Scout Tricks and Tips.....New Stuff!

Olscout 99's Scout II Pages

Scout Tricks and Tips.....NEW STUFF!!

Just a few things that have worked for me...

One of the biggest problems that Scout II's have is rust in the back of the front fender (between the front wheel well and door) and more rust in the area between the rear wheel well and the back of the door. In the front, leaves, pine needles, and miscellaneous garbage filters through the air intake on the front cowl and collects at the bottom of the front fender, on top of the rockers. Then it gets wet when it rains, and the next thing you know is you have a mulching factory going inside your fenders. Until the damage is done, a lot of people don't even realize it. You can screen off the cowl air intake, which helps a lot with leaves, but pine needles and some tree seeds will still make their way through. I thought that there should be a way to access this area on a regular basis to clean out the crud. Some people pull their fresh air vents to get the job done, but on a Scout II with air conditioning, there is no vent on the passenger's side. When I had the front fenders off of the 79, I noticed that at the bottom of the outer fender there was a piece of metal that was begging to be cut off. If it was gone, there would be access to the 'mulch zone', and also a way to flush out the inside of the rockers. As the pictures show, this isn't rocket science- I used a plasma cutter to remove the piece, but a cut off wheel on a grinder would do just as well. I used the cut off piece to get a rough idea of size, then used some rubber truck mudflap material to make my covers. I left them square rather than cutting them to match the profile of the fenders on purpose, to help keep some of the rocks and mud off of the front fender. I then used self drilling #10 sheet metal screws and attached the rubber flap. Now, by removing the screws on the outer edge I can reach in and pull out any debris inside the fender, plus shove a hose nozzle in and flush any garbage out of the rockers. You can do the same thing on the rear; you can cut an access panel at the front of the wheelwell, just on top of the rocker, and cover it the same way, or you can just put big speakers in the back inner quarters and use those as access holes. Either way, removing mud and wet debris from these areas will make your Scout's body last a lot longer.

This is the access area that is left when you cut off the bottom piece of the front outer fender.

The top picture shows what the access area looks like; you are able to get to the entire area behind the wheel and on top of the rocker.
The second picture is the piece that you will be taking out;it is at the very bottom of the outer fender, I just cut right along the natural 'line' that you will find there.
The third picture is the piece of rubber truck mudflap I cut to fit. The mudflaps I used are about 3/8" thick, they are strong and semi-rigid but will also flex enough to go around the curves at the top of the cutout area. You could use something thinner, and it would work as well.
The last picture is of the finished product; by removing the outer screws (which can be done in a couple of minutes without removing the wheel) I can access the inner area and the inner rocker panel.

TRANSFER CASE MOD FOR EXHAUST CLEARANCE!!!

On the Dana 20 transfer case, there is an 'ear' that protrudes from the passenger side of the transfer case. Evidently, it was used on some vehicles to provide extra support for the transfer case, or as an additional mount. On our Scouts, it's not used and not needed. If you plan to run dual exhaust (or have dual exhaust now), the standard procedure is for the muffler shop to flatten one side of the exhaust pipe where it passes between this 'ear' and the frame to make room for it to fit. This ear can be cut off with no bad effects, and it will allow you to run up to at least a 2 1/4" exhaust pipe through that area without having to dimple the pipe at all. I have done two transfer cases so far, on the one I did in the truck I used a sawzall with a long metal cutting blade (three blades exactly, the cast iron of the transfer case is way hard and eats saw blades, even good ones!). The second one was out of the vehicle, and was going in to replace a single speed TC-143. I used a 3" cutoff tool on that one, it went quicker but took two cutoff wheels to complete the job. Your muffler guy will love you for this!

REMOVING SCOUT II SPRING BUSHINGS-

Most people hate the idea of replacing the original spring bushings in their Scout II's because of the problems you get into getting the old ones out. The outer metal case has fused to the spring, the rubber is soft and won't apply any pressure to the case.... they can be a problem, and take hours to do. I've found the absolute best, easiest way to do spring bushings is using a Harbor Freight C clamp style ball joint press. HF sells these for around $40 normally, although you can find them on sale sometimes for as low as $30. The 'eye' on the receiver end is sized perfectly to take the old spring bushing when you press it out, as long as you're careful lining everything up when you start. I use an impact wrench on mine, but no reason you couldn't use a ratchet or breaker bar- the impact is just faster. I've pulled four spring bushings in as little as five minutes using this tool, and almost always it will take out the steel outer sleeve along with the rubber and inner sleeve. If the outer sleeve stays in, it's a simple matter to hacksaw a slot in it and drive it out with a chisel. With some maneuvering, youcan even do the frame bushings on a Scout II with the HF press, but it's rougher on the back with the exhaust and rear fender extensions in the way. Once you have the tool, don't just use it for spring bushings, it works super for pressing out stubborn U joints too! Be sure when you go to Harbor Freight, you get the ball joint press that is the 'cast C clamp' style. They have one that is welded square tubing that is junk IMHO, the cast one is way stronger. It is a 'clone' of an OTC tool that goes for around $125, course if you want quality you can get the OTC version.....