DirtyComanche

I'm not saying what you did... I'm talking about mad clutch pack slipping. Read what I said. With a load on them it will start to spin the free (on ice) wheel and leave the other one stopped. I blew a L/S up doing this. Snow wheeling is largely about 'hammering down' and trying to maintain your momentum - it means you can easily be throwing 20 minutes of constant abuse at it while climbing a hill. This WILL kill a clutch pack LSD. Maybe not the first time, but it doesn't take many runs.

How can that possibly kill a clutch-pack LSD? With virtually no traction, the clutches aren't subject to enough torque to unlock and the axle acts just like a spool. There's no clutch wear at all. The original Trac-Lok in my '88 XJ lasted about 150,000 miles. Pretty simple. Ice on one side, not on the other, throw in a long 20* hill and I guarantee you by the time you reach the top the L/S will be unhappy. The issue isn't that you have no traction, but uneven traction. It happens a lot while snow wheeling.

Fully Selectable Lockers or Nothing for me...If I'm spending the $$$ I'm only going to do it once... Which is all well and good until you decided to upgrade your axles... Anyways, I'd take a full case locker over a lunchbox any day. But I'm comfortable doing a gear setup. Full case lockers are a lot stronger, and some of them work quite a bit better than the lunchboxes. Lockers definatly help when wheeling in the winter. You will kill a clutch-pack limited-slip if you get in situations where it is icy and wheel speed is required. So, a truetrac would be fine, but I'd not run any other L/S. Spools work good in the snow/ice too.

However, they didn't convert those to a 2dr, so they look kinda ghey-sauce. And I extend that opinon to chopped XJs.

Cool paint, looks kinda like my old cherry. A little lighter perhaps. New paint always makes things look a lot better!

Everyone I know, who has pro-comp x-terrains, hates them. :nuts: Having personally not used them, I won't say anything for sure. But everyone complained of weak sidewalls (like a BFG M/T) and pinhole leaks. And off-road traction was suspect at best, with the tire easily being outperformed. I asked about getting a set for my cherry, and was told to either man up and run Iroks, or to buy Truxus M/Ts or another set of MT/Rs if I wanted something a little more mild.

Dude... You're from Vernon. That's almost scary. I lived there... Umm, anyways, sounds like the TPS got wet. It'll probably take care of itself. Or maybe not. Let it run for a while and warm up, it'll dry everything out.

You don't specifically need a cage... Just to reinforce enough other things to make up for it.

Cool. I'll probably order them unless anybody else has a better idea. And Pete, my headlight wiring is messed up. Somebody added daytime running lights without using any factory parts or an aftermarket module (I'm still not entirely sure how they did that, I didn't unravel it all) and as a result I think I'll have to pull a few wires before things are peachy anyways.

How long have you had the autopals?

I'll admit I know nothing. Well, close to it. I never cared enough to learn about lights. But I know stock jeep lights suck. Anyways, I read a review on these http://www.rocky-road.com/xjipfH4.html They seemed pretty positive. $120ish is cheap. I'd just go with the housings and the 55/60W bulbs. Nothing crazy. I think. But thoughts, opinons, etc?

That information is all wrong for a renix, near as I know. There is a few issues. You have to grind a bit of the bracket for the A/C for clearance. And one of the bolt heads will rub on the belt unless you grind it down or find some sort of clearanced-head bolt (which I have not found, it is metric, so no luck.) Also, the lower rad hose can interfere (it is on my XJ, I'll have to look into it). Anyways, here's a picture of the correct belt P/N Image Not Found If you use the one in the above thread, it will be too long and you won't be able to get it tight enough. Installed. Image Not Found You can see the bolt in the P/S bracket that it runs right over - it rubs that. I'm probably going to do some surgery in that area to change it to a standard bolt, and use a MS-series countersunk bolt. You can also see the A/C bracket grinding. Otherwise it works good, I've done it on two XJs and the MJ.

They'll be tied in to an extent. I have a plan, I'm just not sure how well it will come out. I actually think they're pretty solid as-is, the door pillars have a lot of material too them once you get them welded all over the place. But I don't trust that enough to leave them as-is. I've seen people who only tied them into the floor a little more than mine are now, and they seemed to work. But who knows how hard they are on things.

Yeah, half the reason I did them was I only plan to run a 2" lift at most (and by lift, I mean a collection of parts I found in my garage). Although, that plan might change. I won't make them any wider - screw the body, I'd rather fit through things. It's not like this thing has virgin sheetmetal or anything. And mine are air tanks too, well almost, along with the rear bumper, and the front bumper will be too... Figured I might as well. Plans might really change though.

Thinking of getting one for the 2drx4. Owners of a renix 4.0 know how silly the stock oil filter is mounted - vertically with the threads down. It means you're guarenteed to dump a fair amount of oil when you change it, and it might lead to priming issues. I know a guy can rotate the oil filter adapter, or run the newer style (HO) one which mounts the filter sideways. But that doesn't really fix the problem. But I saw this on summitracing: http://store.summitracing.com/partdetai ... toview=sku For $50 you could throw it somewhere else - the firewall assumably would be the best place if you could find the room. Then the filter is oriented correctly. And you can use a larger filter. They have a dual setup too, and they make them for the HO. Anybody already got one? Where'd ya mount it? I'm tempted to go this route for my next oil change. Any other thoughts?

Got the other slider welded on. Well, half welded on. To the same stage as the other one anyways (good enough for now) Image Not Found Some of the welding went awesome, some of it was ugh. Image Not Found But I managed to get it to match the other side pretty darn well, even the slight angle they're on (they slope outwards a bit so water will run off) is the same. I have to say though, these were more time consuming than I thought. So much cutting stuff off, then putting them in place, only to pull them off and grind a bit off something else, and try again and again... But I think they'll be worth it. Now, what I did that I do NOT like at all. Instead of doing the cut'n'fold on the rear wells, I decided to try something different. My reasoning was that I couldn't get as much clearance by just folding them as if I changed/removed the lip/pinch seam completely. Also, I had a rust issue, and I wanted to cut it out. So, I did this. Image Not Found Basically I screwed it up so bad that I'm going to have to do some major surgery to fix it. I took 1x.125 flat bar and welded it between the quarter panel and wheel well from the inside. Then I cut off the pinch and ground everything 'flush'. My mistake was that I should have used much wider flat bar (2" or 2.5") or just done it with sheetmetal like a regular person. As it is, I've not got a properly shaped wheel well. Image Not Found I didn't even bother cleaning up the front because I'd realized it was screwed. I'm pretty mad at myself. Normally I think about things enough ahead of time that I don't get in this situation. And that is all for a while... Back at work. Other than I might order some goodies...

Made the ears for the bumper mounts: Image Not Found In retrospect, those could have been made from a single peice, and it probably would have looked better. Ohwell, nobody sees 'em. Oh yeah, the new hardware is AN, I think AN6-11As, but whatever, I have lots of it and it'll work. I drilled through the stock captured nuts and will just put nuts on the back. Of course, prior to this I figured I should remove the two snapped off stock bumper bolts. Welding a nut to them did not work. So I chose to drill them out. After dulling a lot of bits in a short period of time (I lack a bench grinder to resharpen them here, and have to do it at work), I tried using my nice lennox step drill since it has a carbide edge. I broke the end off. Swearing, lots of swearing. Image Not Found Anyways, welded one of the ears on. Image Not Found Other side. Image Not Found Main part of the bumper is 2x4x.188. I cut the ends at a 40* angle. RO sanded for paint adhesion, yada yada... Image Not Found Welded the caps on the ends, wasn't overly impressed with myself with the bead appearance, but the penetration was good. I ground them smooth afterwards anyways. Image Not Found Tacked it place. Image Not Found Keg stand! But not quite how I did them in college. Man do I ever have a ghetto shop, instead of a welding table I either use my trailer or whatever is around... Anyways, welding the bumper mounts on. You can see the shape of the brackets... Image Not Found

And I partly built both rear bumper mounts... Just some 2x3x.188 with some nuts welded in it. They aren't as hardcore as some people's, but I pick up 4 place on the uniframe per side, plus the 4 stock holes per side (other than the ones that have broken bolts in them, something to do sometime...) I used 1/2" GR8 hardware for no reason other than it fit the holes in the frame nicely, and GR8 has a nice plating on it so it doesn't rust as quick. Image Not Found

Test fitting the new rocker/slider. Looks like it'll work... Of course I had to cut way more stuff off. Image Not Found More test fitting... Image Not Found You can see how it doesn't extend too far back. More on that later... Image Not Found Capping the ends. Image Not Found Ugh. Was still dialing in the welder (haven't welded in 2 months), then realized it was spooled with crappy wire (I lend it to a friend when I'm at work). Of course, had I looked before I started welding, this wouldn't have happened. Anyways, I ground that part out and re-welded it. Image Not Found I cut the front of them on a 40* angle, then capped them too. At this point I was getting a little more comfortable. Image Not Found Ground smooth (same with the rear). Then I RO sanded the entire thing to promote paint adhesion. Image Not Found Shimming it all into place for welding... Image Not Found Welded most of it up. Had a minor, almost major, fire in the interior. Apparently this foam lights up really easy. Considering I was welding on the other side of the A-pillar when it lit off. Image Not Found Welded all around the top... Ain't done, but I was sick of welding. Thick steel to thin sheet it trying of one's patience. The welds vary from decent looking to horrible. I think I'm going to put a sealer of some sort over them anyways, so nobody will really see... Image Not Found

Did some more work.... This area had to be cut out... I was about half done at this point, all of it had to go. Oh yeah, there's a few cracks there, don't mind those, they're on the list. Image Not Found At this point I figured I was about done cutting this side. Yeah... Image Not Found I cut out the back of the uniframe rails to put my bumper mounts in (2x3x.188). Image Not Found Yeah, I cut that one very square... Shh. The top shackle bolt extends too far and is in my way. Luckily it has about 20 threads more than it needs. So I pulled it out, cut off about five threads, then ground the end to a bit of a point so it would self centre. Image Not Found Threw some anti-seize on and reinstalled. Plenty of clearance. Image Not Found (I know that's a picture of the other side, just imagine everything backwards if it's a problem)

Started pulling the rear bumper off... I said I didn't like the swing out - so off it came. I broke EVERY bolt that held it on. And while I'm sure you could just unbolt the bumper from its brackets, I was not interested in that game (torx). So I just cut it apart... Image Not Found Bumper removed, only snapped two of the bolts that hold the brackets on. Trailer hitch/boat anchor removed mostly - I had to cut one of the tabs off it as the bolt was not removable yet (still getting to that) Image Not Found I have to comment on who-ever the genius was that had installed this aftermarket hitch... Put some damn anti-seize on the bolts, I only broke 4 of the 5 that I removed (with the 6th still in place, as they installed it in a creative manner, I will remove it whenever I have more stuff out of the way). And that was after I heated them cherry-red with the torch. Began the first of the sheetmetal mods... This part was all rusty, and really doesn't do anything for me. So, I butchered it off. Just the inital cut. Image Not Found Before you jump on how I cut all of this, I just went for it. Later I'll clean it up, I was just concerned with getting it out of the way for now. View from inside... I'll weld in some 22ga or something in the hole. Image Not Found The pretenda-rockers had to go next... I'm going to weld in some 2x6x.188 in their place, I think. Image Not Found Mostly cut out in rough... Image Not Found All cut out. Other than the end there. I need to figure out exactly what my plan is there. I was going to use some MJ rear flares over the rear (cut and fold it), and see if that part was 'covered'. But that's kidna hack. I might just have to cut a bunch more out, and maybe patch it (heaven forbid). Image Not Found Took off most of the junk from the front that doesn't interest me... Vacuum bottle and horn will get relocated. There's more work to be done here, but not for tonight. Image Not Found

Remember my story about acquiring the 'cheap' cherokee? Yeah, that pile... If you don't know the story: I acquired this XJ through a bunch of schinanigans. It belonged to a co-worker's girlfriend, and I had made some drunken deal that when she bought a new vehicle I'd buy this pile. Granted I'd never even seen it when I agreed to this. Being a man of my word, when I got the phone call I headed over with cash in hand. Did I get ripped off? Uhhhhhhhhhh...... Not the worst looking from here. Image Not Found Swing out spare - doesn't interest me. Image Not Found Rockers were optional I guess. Image Not Found The B-pillar took a hit and is dented in, the door frame is twisted, and generally there's dings all over the place. Image Not Found The good stuff: 4.0L/AX-15/NP231. Not a bad combination. Personally I'm more of an AW4 guy, but whatever. 1990 - it's a renix, I understand it. 2drs, since I'm young and stupid. The bad: The rust, dents, dings, ugly paint. Clutch slave or master is out. Water pump MIA. No AC, although I only want it for the pump. It's probably a good thing actually... 10 000 other things. My 'Plan' (like I really have one) Build a 'mild' wheeler for camping/expiditions. I no longer live in an area where there is estabilished hard-core wheeling, and you can't do that alone. I'm thinking I will probably run about 2-3" of lift and some 33s, along with some body mods. The back seat and cargo area interior will be axed in favor of making enough space that I can sleep, and some storage. I'm planning dual batteries but haven't entirely sold myself on how they should be done. OBA is needed, and I will run a sanden style compressor out of convenience. However, the biggest emphasis of this build will ultimately be the reliability of the rig as a whole (more on this later). So, the first order of business was to change the water pump and serpentine belt. The old belt got eaten as the water pump had played up to the point that the belt got thrown into the mechanical fan. I changed the lower rad hose while I was at it, the old one looked rough. Serpentine belt shredded around fan: Image Not Found Since I need a new belt, I did the idler pulley delete. No sense keeping a useless pulley. Which I've had fail before, not a good thing. Reference picture of belt routing minus the idler: Image Not Found Part number for the belt (upside down so it's easy to understand) Image Not Found Then I did my first major mod. I plan to turn this one into a write up. I think many would benefit from it. Image Not Found Yeah, the gas struts are worn out, the 2x4 keeps the hatch up... No, I won't actually write a how-to on it, sorry. So I changed them. Apparently the parts store wants $60 each for the struts here (jerks). Started pulling out the interior junk. Found that the roof braces had de-bonded, probably as a result of whatever had hit the B pillar on this thing before. I think I'll just use some 3/16" bolts to re-attach it, and seal them with poly or something. I'm undecided, but definatly not going to bother replacing the roof to fix the dent. Image Not Found Rust, rust, rust... Image Not Found

What I love... The hardcore rice with the custom 'for sale' decal in the back window. Let's think about this in relation to where I live... A lowered Civic with a body kit that hangs 1/2" off the ground. Yeah, that's smrt. Anyways, when I see them with their lovely decal declaring their stupidity in dumping so much money into a crappy car that they can't drive in this part of the world, I always try to get the number. I like calling them randomly and telling them their car is ghey and they want too much for it (even though I never know the price). I think it helps them grow up. Or maybe I'm just an a$$hole.

Seems typical. Be wary of the broken leafs. They will break again. Soon probably. The risk is that it might come free the next time around. I've seen it happen on the trail, and it's quite interesting to watch.

The pump is probably different... But if a guy wants some bling, PSC ( http://www.pscmotorsports.com/ ) offers a high-pressure/high-flow pump (remember my thread in the how-to on P/S pump mods, they do that basically) that has an AN/JIC fitting for the inlet instead of the integral reservoir. They also sell nifty aluminum remote reservoirs which are baffled to prevent pump cavitation while off-camber or hitting big air. PSC has overdrive pulleys too (more turning power at idle) and cooler setups. Here's another one for increased power-steering reliability; add a filter. An el-cheapo hydraulic filter in the low pressure line would work well, but is bulky and adds restriction to the low side (kinda bad). A high-pressure T-style would be ideal, like these http://www.normanfilters.com/HighPressureMiniTee.html . I have no idea how expensive they are or if you can easily source them - I'm looking currently (half-assed) because I do want to do it.