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ended up starting to have problems shifting when warm. once it was driven about 20 miles if when coming to a stop and i put the trans into neutral and the clutch released before i came to a stop when i needed to put it back into gear it wouldn't go unless i crunched it into reverse first and then i could go into gear. i diagnosed it as a pilot bearing but i ended up putting a whole new clutch kit in... it was cheap enough so i bought one just incase when i pulled the trans it turned out to be something else. what happened is i guess i didn't seat the bearing far enough into the crank. when i looked it up on Dealerconnect about how far to put it into the crank it said flush with the snout.... well i guess they were talking about if you already had that spacer bushing in there. anyways it was my fault.
after replacing the clutch the pedal felt weak... really weak. the clutch worked properly but i knoew something was wrong. i pulled the slave and it was a little wet. i replaced that yesterday and the pedal is great now.
here's a couple pictures of how i didn't put the pilot bearing into crank far enough. it allowed grease to escape and water to get in (i've taken her swimming once and had a rather wet wheeling day where she spent about 4 hours in the water since i have done the swap. no more water for now,
a quick sloppy update. i've fallen way behind in updating. i stripped the interior of my 98 and my 97 to get it all ready for the swap. i swapped the overhead console and wiring harness etc from the 98 over to the 97. while driving around with no interior in the 97 i noticed that the windshield was leaking so i had that replaced. i put a new
(used) bumper on, and a front skid plate.
i also put some new 31" gaurd dogs on. my old tires were 31's but they were really like a 28" tire so these new ones rub. since they are mud tires when they run they do damage so i cut and trimmed my fenders. also had the mechanical fan pully bearing take a dump so i cut that whole mess out and now have a electric fan setup. i took the roof rack off as well and am going to repaint and clear the roof. before all that though i need to fill all the dam holes the PO drilled into the roof. going to rewire the front and rear roof areas for lights as well.
here's some pics... i really didn't take many pictures of anything so these are pretty generic.
new windshield about to go in.
front bumper and skid plate
cut the pulley and bearing out:
picture from yesterday when i put the new fan in and took the old one and put it in place to get ready to be used as a electric fan instead of the mechanical one.
today i installed a u-nut, a spacer, and a longer bolt for the left mount on the fan and wired up a electric thermostat switch for the fan, on at 180 and off at 165. so far it's working great, i don't have any pictures. also for future reference i used a 6pk2045 belt after cutting off the pulley for the fan.
cutting:
cut:
i still have to finish small stuff on the rears.... like sanding and proper paint. after cutting and folding the rears, i wire wheeled the inside of the fenders and applied 3m seam sealer and smoothed it out with bondo spreaders. it was about to rain so after it dried i shot any bare metal with primer and a couple coats of paint and undercoated all the wheel wells. the wheel wells look great but since i didn't mask the outside off it doesn't look good at all. but it's protected from the elements. i figure i'll straighten all that out when i paint the roof.
so now i need to get the roof taken care of, reinstall the roof rack, then get the headliner from the 98 recovered and into the 97 (overhead console) and then install all the trim etc from the 98 into the 97. after that.... front floor pans..... yay!!!!!!
Fan is the stock ac fan mounted on the right side. I noticed less noise, more power, and better had mileage. Keep in mind I have been running without a mechanical fan for a couple months now.
rewired the fans so that both fans would come on either the thermostatic switch or with the ecu ( ac or extreme..ish temp). the fan controller i bought has a override circuit built into with a diode soldered into the wire so nothing can backfeed into the pcm. i'm a tech at a Chrysler dealer so i had a spare wire harness laying around for a add on fog light kit that had the correct connector for the stock ac fan connector so i used that to plug into the stock connector for the harness and used the one 12v output as a trigger for the fan relay on the "override" circuit. wired up the thermostat switch with 12v ignition on source and grounded the ground circuit for the relay ( i had the ground circuit turning on the fans before). the fan controller comes prewired with 2 fan outputs so all i had to do there was run the wires to the fans. these are aftermarket replacement fans which come with connectors for pre 97 xj's and a jumper with the correct connector for 97+ xj's.
since i have done this with stock fans if one ever fails i can simply stop at any parts store and pick up a replacement. also if the thermostatic switch fails i can just bypass it and the fans will be on full time until a replacement is sourced (most likely from a parts store as well).
here's some pictures... keep in mind i spent about 20 min on this rewire... i was just trying to get it done fast so i could take my son to a drive through zoo. i have some tubing to cover all the wires up but i probably won't cover them up cause i'd like to be able to diag any problems on the trails fast and i hate to be the guy broken and holding everyone up.
yellow= 12v switched input that runs through thermostat switch, green is overide that is input from pcm, red is battery, black ground and orange is fused output to fans.
i also installed a bluetooth radio this weekend (i haven't had a radio other than a CB in my jeep since i bought it) so my son could have some tunes while we cruise around. no pictures of that but it's just a cheapy JVC unit with bluetooth and no CD player that works and sounds awesome.
took the jeep out last weekend and got stuck in a BS hole:
right tires were on dry ground. if i would have had a locker i wouldn't have been stuck. had to walk 2 miles back to my buddy's house to get his jeep. i was kinda upset i got stuck in something so weak sauce so today i installed a spartan locker in the front diff.
not the best pic but it's the only one i took of the install, i was in a rush to get it done so i could pick up my son from daycare.... had to skip the axle u-joints as well. and yes i cleaned it all up before i put it back in.
i took it to the ditch behind the dealership and tested it out and it's awesome so far.
since my last update she's gotten a ZJ tierod upgrade, all new front ball joints, spicer axle joints, a new wheel bearing, all new shocks (JK Rubicon), had the head rebuilt, removed the front auto locker (not invisible on the street in 2wd) and i'm sure there's more that i'm forgetting. oh yeah, put the stock injectors back in, liberty upgrade were too lean causing burned valves. oh and timing chain set and new water pump.
yeah i hated to get rid of it. it needed more work and child support is killing me so i had to make the grown up decision and keep the more responsible, daily driver 2wd xj. i'm about to sell my 99xj and just stick to a motorcycle for a while while i fix up a 99 wj my old boss gave to me with a broken piston. now that my son is in a booster seat i like the idea of a full height back seat anyways.
yeah i hated to get rid of it. it needed more work and child support is killing me so i had to make the grown up decision and keep the more responsible, daily driver 2wd xj. i'm about to sell my 99xj and just stick to a motorcycle for a while while i fix up a 99 wj my old boss gave to me with a broken piston. now that my son is in a booster seat i like the idea of a full height back seat anyways.
Sorry to hear it, but XJ's are cheap and they'll be available if you want them. Hopefully we'll see you build up the WJ.
10-14-2012, 09:23 PM
