THE WRANGLER/YJ FAQ LIST - - Jeep at Off-Road.com

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THE WRANGLER/YJ FAQ LIST

Publish date: Nov 1, 2005
By: ORC STAFF
Source: Jeep at Off-Road.com

Version 1.4
March 12, 1996

by Larry Soo (larry_soo@mindlink.bc.ca)

*************
DISCLAIMER:
 While every effort has been taken to insure the
 accuracy of the information contained in this
 FAQ list compilation, the author and contributors
 assume no responsibility for errors or omissions,
 or for damages resulting from the use of the
 information contained herein. The information
 below may be reproduced in any way PROVIDED that
 credit is given to the writers and the maintainer;
 and that it is not published in book or magazine
 form without the prior written permission of the
 maintainer; that the maintainer receives, without
 needing to ask, a FREE copy of the final material;
 and that no changes are made (except for
 formatting) without the express permission of
 the maintainer
(larry_soo@mindlink.bc.ca -- Larry Soo)
**************************
Notes:
 Some of the following information was obtained
 from the Chrysler FAQ list (maintained by David
 Zatz [valiant@mordor.com]).
 This is the first version of this FAQ so I'd be
 grateful for any suggestions/information which
 you can contribute to make this a more valuable
 resource for Jeep Wrangler/YJ owners.
Version Changes:
1.1 Original Version
1.2 October 27, 1995
 1.10    Added length of new bolts required for
 the 1" body lift.
 5.45    Added a trouble shooting tip: Engine
 Quits Intermittently
 5.55    Added a tech tip for fixing the
 "high idle on start up" problem.
 6.00    Added a new, FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
 where I answer the most common Wrangler questions.
 This is primarily for offroading novices.
1.3 January 8, 1996
 Added:
 1.15    Full Roll Cage
 1.35    Spring-Over Conversion - Experiences &
 Opinions
 3.75    Ring & Pinion Gear Upgrade
 3.76    Ring & Pinion Gear Installation Tips
 3.85    Transmission Bushing - It's Supposed to be
 Loose!
 Modified:
 3.10    Axle Upgrade Options
 Information was added about swapping Ford Bronco axles
 onto a YJ.
 3.60    MIT Installation
 Added my own experiences regarding such an
 installation.
1.4 March 12, 1996
 *   Moved to an HTML format!  This is a great benefit
 for readers who have HTML viewers or WEB browsers.
 All section numbers have been removed.
 *   New Items
 -   	Airbox Intake Re-routing
 -  	Removing the Steering Stabilizer
 -		More stuff on Rough Idling
 -		Shackle Reversals
 -		Brake Line Extensions
 -		4:1 Transfer Case Conversion
 -		Removing the Clutch Pilot Bearing
 -		Transmission Installation Trick
 -		Attaching a Skidplate/Crossmember
 -		Additional info on the differences
 between the various traction-adding
 devices, see "Lockers or Limited
 Slip Differentials"
 -		Rear Main Oil Seal - Installation
 -		Web Address for Terry Howe's
 Drivetrain Page
 -		Underhood Welder - Make Your Own
======================================================

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Underhood Welder - Make Your
 Own
 >Just picked up a 150 amp alternator cheep.
 >How do you connect up for welding?
 Install it in the 4-WHEELER wire a switch in to
 supply full voltage to the rotor, include a method
 of removing the battery from its output lead,
 install a voltmeter on the output, install a micro
 adjustable hand throttle, get some standard welding
 whip lead and a few good plug & connectors, a
 ground clamp and stinger, a hood some gloves and
 some smaw rod (e7018, 5/32" works great).
 Start the 4-WHEELER, isolate the alternator
 from the battery, flip the full voltage switch on to
 the alt rotor, watch the voltmeter while bringing the
 engine rpm up (2500 rpm or so) until the open circuit
 voltage is about 75 volts, strike an arc and watch the
 voltage drop to about 30 volts. It's great fun, and
 you can't have this fun until you get started doing it.
 Don't try to figure it all out in advance on paper.
 If the diodes blow, replace them and add another set
 in parallel.
 Enjoy Life.......
 OOPS, got a little carried away here, answered too
 many questions at one time ;).......
 >What size wire leads? see above.
 >How do you vary the amperage or do you?
 see above, use the micro adjustable hand throttle.
 Randy Peterson
 RKP2@PGE>COM
 '82 CJ-7, looking for an 125a ford (motocraft)
 alternator or two to weld with.
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Rear Main Oil Seal - Installation
 INSTALLING REAR MAIN OIL SEAL ON 4.0 (or 304 or 258)
 The rear main oil seal went on my Comanche 4.0 at about
 40K miles. It went again at about 65K (I used to be
 rough on it). It is a fairly simple operation
 to replace.
 The first time it tried it, I followed the Chilton's
 manual and removed the tranny--BIG mistake--it wasn't
 needed. The next time I spent about two hours on it but
 I had since done it on my CJ as well. I 't have to move
 any exhaust--you may have to on a YJ.
 --  Drain Oil. Remove the oil pan
 --  scrape old seal off of the block and oil pan
 --  clean out oil pan
 --  scraping the seal is easier with Permatex gasket
 remover
 --  it cuts times in half--you'll need to use it two
 or three times but it's easier than elbow grease.
 --  Remove rear crankshaft bearing cap (two bolts)
 and loosen next two sets.
 --  The rear main oil seal is two pieces--one piece
 will be in the first bearing cap. The other is in
 the block. Take a small pindrift or screwdriver and
 carefully tap one end of the concealed seal. It should
 loosen after a couple of taps. Take care to notice
 the way the old seal faces so you reinstall the new
 one properly.
 --  When the other end comes out enough, grab it with
 a pair of pliers and pull it out. To install new one,
 put oil on inside lip and some dishwashing soap on
 outside. It takes some practice to get this part right
 (I shredded two seals before I got it right)
 --  but place new seal on bottom of crankshaft in
 proper position to rotate it into the groove in the
 block. The end that is to go into the block should
 be pushed to be as flush with the crankshaft as
 possible
 --  then rotate the seal into the block keeping it as
 flush with the crankshaft as possible--if you're not
 careful, you'll scrape some rubber off the top of the
 seal--if you do--get another seal because it probably
 won't seal.
 --  Seal should be nearly flush with block when you're
 done. Put other half of seal in bearing cap and put
 some sealant  (I used blue-glue) on the surface where
 the cap meets the block. Don't get too much on it and
 keep it off the seal part-make sure you get a little
 on the part where the seals meet.
 --  Torque crankshaft bolts back and install the one
 with the seal in it last.
 --  Reinstall oil pan with new gasket--part cost
 about $20 for both seals. Good luck!!
 - DaveO
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Attaching a
 Skidplate/Crossmember
 >The skid-plate/crossmember on my 76 CJ-7 has 2 of
 >the bolts broken off in the frame both on one
 >side.)  I have a temporary fix right now that
 >involves foundation anchors (don't ask!).
 >I have tried left hand drill bits and
 >easy-outs with no success.
 >The only alternative left is to drill out the
 >holes and put a bolt in it.
 >
 >The problem:  this section of the frame is boxed
 >and I can't get a bolt  in it!  Any suggestions
 >or people
 with similar problems?
 OPTION 1. : Drill completely thru the frame and thru
 bolt the whole mess. Also good for tranny swaps when
 no holes line up.
 OPTION 2 : Drill and tap exactly where the broken bolt
 are now. Sometimes works, sometimes won't center on
 the broken bolt. This is usually easier than fighting
 with an EZ out. And if you break an EZ out, your F'ed
 caused they're hardened steel.
 OPTION 3 : Cut, grind, torch or hole-saw a small hole
 or slot on the INSIDE (thinner and easier to cut) of
 the frame and drop in nuts and bolt as needed. Watch
 out for the fuel line on the pass side if torching...
 OPTION 4 : Get some small square U-bolts say 3/8"
 thread, 1.5" between centers, 2" long.
 Drill two oversized holes to match the spacing and
 snake these u-bolts around thru one of the oversized
 holes and out the other. Bolt with washers and nuts.
 I Have done every one of these and they all work.
 IF you have a not-so-clean frame, burn holes on
 the inside boxed section and drop your bolts in.
 I didn't have the heart to do this to mine,
 so I thru-bolted all six on the skid plate.
 - Rick Boiros
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Transmission Installation
 Trick
 I was discussing my near future tranny swap plans
 (yes, yes, yes, yes) with a friend and he gave me an
 interesting tip that ya'll may or may not have heard.
 He suggested removing one bolt then going immediately
 to the hardware store and purchasing as many as you
 need of the same size grade 8 bolt about 8 inches
 longer than the origional.  Then grind or cut off the
 head of all the bolts.  As you remove a tranny bolt
 insert one of these long threaded rods. This acts as
 a guide to help you center the tranny to get it off
 and then back on again.  I've only helped install a
 tranny before but that was deffinately the hardest
 part, just lining everything up.  Like I said I
 haven't tried this before and it may be a common
 trick but it sounded like a good one.
 John Kane
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Clutch Pilot Bearing - How to
 Remove
 >Does anybody have a good method to remove the pilot
 >bearing from a '93 YJ with a 4.0L?
 If it is a bushing and not a roller bearing, here is a
 very cheap removal method that has worked for me.
 Don't laugh too hard, it DOES work!
 Get 1) a smooth piece of round stock (rod) that is a
 sliding fit into hole of the pilot bushing.
 2)  A small hammer
 3) A *bunch* of toilet paper soaking in a dish of water.
 The paper needs to be dripping wet as this method
 depends on the water to work.
 4) A pair of small needle nose pliers.
 Stuff wet paper into the hole of the pilot bushing.
 When the cavity behind the pilot bushing gets full,
 start tamping the wet paper into the pilot bushing
 hole with the round stock and the hammer.  Keep
 adding wet paper so that as you hammer on the round
 stock, the round stock only goes into the pilot bushing
 hole 1/2 inch or so.  After a seemingly endless amount
 of wet paper, the pilot bushing will start being
 pushed out. When the pilot bushing is out, take the
 needle nose pliers and pull out all of the toilet
 paper.  The paper will be VERY tightly packed, so it
 will require some effort to remove it all.  It is
 easy to leave some paper behind. so get a mirror
 and look to make doubly sure you have removed it all.
 (the method is cheap, so there has to be some
 drawback :-)
 I have been told that if you get really violent with
 the hammer, it is possible to split the crank.
 I have used this many times and so far, the only thing
 to split has been people's sides.
 Eric
 >>I don't know if it will work, but the Hick's
 >>catalog suggests packing the inside and back
 >>of the bearing with grease, and then hammering a
 >>close-fitting dowel into the I.D. of the bearing.
 >>The hydraulic pressure created in the grease
 >>should drive the bearing out.
 >I actually tried this but it didn't work.
 >I ended up with grease everywhere and the bearing
 still in the end of the crank ;o(
 If the pilot bearing is an actual roller bearing, the
 grease trick won't work, it only works with a
 solid bushing.
 Don Graham
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Transfer Case 4-1 Gear Conversion
 I believe the kit is $1,300. The installation requires
 the modification of your front case half. The inside
 of the case is machined to accomodate the large
 4:1 gearset. For this reason Mepco recommends you
 send them your xfer case and for about $200 they'll
 do the swap. So for approx. $1,500 you can have a
 bolt-in ready 4:1 xfer case. If you do the swap
 your self they will sell you an already machined case
 half and charge you a core charge for the return of
 your original front case half. They will
 then m#001#achine it and sell it to someone else.
 Here are my numbers (1st x diff x low range = crawl):
 Before:
 6.34 x 4.56 x 2.72 = 78.63
 After:
 6.34 x 4.56 x 4.00 = 115.64
 I haven't done the 4:1 swap yet. Some friends are
 bugging me to do it but I find 79:1 is plenty slow
 enough for me right now. At 116:1 the torque load on
 u-joints and other parts must be tremendous.
 Any thoughts on this? I think I'll invest in a good
 welder or heavy-duty rear-end first. For a stock
 vehicle this is the easiest way to go slow and
 keep your highway. I put in the NV4500 and that
 might not be an option for some people (cost wise).
 The 4:1 kit, ready to bolt in, at $1,500 is not
 that much when you consider how much it costs
 to swap gears (parts, labor, etc..)
 Stock:
 3.34 x 4.10 x 4.00 = 54.77 vs 31.08 w/2.72 low range
 3.34 x 3.54 x 4.00 = 47.29 vs 32.16     "     "
 3.34 x 3.07 x 4.00 = 41.01 vs 27.89     "     "
 I can't remember what the stock tranny 1st gear was
 but the above numbers will give some idea of what
 the 4:1 kit will do for you.
 - Todd
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Brake Line Extensions
 >I see ads for brake line extension kits but I'm
 >wondering if there's a cheaper alternative?
 >I mean, couldn't I just buy OEM replacement
 >brake lines designed for a vehicle with longer
 >brake lines than my own?  Aren't the fittings
 >some kind of standard size?  Is it feasible
 >to buy generic hose and fittings and assemble
 them myself?
 IMHO Dont waste your money on braided stainless
 extended lines or anything similar. Simply relocate
 the stock brake line at the frame brackets either
 lower or further back on the frame to get them
 closer to the calipers. (I don't know where
 they are exactly on YJ's) Once the brackets are
 moved, run a short section of steel line from
 the old end coming thru the frame to the new
 location of the stock rubber hose to the caliper.
 A flaring set (double flare) may be req'd or
 use *Flare* unions, *not* compression fittings.
 This setup works great for me. I do carry a
 spare rubber line but have given it away more
 times than I've ever needed it (never).
 I have seen people get stuck with broken
 stainless lines that are often custom and expensive.
 Some have odd ends that cannot be easily swapped
 for stock lines. In the rear, move the brass
 tee to the top of the diff and remake two steel
 lines to each wheel cylinder.
 RICK BOIROS
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Shackle Reversal
 This reply is for Robert in Hawaii, and anyone else
 who was discussing flipping the shackles to the
 rear of the front springs on a Wrangler.  Robert,
 your Compuserve address is invalid from my end -
 so I couldn't respond directly as it threw it back
 to me. Everyone keep in mind that these are my
 *personal* opinions on this subject and in no way
 should be considered 'official' just because I work
 at Jeep. Anyway, here's what I originally attempted
 to send to Robert:
 Unofficially, I would say that yes, the ride should
 improve with the shackles in back, but the things to
 keep in mind and consider before proceding are:
 1) Since the frame is lower at the rear spring eye,
 you will be forced to lift the vehicle a fair
 amount - you may be happy with this side effect,
 as it will allow you to have a lift and retain
 the more desireable/efficient flat profile
 2) The drop brackets you will need to mount the
 fixed end in front will put a *lot* of stress on
 the very frontmost part of the frame rails -
 laterally in particular.  You will need to add a
 lot of structure and crossbracing to keep the
 stiffness of the chassis high enough to maintain
 the handling you have now *this is one area I've
 seen lacking in any 'kits' that are out
 there - they just don't do the engineering
 calcs to check for frame integrity!
 3) You will be using your front prop. slip yoke
 more - this *shouldn't* be a big problem, unless
 you're running tons of lift and the prop is at
 a big angle to the ground - just realize you
 may wear it out and need a whole new drive shaft!
 4) If you run big lift springs with lots of arc
 to them, realize that your tires now move up and
 *back* when you hit a bump/compress
 the suspension - which means your big meats
 will have more chance of hitting the fenders in the
 footwell area. Other than that, one more thing:
 If your Wrangler is still under warrantee -
 it's not anymore!
 -Jim Frens
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 Removing the Steering Stabilizer
 > Sorry for this question, but I am having one
 > heck of a time with my steering stabalizer(sp?)
 > on my 91  wrangler.
 > I can NOT get the stock one off.  I take the
 > cotter pin out, take the bolt off the top
 > and it won't budge.
 > On the back side, between the shock and the
 > drag link, there is a hex bolt, but I can't
 > get it to turn without  flexing the hell out
 > of the link.  So I'm not sure if  the bolt
 > is thredded in or pressed in.
 > Does anyone know or have any experience
 > with this?
 > I even used a puller on it, but it only
 > punched a divet  in the middle of the bolt.
 >
 > Scott N.
 He He He,,,,Sorry. I went thru this about a week
 after I got my 94 Wrangler. They LOCKTIGHT that
 frigging bolt in. I happen to have access to a
 3/4 drive socket set. I also applied heat with a
 propane torch till I could barely touch the tie
 rod with bare hands. I ended up using a 4' cheater
 on a breaker bar to get it loose.
 - Dave Taylor
 Ya I know, it's kinda hard to get off.  The link
 does flex but the nut eventually gives.  Try spraying
 it with penetrating fluid.  Once this is out you most
 likely will have to hammer the old stabalizer out.
 I hit mine at the point were it was attached to the
 link (sort of like a bolt sticking out of the
 underside of the link.)
 - Johnny Jeep
 Scott,
 I saw the suggestion about taking the entire link off
 with the stabilizer, and that may work.  The bolt is
 a tapered pin that usually requires a puller.  I tried
 a small 2 jaw puller on my '90 Wrangler and had no luck.
 I got a larger 3 jaw puller for mine, but haven't tried
 it because the cold weather pushed it down the priority
 list. If you don't have a replacement tapered bolt,
 then you could try to just remove the nut facing to
 the rear.  I saw that you said that it was a head of
 a hex bolt, but I'm looking at a replacement
 Rancho bolt.
 Soaking it in rust loosener and angling the wrench so
 you pull parallel to the bar may help.  If it comes
 loose, you just slip off the old stabilizer and put
 on a new one - that is if it's a nut rather than a
 bolt head. This might also be a good time to use a
 good poly bushing instead of the rubber bushing that
 might be on the replacement stabilizer.  I've heard
 this tightens up the steering.
 - Mark Williams
 It'll be a lot easier to remove the whole assembly:
 Remove the nut at each spring mount.  Remove the
 bolts holding the stabilizer bar to the frame.
 Flex the bar enough to remove each link from the
 spring mounts. Take it to a vise or a press, THEN
 you can remove that upper bolt.  It is press-fit in.
 - Andy
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 Airbox Intake Re-routing
 >Low point for water on the Wrangler is the air
 >intake, just below the right head light.  If
 > you want to go deeper, disconnect the hose to
 the filter and put a dust mast over it.  Tie it up
 pointing back. I removed the air intake which goes
 from the front of the air box to just below the
 driver's-side headlight.
 I then bought a short length of ABS pipe (I _think_ it
 was 2" dia) and 2 right-angle joints.  The joint
 fits PERFECTLY into the hole in the front of the
 air box; no gluing was required.
 SIDE VIEW
 /--|-----|
 | j_|__p__|             j = 90 degree joint
 ===                     p = pipe
 front  |p| +--------------+
 of   ===_|              |
 jeep   | j |  air box     |
 \--|              |
 |              |
 +--------------+
 Parts cost was under $10 at any ol' hardware store.
 From this point, you could go even further and
 attach a snorkel to the pipe for the really deep
 stuff. (Thanks to Dave & Pam Hansen for
 this tip.)
 ...lars
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 Automatic Transmission Adjustments
 BTW, to increase the rpm your Wrangler Automatic
 shifts at, there is an easy adjustment on the
 kick-down linkage under the hood.  Just depress
 the half- moon metal holder and pull the linkage
 as far out as you want. The linkage  will pull
 itself back in if pulled out too far.
 Anyway,  it makes a hell of a difference
 when accelerating full-throttle, like I said, my
 Renegade used to  chirp the tires going into
 second with the old 29" Goodyears.
 John Crowe
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 Body Lifts
 Body lifts are the cheapest way of making room for
 larger tires.
 Advantages are:
 1.  Inexpensive.
 2.  Lower center of gravity than a suspension lift.
 3.  Provides room for greater articulation when
 larger tires are mounted and the axle is up
 against the bump stop. (This is why some Jeeps
 have modest 1" or 2" body lifts even though
 the suspension lift has provided plenty of room.)
 Disadvantages:
 1.  Doesn't increase the ground clearance.
 2.  Large body lifts (greater than 2 inches) may
 require that the body tub be re-inforced or else
 the metal around the body mounts may become fatiqued.
 3.  In most cases, the radiator shroud or radiator
 must be lowered, even for modest 1" lifts.
 Larger lifts may require other changes to
 transmission/transfer case linkages, wiring,
 and the fuel filler.
 Some opinions on the topic:
 Just a note on inexpensive but effective body
 lifts.
 In helping a fellow Brush Buster in a ground-up
 restoration, we used boat trailer rollers. They
 are 2 1/2" in  diameter and already have
 a 1/2" hole on the center. We cut them to
 size with a chop saw. We saw prices from 7$ to
 around 12$ each. They were about a foot long and
 very hard. They are cool because they  are larger
 than standard body mounts and have more area to
 support the weight of the body.
 Al (too much to do before rubicon) Temple
 69 CJ-5
 69 WAGONEER
 93 TANDEM 14' TRAILER (HI MIKE J.)
 BRUSH BUSTERS
 ALOHA OREGON
 re: Hockey Puck Lifts
 A single Hockey Puck should be fine, it is when
 people start stacking them that trouble occurs.
 Stay away from the marine stuff, its too soft.
 Might want to replace stock body mounts with
 Urathane, this will add another 1/8" as it
 doesn't compress as much as the rubber ones do.
 Christopher Siano
 re: Hockey Puck Lifts
 I don't know about long-term hockey pucks, but
 I've had mine on for about 1 year with no
 signs of adverse wear or cracking. I've also
 heard that the nylon or other type of hard
 plastic work well too. If you have access to
 some for free...what the heck!   The
 commercial body lifts are made from
 something like extra-hard-poly-nylon-vinyl-
 type-stuff anyway, so the nylon boat rollers
 are probably not too far off from the right
 thing In short, Give It A Try! By the time you
 have had something on there long enough
 for it to give out or fail, you will probably
 be ready to change it anyway!!
 Chris Eicher
 A guy on the offroad list who lives up in Oregon
 uses the boat rollers. He cuts them to the
 desired thickness with either a bandsaw or a
 sawzall. They already have the holes drilled
 in the center. If a roller is 18" long
 and your saw leaves a 1/8"(3mm) kerf then
 you should be able to get 16 "pucks"
 from an 18" roller.
 If the roller costs you less than $16U.S. and
 hockey pucks cost at least a dollar, then it's
 cheaper to use the rollers.  Either cut the
 rollers or drill the hockey pucks, you still
 have labor involved. Here in northern Calif,
 it would probably be easier for me to find
 boat rollers than it would be to find
 hockey pucks.
 mike.
 You reach a point with a suspension lift when
 you've gone high enough. The attraction (to me)
 to do a 1 inch body lift is that you are lifting
 the body only - you dont put the engine up higher
 or anything else that is bolted to the frame -
 this (in my sick logic) means that your are
 getting the additional tire clearance with the
 *least* amount of center of gravity
 lift that you can do (without cutting the fenders).
 Graham Knight
And now, here's how to do a
 cheap-o 1" body lift on your Wrangler/YJ by
 using hockey pucks: To do the puck lift,
 you'll need to buy 11 hockey pucks, preferably
 made in Canada rather than some economically
 distraught eastern European country.  These
 pucks will be placed above the existing
 body mount bushings at the following locations:
 TOP VIEW
 +------------------------+  <-- front bumper
 +------------------------+
 ||bbbbbxbbbbbb||
 ||--radiator--||
 ||            ||
 ||            ||  x = body mount
 ||            ||  b = indicates the
 ||            ||      front brake line
 ||x          x||      (approximate)
 ||            ||
 ||            ||
 ||            ||
 ||x          x||
 ||            ||
 ||            ||
 ||            ||
 ||x          x||
 ||            ||
 ||            ||
 ||   x    x   ||
 ||+----------+||
 |||          |||
 ||| gas tank |||
 ||+----------+||
 +--x--------x--+
 +--------------+  <-- rear frame end-cap
 You'll need to buy some Grade 8 bolts as well:
 Original Size           New Size
 6 x 4-1/2"x1/2"         6 x 4-3/4"x1/2"
 5 x 3-1/2"x7/16"        5 x 3-5/8"x7/16"
 (Thanks to Stephen A. Church and "Beans" for these
 measurements.)
 The procedure is as follows:
 1.  Loosen all bolts and remove the ones from
 one side and the one in front of the radiator.
 2.  With the removed bolts, use them to figure
 out what size Grade 8 bolts you should buy (hint:
 they should be 1" longer). (BTW, the stock
 bolts are Grade 5 so you may elect to use that
 grade...I just have a fetish for Grade 8's.)
 2a. While you're at it, remove the bolts from the
 thin metal bracket which runs horizontally in
 front of the grill, between the frame rails.
 This bracket is used to route the brake line from
 one side of the vehicle to the other.  It will
 have to be raised or otherwise modified.
 3.  Drive to the closest source of quality bolts
 (they're probably closed, though).
 4.  If they're open, buy the bolts you need,
 including the longer ones for the brake line
 bracket, too.
 5.  Drill holes in all of the pucks.  Try to keep
 them centered.
 6.  Use one or two jacks to raise one side of the
 body.
 7.  Insert the pucks above the rubber body mounts,
 against the bottom of the body.
 8.  Insert and thread the new bolts into the holes.
 Leave them loose.
 8a. Remove those bolts because you forgot to dab
 them with Loctite Blue.
 Repeat step 8.
 9.  Do steps 6-8a on the other side of the body.
 10. Tighten them to the point where the pucks deform.
 It's possible to crush them so don't go crazy with
 the wrench.  (Some people recommend tightening until
 the rubber bushings bulge out; YMMV)
 11. Depending on your vehicle some of the pucks may
 have required trimming to fit snug against the body.
 With the leftovers, you may have a couple of pieces
 large enough to use as spacers for the front brake
 line bracket.  Lift them 1" higher with these
 spacers and bolt down with the new bolts.
 12. By this time, you might have noticed that your
 fan is rubbing against the fan shroud.  Doh!
 To rectify this problem you can drill new mounting
 holes to either lower the shroud or lower the
 radiator. In any event, it's much easier to work
 with the radiator removed from the vehicle.
 I didn't do this but had the advantage of using a
 right-angle drill.
 13. You're done!
 ...lars
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 Full Roll Cage
 > Has anyone done a full cage for Wranglers (YJ's)
 >that have the  windshield side braces? Kits in
 >catalogs are for CJ's, never seen  kits for YJ's.
 >Basically, putting windshield down on these YJ's
 >is a pain, and a full cage is nice for mounting
 >electronic gear.  If done right, they add safety.
 Check the home page for Esprit de Four 4x4 club based
 out of san Jose.  The URL is
 http://www.weber.taligent.com:8088/esprit/ There are
 several photos of a full cage custom built for one of
 the members YJ. The cage does not retain the
 windshield support, but there is no reason you cant
 add them onto a cage.  I am in the process of
 building a front cage for my YJ and have discovered
 that the cages built for late model CJ's will work
 in the YJ's as well.  You can use either the cage
 designed for a padded dash, which will allow esay
 access to the bolts to lay down the windshield,
 or you can get the cage made for a non-padded
 dash (I got this one) and change the
 windshield release bolts from Torx head
 to standard bolts.
 - Ed Cox
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 Installing Rear Disc Brakes
 Group,
 I'm still alive here in Oregon, Just busy....
 I wanted to share this with anyone considering this
 modification.
 Company: Stainless steel brakes corp.
 Kit: Wrangler rear disk brake conversion. 4 hour
 install no drilling or welding.
 Cost: $500.00 smackers
 Vehicle: 1993 Jeep wrangler, I-6, Hardtop, Dana 35-c
 axle When opening the box I was very impressed with
 all the components, Quality stuff.
 The instructions looked
 great and they even came with a beautiful blueprint.
 However, I did find ALOT of problems when installing.
 Some of you may think I am to critical, but for 500
 bucks and and a kit that says 4 hour bolt on with no
 drilling or welding I don't feel bad about bringing
 up the issue's I found.
 These issues were simple for me to deal with because
 of the tools I have and the resources I have around me.
 Some of you may or may not have these resources which
 could turn this into a real problem. I started by
 pulling the axles whose diameter impressed me.
 I found the first error in there claiming the pinion
 retaining bolt was a 5/16 when it really was
 a 1/4 twelve point. Do you have a 1/4 twelve point
 wrench?? I did but could not find it, so there's
 one trip to the store....I had removed all the original
 drum brakes and was now in process of bolting up the
 disk hardware. Next bummer was that on the caliper
 mounting bracket one of the bolt holes was just a hair
 off from lining up properly. 10 strokes with a
 rat tail file and it went on fine.
 After that I found that they gave me coarse threaded
 nylock nuts for fine threaded bolts. Thats another
 trip to the store....
 I went to put the new rotor on the end of the axle
 and the centering bore in the rotor was way to small.
 I drove to a fairly local machine shop and had them
 remove .010 thousandths out of the center bore. Not
 enough, I grab the stock drum and the rotors and bring
 them back to the machinist who can now remove the
 correct amount from the center bore of the rotor using
 the stock drum as a template as my micrometers are to
 small to measure something that big. The rotors now
 slide on fine but now rubs on the caliper mounting
 bracket casting that supports the dust shield. A
 little clearance grinding with my die grinder and
 everything clears OK. Everything else went pretty
 good until I find that the emergency brake cable bore
 on the caliper is to small for retaining the E-brake
 cable. _IF_ the E-brake did fit, the cable still
 would be to long for proper actuation. I have not
 finished this part of the install and the solution
 will be to install a sleeve or bushing to retain the
 cable housing which installs in the caliper E-brake bore
 and gives the proper distance for the E-brake cable
 to fit in the caliper actuating lever.    Get that?
 The only thing I feel is mandatory for this kit
 (that is not) is the hard mounts with retaining clips
 for the rubber brake lines where they meet the steel
 brake lines on the axle tube. I have fabricated these
 and will weld them on when the Jeep comes back over
 to play...
 My overall impression is that they need to get a
 Wrangler and install one of their kits and iron
 out some of these wrinkles. Once done and you stand
 back and look, the rear disks are beautiful! It
 is simply put, NOT a 4 hour bolt on kit.......
 I did call them and
 they were very nice, but they could do nothing for
 me as I had already taken care of all the issues
 I discovered. I personally can build a rear disk
 setup using all GM stuff for around 300.00 to
 350.00 but it is far simpler sometimes to buy a
 complete kit.   As always......YMMV.
 Al Temple
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 Spare Tire Carriers
 The addition of a larger spare tire can weaken and
 damage the tail-gate. For this reason, after-market
 manufacturers have seen fit to produce _expensive_ but
 strong tire carriers which either mount to the
 Wrangler's body or attach to the bumper.  Now, I've
 been offroading with a 31" spare on the back
 of my YJ for over a year now and have yet to
 notice any adverse effects.  Even so, I _will_ be
 making a stronger tire carrier some time this year.
 But even if you decide to stick with the
 tail-gate-mounted tire carrier, be forewarned that
 unless you use a wheel with less offset than the
 factory wheels, you will have to lengthen the
 mounting studs.  This can be accomplished by removing
 the carrier from the tailgate, heating the studs with
 a torch, and then hammering them out.  Once
 you've got 'em out, you can replace them with some
 longer bolts and tack weld them in place.
 If you have a hard-top, you'll still have problems.
 The added height (diameter) of the spare tire will
 interfere will the rear lift gate whenever you try to
 open or close it.  There are three solutions to this:
 Expensive           Buy a new spare tire carrier.
 Time-consuming      Build your own custom carrier or
 have one fabricated (in which case it goes back to
 the "Expensive" category).
 Cheap               Buy an adapter which provides
 longer studs and offsets the tire a few more inches
 to the rear, thus providing just enough room to
 clear the lift gate. For those of you who are
 interested in building your own tire carrier or
 having one fabricated, here's some ideas which have
 been tossed around: Subject: Seeking critiques for
 my cunning tire rack plan There's been a recent
 thread about building a spare tire carrier which
 mounts on two or more hinges to the bumper/frame
 and pivots up and down instead of sideways.
 Well, I'd also like to mount a tire carrier which
 puts all the weight on the bumper/frame but don't
 like the vertical swing idea.  How about something
 like this (application is for a Wrangler):
 Rear View
 _
 | |
 -------------------------H|  <-- vertical post
 / -----|-----|-----------H|
 / /     |  S  |          | |  H = hinge
 / /      |     |          | |  L = latch
 /  -------|-----|-----------H|  S = spare tire mount
 / /-------------------------H|
 /L/                          /| |\ <-- bracing
 -------------------------------------
 |                                   |
 -------------------------------------
 --- Replies ------------------------------------------
 I just got off the phone with a fellow who is going to
 build such a bumper for me. The company is called Off
 Road Spare and they build these square tube bumpers
 with swing-away tire carriers for many types of
 vehicles. I'm not capable of fabricating (I like that
 word also) such a bumper, and that's why I'm having
 it built for me. What I found out is that there will
 be an article on this design in the next issue of
 4WD&SU, so you might want to hold off building this
 creation of yours until you read the article. You
 might get some good ideas as to what may/may not work,
 or just some fresh ideas from someone who builds these
 things for a living. From the pictures of the ORS
 bumper that I've seen, and from a similar bumper
 made by Rickard in Southern California that I've
 personally seen in action, your design appears
 to be a little too complicated - you seem to be
 over-building this thing, especially in the area
 where it mounts to the bumper and pivots. I don't
 believe you need the vertical post that blocks the
 passenger side tail light.
 Shel Belinkoff
 ======================================================
 Larry, there's a MUCH simpler (well in terms of number
 of welds, amount of tubing and problems to worry about)
 way to make your tire carrier.  Kayline makes one for
 80 series LC's that's quite a funky design.  Here's a
 poor attempt at an ascii rendering of it.
 ____
 | o  |  <------ Tire mounts here (some kind
 |o  o|          of spacer should be welded on)
 |    |
 |    |__________________
 | Say, 2x1" square tubing|
 |_______________________   |
 ___________________________|__| <---1" Round
post
 |      Big-ass tube (round is better for tanks)  |\/|
 |________________________________________________|/\|
 I'm not quite sure how the rack attaches to the bumper
 but I've read they use Timken Roller Bearings so I
 imagine it'd look something like this
 |POST |
 /|     |\ <--poor representation of filler metal
 =========== <-flange welded on post
 \_________/ <-roller bearing
 |     |
 |     |
 |     |
 |     |
 |     |
 _|_____|_
 brazed
 /         \ <-roller bearing
 spacers...
 =========== <-thrust washer
 |__|___|__| <-big-ass nut
 |-----|
 |-----|<----threads cut on post
 -----
 ____________________
 |\          /|
 |_\        /_| <-Inner races
 |  Tube at   |  (held in by
 |  90 to the |  heat shrink-
 Bumper |  bumper    |  ing or set
 |_ tube     _|  screws or
 | /        \ |  little
 _______|/__________\|  on
 You could tap a zerk fitting onto the bumper then
 just pump the chamber (that the upright pipe bolts
 through-not the main one!full of grease, packing
 the bearings! Your tire carrier would always be
 SMOOTH (unlike you  with some fire water in ya :)
 would never sag (unlike you with some... Mayber I
 better stop this here) BTW, another trick I heard
 about is mounting a spare  spindle to the carrier,
 putting a complete hub on  that and then attaching
 the tire to the studs on the  hub!  That way, if
 you ever toast a spindle/hub/wheel  bearing, you've
 got a redi-made replacement assembly.
 Food for thought. On my Cruiser, I could even use
 wheel-bearings for the pivot point of the carrier!
 YEAH! Then I'd have EVEN MORE spares (Like I'm ever
 going to manage to toast any part of the
 axles anyways ;)
 Rob Mullen
 Larry - this looks a lot like what I'm planning for
 my CJ, except I'll run 2 vertical posts & attach
 the factory swing-away carrier & latch to them.
 >2.  If the rear bumper receives a major impact,
 >the vertical post may get driven into the body.
 >Yeah, well - ever seen a rear-impact wrangler with
 >bumperettes? The tire totals the whole gate area.
 >My questions:
 >
 >1.  Anyone have any opinions on this?
 Yep - here!
 >2.  Does this seem structurally sound?
 Yes, except for one possibility: if you mount a big
 tire & gas can(s), you got a lot of weight up on
 top of this post. (I'm adding a Jamboree rack too -
 should total 250+ lbs loaded w/ tire & 2
 cans). There are 2 issues with this, IMO:
 1. The factory rear frame x-member this whole
 shebang bolts to is a joke. Maybe you want to
 replace it w/ a beefier one? (I'm using 3/16"
 C-channel)
 2. Support issues are handled, but what about
 vibration? A washboard road with some pitching
 should be able to destroy even good welds
 with enough vibration. I plan to tie mine to
 the factory body mounts for vibration support
 only. To allow for frame-to-body movement, I
 plan to try 2 studs with a rubber thingy in
 the middle:
 -----
 ====|   |====
 -----
 (MSD & Jacobs sell small ones for
 vibration-mounting their ign stuff)
 >3.  Would it continue to be structurally
 >sound if I also mounted
 >    a spare gas can onto the swing-away
 >frame as well?
 See above.
 Jeff Layton
 >                                | |
 >           ---------------- |  <-- vertical post
 >          / --|-----|------ |
 >         / /  |  S  |     | |  Weld entire assembly
 >        / /   |     |     | |  L = latch
 >       /  ----|-----|------ |  S = spare tire mount
 >      / /------------------ |
 >     /L/                  | | <-add a flange here
 >  ------------------------|-|---
 >  |                       | |  |
 >  ------------------------|-|---
 ---
 This is a great idea, but you might be making it too
 complicated. My suggestion would be to make the
 vertical post out of thick wall tubing or even a
 solid round bar. mount a piece of tubing vertically
 through the bumper and let the whole mount pivot
 through that. Put a cotter pin in the bottom and
 a padlock on the latch end and it is very secure as
 well as simple. If you want to put a lot of weight on
 it , put another post on the other end and have the
 crossbars go all the way over. The main weakness of
 latching it on the bottom is that it will the weight
 is outside the "triangle" formed by the
 attachment points and it is going to bounce some.
 Ask anybody that put big tires on early 'cruiser
 tire carriers.
 Brian Millin
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 Spring-Over Conversion - Experiences & Opinions
 M.I.T. of El Cajon (of xfer case conversion fame)
 does Wrangler springover conversions. I had this
 done recently, and am quite pleased with it.
 They use the stock springs with one added
 full-length leaf. The ride is not quite as
 good as stock, but close. Approx. 5.5"
 of lift results.  The also redo the shock mounts
 to allow MUCH longer shocks for more droop.
 A dropped pitman and an offset tie rod
 (or is it drag link? -the thingie attached to the
 pitman) are included. The standard track bar mount
 on the D30 disconnect housing is cut off (I think
 for tie rod clearance) and a new mount is fabricated
 on the spring u-bolt plate, now on top of the
 axle.  The rear track bar is removed. The sway
 bar link is shortened.  Also, it looks like poly
 bushings were put in the spring ends.
 Jeff at M.I.T. recommends 33 or 35 x12.5 tires
 on 8" rims
 with 4" offset.  33s are pretty safe with
 the stock D30.  I changed the rear to a D44.
 Until I pay off my credit card, I'm running
 31" M/Ts, so I have plenty of fender
 clearance!!! I asked Jeff about axle wrap,
 and he said it has never been a
 problem. No kicker shocks or similar devices
 are used. Incidently, Jeff also does not believe
 in shackle reversal with a flat spring.
 I experience zero bump steer, even off road.
 (I'm running stock offset wheels, though)
 I don't know what the max articulation is,
 because I haven't lifted a wheel yet (I tried).
 I also had the xfer case conversion done, and
 a cv driveshaft installed.  The xfer case was
 not lowered.  I have experienced no driveline
 vibration. Cost is around $1500 installed,
 not including driveline work. As mentioned
 previously in this list, they are nice people
 down there.
 - Dion Davis
 And now for the contrary views:
 None of the Currie Wranglers / CJ's are sprung
 over. These are the gurus. Read the magazines.
 Most of the Cal. rigs are axle over.
 Is it really worth it?? I would only do a
 spring over if I was looking for 36"+ tires.
 - Rick Boiros
 I've spoken with someone who works at a
 local Jeeps-only shop.  They've done a few
 spring-over conversions on customers'
 vehicles and their own.  Their experience
 has suggested that a spring-over would be
 great for offroad-only vehicles. Unfortunately,
 they also found that the highway manners of the
 modified Jeeps was too squirrely.  Some of the
 owners had the modifications reversed.
 - lars
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 Torque Converters - Offroad Considerations
 Date: Thu, 10 Aug 95 10:47 PDT
 From: gpritcha@vanieee.wimsey.bc.ca (Gordon Pritchard)
 To: Offroad@ai.gtri.gatech.edu
 Subject: RE[2]: Lower Stall Speed?
 On Wed, 9 Aug 1995 Shel Belinkoff <belinkof@netcom.com>
 wrote:
 >I was about to call my tranny rebuilder to make an
 >appointment to have my Scout's Torqueflite done over,
 >but realized that I wanted one more bit of info
 >and some more opinions on the subject of the
 >stall speed.
 >It's my understanding that for offroad use a lower
 >stall speed is the way to go. How does a lower
 >stall speed affect performance on the street?
 >Is acceleration reduced?
 I'll share my mental picture of what the torque
 convertor is like, and specifically my thoughts
 on the offroading of same: I mentally picture two
 fans facing each other. One is driven by your
 engine (under power) the other pinwheels in the
 breeze of the first (input to your tranny).
 In my mind, stall speed is the maximum difference
 in speed you can get between these two
 fans.  At this max. diff point, there will
 exists a torque multiplication caused by high
 airflow over the second fan. Blade pitch and amount
 of flow affect the amount of multiplication
 (among other things). Instead of air,
 substitute "tranny fluid" above,
 and then you'll have the picture.  Things
 are different when you get up to speed, but that's
 another story... So, for uphill climbing, I figure
 you'd want max torque multiplication (much like
 everyone wants a low low range).  For this, you'd
 want a high-stall torque convertor, popular
 among the muscle car crowd. However, for engine
 braking downhill, you'd want a low stall speed
 torque convertor, to maximize the fan coupling
 described above, and give you some braking. The
 only thing I know of to give you this is the older
 Switch-Pitch torque convertors.  I have only
 heard of them for Chevy Turbo 400 trannies, but
 they may exist for others (in this design, a dash
 toggle switch changes the internal blade
 pitch, to give you both high torque conversion,
 or tight coupling for good fuel economy).
 If your gear ratios are what you like, I'd suggest
 a tight (ie low stall speed) convertor to give you
 tighter throttle response and enhanced engine
 braking.  OTOH, if you are struggling up hills,
 and this is important to you, go for the higher
 stall speed.  Be aware, though, of using a
 high-stall convertor continously at wide
 throttle openings - they can balloon/burst due
 to the extreme internal fluid pressures generated!
 FWIW,
 Gordon Pritchard, VE7AGW
 ------------------------------
 I think this is a good view of how a torque converter
 works, Gordon! I might add a couple of comments.
 First off, you can get lower than stock torque
 converters.  However, they are rare and usually
 these are called towing converters.  I was thinking
 about going for one of these, but in the end,
 decided I didn't want a tow truck, I wanted an
 off-road truck.  Most people agree that a few
 hundred RPM above stock is what I wanted.
 I asked a lot of people.  The racing crowd
 loves those 1,000 RPM over stock. By the way, the
 definition of stock is completely unknown.  Chevy
 couldn't tell me, B&M couldn't tell, the tranny
 rebuilder couldn't.  Everyone had a different answer.
 For my TH-350, around 1300-1500 RPM was stock.
 The B&M Saturday Night Special Off-Road
 Version I got was about 1800 RPM.
 Second comment is you can spend from $60 to $300 for
 a converter.  Few companies have RV or off-road
 converters, and those that did, it was a
 $300 special order item.  I wasn't willing to spend
 that much, but did spring for mine mentioned above
 at about $150 (I don't recall exact price).
 Third, you need to match your converter
 to your engine. If you have a built engine
 that is built for a purpose, you need to get
 a converter to match. All the companies
 will ask you about your engine and the use of your
 vehicle when buying a converter.
 Finally, the bigger the converter the better.
 For example, I could get 9", 10", 11"
 or even 12" converters for my tranny.  I opted
 for an 11" just because it had the features I
 wanted (stall, brazed internal fins, one piece
 construction, needle bearings, guarantee, etc.).
 These are things you will want to look for.
 Talk to some of the converter companies and ask
 why their top-of-the-line converters are better.
 I am happy with my set-up.  The combination of
 converter, heavy duty tranny rebuild and rebuilt
 drive-lines showed definite improvement in my
 rigs off-road ability.
 Just another data point and opinion...
 - ---
 Rick D. Anderson  (intsys!ricka@ormail.intel.com)
 Interactive Systems, Inc.  503-627-0149
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 Automatic Transmission Fluid - What Kind to Use
 From the Chrysler FAQ
 Question:
 Can the so-called "universal" automatic transmission
 fluids be used in all Chrysler Corporation vehicles
 calling for ATF+?  The labels of the universal brands
 do not mention  Chrysler applications.
 Answer:
 There's a good reason why universal brands do not
 mention Chrysler applications.  Chrysler now
 recommends that only  ATF+ Type 7176 (PN 4467721)
 be used in all Chrysler automatic  transmissions
 with locking torque converters.  Substituting
 any other automatic transmission fluid can lead to
 drivability problems.  Mopar ATF+ allows more
 slippage than other  friction-modified fluides.
 Introduced on select 1989 models, the A-604 was
 the first transaxle to feature fully  adaptive
 electronic control.  As constant development of
 the technology continued, it spread to other
 Chrysler automatic transmissions including the
 41TE and 42LE. As a result, shifting and engagement
 of the torque converter cluch (TCC) in virtually
 all Chrysler automatics is controlled by the
 transmission control module (TCM) based on a
 variety of inputs including throttle position,
 engine speed, input and output speed and others.
 The result of this adaptive straegy is that
 the TCM "learns" specific operating
 characteristics and conditions for an individual
 transaxle.  To accomplish this, the lock-up torque
 converter must operate in three states instead of
 just two: unlocked, partially locked and fully
 locked.  In partial lock, a regulated amount of
 slippage is allowed at the converter cluch.
 If the wrong automatic transmission fluid is used,
 the TCM can't effectively regulate the amount of
 slippage in a partial lock condition with the
 result being converter cluch shudder.
 Therefore, it is important to use only Mopar ATF+
 in all Chrysler automatics to avoid driveability
 problems.
 -- Wayne Toy    milnet:  toy@dockmaster.ncsc.mil
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 How to Deal With Chrysler Corp.
 From the Chrysler FAQ
 * Be *polite* and *calm* but assertive at all times.
 Do not take no for an answer but do *not* act angry
 or threaten them. This will only make matters worse.
 Chrysler's customer service is often very good but
 the people seem to be very sensitive, for some
 reason. They also often don't know what they're
 talking about, so elaboration may help. If all
 else fails, thank the person, then immediately
 call back and speak to someone else.
 Always take down their name for your reference!
 * Know what you're talking about. Check the FAQ,
 TSBs, and recalls (using the free Alldata
 "titles- only" service and posts in
 the newsgroup) before you visit the dealer
 with a problem. Using the Alldata service may
 lead you to have new, lower standards for
 fair treatment.
 * Don't expect Chrysler to change something
 just because it's listed in a TSB
 (technical service bulletin). TSBs describe
 solutions to problems which may not apply to
 your car; they are *not* recalls, though
 Chrysler often fixes cars out of warranty
 if there is a known problem and TSB on it.
 * Even if you are in an adversarial relationship
 with a dealer or Chrysler, always act in a friendly,
 nonthreatening, non-angry, non-adversarial manner.
 You can get more flies with honey than with anger.
 Or something like that.
 * Don't take "no" for an answer from a
 dealer. Immediately call Chrysler at 800-992-1997
 from a pay phone if you have to. They will
 call the dealer. Often, work the dealer would
 charge hundreds of dollars for will suddenly
 become free. Jobs the dealer wants to have your
 car for over a period of days will suddenly
 be done within the hour. Loaner cars will
 miraculously become available for free.
 * If your dealer keeps fixing the same thing
 over and over again, get another dealer.
 * If your dealer treats you badly, lies to
 you, refuses to do the work, etc., get another
 dealer.
 * Look for five-star dealers, but remember that
 five stars is not an assurance of high quality,
 and that great dealers may get less than
 five stars. Statistical sampling is not a high
 art at Chrysler Corp.; their survey form
 desparately needs work from people who
 actually understand how to survey customers.
 * If you have a continuing problem, speak to
 the people at your zone office (in your owner's
 manual). Be polite but assertive. They will
 probably send down a factory rep. Do not
 threaten them. If they still don't fix the car,
 politely begin to negotiate.
 * If that doesn't work, take the next step and
 contact Chrysler in Highland Park (800-992-1997).
 * If that fails, there are two steps you can
 take.
 1. File an official lemon law complaint with
 your state. Do not assume that your negotiations
 with Chrysler should suddenly come to an end or
 become angry. This will get their attention, but
 chances are your problem is not serious enough
 to merit a legally imposed solution.
 2. Go through the Customer Arbitration Board.
 * Most problems will end there. If not, look
 through your Yellow Pages to find a lawyer
 *specializing* in lemon law problems. Most
 lawyers don't know the first thing about
 lemon law! A good specialist lawyer will
 immediately know the people at the zone
 office and will first try to talk nice to them
 to solve the problem. If negotiation is not their
 first move, they are not the right lawyer.
 Normally, you can get a better deal through
 negotiation than through lawsuits. (This may
 not be true for all states, but it sure
 is in New Jersey). * Realize that your chances
 of getting cash are EXTREMELY slim. You
 will probably get a replacement Chrysler product.
 This is OK. You will not get all of your
 money back, either as credit towards a
 new car or as cash, no matter what you do.
 Chrysler's policy on lemons is to follow
 the state law, though they will negotiate.
 Most states impose a penalty on each mile of
 use before the first lemon-type complaint.
 This is normal.
 * Go through the latest TSBs again.
 *Whenever your dealer lies to you or is too
 incompetent, send a letter to Dealer Agreements
 or the Customer Center, Box 302, Centerline, MI
 48015.
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 Ring and Pinions
 The gear ranges for carriers for the model 30 and
 35 are:
 model 30
 high - 2.7 to 3.55
 low - 3.73 to 4.56
 model 35
 high - 2.7 to 3.31
 low - 3.55 to 4.56
 If you currently have 3.55 gears, you should only
 need a new front carrier. You can buy a new open
 carrier from 4 Wheel Hardware for about $70 US
 (probably about $500 Canadian :) ). The only extra
 labor should be to swap the spider gears from the
 old carrier to the new one, because it all has to
 be taken apart and setup for the new gears anyway.
 Don Graham
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 Should I Install a Locker in the Front or the Back?
 For purely offroad use, I would always go for one in
 the rear first because:
 a)  You generally need a locker the most when you're
 going uphill and when you go uphill, the weight
 transfer goes to the back.
 b)  Wranglers don't have particularly strong front
 axles, especially when you throw in large tires and
 a lockers.  Climbing over rocks with the front-end
 locked-up is more likely to break something than
 an equivalent setup/situation in the rear.
 Having said that, I'd be very wary about installing
 an automatic locker in the rear if you spend a
 significant portion of your winter season driving
 on hard-packed snow or ice.  In that situation,
 I'd go for an ARB or a good Limited Slip in the rear.
 Another alternative is to use a Lockright in the
 rear which can be removed/installed in an hour
 without any special tools.  Although you'll have
 to remove/install it twice a year, it's less than
 half the price of an ARB. You might find this
 interesting: I don't like limited slip diffs
 except in light trucks such as my former Suzuki
 Fox (Similar to Samurai but with a long body) it
 did wonders in the rear axle. But that is the
 only time I have seen them doing much good. Here
 in Iceland the preferred locker seems to be ARB.
 Every serious Off-roader has one (except me and
 other Toyota Double Cab owners. OK some of them
 have ARB in the front). At present I have no
 locker up front but I have a standard (here at
 least, not in the US) electronic 100% locker in
 the rear. It works similar to ARB except instead
 of air actuated it has a electric motor on the
 diff housing which does the work.
 As to Stevens Perkio note about snow and lockers:
 Yes lockers are a pain
 in snow UNLESS you can unlock them. I can't
 understand what people have against ARB
 lockers here on this list. To me they seems to
 be ideal, you can lock them when you nead them and
 unlock them when they are not needed. 2 years ago
 I did a test. I hooked a timer to 4 off roaders
 with ARB on both axles. On timer for each axle.
 All of the trucks were used as a everyday cars
 besides off roading. After over a year
 I took the readings. (1 year approx 8760 h)
 front axles locked      Rear axle locked
 1       38 h 35 m                68 h 5 m
 2       5 h 48 m                830 h 5 m
 3       4 h 32 m                633 h 38 m
 4       2 h 43 m                521 h 36 m
 Unfortunately I don't have the time driven or
 distance driven in that time available right
 now (got it somewhere on backup...but where?).
 Car one was sold shortly after I installed the
 timer and the new ovner had little experience in
 off roading. (And he broke one front axle in
 those 38 hours he had the front diff locked.
 After going with him twice I noted that he had
 the habit that if he saw a steep hill which we
 where going over he locked both front and rear
 diffs and flored the gas petal...
 and usually he flew over the top. It was in one
 such landing that the truck landed on one front
 wheel and broke the axle) This is to strengten
 by belive that diff lock in the front axle is
 rarely needed. (but if you need it you sure
 need it :-) ).
 Unfortunately I didn't install a timer in my truck
 when I bought it. It would be interesting to have
 now the readings. So why drive all the year round
 with locked/semi locked diffs if you really need
 them for fraction of the time? In steps ARB
 (or Toyota standard electronic locker :-) )
 Just IMHO.
 Gustav K Gustavsson
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 Transmission Gear Ratios
 Two transmissions were used in '87 Wranglers with the
 following
 ratios:
 3) Transmission:
 Peugeot BA 10/5         Axian AX5
 ---------------         ---------
 1st = 3.39                 3.83
 2nd = 2.33                 2.33
 3rd = 1.44                 1.44
 4th = 1.00                 1.00
 5th = 0.79                 0.79
 Rev = ??                   ??
 Terry
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 What the Heck is a Banana-Rating [tm] ??
 Having started this whole Shade Tree Howler Monkey
 [tm] reference, I feel obliged to reveal the rating
 system for a job's degree of difficulty in STHM terms:
 1 banana    = easy
 2 bananas   = moderately difficult
 3 bananas   = pushing the limits of a stock
 howler monkey; opposable thumbs only get you so far
 4 bananas   = requires the ability to communicate
 abstract ideas to other howler monkeys.
 5 bananas   = the job should only be attempted by a
 professional orangutan
 Hope this clarifies things.
 ...lars
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 What Tires Fit Under What Lift?
 Rule of thumb FOR OFFROADING ONLY:
 31"     2" lift
 32"     2" lift
 33"     3" lift
 35"     4" lift with a small body lift
 For street-only, you can get away with a bigger tire
 under a smaller lift because you won't be working the
 suspension in its boundary states
 (full extension/full compression).
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 Adjusting the Steering Stops -- Tires Rub Against
 Springs
 > I'd like to adjust my turning radius so that I
 >prevent the 31"  tires from rubbing the
 >springs. Does anyone have suggestions on  how to
 go about Turn the wheels to one lock.  Look at the
 other wheel, inside. You'll find a bolt which, when
 turned to the lock, contacts part of the axle
 assembly, stopping any further movement.
 This bolt has a nut welded on it to provide the
 factory turning radius.  You can back this bolt
 out, put a washer (or 2 - test first) behind it,
 apply some locktite, and reinstall.  This will
 give you a larger turning radius, but will save
 the edges of your tread from rubbing
 on the springs.
 Andrew M. Formella
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 Axle Upgrade Options
 The Bolt in 44 swap that I know of does require a
 transfer case change. BUT the Dana 300 Jeep has the
 same bolt patterns as the NP231, 241! So you get
 rid of the stupid slip joint setup too that
 people are spending too much money converting.
 While your at it, swap in a good transmission and
 CJ7 stock length driveshafts to match.
 Now for the all important information.....Get out
 the tape measures. The SCOUT II Dana 44 has the
 same spring perch locations as the Wrangler Frame.
 Overall length will be slightly wider, but can be
 made up in properly offset wheels. Use the rearend
 from the same donor vehicle for the matching rear
 Dana 44. Spring perches will have to be ground
 off and welded closer in. There's probably more
 to this, but those are the basics. Any suggestions
 or FIRST HAND info is welcome before I start
 building Wranglers with GOOD axles and selling them.
 - Rick Boiros
 Later, Rick added:
 >From Larry Soo:
 What kind of things would be required for this swap?
 Of the top of my head, I can see that it'd need
 to be: - -   narrowed
 >>> Not necessarily...get out the tape
 >>>measures.
 - -   new spring pads
 >>>>SEE ABOVE
 - -   new shock mounts
 >>> Yes, good chance to move from ground
 >>>level.
 - -   either use an AMC rear axle as well or else
 change the front wheels to use the Chrysler Jeep
 wheel bolt pattern (what's involved in this
 procedure??)
 >>>This is a good one since jeep trucks
 were 6 lug. swap CJ or Scout knuckles,spindles,
 rotors and brakes for 5 on 5-1/2  b.c. up front.
 Use a Scout or '86 CJ wide 44 rear.  ??????
 open for discussion on matching fronts and rears.
 i originally suggested a matched set of scout 44's.
 ^^^^^
 - -   maybe a larger master brake cylinder
 >>>Doubt it, 77 and 78 CJ's came with
 these same large brake calipers.
 - -   are any steering linkage changes required?
 >>> For uncut width, use stock linkage
 from donor vehicle. Possibly modify a drag link
 to mate to the Jeep.
 - Rick Boiros
 If you want to upgrade to beefier axles while
 retaining the 231 xfer case, try to get axles
 from a classic Bronco.  The axles are
 approximately the same width as stock and
 the front diff is offset to the driver's side,
 just like the YJ's original Dana 30.
 Dana 44 front axles are good - when were they
 offered?.
 *  66-70 FORD used Dana 30 frontend, they are
 junk...   71-77 they used the Dana 44...
 Dana 44 is the way to go... Were front discs
 available and when?
 *  Front disk brakes were added as nonpower
 assist in '75, and power assist in '76....
 Preferred rear axle? (was there more than
 one type available from the fact.?)
 *  FORD 9" axle was used from 66-77,
 but there were differences in strength
 depending on which capacity axle was ordered...
 The stronger rated axles (larger bearings
 and axle shafts) used 11" drums and
 beefier parts....  The standard GVWR axles
 used 10" drums with small diameter
 shafts and bearings...  '74 model year
 rear axles had oddball axle and bearing
 combo's that are hard to replace...  '76
 and '77 models used triangulated housing
 axles that provided radical improvements
 in strength of the housings as well as the
 axle shafts and bearings... The heavyier
 '76 and '77 9"ers are just about bulletproof
 in these trucks...
 - SMD
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 Front Shackle Hanger Problem
 Another weak Jeep spot (while I'm on the subject)
 is the front shackle hanger on the Wranglers.
 This hanger (unlike the CJ) is welded to the
 frame and can not be replaced.
 The stress point is the thin
 section of bracket between the bushing sleeve and
 the frame.  At some points, this metal is
 only 1/4" thick!  And to top off the trouble,
 the bushing sleeve isn't welded to the brackets
 at this point!!! I managed to shear off this
 mount on the driver's side and had a couple
 of friends reweld it for me. This same corner
 was hit in my accident, and the mount held,
 so their reinforcement work did the job.
 Basically, the hanger was reinforced by fitting a
 piece of 1/4" plate into the gap between the
 brackets holding the bushing sleve.
 The piece was welded to the bracket, frame and
 bushing sleve eliminating the open space. Careful
 grinding and filling made the fit tight and
 professional.  Never again had a failure.  In fact,
 the leaf spring broke in the accident, but the
 mount held perfectly.
 Chris Siano
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 GM Alternators in a Jeep
 I put a 110 Amp GM alternator in my CJ7 with no real
 modifications. I have an AMC V-8 with the york
 compressor on it so space is more limitted than the
 I6. The H.O. Alt. is only about 1/2" deeper and
 maybe 1/4 - 1/2" larger diameter. I also added
 a 10 GA wire from the charging terminal to the + side
 of battery with all other cables 00 GA. This set up
 works great even with a single battery and Warn 8274
 winch. Now if I could weld with it.....
 Rick Boiros
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 Jeep 4.0 EFI engine stalls at a stop
 (Jeep 4.0 stalling).
 From the Chrysler FAQ
 The problem is the flywheel sensor.  This sensor tells
 the computer the RPM, duration, etc. It is located
 by following the wires from the along the firewall
 and along the bellhousing. These sensors get worn
 out from debris and it also might be just the wires
 going to it. I had the same problem and took it to a
 dealer and they couldn't
 figure it out either. (Ken Talley)
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 Loctite vs. Anti-Seize Compound
 Just finished goofing off and reading the O-list
 digests.  Saw your posting, and felt I could clarify
 Locktite versus antisieze: Locktite:  Tradename for
 a whole host of adhesive products.  Around automotive
 stuff, most common are Locktite 242 (blue) and
 262 (red). They are both anaerobic adhesives
 (meaning they cure _only_ in the absence of air),
 intended to fill small gaps only, such as might exist
 between a nut and bolt when tight.  They both are
 applied before joining the fasteners (Locktite
 make some that you put on _after_ joining and
 tightening nut and bolt).  The red stuff is
 classed as permanent, requiring a torch to
 remove later - not recommended.  The blue stuff
 is classed as "small hand tool"
 removeable, and is the most common.  3M and
 others (LePage?) make "Locktite Blue"
 clone products, which are much cheaper.
 Around electronics we use Locktite Purple
 (really lightweight, breaks free pretty
 easily, sometimes we'll use nailpolish instead -
 gives you an idea that it kinda only holds
 things in place lightly).  We also use some
 Locktite screenprint epoxies to hold surface-mount
 electronic components on circuit boards during
 soldering. Locktite will inhibit corrosion
 within the joint pretty well, by simply
 occupying the tiny voids and excluding air
 (in my experience, anyway). Undoing a  Locktited
 joint will yield a crumbly powder (normal)
 which must be wire-brushed before reassembly
 (or new Locktite will be compromised). In
 summary:  Locktite Blue is a retention
 scheme, with slight corrosion resisting side
 effect.
 Antiseize:  Basically greases with metallic
 content.  I forget all the various metals
 which the different manufacturers use, but
 copper is one, and I've got some silvery stuff
 on the go at home.  Because this is a grease,
 it _will_ affect torquing of bolts - wet
 (or "lubed") torque is significantly
 lighter than dry torque for the same
 fastening power. I have a chart somewhere
 which call out equivalents when lubed with
 engine oil.  It's really easy to overtorque
 a wet bolt, causing thread sripping or bolt
 elongation and failure.  Antiseizes work on
 two levels: By excluding air from the bolt-nut
 interface, and the metallic compound used can
 reduce likelihood of electropotential
 corrosion (caused by dissimilar metals in
 contact, along with moisture, and ions present
 in moisture).
 Primary protection is really by air exclusion,
 though. Antiseizes should be used with some
 additional mechanical retention scheme such
 as lockwashers, Nylock locking nuts, safety
 wire, etc. If you use stainless fasteners,
 antiseize is virtually a necessity:
 stainless has the characteristic
 of "galling".  You could picture
 this as occurring when you tighten the nut-bolt,
 and the adjoining surfaces begin to intermingle,
 almost like a slow melting together, or
 cold-pressure-welding. For sanity and future
 removal, you must use anti-seize with stainless.
 In summary:  Antiseize makes life easier
 later, but requires additional locking
 hardware initially. My Choice for Your
 Application: With regular steel (or Grade 8):
 use Locktite Blue. With stainless, use
 antiseize, internal-tooth lockwashers.
 Hope this is helpful,
 -Gord
 ---------- more info ---------------------
 Karl:
 I actually dragged out some Loctite data sheets,
 to separate my fading memory and anecdotal
 recommendations from the hard information.
 Product ->   222   242   262     271     277     290
 Rel. Strength Low  Med  High   High   High  Med-High
 Shear Str.   800psi  2000psi                  800psi
 Colour     Purple Blue  Red    Red    Red    Green
 Viscosity    1000 1000  1500   500     6500   12
 Full Cure    6 h  6 h   6 h     2 h     6 h     2 h
 I think only 242, 262, and 290 (Blue, Red, and Green)
 are applicable to this group.  The 290 green stuff
 is meant to be post-applied to joined fasteners
 (it's the "ooops, I forgot to put Loctite on
 first" stuff!). The Loctite graphs of strength
 versus temperature show an interesting story:
 242 loses about 10% strength by 100F, 50% by 200F.
 262 gains some strength over the same region, losing
 15% by 300F. 290 is only down about 10% by 400F.
 Solvent/Environmental resistances (percentages of
 full strength):
 Product -->               242    262     290
 Air (180F), Reference     100%   100%    100%
 Motor Oil                 100%   100%    86%
 Water                     27%    100%    74%
 Glycol/Water              30%    98%     74%
 Transmission Fluid        100%   100%    90%
 Gasoline                 95%     86%     90%
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 MIT Installation
 Dgray@semiflex.com requested info on the MIT kit.  I did
 the switch over July 4th weekend last year. I prepared
 the XJ ('87 Cherokee) on Fri night. I already have a
 lift on the Jeep and did not require to lift it higher.
 I washed out underneath the truck first. It sucks when
 dirt falls into your eyes. Probably should wear some
 safety goggles. I drained out the ATF fluid, removed the
 rear driveshaft, and loosened the bolts. I could not
 break the nut off the front output shaft of the transfer
 case. The next morning, I tried to remove the front
 output shaft nut but could no break it. It takes if I
 remember right 120 ft-lbs. For this step I suggest that
 you shift it into 4wd low and lock your rear wheels
 and then try to break it. I was able to maneuver the
 new shaft with chain attached and place the chain over
 the front output chain teeth successfully after 15-20
 minutes of playing with it when reinstalling it.  When
 I removed the rear bearing retainer, I checked for
 problems. I did find that the filter to the pump was
 contaminated from the overusage of the silicon sealer
 from the factory (assumption that this was
 never opened).
 I maneuvered the output shaft and chain out from the
 transfer case. This came so easy that I thought the
 chain was stretched.
 I called several Jeep dealerships and spoke with the
 tech in the garage on the length. I was in specs.
 I cleaned out the rear of the transfer case from
 all debri by using long needle nose pliers, ATF
 in a stream bottle, and paper towels. When its
 mass assembled, it gets dirty inside. I then
 proceeded to remove the snap ring without ring
 pliers. Using several sizes of flat screwdrivers
 it finally came. It was distorted a little but some
 vise grips took care of that.
 I reinstalled the sprockets onto the new shaft
 and fit was not a problem. Make sure that you
 inspect how the sprocket set is on the original.
 I attached the snap ring back in with some
 difficulty and placed the shaft and chain into
 the transfer case. It took some maneuvering but
 I got the chain over the front output sprocket and
 secured the new shaft in the transfer case. I
 attached the rear bearing housing and applied
 orange silicon (high temp) to seal the aluminum
 housing. Make sure that both surfaces are CLEAN
 and DRY. I had to peal a lot of old silicon off
 the bearing housing. I checked to make sure the
 bearing were clean also. I ran them under a small
 stream of old filtered ATF to clean them up. No
 markings except from where they ran-very little
 play in the balls. Assembled the rest as instructed
 and torqued everything. Maybe it took 3-4 hrs to do.
 I did this on my back in a townhouse community.
 My truck was not in front of my house and the
 back and forth trips for tools took lots of time.
 Plus it was really hot that day - July 4th weekend
 you know in northern Virginia. Then I measured the
 distance as instructed and took this to the
 driveshaft shop.
 I dropped off the old rear driveshaft, gave
 him the measurements and the hardware provided by
 MIT.
 I returned 1.5 hours later and got a two piece
 driveshaft. He did mention that the original shaft
 was bent. I installed it with no problems. Did a
 test run and no problems. Since the install, I
 had no problems with the vibration or shaft. I did
 have a slight leak in the bearing retainer area.
 I suppose that I didn't put enough silicon sealer
 there. I just dried out the leak with towels and
 blow dryed it with the ARB pump. Then scweazed
 (sp?) some silicon into the leaking area. No more
 problems. The kit itself is $500 and modified
 driveshaft $200 and my own labor.  If you have
 the right tools, you could probably have it
 ready via noon Thursday starting Wednesday
 evening and save yourself the extra $$ and have
 the OBS (Owner Built Satisfaction). STRONG
 SUGGESTION, I would not predict the length of
 the rear driveshaft without an exact measurement.
 This could damage the new rear driveshaft in
 compression or extension. Measure it for safety.
 Michael J. Moran
 A couple of nights ago, Gord Pritchard and myself
 installed an MIT kit into my '91 YJ (bought from
 Todd O'Connor around 6 months ago...took me long
 enough, eh Todd?).  Prior reports indicated that
 it required approximately 4 hours at a leisurely
 pace and it was a 1.5 banana job.  Well, it took
 us longer than 4 hours but the banana rating was
 right on. The key to making this job easy is to
 have the right tools. One of the first surprises
 I encountered was that many of the bolts involved
 in this job were _metric_.  Pretty strange for a
 transfer case which is made in the US.  Secondly,
 it required a few socket sizes which I didn't
 have but, fortunately, Gord did. Oddball sizes
 included a 1 1/8th and a 30mm. I had read the
 installation instructions three or four times
 before starting the job so I felt familiar with
 what was needed and even saw a couple of ways
 to make the job go faster (more on  this later).
 The first thing to do is make sure you have the
 required materials: ATF Dextron II and some RTV.
 Next, shift the xfer case into 2-Hi and remove
 the front driveshaft and yoke.  I didn't think
 this was necessary because I didn't see anything
 in the instructions which would require it's
 removal SO I LEFT IT
 ATTACHED.
 We then attempted to drain the case but, since I
 didn't have my Jeep manual, we weren't sure which
 bolt was the drain plug. Common sense prevailed
 and we chose the lowermost bolt on the rear face
 of the case.  We struck oil...or rather, ATF.
 The next thing to come off was the rear driveshaft.
 Having done that, we then removed the drive cable
 and sensor for the speedometer.  After that,
 the instructions called for the sliding yoke tail
 housing to be removed.  Again, I thought this was
 redundant because it would be removed with the rear
 bearing retainer anyways.  Besides, I removed the
 bolts for the tail but couldn't break it loose.
 So I unbolted the bearing retainer (which is also
 the mounting point for the speedo cable) and pried
 it loose.  Unfortunately, I couldn't pull the
 retainer completely free from the xfer case
 because inside the tail housing was a snap ring
 which was preventing the retainer from sliding off.
 Aargh.  Okay, so maybe the instructions were right.
 I put a few bolts back into the retainer to hold
 it tight while I proceeded to whack the tail
 housing with a block of wood and my metric
 hammer.  I eventually loosened it with a
 strategically placed pickle fork.
 It attempted to take me out by jumping off the
 output shaft and aiming for my head but
 I blocked it with my cat-like reflexes.
 Having conquered this obstacle, we were then free
 to remove the bearing retainer.  Wow, we were
 almost half-way done.  The bolts for the rear half
 of the xfer case removed and, after some dirt was s
 craped off, we found the two pry notches where
 we could insert flat-blade screwdrivers and easily
 pop the case. The wonders of the xfer case awaited.
 Looking inside, however, was anticlimactic.
 Basically there were two big gears, a chain, and a
 couple of shifting forks.  Ok, so we simply had
 to slide the main output shaft, chain, and
 front-drive output shaft backwards in order to
 slip the chain off the two shafts.  Huh? The front
 output shaft had to be moved backwards??  Uh-oh.
 That's right...that's exactly why the front
 driveshaft and yoke had to be removed.  So I
 reluctantly slid to the other side of the case
 and disconnected the driveshaft.  With the skid
 plate mounted under the xfer case, a LONG, STRONG
 ratchet wrench extension would be required to
 remove the nut securing the yoke. Naturally, we
 didn't have one so I went ape-sh*t on the rear
 output shaft, jiggling it furiously while I ever
 so slowly worked the chain off the front output
 shaft.  After nearly pinching my fingers between
 the gear and chain, the chain was in my hands!
 The rear (main) output shaft was then removed.
 We removed the snap ring which retained a larger
 gear and synchronizer and moved those components
 onto the shaft supplied by MIT.  Oh, this would
 be a good time to talk about the snap rings.
 I bought a snap ring plier with interchangable
 tips in preparation for this job. As expected,
 it wasn't what I needed.  Mine was designed for
 rings with the little holes or notches in the
 ends.  The ones used in the xfer case were
 simply angled at the ends.
 --    --                  ---+   +---
 \  /   <- like this       o|   |o   <- not this
 ---  ---                  ---+   +---
 We were able to use a combination of my
 inappropriate snap ring pliers and Gord's
 nicely honed flat blade screwdrivers to remove
 the rings but that's no reason for you to do
 it this way.  Get the right pliers. Despite
 Gord's disapproval of my slovenly ways,
 I lightly wiped off the parts before starting
 the installation.
 Gord would have preferred that I use a parts
 washer but since I didn't have one, I used my
 sister's old "Miss Piggy" [tm] beach
 towel.  Oh yeah, we also scraped the old RTV
 off the mating surfaces before re-assembly
 (I'm not THAT slovenly). Slipping the chain
 back onto the front output shaft was just as
 annoying as removing it but it eventually
 happened.  The case half went on without a
 hitch as was torqued to 30 ft-lbs.  The
 rear bearing retainer was trickier because
 it required careful alignment of the oil pump.
 Each time I almost had the retainer
 on, the pump's teeth would slip off the shaft's
 splines.  We finally got it on by one of us
 holding the pump in place with a thin scredriver
 while the other pushed the retainer on.  The
 bolts were torqued to 18 ft-lbs.
 Finally, we put some RTV on the splines of the
 larger,MIT yoke, greased its seal, and torqued
 it to 130 ft-lbs. The speedo cable was
 re-attached and I filled the xfer case to
 the bottom of the fill hole with ATF Dextron II.
 At this time I'd like to point out that
 I did something right by buying a screw-on
 flexible tube for my 4L container of ATF.
 With this tube, I could easily fill the case by
 simply raising the container and squeezing.
 In total, it took us just over five hours to
 install the kit. Oh, and I owe Gord a case
 of beer (the preferred currency among STHMs).
 ...lars
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 Removing dash speakers
 Does anyone on the list have experience removing the
 in-dash 4x6 speakers on the Wrangler?
 (grin)  I just replaced the speakers in my '91 this
 week.  You're right; the person that wrote that
 manual never ever tried the procedure. There's
 just not enough room. On the passenger side
 (the first one I worked on), simply removing
 the three bolts that hold the end of the dash
 to the tub, and the windshield retaining plate
 allowed the dash to be pulled forward enough to
 get the extra inch of clearance required.
 Not so on the driver's side.
 I had to take the whole dash loose.  Note I did
 *not* have to remove it; just had to loosen it.
 The procedure I used was:
 0. (forgot to mention this step) Do go ahead
 and remove the parking brake.
 1. Do the work required to fold the windshield
 down (different if you have a hardtop or a softtop).
 2. Remove the torx head bolts that secure the dash.
 There are six or so along the top and the three at
 each end.
 3. Remove the phillips screws that secure the dash
 pad to the dash.
 Note here that I'm only talking about the ones that
 were concealed by the windshield.  If you leave
 these in, a couple will hang up and keep the dash
 from moving.
 3.5 (forgot another step!)  There was an electric
 component mounted with velcro on a aluminum plate
 right next to the brake release.  I removed the
 plate. This may have been put in as part of the air
 conditioner install; you might not have one.
 4. Now you should be able to lift upward and tug
 backward and move the dash into the passenger
 compartment by about an inch or two.  It'll still
 be a tight squeeze, especially on the driver's side
 where a large wiring harness is in your way.  But
 with only a small amount of cussing, I was able to
 get to both speakers and replace them.
 This really isn't all that tough.  It's just a bit
 tedious.  The most aggravating part was that
 there's a chunk of the body sheet metal that's
 only a couple inches away from the back of the
 speakers even after you do the dash loosening.
 The speaker magnets want to grab on to it just
 as you think you've got them on the mounting screws.
 Mike Whitten
 -------------------------
 It isn't easy but you can get your arm up to the
 speakers by kneeling on the ground by the rig with
 doors off and reaching up under the dash. EXPECT
 some bleeding there are lots of sharp edges up there.
 I built a small wrench out of a 1/4 inch socket set.
 I welded a small "t" on a 3" 1/4 drive
 extension. I installed Sony plate speakers in the
 stock positions. And I did not have to remove the
 E-Brake.
 Dave Taylor
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 Ring & Pinion Gear Upgrade
 I just recently did a lift and new ring and pinion on
 my 92 Wrangler. I have seen a few questions about how
 hard it is to install ring and pinion for the first
 time, so I thought I would write it up. This wasn't
 exactly my first time, within the last month, a
 friend of mine broke teeth off his 44 pinion, so he
 was my guinee pig.
 Before getting into the r&p, I want to comment
 on the lift and my lock right. I installed 2.5"
 lift, Skyjacker Softride springs and Rancho RS5000
 shocks. It rides very good, in my opinion, at least
 as good as stock. Also, I have a lock right
 in the rear and have been very curious as to how
 it was holding up. It has about 25k miles on it, and
 I was glad to see very little wear.
 Within the last 3 or 4 months, I have been buying
 parts and tools I need to do the job. Some of the
 tools needed aren't that hard to make, so I saved
 some cash and made them myself. Below is a list of
 all the stuff I needed for doing the ring
 and pinion:
 ring and pinion front & rear (used w/5k miles)$150
 pinion/carrier shims, seals, 35 carrier         $175
 factory service manual                          $ 65
 4 5/8" bearing seperator                    $ 50
 hydraulic press (made)                          $ 40
 case spreader (made)                             $ 20
 bar to hold yoke for tightening pinion nut (made)$ 10
 tube to press on pinion bearing (made)             -
 plug for end of carrier (made)                   -
 puller to use with bearing separator (made)     $ 10
 calipers for measuring shims                borrowed
 dial indicator                              borrowed
 work in/lbs torque wrench                   borrowed
 250 ft/lbs torque wrench                      rented
 I went from 3.07 to 3.55 gears, so I needed a new rear
 carrier for my lock right.  I didn't change any of the
 pinion/carrier bearings because the jeep only has 55K
 miles, but I did put in all new seals. Putting in
 all new bearings front and rear would  probably be
 > $250. The factory service manual has very good
 detailed instructions for setting up the ring and
 pinion. I had a general idea of how it was done, so
 the manual made sense, and answered all my questions.
 Most of the stuff I made wasn't too hard, but I do
 have an arc welder, and access to the machine shop
 at work. I needed to use a lathe to make the tube
 to press on the pinion bearings, and to make the
 plug for the end of the carrier. The plug goes into
 the end of the carrier, so the puller has something
 to push on. The press isn't absolutly needed, but
 it makes pressing bearings very easy. The case
 spreader also isn't absolutly needed, but makes
 it easier to get the carrier in and out. The
 bearing puller is needed to pull the carrier and
 pinion bearings. The manual used a special
 bearing puller, where I used a standard bearing
 seperator and fabricated puller. The only problem
 with using a bearing seperator is that you can
 screw up the shims under the bearing if you aren't
 careful. The yoke holder is something you cannot do
 without. With the housing sitting on the bench,
 you need something to hold the yoke while
 tighten- ing the pinion nut.
 I started with the 35C rearend. I did not need
 the case spreader to get the carrier out. I
 used 2 large screw drivers to pry it, and it
 popped right out. The 35C is easier to setup
 because the carrier shims are on the outside
 of the carrier bearings, so you don't have to
 pull the bearings to change the shims. When
 putting in the new pinion, I didn't have to
 change the pinion height shims because the offset
 on both pinions was 0. As outlined in the manual,
 if you are changing pinions, you don't necessarily
 have to measure the pinion height. There is a number
 scribed into the end of the pinion which is the
 offset from the perfect pinion height. So  to get
 the pinion height correct, just take the difference
 between the old pinion and new pinion and adjust the
 shims. The 35C has a crush washer for pinion bearing
 preload. To get the preload correct, you tighten the
 pinion nut until it takes about 15 inch/lbs to rotate
 the pinion(if using new bearings, it is a little
 higher). After the pinion was in, I needed to
 determine the carrier shims. The procedure is to
 install the carrier with bearings installed (no
 ring gear), and shims for a starting point on
 each side. The manual says to start with .080
 thick shims on each side, but the shim set I
 bought only went down to about .140, so I used
 the 2 thinest ones. Now the dial indicator is
 used to measure the total play side to side to
 determine how much to add to each shim. I did
 this, adjusted the shims(also adding .004 to
 each side for preload), then installed the
 ring gear. Then I measured the backlash with
 the dial indicator and it was .004. The spec is
 .005 to .010, so I adjusted shims and got it to
 .006. The last step is to check the gear pattern,
 I used prussian blue marking compound. The pattern
 shows if the backlash and pinion height is correct.
 It isn't real easy to get a good readable pattern,
 but I was satisfied with mine.
 Now for the front 30. I have an ARB in the front,
 and was hoping it wouldn't cause me any problems.
 To remove the carrier, I had to use the case
 spreader. I tryed prying it out, but it was
 pretty tight. I spread the case .010, and it
 came right out. I then removed the pinion and
 pulled the bearing.
 Now it was time to replace the seals. There is 1
 seal in the tube next to the carrier, and 1 on the
 outboard side of the axle disconnect. Both seals
 were easy to remove with a long metal rod. I used
 a large socket to tap in the seal next to the carrier.
 The axle disconnect seal was a pain because of its
 location, and that a special tool is required.
 I finally got it by grinding a piece of metal
 the same OD as the seal, and taping it in with a long
 metal rod. The new pinion had a different offset than
 the old pinion, so I had to adjust the shims
 accordingly. On the 35C, the pinion shims were under
 the inner pinion bearing, but on the 30, they are
 under the inner bearing race, so I knocked out the
 race, and adjusted the shims. The 30 uses shims for
 pinion preload, and I decided to try and use the
 same shims. I installed the pinion, bearings and
 shims, and tightened the pinion nut to about 200
 ft/lbs. To see if the preload was correct, I measured
 the torque(in/lbs) to turn the pinion, and it was OK.
 The next step was to install the carrier and adjust
 shims. Because I was using the same carrier and
 bearings, I decided to install the new ring gear and
 see how close the backlash was. This way, I wouldn't
 have to pull the bearings on the carrier. The backlash
 was right on at .007. The standard procedure is to
 install the carrier without any shims under the
 bearings and no ring gear, then measure the total
 movement side to side using the dial indicator. There
 are master bearings you can buy that don't require
 pressing on to make the measuring easier. Then you
 would install the ring gear and measure the play
 between the ring and pinion, to determine the ring
 gear side shims. The other side shims is the total
 play minus the ring gear side play plus .015 for
 preload. When I was all done, I checked the gear
 pattern, and it looked fine.
 So, setting up ring and pinion is doable if you
 haven't done it before, but having the right tools
 and completely understanding the process is very
 important. The complete job, which included the
 r&p, suspension and a few other things, took me
 about 3 days.
 Don Graham
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 Ring & Pinion Gear Installation Tips
 Does anyone else hve tips, tricks and home made tool
 tricks for doing a ring & pinion installation?
 Kevin Alcox writes:
 A 4 poind or better "dead blow" hammer
 really makes things go together better when you
 don't use a housing spreader.  Also, using a brass
 drift and/or punch will prevent damage to any
 sensitive surfaces.
 John Nutter writes:
 The last time I replaced a pinion seal I made the
 tool out of an piece of angle iron. I just drilled
 2 holes in it to match where one of the U bolts
 goes. It worked fine.
 John H. Stewart writes:
 Having accomplished this job, a few points were
 learned:
 1)  DANA/SPICER has a pamphlet detailing differential
 tear-down, rebuild and setup.  VERY helpful.
 2)  Replace ALL of the bearings and races while it is
 dis-assembled.
 3)  Use NEW carrier bearing shim packs.
 4)  Repalce ALL oil seals while it is dis-assembled.
 (The pinion seal will be destroyed when removed;
 however, there are axle seals that should be replaced.
 The Dana 30 has two in the differential.  The Dana 44
 has two at the ends of the axle tubes.)
 5)  Measure ALL shim packs as you remove them.
 6)  When you remove the bearings from the carrier,
 try to save them, OR get an extra set.  Setting the
 shim pack is easier if you have a spare bearing set
 to use.  You will need to ream out the inside in
 order to allow an easy slip-on/removal of the
 bearings from the carrier in order to adjust the
 shim pack. With shim measurements, take into account
 the thickness of the bearings.
 7)  The pinion is marked with a number (+1, +2, -2 or
 something else).  Look at the one your are removing,
 it will have a similar number.  The difference between
 those numbers is the adjustment in shims you will
 need to do.  That is where the DANA/Spicer pamphlet
 is helpful; it has a table explaining the equation
 factors.
 8)  MARK the carrier bearing hold-down clamps before
 removing them.  They must be replaced exactly.
 9)  Find a machine shop to press off old bearings
 and press on the new bearings.
 As far as "special tools", just having a
 micro, dial guage, slide hammer, bearing
 removal/insertion, and the "normal"
 assortment of  other hand tools, nothing special
 is required.  The carrier may need a little physical
 effort to remove using leverage and a pry bar, so
 a case spreader is not required.  You may need a
 clamp to position the dial guage for measurement.
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 Roll Cage Mounting
 A couple of years ago when I was trying to figure out
 what to do about my roll cage, I considered attaching
 it to the frame.  I asked on some list or news group
 and every response I got said that this was a *bad*
 idea. Apparently, the feeling was that you don't want
 the body directly attached to the frame which this
 would, in effect, do.
 Does anyone have any thoughts on this?  I'm getting
 a new floor and could make cleats for a direct frame
 attachment.  BTW, I am also planning on mounting my
 seats to the cage.  Any downside?
 Richard
 ------------------------------
 How about attaching the rollcage to the frame using
 body mounting rubber?  As long as you have a body
 mount between the frame and the rollbar
 "foot" then the body can still be able
 to flex independently from the frame and the
 rollbar will be bolted to something better than
 just the sheetmetal body.  This is how I did my
 rollbar in my Scrambler.  It works really good.
 Let me know what you think.
 Jerry Miller
 ------------------------------
 IMO probably the best way to mount the cage to the
 frame while maintaining the body isolated is similar
 to the desert racers "modular
 triangulated" approach where sections are
 connected via polyurethane bushings in tubular mounts.
 "Ears" are welded to the hoops and the down
 bars or kickers have short pieces of tubing welded
 at 90 degrees, making a long skinny "t",
 the cross piece has (usually) a poly bushing
 inserted and the assembly bolts in place between
 the ears. The beauty of this system is that
 individual sections can be removed (down bars in a
 pickup if you need bed space) with relative ease,
 plus the body remains free floating from the rigid
 frame/cage. Too much fabrication? Autofab has the
 parts complete with bushings, just weld appropriate
 parts together, insert bushings and bolt together.
 Terry Rust
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 Transmission Bushing - It's Supposed to be Loose!
 If you spend some time looking for a source of
 noise/clunking/vibration under your YJ, you may
 discover a pair of loose bushings attached to the
 transmission where it mounts to the skid plate/cross
 member.  Looking from the   front of the Jeep,
 these two bushings sit to the right of the rectangular
 rubber block which is actually the transmission mount.
 This block should NOT be loose.  The two bushings
 provide a cushion for a kind of an outrigger
 which limits the torque-twist which may occur in
 the tranny.  These two bushings will have some play
 above and below the "outrigger".
 They are NOT supposed to be tight.  I don't
 want to explain how I know this.  <g>
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 What is Involved in Lifting My Wrangler?
 Complete lift kits usually come with the following:
 -   Four spring packs (note: Add-a-leaf kits use the
 existing spring packs and insert a single, heavy leaf
 into each pack.  While cheaper than four new packs,
 add-a-leaf kits are generally very stiff-riding).
 -   Longer shock absorbers.
 -   Longer u-bolts (for mounting the axle to the
 leaf springs).
 -   Extension brackets for the front and rear track
 bars (also known as panhard rods).
 -   Brake line extensions or re-mounting brackets to
 provide extra length.
 -   For lifts of 3" or more, a drop-down pitman arm.
 -   For lifts of 3" or more, longer sway-bar links.
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 Vacuum Hose Tips
 I find that every 4 or 5 years it helps a lot to
 replace all of the vacuum lines. Get a bunch of
 vacuum line

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