Build - 1970 CJ5

EZ wiring harness came in and the process of installing it has begun. I spent time getting the ignition/Distributer/battery/etc hooked up first. I was able to get the engine to turn over and run, sorta. The timing needs to be adjusted and I'm sure a few other things. That will get done in the future, trying to stay focused on 1 thing. Had a problem with the thermostat housing leaking. Bought a new gasket and took it apart, then it still leaked when I put back on so I will have to spend some more time on that. The fuse panel is in the approximate place under the dash. Decided to put it in the center instead of on drivers side and I think I will have problems with some wires not being long enough but oh well. I am kinda stumped right now on the dimmer switch and brake switch. I know how they work but integrating them with the wires in the harness is confusing me. Very overwhelming, think I have it figured out mostly but it will be a couple days before I get back into that. The front 11" brakes just came in the mail. Not going to be able to stop myself and will probably be staying up late getting them on. "The jeep guy" did a great job on them. The backing plates were sandblasted and powder coated, then everything else was new, shoes, drums, springs, wheel cylinders, etc. Hope there are not any fitment issues with my current wheels but if there is then I am getting new wheels.

Mounted the the fuse panel on my work bench to do the initial setup and removed some of the unnecessary wires.

 

Wow, that's some nice looking brakes. I think the ez harness is a bit harder to install than the Painless. The ez, I think could have better directions . Still for the price, it's worth it to figure it out.

 

Thanks! I appreciate the feedback! The EZ wiring harness would be great if it had better direction. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad if I had wires to simply replace. It's been more challenging than I expected starting from scratch. Even my turn signal is a mystery as I have no clue what wires do what.

The front brakes are on and all is well so far. Very happy with them! Can't wait to get the rear brakes on with the parking brake. The transfer case brake was one of the things that was parted out before I got to the jeep so i opted for the rear parking brake as it was only another $40.

Spindle and backing plate back on, FSM said to torque backing plate bolts to 25-35, seemed a little light so I tightend them a little more.


Then the bearings and all, followed by spindle nuts which I torqued to 50 on the inner nut, then 50 on top with the outer nut.


Then


Then the drums and wheel/tires




I think attaching the small "S" brake lines took longer than putting everything else back together. They didn't fit right and I had to bend them which wasn't easy...

Also so did some work on the wiring today. Got everything but the oil sender and temp sender wire done from the firewall forward. Just needs to be loomed so it looks nicer but they are all zip tied together and connected. Oh and the horn, it's all connected but not working. Called it a day before I got to checking that out. Headlights are working on the factory switch. Turn signals are all connected and I just need to solve the puzzle at the turn signal of what wires do what... I am having some problems with the rear signals, the hazards work but the right turn signal stays on when the turn signal is in the middle or neutral position. Then when pushed up to turn the right signal on it goes off... Got some tinkering to do, not very high in the list of things to do currently. Got the dimmer switch done, I can switch between high and low beam, all is good with the headlights... So still left is the turn signal, brake switch, wiper switch, speedometer gauge cluster, and brake/reverse lights. It's getting there!

 

This should help with turn signals
http://boyink.com/cj6/complete-rewire-with-new-wiring-harness/

 

Thanks! I have used his build/website several times as a reference, didn't realize he used an EZ harness!

 

Woah Firefighter, I don't think you did your front bearings right. Even turning the inner nut in finger tight is too much usually.
The normal question now is do you have a FSM? If not, buy one.

 

X2 above. Need some wiggle room on those bearings.

 

Good to know, I do have a FSM. I could not find the torque specs for them, I will take things apart and loosen them. The information I got was from an old thread. I had to search since I couldn't find it in the FSM. Looks like I found some incorrect info. Thanks for the heads up, much appreciated.

 

Ok, got back into the spindle nuts and fixed that problem. I just tightened them to barely hand tight, then I tightend the outer nut to 50. Once I torqued the outer nut I removed it to make sure the inner nut was still only hand tight and did not get advanced any. All was well. I did find another thread that went into more detail, and a potentially very bad thing I did not do the first time was bend the outer washer back onto the outer nut. everything is back together now, just need to throw the wheels/tires back on but I think I want some new lug nuts so I'm going to wait. That paint on the wheels doesn't like the lug nuts, probably put to much paint on them. Going to take the rest of the day off most likely, work will continue next week, have some overtime and then headed to jeeptoberfest in Ocala with my brother. Unfortunately my jeep is not ready...

 

This is an inspiring build, turned out very nice!

 

Thank you you very much! I appreciate the kind words

 

More wiring done, it's coming to an end finally! Everything is hooked up and working except brake lights and the turn signal switch. I ended up just buying a new turn signal since I couldn't get this one I have figured out, it wasn't an original and I found a replacement on eBay for $28. It will work for now and maybe I'll get a spartan one day. Plus the new one will have a wiring diagram... And then I can't get any more work done with the brake switches since I can't test what I have already hooked up. The rear brakes were supposed to ship today, so fingers crossed they will be here before the end of the week.

Got most of the wiring loomed and taped. I ran out of electrical tape.... So I could only get so far with the loom... Needs to be taped. I'll go grab some tomorrow. Here's some pictures I took today, don't mind the vise grips holding a screw, it's holding the fuse panel up under the dash currently... Need to go get some bolts that fit through the panel and are really long. Also the loose battery cables kinda clutter things up.





Parking lights



And just a whole jeep shot for the heck of it

 

Today, I wired up the windshield wipers. Forgot about those... Took a little while, I had trouble clamping the linkage around motor's output, it would just spin inside the linkage arm. Ended up using largest pair of pliers I had and then a huge c-clamp to tighten the pliers more... It was pretty interesting. Went to store and bought a cheap $4 on-off-on switch for the wipers. I'll get an original one in time... Works great for now and I just put in in the existing hole in the dash where the vacuum line was meant to come through. Not sure exactly where they were originally, even after looking I haven't really come up with anything on that.

Also, with things slowly coming to a time when the jeep will be rolling under its own power, and since the front end is back together, I made some of the "knuckle pudding" I think it's called? Used 80-90w gear oil mixed with no. 2 grease. Tried to make the ratio about 50/50 but it was hard to judge how much of the 2 was the same amount since they were different viscosity's. I mixed it and then cleaned an old caulk tube I had and used a caulk gun to get the steering knuckles full and also the ross steering box. Worked well, pretty
minimal mess was made.




Not much else was completed today, just some more wire management since I got more electrical tape. Just need the turn signal switch, rear brakes, and then it's off the get an exhaust.

 

Turn signal switch arrived in the mail, didnt take anytime at all to install it and hook everything up. Wiring diagrams are nice to have. Only trouble I am having is the brake lights. When I hook up the brake switch wire to the turn signal, the brake lights are coming on... So I have something to figure out there. There is no pressure in the brake lines so either something is wired incorrectly (most likely), or a brake switch is bad or making contact, they are brand new though. I am just going to leave it alone until I get the rear brakes on and then I can go further with it.

Only other thing that is bothering me and it's probably just how the EZ harness is, the indicator light on the turn signal stays on... Not sure why, the lights don't work without the key being on but the indicator light stays on.. Also the wipers are on constant power. Which is very annoying to me. I'll get to figuring that stuff out later also. Small things and I guess it's just the way to EZ harness is designed?

Here is the generic switch, I removed the awful looking red tab that was on the hazard lever.

 

Almost done!:driving:Very clean build too, great job.

 

Thank you!

 

So yesterday I got the rear brakes on, they came in the mail 2 days ago. Didn't take hardly anytime to get them on, just some finess to get the backing plates back over the bearings. It took more time to connect the brake lines to the rear backing plates. Ended up having to disconnect the lines at the splitter above the differential to get the line to thread into the backing plate.. It's always the little things.




After getting the rears connected, I started the process of bleeding. Quickly found I had leaks at both front backing plates where the s lines attach. The threaded portion was not long enough to press the brake line against the inside. Off to the parts store to figure something out, since I couldn't replace the s lines and I have heard of nightmares of trying to make them, the solution I found was just a 3/16 male to female adapter that had a longer threaded portion.


Alright so onto this. The problem that I spent a greater portion of 8 hours trying fix or figure out. So after fixing the front leaks, the bleeding process was started again. Had the fiancé help by pushing the brake pedal. Bled the brakes for a long time and went through all the normal steps, started at the rear pass and so on... Just ended up with a ton of air still in the system. So after re-assessing the situation, I started over as ended up getting great pressure to the rears and functional brakes. So then I moved to the front, very very little pressure. Not even any air coming out, just very little brake fluid. So in the process of trying to figure this out, ended up getting a leak on the rear line. Had to tighten a fitting, simple fix but the rear lines just need to be bled again but at that point I threw in the towel. I dove into the search function and tried everything I found. Adjusting the rear brakes so that pressure would build up in the fronts.. Everything. Out of ideas and might just drop the money on a new MC in hopes that is the problem. I might try and switch the outputs on the MC to ensure there isn't a problem in the lines. Only things I can fathom is its a defective MC or something with the push rod since it was at an angle before. I moved the MC over to fix this problem but maybe it still has an angle to it that I can't see? Who knows. I moved onto modifying my tow bar so I can pull the jeep hopefully to the exhaust shop. So now I have a brake issue to work out, wiring up the brake light switch once the brakes are done, timing to be adjusted, and exhaust. Got the rear brakes but I feel like I have gone 4 steps backwards with this brake issue.

So close but yet so far!

 

Unless I missed it, you didn't mention if you bench bled the master cylinder. Just a thought.

 

I did a while back, will try it again before I purchase a replacement. Would that cause an issue with only the fronts?