brucecooner

Hauling its new Aisin to the shop. Later, hauling the leaky old BA back from the shop.

How'd it go @pizzaman09 ? Did it fit? I read reviews that said the new Crown "OEM" ones don't mount to the original holes by about a mm requiring drilling out the door, so I just bought a used one off of ebay. I totally disassembled it, took the little wheels out and greased everything up. It was apparently from a back door but once I figured out how to defeat the spring it was easy to swap in the bar from my broken one. The bracket and pin on the body had no wear (because they haven't had to do any work in a long time) so kept them. The new-old one I got still creaks like a door in a haunted house despite my efforts at lubrication, but at least my driver's side door doesn't bonk me all the time on our sloped driveway now. I haven't popped the window crank back on since I want to remove the panel again and dry lube the lock mechanism. But I've been wondering if there is another or aftermarket replacement for the stock cranks. I feel like I've only got so many removals of the crank before the plastic tabs on the back break and then I guess it's down to faith and friction keeping them on. Looking at the little splined axle though, it doesn't look like there's an option for a set screw or anything to hold a different crank. Removing the door panel made me miss my '99 Ranger. On that one you removed like three screws (one in the crank) and the door panel just lifted up and off. No fuss, zero tabs to break, all doors should work that way.

Really dig the patriotic color scheme inside and out, and those wheels are working on it too. I did not know you could swap out the windows with later models, I'll have to check into that.

Perfectly executed. My panels are in pretty good shape, or I'd consider taking out a home equity loan and doing my doors up like this. That said, I can imagine the experience of touching that piece of metal after the truck has sat in the Arizona sun a while would lead to some blisters in that distinctive tread pattern. Based on what it costs at the hardware store, that was about a house payment's worth.

My son has gone picking for his old F-150 and said he hasn't seen any Cherokees. I've called around and can't find any either. They're rare birds at this point. But regarding your advice... since I rarely carry passengers I was debating just robbing the one from my passenger door. I need to open that door up anyway to figure out why the window won't roll all the way down. I read some reviews that said the Crown one's bolts were about 1.5 mm too far apart for the stock holes, and some reviews said they didn't hold up anyway. That said, I've been running a Crown brake booster over a year and it's been fine so far. Ultimately I went with a used door check from ebay though (currently in the mail). I'd be curious to know if the Crown one bolts right in. I'm thinking the rubber stopper version would make for less jarring and a more durable piece.

I'm sure they're fine, I haven't heard enough people badmouth them to convince me it's a bad idea to keep one in working condition. It's just a me thing, I like having less stuff to have to think about thinking about. Part of the reason I bought an older offroader was because I wanted less electromechanical doohickeys between me and the rocks. Then like an ignoramus I went and bought a Jeep with an extra axle, that's vacuum actuated. This truck doesn't look like it was ever taken offroad, I think it was just a tow rig. So I doubt this CAD has been engaged in a long long time, if ever. The front diff pinion seal looks fresh, I think it was replaced at some point, but I'm keeping an eye on everything up front now that it's getting worked.

I found out why my door won't' stay open today. I noticed that the bar was just loose in the door, it wasn't attached to anything. So I wanted to inspect the situation, see if it was a repairable situation, before I got a new check. I took out the speaker and there was something sitting in the bottom of the door. Turns out it was part of the door check, and it had been there a while too. At some point the old one had self-disassembled. My son's a welder but I don't think there's any rescuing this. Time to go shopping I guess. I have to wonder though, if a lack of grease or lubrication might cause the bar to grab or something else to seize and cause this failure. Or maybe it's just cheap metal plus bad design.

Ultimately I went with ALL of the solutions. I took the cover off and was glad to see the oil that came out was fresh and clean, like I'd expect given the diff was oiled just last year. So I looked good and hard at the c-clips in the cover and decided, "I'll never get those things right." Nothing is easy to do inside the housing, with diff oil all over everything, but with a small metal hook tool and some finger ballet, I got the hose clamp wrapped and snugged. CRUISER PLEASE LOOK AWAY NOW! I tried to get it so the collar was half-on each spline. But then, I noticed as I rocked the wheel back and forth, that the collar would just slowly walk its way to the inboard side. I figured over time, with enough reversing, it would walk over there and proceed to rub on the axle housing. I thought, "Dang it, if only I had a way to sort of lock it in place there." THEN, I thought, "Oh, I do have a way to do that." So I slid the fork over to the engaged setting and put the cover back on and snugged everything up. Hopefully the fork will keep it about where I set it, but it can't make its way back to the outboard side and disengage when I least expect it. I took the opportunity to clean up the housing and fork while it was off. This thing had about an inch of grime on every outside surface, but it cleaned up nice. The actuator still makes suction, believe it or not. Might even work with some vacuum, but I want less parts that have to move around. Just to increase the blood pressure of all the forum regulars, since the gasket had remained in one piece in place on the axle the whole time, I just slapped the cover right back on the old gasket. I got all the nubbins back on, and eh, it looks okay. It is an old truck after all. Finally I topped off the diff oil and took it for a drive and found out that it drives... ...completely the same. No change whatsoever. At least not yet. To celebrate I took out the vacuum brittle old vacuum lines at the actuator, but there's more to trace and remove back to the transfer case. So its' done, with my usual maximum amount of overthinking. Supposedly my fresh AX-15 will be in the mail next week too, so this was a good time to finish this up. With any luck I'll be using all four wheels to pull this thing forward in the next couple of months.

I dig the black fender flares. I've thought about dipping mine black, but the front ones are already a little crusty on top, so it's probably best if I don't make them soak up the maximum amount of Arizona solar radiation.

That's me in a nutshell. Except my nutshell is covered with foamcore that is covered by an outer, larger nutshell (to account for the size increase due to the insulation). And then I had to add cooling vents in the nutshell that I can open and close. And I added a port to the nutshell with coax AND ethernet, since I can't get a wifi signal in my nutshell anymore. But the coat of paint on the outside is a bit uneven in places. I'm not a perfectionist after all. My plan is to use one clamp, and do a test drive. If she don't get the wobbles I'll call it done, and for half the expected material cost at that. I wonder if ever so slight misalignment of the fork might lead to the slightest twisting stress that adds up over many miles till one day it's done. And I wouldn't trust myself to replace anything. I want to just put a plate on the hole and remove as much of the vacuum stuff as I can.

I got under the front and cleaned 30 years worth of grime off the cad body last weekend, so that when I go to do the delete the messy part is done. Mine has that semicircular guard under the vacuum actuator, and its upper surface sure holds onto a lot of greasy dirt. Anyway, I've seen a method for the delete in yt videos where they take a couple of hose clamps, 180 degrees off so they're balanced, and use those to keep the collar engaged. As the clamps and collar would all be spinning on the shaft together, nothing should be rubbing anything at differential speeds. I find this appealing, as I can remove the fork (the most reliable part is no part) and just replace the cad plate, actuator, etc. with a flat cover. I've heard a few stories of the fork breaking, so removing it may prevent a problem the line. It's probably apples to oranges, but has anybody run with this fork delete method?

Thanks again for all the compliments. I've got the AX-15 on order now, hopefully it goes in later this spring and I can get on some trails this summer.

Unlike me, my truck's driver side door swings freely. Usually this isn't a problem, until I need it to say open on our upward sloping driveway, like when I'm working on something under the dash. My solution so far has been a couple of bungee cords from the door handle to the wheel, but I would like to figure out what's supposed to be doing this job and fix it if possible. Is there a bracket inside the door or something that presses on the bar going into the door that holds it open?

Thanks 89MJ for choosing The Heartbreaker as MJOTM, and thanks everyone for the compliments.

This thread is awesome, it makes me happy to see any old truck doing useful work. Last week the Heartbreaker did its first real work since I got it, we hauled my son's recently acquired but very tired 302 from his '95 F150 to the speed shop for a refresh. I was nervous about lugging this lump around with the old Peugot but it did fine. I thought for sure I'd have to be patient, my previous truck was a Ranger with the 3.0. But this guy drove the same as it does empty, like it wasn't even carrying a whole nother engine in the back. The neighbor's shiny maroon Mojave Gladiator hardly ever leaves his driveway, the poor thing. The old red Titan one door down has been parked there since they moved in. There is always a lot of rare old iron to ogle at the speed shop. When I saw this spot was open I had to take it.

I don't PLAN on jumping it, my plan is to keep all four wheels on the ground. I wouldn't be opposed to new shafts, but pulling the carrier sounds like a good way to muck something up, for me. cruiser knows me. I've pulled and tugged on everything underneath the jeep, and everything seems pretty solid. But I'm wondering now how long it's been since the front drive shaft has turned. The Jeep has been pretty well maintained over its life, but everything on it is pretty tired. Like I said, I cannot twist or shake either shaft, but I guess I'll have keep in mind I might need to replace some U-joints after the delete.