Scott_Thornley
NAXJA Forum User
- Location
- Sierra Foothills
Hi all,
Short time reader, first time poster.
I recently purchased a '99 XJ from an old friend of mine who's in declining health and wasn't using it. The jeep is in pretty good shape for 21 years old and 135k miles. Now my friend and I are both pretty much geezers, so it's not been wheeled hard. Unfortunately, He did like to drive it on the nearby-to-him Pismo Dunes. No body rust that I've seen so far, but fasteners don't look like they spent their entire lives in the desert.
I've done a couple trips up in the Sierras with it, and it's developed a clunk. It sounds like it's right under my feet. It doesn't take noticeable body movement for the clunk to occur.
I've peeked here for guidance, and have made sure that every bit of the front suspension is torqued. Both ends of upper and lower control arms. Track bar ends and track bar mount. Thought it might have been the ARB compressor, as it was not mounted securely, but that wasn't it. Transmission/T-case/engine appear to be well mounted. Skid pans are tight.
Next item, figuring it can't hurt, is to go ahead and replace the ball joints as according to buddy, they're originals. Only I'm stuck practically at the beginning, attempting to remove the axle nut.
Now, I may be old, but I can still deadlift 305, but even with about 5' worth of breaker bar and cheater, I still can't loosen the nut. I'm pulling at least 150 pounds before the cheater gets waist high. That's at least 750 ft*lbs of torque.
Stood on 4' of cheater (I'm 200 pounds) and bounced. Still not budging.
I've gone as far as using the floor jack under the breaker bar, lifting the handle about as much as I feel safe doing without permanently deforming the bar or shearing the pin. What happens is that there's enough weight removed from the tire that the wheel starts rotating even in 4wd with other tire also still on the ground. The jack eventually runs out of lift.
I don't have an impact wrench, but am now tempted to spend the coin Only I have serious doubts about whether or not a Milwaukee 3/4" cordless could bust it loose. Does it really have 1500 ft*lbs of loosening torque?
I don't want to use heat on these parts if at all possible. Maybe I'm being too cautious about this?
Am now soaking in Liquid Wrench, and am looking at 1" and 3/4" breaker bar options on Amazon.
Any guidance would be greatly appreciated.
Scott
Short time reader, first time poster.
I recently purchased a '99 XJ from an old friend of mine who's in declining health and wasn't using it. The jeep is in pretty good shape for 21 years old and 135k miles. Now my friend and I are both pretty much geezers, so it's not been wheeled hard. Unfortunately, He did like to drive it on the nearby-to-him Pismo Dunes. No body rust that I've seen so far, but fasteners don't look like they spent their entire lives in the desert.
I've done a couple trips up in the Sierras with it, and it's developed a clunk. It sounds like it's right under my feet. It doesn't take noticeable body movement for the clunk to occur.
I've peeked here for guidance, and have made sure that every bit of the front suspension is torqued. Both ends of upper and lower control arms. Track bar ends and track bar mount. Thought it might have been the ARB compressor, as it was not mounted securely, but that wasn't it. Transmission/T-case/engine appear to be well mounted. Skid pans are tight.
Next item, figuring it can't hurt, is to go ahead and replace the ball joints as according to buddy, they're originals. Only I'm stuck practically at the beginning, attempting to remove the axle nut.
Now, I may be old, but I can still deadlift 305, but even with about 5' worth of breaker bar and cheater, I still can't loosen the nut. I'm pulling at least 150 pounds before the cheater gets waist high. That's at least 750 ft*lbs of torque.
Stood on 4' of cheater (I'm 200 pounds) and bounced. Still not budging.
I've gone as far as using the floor jack under the breaker bar, lifting the handle about as much as I feel safe doing without permanently deforming the bar or shearing the pin. What happens is that there's enough weight removed from the tire that the wheel starts rotating even in 4wd with other tire also still on the ground. The jack eventually runs out of lift.
I don't have an impact wrench, but am now tempted to spend the coin Only I have serious doubts about whether or not a Milwaukee 3/4" cordless could bust it loose. Does it really have 1500 ft*lbs of loosening torque?
I don't want to use heat on these parts if at all possible. Maybe I'm being too cautious about this?
Am now soaking in Liquid Wrench, and am looking at 1" and 3/4" breaker bar options on Amazon.
Any guidance would be greatly appreciated.
Scott