gogmorgo

:agree: :banana: :doh:

Yeah, definitely make sure you know where the sound's coming from before you start buying parts or pulling things too far apart. The mechanical fan on my MJ was hitting the shroud at one point and it didn't sound all that much like that, but you never know. It does sound a little bit like it might be a pulley or bearing. Maybe your starter gear isn't disengaging your flywheel somehow? A buddy and I spent almost a half hour trying to figure out where my sound was coming from at first, and neither of us were positive it was coming from the bellhousing. The stethoscope didn't help much in that. But it was very obvious where the sound was coming from when I started it up with the inspection cover off after I checked that the bolts were tight (I probably found the same forum posts and videos you did). That was when I started trying to find a crack, cause the bolts were all tight.

Auto tranny? It does sound pretty similar to the noise my MJ was making under similar conditions (i.e. at idle or when not under acceleration or deceleration loading), although mine was more of a clatter than a squeak, but it did occasionally make crunchy or grinding sounds. Turned out to be a cracked flexplate. If you can get ahold of a mechanic's stethoscope (~$5 at harbor freight) it could make finding the sound easier, although my flexplate never showed up with the stethoscope. For sure check the flexplate/tc bolts and inspect the flexplate itself. There are a bunch of write ups for it online, but it's just crawling underneath, unbolting the inspection cover (thin sheet metal on the lower portion of the bellhousing), and turning the engine over by hand (3/4" socket on the crank pulley bolt, only turn clockwise) until you've seen all four bolts. Check the flexplate for cracks, in particular around where it bolts to the crank. A bright light will help, as you might catch a reflection off the slightly raised edge of a hairline crack. That's honestly all I saw, and I wasn't even certain my flexplate was cracked until I pulled the tranny to change it... the crankshaft flange was hiding the crack which went all the way around the bolt circle and separated the plate into two pieces that were magically still somehow transmitting torque. Use a socket on the flexplate bolts to make sure they're tight, IIRC it's a 15mm. For what it's worth, my cracked flexplate came with all kinds of other intermittent running problems. Since the crank position sensor determines ignition timing by reading off the outer edge of the flexplate, and my flexplate had about 10 to 15° of rotational play between the inner and outer pieces (note it was broken, there's usually only one piece) and almost twice as much perpendicular to the rotation, my cps was having a hell of a time doing anything useful. The cracked flexplate lead to a bunch of no-starts and occasional stalling while underway.

IIRC from when I pulled my harness apart almost a year ago, the factory headlight wiring is 18 awg. But like Cruiser (and everyone else in this thread) said, the issue is the headlight switch, more specifically the connector to it. Whether it corrodes and builds resistance or if it's simply rated lower than the load it carries, I don't know, but it tends to get HOT. Mine caught fire... fortunately I noticed and put it out before it spread any further. This is not an issue that only hits a couple Jeeps, it affects nearly all of them. When it happened to me, I eventually had to buy an expensive new connector for my new headlight switch because every single one I found at several wrecking yards was at least partially melted. I suppose I could have just used female spade terminals, but that's a little too jank for my tastes. The headlight harness upgrade isn't just something that people do for extra light, although brighter lights is an added bonus. The harness upgrade is a supplemental harness that uses a pair of relays to unload the headlight switch, leaving the factory wiring in place only to trigger the relays. The popular Putco H4 harness I believe uses 14 awg wire to carry the headlight load, and I think it's rated for 100W, but do you own research as that's just what I remember coming across a couple times when the subject comes up. I made my own relay harness because I didn't want to wait for one to ship.

He's also got an overdrive unit. I may continue watching this season, but if it doesn't get better season two won't be happening for me. I was hoping for something more like TG USA's Alaska special. Too bad.

Awesome that the links in a post from 2006 are still functional. My experience is that link life expectancy is usually much less than 8 years.

Huh. Didn't block anything for me.

If you've got cruise control, there is a cable going to it. I can't remember where it plugs in. But yes, grab and pull.

Also worth noting, all oil leaks tend to look like a rear main seal leak on a 4.0, because the motor is canted back a bit, and all oil runs down and back. Valve covers and the oil filter/adapter are very common leaks that often look like a RMS leak.

Yeah it's a pain in the butt... it's obviously also not their intended way to do things. They probably don't want people using more of their bandwidth than they need to... isn't that what they make you pay for? I got the idea because I was curious as to what all was involved in "embedding" an image on a webpage as opposed to simply putting one there... Turns out all it is is some 20-some-year-old HTML that: a) links to source; b ) adds the image; c) redundantly specifies the existing image's dimensions; and the absolutely off-the-wall original, shoot everything out the ball park, ultimate example of coding prowess that is d) IT ADDS ALT TEXT!!! Here's a mop for that puddle of sarcasm.

If you go to the "share" section of the menu where the download link is, open up the embed code, and copy the URL for the image, it'll work. You also have the added advantage of picking a size from the drop down menu, and each size has a different URL that updates when you select a menu option. The URL you want is the "img scr=" one that ends in .jpg (or whatever the file format is... don't know if it'll do others or not.) Small: Medium: Large: X-Large: You also can get the original full-size image, but in this case it's obnoxiously large for a forum and I think I've made my point.

http://comancheclub.com/topic/44535-closed-to-open-cooling-diy/ It's been done. You'll also need an open system overflow bottle, but that's pointed out in the linked thread.

Yugo on steroids, that's an interesting way of putting it. Couple pics I took on Sunday after the first decent snowfall we had this year.

Just look down from the top. You should be able to see if the belt's rubbing on anything or if the HB is wobbling from there.

Same. They were sold domestically (in small numbers, 12000/year) in Canada until the late '90s. There aren't that many still around, but they have a small following of strange people like myself. I much prefer driving the MJ, though. But the Niva definitely attracts more attention than the Comanche as you don't see as many around, and it's not just another little old truck to everyone else. Just the other day, I spent five minutes trying to make a set of not-quite-as-universal-as-they-claimed wiper blades fit, and had three people come up and talk to me about it. Women in particular seem to like it. :teehee: :shake:

I've had good luck with my Gatorback on my '91. It squealed a bit at one point, but the issue was my harmonic balancer was coming apart, and pushed the belt against the timing cover. It cut itself a nice groove in the cover, but the belt was still good.

Yup, that's the way it works. The running joke was that eventually I'd have a brand new MJ, having replaced my entire truck, one part at a time... But the Lada I'm daily driving is much worse. LMAO *IF* it is a Torsen style diff, definitely keep it.

The MJ's 4x4 is designed to be used at any legal speed, just not on a high-traction surface. There shouldn't be any issues having it turned by the front wheels. Most Jeeps came with a central axle disconnect (CAD) in the front axle, which disconnected the passenger side wheel from the differential in 2wd, meaning the driveshaft wouldn't spin. This system proved problematic, and if the CAD didn't engage, then you didn't have 4x4. A common fix is to permanently engage the CAD, which results in the front driveshaft being turned by the wheels. I have yet to see anyone who had issues because their front driveshaft spins. It's a good idea to figure out exactly what kind of locker or limited slip differential you've got in there. Some of them require friction modifiers to be added to the gear oil. I don't know how much snow you get in the Netherlands, but if that's why you're wanting your 4x4 for the winter, this brings up another good reason for figuring out what you have in that differential. A front locker or even a severe limited slip differential can lead to serious understeer tendencies. There are those who say it's manageable, but generally it's not recommended to run a front locker in a daily driver if you'll be seeing snow. I don't have enough experience in this area to comment much beyond that. Figure out exactly what it is before you get rid of it. "Worm gears" makes it sound like possibly an Eaton/Detroit Truetrac, or possibly a more local (to you) Quaife ATB. If that's the case, I'd say leave it in.

All the MJ's I've seen in junk yards have had decent rear glass... There's a company out there that makes a four-pane slider, can't remember who it is, though. Google tells me Team Cherokee has it, though. I'm not the biggest fan, but if you must have new it's better than nothing.

The vacuum stuff slides a collar to connect two pieces of the front passenger side axle. This prevents the front driveshaft from turning in 2wd. It doesn't make much difference to anything much if it spins, though. Locking the collar over is a pretty simple task. See the link. http://comancheclub.com/topic/17377-cad-fix-1/ There's a lot of thread there that should answer most of your questions.

I've never really looked into thick cut gears. I know they've been used with success in other applications, but I'd be concerned with the strength of the carrier itself when increasing the ratio enough to make it practical. As far as cost for a custom carrier is concerned, machining a tiny one out of billet aluminum for a 500lb FSAE car that puts out 90hp at best (for the gears from the T1 out of the Audi Quattro center diff) took almost 36 hours of machine time. We were sponsored by the shop in question and only paid material cost. 36 hours at the shop's regular fees would be over $5000. Granted, the shop in question deals mostly with large industrial stuff (they have a lathe that can turn 17' long 62" diameter "bar stock"!), but that's still more machining than a differential is worth to me, especially when, as you point out, there are other ones already available that work almost as well. I suppose if you could get a custom casting that only needed machining for finishing, you could significantly reduce cost of production but it's still of questionable value in comparison to mass-produced differentials which are pretty well equivalent. But this is very quickly getting very off-topic. Oops.

If grounds don't work out, check the headlight switch. It's a known problem area. The load from the headlights is a bit much for it, and it gets a bit melty after a while at the connector. Mine caught fire. There's a current thread about an upgrade headlight harness that'll solve this issue. It's a good idea whether or not the headlight switch is causing problems.

RockAuto takes care of the duty and includes it in their shipping cost. Usually I find that after shipping they'll equal local part store prices, but the selection is better.

Three months shouldn't be bad, although that's just about the shelf life of ethanol-blended fuels. Wouldn't hurt to add some fuel stabilizer to the tank.

Putting the t-case in neutral may disconnect the axles from the transmission, but the drievshafts are still locked together. You likely won't be able to spin your wheels without all four off the ground.