JD Cruiser's 1981 BJ42 Body Repair & Restoration

[JDCruiser]

P Side WH Firewall Entry
Wanted to remove the P side firewall grommet to free that up from the tub. So I disconnected the 3 main WH connections that are tie the P side engine WH to the main IP WH just on the inside of the P Side firewall entry. After that the grommet pops off pretty easy and the wires / connectors pull through. Here are a couple of pics:

 

[JDCruiser]

Tub Thus Far...
Well the tub is more than 75% stripped down for removal. Got to disconnect some WH connections on the Driver side Engine compartment to free up the main WH, then pull the gear shifters out and remove the side step supports so that I can get cutting access to the Front body mounts as the only way they are coming off is by cutting. Been a successful 6 weeks of progress and hoping in the next few weeks I can have the tub fully stripped, then will finish up some final reinforcing for the removal and build a stand for it and time to cut off the remaining 4 body mounts and get her off. Here is a pic of what it looks like now.

 

[JDCruiser]

Starter & Glow Plug Relay Removal
Decided to remove the main IP WH by starting at the P Side end by the firewall entry for the engine compartment. So the next logical things to remove were the starter and glow plug relays which secure to the firewall pretty much in the center. Here are some pics of the removal.

 

[JDCruiser]

Center Console WH Removal
Disconnected and removed the WH branch that goes from around the mid point of the IP WH to the center console. Here are some pics of the disconnection and removal.

 

[JDCruiser]

Driver Side Engine Compartment Wiring Disconnect
Next up was disconnecting the WH at the engine compartment on the Driver Side. There were a couple of connections for the WH branch than runs down along the D side frame rail, a couple for the starter, one for the transmission and then it ending at the glow plug electrical rail at the top of the engine. These were all disconnected and left dangling there ready to take through the firewall but I realized that the vacuum hard lines would get in the way. Here are some pictures of the WH disconnecting:

 

[JDCruiser]

Here is another picture...

 

[JDCruiser]

Short Vacuum Tube Removal
With the WH disconnected, in order to feed it through the firewall I had to remove the 2 vacuum lines (short and long) that come up the firewall from the reservoir. They are both attached to the reservoir with flex hoses at the bottom ends, then one hard line (short) goes a short way up the firewall and connects to the brake booster. The other chases along the firewall up to the cowl and around to the P Side of the engine, connecting to a flex line which has a 90 degree union joint at the fender and then runs to the vacuum pump (I think) at the engine... Here are some pics of the flex tubes being disconnected and the short tube being removed:

 

[JDCruiser]

Long Vacuum Tube Removal
With the flex hoses disconnected, I could now remove the hard line that runs across the firewall. Here are some pics:

 

[JDCruiser]

D Side WH Firewall Removal
With the vacuum tubes out of the way, I could now run the WH through the firewall on the D Side. I isolated the windshield washer fluid line ran that through the firewall entry first and then chased the individual branches through. No snag points or issues. Below are some pics:

 

[JDCruiser]

Main WH Removed
With the D WH disconnected from the D Side firewall entry and the 3 main connectors disconnected at the P Side Firewall entry then I could remove the main IP wireharness from the truck. Here are some of the pics of the big monster removed.

 

[JDCruiser]

Heater Valve Removal
In order to remove the tub from the frame, I had a couple of key things that still needed to be done to free it up from the frame. The first of the miscellaneous items was the fact that the heater valve at the firewall was still connected to a heater hose coming off the engine. So I decided it would be best to disconnect the heater valve hoses and then remove it from the firewall so it can't hang up on anything during the removal. It needs to be rebuilt anyway. Here are some pics of the removal...

 

[JDCruiser]

Side Step Support (P Side) Removal
I realized that although the side step supports are attached to the frame, there would be no way to disconnect the FR body mounts without them removed. They are seized solid on there, no flats left on the nut at all so I knew I would have to cut them off and there was no way to get a cutting blade in there without the the side supports removed. So I started by taking the P Side off... Soaked them for a bit in PB Blaster and then put a box wrench on them with a heavy mallet. Unfortunately, all the weld nuts popped sheared off very easily. So have to resort to a cutting blade on the angle grinder to cut the outside bolt head off as close to the shank point as possible, then grinded it off with a thicker disc then took a dowel punch to drive it out. Worked quite well, took about 20mins. Here are some pics of the removal

 

[JDCruiser]

Air Intake Removal
Took the opportunity, although it wasn't required for the tub removal, to remove the engine air intake piping. I also found a new use for ziploc bags and tie wraps other than for storing parts or sandwiches. Here are some pics

 

[Crescent Wrench]

This should be a breeze to put back together for you, you have everything cataloged and labeled. Are you taking medication for your OCD? Ha kidding! Amazing step by step, I will be looking back on this to help me along if I get stuck. I have a pretty good memory but it's not what it used to be either. Keep up the good work JD.

 

[JDCruiser]

Hey Crescent,
lol with the OCD, I can be a persistent that is for sure. Will post some of my labelling, bagging, tagging and parts inventory stuff in a little bit, which will probably really make you think I should be medicated. LOL... Spoke to a lot of people before taking on the frame off and everyone that undertook this told me that photos, parts inventory, and tagging disconnects is the most important thing and is little time invested up front for what it will take later on. What I am posting on here too is only about 25% of the photos that I have taken, I think I am up to a total of 1300 pictures now.

 

[JDCruiser]

Side Step Support (D Side) Removal
Next up was to remove the other side Side step support on Driver Side. This one was a bit more stubborn. The nuts didn't shear off like the first but there was no way to get a bite on the head of the bolts as they were completely rotten. So I cut the heads off, I then punched them other, but had to bend the flange inboard in order to get the bracket to drop down. A bit messy.

 

[JDCruiser]

Gear Shifter Removal
I heard on mud that it is much easier to remove the tub if the gear shifter is removed first so that you don't have to lift the tub so high to get the transmission hump to clear the lever. Thanks to Mike (78FJ40mg) for the idea of what I used to remove it. Was a snap, took me longer to get the wife ok with the idea to use one of her bottle openers than it did to actually remove it. All it took was a little down pressure on the box wrench and turning at the same time. You can feel the spring depress as you push down, once you feel that just a 45 degree turn or less and it pops right out. I had to turn mine clockwise but I heard depending on the year that some are CCW. Here are some pics of the removal.... No offence intended to any of the locals that work for Sunlife, we had 2 of them so that was what my wife would part with...

 

[JDCruiser]

Here are some pics of the disassembly of the gear shifter retainer.

 

[JDCruiser]

Cresent Wrench,
You mentioned early in my thread about how easy it will be for me to put this back together and if I was taking medication for my OCD.... LOL... Not really on meds, but maybe should be... LOL... truth be told, I have a terrible memory and I am out of my comfort zone with this frame off as I have never taken on anything like this before. So, just to show you some of my OCD traits, below are some pictures of my parts management system. Everything is being bagged or tagged and put in totes or specific storage areas of the house. Each tag or bag is numbered with the picture reference number which is by date and number (ie. 20150416-003). This all then gets put into an excel sheet that identifies the part by the picture number and where it is stored (bin # and location). That way I can quickly search out the list for parts that I need in the rebuild process and where it is stored. The reason why I use the date as the main ID number is so that I know when it came off the truck, thus I can literally know how to rebuild it by looking at the pics in reverse order. This was a system that a friend of mine who restored a mustang used and he found it very useful. One thing I would do differently is to do the same ID type of thing with a connector list. I have been tagging connectors with descriptions of what they are connected to and if there is confusion then I do the A-A type method, but would be useful to have a full list with reference pics like I have with parts. The one good thing that I find is Toyota is pretty good with pokayoking their connectors such that only one will connect to one other as it is restricted by male and female unique size and and shape. Here are some pics...

 

[JDCruiser]

Tub Removal Bracing - Rear Section
Before I can remove the tub from the frame, I want to make sure it is not going to move around during the lifting and mounting process. I have removed a lot of the body panels on the rear as this was intended to be a frame on rebuild and with the absent panels I am worried that in the removal process I will get some distortion and twisting thus making it hard to put back on. I have probably already got a bit of movement, but nothing that can't be re-aligned. My biggest concern was the rear sill section that is only connected to the B Pillar braces by the top rail for the hard top which creates a huge torque load on the B Pillar connection point with any upward force on the sill. While on the truck, I put posts that support the sill from the floor. The intention is to build a reinforcing skeleton structure from angle iron that will disperse the load back into the main remaining body structure. So this involves boxing in the 6 planes of the rear section. Will also tie in the A, B pillars and the front floor to ensure that doesn't move around to. The other reason for putting the 10hrs into the bracing activity is because I may opt to have the tub sent out for sandblasting and thus want it very secure for the transportation process. After the reinforcing is done, then I will build a stand for the tub that will allow me to position it at the right height and access it from all sides to do the tub repair. Here some pics of my first bracing activity. I first started out by putting a backing angle iron stiffner plate on both sections of the top rail. This will be used as pickup weld points for boxing it to the rest of the reinforcement structure and gussets. They are bolted with very tight holes using the rear seat anchor bolts, preferred this over tack welding and then need to cut and grind. I then put a 2nd horizontal piece to tie in the top 2 existing reinforcement pieces. This along with the boxing and gussets will stiffen the top plane and take some load of the rear sill and rather than it being in the B Pillar connection point.