DirtyComanche

Super common for that rod to go AWOL. I'd lock the bias valve in the full position with a zip tie for now.

2Lo kit.

Did you bench test or look inside any of the these components before you swapped them in? I'd start with the shift linkage on the tcase, adjust it as per the FSM. If it's not that then something is broken, pull the front driveshaft and see if it's the tcase (front yoke rotates free while in 4wd position) or the axle (yoke rotates free on the ground). Also, if you got these parts out of the same truck then something is odd, since it should have had a vac disconnect axle. The tcase having the vac switch doesn't matter either way, if you don't have a CAD it doesn't really do anything, but you won't get the 'Part Time' 4wd light on the dash since it's triggered by the CAD via vacuum.

Good luck with the new job. As long as you're keen and willing to learn, you'll go far.

No, you can't just bolt them in even if you have the carrier. The pinion is larger and takes different bearings. The carrier isn't the same width, and also different bearings I believe. Hypoid offset is the same, but the cut of the gears is so different that the carrier offset changed, and the ring gear is also no longer 8.5" (I want to say it's 8.66" or so). Like I said, it can be done, but it's custom machining from the mad scientist Carl Jantz. The axles have very little in common beyond their name and outward appearance.

No. I'm giving him a rear case half.

It works, but you need to enlist the help of Carl Jantz at Jantz Engineering (I think is what he calls his business) to do the correct machining and provide you with the needed bearings. He's a master of stuffing the wrong gears in the wrong housings (D50 gears in D44 housings, D70 or D80 gears in D60 housings, etc), and there is some good reasons to do this. I believe he said that on paper the JK D44 geatset is 20-30% stronger than a conventional D44. The D50 gears nets an even larger gain, something around 40% better, but that's only for front HP applications. So if you're trying to build something high zoot and light weight, yeah, or trying to stay within class rules for competition, sure, but for the regular guy... No.

JK GEARS ARE NOT THE SAME! You can put JK gears in early housings but you do NOT want to go down that rabbit hole. A D30 isn't always a D30 and a D44 isn't always a D44. These model numbers no longer mean anything.

No, I'm just going to give him the rear case half. I'll junk the rest of the NP231 except the input.

What did you paint all of that with? Looks textured? Remote battery looks good. How long did the cables wind up being? Cranks it over no problems though?

That truck is long gone, was a shame I got talked into doing what I did with it. The license plates are still hanging up at my parents place, last time I checked.

I can't see the code so I don't know what the images were named. Best guess is it was some of these. That was a long time ago. In a galaxy far away.

Okay, I'll tear the 21 spline one apart and give him that. The only thing I want out of the 21 spline one is the input. Actually I might just see if he wants me to do the swap on his. Not sure how savvy he is. No idea why they removed the tcase to start with.

I have a 21 and a 23 spline input here, he needs a 23. I don't know, I'm assuming he wants to keep the sealed slip yoke. And his has a mass damper on it too. If the stuff will just swap onto my case, I could give him the 23 spline one, but I'm not sure that it will 100% bolt on as I know the shift fork was different. The other reason I'm hesitant to give him the whole tcase is it's the spare for my daily, the 21 is a spare only for if I need an input. It's annoying, I threw out a bunch of pieces of NP231s a while back. Absolutely certain there was a case half in there that was good.

Lots of XJs in the boneyard with factory starters, alternators, idlers, etc with that many miles. Toyota reliability never impressed me, honestly. If you're not changing the engine, you're changing the frame.

Thanks! I did realize I screwed up some of the audio in this one too. Funny, it sounds different on Youtube then it does prior to being uploaded, and different yet when it's in the editor and not rendered. Live and learn.

A friend's father/brother broke the NV231 rear case half in their 02 TJ doing something stupid, I think dropped it on the floor actually, was a maintenance issue rather than a driving related issue. Anyways, I've got a couple 89/90~ NP231s sitting around and I'll tear the case half off one of them if it's the same, but the Crown replacement is listed for 87-96. I know the slip yoke is different, and the tail housing, but I don't personally believe the actual case half is functionally different. Anyone know for sure? I believe it should work and they just bolt their tail housing and other junk onto it. I don't want to tear the tcase apart and find out it's not the same.

My guy couldn't price it competitively. Was worth a try.

I'll look tonight.

Looks nice. Post pics of whats going on with the shocks or whatever.

Thanks. For anyone that might wonder, as I was asked elsewhere. I estimate there's approximately 50 hours of actual hands on work wrenching in this video, although it could have been trimmed through various means, and some of it certainly is on the cutting room floor. The raw video totaled approximately 7 hours, minus the stuff that was absolutely unworkable and I didn't even bother to pull off the cards, all of which I condensed into under 19 minutes. I have something along the lines of 30 hours of editing and recording the narration into this. So yeah, I know what you're thinking, "Wow, his video sucks for how hard he tried."

I'm guessing it was a fork that you'd hit with a hammer, or something like that, if it was really fancy it would be a fork you could put in a press. Rather than a punch a guy could put an open ended wrench or crescent wrench around it and hit the wrench, I suppose. Like I said, I've got brass punches and like using them. The good news is nobody else will ever likely see the underside of it, so if you do mar it a bit it, it won't be the end of the world.

It hammers apart. It's hard to describe. Too bad I threw out the one I had here, or I could take a picture of it apart. Basically you'll see there's a square "key" stock like piece that goes into the bottom of the bulb shaped piece of the upper part of the shifter, mount the lower square part in a vice and take a big cacksnorklin' hammer with a brass punch and hit the bulbed part like you're trying to knock some sense into a millennial. It'll come apart. Eventually. If you don't have a brass punch you can either accept you're going to mar it by using a steel punch, or you can try a piece of wood or something. I like brass, but I'm no auto mechanic.

That's funny.

The Global Shipping thing is insane. I needed a pulley, standard stamp sheetmetal serpentine pulley about 8" in diameter... Shipping is $46. Need overcomes cost. Meanwhile I see there's a whole cast aluminum intake and cast iron exhaust manifold setup for the same engine, shipping for that is $13. WHAT THE FUDGE!