So I was driving home from work...

burkemotorcross · Dec 11, 2008

The last couple of days its been cold as F--- here in Texas and usually, with my luck, when its cold something happens to the XJ, lol A couple of months ago I installed a new exhaust(cat, thrush glasspack, new O2 sensor, and 2 new exhaust hangers) and i am impressed by the sound and the durability of the exhaust. Anyway, I was driving home from work last night and went to pass a car AND THE DAMN EXHAUST FALLS OFF!!!. Luckily, those clamps i installed held the exhaust up for the rest of the trip and the exhaust clamp didnt fall off. Well i reinstalled the exhaust and tightened the clamps up well and hopefully it wont fall off again(knock on wood).

when the exhaust fell off i made a few observations:

The jeep runs and sounds like s__t without an exhaust.
It backfires a lot!? that explains the slight miss i was hearing at idle.

My question is about the backfiring. what could be causing it? also, my mileage has been about 290 miles on a tank.

Its a 97 XJ 2 dr 4.0 AX-15 combo

5spd_xj · Dec 11, 2008

Kind of just a guess here, someone feel free to correct me... But I think it's just because when you have no exhaust there's no backpressure. There's resistance on the intake side, with the filter etc, but nothing on the exhaust side, so it's unbalanced...

BTW, sounds like a nice jeep. I love the newer style 2 doors with a 5 speed. got any pics of that thing??

asp · Dec 11, 2008

yeah 4.0s like to have a little backpressure in order to maintain low end torque. i can imagine it not running well even at idle or at speed for that matter if it had too little backpressure. it's not so much that you need even intake and exhaust resistance, if anything zero intake resistance would be ideal.

5spd_xj · Dec 11, 2008

yeah, definitely agree with the zero intake resistance being ideal. too bad its totally unrealistic

Open throttle body.... nottt so good haha

burkemotorcross · Dec 11, 2008

5spd_xj said:
Kind of just a guess here, someone feel free to correct me... But I think it's just because when you have no exhaust there's no backpressure. There's resistance on the intake side, with the filter etc, but nothing on the exhaust side, so it's unbalanced...

BTW, sounds like a nice jeep. I love the newer style 2 doors with a 5 speed. got any pics of that thing??

5spd_xj, thanks for the compliments. Heres some older pics of the jeep, has been retinted, trim cleaned up, exhaust, etc just scroll down a little

http://www.naxja.org/forum/showthread.php?p=244152521#post244152521

5spd_xj · Dec 11, 2008

Looks great, I'm jealous

asp · Dec 11, 2008

yeah it does... i saw you posted pictures of this in a welcome to the forum kinda thread... i wish mine was still that nice, but hey at least all my doors still close straight.

5spd_xj · Dec 11, 2008

asp387 said:
but hey at least all my doors still close straight.

Now, of course there's no way that comment was directed at my rust free cali jeep, right? So the doors close a little rough and it's sorta kinda really tweaked...At least it's not rotting away

:twak:

burkemotorcross · Dec 11, 2008

thanks for all the compliments, i love the jeep but it lacks one thing i wish it had, 4WD. But i shouldnt complain, it usually gets pretty decent gas mileage, but lately it hasnt, and its still a baby, 176,893 miles on the odometer as of right now

5spd_xj · Dec 11, 2008

Ouuu, yeah. Lack of 4wd kinda hurts. I'd still buy it though

I want that shell SO bad. It's mint, it's a 2 door, it's rust free, one of my favorite colors.... Wanna trade for my 93?

burkemotorcross · Dec 11, 2008

lol, nah thats all right, im the second owner of the jeep, (the first owner was my cousin) and it has a kind of sentimental value. But ive contemplated trying to convert it to 4wd. I dont do tons of offroading, but there have been times where its held me back(at the beach, for example), but a stock 2wd XJ with the tires deflated to around 18 psi will get pretty damn far, lol suprised a lot of my friends

asp · Dec 11, 2008

5spd_xj said:
Now, of course there's no way that comment was directed at my rust free cali jeep, right? So the doors close a little rough and it's sorta kinda really tweaked...At least it's not rotting away

:twak:

hehe actually it wasn't. i was just speaking in general terms. but now that you mention it... :anon:

to the OP: now 4wd? :bawl:

burkemotorcross · Dec 11, 2008

asp387 said:
hehe actually it wasn't. i was just speaking in general terms. but now that you mention it... :anon:

to the OP: now 4wd? :bawl:

yep, no 4wd

, but iguess with enough money and time, that can be fixed

asp · Dec 11, 2008

burkemotorcross said:
yep, no 4wd , but iguess with enough money and time, that can be fixed

so when are you going to do it? :gee:

burkemotorcross · Dec 11, 2008

idk well if i had the parts needed to do it and maybe some help...

5spd_xj · Dec 11, 2008

I'm guessing the tranny's gotta have a different tailhousing, I don't know if you can just unbolt that and bolt up a t-case... Other than that, all you'd need is the t-case, a front axle with 3.07 gears to match your rear, linkage for the case, and driveshafts front/rear. None of it is even all that difficult to do, you and friend can do it in a weekend once you gather parts, which ought to be easy enough to find at JYs...

burkemotorcross · Dec 11, 2008

hmm, so i can still use my tranny as long as i get the different tailhousing? ive always never looked into it becuase i cant find very many ax-15 equipped 4wd jeeps cherokees at the local J.Y.. is it possible to just buy the tailhousing and adapt it onto my AX-15?

asp · Dec 11, 2008

burkemotorcross said:
idk well if i had the parts needed to do it and maybe some help...

i'm in MA dude, you're SOL as far as i can make a difference :confused1

in2fords · Dec 11, 2008

No, you need a whole new 4wd transmission. I beleive the shaft that needs to be replaced is the very last peice to come out of a transmission so a complete tear down is necessary

I converted my 89 from 2wd to 4 wheel drive. I tried out several drive trains, the AW-4 W/ AwShift was good but I needed deeper gearing so I went to the NP435. Even trying out different axles and transmissions it wasnt that hard, I just took on alot at the same time, lift/435/205/Rear D44 and a bunch of body mods.

Im currently gearing up for a 4wd swap on my new 96 F-250 with parts from my 86 F-350, replace trans and bolt in front axle, Im hopeing for a week down time doing it my self after work.

burkemotorcross · Dec 11, 2008

i think that the easiest thing to do would be to buy a wrecked xj of the same year auto or manual tranny(is there a difference between the auto and sticks t-case) and pick up a ax-15 4wd transmission and swap all the parts(i want to keep it a standard)(plus having a higher ratio rear end should give me some more torque, hehe). what can i expect if i went this route?

So I was driving home from work...

NAXJA Forum User

<<the good ol days

NAXJA Forum User

<<the good ol days

NAXJA Forum User

<<the good ol days

NAXJA Forum User

<<the good ol days

NAXJA Forum User

<<the good ol days

NAXJA Forum User

NAXJA Forum User

NAXJA Forum User

NAXJA Forum User

NAXJA Forum User

<<the good ol days

NAXJA Forum User

NAXJA Forum User

NAXJA Forum User

NAXJA Forum User

Similar threads