By: RenegadeT Mood: disapointed Date: 05/05/2008 09:44:17 Music: Men at Work

major bummer this weekend

I towed my CJ to Uwharrie Forest yesterday to make a few passes around the race course for of next weeks 4x4 Festival.  Everything seemed to be going great until my Jeep just died.  It was parked right after the difficult ledge on Rocky Mount Loop, I had it parked and idling, we were scoping out the best line and just BS'ing, when it started idling bad, then stalled.

We were thinking the electric fuel pump died, cuz it wasnt buzzing with the key on.  My buddy in his Sami couldnt quite tow me up the hill, so the group behind us was kind enough to pull, my ass to the end of trail, a guy in a Rubi.  Well, we unhooked the strap, he took off, then my CJ fired right up .

So we still suspected fuel pump, we drove out of the forest, called another buddy who was en route, he stopped and picked me up an E2000.  We ate some lunch, my friend arrived with the spare pump and we rolled on, up Daniel trail.  Once again, we got to a steep part and it started sputtering then gave up.  no problem, we changed the pump right there, but that didnt quite do the trick.  We wired the pump directly to the battery, and everytyhing seemed good.  I was behind my 2 buddies as they were flogging their Samis on the hillclimb when my CJ started sputtering again.  I knew I only had a few seconds, so I hammered up to the top, passed them, then it died on top.

now to make matters worse, I've been having another issue with my starter/flywheel.  All this cranking, trying to diagnose the fuel pump, I don't think there's any teeth left on the flywheel.  We were pull starting the hell out of my CJ, but the new fuel pump still wasnt delivering enough fuel.  I think my problem is in the fuel pickup, or maybe just  clogged filter.  I'm tempted to cut a access hole in the tub and inspect the tank/sender, but now the flywheel is toast, I'm gonna have to pull the tranny just to fix all this mess.  I think it might be time just to rebuild the whole CJ, solve the tub and frame rust, electrical rats nest, tranny/flywheel issues, etc, etc... 

And it looks like I'll be missing the the first URE 4x4 cross race