1 Ton YJ Crawler build

[ryan]

For whatever reason it's been a huge pain to find beadlocks in a 3.5" backspace in the ford pattern, ended up going with Vision Manx, which I don't have any experience with. Hoping that I like them as much as my racelines, but anything is better than my current set

 

[ryan]

Rims showed up early yesterday, need to mount the new stickies. I cannot describe my hatred for doing beadlock bolts, I'm dreading this.

 

[ryan]

Got the new to me stickies mounted on my new rims, much easier mounting than the swampers.

Going to change out sensors in the 4.0 and then it's back to working on the LS. Have timing chain, oil pump, oil pan to put on. Finish cleaning it up a bit and paint it.

Still can't decide whether to go TH400 vs 4L65. like the TH400 for the simplicity and strength, but the 4L series are so plentiful here and I like the parts availability. I'm pretty determined to go with the holley system, so electronic shifting wont be a problem, and I'll be DBW anyway.

 

[Shran]

Why not a 4L80?

Nothing wrong with a TH400 but they are really hard to find out here. Since they are different lengths I guess I would be tempted to use a 4L65/80/85/etc... easier to find parts.

 

[ryan]

Why not a 4L80?

Nothing wrong with a TH400 but they are really hard to find out here. Since they are different lengths I guess I would be tempted to use a 4L65/80/85/etc... easier to find parts.

I have looked at them a bit, but very expensive compared to the others

 

[Shran]

I am not super familiar with GM stuff in general but I was under the impression that the TH350, 700R4, and 4L60/65 are all in the same general family, IE light duty. So for a crawler if you are even considering a TH400 it would make sense to buy once & cry once and do a 4L80/85 right off the bat.

That said I know one guy running a Ford C4 behind an LS, mainly because they are tiny...

 

[ryan]

I am not super familiar with GM stuff in general but I was under the impression that the TH350, 700R4, and 4L60/65 are all in the same general family, IE light duty. So for a crawler if you are even considering a TH400 it would make sense to buy once & cry once and do a 4L80/85 right off the bat.

That said I know one guy running a Ford C4 behind an LS, mainly because they are tiny...

the 4l80's biggest problem for me is length - it's about 4" longer than what i've got in there now. I'm not very familiar with them either - the internet is basically just like "they're all the same."

 

[ryan]

Painted the valve covers and pan, block is all cleaned up and ready for paint. Will probably paint it before I do the rear main/oil pump and timing chain

 

[ryan]

Timing chain and oil pump today. Ran into an issue where the holly pick up tube doesn't fit with the holley oil pan. After thinking for a bit I'm wondering if it's from the upgraded oil pump, but that was enough for today

Also cleaned up the throttle body and replaced the sensors. And then realized I forgot a new gasket like a dummy

 

[ryan]

I clearanced the windage tray before this as well.

 

[ryan]

Over the weekend it was very hot out wheeling and I'm having some issues with vapor lock - the fuel rail was hot enough that you couldn't touch it. Would start right up after cooling down and it's a known problem on the 4.0s

Ordered a kit like this off of amazon

Trying to decide on a hood louver as well. Don't want to go crazy, but it's also been something I've had on every Jeep i've owned for this reason.

 

[ryan]

Got a little rowdy on shoot the moon, which has become really difficult over the past year and ended up on the side

 

[ryan]

One of the most fun things with jeeps is that the aftermarket has everything. Picked up this heat shield from Amazon and had it in two days. Tomorrow I'm going to bleed the cooling system and choose a louver

 

[ryan]

Vapor lock sucks, and I'm still not totally sure if it wasn't overheating. Never had any steam out of the rad cap, but there was definitely some air in the system.

Replaced the t-stat and water pump, getting good circulation now and temps seem normal. Put a new sender unit into the temp gauge, but that's still a no go. Got a louvred hood from genright and got it installed yesterday in a miserably hot garage.

Going on a big two day run at AOAA in two weeks, and hope to be able to run the whole time actually without having to wait for the jeep to cool down all the time

 

[scotts90ranger]

I don't know much about Jeeps but I do know fuel systems... Does the rail have a return out of one end and supply on the other with a regulator on the rail? That's the BEST setup for vapor lock assuming the fuel pump is in the tank, if it's not it needs to be as close to the tank as possible and as low as possible. If external pump and only a single pump system it's best to get a low pressure pump to put first in line (the marine Carter/Sierra is a good one, or as good as you'll get). You want to get liquid fuel through the fuel rail and flushed out so it can cool off. The heat shield and louvers should help your situation though.