mjeff87

For some reason, AX-15's have always fought with me in installation.....much more than any other transmissions I've ever replaced. You just have to keep wiggling it around until it hits that "sweet spot" and they clunk right into place that last 1/2" or so. Make sure you're keeping it in plane with the engine (which is pointing downward in the rear, not level). It can help to put it into a gear also, then you can spin the output shaft back and forth and get the input splines lined up (lightly grease them up as well). Oh, and clean that flywheel off with some brake cleaner to get all that smudge off of the face before you finally get the tranny attached. No point in ruining all your hard work with a contaminated flywheel.

Gabapentin helped prevent spinal surgery on one of our cats (the little orange one). It worked miracles on him, but took about 4-5 weeks while he healed up. #truestory

Yup. Until I can feel some slop in them, I'll just keep greasing them. Also did a fix on the Focus on Saturday. Been hearing a tapping sound coming from the front of the engine, getting increasingly louder, for the last couple weeks. Put a mechanic's stethoscope on (because you can't get your hands onto ANYTHING in that area and narrowed it down to the water pump. Picked up a new one, jacked it up and unbolted all the splash sheilds to get access to it, and discovered one of the 3 pulley bolts completely gone, and the 2 other ones finger tight. Yikes. Replaced the missing bolt and ran all three back in with some blue locktite, and also replaced the harmonic balancer which was missing half of the rubber isolator ring and the remaining half starting to spit out in chunks. 'Tis a very quiet engine now......

Finally got the KJ back on Saturday. They dispatched the job to a kid, who didn't know how to do drum brakes. LOL. Had to wait for another tech to take over the job for him. Holy cow, what a difference new (and adjusted) rear brakes make. Also got it aligned again. For the third time (lifetime alignment so no cost to me). And it STILL pulls to the right. Not drastic, but enough to be a PITA. I have the printout of the alignment and everything is in the green, very frustrating. They keep saying it's the crown in the road, but it's not. It pulls everywhere...dirt roads, parking lots, interstates etc. I might just pony up and take it to a different shop and pay for another alignment. I also got it inspected. I was wondering if they were going to say anything about the LBJ boots on both sides that are cracked, but they didn't. They hounded me for about 3 years straight about the UBJ boots which were cracked, but the joints themselves were fine. Finally the driver side got a bit loose and I replaced them along with the UCA's (ball joints are welded in, so you have to replace everything).

YES! Thats the link my buddy sent me and I couldn't find. Not too shabby....

I loathe drum brakes. I've been wanting to swap discs onto it for awhile now. Might make for a nice garage project once the weather cools off a bit.

I've been running my KJ for a few days now, over last weekend to yesterday, just to give it some run time and give the Focus a little rest in the garage. Been hearing a weird scraping noise coming from "somewhere" underneath. Pulled it in the garage yesterday after getting home from the shooting range and jacked it up. Got to the rear driverside wheel and found my problem. The lower brake spring fell out of the drum while I was taking it off, along with a metric ton of brake dust and pieces of what used to be the rear shoe. Funny, because I have to get it inspected by the end of the month. I took it back to the shop that put new shoes on it recently.....it's obvious they just did a shoe slap and reused all of the old hardware. Pitched a mild, but civil fit, and they agreed to eat the cost to replace the brakes again, with new hardware this time. Also getting it aligned (again), and inspected.....dropping it off tonight and letting them keep it a couple days to get everything done. They are a busy shop, and only have one state inspector employed.

I've got a YEET in .40 flavor also (I'm not proud......). It's my garage weapon, since I'm out there alot. Say what you want about them, but it goes bang every time, all the time. If I ever did have a FTF at an inconvenient moment, I figure I can always use it as a club against an attacker. Don't have a Mosin, but my buddy does. We took it to the range a couple weeks ago. What an absolute pleasure of a weapon that thing is to shoot (albeit a bit expensive, lol). I have other toys too, but I'm not going to post up my inventory for the world to see.

Speedo cable, yes. Rear driveshaft, no. Front driveshaft, depends......different driveline combos (specifically transmissions) have different lengths.

When I traded my TJ on the KJ, it had a pretty worrisome rod knock (that's why I traded it). I knew the dealership was planning on making bank on it on a resale, and that's why they gave me a good deal on the KJ and trade value. Good on them, the salesman worked really hard to get his deal and deserved some payback. About 3-4 days after the trade, I realized I still had the back seat from the TJ down in my shed, so I loaded it up and took it down to them. Saw my salesman and he just looked at me and shook his head and laughed.......seems the TJ windowed the block they day after I traded it and they decided to just send it to auction as-is. He basically lost his shirt on the whole deal. I was tempted to find which auction they sent it to, but didn't. Don't know what it ever sold for, but it had to be for way cheaper than it was worth. Somebody got a mint TJ with a couple bolt-ons (bumpers, tire carrier, etc) with a blown engine for a steal.

My buddy sent me a link to some guy with a KJ with a seriously damaged roof. So what did he do? He cut it off. He's in the process of adding a rollbar, and I have to admit it looks pretty darn cool. I was going to post a link to it, but I can't find his text on my phone right now. Looks like a pregnant HHR missing a roof. LOL.

Do your dash/instrument cluster lights work? The brake lights are mysteriously wired into the dash lighting circuit.......the engineers of the day designed it that way so as to let you know if your brake lights go out. Since you (normally) can't see your brake lights not working, the dash lights cut out to give you a warning. Check the 5 amp "INST PNL" (or something like that) fuse to see if it's popped, or loose. Could be as simple as that. edit: post #3 in this thread shows a good shot of the fuse block. Check the 5A fuse at the bottom right of the block (picture is rotated).

I fell honored.......I got necroposted. And no, I totally forgot about this thread. As far as I know, that axle is still under my MJ....somewhere in the deep woods of Ameila County VA. I'm assuming the good old boy I sold it to still has it.

I ran them in my MJ. It's more than just headspace.......they also cut the space between the seat and the bottom of the steering wheel in half. I either had to put half my butt on the seat and then squeeze my thighs under the wheel, or tilt the seat the whole way forward to have enough room to get them under. More than a mild PITA.

Yup. I was hatched inside the base hospital (a long, long time ago).

He likes chicken......white meat. LOL. Have a great time guys, I was hoping to make it up this year but was un-committal on this thread because I didn't know what my schedule was going to be. Not going to be able to make it unfortunately.

Florida, specifically northern/panhandle area, including Southern GA. Thats whats happening. Wife and I just got back from our 5th trip down there in the last couple years. Yeah, there are some faults, like everywhere, but probably in about 6-7years I'm thinking thats where we're going to migrate to. Either that or St. Croix.

Greetings. I'm from OK by way of birth, Comanche County (Lawton). Welcome to the club There's a brown couch in the corner.....don't sit on it. Lol. Jeff

Get yourself a used tire (not mounted, just a tire without a wheel). Rest the sump part of the oil pan inside of it, then strap it down wherever/however is best. Works better if its a front-sump pan, but either way it will help stabilize it. FWIW, among other engines, I hauled a fully dressed 2.5L 15 hours this way in the back of a Ford escort one time. Works like a charm, lol.

Happy Canada Day, eh!

The T-handle type pullers work pretty good. And they're great for re-installing them too. https://www.repairtool.com.tw/hydraulic-valve-lifter-puller-m202507.html

Yeah....thats a dead lifter (somewhere). Sounds like an exhaust valve to me. You can pull the lifters on a 2.5 without pulling the head, you just need a good lifter tool. Could be a bent pushrod or a bad valve spring too. I still recommend taking it back to the shop that did the rebuild to let them have a crack at it. But if you don't want to, I'd start pulling lifters and looking at the bases like Jeep Driver suggests. Doesn't take alot to dish a lifter base. Or one can be stuck and not rotating correctly. I'd suspect you'd find it pretty quick if you pulled them.

I'm not seeing your video.....are you saying one of the lifters is noisy or ALL of them? New lifters have to be primed. You'd think a rebuild shop would know/do that (not saying yours didn't) but it can't hurt to ask them or take it back and let them hear it. If it's a true rebuild with new cam/lifters, I'd get that MMO out of there pronto, but that's just me....

It works right up until it doesn't. And that's right about the time you need it to work.

Bypass/jump your ballast resistor (white ceramic looking thing on inner driver fender area beside the airbox). See if that fixes it.