PEAK PUTTERS

damn I have broken some $h!t but never that. carriers in half ring and pinions, axle shafts one hub but never stripped a pinion yolk

Stripped pinion splines or stripped the teeth off of the pinion gear? I've destroyed piles of gear sets, when I got rid of my 84 V8 truck it had #11 and #12 3rd members in it.

Little bit of useful info:

When rebuilding the front axles on a Dana 44, I would advise using the Moog 877 u-joints. Mucho beefier!

Here is the Moog next to the stock Spicer joint:



The Moog joint is beefier in the center section and uses longer, smaller diameter bearing needles, allowing the shaft diameters to be larger in diameter.

So, in my never-ending quest for more power...


Finally assembled most my parts for tuning this thing. The Jeep computers have no aftermarket tuners available, so you are limited to swapping injectors and playing with the fuel pressure. At WOT, the computers go into open-loop and cycle the injectors at a pre-programmed setting. By playing with different flow-rate injectors and fuel pressure, you can adjust the WOT air/fuel mixture to your desire. At all other settings, the computer will tune the air/fuel settings based on the oxygen sensor reading (closed loop).

So, I picked up a new 02 sensor, some Ford Explorer injectors, and a universal fuel pressure regulator. I also plan on installing a wideband O2 sensor and gauge.

To start a baseline, I tested the compression in all cylinders. In order of 1-2-3-4, I had 115-120-125-130 psi. Hmmm, not good.

Fuel pressure regulator installed:

Wrench wrote:
To start a baseline, I tested the compression in all cylinders. In order of 1-2-3-4, I had 115-120-125-130 psi. Hmmm, not good.

Dumped a quart of Marvels Mystery oil in there, ran it several miles down the road, and retested. Lowest cylinder pressure was 140 psi. Hmmm...

Maybe it was too cold on the first test. 140 is not great, but within specs.

She idles smoother and runs cleaner on the new injectors.

After taking this thing quite a ways down the road this last weekend, I came up with a few things on my "to do" list.

1) there is a drive line vibration. I removed both front and rear drive lines. I dropped the front off at 6 States for balancing, and the rear will get the same treatment after I put new u-joints in it.

2) The soft top is very noisy going down the highway. I've got it adjusted pretty tight, but there seems to be no fix for this. Hmm.

3) Lack of power. Ran Marvels in the fuel last weekend, which seemed to help a little, but not enough. There are several indications that this engine is worn out. I think it was overheated at some time and it took the temper out of the rings. The oil pressure never gets over 40 (which is dramatically lower than my other 2.5 had). Also, when I shut the engine off it has a very audible ticking sound that I have determined is the lifters bleeding down. Sounds like someone tapping the block with a small hammer, will do it hot or cold, and only lasts for 2 minutes after shut-down. So...

I removed the engine and will be swapping with the Cherokee.

4) I want a rear locker.

5) I want a synthetic winch rope.

BTW, I installed an AEM wideband O2 system before the run. I highly recommend this for anyone trying to tune. They are extremely easy to install and work absolutely FANTASTIC. My WOT readings indicate that I am running a tad rich. This should go away with the Cherokee engine, as it has a higher demand for air.

As for the top being noisy, my yj is too. Saw a article in jp awhile back about installing a tj top on a yj. I happened to have kept my spare soft top from my tj when I traded it in so I'm hoping to swap it out sometime this summer if time permits. I also kept all my spare bows and door surrounds to make things easier.

In the process of swapping engines, I removed the manifolds and took a shot of the epoxy I added several years ago on the Cherokee intake ports:



Scumby,
you asked a few months ago about intake gaskets. I know it's probably way too late, but based on my observations of this engine, I would say the graphite coated gaskets are much better than the perforated steel like the one above.

I hope so because it's in there.

Didnt have time to take pics, but I got the engine swapped in from the Cherokee before Tim's Bachelor Party run.

I also installed a Spartan in the rear axle, but didnt have time to get the synthetic winch rope on before the run.

Winch rope is on now.

The driveline vibrations are dramatically reduced.

The wideband O2 readings cleared up a tad since the engine swap. Evidently the engine is pulling more air than it used to, which was very noticeable on the run. Dramatically more power than previous. I ran most the way down the highway in 5th gear, when it was struggling horribly in 4th just two weeks prior. No issues at all with the tuning. Gotta love that fuel injection; I just lined up the distributor in the general area and she fired right up, since the ignition timing is taken off the crank sensor.

To do:
-something to prevent axle wrap.
-reroute the e-brake lines; they are rubbing on the shocks.
-replace e-brake shoes; during the locker install I noticed they are pretty shot.

Update:

-installed Skyjacker traction bar on the rear a few months ago. Works great! Thanks, Drew!

-installed LED tail lights

-installed LED reverse lights

-installed Firestik

Two weeks ago, we took a little jaunt to Rimrock (my first time, woohoo!).

The trails were really tight, which led to both my front fenders getting a little too personal with several trees.





Sooooo.....

Brown Santa delivered.



And I spent the whole day yesterday installing:

Looks awesome! Are those the Poison Spyder ones?

The front fenders are "Barricade". $249 http://www.extremeterrain.com/barricade ... ID=J100300

The rocker guards and rear fenders are from E-Autogrilles (vendor) on Amazon, shipped for around $400 for both sets. By the looks of them, they probably come from the same factory as the Barricade ones, but these were less expensive.

For $650 total, I couldnt pass them up. The fit was OK, needed a little tweaking here and there, but all said and done, they seem to be built well and fit well. They come powdercoated, and they seem to be a copy of the Smittybuilt stuff.

And now I have solid surfaces to stand on when washing the top off.

Can you come play tomorrow?

Yrjan wrote:Can you come play tomorrow?

Now that my schedule is cleared, YES!

So,
after wheeling this thing for a few years now, I decided it really needs the proper gearing, and a lunchbox locker in the rear makes it too squirrelly on the road.

Switching to 4:88's and a limited slip. I went with the "Ford Racing" limited slip clutch kit, so it hooks up better.

Setting the gears:

Now that the rear axle has proper gears, the front needs to match. The front brakes were shot, u-joints have seen better days, and springs were bent pretty bad, so I opted to removed this tired axle and replace the entire front end with the one from my Cherokee, that is already geared 4:88 and locked.

New arms mounted and halfway fabricated:

Oooo... here it comes.

Slinky linky, no more leafy?

This was the second leaf setup I ran and both bent pretty bad. I'm afraid of breaking a leaf on the trail. It happens when I back up a steep hill and the axle wraps in reverse.

Going with a coil setup. I snagged a set of front lift coils for a TJ that should work nicely. I should be able to reuse the existing upper shock mounts and will be frenching the coil mounts into the frame (YJ frame is wider above the axle than the TJ is). I'm using all Rough Stuff hardware, it makes the job dramatically easier.

Things I will be gaining:
-turning radius. With the leaf setup, I was rubbing the springs hard at full lock, with 33's. I would like to fit 35's easily.
-stretching the wheel base a few more inches.
-ride quality, less wandering on the road.
-proper gearing.
-thicker brake disks. The older Dana 30 has much beefier disks that do not warp as easy.
-I should gain a few more inches of total flex.
-more approach clearance as there will be no more spring shackles hanging down in front.

Oh, you want the REAL story.

My 13yo daughter really likes the YJ. I have three years to get it "done" for her, and want it to be more "driver friendly" and "beautified".

Shhhh, she doesnt know.

Got the arms completed: