Caish

Well answering a CL ad can not always be the best thing to do when you got cash in your pocket.
Actually both was CL vehicles. The wifes 95 XJ. 255k miles and going strong.


The 87 is a 4.0 5 speed 4x4, non-A/C, I think its an old Forestry Jeep. The engine was in pieces and most of them missing. But I had a parts XJ, 88 model without a title and a good engine. So Why not get the 2 door. Right.
Well working at it part time it moved out of the shop yesterday.


Yea...


The down sides now.
I got to pull the transfer case, the shifter moves but its stuck in low range.
I got to find longer shocks as the stock ones are to short with the 3.5" lift, and it really needs GOOD shackles on the rear, those are little more than flat iron and I have my doubts they are strong enough.

sandaddik2

my dad has shackles like that on his ******, they work fine and have for the past 14 years.

as for the transfercase, change the fluid in it. mine wouldnt shift when i got water in it. and if its "stuck" in 4wd but the shifter moves put the shifter in 2wd and put it in reverse get going a bit and slam on the brakes then put it in drive roll forward about 5-10 mph and put the transmission in neutral then put it back in gear, it should come out of 4wd by then. the xj transfercases seem to bind up easy

SGT ABN XJ

Allright, another two door member on CF..I love to see them two doors fixed up..Nice project...

Caish

Thanks for the advice on the shackles, I might just look into a simple cross brace to give ME a little better piece of mind about it.

I'll try the reverse thing before I pull it apart this weekend if I get time. I got a buddy that wants to go riding. (the KTM LC4) So that might take up a good day in and of itself. I'm trying to get the insulation up in the shop too so the A/C will actually keep it cool in there. Its like a sweat box right now.

I got to order some shocks for it still, the rear shocks are to short, I'm thinking about http://www.fabtechmotorsports.com/ for shocks.
I don't want a bone jarring ride. I'm wanting something good high speed dampening without loosing low speed softness.

So that sums it up atm. Hope to get the NP231 out this weekend.

Caish

First its been HOT here in Arkansas. 100+ degree days lately.
I got the Xfer case pulled last night, and tore it down far enough to get to the meat of the problem.
I took lots of pictures along the way so here they are.
Piece by Piece dis-assembly of a NP231. At least to the Forks.

Sitting on the bench ready to be torn down, no I didn;t wash it down.


First remove the speedometer drive gear assembly.
its held in with one bolt and should slide right out, but with anyting that is old it might be a little tough.

Everyone needs a good helper, my middle son loves to help turn wrenches.

Next there is three bolts that hold the tail housing in place.
(I forgot to take a picture of the housing by itself.
With the tail removed.
You can see I already pulled the bolts out of the next housing. A few taps with a plastic dead blow hammer to break the silicone and a little screw driver work around the edge it lifts right off too.

This is the oil pump for the case, it has to lift top out first at a angle then it will slide off the pickup tube and lift out.

Now your case looks like this, you can see the pickup tube inside there.

Remove all the bolts around the case, and use the plastic hammer again and the screw driver to work the top loose from the lower section.
Gently split the cases lifting straight up.
Now you looking at this.

See the shaft and Spring in the middle that is your shift forks.

Next your going to lift the main shaft and chain out out.
this is a little tricky as there is not alot of extra length to the chain to work with.
The shaft and chain will look like this when you get it out.

Now your case should look like so. If you look close by the drive gear there is a slotted notch in the case this where I found a magnet that catches. metal particles in the oil.

Now grab the shaft with the spring on it and lift it straight up and out carefully. The collar will come out with it.

Now the lower shift fork will just lift out also.
Heres what mine looked like when I pulled it out.

I had already found the broken tip when I separated the cases.
This is where I stopped today. Time to order a new shift fork.


I found lots of microscopic particles on the magnet but nothing serious to warrant a farther tear down.
Hope this helps someone else as its a learning experience for me too.
We now return you to your regularly scheduled programming.

rich

Nice thanks for showing the teardown this should help alot of us out here in 4x4 land. Are you gonna throw an SYE on her while you got her out?Is there anyway you could send those pics to me in a message or something similar,I'm trying to put together a referance guide to look at in the garage cause I dont have a computor out there yet thx alot.

Caish

email sent: actually 3 parts your isp doesn't allow 10+megs of attachments.

I'm just replacing the shift fork. Its not a big job to pull it out or tear it down.
So maybe later but thats yet to be seen.
I spent maybe an hour and half (with the kids helping) getting it out, and 30 minutes or less tearing it down to this point.
I'll post more pictures once I find a shift fork and put it back together.
I will say that if your doing this also on the end like that. It seems that in 4Lo all the shift forks are forward or appeared so, and it might make it easier going back together.

Caish

I guess its time to update my project thread....

I got the transfer case back together. No I didn;t get pixs this time. Sorry.
I did find it was easier to remove the front yoke and slide the main shaft and the front output shaft in simultaneously.

I got the thing running, then it quit the it ran, then it quit, not it runs again.
Quite a tale in and of itself.

Turns out the coil was bad, but it still fired, just not strong enough to fire the plugs.

In the process of trying to find the reason it didn't run I also changed the fuel rail and used a set of used XJ injectors I had handy. I'm not happy with them at all. Its got what sounds like a miss still. But its running.

I've replaced all 4 shocks, the rear from a Commanche, and front from Wrangler. Be advised this entails a press and a sawzall.
Use the sawzall to cut open the eye of the old shock, then remove the cross bar, now use your press to press the cross bar into the new shock. It doesn't take long to do it once you get started.

The previous owner was an ****, he had the stock shocks on it still with a 3" lift, so the front shocks was fully extended and the back shocks was never hooked up because they was to short.

So that about covers the bases and the adventure continues. I can say it sure rides better with Gabrial Pro-Guards all the way around it.
Its also in the beginning stages of having a death wobble. I think its in the track bar and picked up a new one today.

Zackqb2

Looks good, nice work on the tcase

Caish

No joy,
I just changed the injectors again, its better but still a miss in there at part throttle.
I'm thinking that there is something going on with wiring or just partially plugged injector.

Second I think I'm going to have to pull the transfer case again. I heard a noise today that sounded like a gaulded bearing howl in first and second gear.
Guess its time to pull the transfer case from the parts XJ and tear it down and build one out of two, since the automatic uses 21 spline and standard shift is 23 spline.

Stay tuned more to come later.

snowboard3r411

Nice 2 door man how much did u pay for it??

Caish

Time for an update on the Money Pit.
Well it lives, thats a good thing.
I've been fighting a miss that didn't seem to make sense.
I was cleaning out the hatch, and found a new set of plug wires the previous owner left in it. (he was a liar I would not have paid $500 for it in hindsight) So I changed the plug wires and the old 4.0 livened up instantly. No more miss and runs like a new one now.
Picture coming up the drive, the Wife is happy she can drive it now.

...
For those keeping score, here is the tab so far.

• Bought a heep of a Jeep for $500, since I had a parts heep with 128k miles and good 4.0 in it, seemed like the thing to do.
  
• the engine in the Money Pit was in pieces and mostly missing.
  
• Pulled the engine from the 88 XJ parts jeep and installed it in the 87.
  
• Found out the transfer case was stuck in low range (broke fork) so pulled it back out and tore it down never seeing the internals of one before.
  
• Replaced exhaust gasket of the cat convertor, and do-nut gasket to cure leaks.
  
• 1/4 mile down the road from first starting it, water pump crapped out. So back to the shop and replace the water pump.
  
• Had a nagging miss and quit running, bingo, dead would not start. So after checking everything, I pulled the coil from 88 and tried it. Bingo it ran again, still missed but it was running. (note just because a coil has fire it may not be enough to fire a plug under pressure)
  
• I found some useful sites on the net for the XJ and that led to the choice of shocks, I changed all 4 and the trackbar. It had the makings of a death wobble just stating. So the Rear Shocks, Jeep Comanche Truck, front shocks from a Jeep Wrangler, both are Gabriel Pro-Guard. Ride is a little stiff but not terrible. The Previous owner was a jerk and thought the OEM shocks was just fine fully extended to the stop with a 3" lift.

Need to be done items.

• Visit the local salvage yard and get a new used passenger side window and some interior trim.
  
• Find a missing snap ring for the transfer case. The last one on the output shaft. I haven't ever taken one apart before and without a manual (I found one on the web last night) it was a guess that everything was there.
  
• I think its going to need new bushings in the front end soon. I'm going to go with polys.
  
• Pull the oil pan and replace the rear main seal, and appears to be minor oil leaks at the Valve cover and Distributor.

This is our second XJ, the Black above is DOA right now till I get the time and energy to tear it down and overhaul the engine. To much heat killed it when we loaned it to my mom. But thats another thread for later.

So I guess the tally is steep right now.
$1100 for the 95 and the 88.
$500 for the 87 (2 door)
$100 Shocks,
$40 Track bar,
$free parts transfer case friend gave me.
$??? New Belt.
$35 Water pump,
$??? U-Joint after brother-in-law screwed one up.
$Priceless the labor involved in resurrected a project like this can not be calculated, if you had a shop do it at $60 to $70 hour I would guess the labor to be $3000. much more than an old AMC Jeep is worth.

So theres the synapse and the story....
More to come later.

Caish

Just for fun.
Went to the end of the drive, there is a nice 3 foot bank beside the drive.
So lets see if this thing will articulate any.


Yea thats me in there.

Blame this one on my boy he was taking the pictures.

you can see my tracks off the right for articulation purposes, and I'm coming down the embankment. I just climbed up it like it wasn't there in 2wd.

This is how your XJ would look with a 36" lift in the REAR haha.

Stick your butt up in the air.

Caish

The wife and boys had to push start the money pit last night.
Turns out the Alternator took a dump. The light never came on though.
So add another $100 to the build tally.
I plan on ordering 4 new Treadwright mud recaps next month if all goes well.
The engine is running puuuurrrffffect, not a lifter tap anything except the slight oil leak from the rear main.
The only tick from the engine is a injector tick you can hear the injectors firing.
I got to add a fan shroud too.

DMAXX

Spam???^^^^