a few musings

[mjtjnj]

couple of things:

I keep leaking from my oil pan drain plug. I have bought the oil-tite bolt and fiber gasket from Pep Boys, and on the box it says "replace gasket every time you change the oil." I haven't, but they seem to start leaking pretty quick; seems kinda crazy to keep replacing the gasket, especially since I haven't seen the gaskets for sale in bulk. Anyone have a favorite oil pan plug gasket?

 

While we're on the topic of gaskets, installed a replacement NP231 out of a YJ. The bolts on that had bad gaskets and I was able to locate an M22-1.5" bolt (that I actually have a wrench for), and put it in the fill hole. I was going to put the same bolt in the drain hole, but there's a baffle in there, and I didn't want the bolt to run up against it. Does it matter? Should I find a shorter M22 bolt?

 

While on the subject of transfer cases, my last musing. Since I bought my MJ 9 years ago, I've rebuilt the motor and replaced the ax-5 with a low-mileage 2000 ax-5. Since I've had it, carpet or not, the transfer case has always made a sound like there were marbles ratting around in there. I figured this out because the noise persisted when I was on the highway and took the truck out of gear, but would stop when I put the TC into neutral. When I had the drivetrain out, I had a tranny guy look at it, for a rebuild, and he said I was crazy, everything was fine, put some carpet in the truck, maybe change over to gear oil, and it would quiet down. I do trust him, despite his gear oil recommendation.

 

So I found a lower mileage np231 for cheap, popped it in, filled it with synthetic tranny fluid, and the same noise is there, not as loud, and not as "surging" when I let off the gas pedal at highway speeds. Yeah, I have no carpet or jute padding right now, but I've owned YJ's with 1/4" thick carpet and never noticed this sound before. It sounds like chain noise, but I don't know. Any ideas?

 

Thanks for humoring me at 1am!

 

:ack:

Tom

[mountainman]

video or audio clip of said noise? :wrench:

[cruiser54]

Go to the hardware store and buy a handful of fiber washers that fit your drain plug.

[Pete M]

a rubber O-ring stopped my oil plug from leaking. :D

 

 

are you in 4wd on the highway?

[mjtjnj]

Mountain - no, all the other noise would really cloud the noise I'm talking about

 

cruiser - yeah, I guess they're the same, huh?

 

Pete - how long has that O-ring held up? Would seem it would get crushed pretty quick. And 2wd on the highway, 4wd hi sounds the same...TC in neutral stops it....but that's only good until inertia catches up.

;)

[HOrnbrod]

My oil plug has always leaked. Tried fiber, o-rings, even nylon gaskets. I found some copper crush washers on Ebay and tried one. That did the trick. Luckily I bought eight of them and change the washer every time I change the oil.

[jimoshel]

In an emergency or worst case scenario I've wrapped a piece of solder around the plug and screwed it in. Rosin or acid core doesn't seem to make any difference. And I've never had one leak or give out until I was able to replace it with a correct type.

[Pete M]

Pete - how long has that O-ring held up? Would seem it would get crushed pretty quick.

 

 

It was what the parts store sold specifically for this application. :dunno: works great so far. have one on the minivan too. :thumbsup: