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beater!

Got my RCV problem fixed. The retainer clip wasn't left out it was just worn down, from the shaft moving around. Couldn't see it at first

Stripped_Locking_Ring.sized.jpg


Dug it out...

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It looks like the shaft was only halfway in the CV, and the outer half was wallowing around the inner half of the inside CV race. The shaft is 4340 steel but the race is 300m, surprising how much damage to the race

Worn_Inner_Race.sized.jpg


Ordered a new shaft, race rebuild kit, and extra locking rings for the parts bag. RCV told me to buy o-rings to put under the locking ring to add tension, and the new shaft came with an o-ring already installed. However I wasn't able to press the shaft into the CV with the o-ring installed, and tore the o-ring during my efforts.

Replacement_Left_Shaft.sized.jpg


Went together easy without the o-ring. New shaft, CV joint, and Timken wheel bearings while I was at it. Also had to buy new spindle nuts (Dorman 615-110.1) and stake them into the groove--the stock Jeep hardware doesn't work since there's no hole for the cotter pin.

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Short nail puller made it easy to pop the boots off

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RCV D4042 installation tool made it easy to pop them on. Line everything up with hub bolts just loosely started, then crank down the hub bolts and it will push the boot on

RCV_D4042_Installation_Tool.sized.jpg


Kind of a pain in the ass. Almost rather have u-joint 4340 shafts and carry spares like before. Almost. I have extra locking rings and tools in the bags, so if it happens again I should be able to repair on the trail or at camp.
 
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Went wheeling some private property in Crozet VA that was being leased by a club I was in. The club disbanded and let the lease run out, so last time to go.

2017_10_28_Rock_Crawl.png


Only real problem I had was when I tried to cross a gap and the tire pushed the rear rock back, then the wheel fell in the hole, and a support bar on the rocker rail broke off. Had to winch myself out and ratchet strap the rail to the side of the Jeep.

2017_10_28_Rock_Fall.jpg


The other fella there broke his axle u-joint and tore both ears on the outer shaft. Neither of us had spares so we pulled his inner and jammed a rag in the tube. Then we went over to Bald Mountain Jeep Trail in the George Washington National Forest on the other side of I-64 and tooled around on the fire roads for a while.

2017_10_28_Bald_Mountain_Overlook.jpg


Fun day overall. No real issues, although the engine and transmission did start running warm on the way back. I kind of suspect that the torque converter clutch isn't holding, so I may replace the transmission solenoids again
 
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Sounds like a good day Eric! Sorry I never got down there to "do" Crozet, I've heard nothing but good about it. Hopefully something will happen with that again in the future!
I've also heard good things about GW state forest, would love to visit some time.
Rich
 
The rocker rails were given to me from a friend's part-out a couple of years ago, and were installed "temporarily" to give me some protection until I could do the work I wanted. To be honest I'm surprised they have held up this long--over 30 wheeling trips, some of them pretty brutal

The rails themselves are quite sturdy but the support bars that tie into the pinch seam and frame rail are very thin and flimsy. The one that broke seems to have simply sheared off at the weld, while another was crushed and rotted

Broken_Support.sized.jpg


Crushed_Support.sized.jpg


I picked up some 1/8" square tube from a local welding supply for cheap and then welded it up with my cheapass 120v flux welder

Replacement_Support_Tube.sized.jpg


Welded_Replacement_Support.sized.jpg


Back in business

Replaced_Rocker_Rail.sized.jpg


Still temporary, but much better than before, should last another year or two
 
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I was gonna reply and say "Pics or it didn't happen" but I see in the quote you had pics but your pics aren't showing up for me because you used HTTPS in your links and the certificate doesn't match the site name. If you change it to HTTP it works. Cool work!

 
Went wheeling some private property in Crozet VA that was being leased by a club I was in. The club disbanded and let the lease run out, so last time to go.

2017_10_28_Rock_Crawl.png


Only real problem I had was when I tried to cross a gap and the tire pushed the rear rock back, then the wheel fell in the hole, and a support bar on the rocker rail broke off. Had to winch myself out and ratchet strap the rail to the side of the Jeep.

2017_10_28_Rock_Fall.jpg


The other fella there broke his axle u-joint and tore both ears on the outer shaft. Neither of us had spares so we pulled his inner and jammed a rag in the tube. Then we went over to Bald Mountain Jeep Trail in the George Washington National Forest on the other side of I-64 and tooled around on the fire roads for a while.

2017_10_28_Bald_Mountain_Overlook.jpg


Fun day overall. No real issues, although the engine and transmission did start running warm on the way back. I kind of suspect that the torque converter clutch isn't holding, so I may replace the transmission solenoids again


Let's see if the http trick works lol

Edit:it does work, I can see your pics now Ehall
 
Mozilla is ignoring the images now too. Looks like I need to create a new certificate.

Yeah, SHA1 certs are globally being unsupported. We went through a huge effort where I work for SHA256 conversions.
 
Back to plain old HTTP then

Today I upgraded my transmission and power steering cooolers to B&M 70273. 11" wide x 5.75" tall x 1.5" thick, supposed to be good for 15000 BTUs. It has 1/2" NPT fittings on the ends, so I bought some AN-6 adapters (JEGS #100119) and 3/8" elbows (Earl's 709167) for the soft line connections. Tight fit, had to wiggle the thing in one end at a time then thread the elbow fittings on afterwards. Also drilled a hole in the crossmember for the transmission return line, using a stepper bit to make the hole bigger than the hose.

BM_70273_Test_Fit.sized.jpg


Both installed... Zip ties through the radiators and foam pads to keep them off the AC condenser, so didn't have to cheat. Plenty of room on the sides for the radiator tanks and some of the fins.

BM_70273_Final_Fit.sized.jpg


No interference from the grill, can't really see them either.

BM_70273_Buttoned_Up.sized.jpg


Took a whole quart of power steering fluid to fill the cooler. We'll see how it holds up tomorrow.
 
Few loose ends on engine work for the year. Everything is working very well with one exception, and that is working pretty well. Some of this stuff was done recently, some of it earlier in the year.

Engine_Cleanup.sized.jpg


I could smell coolant burning sometimes, and temperatures were fluctuating a little, and there was a mystery coolant loss. Today I saw a drip drip, and it turned out that one of the heater hose clamps was defective and the hose was leaking around the edge. Replaced them all with junkyard constant tension clamps, no more smells or fluctuations.

Throttle cable broke at the clip near the throttle body, so I got another from the junkyard and replaced it.

Also swapped in some clean valve cover hardware to replace my rusty old bolts.

Mitsumoto silicon elbow for the throttle body to the tube. I kept trying to make the stock elbows work but they kept tearing at the inner elbow. This silicone elbow is very nice, fits nice too.

Also got a new air filter to replace the one that I have had for a while. This time I splurged on the sock to keep leaves and water off of the filter element. I am using a throttle body elbow from a V8 ZJ, fits nice and snug inside the amsoil filter opening. I am keeping my eyes open for a silicon adapter elbow but not really looking hard, since I plan to plumb this into the cowl again at some point. Also replaced the Spectre element on my manifold breather (for the diff, transmission, and transfer case breather lines).

New plugs and wires, distributor cap, etc. earlier in the year.

Everything is running top-notch EXCEPT the transmission is not acting as I expect on the highway. For one, fuel mileage is down to ~10 MPG when it should be closer to ~14. Also the transmission has not been running as cool as I would like--I installed the new coolers which addressed the symptoms (runs much cooler), but thinking about it I should not have to put 15,000 BTU cooler on the trans to make it run in spec. Both symptoms point to torque converter clutch engagement issues, however the TCC lockup seems to work just fine--I can feel it shift and RPMs drop as expected. My working theory at the moment is that the old solenoids have damaged o-rings and are not sealing the hydraulic circuit for the TCC fully, allowing some fluid loss and therefore some slippage. I am going to swap in the set of aftermarket solenoids again, and see if they work better.

Other than that the Jeep is 100% and is a pleasure to drive
 
Drove to Roanoke VA to get some parts from NAXJA goodfellow xjtrailrider, and wheeled in GWNF with his local club. Ton of driving, everything worked, nothing broke. Smell of burning coolant came back on the hill climbs, so might have another leak.

2017_11_25_Potts_West.sized.jpg


He's addicted

2017_11_25_xjtrailrider.sized.jpg
 
When I got this POS the AC didn't work at all, but over the course of a couple years I rebuilt the plumbing enough for it to hold pressure (condenser, evaporator, and a couple of hoses), but never got around to replacing the compressor. It had problems (noisy), but it had the factory service valve contraptions for the R12 fittings, and I had to spend some time researching a solution.

R12_Fittings_and_Adapters.sized.jpg


Since I had to evacuate the system for the heater core swap, and its almost winter here so I don't need AC right now, I decided to spend some time working on it.

It would have been simplest to just buy another R12 compressor and new service valves but the fittings are not publicly available anywhere and have a bad reputation anyway. The valves are actually available from 4 Seasons, but they are not listed in the public catalogs correctly and do not show as interchange. You can call the 4 Seasons desk and they will tell you what to buy.

Another issue is that the entire HVAC infrastructure changed in 1997, moving from expansion valve to orifice tube and accumulator design. Some of the hoses and fittings are the same but the connection at the firewall was specifically different.

What I came up with instead is 94-96 HVAC parts have the same infrastructure (same condensor, expansion valve, etc), but are factory for R134A instead of R12. I bought a new 1995 Denso compressor, a pair of 4Seasons 1995 suction and discharge hoses, and a 1995 filter-drier with pressure switch, then kept everything else the same.

R134_Hoses.sized.jpg


The port fittings on the back of the compressor are different from the fittings on my old R12 compressor but are the same as the fittings on the side of the service valves. Unfortunately the angle of attack is different, and can't use the old hoses without the service valves because that's the only way to charge the system. Meanwhile the new hoses come with R134a service fittings brazed into the line.

Need to replace another part and get it recharged, and then wait for warm weather, but I feel pretty good about it.
 
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Awesome! Funny for all the years I've been going to RC I've never actually been able to do boot hill in its entirety. There's always been a breakage/time issue every time I've tried....weird.
I'll bet it was fun in icy conditions though. Good job by you!
 
Day trip to GWNF. Outside temperature was in the teens all day. Heater worked great on the trails when coolant temp was near 210, but not so great on the highway where coolant temp was 195 at best (15 degree difference in heater temp is noticeable lol). Heated seats made the difference. Other than that everything worked fine, and nothing broke.

2018_01_06_Taskers_Gap.sized.jpg


2018_01_06_Peters_Mill_Run.sized.jpg
 
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