transmission lines

im new here so ill start by saying hello to all the fellow xj enthusiasts on here!

i have a 96 xj sport 4x4 4.0
i recently smashed in my tranny cooler lines and picked up some new ones from autozone here in redlands, i replaced them and it wasnt easy, all the quick disconnecters werent so quick, and all of them were differenty from the ones origionally on there, so i put them together as well as i could, did a few bonzai runs down a dirt road near my home, and had one leak, the return line at the bottom of the radiator, not where it enters the radiator, but where the line has the quick disco, it wasnt major, replaced the o rings again in the line, did another run down the road, less leak, but its still there, i dont believe the connectors mate properly with the oem ones on the radiator, the lines werent even bent completely like the originals, were a little off, so i had to take the tubing bender to them.

my question is: where the flexible portion of the line meets the quick disco at the end, could i chop the quick disco, and slide the line over the flare of the line that meets the bottom of the radiator, hose clamp it, and leave it like that? will this work as a permanent solution? ive heard of people removing quick discos before but it usually involves alot of other stuff, and i cant find a write up on this through any searches. any response on the matter is greatly appreciated as this jeep is my dd aswell as my semi-play-thing, thanks guys! and i apologise about the lengthy post.

Actually there isn't really a "flare" there. For a 3/8's hose it's more of a stop. You can slide it on and clamp it good and tight, or reflare another line to fit.

Bear in mind, when putting the quik-discos back on make sure you follow the o-ring, spacer, o-ring pattern. The easiest way I've found is to slide the plastic connector on to the metal line, up to the "flare", wings first, then slide on an o-ring, a spacer and another o-ring and then just push the connector on until it clicks. It should not leak. If you dont have the spacer...it wont work right, and will leak.

This info is from someone who has cut out ALL the discos and uses rubber hose from tranny to coller to tranny.

ParadiseXJ said:

Actually there isn't really a "flare" there. For a 3/8's hose it's more of a stop. You can slide it on and clamp it good and tight, or reflare another line to fit.

Bear in mind, when putting the quik-discos back on make sure you follow the o-ring, spacer, o-ring pattern. The easiest way I've found is to slide the plastic connector on to the metal line, up to the "flare", wings first, then slide on an o-ring, a spacer and another o-ring and then just push the connector on until it clicks. It should not leak. If you dont have the spacer...it wont work right, and will leak.

This info is from someone who has cut out ALL the discos and uses rubber hose from tranny to coller to tranny.

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yea its just in my mind, no leaks, went and ran a few trails today, went real fast on them, still no leaks, but seeing as my drive home is a twenty mile constant climb from work, im scared pressure may blow the connection off, but i beat it pretty hard on the dirt today, and seems fine, im just curious if it could be done. i plan to soon run rubber from rad to tranny, just when i have time and money, i bought hard lines to hold me over cause mine were pinched shut for i dont know how long. luckily the aw4 is f'n bulletproof. thanks for the response, now i know if that connection goes all i need is my knife and a hose clamp or three.

The aw4 isnt bulletproof... and FYI if that connection goes, you may also need a fire extinguisher.....



Quality AN plumbing... the only way to fly. Racers dont pay all the extra coin so they can right it off on their taxes....

im well aware itll ignite upon contact with the exhaust, thats why ive been checking it every time i get out of my xj. and i always carry a full extinguisher with me. never know when something will go up in flames right?

The transmission lines are not high pressure lines, there isn't any risk of blowing them off. However, there is a risk of having the tubing slip off the hardline. When my trans lines got crushed by the UCA/oilpan I clipped 'em and hose clamped rubber lines on. Been running fine for 6+ months, although I've been meaning to flare the lines slightly to insure the rubber hose never slips off. Plenty of others have done this as well.

P.S. trans fluid doesnt always ignite when it hits the exhaust, ask me how I know lol

dan1991 said:

The transmission lines are not high pressure lines, there isn't any risk of blowing them off. However, there is a risk of having the tubing slip off the hardline. When my trans lines got crushed by the UCA/oilpan I clipped 'em and hose clamped rubber lines on. Been running fine for 6+ months, although I've been meaning to flare the lines slightly to insure the rubber hose never slips off. Plenty of others have done this as well.

P.S. trans fluid doesnt always ignite when it hits the exhaust, ask me how I know lol

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I crushed my metal lines with the control arm during a jump. Whoops.

To fix, I cut out the bad section (about 3-4'') and put a 1' section of 3/8'' tube. It leaks quite a bit but I don't think I could get them to really come off too easily.

dan1991 said:

P.S. trans fluid doesnt always ignite when it hits the exhaust, ask me how I know lol

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AGREED! I leaked ATF for month out of my tail housing of transfer case, and never a problem. It leaked enough to have to refill it every other day.

dan1991 said:

P.S. trans fluid doesnt always ignite when it hits the exhaust, ask me how I know lol

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PRYAPSM said:

AGREED! I leaked ATF for month out of my tail housing of transfer case, and never a problem. It leaked enough to have to refill it every other day.

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And I didn't cut my finger off when i wasn't paying attention pushing a piece of plate steel through a bandsaw, but that doesn't mean it can't happen :nono:

leaking out of the tail housing is far less dangerous than leaking in the area of the downpipe and catalytic converter. the exhaust piping and the cat itself can be nearly twice as hot as the exhaust from the muffler back.

Does every jeep that leaks ATF burn? no. will ATF burn? yes. better safe than sorry IMO :dunno:

Have fun ignoring ATF leaks...

xcm said:

Have fun ignoring ATF leaks...

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will do-- thanx...

I nearly lost my jeep to an ATF fire. Was going up a rocky glacial talus slope with muck and a stream mixed in (i.e. almost any steep hill in the northeast) and my control arm smashed the tube in, then my spotter told me I was shooting fire every time I punched the gas. Never jumped out of a jeep so fast in my life, had my fire extinguisher on the passenger floorboard so I could reach it easily. I think I made it out of the jeep and all the way around the front in under 10 seconds, everyone laughed their asses off because the fire had already gone out when I shut it off and I was told it looked like a one man NASCAR pit crew.

Don't ignore ATF leaks, especially ones caused by the control arm mount. If the line is pinched just wrong, it makes a nice spray nozzle directed right at the exhaust... as I found out.