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Project Special Reserve (I guess this goes here?)


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I'm not going to write out the adapter related tech here, it's in the video if anyone cares.  Or you can find it on 4x4North in long form.  Basically I broke down and bought the Doomsday one once he went into the actual production version.  There is still some things I would change about it, and if I take it apart again (which I bet I will) I am going to drill/tap the adapter for the lower two oil pan bolts, drill out the threads in the pan, and install those bolts the "wrong" way and then omit the other bolt that's buried under the flywheel.

 

Anywho, onto the more recent work.

 

Video of bolting the adapter together with the transmission:

 

 

 

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Out of that I will show these two pictures and explain what my complaint is about the Doomsday adapter.  Like I said, if you really care you can find the whole write up, that includes some info beyond what is in the video, on 4x4North.

 

The first is the bolt (CS cap screw more properly I guess) that is a problem.

 

DSC_0415Aarrow.JPG.fcc4f4976622346131e0c8974cafe8c1.JPG

 

Since it's UNDER the flywheel and threads into the oil pan, if you ever need to pull the oil pan you would not only have to split the transmission off the engine, but you would also need to pull the clutch, flywheel, and the crank adapter off.  That's a LOT of work only because the one bolt is installed that way.  The one on the other side is not there, as I'll show in the other picture.

 

 

This is the oil pan on the other side:

DSC_0011A.JPG.226cb82bdd7c6d77657301f96dc5e781.JPG

 

Here you cut that part of the pan off for the starter to clear.  Plus you can see the unused lower holes (there is no bolts in them) which I will probably drill out and drill/tap the adapter for when I need to go in there, which is likely to happen fairly soon.  Maybe helicoil them too since it's just 6061 aluminum.

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So, the picture/condensed version of what's in the next video.

 

I wanted to go with polyurethane mounts because the guys running these things report they destroy their mounts all the time.  Energy Suspension does not make an XJ tranny mount, and the other ones available are horribly expensive and really hard.  So I used a TJ mount, which won't matter.  Nothing is going where it normally would.

 

TJ mount:
o0oxXrvh.jpg

 

I found that when I test fit everything and figured out where it should go that if I installed the trans crossmember backwards it all worked out perfectly with the TJ mount.

 

Image to demonstrate the difference in the tranny crossmember:
P0g0Blzh.jpg

 

Test fit after moving a ton of $#!& so it would fit:
U19jH9Ph.jpg

 

Oil pan hit the steering and track bar.  So I just removed them for now.  It will be a huge problem:
siVefx8h.jpg

 

Another angle to show where the pitman arm is, and you can just imagine where the steering knuckle is on the other side...  Yeah, straight through the oil pan is how it would have to go.  Hacking the oil pan and lifting it is likely the best option.   I looked at flipping the steering box around (astro box) or moving it forwards, but it really would just make for other goofy issues.
fQ9fnNah.jpg

 

The firewall needed some hammer work.   This is still rough, I will smooth it later.  This is so I can run the stock oil filter, which is massive and awesome.  Lots of guys buy a relocation kit for a $#!&ty filter, and it doesn't make sense.
MfXSjKfh.jpg

 

After letting the weight off it the whole oil pan is actually sitting on the steering.  This image didn't make it into the movie by accident, but let's just say the steering/oil pan problem is real and massive.
v4A8Uvth.jpg

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Latest video:

 

 

There's some more work done, but lots of unfinished stuff so not really anything to jam together to make the next video or really even a post.  I did track down an axle, but I need some other stuff to make everything work.  I need a rear axle too and there's lots of debate on that.

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2 hours ago, MancheKid86 said:

you can tell your an AME just by how meticulously clean your shop is. keep up the great work :comancheB:

 

I have no idea how some people can get anything done when every square inch of their shop is covered in random junk and dirt.   :roflmao:

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  • 1 year later...

So after 7 months of not touching this thing (I think) I finally did something. I put the wheels/tires I bought in August on it. The ones I bought so I could "just get it driving" before summer ended.  Yes, I decided I just wanted to get it together enough to drive in 2wd, just to make sure the engine would be happy and then I could move on to replacing the axles.

Image

So, what's super amusing about this is that the wheels I bought are off a Jeep Liberty, and were ID'd as being a suitable year (2012 I think) to fit the XJ/MJ axles. They aren't. The hub bore was too small, so they're from a 2014 probably. Of course I'd already had the tires mounted, and didn't feel like taking them back off, or paying to do that, so properly machining the hub bore out was not really in the cards. So I just took them oversized with a die grinder. This simple act of just bolting some new wheels and tires on wound up taking 3 hours because of that. :laughing:

 

Anyway, hopefully I have some more time and can get a little momentum going on it.

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2 hours ago, Pete M said:

good to know about the KK rims.  how close was it?

 

Not close at all.  XJ/MJ is 71.5mm or 2.81" hub bore, KK is 67.1mm or 2.64".  So almost 3/16" different.  It baffles me they went to a smaller hub bore after years of it being the same, but that's FCA.

 

I'm not intending to run this setup long term, or maybe at all at this point.  But if you're going to use non-precision machining to open the hub bore up, make sure you go a little extra so it isn't contacting.  The wheel has to become lug centric, you don't want your sloppy die grinder work causing it to seat off center.

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  • 2 months later...

Another video of basically zero technical content, poor editing, and gags that aren't funny:
 

 

 

Takeaway is:

 

-The JK MP241 transfer case really doesn't fit, but that's a combination of issues.  I'm probably going to drill the transmission tail housing to the XJ/MJ clocking, since it's a TJ trans, and then live with however that works out.  This will wait until the next time I pull the engine/tranny back out.

-I have to work on the front axle/oil pan/suspension before getting hung up on anything else.

-I don't remember how I was going to make half this project work.

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