Begin work on the heap known as the White Jeep
October 20, 2022 By Nick Viggo
Hello Everyone, I apologize for the disruption. I wanted some help with the website so some changes were necessary.
I started in the front end of the White Jeep and was very disappointed in what I found. Everything in the front end was worn out and I mostly expected this. When I got into the front end I found all the bushings were destroyed. Again not a big deal.
When I went to pull the axles is when things took a turn. I pulled the driver’s side axle and all is well. Pulled the passenger side and what is this? It’s not even the correct axle, it won’t even reach the differential, wrong spline count!
This obviously is not the correct part. It is my belief that the previous owner installed this just so the vehicle would appear complete. The front drive axle was not working correctly because the passenger axle was never engaged being that it was way too short and the wrong size. I did find a broken piece of the correct axle in the side gear of the differential.
the gears and everything else actually looks ok. So add one passenger axle shaft to the shopping list.
I think I better find out what’s going on with the rear differential now. I know it’s locked but given the condition of everything else on thing I expect it to be welded.
Yup, a big welded mess. I have seen these done well and then there’s this. If your vehicle is only used off the pavement this is an acceptable thing to do. It’s very cost-effective and when done well works great. However, this was done quite poorly. It appears like it was done with a flux core MIG welder given all the splatter everywhere notice it’s even on the bottom of the case! the weld quality is extremely poor. I can only see one weld bead that actually looks like a weld so it’s probably not the strongest. That wasn’t the biggest problem though, It looks as if all the loose bits of weld material have found their way through everything and the gear face has a very weird pattern on it.
There’s just no way I could sell this to anyone telling them it’s good. Buyers be aware, There’s a guy in reno selling hacked-together XJ’s.