mjeff87

I've got 174K on mine and still going strong. I did just replace the timing chain last weekend (see thread in the Projects section if you're interested) because the chain tensioner was worn out. Ignition timing is non-adjustable, so I don't think that would be the cause, but I suppose if the timing chain was too worn out the valve timing could be affected (late). I can say I really feel the difference with the new chain on the butt dyno :D Maybe a bad case of preignition :dunno: Jeff

That end is a tapered fit, and once you get it lined up it probably won't slide completely thru the braket hole (if it's not damaged). If you can get it thru enough to get a new nut on the threads you can pull it the rest of the way by tightening the nut....but it's in an akward place to work. What I've done before is to line it up then use a bottle jack under it to press it in. One time the tolerance was so tight I actually lifted the front end off the ground with the jack and it still wouldn't press thru :eek: I very carefully tapped the bracket with a small peening hammer a few times, and it popped thru. Fun stuff.... Jeff

My MJ is not a good conversation topic with my wife.... Jeff

I did the mod to mine back when I converted it, but I used washers to shim the fork over and left the c-clips in their original positions. It works great but was a pain to keep taking it back apart and adding/sutracting washers until I came up with the correct amount of them. More recently, when I helped Chuck get his new YJ on the road, I modded his CAD like you did, just by moving that one little clip....took about 2 minutes :cheers: Both times I didn't have my camera, and wanted to take pics. You're writeup is great, and I'm glad you did it. It's kinda difficult to describe exactly what you need to do in words, while a couple pics tell the whole story quite easily. Jeff

All I do is turn the thing on, point it, and click.....I get what I get :D I'm also a weather nut, and like to get neat pics of weather related stuff when I can. We had an unusually strong cold front pass over us last summer on afternoon....it was so strong you could literally see the leading edge of it. I quick grabbed the camera (it was moving around 50-60 mph) and snapped some pics before all living hell broke loose. My wife was screaming for me to get inside the house, heh. These pics were around 3:00 in the afternoon, right as it passed over my house. There's some more here if you want to see them: Image Not Found Image Not Found Image Not Found

I ditched the prop valve a couple years ago. Funny thing is I didn't notice any loss in braking performance....I had no idea the cables had snapped. I was just doing my usual go-over on it before I took it in to get an inspection sticker, that's how I discovered the broken cables.... THe OEM brakes work "good" in my opinion, if you keep them serviced, but I'm stepping up to 33" tires in the near future, and I have my doubts as to whether they'll keep me from dying. I have a set of D44a disc assemblies that I was going to install on my new D44 axle once I get it underneath. Jeff

Really? I put them on about 2 years ago (shows you how much I drive it, huh? ;)) The secondary shoe on that side (passenger) looked visably thicker than the front shoe....the other side, the shoes were about the same thickness :dunno: I'll hafta check them out, again... Thanks, Jeff

in no particular order (I'm in the CET, CW, and amsee group :cheers: ).... James Taylor Led Zeppelin Allman Brothers Band Waylon Jennings Van Morrison Any of you lovers of the Allmans familiar with Gov't Mule??? Hell to the yeah! Jeff

Rounding out my wrenchfest on the MJ this weekend, getting it ready for safety inspection....pulled the rear drums off to inspect and found both sides had snapped the adjuster cables :oops: Image Not Found Replaced the cables and tidyed things up. Here's a reference pic for the rear drum assemblies for search purposes: Image Not Found Jeff

Got some better pics of the tensioner today, to show just how worn out it was :cry: Here it is, assembled as it came off the engine. The little block at the end of the spring starts it's life at the other end of the assembly, up where the little locking handle is on the far left. This thing has gone the whole way to the end of it's adjustment range: Image Not Found Here you can see how worn the face of it is, where the chain rides. See the nice, chain-shaped grooves worn into it? They are about 1/4" deep :eek: Image Not Found This isn't the best pic, but it shows the wear on the inside, where the snubber block rests against the inside of the tensioner arm. Both surfaces have teeth cut into them (to prevent the snubber from moving backward as the assembly wears...it ratchets it's way up the tension arm as it goes thru it's life. It's hard to see, but the snubber teeth are completey worn away, as are the teeth on the inside of the arm. You can see where the block has been sitting (at the end of it's adjustment range) for the last 30K miles on my engine..... Image Not Found Jeff

Not really....it's about 5/8" of an inch longer (not enough to be worth it IMHO). The ears of the yoke are cast differently than the XJ/MJ ones, though, which allows for a greater operational angle without binding. I've got a pic of them side by side somewhere...lemme see if I can find it and post it so you can see. Jeff edit: dang it, it's on my work PC...I'll get it and post it up on Wednesday....

See the Projects forum....I put a writeup in there, after I replaced mine this weekend. Enjoy! Jeff

OK, to continue. I cleaned up the timing cover, and the damage from the balancer was minimal (not enough to warrant replacement): Image Not Found The only difference between the 2.5 and 4.0 timing sets (the parts themselves are identical) is that the 2.5 uses a spring-loaded tensioner. Mine tensioner was shot, causing the clacking sound, and the chain was stretched somewhat. Here’s the gears and chain with the tensioner removed. Not cool: Image Not Found Verify the timing marks on the sprockets are lined up, remove the oil slinger on the end of the crank (the dish shaped thingy) and remove the chain and both sprockets together as an assembly. The cam sprocket is held on with a ¾” bolt (use the impact gun again so you don’t rotate the engine), but the crank sprocket is pressed onto the crank and is held with a machined keeway. A little gentle prying may be necessary to remove the sprockets. It’s a good idea to stuff some rags into the oil pan at the bottom front of the block to prevent anything from falling into the pan while you are working/cleaning. Once removed, you will have this: Image Not Found At this point, DO NOT rotate either the crankshaft or the camshaft or you will have to reset the valve timing. Lay the old timing set next to the new set, and align the new set exactly like the old. Notice the timing marks on the sprockets (6 o’clock on the cam gear and 12 o’clock on the crank gear): Image Not Found Clean off the face of the block and mating surface of the cover while the gears are off, and install the new gears and chain, again as an assembly. Image Not Found The crank sprocket is keyed, and the cam sprocket has a small hole machined into the back of it that lines up with a pin (I forgot to get a pic of this, sorry), so the gears can only go on one way. Fiddle around with them until it all lines up, then push the sprockets on alternately, so the chain doesn’t bind. Once they are on as far as you can push them, I used a rubber mallet to give each a couple taps to make sure they were seated. Spin the cam sprocket bolt back on with the impact (torque to 80 lb/ft), and reinstall the oil slinger: Image Not Found One thing (probably the most important, actually) I forgot to get a pic of is to verify the timing marks by rotating the engine (use the HB bolt in the front of the crank snout again) until the timing mark on the cam sprocket is at 3 o’clock. Once there, stop rotating and count the number of chain pins between it and the timing mark on the crank sprocket. There must be 20 pins (15 pins for a 4.0L per the manual) If you didn’t move anything when you took the old sprockets off, and installed the new ones with the chain taught, you shouldn’t have a problem. If you don’t have 20 pins, you have issues, and you’ll have to start all over again :cry: Got 20 pins? Good. Stop and have a beer or five, then proceed. For us 2.5 guys, install the new tensioner. It is held to the bottom of the block with a bracket held by two bolts…to access them, you have to drop the oil pan (which I wasn’t going to do ;)) Instead, the tensioner itself pivots on a post inside the front of the cover, easily accessible. It is held by a circlip that you remove and pull the tensioner off the post. Slip the old one and replace with the new one, and reinstall the circlip. Make sure the tensioner is UNLOCKED before you button everything up. Once the tensioner is installed, and the oil slinger is put back on the front of the crank (dish shape facing OUT), you can reinstall the cover. But first, install a new oil seal on the cover. Tap it in with a large socket (or block of wood) squarely into the cover until it sits flush: Image Not Found Install the rubber gasket onto the bottom of the cover. There are little tabs that fit thru predrilled holes to align it and hold it in place (no pic…sorry I forgot). Make sure both the cover face and the block mating surface is sqeaky clean, apply gasket sealer to both surfaces: Image Not Found I use Indian Head gasket shellac: Image Not Found Let it tack up a few minutes, install the paper gasket, then install the cover on the engine. Thread all the fasteners finger tight (this is where you’re carboard template comes in handy). Have fun aligning the 4 oilpan-to-cover bolts on the bottom of the cover. Once all fasteners are installed, torque the small bolts to 5 lb/ft and the large studs to 16 lb/ft. Make sure the oil pan rubber gasket is aligned properly or it will leak. Reinstall the harmonic balancer (make sure the woodruff key is still there to align it). Do NOT hammer it back on to the crank snout....line up the keyway with the woodruff key and push it on as far as you can, evenly. Then, thread the the 3/4" bolt and washer back into the front of the crank and tighten it down. It will draw the balancer back onto the crank as you tighten it down. Wipe some clean engine oil around the sealing surface of the balancer so that the new front seal you just installed doesn’t rip when you first start the engine. Verify timing one last time by rotating the engine around until the timing mark on the HB aligns with “0” on the timing tab (TDC) and verify rotor position on the distributor. If you did everything right, it should be pointing to #1. I didn’t take any pics of the reinstallation of everything else, but if you took it off you ought to be able to put it all back together ;) I completed the work with a coolant flush and new radiator hoses (upper, lower, and heater, with new clamps). Don’t forget to remove the overflow bottle (if you have an open system) and flush/clean it also). I also changed the oil just in case anything nasty found it’s way into the oilpan while I was working. Once you get it all buttoned up, fire it up. If it runs, you did good….have another beer. If it doesn’t, have a beer anyway ‘cause you’re going to have to rip it all back apart: Image Not Found Hope this helps somebody! Jeff

Thought I’d throw up a little old-school tech for the group. Although most of the component removal I did wasn’t absolutely necessary, I was doing some other maintenance and mods at the same time, and the pics are a lot better to see what I’m describing. After listening to my timing chain slapping around for the last 30K miles, I decided to replace it over the weekend. Special thanks to Chuck (cmcolfax) for giving me half of his garage to work in :cheers: If anyone’s thinking about doing this who hasn’t done it before, I’ll try to make this as all-inclusive as I can. Feel free to ask any questions if I don’t cover everything (or if I left anything out….I was working solo and taking pics as I thought I should for a good writeup). My MJ is a 2.5L, but both the 2.5 and the 4.0 share the same bottom end, so the procedure is identical for either engine. Your alternator bracket will be a bit different than mine, and I don’t have AC so I didn’t have to work around AC lines or a condenser, either. YMMV ;) OK, here we go…here’s the patient, my 87 MJ 2.5L with 174K miles on it, and a slapping timing chain: Image Not Found Image Not Found Start by removing the battery, drain the cooling system and remove the radiator (and if you have AC, deal with the condenser somehow): Image Not Found With the radiator out of the way, you can see the harmonic balancer bolt that needs to be loosened. At this point, leave the serpentine belt intact (the tension will help hold the balancer stationary while you loosen the bolt): Image Not Found There’s a couple different ways to break that bolt loose (which I won’t mention), but I prefer this for a quick-and-easy method: Image Not Found Break the bolt loose, but do not remove it yet. Now you can remove the serp belt. First, loosen the tension in the belt via the power steering pump (all bolts are ½” hex head, FYI). There are 2 bolts to loosen that hold the pump, one trunion nut that holds the tensioner bolt, and one tensioner bolt you turn counter-clockwise to move the pump toward the engine. Remove the airbox for complete, hassle-free access to these. The two bolts in the back of the pump are these: Image Not Found The trunion nut is in the front, at about 7 o’clock: Image Not Found And the tensioner bolt is under the pump, pointing toward the driverside fender. Turn it counterclockwise to loosen the pump (you may have to persuade the pump to move if it hasn’t in a while): Image Not Found Remove the belt. At this point, I also removed the radiator shroud, fan, and water pump pulley for better access to the timing cover. Next step (if you haven’t already) is to set the engine to TDC, using the harmonic balancer bolt that you loosened above. Rotate the engine clockwise with a ¾” socket until the timing mark on the balancer lines up with the “0” mark on the timing tab on the cover: Image Not Found Verify TDC by rotor position. The rotor tip should be pointing directly at the #1 tower on the distributor cap: Image Not Found Once you are at TDC, remove the harmonic balancer. Use a balancer puller, like this… Image Not Found It attaches to the HB and pulls it off the crank snout cleanly and easily. Do not redneck engineer this process, and do not rotate the engine. Image Not Found With the HB off, you can see what they are famous for….they are a two piece construction, with rubber sandwiched inbetween the inner and outer parts, and the rubber starts to migrate out, and start gringing away on the front of the timing cover (not a good thing). Here’s what mine looked like: Image Not Found And this is what the back of the HB looked like. See the rubber ring :cry: ? Image Not Found We’ll deal with that in a bit. For now, go ahead and remove the myriad of fasteners that hold the timing cover to the block. The larger studs are 11/16”, and the smaller bolts on the face are 10 mm. There are 4 bolts that hold the bottom of the cover to the front lip of the oil pan, and they are 8mm. I like to keep track of multiple fasteners using a piece of cardboard, like this: Image Not Found Finally, you arrive at the timing set. Stop and have 10 beers. Image Not Found At this point, if you’ve done what I did, you will have roughly a pile of removed parts that looks something like this: Image Not Found And your engine bay will look something similar to this: Image Not Found Good enough for today, I’ll finish tomorrow: Image Not Found

I don't know why I'm laughing at that.....but I am.... :D Jeff

Not sure about the link on here (might be the same one, even) but here's a nice writeup from NAXJA....pics and all :) http://www.naxja.org/forum/showthread.p ... t=odometer Jeff

Stay safe, and keep in touch with us if you can....and THANKS for what you do! :USAflag: Jeff

and some models of the 207 have the "stick-in-can" CV yoke/flange on the front output vs. a regualr yoke (but you can swap one on easily enough) Jeff

NP207: http://www.jeeptech.com/xfer/np207.html NP231: http://www.jeeptech.com/xfer/np231.html HTH, Jeff

Either way works. I'm opting for a new carrier because I already have a new gearset I got on a trade with someone. Great time to add a locker, too. Jeff

You comin' over on Friday? Did the 350 starter work or not? There's a 4.3 with a starter on it down at the 'yard....if you can't make it over, I'll pull it off for ya before it gets snagged. Jeff

It does sound like a vaccuum leak, likely the intake manifold. Did you get all the manifold bolts back in, and tight? The other component you are mentioning is the EGR valve. It is normally closed at idle and on acceleration....it gets a vac signal from the solenoid (follow the vac line out of it, across the back of the engine to the passenger side, and you'll find the solenoid, ECU controlled). Sounds like your EGR valve itself is stuck (partially) open. At idle, with the exhaust tube connected, it should not be allowing exhaust into the intake. Sounds like you have a couple problems. Jeff

And he used the leftover scrap from the cage to make the lift blocks.. :roll: crooked-assed shackle on the drivers side rat's nest of a winch cable on the drum got fairlead???

Yeah, MJ's are driver drop. But, that's not a problem!!......that beauty uses some kinda new-fangled invisible front shaft. You can just run it straight across the oil pan, and it won't interfere with anything :D Jeff

Saw this on another forum. It's so good I had to share with y'all...... http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Monster- ... dZViewItem :eek: run away......fast..... Jeff