mjeff87

X 10,000 on the eye protection. I've been twice now (once was the ER and once to the family doc) to have my eye numbed and junk plucked out....not fun. Was pulling a tranny by myself in the junkyard a couple years ago and I misjudged it a bit. I was holding the rear of it with my right hand underneath and the input shaft dropped out of the clutch housing, thank God it was a manual not an auto, and slammed to the ground with my hand underneath. Didn't hurt a bit for over a minute, and I had gloves on and thought I chopped my middle finger clean off. I was afraid to pull the glove off, then it finally started to hurt....bad. Unbelievably, all I had was soft-tissue injury. Then there was the time back when I was in the Army and was changing a starter out on a 2.5T. Welded the wrench clean to the framerail.....and just about $#!& my pants. No injuries but a shower of sparks worthy of any 4th of July celebration. There's a reason you disconnect the battery when pulling a starter. Jeff

The big brown truck paid me a visit today after work……got my carrier and Powertrax :D Image Not Found I’ll add it to the 4.56’s…. Image Not Found And toss on the new brake assemblies…. Image Not Found I’m a happy boy! Jeff

Spent the better part of Saturday morning showing the axle some love. I gutted it…. Image Not Found And used some rags on a piece of all-thread held with a couple nuts and fender washers to clean the inside of the axletubes: Image Not Found Then cleaned the housing with a bunch of brake cleaner and compressed air: Image Not Found Here’s a shot of the ring and pinion tooth count stamped in the ring gear. All dana axles are stamped like this, so you can figure out the ratio if the tag is missing: Image Not Found Then I broke out the angle grinder….used a cup brush and a nifty 3M abrasive pad to strip the tubes and housing. Had to use a wire brush in some spots: Image Not Found Image Not Found Cleaned the whole thing down with brake cleaner and air, let it dry, then shot it with primer: Image Not Found Image Not Found Put a finish coat on the cover, too. That’s the way it’s gonna stay for now, until I get it regeared, then I’ll put a gloss finish coat on the whole thing. Jeff

damn newbies....... :D (I really don't have a clue, Rick) Jeff

passenger side of the block

FWIW, my Ford Escort does the same thing when the oil gets about 2500 miles old on a cold start in the morning (and is a gentle reminder for me to change it at 3K ;) ). On it, I know it's the lifters, but without hearing yours I couln't offer a diagnosis, only a possible cause. Jeff

It's fer da cruise control, I believe.... Jeff

I can't speak to the aftermarket, but the factory skid is pretty tough (and inexpensive). XJ skid bolts right in, but you have to add a nutsert in the framerail (hole is already there for it), and either add a couple 'certs in the crossmember or get a crossmember with them already installed. There are two different skids, one for the 231 and one for the 242.....they're basically the same and mount the same way, but the 242 skid hangs down a bit lower than the 231. Jeff

And if you notice on the side of the tranny tunnel on the driverside, there are four dimples in it....that's where the bolts that hold the shift bracket that's underneath go. All you have to do is drill them out and hang the bracket. No guesswork/measurement involved whatsoever Jeff

Thanks Nate, but I don't think it's a sending unit problem. Unhooked the wire and keyed it, and the gauge only drops to about 150 degrees. I think I just pushed the needle a bit too far when I was cleaning it. I'm gonna pull the bezel off again and "persuade" the needle a bit. Jeff

^^^nice^^^ :cheers: Jeff

You da man Sean......I just went out and looked again, and there was the wire, buried inside the split loom with all the other light wiring harness. I remember it was hanging down when I pulled the bumper to relocate the vac canister, and I stuffed it into the loom to get it out of the way (doh!) Not sure now why that scematic shows the 2.5 wiring as a jumper wire, but oh well, I got what I needed!

OK....picked up a second horn at the 'yard yesterday, and hooked it to the same wire you had there Sean. Problem is, that wire on my MJ is 12V constant hot.......scared the bajezus out of me as soon as I touched the bracket to ground :oops: So I scrapped that idea and looked all around the passenger side where a second wire would logically be and couldn't find one. Can anyone help me find it? I suppose I could just run a jumper wire off the first horn to it and mount them in tandem on the driver side, but if the factory wire is there I'd like to use it..... Jeff edit: looking at that schematic, to my electronically-challenged brain, it looks like 4.0L's got the two seperate wires and the 2.5's only had a single wire to the driverside horn, with a jumper wire off it to the other one. Think I answered my own question, but can anyone verify that?

Well, I'm finally getting around to getting the D44 under the MJ. Drug it out of the backyard yesterday and started stripping it down. When I'm done and ready to install, it'll have new 4.56's with Powertrax (got the gears, carrier and locker are en route), new axle bearings/seals, brake lines, and complete brake assemblies. I might go SOA, just haven't made up my mind quite yet. Here's what I'm starting with....an old MJ D44, 3.07 (open): Image Not Found Image Not Found Image Not Found Image Not Found Image Not Found To be continued.... Jeff

Ford Escort/Mercury Tracer, 1.9L.....just make sure you don't overheat it. They have issues with valve seats dropping, especially #4 (nearest the thermostat). My '94 just turned 180K, and it still pulls down about 40 mpg. On the 2.5 MJ, mine used to get low to mid 20's back when it was 2WD with 205/15 tires and 4.10. Pretty decent, but no fun. Now, with 4WD, 31's and 4.56's, I'm netting about 15 mpg, but I don't drive it nearly as much as I used to, so it isn't too bad. Jeff

Spent early Saturday morning trying to get an old dead tree stump out of the ground in front of my house. After screwing around for three hours with shovels, chainsaw, hatchet, crowbar, and bow saw, I got a bright idea and put the MJ into service ;) . Hooked the strap onto the rootball and let all the dead weight of the MJ pull on it (my yard slopes downward there)…..and it didn’t budge. Took about 20 good yanks, but it finally pulled free. Even though I have to make stronger frame tie-in plates for it, I’m a little more comfortable with the bumper’s ability now. Image Not Found Image Not Found Image Not Found

Mmmmkay....mighta found the problem. I ohmed the sending wire out straight to the neg terminal on the battery and got about 91 ohms (key off).

Thanks Don :waving:

That's very possible, too. The parts guy had two listings for the sender, and the note in the book said "compare to original" He pulled both and we eyeballed them, comparing them to the idiot light sender I had originally and the gauge sender I got from the 'yard, and none of them were the same length so I took the one closest to the idiot light sender. Thanks for the offer on the gauge, though :cheers: Jeff

LOL Jerry....but that is a new sensor.....$26 friggin' dollars worth. I pulled the idiot light sender and replaced it with a junkyard gauge sender first, then sprung for a new one (which read worse than the junkyard one).

No, but I was starting to think that.... I put the heat gun on it this morning after a 30 min drive into the office. Upper radiator temp is about 180-185, and the head right where the sensor screws in is running 195-200. I tried to get a reading on the lower rad hose but couldn't get an accurate one. Lots of spinny things in the way and I have good clothes on :D Think I'll put the old sensor back in, and maybe try to "adjust" the needle on the gauge. Jeff

Like CW, I usually remove the washer resivoir to gain access. Either that or use a crow's foot wrench (if you have one). Jeff

This is where it read with the sensor from the junkyard. I just shut it off right before I took that pic (not too shabby oil pressure for a 180K 2.5L, eh?) With the brand spankin' new sensor it floates up about 1/2 way into the red (actually made it worse). I guess the sweep right is normal, then? I've got the heat gun...gonna get a real read tonite after work. Jeff Image Not Found

When mine sweeps right, it goes way right, like to about the 3 o'clock position :cry:

One tiny problem with the full gauge cluster I swapped in last week....the temp gauge is reading too high, like 260 degrees when fully warmed up. All other gauges work fine, BTW. I pulled the cluster from a 90 MJ (non-HO so the wiring has the same polarity), 4.0L, and grabbed both the oil and temp sending units and swapped them onto my 2.5L. With the 4.0 sensor, the gauge read from 160 to 240, so I ponied up and bought a new sending unit and put it in yesterday. Now it reads 180 to 260 (almost pegged).... Also, when starting up, the needle pegs waaaayy past 260 while cranking, then drops back to 180-ish when it starts. By comparison, the OP gauge zeros itself with key-on, then springs right up to 60-65 psi when started and running. I did pull the plastic bezel off the cluster and cleaned all the gauge faces carefully when I got it....I'm thinking I may have futzed the needle on the temp gauge accidentally. I've got a heat gun here at work to borow tonight and see what the actual temp really is when hot, then maybe pull the bezel off and push the needle a bit to match. For those of you with gauges, what does your temp gauge do when you hit the key, sweep far right, far left, or not move at all? Jeff edit: you can watch and see when the tstat opens, so I know everything's working like it's supposed to. Just seems like the gauge is registering about 40-60 degrees too high.