Dicks Divorce Causing XJ Build

[stroked88]

dont know if they make a nut that has the thread of a screw. may want to just cut them off but leave a little stub

 

[dick.breakey]

ok. so i wanted to update a little here. i got the new fuel pump installed and it cranks for a max of about 2 second before it starts. shes running pretty damn good now, and it feels real tight under throttle(this is all parked though, i cant drive it anywhere yet cause of tires and no tags). today i ordered the rest of the floors. 135 shipped for the rest of the floors is not bad i dont think. i also ordered something to replace the carpets, yet keep it quieter in the cab.

http://www.automotiveinteriors.com/carpetsuv/jeep/cherokee84_96acc.htm

i ordered the vinyl. 144 shipped. ill prolly have those next week.

also, over the weekend, i picked up an 8.25 and verified the gears in the 30 up front an the new 8.25. wanna hear some good news??? theyre the same!!!!! 3.55's. so thats damn good news. gonna save me a ton on the gear install i thought was gonna have to happen. sometime this week im gonna go back to the donor xj and pick up the front and rear drive shafts and the stock roof rack for $50. not a bad deal i dont think.

so ill be putting in the rest of the floors in within the next week or 2, and then the vinyl carpet stuff, and then starting on the cargo area. i plan on building about a foot deep cargo box for the length of the cargo area sturdy enough to sleep on.

lets see, what else. floors, vinyl carpet, running right, axle, gears matching.......oh and im trying to buy a set of 33x12.50x15 baja claws and chrome soft 8's for 250. not much tread but enough for inspection and for a run or two.

should be a good time. ill update with pictures and what not later on.

 

[kastein]

You got lucky and unlucky at the same time on those gears.

On one hand... they are the most common gearing in XJs, ever, bar none. Almost every 4.0L automatic XJ in history has them, aside from some of the ones with towing packages (and even some of them had 3.55s.) So you can get a replacement axle damn near anywhere if you booger yours up doing something stupid *cough* fun offroad, and be rolling by Monday.

On the other hand, finding deeper ratios in junkyards to get a cheap gear upgrade to make up for large tires is more difficult. You can compensate somewhat by swapping to a manual and keeping the 3.55s... but I don't know if you like driving manual transmission vehicles.

Also they have near zero resale value compared to axles with other deeper gearings but hey you got em for cheap, so that's no big deal. Don't expect to get more than junkyard rate plus a little if you ever sell them.

Glad this is going forward!

 

[dick.breakey]

yeah ill take the luck i got with em haha. i just really didnt want to regear this thing right now. and with the 8.25, i can fit the aussie without having to mess with the gears too. so that makes life easier too. i dont plan to ever upgrade the axles past what theyre at. at least not the gearing. i plan on doing a 4.0 to 1 kit later(or doubler), cause i want to keep good hwy mileage for my long distance trips. i decided on this being an
Adventure XJ Build so to keep it relatively mild built for reliability purposes. the only axle ill end up upgrading is the 30 and ill give that away when im done haha.

when it comes to a manual tranny, this is the second auto ive ever owned. and ive owned about 10 cars in my short life. my dd is an 07' ford fusion sport 5 speed. i love manuals, but for this build, its staying auto for ease on the trail(and it was already in the cheap ass heep i found haha).

You got lucky and unlucky at the same time on those gears.

On one hand... they are the most common gearing in XJs, ever, bar none. Almost every 4.0L automatic XJ in history has them, aside from some of the ones with towing packages (and even some of them had 3.55s.) So you can get a replacement axle damn near anywhere if you booger yours up doing something stupid *cough* fun offroad, and be rolling by Monday.

On the other hand, finding deeper ratios in junkyards to get a cheap gear upgrade to make up for large tires is more difficult. You can compensate somewhat by swapping to a manual and keeping the 3.55s... but I don't know if you like driving manual transmission vehicles.

Also they have near zero resale value compared to axles with other deeper gearings but hey you got em for cheap, so that's no big deal. Don't expect to get more than junkyard rate plus a little if you ever sell them.

Glad this is going forward!

 

[stroked88]

any news on the fiance's situation? or if your gonna have to sell

 

[92xjunk]

Speaking from experience your not gonna enjoy those 33's and 3.55 gears. The milage is gonna suck because your jeep will down shift a lot more often, because at freeway speeds your gonna be out of the power band/curve. I know your on a budget and believe me i understand, but those gears and tires will dissapoint you on and off road. Look for 4cylinder xjs at the jy and grab the axles out of it. They came stock with 4.10 gears, which will give you a fair compromise between performance and milage. With 3.55s and 33's I got about 12-14mpgs driving like an old lady. With 4.10s and 33's I get 16-17mps also driving like an old lady. Just some food for thought.

 

[kastein]

Look for 4cylinder xjs at the jy and grab the axles out of it. They came stock with 4.10 gears, which will give you a fair compromise between performance and milage.

Great idea but a few problems... they're pretty tough to find in junkyards at least in the northeast, might be easier in PA. Also only 4cyl 5speeds came with 4.10s AFAIK, and some other engine/trans combinations from the early to mid 80s that are going to be heavily rusted and not in desireable axles anyways. 4.30 and 4.56 were also in a few (very rare) combinations, 4.30 was in the fuel economy package early on iirc and 4.56 only in auto 4cyls, which are not common at all and I can't even find part numbers for the 4.56 gearsets in the catalogs past the very early 90s so they won't be found in desireable axles either probably. All this gets thrown out the window if you find a really, really rare beast, an XJ that someone custom ordered with whatever gears they wanted, which you can't really predict by engine or trans, gotta look at the tags on the axles or preferably the stampings on the ring gears to be sure.

 

[92xjunk]

Great idea but a few problems... they're pretty tough to find in junkyards at least in the northeast, might be easier in PA. Also only 4cyl 5speeds came with 4.10s AFAIK, and some other engine/trans combinations from the early to mid 80s that are going to be heavily rusted and not in desireable axles anyways. 4.30 and 4.56 were also in a few (very rare) combinations, 4.30 was in the fuel economy package early on iirc and 4.56 only in auto 4cyls, which are not common at all and I can't even find part numbers for the 4.56 gearsets in the catalogs past the very early 90s so they won't be found in desireable axles either probably. All this gets thrown out the window if you find a really, really rare beast, an XJ that someone custom ordered with whatever gears they wanted, which you can't really predict by engine or trans, gotta look at the tags on the axles or preferably the stampings on the ring gears to be sure.

Yeah I didnt mention the manual/auto gear difference because finding a auto 4 cylinder is about as likely as winning the lotto and your right location does make a big differance I seem to find a 4cyl every couple of weeks in the jys in western Wa. and there is no rust like east coast rust.

 

[kastein]

yep, add in northern midwest rust and you got some pretty ugly stuff... gotta love the liquid cancer they spray on the roads here.

You guys in WA are lucky, I have heard tales of some dealerships in AZ that loved to order 4.10 gears too, so socal/AZ/WA guys may think 4.10s are much more common than us poor bastards in the northeast.

EDIT: I do have a friend who found two auto 4cyls, with 4.56s, sitting side by side in a junkyard one time... sadly, private yard, and they were stacked under other vehicles, and fairly old so they'd probably be 30/35 combos anyways and so old they'd need rebuilds anyways at which point you might as well just regear newer axles.

 

[dick.breakey]

any news on the fiance's situation? or if your gonna have to sell

thankfully she was just not on time. pretty much like most women. so were all good haha. i wouldnt have bought what i bought besides the floor pans if that was the case. thanks for asking. my life isnt getting complicated any time soon

 

[dick.breakey]

well we"ll see how bad it really is. i think its all depending on the driver. i have this nifty little "power" switch on the dash for the transmission. i think its an override to shut off the OD so that should help with it kicking in and out of OD. worst case, I regear sometime later during the winter.

 

[kastein]

The power/comfort switch selects the shift points for the TCU - comfort mode shifts like a granny, power mode is what most people use. In 92 or 93 or so it was entirely eliminated and the TCU was permanently wired in power mode.

 

[dick.breakey]

ah neat. good stuff. good to know. ill be sure to leave it on then. i dont care for super smooth lengthy shifts.

 

[luvherinmyjeep32]

No no, check the FSM, the Power switch adds...like...100 HP...more than cupholders!

But ya, mine has been flipped to power mode since 2005.

 

[dick.breakey]

No no, check the FSM, the Power switch adds...like...100 HP...more than cupholders!

I did just get a new sunoco sticker. thats good for like 50hp and 3" of lift


But ya, mine has been flipped to power mode since 2005.

yeah i figure it wont hurt. I dont like that theres a light there though. thats kinda annoying

 

[kastein]

Mine is on power mode except when I bump it with my knee on a road trip with a large quantity of spare parts (1400lbs last time) in the back and panic thinking I just blew my transmission up.

Eventually I'll probably hard wire it into power mode and use the switch to control something else.

 

[dick.breakey]

haha nice. can you hard wire it?? thats good stuff if you can. though I hate messing with electrical stuff. its hard for me to pay close enough attention to grasp it.

 

[kastein]

Yeah, easy. I forget what you do, it's real simple though, you either disconnect and ground a wire, disconnect it and connect it to +12V, or just disconnect it.

I'm an EE by trade and as another of my hobbies... I really should remember which it is but I don't.

 

[dick.breakey]

haha. well thats simple enough. if you remember please let me know. id love to replace the switch to do something else. i wonder what else i could use it for????????

 

[luvherinmyjeep32]

It's probably just a 3 wire switch so you would pop it out, connect the 2 wires that connect when you flip it to power and then the third wire is for comfort so you would tape it off. All you need is a test light to tell you what's going on.