1998 Cherokee 4.0 Ltd - Project

[Fourpot]

On 23/12/2021 at 14:01, UKTJ said:

I am guessing you got such a good pay out as second hand car prices have shot up of late.  If you had to replace it the pay out would not seem so generous, but you don't so a good result.

I was going to sell it anyway soon, once the Jeep is MOT'd. I'd have happily taken a lot less for it.

[Fourpot]

Solved the non-functioning speedo issue. As I have on old transfer case, with the rear bearing and seal out, I could put the speedo drive into it and see that the plastic cog in the speedo drive wasn't engaging with the transfer case drive shaft. It seems to have worn down. So I've put the original one back in for now. I'd taken out the orange one and replaced it with a black one with a different number of teeth, so the speedo is accurate with the bigger wheels and tyres (It was reading slow). So now it's reading slow, but at least it's reading and probably within the 10% accuracy tolerance needed for con and use regs (and not getting a ticket for speeding when I think I'm not).

Also trial-fitted my new brake hoses at the front. They're mildly extended for a YJ and fit a treat. A little more work with some bracket-making and that should be done too. 

[Fourpot]

On 23/12/2021 at 12:35, Mike WK2 said:

Looking proper tidy 

That is a very nice looking truck!

[spookie the aardvark]

9 minutes ago, Fourpot said:

Yes, the damn M25!  I've been going down to Ramsgate to work a few times, and there's no real way to avoid it. I like Ramsgate, just not getting there and back. I also hate the M60 around Manchester.

Think those might be the two motorways everyone hates, M27 (roadworks) and M3 (accidents) have got to come 3rd and 4th

[spookie the aardvark]

5 minutes ago, Fourpot said:

Solved the non-functioning speedo issue. As I have on old transfer case, with the rear bearing and seal out, I could put the speedo drive into it and see that the plastic cog in the speedo drive wasn't engaging with the transfer case drive shaft. It seems to have worn down. So I've put the original one back in for now. I'd taken out the orange one and replaced it with a black one with a different number of teeth, so the speedo is accurate with the bigger wheels and tyres (It was reading slow). So now it's reading slow, but at least it's reading and probably within the 10% accuracy tolerance needed for con and use regs (and not getting a ticket for speeding when I think I'm not).

Also trial-fitted my new brake hoses at the front. They're mildly extended for a YJ and fit a treat. A little more work with some bracket-making and that should be done too. 

Getting there fourpot, really going to be worth it when the Jeep is finished. Can't wait to see it's first outing to an event

[Fourpot]

Brake hoses seem to work fine, on either lock and with the wheels on, at full droop and normal ride height.  Just need to fashion some new brackets where the flexible hoses join the rigid pipes, and all should be good. The picture is at full droop and furthest away lock.

New seal fitted into the transfer case, very carefully, as I found the little spring around the seal had come out of its groove. That may have happened in bashing the old seal out, but possibly on fitting it in the first place, although having driven it around our field for an hour without a drop leaking, it must have popped somewhere on the way to the MOT. I've heard some doubts about the quality of Crown seals, but couldn't find one made by anyone else. I'll see how this one goes.

[digger]

Hi Fourpot,

I think you are doing a terrific job,  Your video re axle end seals is very interesting indeed. You have a super idea, I have had a game regularly cleaning the axle tubes!  By sheer coincidence it relates to something that has happened to me recently and what I have found may be of interest to others in the UK.

 I broke the front off side driveshaft on my YJ . It came home on a trailer and I drove into my work area. Oil was spilling from the axle! Due to being faced with a long wait for new H/D shafts I decided to begin a planned regear there and then. The first job was to fit a Chryser axle in the rear. However I needed to turn the car around and I didn't want to spill oil all over the place. On the other hand I didn't want to rebuild the front axle twice. I would have had to do this, if I just slipped a used shaft in, because the disconnect(which was going to be binned) system seal wouldn't work. So, I wondered how could I stop the oil flow temporarily.  I considered various ideas but ended up rummaging in my plumbing box.

I found an old fashioned ''low level'' cistern connector. This would have joined the downpipe into the pan and I guess is very similar dimensions to the ones you describe. I can't give measurements because it's stuck in the end of the axle for now (I'm still waiting for parts)!   It was an excellent fit, both on the shaft and in the axle!  I too thought  something like it could stop mud ingress.  Unfortunately, the item that I have would be no good to use for mud prevention because it is made of thin flexible plastic which wouldn't last 5 mins.

 

I don't know how easy it is to get your blue seal in the uk  (got to the point at last. LOL)apart from online maybe. I went to my plumbers merchant (City Plumbing)to ask for it but they hadn't seen any thing like it.  However, they did say  that my  toilet connector is available in flexible hard wearing rubber and some kind of flexible polyprop material (both black) by order only , either of which could be worth a try. So,having watched your video, I will definitely order a couple of each now and decide which looks the best and give it a go when I finish the dana 30. I will let everyone know how it goes. Obviously the biggest issue is longevity even with greasing.   Have you any idea of what your blue  'joint' is made of?

 

Lastly, a tip for you. I have OME suspension. It seems excellent apart from one thing,which I know has troubled PDB too. The yellow painting on the shocks rusts out very quickly(a few K miles) once you start using them!   I have just had to rub down and  repaint mine to stop rust! You might consider doing something to beef your paint up, before it happens,  if is likely to bother you.  Otherwise you will have more work when  they become unsightly.

 

 

 

[digger]

Forgot. I'm not a big fan of Crown either and avoid where possible.

Worst issue was axle U bolts. My Chrysler works manual says torque for these on YJ should be 90ftlbs. Crown's U bolts stripped every time I reached high 60s !

[Fourpot]

Thanks for your kind words Digger, but the credit goes to Mike Bushcraft for the video and wisdom in that area.  

The paint on the OME shocks does seem fragile, I have liberally coated them with clear Dinitrol, especially where the ends are welded to the tubes, we'll see how that goes.

[Fourpot]

Took PDB's advice and bought a pair of straps to take the strain when the front axle is left to hang at full stretch and is hanging off the dampers. Needed some different bolts for the upper control arms and yet more bracketry-making, but they do a good job I think. Cheers PDB! 

[frosty]

how much travel have you got on your front suspension, maybe the pictures are deceiving, it looks quite low. 

[V]

Nice to see the limit straps. Bear in mind that they can introduce a shock load when they go tight. This could be enough to bend a long bolt making it difficult to remove without cutting.

 

The outer limit straps should be set to just a little bit shorter than full shock extension. The shock will have an internal bump stop so you may want to take advantage of it to cushion the strap take-up. It's not that important for slow speeds off road, more of a comfort thing for high speed over rough terrain or sand.

 

For a centre strap you need some way of fully stuffing one side while fully articulating the other. RTI ramp or a fork lift truck is usually required. A good starting point is to tune the centre strap length so that it is tight (or taking up the slack) when the suspension is in this position. Configured this way, the centre strap will not interfere with articulation but will prevent a long-arm suspension from unloading too far. If you have a bracket with adjustment holes you can shorten the effective strap length if your suspension is still unloading too much but at the cost of some articulation. Or you could lengthen it if you find the suspension travel for high speed rough terrain is now too restricted.

[Fourpot]

On 29/12/2021 at 13:07, V said:

Nice to see the limit straps. Bear in mind that they can introduce a shock load when they go tight. This could be enough to bend a long bolt making it difficult to remove without cutting.

 

The outer limit straps should be set to just a little bit shorter than full shock extension. The shock will have an internal bump stop so you may want to take advantage of it to cushion the strap take-up. It's not that important for slow speeds off road, more of a comfort thing for high speed over rough terrain or sand.

 

For a centre strap you need some way of fully stuffing one side while fully articulating the other. RTI ramp or a fork lift truck is usually required. A good starting point is to tune the centre strap length so that it is tight (or taking up the slack) when the suspension is in this position. Configured this way, the centre strap will not interfere with articulation but will prevent a long-arm suspension from unloading too far. If you have a bracket with adjustment holes you can shorten the effective strap length if your suspension is still unloading too much but at the cost of some articulation. Or you could lengthen it if you find the suspension travel for high speed rough terrain is now too restricted.

Indeed, I have bought a few spare bolts, much cheaper than new dampers and I'm happy for them to be shock-loaded instead of the dampers. I have done as you say, bottomed the straps just prior to damper bottoming. Not fussed about articulation, but they will fold when the suspension is compressed. They are, in my mind, somewhat sacrificial.

Edited December 31, 2021 by Fourpot

[Fourpot]

On 28/12/2021 at 18:42, frosty said:

how much travel have you got on your front suspension, maybe the pictures are deceiving, it looks quite low. 

From where it sits on its wheels to fully dropped is only 7.5cm. Don't know how far it will compress upwards.

[Fourpot]

[Fourpot]

YJ stainless brake hoses now in place, brakes bled and ABS leads all tucked in too. A bit of extra sheathing for good measure.

[Fourpot]

My Jeep actually has its own Facebook profile - Jonny Purple-Jeep, for Facebook friends who are interested but not enough to get on this forum. It needs some cosmetic work and so I'm going to paint it. I saw an episode of 'Flippin' Bangers' where they used Rustoleum Combicolor on a Suzuki SJ410. It can be applied with a brush and self-levels (I had a Citroen that did that once). It looked good in matt black on the Suzuki, which they'd applied with rollers!. I need to keep it 'purple' because Jonny Purple-Jeep would need re-naming and I can't be arsed changing the V5.

I ordered some in the only purple available in satin (actually called 'red lilac'). Fear not, I ordered some dark blue aswell to mix it a little darker and less 'pink'. Mind you, I'm open to leaving it this colour...

£45 a 2.5 litre tin, somewhat cheaper than a re-spray or wrap!

Edited December 31, 2021 by Fourpot

[UKTJ]

Looking forward to this!

[Fourpot]

Early on in the time I've had the XJ, I upgraded the injectors to 4-hole EV6 type. Now that the lump is a mildly warm 4.6 stroker, the recommended injector is from a Mustang 5.0. So I bought a set of used ones.

These won't go on until the engine is run in, as I don't want to risk being over-rich at low rpm. Emissions with current ones are fine.

Anyway, I sent my second-hand injectors to 'Injectortune' for cleaning and checking. Wow! Very fast turn-around, they've come back clean and shiny, all checked and with new o-rings and filters, a print-out of performance before and after, instructions for care and even the old o-rings and filters have come back too. The big result is the free little Leatherman tool!

Thoroughly recommended!

www.injectortune.co.uk

Edited January 5, 2022 by Fourpot

[Fourpot]

Booom!! 

Now I don't need to drive a Smart car ever again!

[V]

Congratulations. Judging by the build quality of your project I would have been surprised if it had failed.

[spookie the aardvark]

2 minutes ago, Fourpot said:

Booom!! 

Now I don't need to drive a Smart car ever again!

Nice one Fourpot

One step closer to being at an event

You can take the bag off your head now mate, no more driving a Smart car for you

[Fourpot]

59 minutes ago, V said:

Congratulations. Judging by the build quality of your project I would have been surprised if it had failed.

Provided I don't get too many grey moments like forgetting to tighten the locknuts on the upper control arms adjustment. I think the MOT guy said 'Just saying..'

[Fourpot]

Shake-down drive into Liverpool on Saturday. M6, M62, then back via tunnel, M53 and A51.

Good bits:

Engine runs sweetly, cooling fine, oil pressure fine, charging fine, heating fine. Brakes bedding in more.

But… Speedo not working again. Luckily, not spotted during MOT, as it isn’t driven further than from where I left it to the inspection bay. Relying on GPS for now. Also, cruise control not working (the ‘cruise’ light comes on when I switch it on, but nothing happens when I press ‘set’). Some electrical gremlin-hunting required I thought, but of course the cruise won't work because if the speedo isn't working then the cruise thinks the Jeep is stationary, so won't set (it needs to be doing 35mph before it will anyway).

There is also a slight drive-line vibration at around 70 mph which is annoying, this is the first time it's been driven above 30mph. I can narrow it down by removing the front and then rear prop-shafts in turn to see if that shows anything up. With the front one off, I just select ‘2-wheel drive’ and it’s a rear-wheel drive car. With the rear one off, I select ‘part-time 4-wheel drive’ (which locks the transfer case), and drive it as a front-wheel drive car.

So anyway, got under the beast yesterday and disaaaaster! the bluddy transfer case oil seal is p*ssing oil again!  Or is it? Is it going from somewhere else and then being flung everywhere by the output oil-slinger literally slinging oil. Took the prop-shaft off and the SYE and the oil-slinger. Couldn't see anything obvious with the seal so I left it in (I haven't got another one handy) and decided to get onto the googlieweb and the YouTube. I seem to be missing a circlip that goes on the shaft just outboard of the seal, so the oil is possibly sneaking out through the groove the clip goes in, as the outer edge of the seal lip is just over it.

Found a clip, smeared it in oil and put it in. My worry is that it’s firmly touching the seal, so will it eat the seal? Ran the engine again. The clip stayed still, so not rubbing the seal, but the shaft is spinning in the clip. Not sure that it should be like that, but…. No leak. That's only the revs the shaft goes at at idle though. Maybe at high speed something else will happen.

I’ll put the prop-shafts back on tomorrow and go for a drive. Fingers crossed…

 

[Fourpot]

Meanwhile, the speedo.

I found on Youtube, the process of doing an 'instrument cluster check'. That was easy. Press the trip-meter button and then turn the ignition on while still pressing the button. The gauges all check themselves and they whizz around their range. That was all good, so happily the problem is not with the gauges.

I have an old Transfer case that I'd bought cheap ages ago, just in case (oh pun!) so I found the old speedo drive from that, cleaned it up and swapped it in. Then while doing the oil leak test with the prop-shafts off, I had a look at the speedo and it's working. I nudged the revs up to give it an indicated 20mph, so it works OK it would seem. I'll find out later if that means the cruise control will now work.

Edited January 12, 2022 by Fourpot