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98' XJ speedo gear frustration

shimmy

shimmy

NAXJA Forum User
Location
seattle, WA
so i tried putting in my 39 tooth tran case gear about a month ago and i couldn't get the speedo to work, so i put the stock 34 tooth back in. well, i'm really tired of racking up miles, so i tried to put a new 39 tooth gear in again and i still can't get the speedo to register! i'm on my second gear now, since i got mad at the first one and f@#cked it up! Does anyone know of any hints to get this thing working?

Brandon
PS, i've read other threads and webpages on how to install this, so i know i'm doing it right, i just can't seem to get the thing to speedo. i've been told that the 39 tooth gears are kinda tricky but i'm getting really frustrated! oh yeah, i have a 98 XJ... is there any difference in this model, like it being harder to install a 39 tooth gear?
 
Did you reclock the housing? There are marks on it related to the number of teeth in the gear, and you have to have the outer housing turned to face the correct one of (three?) ways for it to work right.
 
Yucca-Man said:
Did you reclock the housing? There are marks on it related to the number of teeth in the gear, and you have to have the outer housing turned to face the correct one of (three?) ways for it to work right.
Click to expand...

of course i did that Jim! :)
 
BornAgainXJer said:
do you have the correct gear? when I did mine I remember seeing a chart that had 3 different choices for each gear/tire combo.

You probably have already seen this but here is a link to at chart

http://www.go.jeep-xj.info/HowtoSpeedoGears.htm
Click to expand...


yup thats where i got the 39 tooth, more help please... this is the part number of the 39 tooth i have. 52067639, can anyone verify that that is the correct gear for a 98'? i'm just about ready to pay someone to do this!
 
Last edited:
I still think it's clocking issue.

Loosen the bolt holding the speedo sensor housing retaining fork enough so the fork tabs don't hold. Slowly, rotate the housing it to the next possible position where the tabs line up again, and try it. DON'T force anything! I had to use this method until I finally got my speedo to work.

If it still doesn't work, go to the next position on the housing. There are only so many combinations you can use.

Ivan
 
What tires and axle ratio do you have? I found the aforementioned chart to be inaccurate for 33" tires with 3.55 gears. It says 30 tooth, however checking with my GPS a 29 tooth is ~ .5 MPH off at 70 MPH.
 
shimmy said:
yup thats where i got the 39 tooth, more help please... this is the part number of the 39 tooth i have. 52067639, can anyone verify that that is the correct gear for a 98'? i'm just about ready to pay someone to do this!
Click to expand...
According to that chart it's correct
 
FrankNBrew said:
What tires and axle ratio do you have? I found the aforementioned chart to be inaccurate for 33" tires with 3.55 gears. It says 30 tooth, however checking with my GPS a 29 tooth is ~ .5 MPH off at 70 MPH.
Click to expand...

i have 33's and 4.56 gears
 
Ivan said:
I still think it's clocking issue.

Loosen the bolt holding the speedo sensor housing retaining fork enough so the fork tabs don't hold. Slowly, rotate the housing it to the next possible position where the tabs line up again, and try it. DON'T force anything! I had to use this method until I finally got my speedo to work.

If it still doesn't work, go to the next position on the housing. There are only so many combinations you can use.

Ivan
Click to expand...

isn't there only one position for a 39 tooth gear (39-43)? when i rotate it to any of the other housing positions like 34-38 the gear won't even fit in the t case
 
Rotate it while it's still in the housing. Like metioned above, don't force it, but rotate it. When you get engagement with the output shaft you will no longer be able to turn it. If it only turns a little then you are likely clocked correctly. If it turns past the next set of locking tabs before stopping you were likely clocked wrong. I thought there were a couple of different speedo gear types, like a long and a short or some such thing. Do the dimentions of the old look the same as the new (other than gear diameter)?

HTH,
B-loose
 
shimmy said:
so i tried putting in my 39 tooth tran case gear about a month ago and i couldn't get the speedo to work, so i put the stock 34 tooth back in. well, i'm really tired of racking up miles, so i tried to put a new 39 tooth gear in again and i still can't get the speedo to register! i'm on my second gear now, since i got mad at the first one and f@#cked it up! Does anyone know of any hints to get this thing working?

Brandon
PS, i've read other threads and webpages on how to install this, so i know i'm doing it right, i just can't seem to get the thing to speedo. i've been told that the 39 tooth gears are kinda tricky but i'm getting really frustrated! oh yeah, i have a 98 XJ... is there any difference in this model, like it being harder to install a 39 tooth gear?
Click to expand...

I am installing a 41 tooth gear this weekend hopfully I can make it work. Are you sure you have the right gear, there is a short shaft and a long shaft you should have the short shaft.
 
Bloose said:
Rotate it while it's still in the housing. Like metioned above, don't force it, but rotate it. When you get engagement with the output shaft you will no longer be able to turn it. If it only turns a little then you are likely clocked correctly. If it turns past the next set of locking tabs before stopping you were likely clocked wrong. I thought there were a couple of different speedo gear types, like a long and a short or some such thing. Do the dimentions of the old look the same as the new (other than gear diameter)?

HTH,
B-loose
Click to expand...

yeah the gears look the same, minus the diameter. i'll do the rotate trick again and see if that works.
 
FrankNBrew said:
What tires and axle ratio do you have? I found the aforementioned chart to be inaccurate for 33" tires with 3.55 gears. It says 30 tooth, however checking with my GPS a 29 tooth is ~ .5 MPH off at 70 MPH.
Click to expand...

It all depends on what brand of tyre you run and even the tread type. No two tyres are exactly the same between manufactures. I mention all this on that page to stop people from saying " your chart is out with my X brand tyre " only to have many saying it is spot on because they have used the same tyre ( BFG ) as the chart is based on. That is why I gave the true height and then you need to compare that to the one you bought. If you have used the BFG's and find a difference, by all means let me know so I can correct it for all to make it the accurate as possible. I do and have made changes to different combo's of BFG's and gear ratios to keep it the best out there.
 
Gojeep said:
It all depends on what brand of tyre you run and even the tread type. No two tyres are exactly the same between manufactures. I mention all this on that page to stop people from saying " your chart is out with my X brand tyre " only to have many saying it is spot on because they have used the same tyre ( BFG ) as the chart is based on. That is why I gave the true height and then you need to compare that to the one you bought. If you have used the BFG's and find a difference, by all means let me know so I can correct it for all to make it the accurate as possible. I do and have made changes to different combo's of BFG's and gear ratios to keep it the best out there.
Click to expand...

Sorry. Your chart is accurate. It's the chart here that I was thinking about:

http://www.jeepsunlimited.com/zj/speedo/speedo.htm

My XJ has 33.1" tall tires, which is why I needed a 29 rather than 30 tooth. The jeepsunlimited chart said to use a 31, which would have been way off.
 
shimmy said:
isn't there only one position for a 39 tooth gear (39-43)? when i rotate it to any of the other housing positions like 34-38 the gear won't even fit in the t case
Click to expand...
Good to see you attempted clocking it ;) It really sounds as though you're doing it correctly, I put the same gear in my 96 to correct the 32s and 4.56s to almost dead-on. I don't recall any problems with it although now that I read through the posts I think the gear didn't seat fully at first...just needed a little added pressure.

The part number is correct; the last two digits are the tooth count.
 
Well I installed a 41 tooth speedo gear this weekend and seems to be working fine. I just need to check to make sure it's the right speed. all charts say 41 tooth with 4.88 and 33 inch tires.
 
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