Jeep XJ Pop Top Camper Build

[CraftsmanCollaborative]

loving the updates, followed your threads on the other forums and found you over here. will follow along.

Thanks! Still poke around on jeep forum and naxja, but found a better response here and a more camper specific crowd for input.

Once things get moving I’ll have a website feature going more regularly on the build topics.

 

[CraftsmanCollaborative]

Got on the phone with the ATK tech this morning. They said to go ahead and pull the motor back down to its longblock assembly and freight it back for a manufacturer inspection.

The tech himself said that in his time there they approve more claims than denied but will have to wait to see what engineers determine on this block to make a decision.

Said he has seen this on a 350 block and 4.3L’s of a certain make but never like this on a 4.0

We’ll see how they diagnose and handle it, but I really can’t think of any reason it should be denied. New bolts were used to proper spec, torqued to factory spec, and retorqued after 50miles. Less than 100 freeway miles on this reman...

 

[CraftsmanCollaborative]

Yanked the engine and freighting it back in the next few days. Have classes starting up at the end of the month so pushing to get it taken care of ASAP as this is still my DD.

Hoping they can grab it before the weekend as the freight doesn’t work weekends and it’ll be freighted all the way back to Texas...

Also, inspecting the engine closer and there are hackjobs I hadn’t noticed before. Here’s pics of the grinding wheel marks on the new block in comparison to the 19 year old block that was in the XJ.

New:

Old Block:

 

[jeepdreamer]

This one tells me that the grinder action happened after the head was on the motor. Now maybe that’s a matched head and block that came in as a core and were kept together during the rebuild? No idea why anyone would do that unless they were fighting the notoriously difficult top two bolts trying to remove a tranny.

 

[CraftsmanCollaborative]

FedEx Freight picked up the warrantied block today. Now the waiting game begins...

 

[jeepdreamer]

FedEx Freight picked up the warrantied block today. Now the waiting game begins...

Good luck man. Hopefully it's hassle free. Well, any More hassle.

 

[CraftsmanCollaborative]

Just got off the phone with ATK, and the warranty tech told me the engine was inspected and found not to be a manufacturers defect on the block.
They said they didn’t see an old crack and have photo and video documentation of the engine being built and it has no look of stress cracks. I asked for said footage and he said it’s not accessible to him to send me but is in the factory database.

Now they’re trying to bill me $150 to freight it back from Texas (original freight handling was $50 through 4 Wheel Parts) and never told me the freight price when requesting I send it back in, only that there would be a fee to get it back if denied claim.

Really disappointed in the quality and warranty so far and reached out to 4wheel parts who sold me it. They agreed it sounded like a definite casting defect in the reman block and the rep sent me to their warranty manager who is going to reach out to question the claim and offered to try and offset the freight charge with their account if nothing else.

Atk wouldn’t budge in the warranty and said they’d send me the inspection report. They said they can’t say why it would have failed but that it was not an underlying defect when they machined it.

Let’s see what 4wheel says and if not I’ll be trying to reach a warranty manager at ATK.

At this point I’ve been out of a car for an extra 3 weeks, had to pull the engine down to longblock again to freight it back, and now will need new accessory gaskets, and money invested to get the block securely mountable again.

 

[CraftsmanCollaborative]

ATK inspection report as forwarded by warranty tech:

Received and examined engine serial #Q238460 whit oil pump.

This unit is in a rusty condition but does turn freely.

Heat tabs present and not actived. Timing marks are correctly aligned.



INTERNAL VISUAL INSPECTION:

Driver side of the mount bosses are broken.

Broken area or bosses does not show factory welds or repairs.

The broken pieces were not received with engine for inspection.



DIMENSIONAL, PARAMETERS AND OBSERVATIONS:

N/A.



CONCLUSION:

No factory defects are found.

Claim not approved.

Attached inspection process images

 

[J!m]

Well, internal defects are not found via photo or video inspection.

If they didn’t do a magnetic particle inspection (magnaflux), X-ray or other method to eliminate the possibility of internal cracks, they cannot claim it did not have internal cracks prior to remanufacturing. Only external, and even then they should do a zyglo or at the bare minimum, a simple dye check for cracks that reach the surface. All standard stuff for aerospace repair operations.

Sorry to hear, but hopefully you get some help from the seller.

 

[CraftsmanCollaborative]

Well, internal defects are not found via photo or video inspection.

If they didn’t do a magnetic particle inspection (magnaflux), X-ray or other method to eliminate the possibility of internal cracks, they cannot claim it did not have internal cracks prior to remanufacturing. Only external, and even then they should do a zyglo or at the bare minimum, a simple dye check for cracks that reach the surface. All standard stuff for aerospace repair operations.

Sorry to hear, but hopefully you get some help from the seller.

Thanks. I don’t have a background in such machining and testing, but it does strike me as if they just looked it over and said it wasn’t their fault claiming ignorance of the situation.

The tech tried to sell me on the concept that “well at least they didn’t have to touch the internals so you don’t have to reassemble and get new gaskets for everything inside”...

Sounds like their argument is there was no proof of a weld or repair done to fix it at their factory so therefore it wasn’t defective. Not putting in writing whether the block could be factory defective to begin with... guess just trying to cover their butt in the simplest way they can.

 

[motoboss]

Wow what a shame.

How about getting the motor back, have the mounts welded/repaired and put it back together? At least you'd have a rebuilt instead of startibg over.

 

[J!m]

That’d be my suggestion too. A good welder will be able to reattach the missing bits I assume are still on the bolts... then thread in a stud if you can, and weld that too.

Maybe better to drill through, tap through, weld in the stud (inside and out) and go with that. It would distribute the stress over a larger area.

Otherwise another junk block and swap over the nice bits from the broken one.

 

[CraftsmanCollaborative]

Good news for the engine situation!

Been calling ATK most everyday after receiving the original inspection. Late last week I finally was put in contact with a warranty lead but it was still a hassle with operators leaving messages for him...

He reached out to me personally finally yesterday and said they would like to honor a one time replacement engine. The original warranty continues. So at this point it is as if it never happened, mind the labor time and fluids.

I will say too that 4wheelparts was more than helpful on getting me in contact with their warranty department and said they would reach out to ATK on my behalf. Unsure if this had anything to do with the final decision, but regardless had someone that was somewhat on my side.

 

[b16gsr]

Man that is awesome to hear. Glad you got resolution. It seemed like it wasnt going to end this way.

 

[J!m]

That’s good news!