Project Brento-Box

[brentonodon]

The other day I went through the injectors to see if they were the source for my lack of chooch (asides from being a 35yr old 4banger naturally aspirated diesel). Lots of testing and cleaning. Seems they're all opening at around 10MPa which is a bit low from the 12-13MPa range. Also one is squirting in a stream instead of a mist so I'm going to pop in a new set next week. In the meantime I've been working on a '96 model rear axle. Don't haze me hard on swapping it from coils to leafs. In my ignorance I thought it would be much easier than it's ended up being but here we are. Here's the rundown on how it's been going.

Step1: find axle in a pick-n-pull with zero rust, 9.5" gear, 4:636:1 ratio, air locker. Check.
The donor was a '96 SR that was super clean! Sad to see these in the yard but happy to get a cheap'ish axle, compressor, plumbing, etc.

Quality office approves.


Here's where I'll catch hell. Strip the coil spring shenanigans so you can believe that leaf spring is the way to go.

Design perches and skids for the u-bolts which you'll discover you messed up because you didn't see that they should be identical and not mirrored. doh.


Assemble it together after waiting several months for OME/ARB to figure out how to ship u-bolts.

Begin the swap.

Discover that the 9.5" rear end has much more meat on the input flange which makes using the stock bolts/nuts impossible. hmmmmmmmmmmm.


Realize you've messed up the brake lines so much that you'll need to remake them. *sigh*

So now I'm at the point where I'm going to make some brake lines, sort out something on the input flange or modify the driveshaft. Finish welding up the perches. Make a new u-bolt skid that has the shock mount on the correct side. The pop that puppy back in. I've got it down to an art now for swapping that axle in and out. Should go in great once I've got the checklist sorted. More on that soon. In the meantime I've gotta get some work done on the daily driver minivan.

 

[djcommie]

Was that 96 SR at the American Canyon PnP yard? I had seen it before on Row52 and was considering visiting it. I'm buying some 4.90 axles from a 2001 Montero Sport XLS just for the ring&pinion, I already have a 99 SR 4.26 front and rear if you want those gears, or if you want the leaf spring 9.5 diff housing, its all yours. I am down on the Central Coast.

 

[brentonodon]

Was that 96 SR at the American Canyon PnP yard? I had seen it before on Row52 and was considering visiting it. I'm buying some 4.90 axles from a 2001 Montero Sport XLS just for the ring&pinion, I already have a 99 SR 4.26 front and rear if you want those gears, or if you want the leaf spring 9.5 diff housing, its all yours. I am down on the Central Coast.

About a month ago or so I would've said yes to that housing. But I'm just about done on this one I think. I think it was the one from American Canyon. I think they've crushed it since because I don't see it on there anymore.

I'd love to find a set of those 4.9's at some point. The front is getting a Dana44 sometime this year and 4.88's up front would be mighty close to the 4.9s.

 

[Toasty]

About a month ago or so I would've said yes to that housing. But I'm just about done on this one I think. I think it was the one from American Canyon. I think they've crushed it since because I don't see it on there anymore.

I'd love to find a set of those 4.9's at some point. The front is getting a Dana44 sometime this year and 4.88's up front would be mighty close to the 4.9s.

You should make those leaf perches available for the leaf sprung guys, they're super nice. I like that they're not rock anchors. Also, there's enough meat on that pinion flange that you can turn it down for the 4 cylinder driveshaft flange.

 

[Toasty]

...and when you're ready I'll send you the files for the SAS frame stiffeners, that'll save you some time.

 

[brentonodon]

You should make those leaf perches available for the leaf sprung guys, they're super nice. I like that they're not rock anchors. Also, there's enough meat on that pinion flange that you can turn it down for the 4 cylinder driveshaft flange.

You talking about the perches or the skids? Happy to make that happen. Just a little tweaking to get it just right but should be ready to roll soon.

 

[brentonodon]

This weekend I decided to tackle some work on the diesel injector side. I've been noticing a lack of power (beyond what a tiny naturally aspirated should make) so I did some testing on them to see what pressure they're opening at and what their spray patterns looked like. Moral of that story was that they were pretty iffy. Most opening at too low of a pressure and some squirting streams instead of mists of diesel. Because of this I ordered some new ones from FridayParts........This may have been a mistake. I'm running into issues still with the motor where it's now knocking which could be the injectors opening early, and some leaking which I attribute to the poorly machined injector housings. Also seeing lots of air being pulled into the fuel system by the water separator/priming system. I've looked at the priming pump a bit and think it's toast since it doesn't seem to actually be able to prime the fuel system. So a new one is on the way along with a new diesel filter. The joys of working on old diesel motors. Bluh.

 

[Toasty]

You talking about the perches or the skids? Happy to make that happen. Just a little tweaking to get it just right but should be ready to roll soon.

I mean the whole thing as a kit but also there aren't very many Montero guys who even work at this level so selling them probably wouldn't be lucrative .

 

[brentonodon]

I mean the whole thing as a kit but also there aren't very many Montero guys who even work at this level so selling them probably wouldn't be lucrative .

You want a set? I'm ordering revB since I got the hole diameters a bit off and didn't realize that both sides should actually use the same part. This works with the OME 14mm u-bolts with 97mm leg center spacing. P/N: OMEU55, OMEU59A, OMEU59B, OME59C, OMEU59D, OMEU65, OMEU72. For reference I'm using the OMEU59A u-bolts.

 

[Toasty]

You want a set? I'm ordering revB since I got the hole diameters a bit off and didn't realize that both sides should actually use the same part. This works with the OME 14mm u-bolts with 97mm leg center spacing. P/N: OMEU55, OMEU59A, OMEU59B, OME59C, OMEU59D, OMEU65, OMEU72. For reference I'm using the OMEU59A u-bolts.

All my Monteros are on links and the Mighty Max is spring over, otherwise I totally would!

 

[brentonodon]

All my Monteros are on links and the Mighty Max is spring over, otherwise I totally would!

I'll definitely have to pick your brain on the links setup. I've got a Dana 44 I'm going to be building out for the front. First I've gotta narrow it down to about 61" WMS.

 

[Toasty]

I'll definitely have to pick your brain on the links setup. I've got a Dana 44 I'm going to be building out for the front. First I've gotta narrow it down to about 61" WMS.

Do you have a high pinion D44 or late model Jeep 44? I'm pretty sure the Wagoneer 44 is about 61"

 

[brentonodon]

Do you have a high pinion D44 or late model Jeep 44? I'm pretty sure the Wagoneer 44 is about 61"

Got a screamin deal on a high pinion Dana 44 out of a full size bronco. Looking to retube it to get the length right. Just need to decide on axle lengths. I think keeping one side the stock length is fine, the other needs to be about 6" shorter. I still want to retube both ends since this has the wonky radius arm mount. But getting the whole enchilada for $86 is hard to say no to.

 

[brentonodon]

More progress on the ole 4D56 diesel fuel issues. For starters here's what I was dealing with. The PO had noticed air coming in and assumed it was a fuel hose size issue. To address it he schmooed it up with some sealant which appears to have been breaking down (classic fuel eating everything).



I've pulled off the priming pump/filter/separator assembly and starting looking at it a bit more closely. The water in fuel sensor was all sorts of cross threaded and caddy-wompus so that's getting replaced. Headed to the parts store to grab one.

Here's the new parts so far. The priming pump has good suction to draw fuel up into the system so it should actually work. Also grabbed some 8mm ID hose to replace the weird clear stuff that was on there. So now if it's an issue at least I won't see it.

 

[brentonodon]

Well, got some new injector nozzles coming in from Sri Lanka of all places. They're the Zexel nozzles made in Japan so hopefully they'll work properly. I'll just put them in the injector housings I have that are the stock zexels as well. Classic "not enough time to do it right but plenty of time to do it twice" type of situation.