Wife's MJ

[MiNi Beast]

dude tell me you went and checked out the cave shaft? Tell me where its at I want to go check it out. But would love to wheel some of them trails, that's the wheeling I like to do. Just moved to the Up and its nice and trails are similar to that.

[reson46]

Thanks to my TPS input voltage issues I was in need of a alternate solution for transmission control. With Trail Jamboree coming up next week I had to figure something out, so I decided to give the TCU the middle finger.

 

I had already wanted to implement some of these changes, and had even wired in a TCU power cut off years ago. Now this gives me full manual control of every gear and the torque converter lockup. I even got fancy with my new estate sale acquisition - a label maker. It will definitely take some practice before I remember every position.

 

After Trail Jamboree I may get even more sophisticated and see if I can figure out a way to control every gear selection with a single switch while the shifter is in OD, but for the short term this will work.

 

Willy

[reson46]

Had a great time at Trail Jamboree. My dad joined me for the week and had a ton of fun. Even tagging along for a 2 AM rescue mission. The only thing that could have made it better would have been no mosquitoes. There had to literally be millions of them. They were everywhere.

 

This was another year with a lot of broken vehicles and parts. Transmissions lines (before we even made it to the trail), brakes, hubs, vaporlock, power steering line, leaf spring center pin, tires, power steering box, ring gear, pitman arm, and probably others I can't even remember.

 

Luckily we didn't have any major issues. The transmission switches actually worked really well once I got a little practice.

 

First day of prerunning the trails.

 

Ron, as always, getting a tire in the air.

 

Plowing through the snow on 90+ degree days.

 

 

 

Since I was driving I didn't get a lot of MJ shots.

 

 

 

Ron again....

 

 

Image Not Found

 

 

 

The fun way to fix a flat.

 

What's that smell? :hmm:

 

The brakes....... :wall:

 

Did somebody misplace their firewood?

 

This was our 2 AM rescue mission. They left the rig on the trail after it broke. The driver thought it was the steering box. They left around 7 PM with a steering box to repair it. Around 1 AM I heard they had not made it back to camp. At 2 AM, I and probably the only other sober two left went looking for them. We caught up to them just before getting to the trail around 2:45 AM. This is what we found.

 

 

Turns out the steering box was fine...but the pitman arm wasn't. They were even offered a pitman arm to take with them but declined. They did take a tow bar just in case, and they used it. They flat towed it with no steering through several miles of rough trail, blowing three beads in the process. But, they finally made it back safely.

 

More pics here.

 

Willy

[cody4359]

:eek: you guys are hard on your rigs.... did that branch/tree go thru you floor or the xj?

[reson46]

:eek: you guys are hard on your rigs.... did that branch/tree go thru you floor or the xj?

 

No, we just use them properly. :yes:

 

Yes, that log was through the floor. :eek:

 

Willy

[RockMJ]

I always love seeing the photos you post. Brutally awesome :D

 

RockMJ

[reson46]

For several years I've had a problem that I'm sure many XJ/MJ owners are all too familiar with - inadequate cooling. Idling, driving around under moderate throttle, and general trail wheeling everything is fine. Start climbing and putting the engine under load for an extended period of time and you can just watch the temperature climb over 210 degrees and further. That is not good when you are surrounded by mountains and pretty much everything is up hill.

 

I've attempted multiple remedies over the years - converting to an open system, adding a three core CSF radiator, hood vents, moving the transmission cooler from in front of the radiator to the bed, flushing the system, adding more fans, and probably others I can't even remember.

 

I was fairly positive I didn't have an airflow issue as this occurs cruising down the road at 60 MPH. At that speed I shouldn't even need fans to move enough air through the radiator. A couple of weeks ago I was discussing this with a couple of XJ friends having similar issues. We all had at least one thing in common - aftermarket three core radiators.

 

The theory is that with three cores within the thin space constraints required to fit in a XJ/MJ radiator it doesn't leave enough surface area for proper cooling. Now time to test that theory.

 

I can't say that I'm excited to replace my all brass radiator with the stock style plastic/aluminum unit, but we will see how long it lasts. If this works and the ends start working there way loose I may see if I can find an all aluminum or brass single core replacement. For now I just needed something quick as I hope to go wheeling this weekend and test it. One positive - the aluminum/plastic radiator has to weigh at least 1/3 or less than the brass CSF radiator. :roll:

 

While the coolant was drained I decided to replace the water pump and thermostat. The thermostat is a fail safe unit that is supposed to fail open instead of closed. One thing to note is that because it is longer than a standard thermostat it does slightly contact the casting in the head. This can make it interesting trying to get it lined up without falling out of its slot when installing the thermostat housing. I'll probably pass on the fail safe thermostat next time.

 

The new water pump looks a little out of place surrounded by the filth of the rest of the engine bay.

 

I was happy to see that behind the thermostat and water pump things looked very clean. One concern that had crossed my mind was that some of the coolant passages may have become seriously clogged. After looking inside at least that doesn't appear to be the case.

 

Hopefully I'll know soon enough if this provides any relief.

 

Willy

[camjeep3]

I hope that the radiator works for you. I know how you feel. as soon as you start creeping in 4lo I can watch my gauge move, and its quick!! I didnt have any electric fan though. and I love this truck!

[reson46]

Time for some rear suspension tweaking.

 

After switching to the softer Daystar bumpstops full bump was reached at a much softer rate. Unfortunately this also resulted in more uptravel which didn't make the tires very happy with the fenders. Lowering the bumpstops was needed.

 

I was also looking at the main leaves of the rear springs. I had always contemplated how long the main leaves would last without any support from the second leaf for the last 6 or 8 inches. I guess I found out. They were now starting to sag and bend where that second leaf stops. Lucky for me I already had another set of MJ springs I picked up years ago on a junk yard trip. I decided to cut the main eyes off the old main leaves and add them to the replacement pack. Almost like a military wrap to offer extra support from eye to eye.

 

 

Picked up some new u-bolts and plates. Unfortunately I was sent the wrong u-bolts and the correct ones won't arrive until next week. These plates along with the MORE spring pads allow me to lengthen the wheelbase an inch to keep the tires out of the front of the fenders.

 

Unfortunately it raised the rear quite a bit more than I hoped. I'm thinking about removing the third leaf (the former second leaf) to see where it ends up.

 

 

I'm wheeling this weekend so I'll see how these changes work out.

 

Willy

[reson46]

I was invited to the Rainier Scramblers stag run in the Naches area this past weekend. We had such a good time that I didn't get home until 2 AM Monday morning.

 

At Chinook Pass.

 

U-joint replacement. It was making noise on the way up to the pass. There was one needle bearing left, and it was sticking out of the cap.

 

 

 

Another rig destroyed some bearings on the drive over. The spindle was salvaged, but the hub assembly, bearings, and locking hub all needed to be replaced. It got so hot the grease turned to dust.

 

 

An old Chrysler that had rolled down the mountain.

 

Another blown bead. This attempt was not successful.

 

This attempt was successful.

 

Saturday night's camping spot.

 

 

 

 

 

This guy decided to hang out for a while and watch us drive by.

 

 

Apparently my shock set up works well for slow speed trail wheeling, but doesn't care so much for rock racing. :yes:

 

More pics here.

 

The new leaf spring set up worked great on the highway. I was able to corner like I couldn't have dreamed of before. But it was very stiff on the trail. It also made a lot of noise as it compressed. I am pretty sure it is because of the small section of the spring eye I left on the second main leaf. It is fighting with the main leaf and has to deflect over the spring eye in order to compress. I'll make a couple of changes this week and see how it does on my next wheeling trip this weekend.

 

Willy

[mountainman]

Just read the entire thread start to finish. Hours of staring at the monitor. now i need some food but first i must say... DUDE!

 

Your MJ is like... what i dreamed of in my head... in real life.

Ive been hunting for one that check marked all the boxes/options i had envisioned.

You did that and then some. I know a long road lie ahead of me, but it is much clearer now that i found someone who has done it the way i dreamed. :)

 

Thanks for this bad @$$ thread. Your truck is my new fav. :)

It reminds people that bad @$$ vehicles evolve. They arent just built and stay the way version 1 is.

[CoryMJ89]

what all do you need to dual cases?

[reson46]

Just read the entire thread start to finish. Hours of staring at the monitor. now i need some food but first i must say... DUDE!

 

Your MJ is like... what i dreamed of in my head... in real life.

Ive been hunting for one that check marked all the boxes/options i had envisioned.

You did that and then some. I know a long road lie ahead of me, but it is much clearer now that i found someone who has done it the way i dreamed. :)

 

Thanks for this bad @$$ thread. Your truck is my new fav. :)

It reminds people that bad @$$ vehicles evolve. They arent just built and stay the way version 1 is.

 

Thanks for the compliments.

 

what all do you need to dual cases?

 

A spare transfer case and an adapter kit. More details can be found on page 1.

 

Willy

[RynoMJ]

I'm always intrigued by this style of shock setup. By my understandably it works well for flexing but I can never understand how it works if the axle is flexing up as a whole and not one side at a time. I'm not sure if that makes sense? It seems like the shocks would bind and in your case bend.

 

Willy, is there any advantage to this setup as opposed to running the shocks vertical?

[reson46]

Willy, is there any advantage to this setup as opposed to running the shocks vertical?

 

Yes, wheel travel. When mounted vertically your travel is directly limited by the compressed and extended length of the shock. When one of your goals is to make sure that the lower shock mount does not hang below the axle, this can sometimes limit you to shorter shocks. By angling you can fit a longer shock. You also get more wheel travel from the same shock the shallower you mount it.

 

One downside is as the angle becomes shallower the shock becomes less effective at controlling rebound and compression. Another is the inability to handle baja style driving without catastrophic failure. :yes:

 

Willy

[reson46]

I had one other casualty from this past weekend.

 

At Trail Jamboree my lock cylinders finally stopped working. Unfortunately the replacements I ordered from Rock Auto are for '91 and up. Also, if anybody has any tips for attaching the c-clip that holds the lock cylinder to the rod please share. I can't even figure out how to get my hand positioned in there with the clip around the window track, etc.

 

 

I removed a leaf from each side and cut what was left of the spring eye off the additional main leaves. This dropped the rear down a couple of inches to where I want it.

 

 

I had some left over Rancho RS5000s that are about the perfect length for the new suspension height. Hopefully mounting them further out will help prevent high speed failures.

 

Willy

[A-man930]

:popcorn:

[MancheKid86]

i had the same problem with my lock cyls and rockauto,

i took my old cyl and removed the outer face new ones can be obtained from a locksmith or you can carefully put the old one back on,

pop the inner out,

using a micro screwdriver and small hammer you can punch the pins out (bottom up)

you can then either re-use them or get new pins from a locksmith ~50 cents

clean everything out, wd40 works good to remove sulfidation

re-assemble in reverse order

 

 

[reson46]

i had the same problem with my lock cyls and rockauto,

i took my old cyl and removed the outer face new ones can be obtained from a locksmith or you can carefully put the old one back on,

pop the inner out,

using a micro screwdriver and small hammer you can punch the pins out (bottom up)

you can then either re-use them or get new pins from a locksmith ~50 cents

clean everything out, wd40 works good to remove sulfidation

re-assemble in reverse order

 

Interesting..........how did you re-attach the c-clip that holds the rod to the back of the lock cylinder? I don't have huge hands, but I think I need to find a hobbit to install it.

 

Thanks,

Willy

[reson46]

Last weekend was spent exploring the beautiful scenery and mines in the Fortune Creek area. The changes to the rear springs worked great. It handled really well on the road and didn't seem anywhere near as stiff on the trail.

 

 

Gallagher Head Lake

 

 

 

Mount Rainier

 

Hawkins Mountain

 

 

Checking out one of the mines.

 

 

We made it to within site of this mine on the way up to Van Epps Pass that we had to pass up last year. We had a Jeep start leaking gas out of the top of the tank. We dropped the tank, repaired some vent lines, and then the fuel pump started having issues. I'll have to wait for a return trip to explore it.

 

 

 

A few of us stuck around Sunday to hit 4W305. It is a narrow shelf road with some beautiful views.

 

 

 

Unfortunately several downed trees blocked the path to the top.

 

 

 

Backing down to the next switchback to turn around.

 

 

 

More pics here.

 

Willy

[mountainman]

thats why you need this with you at all times....

 

 

I have an MS311 and i always take it wherever i go when up in the PNW. trees will kill a good wheelin day if not..lol.

Plus we always have firewood when we stop and make camp that night. :D

[reson46]

I did take my chainsaw. There were more downed trees than we had time to handle. Plus many of them were under a lot of tension that would have required somebody with more chainsaw skills than I.

 

Willy

[mountainman]

ahhhhh ok. makes sense. Yeah widow makers def require some skill.

[Rockdrummer93]

Love this build. You have given me a ton of ideas. I do have a question involving the color of you MJ. Do you know of the name or code of this paint? It looks like the Intense blue that came on some of the Wranglers. Been looking for ideas on what to paint mine. Ive always love this color on the TJs and just found your MJ with what looks like the same color and it looks great!

[reson46]

Love this build. You have given me a ton of ideas. I do have a question involving the color of you MJ. Do you know of the name or code of this paint? It looks like the Intense blue that came on some of the Wranglers. Been looking for ideas on what to paint mine. Ive always love this color on the TJs and just found your MJ with what looks like the same color and it looks great!

 

Sorry, we bought it this color. It has been painted at some point but I don't know what color they used. It was originally maroon.

 

Willy