xaza's 94 XJ Build

[xaza]

Checked dipstick and inside oil fill plug and can't see any coolant. Thanks guys, yeah I pulled out old motor to find freeze plug locations. Due to where leaking is I figure it to be the one on passenger side just out of sight from access panel. Trying to drop tranny now hopefully I don't screw up too bad. Those of you that know us, know my brother is the brains of the group, I'm just the motivator. Anybody that wants to help, I'll accept offer and grill up lunch.

[Hypoid]

I'd want to verify there are no leaks from the HVAC area, first.

[xaza]

lol, once again I am an idiot. Pulled tranny and transfer case and freeze plugs are dry as a bone. Turns out water pump was leaking. Rear main is leaking though and now we can access and change it. Went ahead and changed tranny filter and emptied torque converter to get a thorough flush. Fluid was a little burned up and due to be changed. Got water pump changed out, replaced O2 sensor and oil pressure sending unit. Going to change oil pan gasket and should have a nice dry truck when we are done. All thanks to my brother, since I worked 10+ hours again yesterday I wasn't much help. Hooray for me, truck getting fixed and today is my last day at current job. Turn in my van and do my paperwork tomorrow and then I am on a mini vacation.

[xaza]

Finally got around to some more tinkering yesterday. Got rear main done and oil pan back on. Found the seal on the tranny input shaft leaking. I believe my brother said it was on the block side. Anyone know how difficult it is to replace that seal? Are there any specialty tools I need? Get this done and I should have a leak free Jeep and can get transmission and transfer case back in and make a run this weekend before I start my new job on Monday. If time allows I might get transmission cooler in too, although it won't have it's own fan...yet

[xaza]

OK brother just got home and I was wrong. It is the transmission side seal to input shaft that needs replaced. Looks to be pressed in. Anybody know the best way to get old one out and new one in?

[xaza]

Actually ended up being very easy to remove seal and tap new one in. Got transmission and transfer case back in except for one bolt that got misplaced for tranny, with daylight will likely find it right where we thought it was. Sorry no pics because we were in the dark by the time we got started.

[xaza]

Got things mostly back together today. Replaced oil pressure sending unit since it was leaking. Also replaced the O2 sensor that got ripped out of the plug...oops. While finishing up the tranny install came across a new project. Passenger floor board has a rust spot that has been overlooked and managed to get all the way through. Could see plastic undercoating to carpet from under truck. The hole is only the size of my finger but the damage is likely worse once we get in there to clean it up. Sprayed the bottom with some hammered to slow things down until we can get around to this project. Have been wanting to remove carpet and coat inside and out of bottom with Raptor Liner, looks like it is moving toward needing it. Checked over rest of floor pan and sprayed down all other rusty spots. Not very many and the rest were just surface rust so fortunately we just have the one patch. May be needing some help with the welding the one patch though. Was wondering about the underside, should I remove factory coating or just clean it good and paint over it?

[xaza]

Got things mostly back together today. Replaced oil pressure sending unit since it was leaking. Also replaced the O2 sensor that got ripped out of the plug...oops. While finishing up the tranny install came across a new project. Passenger floor board has a rust spot that has been overlooked and managed to get all the way through. Could see plastic undercoating to carpet from under truck. The hole is only the size of my finger but the damage is likely worse once we get in there to clean it up. Sprayed the bottom with some hammered to slow things down until we can get around to this project. Have been wanting to remove carpet and coat inside and out of bottom with Raptor Liner, looks like it is moving toward needing it. Checked over rest of floor pan and sprayed down all other rusty spots. Not very many and the rest were just surface rust so fortunately we just have the one patch. May be needing some help with the welding the one patch though. Was wondering about the underside, should I remove factory coating or just clean it good and paint over it?

[xaza]

Ended up getting around to disk brake conversion today. Of course got called in to work and missed some of install. Had to remove drum brakes and then pull axles. The Dana 44 is a non C clip axle so we had to press off/replace the bearings and seals to slide on spacer which shifts axle out to make it line up for disk brakes. The four axle retaining bolts needed to be tapped out for the longer ones that came with the kit. The disk brake backing plate then had to be installed and axles back in. Put rotors on and installed calipers. Whole job was done in a day by Wylie mostly by himself. E brake lines got replaced and are a bit long but we were able to route them to work. The steel lines will need to be replaced with some shorter ones but are routed to work for now.

[ctracy5]

Looks great, I would expect a pretty big change in how the truck brakes.

[The StRanger]

Nice

[Popsgarage]

How'd the shakedown run go????? Notice any difference????? E-brake any better/worse, stopping distance better?????

[xaza]

Haven't taken it out yet, will post up the difference when I do. Still have to replace tail light to make it legal again. E- brake doesn't hold as well as I was hoping but might be able to adjust it. It is holding better than old e brake though.

[ctracy5]

The one on my miata is pretty loose, which make me nervous being a stick so I always leave it in gear when parked to help out the brake.

[xaza]

Took the truck out and tested it out. The e brake is holding a lot better than I thought. It is able to stop the truck even when engaging in motion on a downhill. Also had the pleasure of driving on the slick roads from last snow storm with it. The disk brakes are a big difference. Truck stops much straighter and especially does better braking into a corner. Feels like more weight is being kept on rear tires and not as much of a dip in the front under braking.

[Popsgarage]

Good to here it's working for ya!!!!!!!!!

[xaza]

Wylie got started on new lift yesterday while I was at work. As expected we came across some issues. Both leaf spring bolts had the weld nut break loose on them. One didn't break until bolt was out and trying to put in new spring. The other side not so lucky, leaf spring still in place. We cut the bracket to access the nut, will take pictures with daylight. We made the hole just big enough to squeeze a wrench in to hold the nut. Even with liberal amounts of wd40 and the impact were unable to get loose. We will try again here shortly and if that fails we will drill, freeze and split the nut. We took some measurements to the rock sliders which is not exact from side to side (especially after bending up passenger side) The reason these springs are going in was truck was sagging on driver side and while not perfect the measurements reflect that. Drivers side - front 19.5", back 20 1/16. Passenger - front 20 5/16, back 20 15/16. Driver 26 5/8 fender to center of hub for rear, passenger 26 13/16. We forgot to measure that in the front. Will be needing an alignment after lift is in so we will change out a bad tie rod end and install a new steering gear box. I intend to upgrade steering eventually but for now am replacing with stock. Pretty funny, can kick old leaf spring while laying on ground gently enough to not move it and the other end bounces for about a minute...booooinnnggggggg

[Hypoid]

WD-40 is a crappy penetrant.

I like PBlaster, I know of an old timer who likes a 50/50 mix of ATF and Acetone.

Good luck!

[88Toy]

Hypoid previously posted:

[Popsgarage]

88Toy previously posted: