It has been a while since I last posted an update. Have been interviewing for - and getting - a new job. I was provided an early retirement package at my old job after 32 years and took it, but can't retire yet, so I am starting over - gonna be fun.
I have all of the parts I need from the donor and it has finally left the garage today, headed to the scrapyard. My wife was happy to see it gone, but that is another story. I now have room to park my Jeep in the garage again.
I have been working on the donor parts for the past 3+ weeks - along with the never ending honey-do list - getting the parts cleaned up and checking for wear/damage. Of course I found some and am ordering replacement parts that are hitting the budget. Biggest thing was the rubber bushings in the aluminum control arms. These were torn in more than 1/2 of the circumference and will be getting replaced with poly bushings.
I was having trouble getting the passenger side axle removed from the intermediate shaft and took Lonny's advice to stand it up and put penetrating oil into the interface. After more than 3 weeks of lubing and hammering it finally came apart with almost no damage to the axle or shaft. I am believing that a combination of old grease and rust could be marketed as some kind of locking goop since it sure worked well on these parts.
Still no kit on order yet, am in negotiation again with the accountant - **** I married one - about funding for this project, after getting the original go ahead in February. Something about being off work for 8 weeks and not paying bills off fast enough. Go figure. It will be on order soon, since asking for forgiveness later has worked for 37 years so far.