Starting a Jeep, how hard could it be?

So I took way too long getting to the point on my first couple attempts so here is the rest of the story in as few words as possible. I test drove the jeep and it ran fine but the transmission sounded rough. Best description I can give you is smooth idle with clutch in, a light or quiet grinding with clutch out and what the f#^! when you put it in gear and start to drive (all supposedly from the throw out bearing in the trans, I will tell you when I find out if that's what it is). With an extra $500 off the price I agreed to take her home. Cory and I brought her home on a trailer and I decided I was going to get to a transmission shop as soon as possible.

The next morning I was excited to start playing with the Jeep. Tiny little problem #1: dead battery. Solution: jump start off of my truck and let it run a while in the driveway. I did just that and everything went fine for about 5 minutes... then the Jeep died. I thought "I am an idiot, the gas gauge says empty," so off to the gas station I went to get 2 gallons of premium gas in my lawn mowers gas can. I put it in and nothing happens. However I notice an extremely dirty fuel filter and remember that the previous owner said it had dirty gas from sitting so long. I hop back in my truck and get a fuel filter. I feel very manly as I purchase this item which most, less masculine men would let a oil change place change out. Once it is in, which took about 45 seconds, I try to start the engine again. Nothing again and this time my neighbor comes over to see whats going on. I actually start the engine a couple times with starter fluid to see if... well I don't actually know why I did that because, as my neighbor pointed out, I could clearly see that there was no gas in the fuel filter. I pumped the gas pedal about a hundred times because, as my neighbor again said, you can't flood an engine without gas in the fuel line. I then get the bright idea that maybe I need more gas. I know this doesn't make sense so you don't have to point it out. I borrow a larger gas can and add 5 gallons. Now the battery is dead again from trying to start it so many times.

I may not have mentioned that I have never worked on a car before in my life but I bet you could have figured it out by this point. I feel like I rushed through all of that and it was still a super long post just to get to this point. In fact the original title to this post was "How to attempt to take off a gas tank" but I realized I wasn't going to get that far.

I feel like you all deserve a few of the humorous little side notes that I have thought of up to this point:

1) In a previous post I mentioned the term curb appeal. This made me laugh because my Jeep has been sitting on a curb for the last week at my house without moving and on the previous owners curb for at least 6 months.

2) I have referred to the Jeep as she or her a bunch of times and I have no idea why. I never did this with any other vehicle and always kind of thought of silly. Maybe it is because she is playing hard to get with all this stalling before we drive off together. A name is definitely in her future too.

3) The one productive thing that I have done to the Jeep is add seat belts. It took about 5 minutes and my wife actually did it while I fiddled with something else.

4) My son has gone out with me to sit in the Jeep every day just for fun. We play the radio and make engine noises. He really enjoys it, I feel like he is going to flip out when we actually drive it somewhere.

5) Chilton guides LIE. A few examples are: My jeep has a 304 v8 in it and it was built in 1972 however the Chilton said it wasn't available until 1974. I have a t-15 transmission although the Chilton does not acknowledge that that transmission ever existed ( this confused the heck out of me for a while) and finally the gas tank on a 1972 cj5 has THREE bolts holding it on, not SIX (you will understand why that is important in my next post).

6) You may have noticed that I gave a little extra detail on how much gas I put in the tank. This is because I later pumped every drop out of the tank with a little sum pump that Neil "the manager in chair ;)" Krebs let me borrow. It sucked really bad. I mean I spilled gas everywhere, got it all over me, ruined a perfectly good tank top, made my boots stink like gas for a week and I somehow managed to drop my son while trying to balance a gas can on my hip and lift him into the back of my truck. 15 gallons in a 13 gallon tank...

So I have decided that the problem with the Jeep is either the fuel pump or a clogged fuel line. Both mean that I have to take off the tank, but that is a story for another day.