Time for CAD Delete?

[acfortier]

My Part Time light is constantly staying on now. I assume I either have some sort of vacuum leak or the actuator is stuck in the "engaged" position?

 

If I do the quick fix for a CAD delete (sliding the collar, flipping the fork to the other side), I assume the light won't function unless I change the switch on the transfer case to something outlined here, correct? https://budgetgarage.net/2017/10/21/cad-delete3/

[acfortier]

Also, this pigtail is just a standard Weatherpack, isn't it? https://www.napaonline.com/en/p/ECHEC152

[Pete M]

in my opinion the light is completely irrelevant since there's a giant handle next to my knee that tells me what I'm shifted into.    just be sure you don't have any vacuum leaks and you're good to go.    

[acfortier]

31 minutes ago, Pete M said:

in my opinion the light is completely irrelevant since there's a giant handle next to my knee that tells me what I'm shifted into.    just be sure you don't have any vacuum leaks and you're good to go.    

 very true!

[gogmorgo]

The light comes on with a switched ground. So if your light is on constant it’s very possible the wire rubbed through and is touching metal somewhere. 

[cruiser54]

What Pete and gogmorgo said^^. 

 

I'm all in favor of the big lever indicator.

 

Ditch all that vacuum crap. 

[pizzaman09]

3 hours ago, cruiser54 said:

What Pete and gogmorgo said^^. 

 

I'm all in favor of the big lever indicator.

 

Ditch all that vacuum crap. 

The big lever indicator is good, until your CAD doesn't connect.  I always wait until the light comes on now be I wander off the beaten path.  Been stuck in my field way too many times now.  

[cruiser54]

Point is this.

 

Eliminate the CAD and then you CAN rely on the lever. 

[acfortier]

Hmm, I'm a bit confused. It seems that I have a switch on my shift motor housing, like this:

 

 

Which is different than what the other write ups show. so does that switch now control the 4WD lamp on the cluster? Trying to figure out how I can get this to function if I flip the fork over to lock the collar in place.

[gogmorgo]

Yeah. My ‘91’s the same. I’m not 100% on when the change was, if it was with the knuckle change or not. It would be advantageous because then the 4x4 light wouldn’t work if there’s a vacuum leak and the CAD never engages. I’m not sure how the older style is set up vacuum-wise, if it would do the same if there wasn’t enough vacuum available to the CAD.

When I swapped to the 242 I plugged the electrical switch that was on it into the truck’s harness, somewhere up on the passenger side firewall. I’m pretty sure it was the same place this harness runs back to. I don’t know how the switch operates internally on the tcase, I would ASSume you can just pull the vacuum valves out and put the electric switch directly in its place but I’ve never investigated to find out. 
Is there any way you can fix the fork in place and let the CAD shaft slide back and forth through it? Drill out the hole in the fork and stack some washers or some other spacer on the shaft to hold it in the right place? You’d need to fix the wiring and also the CAD vacuum lines to keep it operational though, which I think defeats the point of what you’re doing here. 

[acfortier]

I decided I'm going to leave that switch in the housing (since it keeps it from leaking, lol) cut the wires off of that switch, and then splice wires to run back to the t-case for the new electronic switch instead. Should work the same, just saves me the leg work of having to find the wire up top like pre-91 I guess?

[gogmorgo]

I think the wire will be plugged into the same place eventually. There’s a separate little connector harness that runs along the side of the transmission down to the tcase. I spent a while tracking it down before realizing I just needed to plug stuff in that was already there. But I swapped an AW4 and 242 in together, didn’t do the swap separately.

I don’t remember if the harness runs back with the vacuum lines to the tcase or if it branches off and goes direct to the spot on the firewall.

 

But if the light’s on constant due to a short before you get to the switch, it’ll stay on constant unless you accidentally knock the shorted spot away from ground while you’re in there. 

[acfortier]

Interesting. Didn’t see an extra harness at all, so just used that plug and ran it back. The light did go in and out as I was testing, it was a vacuum issue—the shift fork wouldn’t move from one side to the other. Of course I ran out of Weather Pack terminals so I’ll have to button it up tomorrow.

[Salvagedcircuit]

Similarly, has anyone tried the Alloy USA 451100 Differential Permanent Cable Lock Kit CAD delete?

 

I moved the collar over on mine, but it sure would be nice knowing that the collar is not going to slide on me over time. I've seen redneck methods of using ring clamps to hold the collar, but that does not sit well with me. This method looks pretty straightforward.

[acfortier]

All of the CAD delete instructions that involve moving the collar over, undoing the e-clips and sliding the fork over on the rod, then using the e-clips to hold the fork in place, so that the collar can't be moved back. Did you do that?

 

That kit does the exact same thing, just removes the big vacuum actuator from being used and replaces the rod.

[89 MJ]

That looks like what is on my truck. I've never had an issue with it.

 

Its more money, but this is what my dad used on his YJ. No issues with it either.

https://www.summitracing.com/parts/pos-920?seid=srese1&ppckw=pmax-jeep&gclid=CjwKCAiA98WrBhAYEiwA2WvhOvH1TCo3iI0xjv2DV218yy1pQjIudNFxBUE8xkz_-6ePhdrn2QLotBoCKJYQAvD_BwE

[cruiser54]

The Hillbilly method works just fine. 

[gogmorgo]

Unless you have a specific reason for wanting to disengage the CAD there isn’t much point in spending money and time mounting a cable actuator for it when you can pop the clips off, move the fork over, and clip it back in its new home for free. 

Any other solution no matter how hillbilly isn’t going to mean anything to anyone other than yourself, as long as it doesn’t somehow interfere with the axle rotating, which would be difficult to do by accident. As long as it holds the fork in the correct position reasonably securely it’s not any more likely to just spontaneously disassemble itself than the factory setup.

 

I won’t say there are absolutely no situations where having a selectable CAD is going to be advantageous, but for most of us we’re just trying to eliminate complexity, and the cable adds more than it removes. Plus you have to look at an ugly handle every time you drive it.

[cruiser54]

When I said Hillbilly, I was referring to just sliding it over and forgetting about it. I'm with you. Who needs complications? 

[Salvagedcircuit]

This is mine currently. The OP said he did something to the CAD axle, but did not say what. While servicing the front axle, cleaning out the diff and adding in new fluid, I inspected the CAD axle. The collar is joining the axle halves. I did not touch any clips or the position of the fork and just put it back in place. There are currently no vacuum lines going to the CAD axle. The lines and diaphragm are capped off. I believe the fork is mating inside the collar. The vacuum diaphragm is pointing towards the passenger front wheel.

Is this setup correctly as a CAD axle delete?

Thanks.

[WranglerMangler]

On 12/7/2023 at 7:05 PM, cruiser54 said:

When I said Hillbilly, I was referring to just sliding it over and forgetting about it. I'm with you. Who needs complications? 

You don’t do the 1pc axle conversion? Seems to be a much less complicated than the 3pc system? 

[cruiser54]

I can do the CAD delete in 20 minutes. 

[Pete M]

16 hours ago, WranglerMangler said:

You don’t do the 1pc axle conversion? Seems to be a much less complicated than the 3pc system? 

 

if you slide the collar over and lock it there, it IS a 1-piece system  

[Salvagedcircuit]

On 12/7/2023 at 10:15 PM, Salvagedcircuit said:

This is mine currently. The OP said he did something to the CAD axle, but did not say what. While servicing the front axle, cleaning out the diff and adding in new fluid, I inspected the CAD axle. The collar is joining the axle halves. I did not touch any clips or the position of the fork and just put it back in place. There are currently no vacuum lines going to the CAD axle. The lines and diaphragm are capped off. I believe the fork is mating inside the collar. The vacuum diaphragm is pointing towards the passenger front wheel.

Is this setup correctly as a CAD axle delete?

Thanks.

 

Does anyone know if this is setup correctly for the CAD delete?

Thanks.

[WranglerMangler]

Is there any reason not to do the 1 pc axle conversion? I’ve had that little collar piece broken in my hand and there’s no way I would consider that and the other 2 axle pieces nearly as strong as a single piece axle?
It definitely takes longer than 20 minutes to do and requires a new seal and a $20 junkyard shaft but seems like a sensible upgrade, If your going for reliability and strength. I only did the upgrade after breaking apart the collar so I was in there anyway and have not had a problem with the 1pc since. Just my .02