richamc01

ha thanks man. i thought it was pretty awesome too. and the tire carrier is custom, he welded it up himself.

cherokee94&99

A buddy of mine bought his jeep with the engine sagged back like that and the trans bracket missing. What we did was put it all back together and hoped the mounts weren't shot. Once we got it running i stood there and watched the engine while he switched from drive to reverse. The whole engine shook (kinda violently) and we determined before he cracked the exhaust manifold that we better stop and pick up a new set of motor mounts and see what kinda difference that made. We borrowed an engine hoist and stripped the accessiories off the engine (for room to work) and then lifted it just enough to get the old mounts off and put the new ones on. Yeah it sucks but i had to put a new 4.0 in me jeep and replaced the entire drivetrain. That was my crash course in engine work on an XJ. We replaces his mounts in like 3 hours one afternoon, just takes some time and patience thats all. Anyway after we took those mounts off you could see how the rubber had been all misshapen from being sagged for a few years and gave it about half an inch of play on either side. Hope you don't have this problem but i would honestly be surprised if you didn't.

richamc01

Thanks for all of the help man. i really hope that i dont have to replace them. i guess ill just have to wait and see when i get my transfer case in. but from what you said i think that i will look into getting some.

notop46

Best solution: Cut away all of the bad metal and butt weld (edge to edge) a piece in. Do not lap weld if you can avoid it. Any laps where you weld, you burn away paint and could have unfinished steel which will rust later. Make sure that all welds are complete.

OK solution: Grind away all rust and adjacent area to clean metal on both sides if possible. Fiberglass both sides (if possible). Smooth out surfaces and paint.

Do not use Bondo anywhere where you can not prime and paint every edge and surface. If you pack it in a gap, you need to be sure that the gap is air tight, otherwise moisture will find its way in, the Bondo will absorb it, swell, and let it get to unpainted steel and the rust begins again. I pulled pounds of swollen Bondo out of my Chevelle during the restoration. Bondo might look good for a year or two, but if you plan on keeping your Jeep, do it right.

cherokee94&99

No problem, i always appreciate helpful advice from fellow jeepers so if i find i might have a useful bit of advice to throw in i might as well put it out there and then it's up to you or whoever as to whether or not you would like to take it. Also, seems issues with jeeps are sometimes case by case cause you might have the exact same problem as i or someone else my have experienced yet the soultion to the problem might be completely different. Gonna keep reading your thread as your project progresses, that tire carrier is going to look good. Good luck with everything.

richamc01

thanks for the support man. its gona be a slow built. i wana do the best for my jeep and not cut any corners but my wallet doesnt always agree lol. i think im going to just cut them out and try to fiberglass. im not the best welder and i have only welded on very thick steel at work.

richamc01

i think im just going to replace the motor mounts anyways just to be on the safe side. the last thing i want to do is have to replace the exhaust manifold. Any suggestions on some good mounts? i found these and i think im going to go with them.... http://www.ironman4x4fab.com/Jeep_Mo...nts/XJ_MM.html

richamc01

alright i've got another newbie question...eventually i am going to get the 6.5" long arm lift kit. not sure on what brand im going to go with yet. anyways i have to replace my rear drive shaft now. what all am i going to need to make this lift work. new drive shafts? transfer case drop? SYE kit? ive got an automatic transmission with the 4.0L I6 and the 242 transfer case. i know all of this is premature i just like to plan ahead lol

cherokee94&99

The mounts you found look good, i know quadratec sells urathane mounts that run about the same price as well. As for the lift you plan to put on eventually, if you want to keep your existing transfercase you have to do a hack n tap sye. I have a NP242 in my 99 and it's got that style sye. Nothing wrong with it in my opinion i know however some people tend to shy away from the hack n tap style. Another option would be to pick up a NP231 transfer case, these tend to be stronger however you loose the all time 4WD option. A few companies make sye kits for the 231. There's also a low range gearing kit for the 231 as well i just can't remember which company makes it at the moment. Another option yet would be a NV241 i think it is, this is the transfer case out of a Rubicon TJ. The TJ rubicon comes from factory with an sye and front and rear lockers in Dana 44 axles. In a perfect world for me at least i'd love to get me hands on a totaled rubi and use if for parts for my xj. Anyway, as for the front drive shaft i'm not completely sure about replacing it for a bigger lift but i'd honestly be surprised if you can get away with a stock shaft. I plan to do a 8inch long arm kit hopefully sometime next year. I've decided to go with a rusty's lift i like the way there kit comes and it's the same for the 6inch kit as well. Might take a look at www.rustysoffroad.com and see what you think of their lift kits.

richamc01

well i got the transfer case bolted up...the transfer case itself bolted up no problem but now im having problems getting the crossmember to line up. i think i may need to invest in a new rear transmission support bracket since the one i have is so old. i think that bracket being worn is throwing everything off. sorry i dont have any pics. it was freezing out and was trying to hurry.

cherokee94&99

There are a few things that have caused this when i've worked on my jeeps and had to remove the crossmember. the most common problem i've had is the shock absorber mount for the trans and the transfer case that bolts up to the cross member. Your entire upper drive line could not be lined up right. Once you get that crossmember on the two studs for the crossmember it's easy from there. I personally hate the fact that they decided to have a stud and a bolt on either side to hold it in place. What me and my buddies do is take the stud out, drill the holes out wider and put 1/2 inch grade 8 bolt in instead. You might have to cut a small square hole in the floor to get into the unibody and you can weld nuts in the proper size and thread or you can attempt to tap the holes you drilled. Anyway that seemed to make it easier for us and it's a rock solid fix to a design flaw in my opinion thats just a problem waiting to happen sometime down the road. Anyway, idk what your individual problem is, i understand you couldn't get pictures up but they certainly would help if you get that chance.

richamc01

thanks man i think im gona replace the rear mount and see if that helps any. if it does not then im gona try what you said. i only get to work on it on weekends cuz my dad wont let me keep it here at home so im keeping it 45 min away at my moms house. anyways...ill take some pics when im out there if i cant get it figured out. thanks for the help though

cherokee94&99

Sounds good, once you get those pics up i'll take a look and see if it's the same problem i had. Sucks your dad won't let you keep it at his place, my parents gave me a bit of a fight about it at first but in the end, i was doing a full engine swap in the middle of their driveway.

hitech-redneck

hey there. i was just surfin through threads. i noticed you wanted to do a 6.5 inch lift. i bought a 6.5 inch lift from rough country. i have the 4.0 automatic transmission. with the 242j transfer case. i was wondering about the hack and tap kit for the output shaft as well. i called rough country, and they sell angled shims that go inbetween the leaf spring and the axle housing. they were like 15 bucks i think. i figured it was a easier alternitive to a hack and tap set up. i gave it a shot and i have been running it like that for about 5 months, i wheel the heck out of my jeep and i havent had any problems yet, no vibrations at highway speeds or anything. i have a dana 30 rear axle and a dana 35 front axle with 35 inch tires. nothing bad has happened yet in that concern...just throwin that out there for ya.

cherokee94&99

That is very true, zxle shims can work however each jeep is different, glad it worked for you but a buddy of mine did the same thing and we were wheeling his one night and the yolk slipped all the way out of the transfercase and messed everything up really badly. It stripped all the splines off the inner yolk and flaired a side out not to mention it bashed the seal on the transfer case in so it leaks fluid all the time. glad it worked for you and it could work for others too, however if you plan to do any serious flexing and crawling save yourself the headache down the road (possibly on a trail somewhere) and do the hack n tap while your working on everything. I mean it's your choice but keeping the factory slip yolk on anything higher the 3 inches is setting yourself up for disaster. Look on CL too, sometimes people part out a rig and they got a transfer case with the sye on it already for a couple hundred bucks, thats how i got mine and it works perfectly. I plan to do my own hack n tap somewhere down the line so i can say i did one but an sye whether it's a conversion kit for a 231 or a hack n tap on the 231 or the 242 is the way to go. At the very least get an extended yolk from somewhere like www.rustysoffroad.com or you can use a yolk off a wrangler just make sure it's the same spline count. Also, using the shims in combination with the sye is probably the best thing you could do please don't think i'm trying to say don't use shims, but make sure you get steel ones if you do. I personally don't have shims just yet but when i get my 8inch longarm kit i plan to shim it in combination with the sye i already have on it.