DirtyComanche

Be careful with propane appearing cheap. It has only 80% of the BTUs as the same amount of gasoline. To use a GM HEI, IIRC, you need to get an inline 6 version and you need the drive gear off an AMC 360 distributor. I don't know if other models will work or not, it was years ago when I did mine, but the info is out there as it was a common swap into carbed CJs and YJs.

That was an actual dual fuel setup. I'm not a fan of them. But if you just want to run it as a propane only setup I would pull all of the Renix EFI stuff, just leave the injectors and rail to plug the holes in the intake manifold, and drop a GM HEI distributor in it. That would be basically the best setup in regards to power and reliability. Why do you want to run propane?

I need more details to tell you anything useful. Pictures of what you have and info on how it was installed on the Cherokee.

:thumbsup: Yup, it's just mangled metal now. It didn't owe me anything anyways. Thanks for all the kind words guys. I survived the weekend road trip too, actually had a really good time and was just as happy to be out doing stuff.

I'm just riding as a passenger, which is good. I already told my friend that we're going to have to stop at every pullout/lookout/rest stop/gas station so I can stretch. :crossfingers:

Good advice that. I'm definitely an offender, especially when just running errands around town. This will change now. Were you fairly close to home when this happened Dirty? I think the statistic is that 75% of all fatal accidents happen within 25 miles of home. Like 5 minutes down the road. I think I left at 7:20am and the text I sent to my shop supervisor to say I wouldn't make it was at 7:28am. You get complacent on roads you know well and drive every day.

Thanks man. :cheers:

Yeah, I'm hoping my head is okay, I didn't really hit it on anything that I know of. My neck is sore now, along with a bit of my torso, but otherwise I'm feeling fairly decent. Just drained though, it was a long fawking day. I managed to get the truck towed to my buddy's, unfortunately the towing company would not touch it without a flag team to direct traffic. The traffic control team charged $360 for the two of them to put some signs out, then wave at each other, they didn't even have radios... The tow was free though, so whatever. Hopefully the stitches are all still good, haven't pulled the gauze yet to look. Of course they tell you to take it easy and I don't even thinking about it and use the stitched up arm to yank the ebrake on my JK, and to try to turn the wheel on the dead truck so it would track straight. :doh: I have to go to Edmonton tomorrow, which is bad timing, but hopefully I survive. Anyways, wear your seatbelts, I'd be dead if I hadn't.

It's a 99. I'm there now and it is turning free, but it took a hell of a hit. So who knows.

Thanks guys. Still waiting to get stitched up. One of my friends wants the engine to trans adapter off the truck, so I'm going to try to get it towed to his place when I get out of here. We might be able to figure out what happened then. Ya never know, I could just be a terrible driver.

But could have been way worse. Driving to work this morning and I rolled my Dodge. I think the brakes locked up or something let go or seized in the rear axle. Just touched the brakes and it suddenly went completely nuts, uncontrollable skid, damp pavement but not anything crazy and I wasn't going that fast. Went in sideways and flipped onto the roof and crushed it down into me pretty hard. I managed to wiggle out the side, remembered to get my keys too. And now I'm waiting for stitches for my arm. Hopefully they get to me soon.... Been waiting an hour so far. So anyways, guess I have to actually get my MJ together because I need a truck.

Close. Closer than a lot of things.

Fill it through the shift tower if you have to... But yeah, it's always good advice to make sure you can put fluid in before draining fluid out.

Make one out of Lexan for the time being?

If it's got more than one axle, locking a tire up doesn't do much if they're prepared. Lift that side of the axle, strap it up, and go. Same thing you do when you have a blowout and you're too lazy to change the tire (or out of spares). :rotf: My personal theft deterrent is that my trailer is in a field, and the grass is high enough you wouldn't know it was there without doing a flyover first. :thumbsup:

Glad you got it home and it will be saved. I was afraid it would wind up getting scrapped sooner or later.

I have Explorer rear disks on my truck. For comparison purposes, the rotor is 11" in diameter and 1/2" thick (vented). Shouldn't be vented... Unless you've bought fancy aftermarket instead of 'normal' stock style. Or do you mean drilled/slotted? Official numbers in the book at 11.25" and .470" thick, or something like that (nobody really agrees, I think it's because it's actually listed in metric and converted/rounded). A modern vented rotor is typically about 11-13" and 1.25-1.5" thick. There is exceptions, as there is some thin vented rotors on cars like the Lincoln Mark VIII, Mustang, etc (some are even 5x4.5 bolt pattern if you're interested). And there's some much bigger stuff used in front applications. There's probably smaller stuff used in front applications off of cars, but the question would be finding something with a hat large enough to accept redrilling/fit over the hub. The GM rotor that normally is used in this application is 12.8" and 1.28" thick. 1/3 of the thickness is mostly void space (no weight) as it is the vent area. Guys cut them in half at the vents, then turn the (previously vent are) face smooth. We dug up some rotors for a limo that are about .790" thick and 12.8" diameter, waiting for them to arrive to be weighed. I have my doubts that they're any lighter, as most of what has happened is the vent area is smaller, and they have a thicker hat to incorporate a parking brake drum. The K20 rotors most guys use are a front rotor, and they actually windowed the hat for whatever reason (airflow probably), so between that and the wider vent I doubt it weighs more. The small Isuzu rotor is only 10.3" diameter, or something like that, IIRC. Super small friction area, as the hat is the same size or larger than the comparable solid rotors. It actually would probably be a good choice if a guy was running 6 lug hubs. In short I doubt there is anything that exists that's really worth the hassle. The conclusion I am at right now is to not worry about it. I'm waiting for other ideas on hubs that don't cost a fortune, we're going to try weighing some and see what we can come up with.

And the easiest (and probably most reliable) option would be just a generic DRL controller that's wired to the ignition, if you can live with the lights being on in park/neutral.

Affordable, and looks easy to install. But the wiring diagram doesn't make any sense -- from the diagram, the lights would be on all the time. It's either as Hornbrod said, and it senses alternator charge due to increased voltage (turns on at 13V or so), or it is as I suggested and senses ripple current and turns on. Both methods do have certain risks, IE a system like GM's intelligent charge controlling might not trigger at all times if it is voltage sensing, or it may not trigger with certain 'smoothed' or low RF alternators if it is sensing ripple output.

This DRL "switch" is pretty cool, stand alone, and simple to install. It must work by sensing the increased battery charging voltage when the engine is started and keeps the DRL's on until you shut the engine off and the battery settles down to it's lower normal "at rest" voltage state. I can see this might be problematic though if your charging system isn't working as it should and/or if the your battery is dying. It might work on seeing the ripple output from the alternator. Kinda like the Soundracer. :rotf:

If you want them to only come on when in gear, it's pretty much what you said, wire them to be on with ignition using a relay, and use the grounding of the NSS to kill power to the coil/trigger in the relay (a transistor might be the cleanest option for that).

Yeah, it is, or should be. What year XJ?

As Eagle said, unfortunately that axle isn't much good for you. It's a 79 or older, I believe, and it's 64"~ wide. And it should be 6x5.5 bolt pattern. It's not a bad axle, it just doesn't match up well to anything that you probably want to do. It would pair excellent with a HP D44 front out of say a 79ish F-150 Supercab or something like that, which would be about 65" wide and driver's drop. You would need some Wagoneer knuckles/spindles/hubs for it though (or whatever) to make it 6x5.5 to match. But good luck finding one, and swapping it in would be a lot of work.

Trying to make budget 'race' parts. The typical brake swap for a full float axle is to use K-20 calipers and rotors. Both are overkill. So guys split the rotor and and run a smaller caliper, either from Wilwood, or a Toyota type of application (there's a few out there that can fit). It's a bit of a drag to do, but it does work. Otherwise, Explorer rear rotors actually will fit on an 8x6.5 hub, but it's marginal. The hat diameter is the issue, you have to grind a fair amount of the head off the studs in order to get them through. There is another way to do it, which would be to counterbore the hub and install the studs into it, and then bolt the rotor to the back of the hub rather than using the studs to retain it. Or you could do what GM did on the K-truck stuff and window the hat so there's clearance for the heads of the studs. But just weighing options and seeing if there's something easier. It isn't like the Explorer rotor is a terribly convenient starting point. Looking up the Grand Caravan ones, they're only about 1/4" larger in diameter than the Explorer ones, and given they're the same bolt pattern I'm not sure if the hat will be any larger. Unless there's an option I didn't try. I think a 6 lug application might be a bit better starting point if one exists. The Isuzu Trooper rotor is rather small though, otherwise it could have been a good candidate.

Does it still work?