My Jeep YJ build thread

[bobbywalter]

hell of a score on the yj though... 2g...and there is still metal left....friggin awesome.

 

[Shran]

So that dumb vacuum CAD thing on the front axle apparently has not worked since I got this thing... our offroad event over Labor Day was somewhat awkward in 2wd, I found out about that when I couldn't make it up a hill. One of the nipples on the vacuum thing was rusted off.

I did the normal thing and instead of fixing it I bought a winch.

 

[pentode]

I've been away a long time so I might be missing an obvious joke and/or reference, but is that a real antique plate?
When I look at that Jeep my brain says "new Jeep"... does that mean I'm just old?

 

[superj]

you can open that cad deal and slide the collar into 4wd and then your front end will be like a jeep cherokee front end, the axles will be turning but not engaged. then when you put the tcase in 4wd, the front end will engage and you will be good to go.

jeep got rid of that vacuum controlled collar engagement right around the 93 or 94 models, i think. i don't remember my wife's 93 having it but i know my 87 had it because i deleted it by sliding the collar over.


the other, more expensive fix was to change that axle shaft to one from a cherokee because they never used that vacuum system

 

[superj]

that dana30 front end was used from the early 80s until 2019 on all the solid front axle jeeps. wrangler, cherokee, comanche, grand cherokee, all of them.

you had to pay to get a d44 front and i think those only were available on rubicon wranglers in the tj and newer models.

 

[ryan]

you can open that cad deal and slide the collar into 4wd and then your front end will be like a jeep cherokee front end, the axles will be turning but not engaged. then when you put the tcase in 4wd, the front end will engage and you will be good to go.

jeep got rid of that vacuum controlled collar engagement right around the 93 or 94 models, i think. i don't remember my wife's 93 having it but i know my 87 had it because i deleted it by sliding the collar over.


the other, more expensive fix was to change that axle shaft to one from a cherokee because they never used that vacuum system

^this

IMO i'd switch the axle shaft from the two piece to a normal one.

 

[Shran]

Well this has turned into quite the cluster fawk.

The CAD actuator was obviously bad like I mentioned. So I took it off, slid the collar and shift fork over, and moved the clips so that it's permanently locked. I still have no 4wd.

4 high on the ground is the same as 2wd, no front tire movement
4 low on the ground is the same deal
4 high with all four wheels off the ground is the same as 2wd
4 low with all four in the air results in front & rear tires that spin but as soon as I put it on the ground it's gone. It's like 4 low is just barely there/slipping.

One of my Jeep buddies feels like it's a severely worn shift fork in the transfer case. I might mess with the linkage but I feel like I'm going to be tearing the t-case apart.

 

[superj]

it sounds like you are tearing it apart. i opened mine in my grand cherokee, and a wrangler one i bought, because i wanted to make the zj case a 2/n/4h/4l case instead of the full time 4wd that came factory on the zj models. there was one stupid little plastic square piece, about 1" x .5" that kept slipping out when i was putting it back together. put some grease to hold it in place and make sure the case lines up right and it goes back together very easily.

since you have a wrangler, it will be easy to find a tcase to replace that one for cheap. just watch the spline counts on the input side as some ar 21 and some are 23 or 27, something like that. the 231j tcases have lots of options and came on all the 6 and 4 cylinder models and hardly interchange

 

[ryan]

Well this has turned into quite the cluster fawk.

The CAD actuator was obviously bad like I mentioned. So I took it off, slid the collar and shift fork over, and moved the clips so that it's permanently locked. I still have no 4wd.

4 high on the ground is the same as 2wd, no front tire movement
4 low on the ground is the same deal
4 high with all four wheels off the ground is the same as 2wd
4 low with all four in the air results in front & rear tires that spin but as soon as I put it on the ground it's gone. It's like 4 low is just barely there/slipping.

One of my Jeep buddies feels like it's a severely worn shift fork in the transfer case. I might mess with the linkage but I feel like I'm going to be tearing the t-case apart.

iirc there's also a plastic clip for it too that gets worn out or broken relatively easily. pulling it and fixing it isn't too bad of a job, or even if you wanted to switch it out with a newer one the job isn't much of a pain at all

 

[Shran]

Looks like my direct interchange options are basically a 91-93 YJ with a 4.0 and 5 speed. Fortunately I think I know at least a couple people that will for sure have parts if I can't just order them.

Can't imagine it will be much different than the 1350's and 1354's I have had apart, looks like a similar concept and those weren't too bad to rebuild.

 

[ryan]

Not bad at all to get apart and together, though admittedly it's been a while for me dealing with one

 

[Shran]

Something in the clutch hydraulics was getting weak and it was hard to get it into 1st or reverse so I tore into it earlier this week - figured I would replace the master & slave, and put a new clutch & flywheel in at the same time, and I might as well fix the rear main seal that was leaking.

All that is done now so I tore the t-case apart and found the 4wd problem. The mode shift fork is worn so bad that it fell off the collar it rides on. The range shift fork is a little better but something had been rubbing on it so I'm just replacing them both. The whole case was full of metal pieces, plastic pieces and goo - lots of goo. I really didn't expect that, it wasn't making any noises and the fluid looked just a little dirty when I drained it. I was happy to only spend about $180 on a bearing kit, shift forks and pads - cheap to work on.

I will sure be happy to work on my Ford stuff after this though. I thought Ford was bad about mixing fastener types but this is way worse. Just to remove the bellhousing and starter I needed 18mm, 5/8", 7/16", E12 torx, 15mm, and 9/16" sockets, plus a couple of wrenches. Makes me appreciate being able to damn near pull a whole RBV trans with just a couple tools.

 

[Shran]

Still waiting on one more part but here's a carnage pic. You can see how much of the mode fork is missing.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

I will sure be happy to work on my Ford stuff after this though. I thought Ford was bad about mixing fastener types but this is way worse. Just to remove the bellhousing and starter I needed 18mm, 5/8", 7/16", E12 torx, 15mm, and 9/16" sockets, plus a couple of wrenches. Makes me appreciate being able to damn near pull a whole RBV trans with just a couple tools.

AMC was always kind of a hodge podge mess...

 

[Shran]

AMC was always kind of a hodge podge mess...

Yeah, it always made me laugh seeing a Wagoneer with an AMC engine, Ford carb & ignition system, and a GM transmission...somehow they were pretty reliable vehicles and that is kind of amazing.