Ownership Verified: BCS repeatedly breaks, fixes, and re-breaks his Jeep

I just read this thread from beginning to end the other day. Don't know how I've managed to overlook it until now. Great reading.

Glad you enjoyed the read, it's been a journey!
 
So I've been working on a few other projects while I wait for a couple of final transmission parts to show up. This is very annoying. Like $9 worth of parts keeping me from doing final assembly.


A local tool place had a sale on a tube bender kit, which is a clone of a JD-Squared Model 32 and is compatible with their dies. The kit came with the bender, stand, and three dies - 1', 1.5" and 1.75" for a very reasonable price I couldn't really say no to. With the right die set, it'll bend up to 2.5" tube.

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One thing it didn't come with was a handle, so you can actually, like, use it. I think they want you to supply a piece of 1x2 steel to use as a handle. This was no major issue for me, because 1) using the manual bending handle requires you to bolt the stand to the floor, which I didn't want to do, and 2) like Mr. Clarkson, I too am allergic to manual labour when I can avoid it.

This is a 4" piece of 3.5"x3/16-wall pipe. The ID has been opened up to a hair over 80mm and has a 1/8" cut along its length. You can likely do this with a spindle sander and a chop saw, I am fortunate to know a guy with a small lathe and a Bridgeport who accepts payment in Guinness, which was on sale last week.

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If you're creative, the bender can also double as a very poor plasma table. Cut out some vaguely rectangular 4" pieces from that piece of rusty 1/4" steel you got at a scrapyard.

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Weld those plates on each side of the split in the tube (OK fine, clean the rust off them first) and drill some holes. You now have a clamp.

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Check that the clamp fits the 80mm air/hydraulic cylinder, praise yourself for correctly using a pair of calipers.

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Now that you have a clamp that attaches to the cylinder, you also need to attach it to the bender somehow. There's some clearance issues with the vertical posts on the bender frame, so drill a hole through the clamp that's offset enough that it'll clear the posts when fully extended. Verify hole alignment with a large bolt, congratulate yourself for correctly operating your eyeball and a Sharpie.

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Since the clamp needs to have a cylinder in it instead of a bolt sticking through it, you need to get a bit creative. A couple of 3/4" bolts with heads cut off at a 45-degree-ish angle ought to do the trick.

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Align bolts with magnet clamp, tack into place.

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Once you've verified the bolts are aligned with each other and the holes in the bender frame, weld up them sumbitches. Inside and out.

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Not pictured: die-grinding the inside welds flush, which takes just shy of forever.


Mount it up! Will it blend bend?

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Ha! Take THAT, manual labour!

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So yeah, that's my solution for an air/hydraulic tube bender conversion. You can buy adapter kits from Swag Offroad that are real nice, but they're 200 Ameribucks plus shipping plus conversion to Canuck pesos and I can buy a lot of tube, bolts, and filler wire for that.
 
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So you did a lot of labor to avoid manual labor.

This sounds like mechanical programming.
 
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Is dicking around with a chop saw and a welder reeeeeeeally manual labour? I say no! Stop questioning my methods, damnit! I need this!

(For real though, once you hit a certain tube size/ wall thickness you basically need to go hydraulic if you're not The Hulk.)
 
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This is an awesome thread. Even though I have no intent of doing a full transmission rebuild or Mr Bendy Wheels, it's really cool to have all the details and commentary.
 
This is an awesome thread. Even though I have no intent of doing a full transmission rebuild or Mr Bendy Wheels, it's really cool to have all the details and commentary.
Thanks Quiky! I enjoy seeing all the repairs and stuff done in the other PyC threads, so it's only fair I add some of my own.
 
Even though I have no intent of doing a full transmission rebuild or Mr Bendy Wheels, it's really cool to have all the details and commentary.

It's like watching sports when you don't have any intent of doing any of it yourself. I don't watch sports, but I can relate.
 
Wow, been a solid year since last update. Mostly just been driving it and having fun. Got a few runs in this winter.

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The steering box was getting a little sloppy (not a huge surprise after 439,000km) but still pretty livable; I wasn't planning on replacing it as replacement ones have like a 75% chance of being garbage as they're all miled-out remans apart from the really expensive ones. However, I happened upon a screaming deal for a very bling box that I couldn't say no to...

Out went the old crusty box:
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In went the shiny box.
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I also put in a new PS pump and lines at the same time. PSC steering gears are basically as good at they get, they're often used in the big-buck racing rigs and this one is also set up for ram-assist steering if I ever decide to go that route. Steering is much tighter now.

Also picked up some 2x4 steel box tube for free so I can start fabbing up some rock sliders one of these weeks.
 
Wow, been a solid year since last update. Mostly just been driving it and having fun. Got a few runs in this winter.

tYzevqc.jpg


SaTzNtt.jpg


arzQc0r.jpg



The steering box was getting a little sloppy (not a huge surprise after 439,000km) but still pretty livable; I wasn't planning on replacing it as replacement ones have like a 75% chance of being garbage as they're all miled-out remans apart from the really expensive ones. However, I happened upon a screaming deal for a very bling box that I couldn't say no to...

Out went the old crusty box:
pxitlpx.jpg


In went the shiny box.
MDklkE2.jpg


I also put in a new PS pump and lines at the same time. PSC steering gears are basically as good at they get, they're often used in the big-buck racing rigs and this one is also set up for ram-assist steering if I ever decide to go that route. Steering is much tighter now.

Also picked up some 2x4 steel box tube for free so I can start fabbing up some rock sliders one of these weeks.


If you keep chasing old worn out parts like this, you will get back to where you started. It will be a viscous cycle.
 
OVERLANDING BRO
BROVERLANDING
AWNINGS AND FRIDGES AND STUFF

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OK actually just testing out the new car-camping setup. Added a nice big awning for shade, finally got to use the propane shower rig I put together, and picked up a 75L 12V fridge/freezer and a small solar system to run it. Everything worked really well and we're looking forward to using it in more remote locales.
 
Transmission project was on pause for quite a while as I needed to transfer the shift kit components from the current trans before I could continue assembly. Fortunately, I scored a deal on a second Transgo TFOD-HD2 shift kit so I can install it in the new trans and leave the old one intact.

One grimy valve body with a lot of clutch material and a few aluminum shavings in it. Just add brake cleaner! This transmission, being an RH model, is mostly hydraulically controlled and governed. The two solenoids on the left only handle torque converter lockup and overdrive engagement. On an RE model trans you'd see a couple more solenoid packs for shift control.

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Hydraulic logic circuits and check balls, oh my!

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Didn't take a lot of photos because it doesn't look like much when underway (and I bet I have pictures earlier in the thread from the last time I did this), but I stripped the entire valve body down to individual components, cleaned then all thoroughly, and reassembled while doing all the shift kit modifications. It's mostly swapping springs/retainers, drilling holes, plugging other holes, changing the main spacer plate, resizing some other holes, and filing down a few surfaces. Not terribly complex, but the instructions can feel a bit vague if you've never done it before. At any rate, the kit firms up shifts, changes some of the shift points, increases lockup and line pressure, and allows for full manual control when needed - if you want to downshift to 1st at highway speeds and watch your valves dance on the hood, it'll theoretically let you. I've gone 2-1 at about 30kph and it downshifts hard enough to chirp the tires on pavement.


All cleaned up and assembled with new seals and filters, ready to go back in.

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Next is to install the valve body and remaining kit components into the main case and do final assembly.
 
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A Friday off means more progress.

Installing the stiffer rear (reverse) spring on the servo and installing the retainer:

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Breaking down the front (kickdown) band servo and installing upgraded parts, new seals, and a Sonnax billet upper piston:

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Stock kickdown band strut vs. Sonnax unit. Highly recommended upgrade when installing a kickdown lever with a higher ratio. (I'm going from 2.5:1 to 3.8:1)
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Installing the front servo:
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OD unit mated to main case (forgot to take a pic, d'oh) and time to check input shaft endplay.
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End play was a bit too much for my liking (0.035", which is technically acceptable but on the loose end), so off comes the pump and the front clutch/drum assembly (pictured) gets removed to install a shim washer on the end of the intermediate shaft.



Re-measure end play (0.018"), torque down the pump bolts, call it a day. Not much left to do!
 
Just kind of a side note that I felt like mentioning:

During the course of this project, I have twice had to get in touch with companies that supply transmission upgrade parts (in this case, Superior and Transgo).

I don't know what it is about companies in this space, but their customer service is absurdly good.

With Superior, I was looking for a seal kit for one of their servos as I had accidentally damaged a sealing ring. Easy to find in the States, needle in a haystack in Canada. I called up Superior and was put in touch with one of their senior staffers. Off the top of his head, he provided the name of the exact hole-in-the-wall shop in my city that carried their parts, the name of the owner, a short story about the last time they'd met, and tried to give me directions to the shop. Keep in mind this gentleman is in Tallahassee and hadn't visited Calgary in a decade. As a backup plan, he also provided the OEM model of transmission and parts application the sealing ring was originally specced for (again, entirely by memory), in case I could find one easier that way.

At 6:30PM on a Saturday evening, I sent an email to the Transgo support address (hours of operation: M-F, 8-4) inquiring about the use of 1-2 accumulator orifices with newer TFOD-HD2 kits. Within nine minutes I had a reply explaining the history of the orifice use and confirming I was good to go as-is.


These outfits kick ass and I'm happy my money is going to good people.
 
I guess you don't work with transmissions unless you're really into them. For everyone else, it's black magic.
 
I guess you don't work with transmissions unless you're really into them. For everyone else, it's black magic.
Yeah I suspect it's a pretty small, dedicated industry and they really seem to be into it. I asked a couple questions of the Superior rep and as soon as he realized I was even remotely interested in how the stuff worked he invited me to their industry trade show in Vegas, haha.
 
Trans project was sidetracked for a bit as I had a return customer - a 1965 Mustang that we did a bunch of work on ~8 years ago (engine built, T5 swap, power disc brake upgrade, power steering) came back to have an American Autowire complete vehicle harness installed.

The interior bits had to go somewhere...

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The Mustang work took longer than we expected because the further we dug into it, the more shit we found broken/bodged that needed to be fixed. In the end, every single last piece of wire and switchgear on the entire vehicle was replaced apart from the turn signal pigtails (which also needed to be repaired).

Now that it's back with the owner I could unearth the trans and get back to finishing it off.


Valve body was installed and bolts torqued. Bands were also adjusted to spec.

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Trans assembly complete - the pan here is just a spare as the good one will have a temp sender and drain plug installed in it. But I needed a pan on there because...

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Primer!

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And finally metallic brown bronze! I had a can kicking around the back of the paint shelf and figure what the hell.

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All that remains is to let the paint dry, and install the new filter and pan. Perilously close to actually installing the thing.
 
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