$400 Pioneer (Wilbur)

[Akula69]

This is gonna sound kinda silly, but can you pressurize it (even just a little air pressure would do) and spray liquid soap on the outside and look for bubbles?

[mvusse]

I can see where the hole is when I watch it as I fill the tank. A really tiny pin prick of rust turns darker after a while, and then it grows to about 1/4" across over the span of about 5 minutes. Truly minuscule, but I'm sure it's enough to be able to smell the gas vapour when parked indoors, and I'm also afraid that it'll grow bigger if not fixed. If not for gas dissolving most paints, I would just hit it with a rust reformer, and then a spray bomb inside and out.

[MiNi Beast]

the just seal all it, gas & oil resistant one, cake the heck out of it , then coat the it with truck bed liner.

[Wildman]

:agree:

 

Just get a kit and do the entire tank, you fix one spot, and that just weakens the other 8 spots ready to start leaking.

 

http://www.por15.com/prodinfo.asp?number=S7Q&dept=12

 

Spent the $46 now, and save buying a new $170 tank, and the way you off/on road........you might need that "spare" tank soon :brows:

 

Plus.......I'm all out of gas tanks :oops:

[mvusse]

As stated earlier, the tank you sold me is fine. It's been wirebrushed, rust reformed and painted. I have 2 leaking sender units. One on the truck, and one I'm trying to fix. As for the spare tank? It works as my leak tester for sender units, but with a fist sized hole in the rear left top corner, it will never be used to hold gas again.

 

I'd never heard of seal all and had to google it. That looks like what I'm looking for. Now to find a store that sells it.

 

And before I go off road again, that tank will have a skid plate under it, even if I have to buy a welder and make it myself. Actually, that is the plan. It survived Badlands fine, but the paint scrape I left behind in the rock quarry did scare me a bit.

[mvusse]

Well, I got a tube of seal-all last week, but haven't had time to use it yet.

 

Last weekend went to Canada, and overheated standing in line at the border. turns out my pressure bottle had cracks in the bottom, and when pressurized I'd lose coolant. The combination of low coolant, insufficient airflow when not moving (still no shroud, auxiliary fan mounted but not yet wired) and probably lower than designed pressure in the coolant system due to the leak caused me to boil over. I smelled coolant, but wasn't sure till the car next to me rolled down their window to let me know water was pouring out behind the ps front wheel. I undid my seatbelt, opened my door and hung my head out to look underneath to find "pouring" being the understatement of the decade. I managed to make it through the border, off the first exit and into a hotel parking lot before running completely out, but as I coasted to a spot the gauge started moving up FAST. Talk about being just in time.

 

In short, I let the truck cool down, got a 5 gallon bucket of water to refill the system, and made it to my destination. For the trip back I "wired in" my auxiliary fan temporarily. With limited tools and materials at hand, I simply unplugged the harness from the heater/vent squirrel cage, and used a piece of romex to connect the power lead to the auxiliary fan, sticking the fan's negative lead between one of the screws holding it on. This now allowed me to use my heater controls to not only turn the fan on and off, but also gave me 4 speed settings. How's that for redneck engineering. Also took 2 3 gallon buckets with lids filled with water with me just in case.

 

Left the cap off the pressure bottle for the way back. This lowered the boiling point of the water to 212 degrees, but unless it boiled over I wouldn't loose coolant through the pressure bottle cracks, since they only leaked when pressurized. I made it through construction and across the border without losing too much water, and met Wildman to get a fan shroud off him. Thanks Bob!

 

So yesterday my new pressure bottle came in. Installation took only 10 minutes which was about all the time I had. Today I finally had time to install the fan shroud. Decided not to remove the radiator unless absolutely necessary, and found there was no way the shroud was going on without removing the fan. Took the fan off, stuck in inside the shroud and put them both in place together. I scuffed up the radiator a bit because I had almost but not quite enough room for the fan to clear the studs in the pulley, but didn't think much off it. This is a 6 month old radiator that was put in days before I bought the truck. Get everything together and start the engine to make sure nothing hits, and I get misted with a fine spray of water.

 

Turned out where I scuffed the fins I also put a hole in a channel :mad:

 

Now I still have to remove the radiator to pinch that channel shut. :wall:

 

Wildman also liked my "rear leaf spring quick disconnect". It has been there since I replaced the springs, and after a day off road and a few thousand road miles is still hanging on. Some of the people at Badlands have seen it, but I promised to take pictures for everyone else to see. They will be coming soon.

[mvusse]

As posted elsewhere, the PIA got hit in the ds rear quarter, here are the pics:

 

The final outcome is that I ordered a slightly modified 3" lift kit from Motion Offroad, pretty much paid for by the insurance.

 

Will probably have to get some odds and ends to go along with it. like brake lines and shocks, but I should have it ready for the Oct. 25 trip to Badlands.

 

More pics after parts come in.

 

While I didn't know the outcome, everything had pretty much come to a halt, but now that I'm keeping her, I continued on the fuel sender unit. Cacked the heck out of both inside and outside with seal-all, then primed and painted the outside, only to have the ground wire break off :headpop:

 

Now I have to get all the crap off the wire tab and solder it back on.

 

Also on the roster for today or this week (besides sender unit):

replace transfer case output shaft seal

fix transmission cooler line leak

transmission fluid change

oil change

top off transfer case and axles

and possibly look into my power steering leak.

 

And I might attempt to get the rear quarter a little closer to where it is supposed to be.

[mvusse]

When I first got the truck, the transfer case rear output shaft seal had been leaking, and when I drained it what came out was black, burnt transmission fluid. Only 4 oz. of it. I refilled it before the July Badlands trip and not since.

 

This afternoon I went to drain it, getting ready to replace the seal when I noticed that the seal had not been leaking any more. #@^ I thought, it must be about empty again! So I drained it, and it was full. The fluid came out mostly brown, but still smelled like transmission fluid and still had a reddish tint to it. Brown was probably from rinsing remains of the burnt stuff off. So no need to replace the seal, and refilled with fresh fluid. It's about time something went right!

 

I also fixed my transmission fluid leak. There was a loose connection in a cooler line. Tightened it 3 turns and no more leak. And got the refurbished sender unit assembly installed. Hopefully that solves my fuel leak, but with Ike, gas prices have spiked and I'm not filling the tank until it has dropped and stabilized again. Since Monday just the station down the street from me has been $3.99, $3.98 $3.96 $3.94 $3.89 $3.84 and now $3.82. Sometimes it changes 3 times a day!

 

But now I have a coolant leak at the lower radiator hose. Easy fix sometime this weekend. Might try to find the source of my power steering leak while I'm in there.

 

I also did about 3 hours stop and go slow speed offroading (dragging fallen trees into the clear and carrying cut up logs out of the woods at work), with no overheating.

 

And I got an email from Motion today that (part of) my lift has shipped. I believe my rear springs might be on their way

 

On a side note, the shop is still out of power meaning I'm still not back to work. If power is not back by Sunday, anybody have any ideas? Will travel for work Sunday-Wednesday. Pretty much a jack-of-all-trades (master of none).

[mvusse]

Some new pictures. I want to compare flex before and after lift, so here's the before. Stock rear springs, 1.75" spacers up front, sway bar disconnected. Inside (lower) edge of front wheel is up 24.5" before rear wheel started to lift.

 

[mvusse]

Two pictures of my buddy's XJ. 5.5" lift is too much for 31" tires.

[mvusse]

Two parts of my lift kit arrived today: the rear leaf springs! For some reason the box with everything else got stuck at the Akron, OH DHL warehouse :cry:

 

So I started on the rear of the truck, but then my daughter came over to make out her birthday party invitations, which we then had to deliver and I ran out of daylight.

 

Broke off a shock mount :mad:

 

Out came the axle:

 

And the old springs:

 

Here's the new 3" lift ones from Motion Offroad:

 

Look ma! No wheels!

[mvusse]

This is only used for reference and don't "quote" us on this. As we measured a MJ without rear flares so we're somewhat "guessing" based on what the flare should be. Maybe some who's running our rear leafs who's still got flares can chime in to give you the exact measurement your looking for.

 

3" Leafs - 23.5"

4.5" Leafs - 25"

 

Well, I'm a little disappointed. I have the springs in, bolted the axle back in, and put my old shocks back in for the time being. They work at ride height, but limit droop by 1". Center of wheel to bottom lip of flare is 22.5" on both sides. With the stock springs I had 21.5" ds, and 21" ps. So the 3" lift springs only lifted me 1-1.5". Will still work with the 4.5" front coils, though, as they *should* put the front at about 21.25". Maybe I'll get some Chevy lift shackles for myself for Christmas.

 

On a side note, DHL threw the box of lift parts around hard enough for the track bar to come through the corner and they lost the heim joint and track bar hardware kit out of the box before it was delivered on my front porch. I called Motion, they called me back after trying to deal with DHL, I tried to deal with DHL and left an email. I get another call from Motion this morning and replacement parts are on the way as I type this!

[CWLONGSHOT]

Glad it worked out for you!!!

 

Sorry the springs didn't net you the lift you expected!! Did you talk to Motion about this as well?

 

I am also running a longer shackle, I think its a Day-star and IIRC its 7.5" eye to eye. fact MJ is about 5.5" eye to eye. So its netting me about an inch of additional lift. Personally, I wouldn't go any longer for the shackle. Since your SOA, I would remove the perches and install a set that was further off the axle. But don't go crazy here either, maybe an inch to an inch and a half max. By raising the perch off the axle tube your giving it more leverage and can lead to wheel hop. Excessive wheel hop can destroy your new springs in short order.

 

CW

[mvusse]

Since your SOA, I would remove the perches and install a set that was further off the axle.

 

????

 

My axle is still sitting on top of the springs. SOA is in the planning for the (very distant) future.

[Motion Offroad]

Stock height is 19" in the rear. This will give or take just a smidge based on what set of leafs you have from the factory (2wd vs. 4wd vs. metric ton) and what axle it came with. But 19" is the base measurement.

 

So with 19" as the base measurement, you measured 22.5. With this measurement that puts you at 3.5" of lift. They probally will settle a bit with a bit of use and should net the 3" as advertised.

[CWLONGSHOT]

Since your SOA, I would remove the perches and install a set that was further off the axle.

 

????

 

My axle is still sitting on top of the springs. SOA is in the planning for the (very distant) future.

 

Oops, my bad.. reading/commenting on too many rigs tonight.... Sorry man.

 

Well my comments on the shackle length still stand. Keep them with in 2" of stock length. Even that is a pretty long shackle.

 

CW

[mvusse]

Replacement parts arrived this afternoon, and it's all there! With a bit of luck, it should all be together (except for the broken shock mount) before Monday. If things go as planned, broken shock mount should be taken care of Monday evening. :wrench:

[WahooSteeler]

Stock height is 19" in the rear. This will give or take just a smidge based on what set of leafs you have from the factory (2wd vs. 4wd vs. metric ton) and what axle it came with. But 19" is the base measurement.

 

So with 19" as the base measurement, you measured 22.5. With this measurement that puts you at 3.5" of lift. They probally will settle a bit with a bit of use and should net the 3" as advertised.

 

I am so confused. I assume this is from the bottom of the flare to the center of the wheel/hub? On a lift thread recently a similar question was asked about these measurements, and Eagle provided 21.5" for the stock rear, and 19" (?) forthe front I believe.

[mvusse]

I had read that lift thread as well, and used to measure 21" on one side, 21.5" on the other side. I measured the way the FSM does it, and measure 11.25" on both sides. Stock (for 4wd) is specified as 9.2" +/- .5", 2ws is 1" less. So my passenger side was at the upper limit of the factory specs before the lift springs, driver side was .5" more. And according to those numbers the springs lifted me 2" over stock 4wd, 3" over stock 2wd.

 

Anyway, I got all the lift components bolted on, but need to torque all the bolts yet. Definitely need to get some lift shackles (chevy drop shackles) for the back. Front 4.5" springs actually netted me a bit more than 4.5, but will probably settle a bit over time. Does still look good with my tires (P235/75R15), and doesn't make the tires look too puny. When it is time for new tires I'll put 33s under there. Didn't have too much trouble; I already knew the lcas limit droop to the bare minimum needed to get 1.75" spacer blocks in with stock springs, so they came off first. They are being replaced with MO adjustable ones anyway. Then I find out the stock track bar will still not let the ds droop enough, so off it came. But then again, it is also going to be replaced with a MO adjustable one. After I got the ds done, I find out the ps droop is now limited by the uca. Disconnected it at the axle and I was good to go. Springs are in, lca's were a bit of a pain to get the axle lined up, but went in with a bit of thinking (gotta be smarter than the truck :D ), no problem with the sway bar discos, but the track bar hit a small hitch: it comes with a 1/2" bolt for the axle end. The stock hole is 7/16". That took me a good half hour since I only have 1 1/2" drill bit, and it turned out to be dull. Still, for pretty much completely customizing the front suspension, it went a lot easier than it could have been. A very well thought out and put together lift kit.

 

Rear shocks should arrive tomorrow (Monroe #59358, $20.99 a piece with an extended length center to center of 26 1/8"). Autozone could get me Gabriel #61582 for $21.99, which supposedly measure 25", but would take longer to arrive. And since my last set of shocks from them turned out to be heater cores, I'm not the least bit happy with them right now. New to me spring plate with unbroken shock mount should also arrive tomorrow and I have the new rear brake hose ready to install. Have yet to figure out my front shocks and brake hoses, though.

 

And as well as I can tell with the skid plate in the way, my recent coolant leak seems to be the lower radiator hose. Have been driving for almost a week with a new one of those in the back, and when I get in there to replace it I'm going to try to track down my power steering leak as well.

 

I should be good to go with 2 weeks to spare!

 

Pictures to follow after I'm done wrenching.

[mvusse]

Got it all together, got my rear brake lines done, front ones dangling loose so I could temporarily connect them and went around the block. Truck had a shimmy to it, which was caused by me torquing every bolt, except the lug nuts! They were just finger tight.

 

So I tighten up the lug nuts and get on my way to pick up the new rear shocks. Hit a bump in the road at 25 or 30 mph and immediately have death wobble so bad it effed up the alternator big time. Volt meter dropped to ~11 volts or so, and the bearings are whining. That's when I remembered I am still missing one front shock because the bolts had broke off. DOH!

 

Took the Suburban to get the shocks and a reman alternator, and ran out of daylight to get the old one out. That fan shroud and front skid I installed sure know how to get in the way. Hopefully tomorrow I can finish replacing the alternator, install my new rear shocks, get new bolts for the front shock and drive it again while trying to figure out front shocks and brake lines and getting a wheel alignment done.

 

Also, my new rear shocks, Monroe #59358, do not measure 26 1/8" as the store told me (they measured end to end!), but 25" fully extended. 2" longer than stock, and 1" beyond full droop on the rear axle.

[89eliminator]

making good progress. can't wait to check it out.

[mvusse]

Say Wade, how did you do your front brake lines? You're running 6.5" of lift, right?

[89eliminator]

Say Wade, how did you do your front brake lines? You're running 6.5" of lift, right?

 

i just straightened out the hard line and drilled a new hole lower for the mount on the "frame". it gets kinda tight at full flex, so this winter I'm putting on rubicon express brake lines front and rear (i already have them, just waiting to be installed)

[mvusse]

Say Wade, how did you do your front brake lines? You're running 6.5" of lift, right?

 

i just straightened out the hard line and drilled a new hole lower for the mount on the "frame". it gets kinda tight at full flex, so this winter I'm putting on rubicon express brake lines front and rear (i already have them, just waiting to be installed)

 

That's how I was thinking of doing it. If it works for 6.5", I'm sure it will for 4.5". Need to flex the suspension first (easy to do when you have access to a forklift ) to find the center point.

 

I just hope I can fix that DW. Hopefully installing the missing shock will do it. If not, I will have to play with the lcas a bit (shorten them up some?) before I get an alignment. Easiest way to get the axle situated correctly is to get adjustable ucas, but they are out of budget for now.

[Pete M]

I believe YJ front lines are 3" longer than MJ/XJ ones.