RTV curing time...

[Sc00ter]

Found this stuff by permatex that says it can be exposed to liquids and driven immediately. The box says that it is dried tack free in 15 minutes, sealed tight in 2 hours and fully cured in 24 hours. I used one can to do both the front and rear diff and finished it off with the thermostat housing. No leaks in any of the uses even after pulling a brilliant move. After perfectly cleaning the housing and the mating surface, then putting the thermostat housing together and torquing the bolts per the fsm, I was admiring my work when I looked over and noticed the actual new thermostat sitting on my workbench. Ripped it apart, quickly installed the thermostat, and retorqued- no leaks.:doh:

 

[Sc00ter]

Sorry- forgot to add the link:

permatex

 

[MaxxXJ]

with my t-stat i let it cure for like 5 minutes... enough time to go into the garage and refill my radiator, i run it for a few minutes fill it until its right. same thing with my diff covers...

question, my xj USED to run right at 210 all the time then the tstat rusted and finally broke, i replaced it with a fail safe, biggest waste of money i ever spent, it got over 195 and stuck wide open, so i went to a regular old 195 degree thermostat cuz i couldnt find anything higher, well here's my delimma, it takes what seems like 8-10 miles to warm up and even then it still sits at the line just before 210. so i figure it runs a lil cooler than it should. i have a 2000 with the 4.0 and aw4. and like 122K on the clock im thinking im just going to leave it how it is... running 10-20 degrees cooler than im used to shouldnt be harmful

 

[95' heep]

from what i see, the RTVs are only necessary when you're putting on a cover or something that arent "machined" surface so there's high chance of poor of flatness for good sealing, which the RTVs are good to close and seal all of these gaps.

for the machined surfaces like the thermostat housing, a gasket thats all you need.

 

[Kiefer316]

nope, hopefully im not the only one.

I find the impact does the job just as good... . But i don't have an air compressor

 

[Red97XJ]

you don't? takes 30 seconds to prevent ovalled stud holes in the wheels, a wheel coming off or broken studs from overtightening.

I torque mine to 110lb in a star pattern when they are put on, then again at 50 miles.

Here is something to think about. How much force do you think your tire (35" or ?) has spinning at how _________ revolutions at 65mph?

I don't know the answer, but I think its a lot!

 

[RedHeep]

I find the impact does the job just as good... . But i don't have an air compressor

A common misconception amongst us backyard mechanics is that proper torque is a minimum limit.

Don't forget that the upper torque limit in your range is also important to prevent damage. An overtorqued fastener will fatigue fail over time just like an undertorqued one will.

Running your lugnuts down to whatever the impact stops at might be 100, could be 125, might be 150+. Depends on the tools and the pressures. i wouldn't want to stress lugnuts and studs at excessive torques like that. If you're going to do it like that, make sure you're still within a tolerable torque range. You might be hitting too low too.

I torque the wifes wheel bolts rolleyes and the aluminum wheels on the truck, but usually just impact the jeep ones on too. But I should probably be checking them every once in a while. It doesn't take that long and it's good insurance that you've installed the 4 most important parts of your jeep.

And I've had a wheel pass me at 70 mph on I-70, that will scare the crap out of you :gag:

 

[90XJay]

Kinda funny i just did a dif and thermostat these past 2 weeks. Diff I put on and let it sit (mostly because I found I needed longer bolts for my new cover) so I tightened the short ones to hold the RTV snug. Swapped bolts, swapped axles (did it while it was out). Last thing I did at the end of the night was fill it with gear oil. Probably cured for about 4 hours. No leaks yet and I did it in 35ish degree temp. Thermostat though I used the gasket. Put it on, ran it warm to check for leaks, done. When I did use RTV I didn't wait for it to cure either.

 

[kastein]

Glad to see I'm not the only one who just bolts it up and fills with fluid immediately... :anon:

 

[joe_peters]

Glad to see I'm not the only one who just bolts it up and fills with fluid immediately... :anon:

That is what I do, but I use non-hardening Permatex and a gasket--just between the housing and gasket, I don't like having to scrape crap off the engine.