gogmorgo

Tranny seals are good. Haven't lost any fluid since I bought the truck except a tiny bit I spilled when swapping the rad. You're just suggesting inspecting the rms, right? Thought you only needed to drop the oil pan to swap it. I know I've got an oil leak on the back of the engine, but I'm pretty sure it's the valve cover. I'll check out the rms though.

Don't know if it's available south of the 49th, but I've topped up r12 systems using r12a, which is a product manufactured by RedTek, adding it directly to whatever's still in the system. I've only used it with r12 systems, but RedTek says it can also be added directly to r134a systems as well. It's pretty cheap because it's basically just a can of propane. They also sell it mixed with compressor oil and leak dye. Don't recall ever coming across an r142 while searching for r12 alternatives.

Normal operation. The a/c runs in defrost mode. It's supposed to cycle. Even with the heat on?

So this is still in preliminary stages, and is planned for probably mid-December, which is likely the only time in the next five months I'll be able to park my MJ (my DD) for long enough to be able to do this. As far as I can tell it should only take a few hours, but I'd like a few days grace period in case something goes wrong. I've got a '91 4x4 aw4. All stock so far as I can tell. The reason I'm doing this is because my flexplate is pretty badly cracked. I'm wondering what else I should do/look at while I've got the tranny off, and making sure I know what I'm doing in advance. I've never dropped a transmission myself, so I just want to make sure I don't mess something up or miss an opportunity. Forgive me if this is all readily available info. I've managed to find a lot of it, just want to confirm everything. So the procedure for dropping the tranny, as I understand it: 1: Put MJ on jackstands, support tranny with tranny jack. 2: Remove front and rear driveshafts 3: Unhook tranny cooler lines, shift linkages for tranny and transfer case 4. Remove bellhousing inspection plate and unbolt flexplate from torque converter 5. Unbolt bellhousing to engine bolts (top ones first) and tranny mount bolts 6. Move tranny back and down with tranny jack. 7. Installation is reverse of removal 8. Top up all fluids Does that seem right? Also, while I've got everything off, I was thinking of: 1. Cleaning up the NSS, cause it's been a little funky, as per http://jeepin.com/features/nss 2. Replacing the driveshaft u-joints while the driveshafts are out. I've got access to a press. I'm looking at getting Spicer/Dana 5153X, I think I saw them recommended on here a while back. I can use them at all four five points (2x for rear and 3x for front), right? 3. New tranny mount 4. A buddy says I should also do a good flush to the transfer case. I changed the oil back in February, and it was pretty dirty, as though it hadn't been done in a long time/ever, but otherwise seemed okay. Anything else I should think of? Also, what are relevant torque specs?

You can get doors to cut up from a 4-door XJ at a junk yard. After cutting them and building them into something useful that won't cut you, you'll likely need to touch up paint anyhow.

When I put my door panels back on once, they were weird at the top so I pulled them back off and noticed that I forgot to clip them back into the thing at the bottom of the window. Could that be your problem?

How did you come across this pic? The fact that it's got a watermark from a Chinese image hosting site gives me a funny feeling about it...

No worries. Most Canadians aren't even aware of it.

Sounds like there might be a class-action lawsuit in the making then. I know a metalurgical expert who has a thriving consultancy providing expert testimony for such cases (like high-rise crane failure, and the Mississippi River Bridge collapse in Minnesota). If there are any interested parties here who can provide failed parking brake parts and evidence of the consequences of failure, let me know and I could see if he is interested. You want evidence of consequence of failure? http://comancheclub.com/topic/40785-comanche-coulda-killed-me-some-pics-not-for-the-weak-stomach/ My parking brake also doesn't work. But haven't looked at it to see what's wrong with it, as I've got an automatic and "park" still works.

That's a decent amount of work pulling a tack bar out of another vehicle in questionable condition at a yard when the most expensive stock replacement off RockAuto costs $70. They've got a Moog for $42. And if you do any serious offroading, now would be a good time to upgrade to something beefier.

Judging by the stack of inspection sheets in the glovebox, this truck's seen a long line of idiots. And judging from stuff that was flagged during the inspections and stuff I've seen on the truck itself, they've just been dumping the problems on the next guy. And I'm almost happy I don't know these people, and I've made a point to not remember the names on the sheets, because I don't relish the though of 25 to life if I met them. This is the first vehicle I've owned, and suffice it to say that the experience has been very educational... and a lot of it in how not to do things. But in all honesty, there's no reason why the current owner is an exception to that list of idiots. There are lots of issues of varying degrees of severity that I have yet to deal with, and some things that were rednecked to get me home off the side of the road and never properly sorted out. But the way things are working out with the MJ, the next owner will be inheriting it. :) For all that's wrong with it, it's never really completely and utterly failed me, even that one time when the engine made an incredibly valiant bid for freedom, it still climbed what passes for a mountain back home under its own power to get itself to a shop.

Not really my issue. I'm at stock height with stock links.My sway bar is bowed outwards, pushing the ends back. Looks like it was used as a tow point.

I disagree. Assuming it's done safely, donuts and the like aren't a bad way to learn to deal with skids.

arb= anti-roll bar, aka sway bar. I guess you could say it's the end link, but it's the eye of the sway bar hitting.Also, redwolf, I had to lift the body 3-4" to make them touch.

I also have a very similar issue. I've tracked it down to several things: First, my trackbar mount is moving around despite being as tight as I can get them. That's a half-inch ratchet with a 14-inch handle with a good portion of my weight hanging off it, or else me pushing upwards against it so hard with the truck on the ground that it lifted an inch or so . Couldn't get a breaker bar in there. I know it's moving around because I can feel it in the floorboards and there are wear marks around the bolt heads. Second, my steering box bolts were loose, to the point where I could move the box back and forth a couple mm with my hands. After tightening them, some of my popping sounds went away. Since then, however, I occasionally hear a grinding sound when I turn the steering wheel, likely due to excessive wear from the bolts being loose. Third: ever since I bought the truck (and the PO pointed it out when we were test driving, and said a mechanic couldn't reproduce it) there's been a dull clunk if I hit a hard bump. I recently discovered that the arb is contacting the passenger-side coil spring on extension. I noticed this when I was underneath trying to tighten the track bar bolts. It looks like a PO used the arb as a recovery point at some point and it's bent pretty bad. All of this would have been rectified if I wasn't a full-time student, and don't have the budget to pay someone else to do it or the time to do it myself. Also, I depend on my MJ to get me ten miles to school and back every day, so can't really afford to have it out of commission.

Make sure those wires aren't contacting the exhaust manifold which is also right under the intake. If they do, the exhaust heat will melt the insulation and they'll short out.

Check your thermostat. I've never has an issue with my MJ not warming up properly. One thing my Dad's done with some of his vehicles is to put cardboard or something similar behind the grill. I've also seen commercial products where there's padded canvas that snaps onto the grill. A quick google turned up a Fia winter grill cover that will fit an XJ. There may be others.

Call me whatever you like, but I've always kinda liked the Pacer...

My experience is that fiberglass doesn't really get all that much more brittle when it's cold. And by cold, I mean below -40.

Banks just unveiled this at SEMA: http://www.fourwheeler.com/news/banks-4x4-diesel-powertrain-conversion-package/ Looks pretty good, but probably costs more than what most of us paid for our trucks.

http://www.petro-canada.ca/en/wholesalefuel/318.aspx Not so much an "emissions" thing up here. Mostly it's billed as having de-icers, although the difference in evap rates is mentioned, although more in the sense that winter fuel atomizes more readily in cold air. Is it a lie? Don't know. The science behind it holds up, at least. The reason I don't much care for it is that de-icers aren't always so great on the plastic and rubber bits in your fuel system. The biggest lie with ethanol is that it takes more energy to produce it than we can get out of it when you make it out of corn the way we do in North America. In markets where it's mostly sugar-cane based, then it actually works out a bit better.

I don't know if I really buy into the winter fuel thing. Diesel, yeah, it prevents gelling, but with gas I think it just has line anti-freeze in it, or some kind of water remover.

Yeah, I've got a pair of horns I pulled off an 86 mj this summer. Just not sure where I put them, or if I even brought them with me when I came back for school. I'll have to do some digging if I get home at a decent time tonight.

Well, it's back together and working, and I'm pretty sure I didn't leave out any parts this time. I definitely enjoyed the sound of my horn echoing through the emptyish parking lot at 2am, although probably there are a few people who hate me now... it's just the stock single tone horn, but she's loud enough. I also nearly cried every time my turn signal cancelled itself on the drive home because I was so happy, although I may have simply been a little short on sleep. But that's the thing that bugged me the most since I bought the truck, the turn signals that didn't cancel...

Found this ad. Mostly I want to collect this... it's not fast cause it's ridiculously heavy, it's got a bunch of complex systems that aren't always reliable, and it's not exactly the best put together, but it's a pretty cool piece of Canadian automotive history. Really wishing I had 25 large to drop on this... http://saskatoon.kijiji.ca/c-cars-vehicles-classic-cars-1975-Bricklin-SV-1-Coupe-W0QQAdIdZ532383028