficult. After 4 days of constant spraying and attempts with the air impact wrench, only 2 of the 5 I’ve been working on came loose. Luckily, these one of these two is necessary to lift the engine off the frame, and both of them are holding on the oil filter bracket. Naturally, the second bolt holding the bracket didn’t come loose until I had already finished cleaning up for the day. Such has been my luck this weekend.

Along with the stubborn head nuts, the water pump appears to be very well attached to the block front. Even after removing the three bolts, pulling and prying, and even a few shots of Aero Kroil, I still ended up with a water pump on the front of the block. Fortunately, I don’t need to pull it off before I pull the engine, but I’m sure going to keep trying.

The big news of the day, though, is that I finally have the transfer case ready for removal. The next time I go out to get some work done, that will finally be coming off. Once that is off, it will be time to pull the transmission, bell housing, clutch and flywheel in prep for block removal. Hopefully it won’t be too much longer before I start reversing the process and putting the thing back together.

And now, here is what the block looks like after all that work:

And some other pictures: