jeepcoma

What part did you get, the foot pedal mechanism that mounts to the side of the cabin ahead of the door? It's pretty simple, I can take some pics and write up a description in the morning. I just swapped mine a week or two ago. There are three bolts that mount it, the cable that runs from the bottom out to the rear, a wire for the brake light, and the release cable.

Well some good news. Monday I took it to another mechanic, got a call on Tuesday saying it passed. Big sigh of relief. He did recommend changing the ball joints though pretty soon, so I might do that once it gets a bit warmer and it's more fun to spend a weekend wrenching outside. I had planned on doing the floors and interior too, and fixing some exterior rust and paint, so that's a few decent projects lined up for the summer. We got a bit of snow yesterday too, so it was my first try out in the slush with the new lockers on there. This thing is awesome! After all the stories I've been reading about it being a death trap, I have no idea what the problem is everyone talks about. Can you get the rear end loose? Sure, if you drive like an idiot, but you're likely to crash in the snow with or without lockers in that case. Anyway, it's not the death sentence I was beginning to worry I had signed myself up for. It behaved very predictably and worked great up hills and around tight turns, and I had absolutely no weight in the bed except the cap on. Then I put it in 4x4. Lockers front and rear and this thing literally feels unstoppable. Handling was even better in 4x4 since it pulls as much as pushes, it was very stable and tight feeling. And this is just with some regular tires with lots of tread left, nothing fancy. I do wish I had the old tires on still so I could do a better direct comparison, but with the lockers and 3.55s it's better in 2x4 mode than it previously was in 4x4 with the open diffs and 3.07. Big huge :thumbsup: :thumbsup: on these!

Yeah, I'm hoping I'll be able to pick up a mint one for nothing. I like my bench seat!

Looks nice. 91 + Eliminator + 4wd = super rare! Good luck with the purchase/swap!

I like the double trailer balls on the bumper. Ingenious! :thumbsup:

They failed. I'm taking it elsewhere for a second opinion; I'll know by tomorrow. Technically there is supposed to be no play whatsoever, but from everything I've ever seen, heard, or read, a small amount is OK and normal. After all, it's a metal ball pivoting inside a metal socket, it HAS to move. Anyway, the shop that failed it didn't even notice I had swapped both axles, and didn't seem to believe me when I said I had replaced the entire axle. Furthermore, I looked over the inspection sheet they had printed up, I know some of the things they "checked" were complete BS like the rear brakes etc, since the wheels were frozen to the hubs and the lug nuts hadn't been removed in 10 years. There's no way they took those wheels off to inspect the brakes, and I know they didn't look through the little window on the inside either since I had to dig through an inch of mud to get a screw driver in there and pry them off for the first time. :fs1: to them!

Yesterday I got a deal from a craigslist ad, $25 for four Sensatrack shocks just about brand new. Not the best shocks I know, but I figured for the price they'd be a big improvement over my stock shocks from '91. And I was right! They were for an XJ though, so the rears aren't an exact match. In addition to having to chop off and remove the different mounting tab, I later discovered I needed to remove the rubber bushing as well. That would have been nice to know from the start because I took particular care to not damage the bushing, when in fact I could have just demolished it. No pics of the old rears, but they were about 10x worse than the fronts pictured above. It was dark and I was dirty and didn't feel like taking pics. Maybe later, but I'm sure you all know what busted old rusty shocks look like. The guy was nice younger-ish kid, lives about 10 minutes away. He had just put a bigger lift on his Cherokee and needed longer than stock shocks, which is why he was selling. We took a ride in his cherokee to pick up the shocks from the house they were at and look at some other stuff he had. He was intersted in the lockers I had, and since I wanted to take a look at the bumpers he had for sale, we then took another ride back there in my MJ. He's got 3.07s in his cherokee and is intetersted in both better axles (30 front, 8.25 rear) and definitely wants a locker. If anyone knows of axles or lockers for sale, I said I'd pass it along. Today I dropped the truck off at a different service station for inspection tomorrow morning. Hoping this goes better than the other shop that was trying to screw me...

I scheduled an inspection at another more reputable station. Monday it goes in. Also got a good deal on shocks, four new sensatracks for $25! They're for an XJ so I had to press out the rubber bushings so they would mount properly at the top. Due to the length difference for the rear they'll probably blow in about a year, or so I've read, but for the price it's worth it I think since the front's are identical. It drives a lot better now. If anyone is interested: App # Comp Ext Travel XJ 37027 12.750 20.000 7.250 MJ 37029 14.375 23.000 8.625

Yeah I remember reading that post, it was great. When I first had it inspected there, they wrote it up for, among other things, FOUR ball joints. I got an estimate then for them to do it, and decided to buy new axles instead. I was so pissed when they called up yesterday and said "it needs new ball joints, what did you change?", straight away I couldn't help but think they are just trying to screw me. They saw a dirty axle under there and thought I didn't do anything and they could just get away with easy money. The old ball joints I took off of there looked fine too, we've been carrying around these axles by picking up the rotors, prying against them with prybars, leveraging against them... they don't budge or flop around. When I saw it in person though, well, they're technically right. If it's zero spec and it moved, even a little, I guess they can fail it. Regardless, I will be taking it to another shop for a second opinion. If if these guys are right and it needs to be replaced, they have not been friendly or helpful in any way, shape, or form throughout the entire process.

Inspection shop called me up today, they said that there's play in the driver's side ball joints. Boo hiss. So I rode over there at that instant to take a look while they had it up on the lift. I'm kinda leery of them BSing me, since they said all four ball joints needed to be replaced on my original axle, but when I took it off everything seems okay. They had it up on the lift and then then jacked off the lift from the lower control arms. One of the guys took a bar and stuck it between the floor of the lift and the tire, and applied upper pressure. It did actually move, a fraction of a hair. Not even a millimeter, maybe half of one, you could barely see the rubber boot deflecting just a fraction. They said it's supposed to be a zero-spec ball joint and it needs to be replaced, so I didn't even get a measurement, just my eyeballs in a dark shop. Is that right? When I bought the axle from Twisty he had put a few miles on the ball joints, replaced Oct 07 with Spicer units. They seemed fine to me, searching for play with a 4 foot prybar didn't show any wiggling when I had it still off the truck. I had the shop I'm friends with replace the driver's side axle seal and go over them, they said they didn't notice anything out of the ordinary either. I was certain these guys were just trying to screw me over, I mean they didn't even notice that I had changed wheel, tires, and both axles since it was last inspected. I talked to several mechanics there and they all asked "what did you replace" and I said "the axle", "yeah but what part??" was the response. They didn't seem to believe that I had actually done anything "Well all I see if a few new shiny bolts" one of the guys actually said :mad: :mad: I have no trust in these guys anymore, but I did see it with my own eyes. I tried looking up specs for ball joint play but just got home from work and haven't had a chance to find much yet. Some units did come up with no play, but most listed .01" or so. I found a neat PDF with a lot of specs but the only jeep they listed was "all models, 63-64" as .06" play. I'll see if I can cross reference another vehicle with the same joints and check the play. Grrrr, not what I wanted to go wrong today... :fs1:

Sw2 if you give up on that linkage install, I can take it off your hands for you :D My stock linkage could use a good replacement.

It's an unholy maze of levers and rods and plastic bits assembled by Satan himself. Mine is a pile of rusted crap that I'm looking to replace. Check out the Novak linkage, it looks like a sweet piece but the price is too dear for me at the moment. If you have the necessary skills you might be able to figure out something yourself for a fraction of the price.

That's exactly what happens, there is quite a lot of play in the drivetrain. It really likes to thunk around getting on and off the gas. Here's another clue too, it only makes the noise if there is acceleration or constant throttle. If I take my foot off the gas, even a hair to slow down 1 MPH, it will go dead quite. As soon as I am back to maintaining speed, the noise is there. It doesn't ever change in pitch, and from what I can tell it doesn't seem to get louder (I say that because it clearly resonantes at a certain speed, but above or below that it's about the same loudness). And it never goes away or changes tone for anything, hard acceleration, up hill, down hill, bumps... just throttle. Not as well as I should have, because I had a deadline to get the truck reinspected. I bought them from board member Twisty here and he didn't describe any noises like I'm getting. I had my friend at the bodyshop replace a leaking front seal and inspect everything else in both axles (yeah I know, I didn't get a chance to do it myself :doh: ), and he said all the other bearing and seals looked good. No idea about the pinion or outboard bearing though. Are they repackable? In any case, I'll swap the ujoints one at a time and see if it goes away.

Replaced both headlights. One was burned out, the other was junk (OK, they were both junk). Autozone had the Sylvania XV series for $9! Cheaper than the regular halogens, so I just did them both. Also got a flex hose for my grease gun to make it easier to grease stuff without jacking the truck up and removing wheels, so I had to play with it and greased the front end. It's super easy now. Glad I went with the longer 18" hose; best four bucks I ever spent (that's what she said). Then... dropped the truck off at the inspection place where it will attempt to pass safety inspection again tomorrow while I'm at work. Given everything I've done to it, and the fact that the FOUR BALL JOINTS WERE NOT BAD IN THE FIRST PLACE, it had better pass. :fs1:

I just placed an order at Action Machine Inc. Total was $29.51 shipped, for two, so I can do both sides of the rear driveshaft while I'm at it. That ends up cheaper than if I had bought the two units at Autozone. Hopefully I ordered the right part! Spicer 5-153X

To answer my own question though, I think something like this is what I'm looking for: DANA DRIVESHAFT U-JOINT 1310 SERIES 5-153X

After reading a few threads recently I'm starting to think the cause of the "roaring/whirring" noise I got ever since I swapped the rear axle is a bad u-joint. I just chalked it up to the noise the gears made resonating in the space created by the bed and cap together, sort of like a big saxophone. But then someone described my situation exactly and the cause was a bad ujoint. Anyway, I've done some searching but wasn't able to come up with any good recommendations for replacements. I went to two part stores, both Advance and Autozone. Do greaseable u-joints exist for the rear driveshaft, or are the rears all non-greaseable (or at least, no zerk fitting)? Autozone's "premium" ujoint was a, um, I forget the name but it had some beefy tough tone to it, but was made in China. I'd prefer a quality part, but at the price I could just do both ujoints for the rear driveshaft at the same time and see if it goes away. Not a bad idea to replace them anyway, especially since I'm sure they've never been greased. So, any good units that you guys recommend that don't break the bank? Grease guns and oil changes go hand in hand so I have no problem pumping a bit of grease through them every time, but if sealed units are good enough I don't mind either (I don't do serious off roading, the worst conditions it will see are road salt).

Your collection is very similar to mine :) Old school Nikon EM, which is great with Tri-X film; Elan-7E (LOVE this camera, and the eye control), Powershot G3 (sorta broken now after 8 years or so, a horse kicked it), used an A550 for a few years, 30D, lots of lenses and goodies for the two EOS SLRs... BTW, you might also want to check out the Panasonic DMC-LZ8. If you can find one around the same price as the Canon A 590IS, it's overall a slightly better camera, about the best bang-for-buck deal under $150 (unless you care about "style", or need something super small).

Is that $150 your hard and fast limit? Also some ideas about what you want to use it for would be helpful. The Olympus SW line of waterproof cameras is an all around good recommendation for something who uses it in "active" activities, since you can toss it around, get it wet, take underwater pics, freeze it, sit on it, etc without having to worry about breaking it. Compared to other cameras at the same price range though, it lacks in image quality and other features, but you pay for the durability. I think the cheapest you can get the range though is still about $200. If it'll be used for more sedentary purposes, I like the Canon Powershot "A" line. You can pick up an A590 IS for about $120 I think now, $30 left over will get you plenty of memory card. For the price, good optics, good stabilization, good speed, and good zoom. Plus, the firmware is hackable, you can use different software on the camera that allows for a lot of flexibility (not for the novice point+shoot photographer though... but perfect for one that wants to learn). If you have any idea what you are looking for in a camera, check out http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/compare.asp

Funny thing, I think I'm getting the same noise you are. I just swapped my D35 for a D44 and got the noise the first time I drove it. It's only there under constant throttle or acceleration, as soon as I lift my foot of the gas even just a little, it goes away. I figured it was just the gears being noisy, since it doesn't seem to get any louder with higher speeds or any condition at all. Hmm perhaps a bad u-joint could be the reason then? How hard is that to fix/replace?

This was a good weekend. I finally got everything ready to pass re-inspection this week (hopefully). Since I bought the truck, I've: replaced steering column *fixed wipers *fixed highbeams *fixed sloppy tilt mechanism (which I failed inspection for, the guy wrote down that the column was about to fall out... fat chance! I wish it had just fallen out when I was trying to remove it at night when it was about 15*F that night) replaced rear axle, stock D35C 3.07 with a D44, 3.55 gears, and Aussie locker. I couldn't remove the rear wheels on my original, so I couldn't get to the brakes, so I had no hope of fixing the parking brakes (which I failed inspection for). Given how frozen the wheels are to the hubs, and just about everything else I've tried to remove, I'm guessing there wouldn't have been much hope for fixing the brakes being easy. Along with swapping the rear axle, I was able to brake free the parking cable equalizer (was solid rust). I actually had to cut the lockdown bolt off with a wheel, the threaded rod was so rusty it froze solid. I had so much torque on the bolt that I twisted the threaded rod. I had to cut the parking brake lines to each drum as well, which wasn't bad because I had replacements. I couldn't get to anything without having the equalizer dangle freely. After I got the lockdown bolt off I was able to clean the rod up with a wire wheel and it's nice and smooth now, I can thread by hand the bolt all the way down. I also had to replace 3 brake lines, the two lines that go to the cylinders, and a 3rd line that's involved with the height sensing valve. It was leaking very slightly (maybe a drip or two after a week of driving) but was ready to explode in a good panic stop. It was probably my fault that it started leaking anyway, I removed the old ball-tab-thingy mounted to the diff cover on the D35, the part that has the rod attach to it for the height valve, I had to do some work to get it to fit the D44 bolt pattern and it ended up way higher than it was supposed to be (I later read, since I didn't think to check where the default height was before removal, that at no load and level the height lever should be parallel to the ground... mine was nearly vertical. It did stop great though!). I also failed inspection for FOUR bad ball joints... complete BS. There is absolutely no slop in the ball joints, which I found out quite easily once I took the front end apart. I'm glad I didn't pay those jerk-wads to fix it for me, they probably would have just taken my money and not even changed the joints. Regardless, I got a matching front axle, a D30 with 3.55s and another Aussie locker, plus upgraded solid 297x shafts and joints (no cad!) and later model disc brakes and calipers. Since the rear wheels were stuck on the axle, and I noticed that one of the tires was leaking, I got a set of wheels and tires, a slight bump in size to 225s which I'm quite happy with. After fixing the parking brake stuff, my assembly just wouldn't hold, so I replaced the unit and after some more troubleshooting got it working great. I had a slight problem, which I figured out, part of the wiring harness was drooping down ever so slightly onto the lever that ratchets the teeth on the wheel, keeping it from fully engaging. Some rerouting of wires and it's working perfectly. Now I can park on hills and not have to carry around wood blocks anymore! Some of the tail lights were out, and of course all the screws were frozen. The previous owner tried the same thing I did, some vice grips on the end which just snapped the head right off. I broke one, but found 3 other already broken still in the fasteners. Some pliers broke those right off and a trip to Autozone got me replacements. Two of the bulbs were bad, I found out why. The glass housing had completely separated from the metal ring it's supposed to be in. Pushing the bulb in and twisting to remove it just left me with the bulb in my hand and the base in the sockets, so I replaced all those. I also bought the wrong license plate lights, it needs the push-in kind not the twisty kind. Figures. But it's all working now and nice new hardware to keep the brake lights in. That reminds me though, I need to superglue the retainers for the license plate light back together... A trip to the dollar store for a bottle of goo-gone made short work of the half-peeled off stickers on the glove box, and I installed the latch for the glovebox, complete with light. I was smart enough to find the key to unlock the box door first, since now I have separate keys for the ignition, doors+glovebox, and don't have a key for the bed cap. Oh well. Stickers! I bought some stickers from jeepsticker.com, great seller btw I think I purchased them via paypal on new years eve or something and they were sent right away. Even got a free one! So, a little thanks are in order to some board members (in order of money spent!). "Twisty"; drove up to his place in northern MA. I bought a bench seat and he included a pair of axles. "comanche87"; not far from me in East Prov, RI, I got the new wheels and tires from his parts cherokee. I'm now an expert on 4wd axle removal and installation, so when you get around to doing your conversion I can sit on the lawn and drink beer while I "supervise" you. "Boilermaker"; I got a steering column, partially working gauge cluster, and the latch thing for the glove box. He even helped me figure out what I was doing wrong with the steering column (Cliff Notes: the column collapses, so if the thing sticking out the end doesn't reach the joint in the engine bay... pull it out, it might be stuck!) "Ed in North Ga."; I purchased a well sealed box of foam, and he threw in an emergency brake assembly for free! All in all, this site has been great. I certainly would be a much poorer and angry Comanche owner if it wasn't for the people here. Two quick pics since it's dark out: New stickers! I think they look nice. I always liked a red and black scheme but since the cap is white, it's going to be red and white instead. Plus that's 2 out of 3 AMC colors, so that should count for something. Pile of old axles. Anyone want them? But two tires, get matching wheels and axles! Might be suitable for a 4wd swap or something thought.

I swapped in a parking brake assembly to fix my broken one... only after inspecting the old one I took out and having one of the same problems on the new one I put it (which worked perfectly on the bench), some more careful inspection led to me find two (maybe three tips) that could be easily checked and tried before removing the whole assembly. There are two springs on the assembly. There's a tiny little one at the top that puts tension on the holding mechanism for the ratchet. If you hear a nice solid "tick-tick-tick" from the ratchet teeth as you push the pedal down, this is probably working correctly. If you don't hear a solid ticking noise, or your parking brake doesn't hold and instead just returns to the top (while probably partially engagin the teeth), first check that you haven't lost this spring and it's not broken. It does not have a lot of tension in it, and it's pretty small, so be careful not to break it. If the spring is there, check two other things: take a tiny eye-glasses sized flat blade screw driver and clean any gunk, grease, and dirt off the teeth you can see exposed in the back. The teeth appear to be coated with grease, which over time picks up dirt. Since the spring which engages the holder on the teeth doesn't have a lot of power behind it, a wad of grease or gunk is enough to stop the lever from fully engaging the teeth... which causes the pedal to pop back up. Next to check is the wiring. There are quite a few wires running right next to the e-brake assembly, including the wire for the brake light. I discovered that a part of the wiring harness was falling down onto the ratchet lever, preventing it from fully engaging! This was a big eureka moment for me, I couldn't figure out why I still wasn't getting full engagement after swapping assemblies and cleaning the teeth out; it just didn't want to hold today, but was working initially when I installed it. If I manually forced the lever back, it held just fine (remember, it's a bit hard to see what's going on once everything is installed), so I moved some wires to a better location, and ta-da! It works perfectly. One other thing to check is a larger cable return spring towards the front of the assembly. It runs parallel to the parking cable and assists the cable return to "open" when you pull the brake release... if you don't have that spring, only line tension in the brake will disengage the brake, and also only line tension will keep the ratchet engaged. Mine was missing on the original mechanism, but the brakes were frozen anyway so it had no trouble returning to disengaged. If things are working properly, you'll probably need this. So, any of you with parking brake problems (I know you're out there), get a flashlight and maybe a mirror and take a few minutes to poke around. It could be a simple solution to your problem.

Having just paid more for axles alone and having to do the swap myself... $500 sounds like a bitchin deal. About the tru trac vs power loc, it really comes down to what you want to do with the vehicle. I seem to recall the reason you are wanting to go with 4.10s is because you're putting some 33s or so in, which I assume means you want to do some off-roading? If that's the case, from what I've read (which isn't a whole lot) the power loc is a better choice if that's what will be in the rear D44. Is the front D30 open? In any case, I think the front would be good with the tru trac and the rear with the powerlock if you're doing moderate or more off roading.. otherwise, you might be happy with an open front and tru trac rear for a daily driver and/or light/moderate off roading.

Mine doesn't; I've considered collecting parts needed for the swap but would really like to try one out before getting set on it. It drastically changes the handling, and not for the better (it already handles like a shopping cart from hell). It's already pretty capable in the off-road terrain I ride it through with 1wd, I'd get much better results with better tires (or round wheels for that matter). If you're looking to purchase one of these rigs (Dnepr/Ural), you owe it to yourself to check out http://www.russianiron.com. Great club, if you think jeepers are nuts you have no idea compared to us foil heads over there. I wish I had more pics, I don't tend to stop when riding it to take pics like I do on the other bike (you never know when it won't restart). Here's one from ages ago though. I got a crazy Russian fur hat for the holidays, I need to get some pics of me wearing it on the crazy Russian motorcycle.

Here's my daily rider, I commute right through winter. 2004 Yamaha FZ6 Here's my vintage cruiser, 1982 Yamaha XJ Last but certainly not least, my "3-wheeled Jeep", a Dnepr MT10-36 of unknown year, depends on which part.