JD Cruiser's 1981 BJ42 Body Repair & Restoration

[JDCruiser]

Mystery Wire - Driver Side Windshield
I found a mystery wire while I was taking off the windshield. It was located on the Driver side, was a subwire that had a single wire connection from the top of the cowl at the far left, went through a body hole in the top of the cowl, then into the windshield frame. I thought originally it was connected to something in the windshield frame so I disconnected it at the IP side, however, when I started to chase the wire on the windshield side, I don't think it was connected to anything... See the picture below, the female terminal look rusted on the inside. Does anyone know what this should be connected to inside the windshield, I can't figure out what it would be.... not the wiper motor, not sure what else there is.

 

[Snow Peak]

That wire could be for the dome light by the driver side door?

 

[JDCruiser]

Thanks Snow Peak. That could be exactly what it is for. Will check it out.

 

[MrMoMo]

Yup, that's exactly where my dome light wire was. There should be another bullet connector at the top of the windshield, then a wire that runs back to the top of the B post where the light is.
Making Good progress!

 

[Crescent Wrench]

Dome light 100%

 

[JDCruiser]

Thanks guys... I must have disconnected this during my hard top removal and didn't capture it... That was a few years ago.
Any of you have any pictures of the routing / connection to the dome lamp that you can send me?

 

[MrMoMo]

I just took mine apart last week. The wire you have runs straight up the A pillar, and there is another bullet connector at the top where it exits. From there a wire runs along the inside of the roof to the top of the B pillar, where it goes down to the light mounted at the top of the B pillar.

 

[JDCruiser]

Update...
Spent the last couple weekends making some good progress. Last weekend spent the time removing the following:
- Door check arms
- Ash tray
- Lower IP Pads (LH and RH Sides)
- Glove box door
- Seatbelt receivers

 

[JDCruiser]

Center Console Cover & Blower Removal
Last weekend I started with the removal of the Interior trim components and decided to work backwords forward through the cabin. I started with removing the center console cover, which reveals the mid heater exchanger. It was pretty dirty but seemed to be in decent shape. The heater tubes were completed seized on the tubes so I had to cut through the flex joints. They will be replaced anyway so figured this was the quickest way. Here are some pics of the removal.

 

[JDCruiser]

Heater Tube Removal
Next step was to remove the heater tubes... Was a messy job but they came off pretty good.

 

[JDCruiser]

Main Air Intake Duct & Blower Removal
Next up was removing the main intake duct and the main blower. Lots of dust and dirt. Definitely will need a good cleaning and replacement of all the foam seals which just crumbled off. The inner trap too will need some work. Guess over 30 years of debris and stuff does that to these components. Here are some pics of the work.

 

[JDCruiser]

I attempted to take out the U shaped heater tubes from the firewall, however, couldn't figure out a way to manipulate them so they would come through the firewall hole, so will have to wait until the tube is off when the engine is not there.

One question; It looks to me like the PO had an inline coolant pump fitted. Not sure on purpose of this, maybe an inside space heater (he had 120V plug routed into the cabin and then circulated the coolant heat the engine, kinda like a home made block heater. He had both the internal 120V and the pump fitted with a plugin 120V receptacle. Has anyone seen this before.

 

[JDCruiser]

Main Heat Exchanger Removal
Removed the main heat exchanger. In decent shape as well. The rod that operates the upper air valve is broken, so will need to replace that. Other than that, just a lot of cleaning to be done.

 

[KY Longhunter]

Im not familiar with the diesel hose routing but looks the same as FJ40

Don't see AC outlet you speak of

FYI ... Saw this cool tool called Clamptite that would work perfect when reinstalling the front heater lines

 

[JDCruiser]

Gear & Transfer Case Shifter Boots & Trans Cover Plate Removal
Moved forward with removing the boots for the transfer case and gear shifters. Then took off the trans hump cover plate. All in all not in bad shape.... Soaked the bolts for them overnight but all of them let go and I didn't snap any of them. Ball on the gear shifter looks pretty good too.

 

[JDCruiser]

Hey KY, how are things... Hope all is going well.
the 120V outlet comes out of a lead from the pump shown in the last picture of the my post 192... This is the inline pump that I think the PO put in, I don't think this is OEM....

Thanks for sharing the clamptite, never seen anything like that before, love how it is independent of hose size and no worry proper clocking to get access to the screw for removal...

 

[JDCruiser]

Steering Wheel Removal
I then worked to remove the steering wheel. I figured it would be pretty easy and that I could just strong arm it off along with a couple of taps of a hammer. Tried that, didn't budget one little bit. So I went out, grabbed a puller from Princess Auto for about $12.99. All the puller bolts that were in the kit were imperial so I had to pickup some M8 x 1.25 70mm long to work with the puller. Put it on, cranked it with about 25lbs of pull on the wrench and "bang" she popped off. Came off with quite a pop that is for sure. Would recommend to anyone that is trying to get the steering wheel off o get a puller.

 

[Wes]

Gear & Transfer Case Shifter Boots & Trans Cover Plate Removal
Moved forward with removing the boots for the transfer case and gear shifters. Then took off the trans hump cover plate. All in all not in bad shape.... Soaked the bolts for them overnight but all of them let go and I didn't snap any of them. Ball on the gear shifter looks pretty good too.

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Would you take a close up picture of the PTO shifter cutout? Yours appears to have a small indention northeast of it like mine. I always wondered if it was like that from the factory.

 

[JDCruiser]

Hey Wes, Do you mean the transmission opening on the engine side of the transfer case shift lefter on the straight section adjacent to the engine side / P Side corner? If so, I can take a picture, but yes I noticed there was an indent there, but very shallow curve that reaches its lowest point at the weld nut. The cover panel seemed to spring back in that area when I was loosening the bolt. Will take a picture of it today and post up for you.

 

[JDCruiser]

Steering Column Disconnect & Removal Prep
Next thing to do was to remove the column covers, they came off really easy. I then worked to disconnect the intermediate shaft flanged bolted connection to the steering box in the engine compartment. I soaked the nuts for a few days in PB blaster then hit them a couple times with a balll pin hammer. They popped off pretty good but good thing I had work gloves on or else I would have lost lots of knuckle skin on the engine brackets....