How to kill an XJ in one easy step!
- Thread starter Black Dog
- Start date
SWbySWesty
Fauxverland Extraodinaire
Actually - your Jeep should already have this. I know that at least my front diff breather hose extends all the way to the top of the firewall.
Root Moose
Expedition Leader
The carpets in XJs are very thick. Consider removing the seats and carpet and letting the carpet dry outside of the vehicle. You could use this event as an excuse to put rubber flooring in instead of cleaning the carpet. Depends on how messed up the carpet is.
Highly recommend doing a steam clean while you are at it.
For applying RTV to the differential cover interface, I like to run a loop of RTV around the bolt holes at the same time. I normally apply the RTV to the differential housing face, not the cover. Doesn't matter - just mention in case you find it easier.
Does your Jeep have an AW4 or AX15? Have you inspected the fluid in the transmission or transfer case yet?
Highly recommend doing a steam clean while you are at it.
For applying RTV to the differential cover interface, I like to run a loop of RTV around the bolt holes at the same time. I normally apply the RTV to the differential housing face, not the cover. Doesn't matter - just mention in case you find it easier.
Does your Jeep have an AW4 or AX15? Have you inspected the fluid in the transmission or transfer case yet?
Black Dog
Makin' Beer.
The herculiner is something I've been wanting to do so now is the perfect time and I have a reason to justify the expense to my wife. :sombrero: Transmission is the AW4 with an NP231 transfer case. I've personally never change the fluid in either but it may have been done when I went to a drive thru lube shop, I don't know. So I'm going to change those fluids as well whether or not I really think it needs it just to be on the safe side.
Ford Prefect
Expedition Leader
If no one said it yet, for your hubs.
Just pop off the cover and drain. It is pretty easy actually. Then you clean up the gasket/sealant already on there, get it down to the metal.
Apply some Permatex and follow the dirrections. Typically you want to apply it and let it sit for five or ten minutes, then just screw it back on. Let is dry for an hour or two before you refill, and then it will not fully cure until 24hrs (so no water crossings).
The stuff is far and away the best brand for that sort of thing. ANY auto parts store in the USA will have it.
By the way, how fast were you going through that water? With the depth that it is in I should think that employing standard water crossing technique should have gotten you right through. Nice photos at least, and VERY glad to hear it was easy to get running again!
Brian
Just pop off the cover and drain. It is pretty easy actually. Then you clean up the gasket/sealant already on there, get it down to the metal.
Apply some Permatex and follow the dirrections. Typically you want to apply it and let it sit for five or ten minutes, then just screw it back on. Let is dry for an hour or two before you refill, and then it will not fully cure until 24hrs (so no water crossings).
The stuff is far and away the best brand for that sort of thing. ANY auto parts store in the USA will have it.
By the way, how fast were you going through that water? With the depth that it is in I should think that employing standard water crossing technique should have gotten you right through. Nice photos at least, and VERY glad to hear it was easy to get running again!
Brian
Black Dog
Makin' Beer.
I think I was going too fast because I got water up over the hood, so I basically plowed through my own bow wave and that sucked the water into my open filter. Entirely user error. :088:
BigAl
Expedition Leader
I use blue rtv. Remove the cover and drain. If it's full of mud, I use brake cleaner or kerosene to clean the gears, bearings, ect. Put it on jackstands with the tires off the ground so you can rotate the gears to get them really clean.
Clean off the old rtv, and use a rag or paper towel to blot dry the inside bottom of the diff. If you don't, the slow drip may mess up your new rtv. Apply an 1/8" bead of new rtv to the diff side and let set up for 5 minutes. I have (4) 1/4-20 bolts, ~1.5" long with the heads cut off, so they look like studs. I screw the studs in each corner of the diff. This allows you to slide the cover on in one step. All the holes line up. Put in the the remaining bolts then remove the studs and replace with bolts. You can do it without studs, but sometimes the holes are hard to align and you really smear the rtv, causing a leak. I've never had a leak using this method. Fill with gear oil and you are done:ylsmoke:
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Black Dog
Makin' Beer.
Changing all the fluids and starting the engine up is my Saturday project, weather is suppose to be good for laying on the ground all day and the mud should be drying up as we speak. Last night I started tearing the interior out and learned a few things. The first is that the seat part of the back seat is really easy to remove, I never knew that and if I did I would have done that a long time ago. The second thing I learned was that there are a lot of plastic panels with lots of screws and stuff holding them together that are a pain in the butt to take off.
adrenaline503
Explorer
StumpXJ put a vinyl floor in his Cherokee. Might be a nice thing to put over the Herculiner. My experience is that the bedliners are hard to keep clean and transfer a lot of heat and noise.
Black Dog
Makin' Beer.
The heat and noise was the whole reason why I hadn't done it before now already, but since I'm taking soggy carpet out I might as well go the extra step and do a bed liner inside. I'll drive on it for a while and see how bad it is for noise and heat and then decide whether or not I want to get the vinyl liner to supplement it.
The biggest plus for doing this is now I won't have to worry about getting blood and stuff on the carpet during hunting season. :wings:
The biggest plus for doing this is now I won't have to worry about getting blood and stuff on the carpet during hunting season. :wings:
SWbySWesty
Fauxverland Extraodinaire
My other XJ has the vynyl type flooring. Super convenient, but I actually have come to prefer the carpet on my trail rig. Might be a little more maintenance, but it's a nicety I prefer.
Black Dog
Makin' Beer.
Well I got everything drained and changed and stuff and only ran into two snags. First was my damned oil filter, that thing was totally stuck on there so I tried an old trick I heard about once and stabbed my biggest screw driver through it and used that as leverage and it worked! Then I dropped my battery back in and tried starting it but got nothing. It turned over but didn't fire, just made a rur-rur-rur-rur-rur sound. So I took the plugs back out and put one of them on the spark plug wire and grounded the end, then had my lovely assistant (my wife) try starting it. I had some spark, it seemed pretty intermittent and kind of sputtery though. So tomorrow I'm going to take apart the distributor and rotor and coil and make sure those are totally dry and I'm going to check my grounds from the battery and the engine block to the unibody. I have fuel getting into the cylinders because it was spraying out at me when I was standing over the engine and my wife was turning it over, so I am pretty sure it is an ignition problem.
I thought about using this as an excuse to upgrade to a distributor-less ignition system but I don't think my wife will go for that since we've already got a couple hundred bucks into this project. :ylsmoke:
I thought about using this as an excuse to upgrade to a distributor-less ignition system but I don't think my wife will go for that since we've already got a couple hundred bucks into this project. :ylsmoke:
Black Dog
Makin' Beer.
Booya! The jeep lives! I went through all the electrical and ignition system trying to find why it wasn't firing, then just the other day I finally took a peek (way overdue) inside the throttle body and saw water standing inside there. So I took the whole intake manifold apart and cleaned everything real well, then tonight reassembled it and tried firing it up. If it weren't for the damned dead battery it would have been running! It just didn't have enough juice to get it going but it wanted to and actually fired for a second or two but never fully started. The battery is back on the charger right now so I'm thinking in an hour or so I'll go give it another try again and hopefully I'll be drinking a beer in celebration!
Here is the tally of cash spent on this project:
Tow Truck: $150
All fluids and lubes: $150
Cap, rotor, and coil: $60
Herculiner: $130
Grant total so far: $490
This actually surprises me because I was expecting the tow truck alone to cost this much being a weekend call and because the guy had to go into the creek to hook it up. I'm hoping the cost doesn't go any high, if I could salvage it on an almost-budget then I will be happy.
Here is the tally of cash spent on this project:
Tow Truck: $150
All fluids and lubes: $150
Cap, rotor, and coil: $60
Herculiner: $130
Grant total so far: $490
This actually surprises me because I was expecting the tow truck alone to cost this much being a weekend call and because the guy had to go into the creek to hook it up. I'm hoping the cost doesn't go any high, if I could salvage it on an almost-budget then I will be happy.
The Adam Blaster
Expedition Leader
After charging the battery, did she fire?