Milton's Other Jeep Build

[JeepN4kc]

My bro tilted the camera slightly for embelishment sake - but not much. I didn't make this and had to get winched out on the final line I tried after getting stuck at both driverside corners between 2 trees:

Thought I might have bent something in the front end on this climb but everything checked out:

 

[JeepN4kc]

Did some tinkering today on the XJ. Finally got around to pulling the belly pan to investigate something I had suspected:

Yep - trashed transmission mount. I was getting some horrible rattle/thumping/vibes from time to time and could even feel it in the floorboard. I looked all over the underside for a few weeks hoping I'd find something other than this that was right there in front of me and quick to fix. Nope - bad mount. I also noticed the bolt holes in the belly pan are not centered:

I marked center and point to it in the pic and you can see the trans mount holes are off center to the driver side about 1/2". I need to contact TnTCustoms in the morning to find out if the belly pans they sell are year specific so I know whether to order an off center tranny mount or not. I'll keep the thread posted on what I find out.
I also decided to pull the front driveshaft while under there to swap it with the spare I have. The spare was gonna be used for a HnT but I want to get the sloppy play in the slip shaft outta there. The spare is solid.

So - this is what I left it as for tonight - all jacked up

Besides - my daughters were itchin to do some punkin' carvin'

I'll be back with whatever it is I get to next and in the meantime Happy Halloween!!........................

 

[JeepN4kc]

So - I called TnT Customs this morning and found out I have an older model bellypan on a newer model XJ. Which is why the tranny mount bolt holes on the pan are offset to the driver side and the bolts on the old mount are centered. I made a call to O'Reilly's and had a '99 XJ transmission mount waiting for me to pick up.
Here is the difference:

The bolt holes to mount this to the transmission are the exact same and the only modification I needed to do was grind the alignment bump down on the exhaust hanger bracket that goes between the mount and the transmission:

Before I went any further with the t-mount/bellypan I went ahead and swapped in the new-to-me front shaft:

Then I put the new trans mount in with some blue locktite on the 2 mounting bolts:

With everything put back together I took it around the block some for a test spin:

A night and day difference. No more random, violent vibes/thumping/popping :yelclap:
I'm hoping to upgrade my steering next with a Crown HD linkage assembly. Hopefully sooner than later as I have quite a bit of play in the TRE/pitman arm joint - until next time.....................

 

[JeepN4kc]

Went to PicknPull and Metal by the Foot last week. I was lookin for a fan shroud but no luck. I wasn't leaving empty handed so I wrenched off a fan cluth from a '98 4.0 ZJ. Then picked up a couple 1x2x5 flatbar "blocks" and some 1.5 square tube (.125 walls).

The fan clutch swap is cake and it spins the fan at 80-90% of shaft speed instead of the OE clutch that only spins at 60-70%. It pulls more cfm's so provides a little more cooling. First pull the old assembly off by removing the four 1/2" nuts at the pulley:

Then remove the four 13mm bolts to separate the clutch from the fan:

The two side by side:

Then bolt the ZJ clutch to the fan:

Then bolt the new-to-me assembly back on:

And viola - a simple, cheap "upgrade" that is direct fit with nothing else needed:

The clutch ran me $16 and the steel $11 - so all in I got the makings of 3 mods for under 30 bucks. The blocks and square tube are for something I hope to get to in the next week or so so I'll see how things go and update when updates are made.
Until next time........................

 

[JeepN4kc]

Couple days later I took to another quick project. I had a 7+" aluminum flatbar (.75"x~1.5") laying in the scrap of the toolbox. So, I figured I'd make some hood spacers.

I cut two 3" pieces and drilled holes on center at 2" apart. The final bore was 5/16:

I used M8x1.25x40mm bolts and lock washers:

Then set the spacers in each side. The hood prop will hold the hood up while you do the driver side and I used a big carpenter's square to prop the driver side while I spaced the passenger side:

And that's all there is to it. Some quick pics of the finished project:

These mods don't make a massive difference but the little things add up. The other day when I drove the XJ to my local club meeting I noticed there and back my temp gauge never even reached 210* and my hood wasn't hot to the touch - so I think it makes a difference. I'm anxious to get out on the trails again to see if it keeps my efan from kickin on constant by the end of a good day of wheelin.

 

[beastlydumass]

now ur next problem is guna be ur fan hitting ur rad at full flex and torquing it up. a good set brown dog solid mounts will realy help. but a small 10-13" efan from a car as ur main and aux fan on a switch or leave it will work better from experience. but with winter coming ull be good

 

[JeepN4kc]

^^^ The distance of the fan blades to rad is the same with ZJ clutch as it was with the OE. Why would it hit the rad now but not before? I could see the clutch itself maybe but I guess time will tell.................

 

[beastlydumass]

the clutch it usualy wat hits first. u mite be suprised how much everything gets tweeked when full flex with torquing up the drivetrain in 4low with oe style mounts

 

[JeepN4kc]

the clutch it usualy wat hits first. u mite be suprised how much everything gets tweeked when full flex with torquing up the drivetrain in 4low with oe style mounts

Well - thanks for the heads-up. Somethin to think about. eace:

 

[GordoSmasho]

Happend to me. Ruined a brand new three core brass radiator.

 

[JeepN4kc]

^^^ Yikes. Well $h!t - I might have to get into the oem clutch I took out and modify it to just lock with the shaft. Another XJ guy in my local Jeep club was telling me about just boring through the clutch, running longer bolts, and nylocs on the front side. Fan spins at 100% shaft speed. IDK.............

 

[beastlydumass]

dual efan is always guna be the best. cause the faster the fan spins the more drag tho it is always guna cool it has its down falls. you can always grab a set of brown dog motor mounts. remeber this all precuations to help from others mistakes and misfortunes

 

[Ben824]

I am in the process of going to dual e-fans with this write up as my inspiration and base.

http://www.naxja.org/forum/showthread.php?t=1035194&highlight=taurus+fan

Though my differences will be I am going to try and make it work without having to lop off the mechanical fan pulley but moving the shroud closer to the radiator. I have atleast 1/3-1/2" between my shroud and my Champion 2 core radiator so I think that might be just enough to maybe clear the pulley, fingers crossed.

I am also using a volvo fan relay which is one giant relay used to control the volvo speed speed factory fan. The funny thing is the volvo fan uses the same Bosche motor as the huge taurus fan that everyone likes to use. I also picked up a 70 amp relay for the trigger relay to power the volvo relay when I turn the Jeep on.

To control this bad boy I am using a BMW dual temp sensor. It will kick on the low speed at 198 I think, and then the high speed at 212 or 215. I built a sensor hosing to go in the upper radiator hose out of a piece of steel pipe I got at home depot and welded the appropriate size nut onto it.

I want this thing to be fully autonomous as if it came like this from the factory. I think I have maybe $100 or less invested at this point and all I need to do now is actually install the thing haha.

May want to consider that option if you go for the dual electric fans.

 

[JeepN4kc]

^^^ Thanks for the link. Just got done reading through it. Looks like a solid option.

 

[Ben824]

^^^ Thanks for the link. Just got done reading through it. Looks like a solid option.

I will say this from my experience wondering around the junkyard looking at these ford Tauruses, you have the ones with the one giant fan (way too large for our Jeeps but some guys insist on using them), then you have the ones with the two smaller fans. I did observe a difference between some of the ones with the two smaller fans. First, one fan is smaller than the other so make sure to get the bigger one, I had to go back and swap them out. Second thing I noticed is there is a slight difference between the bigger of the two fans on some different years. Some have a three wire plug on them while others have two. The ones with two have a inline resistor located below the fans on the shroud that you MUST pick up. These fans are two speed but you need the resistor for the low speed or the fan will spin the same speed on both settings. Also while the plug is two wires, the terminal on the fan has three terminals one just isn't used.

Now the other larger of the two fans that I came across had three wire going into the plug and there was no inline resistor located on the bottom of the shroud. I could see down in between the bladed and fan body and see on the side of the motor for the fan, the name Bosche. Now it could be that these fans have the same motor as the large taurus fan and volvo fan with the two speeds built into the motor and no need for an inline resistor for the low speed. I discovered all of this when I snagged the pigtail for this fan to gain the three wires to make wiring easier.

So either fan will work just remember to grab the resistor if the plug on the fan has two wires.

 

[Ben824]

Deleted. Double post

 

[JeepN4kc]

So then only specific year Taurus fans will work. Any particular years to look for?

 

[JeepN4kc]

Got out on the trails today. Had an awesome time. The hood spacers and ZJ fan clutch kept the temps in check today - no more nonstop efan by the end of the day.

Couple pics:

Check out the Waggy that was in our group first part of the day:

Lunch break:

This spot got the best of me - had to get the winch off the TJ to keep me front end cinched down in order to climb out:

My brother took this - he thought it looked cool. Me too

 

[JeepN4kc]

Some vids of today's fun:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pQr7mJmnIlQ&feature=plcp

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_HvN4U16E7E&feature=plcp

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FgKoOvl7KEk&feature=plcp

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h6mU-RWibCE&feature=plcp

 

[JeepN4kc]

Alright - got out again today and wheeled some more for Toys for Tots 2012 run at KS Rocks. Good Times!:

One of the guys in our group had some serious flex:

So we got him back to the ranch to do some repairs and regrouped: