The '71 Wagoneer

[Heep-J4000]

Didn't see you had posted a lot of photos in this thread!
Very good and cool looking Wagoneer you have there!

And even better that you drive it as a daily.

I hope to get my 73' j4000 back together this year and using as my daily transportation again.

[sierrablue]

Thanks Heep-J4000!

[sierrablue]

Relatively major update coming, still gotta sort stuff out and everything. I'll post about it when I can.

Don't worry everybody is OK.

[Heep-J4000]

Relatively major update coming, still gotta sort stuff out and everything. I'll post about it when I can.

Don't worry everybody is OK.

Talking about a major update!

We are more happier when you post good updates without rolling jeep's

[rang-a-stang]

Yer putting a hemi in it?!?

[sierrablue]

Talking about a major update!

We are more happier when you post good updates without rolling jeep's

Yeah I know. Sorry.

Wish I could upload pics but I haven't messed with Flickr yet and I can't attach them here anymore--it says they're too big even when they're tiny.

[sierrablue]

Yer putting a hemi in it?!?

Um, no. Not exactly.

Here this'll answer your question (do you exclusively read build threads?) :
https://forums.ifsja.org/forum/tire-...gy#post2473140

Good news coming tho.

[sierrablue]

Got the windshield out, and did some measuring and it's really freaking straight, for a regular SJ. Let alone one that rolled.

Alright, here's the whole story, so everyone gets all the details they want.

I was cruising on the four lane highway here, killing some nerves, but I was just cruising, not messing around or anything. I had it at 70 (speed limit is 65), and the roads had been bad in the morning, but were mostly dry in the afternoon. There were icy patches in the prairies, but they were fairly brief, and I lifted for them so I'd lose 5 mph or so.

About half way across one of the patches, the Jeep got hit with a MASSIVE cross wind, which kicked the back end out on me. I was at somewhere between 65 and 70 mph. I countersteered but it didn't do any good. Shot the Jeep straight into the ditch, but it obviously had lots of momentum. Completely sideways in the ditch I assume; all I could see was a massive cloud of snow. I could tell though that it was starting to tip, farther than it's ever tipped with me in it before. Then came the "Oh crap it's really gonna roll." "I wonder if this is it." moment.

Next thing I know, I'm just sitting there, looking at traffic. Windshield's cracked, but otherwise it seems ok. I hop out, completely unhurt; as far as my body's concerned, nothing ever happened. The driver's mirror is sitting right next to my door (the screws holding it on were stripped anyway). One kind guy comes up and says "hop in where it's warm; I'm not in a hurry; I saw the whole thing going the other way, and saw that people weren't stopping, and went 'What if that were one of my kids, and nobody was stopping?'" Really nice guy, glad he stopped. I hopped back in and fired it up--fired up on the first time Called the non-emergency police number, and they came and asked me some questions. They didn't even give me a ticket. Everybody was really nice and I'm really grateful for that.

Tow truck came, and it was a $200 yank out of the ditch (not very happy about that--all he did was pull it out of the ditch). I hopped in and checked the brakes and everything, visually inspected the steering and suspension, and hopped in and drove it. Drove it home, too. It was a solid 50 miles home; literally everything still works.

Damage includes some big dents in the roof, destroyed windshield, probably a bent front roof brace (need to pull the headliner to verify), a couple dents in the hood, a bent pass. side wiper arm, and a banged up driver's fender. Everything else seems to be fine--it may have damaged my homemade steering bracket but I was gonna replace that anyway--it was supposed to be a short-term fix anyway.

I got really, REALLY lucky that I was going that speed, had that amount of gas, and that the snow was exactly as it was in the ditch. I am incredibly grateful that everything went exactly as it did, and not worse. I understand how it's physically possible, but I'm still trying to wrap my head around the odds that it work out that way. Every bump, everything. I also acknowledge that it has very little to do with what I did--it was purely luck. It didn't go the way it did because I have crazy skills. I understand that and am still incredibly glad it went the way it did. A lot of non-automotive people I've talked to are convinced that it's fine "'cause it's old and strong." Probably goes without saying here but it's pre-rollover standards and such...heck it's pre-crumple zone.

thejeepguy is using this as his excuse to tell his dad he wants to build a roll bar, from what I've heard

[sierrablue]

Well, measured diagonally between the screw holes for the windshield trim--61", exactly on both sides. Not even off by 1/32". Don't ask me how; all I know is what the numbers came out to.

[rang-a-stang]

Wow! THat's super scary! I have never experienced anything like that!!!

There was a guy on here that swapped his Cherokee roof a few years back and made some videos. He made it look fairly easy...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TFNPojJP9dc

[rang-a-stang]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TFNPojJP9dc

[rang-a-stang]

there are 5 videos and I am having trouble getting them to post. If you go to his videos and search for "Roof Saga" you will find them all.

[sierrablue]

there are 5 videos and I am having trouble getting them to post. If you go to his videos and search for "Roof Saga" you will find them all.

Ooo the 71st post on the '71 build thread. Congrats!

The roof is fine--braces were bent, and once I pulled them out, the roof pretty well popped back into place.

[sierrablue]

Well, it all measured square once the old windshield was out. I fixed my dome light wiring while the headliner was out, so now I have dome lights again (back two doors still don't trigger it but I'm less worried about those)!

Brand new windshield was installed yesterday, and I got to drive it again today. It did just fine; everything checks out ok. There are a couple of things I need to check on and straighten out, but it runs and drives just fine, and the only major differences on the outside are a couple of scratches on the hood and some creases that didn't used to be there in the driver's fender.

2 weeks and 5 days after being rolled I'm driving it again, and it doesn't really look much different nor does it function differently from how it did before then. AND the repairs were relatively cheap. I got incredibly lucky.

[rang-a-stang]

Thats nuts! How amazing!!!