Decided To Do Some Wrenching

Well... it has been awhile since I have posted... or done any work to Black n Blue for that matter...

So I decided tonight was a good night to at least get some prep work done for the motor swap.

So far the radiator is pulled out, serp. belt is off... and then I stopped...

The tensioner pulley is TOTALLY GONE... the idler pulley bearing is shot... and the serpentine belt is about half the width of what it once was...

So I found the source of the bearing squeal... errr...

I tried to fire the motor as a quick test to see if that was the source of the growling/knocking (belt bouncing off what is left of bearing) Some other forums have explained this failure as that noise... but Blue won't fire... motor is not seized because I can turn crank pulley slightly by hand (obviously not through the compression, but at least budge it)

I think with the work involved with a full out swap I might just put the old oil pump pickup back in and see if that resolves the oil pressure issue... get it to fire... and go from there...

As far as the starter issue... I know what it is not...

Not the clutch switch (I tested, then bypassed)
Not the battery (charged, then reconditioned and charged... then started my motorcycle and dakota with it...)
Not the fuse or relay

Toward the end of Blue's life on the road (he has been parked and very SAD since September, and only moved 4 times in short distances)

It was slow starts... cranking slower and slower... but not battery...

New Mean Green Starter... so I am wondering if the bigger draw coulda melted a wire (or bad ground)...

Anyway... all that is down the road... for now it was just nice to get back under the hood, and turning wrenches.

I will try to post up some pics of my "pulley" (all that is left is the outter bearing surface around the bolt... no inner bearing, or outter pulley because everything around that ring is PLASTIC... ) and side note... what Jackass engineer thought it would be a GREAT idea to make the tensioner pulley out of PLASTIC!!!

From my online parts search I thought those were the "discount" replacement parts... then found out OEM is plastic too...

Anyway... thats it for now...

LOL - I think chrysler engineers are quite the opposite of others - they design things to fail. At least if that is truly the case then they can finally be successful at something!!!

Tony if you need help swapping that motor in let me know. If you towed the jeep over my way we probly could do it in a day. i'll be working on my jeeo for the next few weeks but after that i can help you out.