mjeff87

fuel, air, and spark...you're missing one of them (well, compression too but). Did you check for ignition @ the plugs? if yes, are the plugs wet or dry? Just start with the basics until you can figure out what's missing, then diagnose from there. Did it just suddenly do this, and does it run at all or just crank? Jeff

:D cause I got a stock 4.56 D30 out of there, and it's a disconnect, and I don't have to pay to get one regeared that is un-cool...... I'm on the fence now, deciding if I should full-lock the D44 when I get it regeared and leave the front open, or use that $$ to lock the front now, then add a drop in locker to the 44 in the future. Six of one, half dozen of the other? Jeff

Someone please check my logic on this.... -Open front + 4WD+CAD engaged = one or the other front wheel powered, depending on traction -Open front + 4WD but CAD not engaged = all power to the disonnect side, no front engagement at all -Locked front +4WD+CAD engaged = full power to both front wheels, steering difficult and vehicle "pushes" in mud/snow Yes? Now consider a locked front in 4WD but with CAD disengaged...in essence, it would be like an open front except instead of differentiating between both wheels, the non-disco side would always have power to it, regardless of which wheel had more "slip", right? So in theory, it would act just like a regular front diff (minus the power transfer), and still be steerable in 4WD? Then if things got really hairy, you could engage the CAD and have both wheels powered to get you out of whatever you're in. Am I missing anything there? Reason I'm asking is that I'm thinking about locking the front sometime down the road, but haven't heard really good things about "streetability" or good behavior in snow. Wouldn't a locked, non-connected front behave almost just like an open carrier, i.e. no pushing/hard to turn? Jeff

sounds like a bad choke to me (but I haven't touched a carberator outside of my lawnmowers in about 10 years LOL :D ) Jeff

Oh man.....I feel your pain. She's never liked my MJ from the day I got it. Neither has my mother in fact (she actually GAVE me the ford escort I'm driving now, as an attempt to make me want to get rid of the MJ) Didn't work. (and for the record, Missi hates when I refer to her as "the wife"..."I DO have a name, you know?!?!?!?" she says :lol: Good luck, Jeff

I pulled mine @ 120K or so, and they didn't look anywhere near that bad :( I actually pulled all the rockers/pivots/bridges, pushrods, and lifters (2.5L :D ) and soaked them in some type of non-caustic degreaser I got at a local Agri supply store. Let 'em soak for a few hours, then used a toothbrush to clean them back to shiny clean metal. The only thing that's imperative to do is to keep EVERYTHING in order the way it came out so you put it all back together the same way, in the same orientation. I was trying to diagnose an engine "clack" that I thought was a stuck lifter.....turned out it wasn't after all. But it's all clean now under the VC. Jeff

Interestingly, after replacing the alt and battery, my gas mileage is back up to where it used to be. I've been noticing it's been slipping off over the last few months, as well as a whole lotta blowby (so much that oil is pushing out of the oil fill cap in the valve cover...enough to have to wipe it down every third day or so :oops: ) Now, blowby has decreased dramaticaly, and I'm back up to low 20's MPG-wise.....must have been suffering from a weak spark :?: Jeff

I swapped a disco '30 into mine when I converted it, only because that was the only thing I could find at the time. I just shimmed over the shift fork with some washers and locked the inner/outer together full time. cost= $0.00 :wink: If I ever decide to lock the front, I'll just undo the shims and rig up a homebrew posi-lock, either cable or vaccuum actuated (I've got a vac switch ready to use, just haven't gotten to it yet:)) Something to think about if you ever plan to lock yours, unless you gots the $$$ for a selectable (?) But, as Patrick says, you can swap a one piece shaft in and add a seal if you want to. Might even want to look for later model shafts with the larger joints in 'em, too.... Jeff

PM inbound.....

'bell is included, just not the shifter (that'd be like another $10 or something). Let me see what's down there and I'll let you know. Jeff alrighty then..... :D

I'm heading to the u-pull again this weekend. I can look for a 90-ish AX15 for ya if you want. I might possibly be coming up to PA next weekend, too.... Jeff

:shock: $89.95 (less shifter) plus $20 core at my local pick-n-pull :D Jeff

You shoulda gotten something with the ether...little sputter or pop, or even a slight rise in the RPM's from cranking speed. You sure you have ignition spark? Did you check a plug wire, or the coil wire when you tested? If you have juice from the coil, your rotor might have gone bad and you're not getting it to the plugs. Maybe try unplugging/replugging the CPS just for kicks and see what happens... Jeff

Didja hook the CPS back up?

Don't feel too bad. I was taking a tranny out of an XJ in the junkyard and it slipped off quicker than I expected...almost crushed my middle finger in the process :cry: Not that you're probably gonna drop the tranny again anytime soon, but what I do is use a piece of cardboard to hold all the fasteners. Punch them thru the cardboard, in the same pattern that they come off the bellhousing (since they're different sizes/lenghts). Keeps 'em all in one spot, and makes putting them back in alot easier! Just be glad you don't have an AW4..... :D Jeff

LOL Bumpy...they're all kinda important :D The top ones are 3/8 16 (those goofy inverted torx ones that you should replace with standard hex head bolts anyways). The other ones are 7/16 16 (I'm pretty sure)....the two that hold the inspection cover aren't integral to the tranny being attached, they just hold the inspection plate in place. I've got some extra bolts (somewhere in my mess :roll: ) from the multitude of AX5's I had in my MJ....if you need them I can look-see for them and mail 'em to ya (?) Jeff p.s....how many times did you smack your kneecaps off the framerails?

Just tell her to remember "for better or worse"...."for better or worse"..... Saturday was a "worse" day for us :( but it did end well w/ the Black and Gold (even tho the game was like a trainwreck). My wife and I will have a toast to younz tonight at dinner :D Jeff

Amen Patrick.....but I didn't have an extra $150 on me at the time LOL. My plans were to replace the batt w/ an Optima this summer anyway. Now, I'll just swap the el cheapo into my other vehicle, and replace it with a yellow in the MJ :D Unless some other disaster befalls me between now and then..... Jeff

It's now a permanent part of my sig on this board LOL! Jeff

I can honestly say this is the first and only time the MJ left me hanging, ever. I was starting off on a mini roadtrip to NC to swap axles with a guy, and about 45 mi into the trip, she died. It all started, now that I think about it, on Friday night when I went to fill up the tank for the trip. Put 11 gal in her, and the gas gauge read "E"...I figured the sending unit crapped out and put it on my list of crap to fix sometime down the road (I failed to notice that all my idiot lights were inop also). I leave the next morning, in the rain, and my wipers are barely sweeping the winshield, and skipping horribly as well, on low. If I put them on high, they just stopped dead. Oh well, just add a wiper motor to the list along with the sending unit, I think to myself :roll: Then, the radio dies suddenly.....the wipers get worse. I momoentarily shut my headlights off (on the interstate in a rainstorm :oops: ) and the radio works again. Turn the headlight back on, radio dies, and engine starts to stumble like I'm loosing ignition. Then the seatbelt warning light comes on, as if possessed (WTF??) I realize something's not good, so I spot a rest stop pulloff and hit it, just in the nick of time. As I'm downshifting into the rest area total system shutdown ensues, and I drift into a parking spot, dead in the water. Pop the hood and feel the alternator and you could fry an egg on it. Yay, I need an alternator I say to myself, but I'm halfway between BFE and Squirrel-Nut, NC and not a parts store within 40 miles. Call my wife and she drives down 45 minutes to get me (while I pull my alt out). We drive back to Richmond, takes me 3 hours to get an alternator, then drive back down and put it in. Use her car to jump my dead battery, and she starts up unhappily, but runs. No idiot lights, turn signals, and wipers still wonky, but good headlights, so we start to convoy back home. Get about 10 miles up the road and she goes into shutdown mode again, and I grab an exit and coast to a dead stop at the top of the hill in the middle of the road. Jump it again, it starts, and I drive it 1/2 mi down some road to an exxon station. Pop the hood and put a meter on the battery...8V. Crap, need a battery too. Drive back up another 30 miles, get an el-cheapo Advance Auto battery, drive back and swap it in. Starts strong, but still no idiot lights and gas gauge still inop. Humoungous rainstorm ensues, but by this time I'm smoking, so we hit the road in convoy with cell phone commo between us. 10 minutes later, everything comes back...wipers running like brand new, gas gauge and idiot lights work, and engine is purring like a kitten (FYI, Renix's don't like wonky voltage....) Made it home and proceeded to drink like 4 beers in 5 minutes. All systems have been normal since, and I'm going to try the trip again next Saturday. Final tally.....$73 alternator, $40 battery, and the wife put 235 miles on her car. Y'all think she didn't like the MJ before? HAH....she HATES it now! How was everyone else's weekend? Jeff

another beauty of owning a 2.5 (like being able to pull the lifters w/o yanking the head)......you can get the top 2 bell bolts off from the topside, under the hood :lol: There's just enough room to get a socket on a breaker bar on them. If you do have the reverse torx, replace them with regular hex head bolts (or even studs/nuts) when you have them out. It'll make your life alot easier the next time around. Jeff

can't get the 'bell bolts externally, they're inside :( 1/2" drive gives you more ummphh, you just need to get creative on how you can get both leverage and swing room on the end of the breaker bar. Become one with the tool, and add a heavy dose of patience when working :D (I know it's weak, but that's all I got...good luck!) Jeff

No love for us 2.5L guys with our AX4/5's :( I see how y'are.....(j/k) Jeff

Yer an animal.............. :D

That would be the tag that's missing from the axle LOL..... there is another tag on it, but it's about a 1" square one with a bunch of #'s, like: 25 7845 65 3 5809 001 41 025 3 (not the exact #'s there, but you get the point:)) Thanks for that pic, tho. I'm gonna save a copy of it for future reference! Jeff