emptypockets

nice build, man. always nice to see an older xj getting some lovin'.

CrazyMonkeyBen

At some point along the way, while turning onto a highway a small clunk happened. This later manifested itself in the form of a large puddle of gear oil in the parking lot.

Further investigation revealed a punctured diff cover, caused by this broken spider tooth:


Some JB Weld fixed up the cover, the gears still spun freely, and I started saving up for a new axle.

CrazyMonkeyBen

One day, sometime later, I started experiencing horrible shuttering when turning, and even occasionally when going straight. I stopped off at a friends shop and we checked it out. He said "Here's your problem, your locker's stuck" I responded "I don't have a locker."

I decided to risk driving the rest of the way to my own shop a couple more miles down the road. It didn't make it far when a loud pop occurred and it freewheeled onto the shoulder.

I put it into front wheel drive (again) and drove it the rest of the way. There it sat for another couple months while I saved up for an axle, and then tried to find the time to install it.

Then I got evicted from my workshop, and drove the poor gimpy Jeep the 10 miles home on the front axle. There she sat for another month or so.

I finally got the chance to install my new Ford 8.8 LS axle. I wish I had the time to clean it up and paint it, but as it is, it's all rusty and ugly. But it works great.

After swapping the axle I opened up the old one, just out of curiosity. This is what I found:


For the record I broke my Dana 35 3 times, each time on flat, level paved road.

CrazyMonkeyBen

One problem with this swap (and to be honest, even before the swap) has been overheating. Originally I had two 12" electric fans mounted on the front and back of the radiator in an offset, partly overlapping fashion. This arrangement was not at all ideal, and air flow suffered on hot days when going under 30 mph. Not the best thing with a 92:1 crawl ratio.

I got a 16" electric fan, which I planned to mount behind the radiator once I got new mounting brackets which would mount the radiator further forward, providing clearance. But then I decided to just go ahead and mount the 16" fan to the front as a pusher, since that should still work better than the 12" fans until I get time to remount the radiator.

I mounted the 16" fan, and tested it out, everything seamed in order, and I took it on an errand to town with no troubles. The next time I went out, the fan apparently did not work and it over heated. I parked and opened up the hood to check the wiring and fuse. While I was opening the hood, the radiator cap decided it had had enough pressure... ...


I left it parked for a couple hours, then drove it to a friend's house nearby where I left it until the weekend. Further investigation revealed a blown fuse, caused by the larger draw of the bigger fan. After verifying the installed wire gauges, I upped the fuse to a 20 amp (up from 10) and verified functionality.

At the same time, the loose steering column had loosened enough such that the ignition switch no longer functioned properly. To start the engine I had to pull the steering wheel down and to the right. I drove it home with not quite right electrics, no accessories, no turn signals.

CrazyMonkeyBen

Since my working-on-stuff arm was suffering from second degree burns, the Vortec Cherokee sat for yet another month. After which I performed the standard GM steering column repair, and then replaced the ignition switch. Now she runs pretty good. No known serious problems...

Except the broken driver's seat, which has been broken almost since I bought it.

Oh, and my 5th gear fell off several months ago, I'm planning to put that back on soon. I am getting tired of spending $75 on oil every time I open the transmission though.

And the oil leaks in the engine, which I planed to fix with all new gaskets when I rebuild the engine, if I ever find a good space to do the work.


And now you're up to speed on the Vortec Cherokee build. Anything I post after this will have happened after now.

CrazyMonkeyBen

This engine has been leaking like a sieve since I got it. It did have 180k miles on it, so that's no surprise. I've been planning to rebuild it for a year and a half, but have never gotten the chance. Since I don't have a real shop anymore and don't foresee getting one any time soon, I decided to replace the easy to reach gaskets a bit at a time, and just hope the engine doesn't get full of sand.

Today my wife and I replaced the valve cover gaskets. These were obviously leaking before, so hopefully replacing them has made a reasonable difference. The operation went smoothly with no complications, and there aren't any obvious oil leaks at the valve covers.

This is the first work I've done on the truck since I started this build thread.

I am hoping to fix my 5th gear this coming week, and maybe to start sanding and painting a little.

CrazyMonkeyBen

Well, one of my valve cover gaskets did not seat right, so it leaked more oil, but differently than before. After todays test drive the bottom of the engine and tranny were still dry, so I think the valve covers may have been responsible for most of my engine oil leaks. I repositioned the messed up gasket, and have pretty high hopes that will be the end of that particular issue.

I also bought new gear oil, locktite and RTV today so I can open up the transmission yet again this week and reattach the 5th gear properly.

If my transmission work goes well, and if I can find a wingman, I may take it out for a trail run this weekend. It's been a while since I've tried anything fun.

CrazyMonkeyBen

Today went really well. I opened up my transmission, and reinstalled the 5th gear and lock nut. Everything went really well with no big problems at all, I was quite pleased about that.



Before taking it apart I went to my transmission parts store and asked how I'm supposed to keep the nut from backing off. For the 29 spline mainshaft there are lots of solutions because that's the one it usually falls off of. For the 23 spline shaft I have no-one really says what to do, so I had assumed before it wouldn't be a problem.

What I did differently this time was to use red locktite instead of blue. Then I torqued it down as tight as I could go. My torque wrench does not go quite high enough, so I just went as far as I could. Then I tightened the little set screws in the nut, which don't seam to really help that much. Then, and this is the difference, I took a punch and bent the flange on the back of the nut into the notches in the shaft. I was quite pleased to find that my shaft came with the notches, not all do, and I couldn't remember if mine did. If it didn't I was prepared to take the grinder to it, but since they were there it saved me some time.

Since it is easiest to fill the transmission from the top through the shift tower, I took the opportunity to put a heli-coil in the bolt hole that had stripped out before. Now I can properly snug down the shift tower and it shouldn't leak gear oil from there anymore.

I also got a large Mr Gasket shifter boot from O'Reilly's and installed that over the shift tower. It fits great, but the front edge is under carpet, under the heater port, under the dash, so I couldn't get the front screws in. It makes a world of difference in the noise when driving down the road. My Cherokee almost feels like a regular car for once!

I took it for a quick test drive down the highway, 5th gear works great, the road noise is a lot quieter, and everything feels all around pretty nice.

So, I am good to go for a quick wheeling outing this weekend. We are going to hit Hidden Valley Rd, Daken Rd, and maybe Illinois Gulch. Anyone who would like to come just let me know.

CrazyMonkeyBen

I discovered today that there is way too much slop in my "new" rear axle, so I'm gonna have to get a new crush sleeve and figure out how to adjust gears...

CrazyMonkeyBen

I am so sore today, I should lift my 200# transmission more often to stay in shape.

CrazyMonkeyBen

Today went great. I got my engine oil changed, fixed my broken transmission and transfer case vent hoses, reinstalled my front skid plate, pressure washed lots of oil off the bottom of everything, and replaced the battery cable clamps.

Then I cleaned up inside, threw out all the trash, found where all of my jackets and over shirts had gone and got everything ready for tomorrows Hidden Valley run.

CrazyMonkeyBen

Finally got to get out on a trail yesterday. Experienced no problems at all for just about the first time ever. The engine is still leaking oil, so I'll have to change out more gaskets yet.

CrazyMonkeyBen

Last night I installed a new clutch master cylinder. It is much harder to press the pedal now, but I can tell that the clutch fully disengages, and that it never had before.

The stock clutch master cylinder on my '86 Cherokee has a 0.68" bore and about 1.5" of stroke, but the pedal bottoms out against the floor before the full stroke is reached. So that's a bit less than 0.54 cubic inches of fluid movement.

The 1995 Chevy K2500 that my transmission came out of would have had a 0.71" bore. I don't know the stroke though, I'm pretty sure it is a bit longer than 1.5". So that would be a volume of at least 0.59 cubic inches.

I got a master cylinder for a CJ7 which has a 0.815 bore. I was hoping the stroke would be the same as my original since they look very similar but it turned out to have a shorter stroke of around 1.25" making a volume of 0.65 cubic inches. The rod on the CJ7 cylinder was much shorter than the rod on the Cherokee. Luckily since I replaced the master cylinder on the Cherokee before with the same brand as the new CJ7 cylinder the rods were interchangeable. Unfortunately almost every master cylinder except the Cherokee one have the mounting tabs vertically instead of horizontally, so I had to drill new holes in the firewall.

With the new cylinder installed the pedal doesn't quite reach the floor, so that's better and the clutch fully disengages with a noticeable clunk, which I've never gotten before. A quick drive around the driveway confirms that it is much easier to shift now, which was the point.

DaddyO

Great biuld thread. A little over my head.
Still really interesting.

CrazyMonkeyBen

I picked up a non disconnect high pinion Dana 30 from a '98 XJ for $50 today. I will work on cleaning it up and twisting the housing to get a better pinion angle without ruining my caster angle, then bolt it in.

Before I can install it though I need to find some adjustable upper control arms. Are any of the sets for less than $175 any good or are they all trash?