benjy_26

Ummmm.... something aint quite right. I'm putting down an average of 15.8 in mixed city and highway driving in my ZJ with a 4.7 stroker,al auto tranny, 3.73's and 32" KM2's. How's your A/F mix? Not running too rich?

I think it's 25yo in the US.

Awesome. I imagine that the people unhappy with the AX5 were expecting it to be something it wasn't designed to be. Am I right?

There's ways around it. Easiest that I've seen/combobulated in my own head is using a Dakota AX15 and replacing the tail with a Jeep 4x4 version. This SHOULD allow use of all factory parts and skip the funky conversions using Camaro 4 banger parts. As far as what I want out of this build: I was thinking of having a Jeep that can easily go from semi economical daily driver, to high speed desert runner, and at times be able to be used for extended camping/excursions. Basically, something that's capable in most conditions (no extreme, King of the Hammers stuff), reliable, and that sips fuel instead of gulping it down like my other 4wd vehicles. I plan on going no bigger than 31's on the tires (all terrain tires), maintaining a low center of gravity (no/little lift combined with modified body work), efficient use of space for storage, keeping the weight down to reasonable levels, adding a good amount of lighting, and more than likely some kind of traction adding device in the rear end.

Too true. I was thinking of 31's vs 33's.

Hello all. I was wondering.... is the AX5 really that bad of a transmission, particularly behind a bone-stock 2.5MPFI re-build? I currently have an AX4 behind my 87's squirrel, and the John- Deere-esque shift throws are kind of endearing. Reminds me of some old trucks (50's and 60's) that have passed through my family. While I do have a tendency of overbuilding things, this Comanche has got me thinking that maybe less is more. I have checked the compression on my mill, and it's an even 120lbs across the board. I like the fact that it wore evenly, but it is definitely time for a rebuild. I was thinking of picking up a 2.5 with Chrysler's MPFI system as I'm much more familiar with that than the Renix stuff I have under the hood, and perhaps even sourcing an AX-15/NP231 set up, but I am beginning to reconsider. I don"t plan on going past a re-build to stock specs (save for maybe being overbored and having a free flowing exhaust). Will an AX5 live behind such an engine, or will it grenade when I least expect it?

I say skip 33's altogether. I forget where I read this, but according to some testing done by someone (sorry), when aired down, 32's and 33's have pretty much the same footprint on the soft stuff. Unless you really need that extra inch of clearance, I'd go 32's.

Holy Crap that looks mean!

Moisture.... but don't freak out yet. Last winter was pretty moist around my area, and I thought I was doing everything well when it came to driving and maintaining my vehicle. One day, while checking my oil, I noticed some weird sludge in my dipstick tube. I denied all evidence and told myself that I DID NOT have water in my oil. I changed it, and everything in the pan looked and smelled pretty normal. Checking it again a few days later, I found the dreaded "chocolate milkshake" on my stick again. I started flipping out.... until my brother had the idea to check the CCV system. One of the grommets was indeed clogged on inspection, and he noted that since my physical place of employment had changed, I was driving less than 5 minutes to work during a cold, wet season. His point was that my CCV's inefficiency combined with the low running time on my vehicle every mirning and afternoon were creating a situation in which the moisture in the ambient air was not being cooked off as it used to when I would have 40-45 minutes of highway cruising on my past commutes. All I did was to let my vehicle idle for 5-10 mins every morning and do the same when leaving work... Problem solved. :) That, or you really DO have water where you shouldn't. :-\

I don't know jack about this, but coul maybe a disc brake set up from a D44A equipped ZJ make the conversion smoother?

Get an old toyota "one ton" rear axle, a Willy's bed, and you might have the hardware to really mess with people's minds :)

Never thought of that.... but it's true. As it is, even running tires with "bead protectors" my wheels get scuffed and scratched pretty badly by the sand and small rocks around here. A set of JK take offs would look like poo within a week on my ride. :-\

For the record, if we were talking about towing 4k-4500lbs, I would totally be for it.

All the brake upgrades in the world won't be able to break the laws of physics, man. Mass is mass. What you're doing is akin to a flyweight boxer roiding up so he can go beat up on a heavyweight. Maybe he'll be able to do it, but most likely Iron Mike is going to bite his ear off and eat his children. ("All praise be to Allah!" lol). I towed a Suburban on a dolly once with my ZJ. Only about 6 miles on side streets. Even with a stroker, 4 wheel discs, upgraded pads and rotors (not taking anything away from EBC... their stuff rocks!), OME coils and Biksteins all around, it was pretty scary. I could pull the load VERY easily, but when it came time to stop.... well, I definately felt like the load was pushing me around. It's not fun, man. If you want to tow and do it safely and sell, check out dealerships in your area that specialize in used fleet vehicles. I've seen (admittedly high mileage) gas powered Silverado 2500HD's with an allison/6.0 combo go for under 3 grand if you stick to the basic white exterior/ rubber interior, single cab, 2wd long bed configuration. Not true. Can you really tell me that the new CTD Ram 3500 that can tow 30,000 pounds weighs 30,000 pounds or more itself? Absolutely not. The truck weighs about 8,000 pounds. Does a semi tractor weigh 80,000 pounds? If your hypothesis about mass alone were true than no vehicle could tow more than its curb weight. From the factory an MJ with the tow package (tranny cooler/AW4/D44 rear) with a class three receiver hitch installed could tow 5,000 pounds per the factory manual for my '88. See? Even the factory approved it to tow more than its curb weight. Without the tow package the max. trailer weight was 3,500 pounds. ( greater than the average curb weight,too.) I have the manual buried in storage and only noted the stats for an AW4 as that is what I had.It is possibly that the stick had a 2,500 # tow rating but I am not sure. From my experience I would not tow 5,000 pounds with an MJ without these things: 1. the master cyl. upgrade (WJ or XJ dual diaphragm) 2. rear disc brakes if I didn't have a D44 or similar axle with larger brakes than a D35. (many 1/5 ton full-sized tricks used a D44 or equivalent rear and drum brakes) 3. upgrade to open cooling system if towing for any distance. (although I never experienced cooling issues with the factory closed system) 4 Stiffer springs and/or helper shocks 5. AW4 with a tranny cooler (preferred) or at least an AX15 with a new or HD clutch. 6. receiver hitch (with sway control if possible) 7. trailer brakes 8. 3.55 or better rear gears especially with a stick On my factory-D44 equipped '88 withan AW4,tranny cooler, an aftermarket receiver hitch, and trailer brakes I towed a 12' dual axle solid wood floored landscaping tralier with two riding mowers and other equipment on it with no drama. I never weighed it. It was fine except that emergency braking could get interesting but I was using the stock booster. Such emergency braking issues are pretty common with most towing set-ups that approach or exceed the curb weight of the tow vehicle anyway. Pull in front of a semi to prove this. The '88 truck did have a long add-a-leaf and I don't think that most of our 22 + year old rear springs are still up to not only the weight bearing but the control of the side-to-side motions. Fine. I oversimplified. Mea culpa. I should have said p=m•v is p=m•v. I'm not 100% sure that manufacturers use this formula to calculate tow ratings, but I'm sure it plays a part. So... assuming that we're working with nice, round #'s, the tires and thr road conditions as well as the environmental conditions cooperate and all the weight is distributed equally, a MJ with a loaded car trailer as the OP describes it is right around 5kblbs, as is a 4x4 MJ with occupants and fluids (or damned close). That means that under IDEAL conditions, the MJ/trailer combo should remain flat and stable while being able to efficiently brake from, let's say, 50mph. At 50mph, the combined trailer and MJ are exerting 500,000lbs-mph. That's a metric $#!& ton of force. Can it do it? Quite possibly. My ZJ is rated to tow the same load as a MJ. I have never had a problem gerting a load up to and beyond 50mph, and on flat land, controlled braking isn't a huge isse (though it IS interesting). My point being, if one is to be towing at or near the limit often, it may be safer and more efficient to purchase a beater tow rig with a higher safety margin. Let's keep in mind that force increases geometrically, not arithmetically.

After much trial and error, I keep coming back to either the NGK's mentioned above, or the Champ RCY12's.

Awesome! Pics are DEFINATELY needed. I was considering some JK wheels for one of my own Heeps too...

All the brake upgrades in the world won't be able to break the laws of physics, man. Mass is mass. What you're doing is akin to a flyweight boxer roiding up so he can go beat up on a heavyweight. Maybe he'll be able to do it, but most likely Iron Mike is going to bite his ear off and eat his children. ("All praise be to Allah!" lol). I towed a Suburban on a dolly once with my ZJ. Only about 6 miles on side streets. Even with a stroker, 4 wheel discs, upgraded pads and rotors (not taking anything away from EBC... their stuff rocks!), OME coils and Biksteins all around, it was pretty scary. I could pull the load VERY easily, but when it came time to stop.... well, I definately felt like the load was pushing me around. It's not fun, man. If you want to tow and do it safely and sell, check out dealerships in your area that specialize in used fleet vehicles. I've seen (admittedly high mileage) gas powered Silverado 2500HD's with an allison/6.0 combo go for under 3 grand if you stick to the basic white exterior/ rubber interior, single cab, 2wd long bed configuration.

NICE! An ashtray-radio would kill! I was thinking of pulling the stereo, installing it in the dash slot, and just running an old ipod or something similar to a small power amp. Save some space and pick my own music. I don't need to be advertised to 24-7 anyway.

AWD as in 242? Installing a locker in the rear shouldnt affect the functionality of that T Case. Just remember to let off the gas and coast whike rounding a corner. You should be ok.

Gleason had nothing to do with the TrueTrac. The people who bought Gleason's patents "added" the True-Trac to the product line calling it a TorSen. The TrueTrac is a helical gear-driven LSD commonly referred to as a gleason-torson due the inventor of the design and its later maker. Although Gleason the man may not have had any direct connection to the TrueTrac the people who bought him out did. Gleason the company became Torson ( its long full name escapes me right now.) I have always heard ( that might be my mistake right there :hmm: ) that the TrueTrac was based off of a Torson modification of the original Gleason design. The later versions are referred to as a gleason-torson differential. I have had the cone-type LSD in several Mopars with the 8 3/4 rear. Their version is called the Sure Grip. I was impressed with their initial clamping power but less impressed with their longevity and that failures are for all intents and purposes catastrophic. They were originally a Borg Warner cone-type design that was sold to Auburn and which Auburn still produces. Mopar's car Dana 60 Sure Grips were actually the Dana Power-Lok clutch type LSD, considered by many to be about the finest clutch-type LSD design as the clutch pack is easily adaptable to fine tune the bias. Their discontinued Dana 30 Power-Lok LSD's were a factory option in the front of several vehicles and are still sought after for that application. 8.25 & 9.25 axles used clutch-type LSD's but were also referred to as Sure Grip. A factory LSD in an XJ with an 8.25 is a clutch-type. Sure Grip = Chrysler. Posi/positraction = Chevy & GMC. Traction Lok ( later unofficially shortened to track-lok ) was the most common Ford name. Dana's in house units were Power-Loks while Jeep primarily had the Trac-loc. Notice the very similar names for most? How Chevy's "posi" became the default norm for all LSD's when even Buick, Olds, and Pontiac had different names for their LSD's is strange. Especially when you consider that the other make's LSD's were mainly the exact unit that Chevy used. So to tie this in: The fact that Borg Warner designed a cone type LSD to which the rights were subsequently sold to Auburn in no way changes that today's Auburn cone type LSD is based on that BW design. Later enhancements were not made under BW but the BW design remains. The same applies to the TrueTrac. It may or may not be a child of Gleason but it is at least a grandchild. Benjy-26: Similar to your Blazer story I drove a '70 Dodge Super Bee with a 425 horsepower (via desk-top dyno) 440 and a spool in the rear for a full winter here in Ohio. As with your K5 all that I had to do was remember that it was there and drive accordingly. I did not realize that you and I were apparently displaying a skill that is unobtainable by so many others. Man... that Super Bee sounds like a sweet ride. I honestly think that a lot of people get too caught up with what they hear one should or shouldnt do. I remember when I installed 32's on ky zj with only an inch of lkft, people told me it was going to be unusable, even on the street. I've been daily driving it and wheeling it hard for years now. Mud Terrains on the street? On a 2wd daily driver?!?!?? MADNESS!!!! According to a lot of people, I should be dead, or Satan is ice skating in his living room. Same attitude goes with a bunch of stuff, like using speed parts on trucks ("it ain't a drag car, why you putting that MSD stuff on that crap L6?"), to my choice to not run sway bars on my low lift, long travel builds. I think you hit the nail on the head when you mentioned that you drove your Bee according to conditions. I think we have gotten used to having REALLY good cars and parts too. Take tires and shocks, for example. Even as little as 10 years ago, having such an aggressive tire as a BFG KM2 that was astually usable on the street the whole year round was unheard of. A 6 inch lift HAD TO ride like a pissed off donkey, and a decently flowing exhaust came with ear plugs and Advil. There's a lot of good stuff on thr market now, and thanks to the hugely varied styles of car customization, there's people out there with all sorts of valuable ideas and skills that we can observe, study, and maybe incorporate into our own mentak tool box and ultimately our builds.

whay to choose and where to use it depends as much on the driver as it does on the diff. I have a lunch box locker in the 8.8 under my 2wd ZJ and I love it. It's pretty much transparent to me in daily use and is a big help when off roading. Honestly, though, I think I'm either deaf, or I just like rough, "interesting" vehicles. Case in point: I drove my K5 with no top, doors, carpet, radio, or cup holders to and from a trail run that was about 300 miles away on recentered HMMVW wheels and tires and a full spool in the back with what amounts to an open exhaust. I honestly had a blast. Except for the cup holders. That's probably the only thing I truly missed.

What are y'all doing for antenna(e)?

Nice installa, guys. I like how the overhead option saves space, but I tend to drive fast, so that may be out for me.

I don't have a center console, and my interior is pretty much stripped. I was thinking of making a box out of a .30cal ammo can and bolting it to the cab in the notch of the bench.

You must be talking to guys with small lifts. Most of the Jeepers around here ditch the 242 for thr 231 for the easy SYE conversion. That, and we only get one snow day every five years 'round here. :)