What to fix... What to fix?

[RockyCodeHead]

Okay, here's the skinny. I am a new XJ owner. Bought a stock '87 XJ Laredo in December.

I now have a Tuff Country 3.5" jack'ed XJ, I added a Super Lift add-a-leaf to the rear packs so the rear is actually about 5" now (front is going to get leveled this week). Riding on 31" Dunlop M/T's. An Olympic rock bumper with a new Mile Marker 12K# winch, Roof Rack, new plugs - wires - cap and rotor, and a few other goodies.

The truck has been a fun project, put about $3,800 into the upgrades (and still don't have rocker rails! I am an idiot.)

Anyhow, I need to tear into the thing, both motor mounts are shot. The bad motor mounts have also lead to an exhaust leak somewhere with the headers. I cannot tell if it's at the head or the collector into the piping. So I figure I will take care of that all on Sunday.

Question is, the truck seems like a gutless pig. In Overdrive, I cannot pull the slightest incline. I am constantly shifting down to 3rd gear manually. Perhaps it's normal, but I have a feeling it's worse than normal.

So, what should I do while I am ripping off the manifolds and fixing the mounts? Run some injector cleaner through the system? Replace the injectors? I realize I don't have a HO power plant, but something has to be done to improve performance.

Thanks for any input.

Rob

 

[Frank Z]

I'd start with a thorough tune-up. Cap, rotor, plugs, plug wires, coil, air cleaner, fluid change and a bottle of Seafoam. Follow the directions on the label and it will do a great job of cleaning the injectors.

What gears are you running?

 

[RockyCodeHead]

I'd start with a thorough tune-up. Cap, rotor, plugs, plug wires, coil, air cleaner, fluid change and a bottle of Seafoam. Follow the directions on the label and it will do a great job of cleaning the injectors.

What gears are you running?

I will look into the seafoam. I've done the tuneup stuff. When I replaced the air filter the old one was somewhat (about 1/4th of the length) saturated with blowby motor oil. The engine has 160k+ so I'd expect a little. I don't know how long that filter was in. I've checked on the new one and it's not bad yet.

Need to check the gears. Probably the worst possible ratio knowing my luck! What's the easiest way? Never done it before myself. I seem to recall that you can jack the wheels off the ground, mark the tires with chalk and the drive line with chalk and note how many rev's of the driveline before the tires marks come around for the full revolution. Is there an easier way?

Thanks for the tips!

 

[Frank Z]

Yes you can check the ratio that way or just read them off the gears themselves when you change the oil in the axles. You've probably got stock gears (3.55).

 

[JEONLYEP]

If the motor seems to be running strong after the tune-up, but still isn't pulling strong. look into your gears.

My 91 4.0 auto and 31's doesn't like hills either, but I still haven't regeared yet.

BTW, welcome to Naxja, and congratulations on getting your name in red so fast!

DAryl

 

[YELLAHEEP]

Make sure your vacuum advance is working and all the vacuum lines, connectors, fittings are tight and crack free. Those Renix engines have lots of problems with the plastic fitting cluster above the intake manifold. They crack and rot. Check the underside of the cluster and plastic tubes - blowby oil tends to collect there and eat into the plastic.

I'll second the gears suggestion too. 4:10's would help immensely. Most likely you've got 3:55's or 3:73's

 

[RockyCodeHead]

Not to hijack your thread, but I see that you're into the game as well! :confused1

DAryl

Yeah, I haven't had many finds in quite some time. Seems that life happens. I still maintain a micro cache in Arvada, but haven't had any time to do much more. Now that I have the truck, I will be getting out more often. Are there many caches out on the trails?

 

[JEONLYEP]

Are there many caches out on the trails?

Some of them have a couple, it's usally the easier trails. I wanted to put one at the end of Holy Cross, but since I'm in Kansas I wouldn't have been able to maintain it.

DAryl

 

[RockyCodeHead]

This is getting interesting...

I looked into the motor mounts. Drivers side is a pain but doable given my circumstances (been an apartment dweller for just over a year and they really frown on automotive work in the parking lot! I barely got away with the lift kit installation!)

Anyhow, the passenger side mount is a different story. The oil filter is in the way of the bolt so I probably have to remove the adapter for the filter and make a huge mess in the process! (that'll have to wait!)

But, I did see something odd. The 3.5" Tuff Country lift put the axle at the exact right location to rub the front driveline nuckles against the exhaust pipe. I suspect that the damage to the pipe is the source of the exhaust leak. I had to go cheap to level the truck off, so I installed Pro Comp 1 3/4" poly spacers above the springs. With the add-a-leafs in the rear, the truck is now level with 5 1/4" total lift.

I guess I will be getting that rear CV driveline before the rock rails.

Thanks to all for the suggestions. I will get the axles serviced and get the teeth counted as well to ensure I know for sure what the ratio is. Anyone have a recommendation on who to buy the gears from? (price matters a lot, three kids and all, but I don't want to sacrifice quality only to spend quality time stuck on some trail to think about all the money I saved!)

-R