99 XJ DD & Weekend Warrior
- Thread starter NW99XJ
- Start date
crazymoose1990
NAXJA Forum User
- Location
- Beavertown
Drop brackets.
NW99XJ
NAXJA Forum User
- Location
- Gresham, Or.
yea its either that or along arm upgrade....
NW99XJ
NAXJA Forum User
- Location
- Gresham, Or.
Alternator & Upgraded Wiring_December 2012
Well as luck would have it, I touch the Jeep, cut parts off of it, and generally try to do something good to it, and it protests.
The very next week, my Alternator went out on me. On my way to work....ZERO Volts all of the sudden...and that lovely "CHECK GAUGES" light coming on....Luckily, my Yellow Top Optima carries enough juice for me to limp home on.
So first thing was first.....think "upgrade" ....I got back to the house and started refreshing my memory on available/compatible swaps. MY research led me to believe that a 97 ZJ or Durango alternator was the most common/popular swap....with very little modification needed to get it in. So after a couple hours of reading a couple dozen threads/posts on the subject, I started looking up parts stores prices and availability. YES, I COULD have gone to the JY and grabbed something out of a vehicle there, and probably saved a ton of money, but I wanted a warranty, and didnt really want to spend more time wrenching than I had to.
I also knew that bumping up my available amperage from aprox 90 to over 130 I was going to need to upgrade some wiring too. So after some additional research on the subject of what to do and get for the wiring upgrade, I had a shopping list and a plan.
The Alternator: 1997 ZJ 136 amp w/lifetime warranty - $159.00
The Wiring: @$2.70/ft x 12ft = $32.00 (they rounded down and even gave me extra)
-8ft 4awg Red - (38" B= to Starter, 18" B+ to PDC, 36" Alternator to PDC)
-4ft 4awg Black - (8" B- to Fender, 28" B- to Engine Block, 10" Engine to Firewall)
-14 4awg 3/8" Ring Terminals @$1.49 x 14 = $20.86
-Heat Shrink Tubing - $9.50
Protection: 150amp ANL Fuse (and one extra as a back up) and Fuse Holder -$45
TOTAL: $266.36
Ok...as it seems with everything I have done on this Jeep, nothing quite goes as planned. I'll explain as I go along.
Here's what I started with....Kind of a mess.....
After removing the battery.....
I knew in order to have enough room to work, I needed to get the battery tray out of the way too....
I dont know about earlier models, but MY late model, seems to have some sort of safety switch built into the batter tray:
I think this is so that if the battery were to become jostled so loose that its floating around the engine bay, once this plunger switch "sees" that the battery is no longer in the tray, it shuts off the vehicle. This is just a theory, I didnt take the time to test it, look it up, or examine it much further, but it seems to be the most logical answer:
Now that all that was out of the way, I had a clear look at the alternator from above and I started spraying everything down with PB Blaster.
Here's a look at the stock alternator from the rear.
On my 99, the tensioner pulley is adjusted with this 15mm bolt....it is loosened to allow the pulley to slide up to release tension on the serpentine belt.
Now the upper and lower mounting alternator mounting bolts were loosened and removed.
The front bracket also has to be removed, there are 2 bolts and 3 nuts (the lower most is the lower alternator mount.)
The two upper nuts are on removable studs, -we'll get to these later.....
Once all the nuts and bolts are out/off, you can disconnect the wiring (if you havent already)
Then pull out the front bracket, and pull the alternator out. It's more than likely going to have to come out from the top, I didnt have enough room to pull it out from below.
Well as luck would have it, I touch the Jeep, cut parts off of it, and generally try to do something good to it, and it protests.
The very next week, my Alternator went out on me. On my way to work....ZERO Volts all of the sudden...and that lovely "CHECK GAUGES" light coming on....Luckily, my Yellow Top Optima carries enough juice for me to limp home on.
So first thing was first.....think "upgrade" ....I got back to the house and started refreshing my memory on available/compatible swaps. MY research led me to believe that a 97 ZJ or Durango alternator was the most common/popular swap....with very little modification needed to get it in. So after a couple hours of reading a couple dozen threads/posts on the subject, I started looking up parts stores prices and availability. YES, I COULD have gone to the JY and grabbed something out of a vehicle there, and probably saved a ton of money, but I wanted a warranty, and didnt really want to spend more time wrenching than I had to.
I also knew that bumping up my available amperage from aprox 90 to over 130 I was going to need to upgrade some wiring too. So after some additional research on the subject of what to do and get for the wiring upgrade, I had a shopping list and a plan.
The Alternator: 1997 ZJ 136 amp w/lifetime warranty - $159.00
The Wiring: @$2.70/ft x 12ft = $32.00 (they rounded down and even gave me extra)
-8ft 4awg Red - (38" B= to Starter, 18" B+ to PDC, 36" Alternator to PDC)
-4ft 4awg Black - (8" B- to Fender, 28" B- to Engine Block, 10" Engine to Firewall)
-14 4awg 3/8" Ring Terminals @$1.49 x 14 = $20.86
-Heat Shrink Tubing - $9.50
Protection: 150amp ANL Fuse (and one extra as a back up) and Fuse Holder -$45
TOTAL: $266.36
Ok...as it seems with everything I have done on this Jeep, nothing quite goes as planned. I'll explain as I go along.
Here's what I started with....Kind of a mess.....
After removing the battery.....
I knew in order to have enough room to work, I needed to get the battery tray out of the way too....
I dont know about earlier models, but MY late model, seems to have some sort of safety switch built into the batter tray:
I think this is so that if the battery were to become jostled so loose that its floating around the engine bay, once this plunger switch "sees" that the battery is no longer in the tray, it shuts off the vehicle. This is just a theory, I didnt take the time to test it, look it up, or examine it much further, but it seems to be the most logical answer:
Now that all that was out of the way, I had a clear look at the alternator from above and I started spraying everything down with PB Blaster.
Here's a look at the stock alternator from the rear.
On my 99, the tensioner pulley is adjusted with this 15mm bolt....it is loosened to allow the pulley to slide up to release tension on the serpentine belt.
Now the upper and lower mounting alternator mounting bolts were loosened and removed.
The front bracket also has to be removed, there are 2 bolts and 3 nuts (the lower most is the lower alternator mount.)
The two upper nuts are on removable studs, -we'll get to these later.....
Once all the nuts and bolts are out/off, you can disconnect the wiring (if you havent already)
Then pull out the front bracket, and pull the alternator out. It's more than likely going to have to come out from the top, I didnt have enough room to pull it out from below.
NW99XJ
NAXJA Forum User
- Location
- Gresham, Or.
Alternator & Upgraded Wiring_December 2012, Cont...
With the old alternator out, and sitting side by side with the new one, I instantly knew I was in store for a much longer install.
Although the mounting locations were different, and the main output post was obviously there, the two other wires were different, mine (old) having a "plug" and the other (new) having two posts. "uh-oh".....
Ok, no big deal....I can handle this....although things were different, ther were at least the same "number" of them...
I removed the rears of each to trace the leads, and where they went in hopes of identifying them and their purpose, hopefully then being able to match one to the other.
There are only three 8mm nuts, and one 8mm screw that hold the rear cover on. The screw actually is a little grounding plate.
Once these were removed on both units, I saw that they were very similar in construction and layout. With my trusty Fluke digital multi-meter, I started probing away, testing continuity of different points, and junctions, looking for circuit paths that I could test and get a solid, consistent reading from. Once I has decided what and where to probe, I started my comparisons.
>
Left plug terminal of old alternator to common test point:
Left post of new alternator to common test point:
Right plug terminal of old alternator to common test point:
Right post of new alternator to common test point:
My readings were close enough from me to tell "left to left - right to right"
With the old alternator out, and sitting side by side with the new one, I instantly knew I was in store for a much longer install.
Although the mounting locations were different, and the main output post was obviously there, the two other wires were different, mine (old) having a "plug" and the other (new) having two posts. "uh-oh".....
Ok, no big deal....I can handle this....although things were different, ther were at least the same "number" of them...
I removed the rears of each to trace the leads, and where they went in hopes of identifying them and their purpose, hopefully then being able to match one to the other.
There are only three 8mm nuts, and one 8mm screw that hold the rear cover on. The screw actually is a little grounding plate.
Once these were removed on both units, I saw that they were very similar in construction and layout. With my trusty Fluke digital multi-meter, I started probing away, testing continuity of different points, and junctions, looking for circuit paths that I could test and get a solid, consistent reading from. Once I has decided what and where to probe, I started my comparisons.
>
Left plug terminal of old alternator to common test point:
Left post of new alternator to common test point:
Right plug terminal of old alternator to common test point:
Right post of new alternator to common test point:
My readings were close enough from me to tell "left to left - right to right"
NW99XJ
NAXJA Forum User
- Location
- Gresham, Or.
Alternator & Upgraded Wiring_December 2012, Cont...
I snipped the two wire plug previously connected to the old alternator from the Jeep
(leaving enough room to hook it back up if need be)....
And plugged it in the alternator sitting on the bench.
This now told me that the terminal on the "left" was the striped wire. I now had reference to hook things back up.
I also noticed that the old alternator had this rubber cap that went over the "axle" of the alternator.
The new one didn't so I robbed it from the old, and installed it on the new.
After installing the covers back onto both units,
I marked the new alternator, just as a reminder and visual reference, of where I would be placing the aforementioned striped wire:
The wires still in the jeep got the necessary treatment for proper hook-up to the new alternator:
The main post mount/isolater was modified from the old unit to fit the new.
(of you are just swapping out an XJ alternator for another XJ alternator most of this is of course not necessary)
The old one had square corners that were filed/cut/ground off to fit the circular opening of the rear cover.
It also would allow the protective cover of the main wire that feeds the PDC to be re-used.
Here you can see the necessary mods that were required to make it fit on the new unit:
Ok, so now I was ready to actually install this thing.
Going into this, I knew from my research, that it wasn't going to just "drop right in"...and that the mounting bracket was going to have to be modified...
the new unit is much larger that the old one.
So the bracket needs to be ground down a little for clearance.
I snipped the two wire plug previously connected to the old alternator from the Jeep
(leaving enough room to hook it back up if need be)....
And plugged it in the alternator sitting on the bench.
This now told me that the terminal on the "left" was the striped wire. I now had reference to hook things back up.
I also noticed that the old alternator had this rubber cap that went over the "axle" of the alternator.
The new one didn't so I robbed it from the old, and installed it on the new.
After installing the covers back onto both units,
I marked the new alternator, just as a reminder and visual reference, of where I would be placing the aforementioned striped wire:
The wires still in the jeep got the necessary treatment for proper hook-up to the new alternator:
The main post mount/isolater was modified from the old unit to fit the new.
(of you are just swapping out an XJ alternator for another XJ alternator most of this is of course not necessary)
The old one had square corners that were filed/cut/ground off to fit the circular opening of the rear cover.
It also would allow the protective cover of the main wire that feeds the PDC to be re-used.
Here you can see the necessary mods that were required to make it fit on the new unit:
Ok, so now I was ready to actually install this thing.
Going into this, I knew from my research, that it wasn't going to just "drop right in"...and that the mounting bracket was going to have to be modified...
the new unit is much larger that the old one.
So the bracket needs to be ground down a little for clearance.
NW99XJ
NAXJA Forum User
- Location
- Gresham, Or.
Alternator & Upgraded Wiring_December 2012, Cont...
So off comes the bracket.....remember those studs from earlier?.... the nuts on them are 15mm, the studs themselves are 16mm, and with a little persuasion (breaker bar) they cam loose and were removed:
There are two more bolts on the backside of the bracket that mount this to the block, they too have to be removed:
Once out the bracket can be mocked into place with the new alternator...I got a rough idea of how much material had to be removed from this cast aluminum bracket.
With my handy dandy grinder I went to work, grinding, and test fitting, grinding more and another test fit,....
This went on and on, until I had ground away enough material to give the new alternator enough clearance.
NOTE: the center (apex of the arc) is where most of the grinding will need to be done.
I finally had a modified bracket and the alternator was ready to be installed.
Upon test fitting...I quickly realized I was not going to get this much fatter alternator in without some serious clearance. First I tried mounting the bracket, and then bringing the alternator in the same way I took the old one out. NOPE....that didnt work, So more clearance was needed, I took out the coolant reservoir, which gave me a little ore room to at least get the alternator into the area it needed to be....but did not have enough room to position it correctly. So I took the mounting bracket back off the block, and mounted it on the alternator and twisted, shoved, and cursed that damn assembly into place. FINALLY!!!....it went into position.... and as I started mounting it, and tightening down the first two bolts (studs) I noticed that it wasn't going to seat properly in its new home.....damn....more grinding.....
The block needs to ground in approximately the same place as the bracket ...makes sense right? duh! lol,
So with the alternator/bracket assembly shifted out of place, I got in there with my grinder and went to town.
The work went pretty quickly, and there isn't as much material that needs to be removed as in the bracket's case.
More so in the back side of it than the front:
I spray painted a protective coat of paint over this exposed metal (I'm pretty sure its steel compared to the bracket's aluminum...and figured it was safer to error on the side of caution anyways) ... and mounted the alternator for the final time.
Here you can see it in place, with all the wires hooked up, including one of the new cables I made:
So off comes the bracket.....remember those studs from earlier?.... the nuts on them are 15mm, the studs themselves are 16mm, and with a little persuasion (breaker bar) they cam loose and were removed:
There are two more bolts on the backside of the bracket that mount this to the block, they too have to be removed:
Once out the bracket can be mocked into place with the new alternator...I got a rough idea of how much material had to be removed from this cast aluminum bracket.
With my handy dandy grinder I went to work, grinding, and test fitting, grinding more and another test fit,....
This went on and on, until I had ground away enough material to give the new alternator enough clearance.
NOTE: the center (apex of the arc) is where most of the grinding will need to be done.
I finally had a modified bracket and the alternator was ready to be installed.
Upon test fitting...I quickly realized I was not going to get this much fatter alternator in without some serious clearance. First I tried mounting the bracket, and then bringing the alternator in the same way I took the old one out. NOPE....that didnt work, So more clearance was needed, I took out the coolant reservoir, which gave me a little ore room to at least get the alternator into the area it needed to be....but did not have enough room to position it correctly. So I took the mounting bracket back off the block, and mounted it on the alternator and twisted, shoved, and cursed that damn assembly into place. FINALLY!!!....it went into position.... and as I started mounting it, and tightening down the first two bolts (studs) I noticed that it wasn't going to seat properly in its new home.....damn....more grinding.....
The block needs to ground in approximately the same place as the bracket ...makes sense right? duh! lol,
So with the alternator/bracket assembly shifted out of place, I got in there with my grinder and went to town.
The work went pretty quickly, and there isn't as much material that needs to be removed as in the bracket's case.
More so in the back side of it than the front:
I spray painted a protective coat of paint over this exposed metal (I'm pretty sure its steel compared to the bracket's aluminum...and figured it was safer to error on the side of caution anyways) ... and mounted the alternator for the final time.
Here you can see it in place, with all the wires hooked up, including one of the new cables I made:
NW99XJ
NAXJA Forum User
- Location
- Gresham, Or.
Alternator & Upgraded Wiring_December 2012, Cont...
Making of the new cables came easy. Thanks to a guy who goes by 5-90 (i think his name might be Jon?) and his website "Kellys Work In Progress": http://www.kelleyswip.com
I have a ton of experience in making cables, and of course wiring in general, so this part of it all went pretty smooth.
Here's a shot of all my supplies laid out.
I started by pulling out some of the cables I knew were going to be replaced. The alternator to PDC was one, PDC to battery was another, and of course all the grounds. I opted to skip replacing the starter wire at this time.....I looked it over, and it was in decent shape. I had recently upgraded the ring terminal on the battery end of it, and honestly...I've never had a cranking issue. So I left it alone. The grounds were first up....the first and foremost was that cheesy ground "strap" that runs from the back of the engine to the firewall.....this is one of the most important cables in the system, as virtually ALL of the vehicles interior electrical components and electrical circuits from gauges to accessories, to computers, get their ground from the firewall.
So after a liberal soaking of PB Blaster, I went to task taking it off.
Once removed I verified the length needed for the new cable, and cut a section of the 4awg off.
Here you can see the chunk of new cable compared to the old strap.
There is a massive difference in the amount of current carrying metal available from the old to the new.
(you can see that I had already stripped away some of the insulation in preparation for the crimping of the new terminal end)
I cut a good inch or two of heat shrink tubing off of the roll I bought, and placed it in the cable.
Then I took one of the new ring terminals and placed it on the end, making sure I had stripped away enough of the insulation to fully fill the cavity of the connector. In the next pic you can see the piece of heat shrink tubing, and one of the two crimps made in the connector.
I double crimp any lage gauge connector like this to ensure it will never pull out, and to make a good, solid, reliable, mechanical connection between wire and connector. Once thats done, I use some good electrical tape and tightly wrap the end over the connector, the seam between the wire's insulation and the connector, and down to some of the rest of the wire.
This does a couple things. One, it give me an initial seal against oxidation and any moisture, and two, covers any sharp edges created by the crimp, that may pierce the heat shrink.
For the next step I used a torch, if you decide to this on your own, a good heat gun may work too, but a hair dryer probably wont. You need good intense heat for the tubing to react the way it should.
CAUTION: DO NOT PLAY WITH FIRE.
ALSO: Too much exposure to direct flame will melt the heat shrink. Keep the tip of the flame a few inches away from the surface of the tubing and moving around at all times!
You want a nice even heating, so rotating the cable around as you move the flame around ensures that the heat is penetrating, and covering as much area as evenly and thoroughly as possible. With a heat gun, you may need to move around slower, or keep the flow of hot air on each area a little longer.
WARNING: Cable ends WILL be HOT, and can burn you.... Blow on them, or leave them to cool on a suitable surface before handling!
Once done, you have a nice, well connected, and super sealed cable end....
Just look at the difference from the old strap to the newly finished grounding cable
("grounding cable" just sounds beefier than strap anyways)
All of the cables getting swapped out were made in this fashion.
Making of the new cables came easy. Thanks to a guy who goes by 5-90 (i think his name might be Jon?) and his website "Kellys Work In Progress": http://www.kelleyswip.com
I have a ton of experience in making cables, and of course wiring in general, so this part of it all went pretty smooth.
Here's a shot of all my supplies laid out.
I started by pulling out some of the cables I knew were going to be replaced. The alternator to PDC was one, PDC to battery was another, and of course all the grounds. I opted to skip replacing the starter wire at this time.....I looked it over, and it was in decent shape. I had recently upgraded the ring terminal on the battery end of it, and honestly...I've never had a cranking issue. So I left it alone. The grounds were first up....the first and foremost was that cheesy ground "strap" that runs from the back of the engine to the firewall.....this is one of the most important cables in the system, as virtually ALL of the vehicles interior electrical components and electrical circuits from gauges to accessories, to computers, get their ground from the firewall.
So after a liberal soaking of PB Blaster, I went to task taking it off.
Once removed I verified the length needed for the new cable, and cut a section of the 4awg off.
Here you can see the chunk of new cable compared to the old strap.
There is a massive difference in the amount of current carrying metal available from the old to the new.
(you can see that I had already stripped away some of the insulation in preparation for the crimping of the new terminal end)
I cut a good inch or two of heat shrink tubing off of the roll I bought, and placed it in the cable.
Then I took one of the new ring terminals and placed it on the end, making sure I had stripped away enough of the insulation to fully fill the cavity of the connector. In the next pic you can see the piece of heat shrink tubing, and one of the two crimps made in the connector.
I double crimp any lage gauge connector like this to ensure it will never pull out, and to make a good, solid, reliable, mechanical connection between wire and connector. Once thats done, I use some good electrical tape and tightly wrap the end over the connector, the seam between the wire's insulation and the connector, and down to some of the rest of the wire.
This does a couple things. One, it give me an initial seal against oxidation and any moisture, and two, covers any sharp edges created by the crimp, that may pierce the heat shrink.
For the next step I used a torch, if you decide to this on your own, a good heat gun may work too, but a hair dryer probably wont. You need good intense heat for the tubing to react the way it should.
CAUTION: DO NOT PLAY WITH FIRE.
ALSO: Too much exposure to direct flame will melt the heat shrink. Keep the tip of the flame a few inches away from the surface of the tubing and moving around at all times!
You want a nice even heating, so rotating the cable around as you move the flame around ensures that the heat is penetrating, and covering as much area as evenly and thoroughly as possible. With a heat gun, you may need to move around slower, or keep the flow of hot air on each area a little longer.
WARNING: Cable ends WILL be HOT, and can burn you.... Blow on them, or leave them to cool on a suitable surface before handling!
Once done, you have a nice, well connected, and super sealed cable end....
Just look at the difference from the old strap to the newly finished grounding cable
("grounding cable" just sounds beefier than strap anyways)
All of the cables getting swapped out were made in this fashion.
NW99XJ
NAXJA Forum User
- Location
- Gresham, Or.
Alternator & Upgraded Wiring_December 2012, Cont.
One thing that gave me some trouble, and I guess is pretty common, is the ground cable from the battery to the passenger side fender.... apparently the bolt securing it likes to break.
Mine was no exception:
Easy enough fix.... I removed a screw from the bracket right there on the fender and drilled the hole out slightly, and placed a bolt and a nut securing the new cable to the fender. Then used this as a new ground post for a few accessories and secured them to the bolt with another nut:
As I may have mentioned the previous owner bypassed or otherwise removed the OEM fuseable link, and since I knew I needed to protect the power going into the PDC (Power Distribution Center) I opted to install an ANL type fuse holder and a 150amp ANL fuse... This is the closest rated fuse to match the 136amps coming from the alternator, without risking frequent pops.
The location was simple....as close the PDC as possible, and there just so happened to be a bracket right there....
I drilled one of the two existing holes a little larger to accommodate a small bolt, nut, & washer....
The new ANL Fuse holder was then securely mounted to this location.
The power from the alternator passes through this and feeds the PDC, which in turn feeds the rest of the vehicle.
While I was at it, I re-ran much of all the other aftermarket wiring I had in there going to the battery.
Feeds for stereo equipment, several lighting circuits, the alarm, and more.... waaaay to much to want to have hooked up right at the battery...it would just end up too clustered. Luckily I had this little power distribution block laying around, so I put it to good use.
Another 4awg wire feeds it directly from the battery, and all the other fused power leads going to all the other aftermarket circuits gets fed from it. (one 4awg in - four 16-8 awg out)
The two small gauge wires to the alternator were hooked up and its new power lead was installed and ran.
I split loomed everything, and it looks much much cleaner now.
I went from this:
To this:
And for the first time since I've owned the Jeep, my volt gauge is reading 14volts.
One thing that gave me some trouble, and I guess is pretty common, is the ground cable from the battery to the passenger side fender.... apparently the bolt securing it likes to break.
Mine was no exception:
Easy enough fix.... I removed a screw from the bracket right there on the fender and drilled the hole out slightly, and placed a bolt and a nut securing the new cable to the fender. Then used this as a new ground post for a few accessories and secured them to the bolt with another nut:
As I may have mentioned the previous owner bypassed or otherwise removed the OEM fuseable link, and since I knew I needed to protect the power going into the PDC (Power Distribution Center) I opted to install an ANL type fuse holder and a 150amp ANL fuse... This is the closest rated fuse to match the 136amps coming from the alternator, without risking frequent pops.
The location was simple....as close the PDC as possible, and there just so happened to be a bracket right there....
I drilled one of the two existing holes a little larger to accommodate a small bolt, nut, & washer....
The new ANL Fuse holder was then securely mounted to this location.
The power from the alternator passes through this and feeds the PDC, which in turn feeds the rest of the vehicle.
While I was at it, I re-ran much of all the other aftermarket wiring I had in there going to the battery.
Feeds for stereo equipment, several lighting circuits, the alarm, and more.... waaaay to much to want to have hooked up right at the battery...it would just end up too clustered. Luckily I had this little power distribution block laying around, so I put it to good use.
Another 4awg wire feeds it directly from the battery, and all the other fused power leads going to all the other aftermarket circuits gets fed from it. (one 4awg in - four 16-8 awg out)
The two small gauge wires to the alternator were hooked up and its new power lead was installed and ran.
I split loomed everything, and it looks much much cleaner now.
I went from this:
To this:
And for the first time since I've owned the Jeep, my volt gauge is reading 14volts.
- Location
- NE Texas
A lot of good info here, just to clarify, that's a battery temp sensor and it tells the PCM if the battery is overheated to stop charging. Iirc
And I believe Durango R/t's have a 160amp alt.. Not that 136amp is not enough tho lol
And I believe Durango R/t's have a 160amp alt.. Not that 136amp is not enough tho lol
BoringDave
NAXJA Forum User
- Location
- Boring
Long arm upgrade. I have the drop brackets and they suck!
dukie564
NAXJA Forum User
- Location
- Aberdeen, MD
sweet writeup. I have a 136A in my shed waiting to go on - was planning the same wiring upgrades you did from 5-90. Good stuff.
NW99XJ
NAXJA Forum User
- Location
- Gresham, Or.
NW99XJ
NAXJA Forum User
- Location
- Gresham, Or.
So on my way to go get my new tags......THIS comes up.....
(thank you Murphy)
Ended up being a P0135 code ....Sensor1 Bank1 (Upstream o2 Sensor)
Picked up a new one with the return of the core Alternator I still had.
Sprayed the old one down....and gave it a turn with the wrench, and THIS happens....
The wires LITERALLY just fell out of the plug.
Strange how they're all right about the same length.
Old vs. New
New one is in.
I reset the adaptive memory of the ECU, and started getting it up to operating temp.
I'm thinking this may have SOMETHING to do with the 11.5 +/- MPG I've been getting and the feeling of a sluggish engine.
(thank you Murphy)
Ended up being a P0135 code ....Sensor1 Bank1 (Upstream o2 Sensor)
Picked up a new one with the return of the core Alternator I still had.
Sprayed the old one down....and gave it a turn with the wrench, and THIS happens....
The wires LITERALLY just fell out of the plug.
Strange how they're all right about the same length.
Old vs. New
New one is in.
I reset the adaptive memory of the ECU, and started getting it up to operating temp.
I'm thinking this may have SOMETHING to do with the 11.5 +/- MPG I've been getting and the feeling of a sluggish engine.
poppyseed
NAXJA Forum User
- Location
- Ferndale, WA
Awesome build thread man, if your ever wheeling up near the Seattle area hit me up. Im relatively stock with just a 3 inch lift but it should hold its own on moderate trails.
NW99XJ
NAXJA Forum User
- Location
- Gresham, Or.
Premature U-joint Failure - Jan_2013
Taking the off-ramp on my way to work the other morning...I hear this *CLUNK*CLUNK*CLUNK*CLUNK*CLUNK*CLUNK......
Pull into the gas station right there and found THIS:
Limped it the extra mile into work, and had to figure out how i was gonna fix it....
(I JUST REPLACED these like SIX FRICKIN MONTHS AGO!)
After running and getting a couple new U-joints, (thanks to a ride from a fellow Jeeper) ....I tried to opt for a quick fix and replace JUST the missing cap and snap ring, as the rest of the joint looked just fine.
Once I did though, I saw the reason that the previous cap had ejected itself.
(note the gap on the left side)
Apparently the yoke on the short shaft side had one of the ears stretched out. Honestly it was probably like this for a while, but slowly getting worse and worse since that one night up at my friend Bens house and the 20 tons of press force it took to get the old OEM joint out back in April/May.
We (crazymoose & I) ended up heading out to 205 Auto Salvage http://www.205autosalvage.com/
where I have gone several times for JY Jeep parts. They have the largest inventory of XJ's anywhere in my area. Ended up running into Ryan R. from Bri & Bub Offroad down there...funny seeing another Jeeper I know out of the blue at the JY like that.
Cori has taken good care of me there in the past because I've sent her so much business over the years. This time was no exception. I ended up pulling out a whole PS shaft assembly (outer/bearing/joint/inner) and got it for a great discounted price. Even got a free T-shirt out of the whole deal!
Came back to work, and opted to install the whole JY assembly instead of wasting the time (right now) rebuilding it all. - I'll do that at home this weekend.
The drive home proved that the JY parts were good enough to commute on, at least for the rest of the week. I really have no intentions of testing their integrity on the trail....so the rebuild will happen sooner than later. I'll keep the old parts as emergency trail spares.
>
I want to make sure that Jason (crazymoose) gets a HUGE THANK YOU for coming out and helping. Although his bruised leg prevented him from doing much wrench turning (its a one man job really anyways) ...his arrival with jack, stands, and a few of the larger sockets I didn't have with me, plus the ride to & from the JY, proved to be the difference between getting this job done, and the Jeep sitting for gawd knows how long here at my work.... So thanks again brother.... I owe you one!
So the following weekend I did the rebuild, it was a good thing too, because by the time the end of the week rolled around, that donor JY axle assembly was making some serious noise.
So that Friday Night, I tore into it. Pulled the tire, removed the caliper, the hub nut, the rotor and unit bearing, and pulled the junk yard assembly out to tear it down. Now that that was out I could work on the tear down of my old axle assembly. The hub nut was the first thing that needed to come off...this is where the first problem arose.....
Not having the drive train of the vehicle to give me leverage, I had to turn to my biggest pry-bar to give me something to wrench against....It didnt make it.
I did manage to get the hub nut off though, and I was able to finish the tear down of the old axle using my trusty Harbor Freight press tool.
All in all, it was in pretty good shape, I did find one broken needle bearing though inside one of the caps.
The JY axle U-joints didnt come out as easy, again I was in a position where I was running out of torque. I didnt have a vice, so I was doing all this with my press tool on the floor. I called up a few local Jeepers and my buddy Brandon came thru. "Yea man, c'mon over-you can use my vice!" I brought the donor axle over and tore it down with ease using my press tool in his vice. I cleaned it up and pressed in the new joints with ease.
Finished assembly ready to go in:
Remember when I said that JY axle assembly was making some noise there at the end?...yea.....here's why:
Two of the caps lost their needle bearings. And were rusted into the axle well enough that they stayed put, but the U-joint itself was bouncing around inside the caps....GOOD TIMES!
The new assembly went in and I buttoned everything back up.
All ready for the road and trail now!:
When I was putting everything back together, I noticed something strange about my PS bump-stop.....it was hanging at a weird angle.
Upon further inspection I saw that it was basically destroyed.
I pulled it out in a powdery, crumbly mess. It was stock, and 220k+ miles old anyways, so I'm not too surprised really. But I'm gonna have to take of this pretty soon. (stay tuned!)
Taking the off-ramp on my way to work the other morning...I hear this *CLUNK*CLUNK*CLUNK*CLUNK*CLUNK*CLUNK......
Pull into the gas station right there and found THIS:
Limped it the extra mile into work, and had to figure out how i was gonna fix it....
(I JUST REPLACED these like SIX FRICKIN MONTHS AGO!)After running and getting a couple new U-joints, (thanks to a ride from a fellow Jeeper) ....I tried to opt for a quick fix and replace JUST the missing cap and snap ring, as the rest of the joint looked just fine.
Once I did though, I saw the reason that the previous cap had ejected itself.
(note the gap on the left side)
Apparently the yoke on the short shaft side had one of the ears stretched out. Honestly it was probably like this for a while, but slowly getting worse and worse since that one night up at my friend Bens house and the 20 tons of press force it took to get the old OEM joint out back in April/May.
We (crazymoose & I) ended up heading out to 205 Auto Salvage http://www.205autosalvage.com/
where I have gone several times for JY Jeep parts. They have the largest inventory of XJ's anywhere in my area. Ended up running into Ryan R. from Bri & Bub Offroad down there...funny seeing another Jeeper I know out of the blue at the JY like that.
Cori has taken good care of me there in the past because I've sent her so much business over the years. This time was no exception. I ended up pulling out a whole PS shaft assembly (outer/bearing/joint/inner) and got it for a great discounted price. Even got a free T-shirt out of the whole deal!
Came back to work, and opted to install the whole JY assembly instead of wasting the time (right now) rebuilding it all. - I'll do that at home this weekend.
The drive home proved that the JY parts were good enough to commute on, at least for the rest of the week. I really have no intentions of testing their integrity on the trail....so the rebuild will happen sooner than later. I'll keep the old parts as emergency trail spares.
>
I want to make sure that Jason (crazymoose) gets a HUGE THANK YOU for coming out and helping. Although his bruised leg prevented him from doing much wrench turning (its a one man job really anyways) ...his arrival with jack, stands, and a few of the larger sockets I didn't have with me, plus the ride to & from the JY, proved to be the difference between getting this job done, and the Jeep sitting for gawd knows how long here at my work.... So thanks again brother.... I owe you one!
So the following weekend I did the rebuild, it was a good thing too, because by the time the end of the week rolled around, that donor JY axle assembly was making some serious noise.
So that Friday Night, I tore into it. Pulled the tire, removed the caliper, the hub nut, the rotor and unit bearing, and pulled the junk yard assembly out to tear it down. Now that that was out I could work on the tear down of my old axle assembly. The hub nut was the first thing that needed to come off...this is where the first problem arose.....
Not having the drive train of the vehicle to give me leverage, I had to turn to my biggest pry-bar to give me something to wrench against....It didnt make it.
I did manage to get the hub nut off though, and I was able to finish the tear down of the old axle using my trusty Harbor Freight press tool.
All in all, it was in pretty good shape, I did find one broken needle bearing though inside one of the caps.
The JY axle U-joints didnt come out as easy, again I was in a position where I was running out of torque. I didnt have a vice, so I was doing all this with my press tool on the floor. I called up a few local Jeepers and my buddy Brandon came thru. "Yea man, c'mon over-you can use my vice!" I brought the donor axle over and tore it down with ease using my press tool in his vice. I cleaned it up and pressed in the new joints with ease.
Finished assembly ready to go in:
Remember when I said that JY axle assembly was making some noise there at the end?...yea.....here's why:
Two of the caps lost their needle bearings. And were rusted into the axle well enough that they stayed put, but the U-joint itself was bouncing around inside the caps....GOOD TIMES!
The new assembly went in and I buttoned everything back up.
All ready for the road and trail now!:
When I was putting everything back together, I noticed something strange about my PS bump-stop.....it was hanging at a weird angle.
Upon further inspection I saw that it was basically destroyed.
I pulled it out in a powdery, crumbly mess. It was stock, and 220k+ miles old anyways, so I'm not too surprised really. But I'm gonna have to take of this pretty soon. (stay tuned!)
NW99XJ
NAXJA Forum User
- Location
- Gresham, Or.
Oil Pressure Sending Unit, plugs, struts, and some track bar woes - Jan 2013
So for weeks I've been fighting an issue with my front end. It;s been wandering pretty bad on the freeway, grabbing ruts, and diving to one side or another. I've also had some "clunky-rattling-knocking" sound coming from what sounds like the body side of the control arm mounts.
In addition to that, my oil pressure had been diving to near zero sometimes, after it's up to operating temp.....and only at idle. After verifying I had the proper amount of oil in the system, I narrowed it down to either the oil pump, or the oil pressure sending unit.
After closer examination of the plug at the sending unit, I confirmed it was indeed the switch.
I swapped that out for a new one as well as some new plugs.
The old ones had been in there for long enough, I figured it was due time.
They weren't in too bad of shape. A little dry fouling and the electrode was definitely showing signs of wear.
(new vs. old)
The plugs were double checked for gap (.035") and got a treatment of anti-seize.
I figured it was also due time to swap out my rear hatch struts.
They were shot, and I was tired of holding it up with clamps or having it nail me in the head. Brandon had kicked me down a pair from after he chopped the rear of his XJ and no longer needed them.
The problem was, that they come off an old model, and weren't compatible with my new model's upper mounts. (I thought about modifying them - but passed)
I picked up a new pair for just under $40...not bad, prob could've gotten them cheaper elsewhere, but frankly I'm just glad I dont have to hold the rear gate with my head anymore.
Now, back to the track bar issue and undercarriage clunking........
After thoroughly examining all the control arm mounts and bolts, and verifying that they were all still quite tight, I moved on to the track bar mounts.
Having the girl get in and crank the wheel back and forth, I noticed the track bar move at the axle...."well that aint good...."
Found the culprit:
The bolt was plenty tight, its just the hole has been wallowed out a bit.
I'll eventually reinforce the front of that, and maybe press a tube all the way thru to the other side instead of just having the bolt rest on the mounting flange.
For now, though, some larger hardware will do.
I found one of the old studs for my front OEM sway-bar....and hammered it in place.
Nice and tight for now.
The steering isnt quite as bad, it still wanders a little bit, and I'm not sure why. Its not as bad as it was, but its still there. The clunking is still there too. I think the flex joints may need to be adjusted and/or rebuilt. I'll be looking into that this weekend.
So for weeks I've been fighting an issue with my front end. It;s been wandering pretty bad on the freeway, grabbing ruts, and diving to one side or another. I've also had some "clunky-rattling-knocking" sound coming from what sounds like the body side of the control arm mounts.
In addition to that, my oil pressure had been diving to near zero sometimes, after it's up to operating temp.....and only at idle. After verifying I had the proper amount of oil in the system, I narrowed it down to either the oil pump, or the oil pressure sending unit.
After closer examination of the plug at the sending unit, I confirmed it was indeed the switch.
I swapped that out for a new one as well as some new plugs.
The old ones had been in there for long enough, I figured it was due time.
They weren't in too bad of shape. A little dry fouling and the electrode was definitely showing signs of wear.
(new vs. old)
The plugs were double checked for gap (.035") and got a treatment of anti-seize.
I figured it was also due time to swap out my rear hatch struts.
They were shot, and I was tired of holding it up with clamps or having it nail me in the head. Brandon had kicked me down a pair from after he chopped the rear of his XJ and no longer needed them.
The problem was, that they come off an old model, and weren't compatible with my new model's upper mounts. (I thought about modifying them - but passed)
I picked up a new pair for just under $40...not bad, prob could've gotten them cheaper elsewhere, but frankly I'm just glad I dont have to hold the rear gate with my head anymore.
Now, back to the track bar issue and undercarriage clunking........
After thoroughly examining all the control arm mounts and bolts, and verifying that they were all still quite tight, I moved on to the track bar mounts.
Having the girl get in and crank the wheel back and forth, I noticed the track bar move at the axle...."well that aint good...."
Found the culprit:
The bolt was plenty tight, its just the hole has been wallowed out a bit.
I'll eventually reinforce the front of that, and maybe press a tube all the way thru to the other side instead of just having the bolt rest on the mounting flange.
For now, though, some larger hardware will do.
I found one of the old studs for my front OEM sway-bar....and hammered it in place.
Nice and tight for now.
The steering isnt quite as bad, it still wanders a little bit, and I'm not sure why. Its not as bad as it was, but its still there. The clunking is still there too. I think the flex joints may need to be adjusted and/or rebuilt. I'll be looking into that this weekend.
kndrewa
NAXJA Forum User
- Location
- Vancouver British Columbia
I also 'passed' on trying to get old style lift gate struts working in my 97. held on to them, though, maybe they'll come in handy if I ever get lazy enough to put em in as hood lifts. but what am I going to do with 4 of them? I don't even know how i got 4 old style hatch struts.
NW99XJ
NAXJA Forum User
- Location
- Gresham, Or.
LOL!
Thats funny, I had the exact same train of thought...well except I know where I got these from....
These will most likely live on as hood lifts...
bmikes
NAXJA Forum User
- Location
- portland or
99 XJ DD & Weekend Warrior
How far can you turn your steering wheel before you feel your wheels turning?
How far can you turn your steering wheel before you feel your wheels turning?
