jeepcoma

I'm trying to replace all the ujoints and the front driveshaft is damaged at the double cardan joint. I tried searching rockauto for the part but can't seem to find it, but maybe I just don't know what to look for. It's damaged here where the c-clip slots in: I managed to find the piece that broke off, I'd normally think a JB-weld type fix is out of the question but this shouldn't really be a load-bearing area, should it? I'd rather not worry about it and just replace the whole piece though. I'd like to also replace the rubber boot, but I'm not sure how. It seems like it's pressed on, but mine is so covered with dirt it's hard to tell. Is my best option to fix both of these (and the ujoints) to just buy a re-manufactured one? They are quite pricey at $250+ and I already have the ujoints and new pinion yoke ready to go in, but given the condition of my original it might be my best long-term option. Rubber "boot" to seal the pinion:

Mine did the same with ice in the e-brake cable. I zipped right down the driveway in reverse but then stalled it trying to drive away. Big disadvantage to having a locker in the rear is that if one wheel won't move, both wheels won't move! If you had the e-brake engaged overnight, I'd start there by warming it up (carefully) enough to get the cable to disengage. If you have a helper you can also have them push the pedal up and down while you watch to see if it's in fact the cable sticking or ice inside the drum binding things up so you know where to apply heat.

Thanks for that pic, it really did the trick! I was able to get some pliers in there and open the tailgate, so I could stick my snowblower in the bed without removing the cap. Everything looks totally rusted up (no surprise) in there, I couldn't even budge the torque screws from the inside.

I got my swaybar bushings(and all other bushings) from RockAuto, I went with the Moog units and they are pretty nice and easy to change. Unless you bent the endlink or it's rusted to pieces, just go with the bushings only. I usually check RockAuto first for prices since they are pretty good (as long as you can combine all the shipping) for most things, and there are always discount coupons floating around (check www.retailmenot.com or I might have a spare coupon somewhere).

I've been looking for a spare AX-15 and NP231 to have on hand and swap into my '91 HO. I know some of the cases are clocked differently, but I don't recall any details. I found a NP231 from a '99 Cherokee, and it has a slip yoke eliminator. Is this any good, and is it a direct swap? What's the point of a SYE, any benefits for non-offroading? Normally I'd search on my own but I'm at work and only have a few minutes to waste so thanks in advance :cheers: Is there a "best" year AX-15/NP231 (or NP242) combo that's a direct swap without having to hammer the tunnel or change splines or anything?

I broke my handle clean off and can't get the gate open. I see the screws on the backside of the gate that hold the handle into it, if I remove those does the part that locks the gate closed come with it so I can remove the gate? It's been a long time since I've had to fix a gate and I'm having trouble imagining how it all goes together inside there :dunno: I thought I remember reading that you have to cut the back of the gate off in order to fix this but it would be nice if it's a straightforward job.

I reused my D35 bracket, I had to drill a new hole. It worked pretty well but since then I've removed the rod and just put the proportioning valve at "full brakes". I haven't had any issues with lockup when braking hard. I'm going to dump it entirely in the spring when I redo the lines, everything is pretty crusty looking. As Pete said, fewer things to fail.

I'm happy with my Hell's Creek MT springs, and I got mine before there was a CC discount! Consider giving them a good coat of anti-rust paint before you install, mine quickly got a surface layer of rust after just one salted-roads winter. Also don't forget quality u-bolts and check the condition of the shackles and shocks! If you're going to be hauling in it, you don't want to cheap out on critical components.

Swapped them around the right way yesterday and got it all fixed up. Took it for a test drive, seems to ride nice. Too bad I couldn't do a back-to-back comparison to see if they made any difference, but pushing up and down on the rear bumper everything moves nice and smooth. And really, I just did it for peace of mind to get rid of the rusted originals (and bad bushings) than for any "upgrade". I didn't want any lift from them, but I didn't happen to measure before I did the swap. Eyeballing it though it looks minimal, maybe half an inch. Seems to be sitting just a tad higher than it was with the stockers.

The axle-side bolt worked itself loose and I lost one half of the bushing (it's the two piece design, polyurethane). Anyone have a spare lying around? It's from the Moog kit. They're pretty cheap, but still, maybe someone has one floating around... (I'd take the little metal collar too, I can't remember if that fell out) It's the top-left blue guy here:

Pics as promised. It took a lot longer than it should have (probably should have learned my lesson on saying that by now...) because of frozen bolts, the ones that attached to the frame (luckily I had recently removed the spring-side bolts to swap in my metric tonne springs), then a trip to the hardware store. Here's me successfully extracting the lower bolts. The uppers I had to cut off. I used a cutoff wheel on the driver's side since I couldn't get the bolt to move at all. The wheel fit up the inside of the mounting tabs so I could cut both sides off and leave rest of the bolt in the bushing. The passenger was easier, since I could move the bolt out some of the way, I used a sawzall then pushed the cut-off head side back in to wiggle the top out. Old vs new: Also I think I put them in backwards. I just needed to get them in to move the truck out of the driveway, so I compared the bracing on the stock vs old one and put them in that way. But it resulted in quite a bit of lift and all the pictures above show it "pointing" in towards the middle of the leaf. Mine are pointed away, out the back. Guess I'll have to drop the axle and swap them around :fs1: And just look at my rusty springs and ubolts, after just one winter and not even a year old :( (there really needs to be a crying smiley)

They are dual single speed fans. I found this comparison on another site, some guy managed to bring a bunch of fans to a booth and measure the open air cfm pull (i.e. not pulling through a restriction like a radiator) of several fans. While the absolute values don't tell the whole truth, it's useful as a comparison. LT1 fan system is easily on par with the Taurus. LS1 FAN SHROUD 1 fan turned on - 5100 cfm 2 fans on - 10500cfm LT1 FAN SHROUD 1 fan turned on - 5200 cfm 2 fans on - 9500 cfm 1999 Dodge Stratus (both fans are always on - 2 speed) Slow speed - 4200 cfm High Speed 10400 cfm 1996 Ford Taurus (1 fan two speed) Slow speed - 3200 CFM High speed - 6000 CFM

I agree with the above though, go out to autozone or advance or any car parts place and rent their spring compressor (it's free!). I usually grab both the strut spring compressor and the coil spring compressor just so I can use both if I need to. If you can remove the control arms, you don't need the compressors and they will just slide right out (no need to remove the track bar either once the control arms are removed). Actually removing the arms can be a bugger though, beyond getting the nuts off you have to deal with removing the bolts from the holes (which often have tension so you can't just slide them out); since it's a junkyard truck I'd say skip the wrenches and just cut those arms in half if you're that desperate. When it comes to installation on your truck, if you're trying to do this is a hurry, take a moment to step back and approach this the right way. You do not want to unbolt the control arms if you've never done this before, besides just the trouble of removing them the first time, it is a real big hassle to get them installed again. I've done it several times now so it's a quick job for me, I know how to wiggle the axle around and where to put jacks to get the right twist to get holes to line up, but really it's not a fun thing to do if you're in a hurry (I speak from experience!). Get the right tool and do the job the right way!

That's interesting, what have you heard? I read a few good things about there here (from CWlongshot I think) but to be honest didn't do a heck of a lot of research on them (compared to most things I buy) since I just needed a beefier stock replacement with no extra lift. I don't really do much off-roading (and certainly not wheeling) so I wasn't too concerned with that aspect of performance. About the only thing I really heard as a complaint is that they're not "really" a boomerang design because the angle isn't great enough... though I'm not really sure what the advantages of a boomerang design are other than that it's for offroad. Once I get off my butt I'm going out to install these so I should have some pics later.

No e-fan, and I don't think mine would have come with one (no A/C), though it's possible it was removed. There's no shroud on the mechanical fan either which I believe should be there. I'm amazed at how well it cools despite all that, so I'm confident the LT1 fans will be way overkill if I can get them in there.

I picked up a set of LT1 fans lying around, with the idea of swapping them in to replace my stock clutch fan (which is frozen solid). The Taurus fan is all the rage but prices are ridiculous and the LT1 dual fans move enough air to cool a 5.7L V8 so they shouldn't have any trouble with the 4.0. I did some initial measurements and it seems like it has potential to fit, but it's going to be some work and not a direct "drop it right in" deal. I removed the stock fan and belt to see if I could squeeze the fans in from the top but the motor sticks out too far to work past the pulleys. Plenty of room to come from underneath though, but even still I might have to move the radiator forward, due to the depth of the LT1 fans. Might end up being more trouble than it's worth, but the diameter of the fans is exactly the height of the radiator so if I can get them in and modify the shroud to fit, it should cover perfectly. Maybe a summer project... After removing the clutch fan, I've so far left it off and been driving with no fan. It's remarkably quiet and definitely has a bit better throttle response (granted my clutch was frozen so it's an extreme case). Even with the temps in the low 60s the other day I had no issues with overheating, even sitting in traffic (not that I'd want to for extended periods) the needle would barely creep once the thermostat fully opened, and about 5 mph was about all the airflow needed to cool it back down. Now that it's cold, passive cooling seems to be just fine, so I'm thinking I'll just leave the fan off for a while I decide whether I want to go through the effort of doing the swap, or just buy a new clutch and stick the mechanical fan back in.

I picked up some JKS "boomerang" shackles (P/N OGS651) to replace my rusty stock ones. Not looking for lift or anything, just to replace the worn out shackle bushings and replace the rusted metal at the same time with something a bit heavier duty for heavy MT loads. They arrived yesterday and they look very nice, thick metal, good welds, even coating, and grease-able. Hopefully swapping them in today or tomorrow, with pics to follow. If anyone is interested, I ordered from jeep4x4center.com which I found to have the best price (it was about $100 shipped), and I got a coupon with the shackles: $10 off any order of $75+ JEEPCODE-SHIN

I've got aussie lockers front and rear on my street MJ... no problems. You won't ever need 4x4 on the street. I only ever need it with some serious snow conditions, and even then it's basically just to get unstuck.

Old Lincoln Tombstones are quality... it's what I've got. Arc has its disadvantages compared to MIG, but it's got advantages too. It may be "old school" but it still has plenty to offer. If yours is AC/DC I'd hang on to it (as long as it works, but the older ones are pretty bullet proof), and maybe pick up a cheapo 110v portable flux MIG welder for those times you can't haul out the big tombstone, for little projects. If it's AC/DC and it works, $50 is a steal.

Half-time for the Pats game, thought I'd say hi...

Quality, not quantity.

Today's the day!

Heck yes!! Make sure to count the number of rear leaves and check the axle. Not suggesting anyone is being intentionally dishonest, but there's enough misinformation and parts swapping going on that it doesn't hurt to be sure...

Good news... put mine back together, wooo :clapping: ! New airtools were great!!! (early x-mas present from the wife :clapping: ) Replaced all the bushings in the control arms (ok I give up, I took them to a mechanic with a press to get 6 of the 8 out) Swapped out the stock springs for V8 springs to balance the MT rear springs and level it out a bit Replaced those damn female torx bolts on the upper control arms with stainless steel hex heads.. huzzah! Replaced brake caliper bolts with stainless steel bolts (one stock bolt was broken and sheared off) Got all replacement u-joints and steering damper Bad news... something wrong in the front driveshaft (likely why it started making noise and vibrating). I'm not sure on the terminology, but it's the piece between the double u-joints on the front-axle side. After some quick googling, I think it's the "centering ball", but I'll have to keep looking (any ideas on replacement parts? DIY or shop only repair?). So front driveshaft is out, RWD only for the time being. failed to replace axle u-joints, I was going to put them on my spare axle shafts and just swap them over but I think I want to do the hubs at the same time. Looking around for a good price. failed to replace steering damper. With axle dropped, the trackbar was in the way of removing the bolt. Just wanted to get it back in driving condition so I can fix that part later. On the maiden voyage, heard a chin-churrrrr-ching-ching-chhurrrr sort of noise. One of the gas tank straps broke and was falling on the rear driveshaft :fs2: Must have broken off from the impact hammering on those suspension bolts. :fs1: I can never :wall: never :wall: never :wall: fix something on this truck without something else breaking!! :wall: :wall: :wall: :doh: Next up: figure out parts to order to fix front driveshaft fix front driveshaft find out I can't fix front driveshaft get new tools to fix front driveshaft :brows: replace front hubs and u-joints replace all rear bumper bolts with stainless (gotta be ready to use those rear recovery hook for winter ya know) align rear pinion angle and replace rear ujoints fix rusty floors :help: