gogmorgo

If you google the Dorman number I see a few places still claiming to have them. You might get lucky on finding replacement o-rings, although for many of us the leak is due to corrosion in the fitting. I'm not sure if the 800-750 RockAuto has listed with the oil cooler line fittings works for the trans connector as well or if it's only for the cooler end of the line. You can always contact Dorman, see if it's permanently discontinued or just a temporary supply concern.

Get one that's like a big shallow wide bucket. No lids. Tip the old oil into a pail or the empty oil jug to transport to it's final resting place, something that will actually seal. I've tried a bunch of the self-containing kind with lids and they all turn into an environmental disaster after not many uses. I particularly hate the kind with a funnel built into the side, firstly because the funnel is always too shallow to contain the splash, but also because that tiny hole eats drain plugs, and sometimes they'll lodge in it and plug it up, then the draining oil overflows the pan. I also can't say I've had the best luck with metal drain pans either. Unless they're stamped from a single piece they always leak from the seams. I think this is my favourite, although it's definitely not cheap and I honestly don't know why it costs as much as it does. I mostly just like the little spout that makes for easy emptying, but the minimal topography inside makes it easy to wipe out if need be. The long handle is nice for dragging out from under things without having to reach so far underneath. https://www.napacanada.com/en/p/BTE8218033

If the trailer had typical 7-pole RV wiring, you do have a generally unused auxiliary wire that would work for purpose. But if you were to ever plug into a vehicle set up with the potential for reverse lights in the aux spot (not uncommon) then it would come on in reverse… likely not the end of the world, but I’m not always thrilled about non-standard lighting patterns. Especially late at night, people tend to tunnel vision at a thing that’s blinking in a strange way in the dark, and often it won’t occur to them not to drive into it before they’ve figured out what’s going on. But response to a standard lighting pattern is usually more automatic when people don’t need to think about it.

Well I guess in that case if it doesn't drive weird, it's maybe not even worth worrying about?

If all you’re doing is trying to find something that’ll rock the axle backward to achieve more positive caster it doesn’t really matter where you measure. So long as it’s consistent between measurements. You just want to know what you’re doing will have a positive effect on it. So if you stick it somewhere and measure 20°, then make your test adjustment and it’s sitting at 15° you know you’re going in the wrong direction. How did the upper control arm tabs on the axle feel when you did the bushings? I don’t know what they’re like on the 2wd but they’ve got a reputation for flimsiness on the non-cad d30. If they’re bent or twisted that will affect things. Also on a similar note, did you you torque the control arm bolts at ride height? If you didn’t they can twist things when they move back down to standard position. Standard practise is to leave everything loose until you get it back on the ground and then give it some bounces or go for a rip around the parking lot to settle the suspension, and then torque it all down. If you didn’t do that it might be good to back the nuts off a turn or two and get them settled before retorquing. Even though you’re 2wd you’re still in the ballpark for 4x4 ride height. Looks like newer coil springs in there. There were a couple dozen factory coil options with different heights and spring rates depending on how the truck was equipped and the aftermarket replacements don’t give you many options there, just kinda go for a couple sizes that average everything out. Unless there’s different geometry on the 2wd axle to account for it I can’t imagine the range of caster adjustment wouldn’t account for the ride height difference, but I guess you can try tossing some weight on the front end somehow to push it down and see if that does anything.

I like it better up top for sure. How do you plan to wire it? If you just tie in to the tail light it’ll blink with the turn signal. I’ve seen a handful of canopies where that was done and it’s not ideal.

Arguably that's what regular fuses do too. When they overheat they disconnect the circuit.

I'd have to ASSume the Firestone shop he took it to has an alignment rack for measuring everything.

As a rule you don't set a fuse at barely above normal condition, and 7°C isn't that much of a jump, especially considering that's still well over the boiling point of water. I'd be more concerned about exceeding the designed fuse temp and going with the 157.

Out of curiosity, can anyone confirm that any of these options will contain the entirety of a gallon jug of washer fluid when they run out? One of my biggest peeves about my MJ is that I always am left with an inch or so of fluid in the bottom of the jug after refilling.

The question comes up semi often, seems to only affect iPhone users. Something about the way the iOS camera app encodes the orientation on landscape photos. This isn’t the only place I’ve encountered oddly upside down pictures that my phone doesn’t think are upside down, and I haven’t figured out if it makes a difference whether I take a landscape photo with my phone rotated left or right. All I know is it seems like it’s 50/50 whether a photo does it or not, and if I upload a bunch of landscape photos, roughly half of them end up upside down. When it does happen usually I just pull up the photo in question on my phone or computer, whatever I’m trying to upload from, hit “edit”, rotate it 90° four times so it goes in a full circle, save it, and reupload the photo and it’s magically fixed. In previous editors it’s recognized that four 90° rotations doesn’t change the photo at all and pretends I haven’t done anything to it, so in that case I have to do it in two steps, rotate partway, save and close and reopen, rotate the rest of the way and save again. Then reupload.

Changes in ride height front or rear will affect caster angle because the whole truck tilts forwards or backwards relative to the road. It’s worth at least checking where your truck is sitting. I can’t riddle out in my head how suspension squat will affect your caster angle, too much geometry to keep track of. But if you’re not sitting level compared to factory ride heights it might be worth your time to use a jack to bring the body back to level and see where that gets you. You don’t need fancy alignment equipment, just use an angle finder or even your phone on a flat surface on the front axle to measure before and after to see if it’s moving in the right direction. The only other thing would be physical damage to a component. Something bent, probably from a collision. Hard to believe it would be the same on both sides, however. Improper tire pressure could affect things as well or worn ball joints with play in them, or different sized tires, but the alignment guys should’ve checked all that.

How are you checking for voltage? Voltmeters can trick you. They detect voltage with a tiny amount of current that might make it through a poor connection at the fuse, but that isn’t enough to push its way through resistance in the rest of the circuit. Using a test device like a test light that loads the circuit even just a little is usually enough to prevent tricky readings like this.

A standard relay is just a switch between terminals 30 and 87 that closes when you put power through pins 85 and 86. Polarity going through it generally doesn’t matter on either load or switch circuits. But if having the load on the “wrong” side of the relay means the rest of the relay is also wired incorrectly, it’s likely enough the switch and load circuits have been crossed around as well I suppose.

Did you change the upper control arm bushings in the axle?

Sparks happen when a hard material strikes another hard material with enough force to dislodge a chip and enough energy to heat it up. The ring isn’t particularly hard, it’s very unlikely to generate a spark. Your punch or screwdriver or whatever you’re using will be firmly planted against the ring, it’s not going to spark against the ring. If you have to hit the back of your punch with a hammer hard enough to create a spark you’re doing something wrong. But a plastic screwdriver handle isn’t going to spark.

The pinstripes going across the door panel gaps is a little odd. I wonder about a little “in memorium” or something, “may he rest in peace” attached to his name. Or a birth year to 2024? Just something to acknowledge his passing.

The 2wd trucks continued using the older style brakes for a while after the 4x4’s transitioned. My ‘91 2wd does at least. I couldn’t say for sure how late they used them but I’ve seen references to the ‘92 2wd using the older brakes as well. I also would have no issues with jamming an outer stub shaft into the 4x4 wheel bearing and running like that. Trim the yoke ears off if you want. You may not even need to have a stub shaft in there at all, other unit bearings on other vehicles don’t, but probably better to be safe than sorry.

In most cases you should be able to install shocks at ride height. Gas shocks charged to a high pressure might be difficult to compress by hand, but in most cases the shocks come with a plastic strap holding them compressed, so put one end of the shock onto its mount, snip the plastic strap, and as the shock expands shove the other end on right when it gets to the right length. And if you miss usually it’s not too difficult to push the shock back in to get it to fit, you might just need to find the right angle to push on it. I’m also curious about the decision to go straight to a nut splitter. I’d go for heat myself, expand the nut.

Diffs run hotter than you’d expect. The gears are a sliding contact. Lower gears do more work and run hotter as a result. If the oil hasn’t been changed recently it might be prudent to do so. But if it’s not making noise and the pinion isn’t flopping around I wouldn’t be too concerned about it so long as you can touch it without feeling like you’ll leave fingerprints behind. Being barely able to hang onto something for five seconds is OSHA’s “safe to touch” test, standardized to 140°F. That’s not a concerning temperature for a diff at all. 200°F is kinda ballpark normal. You’d want to check the spec sheet on the oil you’re running but most should be fine up to 250°F.

Theoretically 31’s fit on an otherwise stock truck, but there are some factors that affect that. I had 265/70R16 on my longbed all winter and had minor rubbing on lower control arms and fender liners up front and I’d hear a bit of rubbing in the back while going over bumps, but at 550,000km on original springs it’s not sitting at original height any more. A 2” budget boost would probably be enough for you. The JL wheels will poke out a little further before considering the adapter, so control arm rub is going to be less as well, but they might get a little further into the fenders.

If you jump the pressure switch and the clutch kicks on, that tells you everything else in the system is working but either the system pressure is too low or the switch has failed. Or I guess just unplug it if it’s a normally open switch, I don’t remember off the top of my head which way it goes. You can’t really get a good low-side pressure reading if the compressor isn’t running. But assuming everything else is working if you have a “good enough” charge with the compressor off it should run the compressor for a few seconds, pull a vacuum on the low side, and kick the compressor back off until the pressure bleeds back around and keep cycling like that. If the service valve is all the way open it blocks off the Schroeder valve and you won’t be filling anything more than just the fill port. That square bit here: Should be a 1/4” square, you might get it with the open end of a wrench, or a square socket, or like I did a couple weeks ago, a screwdriver bit holder for a 1/4” ratchet with an Allen bit and a matching 1/4” drive hex socket sitting backward on it in some hectic docking action 👉👈. Give it a turn or two in the clockwise direction to start filling the system. Leaky Schroeder valves are VERY common and while you’re not “supposed” to backseat the valve in operation, not doing it almost guarantees you’ll lose your charge in short order (even if you change the Schroeder valve every time you touch it like you’re “supposed” to do) , so you’ll typically need to crack the valve to fill the system. Make sure you spin it back closed (counter-clockwise) before pulling your can off the Schroeder valve.

Two more spotted while I was out in BC. One with a decent lift/tire combo just south of Nelson, looked like maybe a faded green rattle can paint job. The other I think in Castlegar, mostly stock, blue. The BC Interior is good for spotting old 4x4’s. Good for driving them too! Also passed a black one parked at a hotel in Swift Current SK last night. Halfway through the year and I’ve spotted a half dozen so far. Can’t complain about that.

Is it coming out the cap or puking out the overflow port? The later radiator with the cap is intended to push fluid out into an overflow reservoir when it gets up to pressure. This is the “open” cooling system. When you shut the engine off and it cools off, the coolant shrinks and gets pulled back in from the overflow. The original “closed” cooling system is sealed and only releases pressure if it exceeds the reservoir cap pressure, which it should not do under normal operating conditions. I don’t remember off the top of my head what the original closed cap pressure is, but the Volvo cap Cruiser (RIP) recommended was around 22psi IIRC. You’ll keep blowing coolant out the radiator cap overflow unless you have a cap higher than that or block off the overflow port a little more solidly.