[XJSuperman]

Looking good! I'm curious to know how the RBS paint holds up in the sun. That seems to be the only weak point of POR15. I bought TopCoat in aerosol cans to do my new wheels for the Mini this time. Hoping it holds up better. What did you coat the inside of the rockers with? Is it DTM or did you primer it first?

 

[DaingMaing]

What did you coat the inside of the rockers with? Is it DTM or did you primer it first?

The rockers came somewhat painted/coated. I flapped the paint off so I could use a more HD paint. The paint that was on it was easily scratched. The inside of the panels were nice and not scratched anywhere, so I just left them that way. The other internal faces got a thick coating of POR-15.

I'll be living in the high desert from now on and I think that what I have done will last until I decide on boat sides/sliders. I don't expect much rust here on out. We shall see.

 

[DaingMaing]

The moment of truth is here. Five hundred miles of break-in, and additional 50 miles of towing break in are over. There were times where I thought I might have cooked the gear set. Over working the gears in the initial stages of the towing break in had me sweating the reveal this evening. Admittedly, I still need to work on the front diff some more in 4 high. Preferrably while towing, but I am gonna focus on it when I get closer to Colorado next week.

The rear pinion is still making some grumbling on deceleration when there is not a heavy load on the gears. It is also not consistent. Sometimes I am wondering if the noise is just the track-bar rattling against the exhaust tail pipe. However, It is still there but is not a consistent growl throughout the deceleration to a stop.

I also still have some gear mesh noise around 55 mph from the rear and front differentials when in 4wd. I don't spend much time in 4 high, so I am not losing sleep over it.

The rear oscillating vibration has shifted from 50-60 mph on the Turdy-Five, to a 45-55 mph vibration that is at least a 75% reduction in the strength or volume of the noise.

Overall, I am confident that some of these noises are just going to work themselves out over the next several thousand miles. If the pinion noise persists, I'll tear it apart and install better bearings this October. The replacements were not of the noise reduction variety.

I am claiming victory over the re-gearing, and expect to have to quell an uprising further down the line, but for now the battle has been won. The proof is in the pictures. Gonna wait for the RTV to dry and I'll fill her up tomorrow, and get on with the rest of the repairs.

The HP D30 w/ Detroit Tru Trac Diff:

The D44HD w/ TracLok LSD:

 

[Gluckmysock]

We I first did my gears, my senses were in overdrive. Every little sound or vibration scared me. I think I touched my diff covers every time I put it in park. I hung my go pro under the body to watch the drive shaft. I jacked up the wheels and would look for vibrations. You can drive yourself bonkers worrying about it. Your patterns look like mine. There is gonna be noise and wear. I changed my oil twice in the first 500 miles. Just take a deep breath. Relax. You are on the right path.

 

[XJSuperman]

Bump for updates

 

[DaingMaing]

Been ultra busy trying to set up an online business and getting out on weekends to wheel. We are at just about peak color out here in the Uncompaghre National Forest and have some wheeling planned to get the colors on film.

I have a fair amount of time coming up next month and November. I hope to get the summer's activities on the thread here.

 

[91laredo]

We I first did my gears, my senses were in overdrive. Every little sound or vibration scared me. I think I touched my diff covers every time I put it in park. I hung my go pro under the body to watch the drive shaft. I jacked up the wheels and would look for vibrations. You can drive yourself bonkers worrying about it. Your patterns look like mine. There is gonna be noise and wear. I changed my oil twice in the first 500 miles. Just take a deep breath. Relax. You are on the right path.

I’m still hearing every little noise and imagining the worst. 1200 miles since the rebuild so far so good. Keeping off the interstate for now though.

 

[DaingMaing]

I'll get those summer actiuvities up eventually... lol

I started to drive back to the Midwest a couple of days ago. She was running uber smooth with very little gear noise, and was chewing up the road, cruising ultra smooth. Then came Monarch Pass and some engine braking on the way down. The power went out, but the engine breaking kept the motor alive. The oil pressure dropped and I managed to coast into a local ski lodge near the top of the pass.

After some deliberation, found out that the distributor gear had a little wear on it:

Took most of the day to get the new distributor from Grand Junction to where I was parked. I went to get the timing done right, and found the the balancer was reinstalled by a previous owner incorrectly. The 0* mark was inline with the #1 piston being at the bottom of the cylinder. It looked like that the balancer marking was about 45* off when the piston was at TDC.

I had only figured this out after having to drive home 3.5 hrs the night of the failure, only to come back the next morning to get it right and start the Yeti up. Then drove back 3.5 hrs to pick up a buddy to drive it back after another 3.5 hr ride to Monarch Pass and 3.5 hrs back. Thankfully a good friend was there to help. The local tow truck quoted me $700 to tow it back to Montrose(still 1.25 Hrs from my house in T-ride. Eff that! If she did not make it out of the under her own power I would've gotten a u haul trailer to tow her back.

Luckily the distributor was the only thing wrong, and I will be headed out again tomorrow for Chicagoland.

Ugh, I drove about 18 hrs over the past two days just to only wind up back home.... egads.

 

[XJSuperman]

Damn dude.

 

[Gluckmysock]

Well that didn't go as planned. How do the teeth look on the cam?

 

[DaingMaing]

Well that didn't go as planned. How do the teeth look on the cam?

a bit polished where the contact was being made but they’re fine. I didn’t get the TDC correct yesterday. Above 2000 RPM she runs smooth, but anything below that she’s chugging. In about an hour from now friends going to help me find top dead center and I’m gonna get it right. I just wanna make sure I’m getting all my miles per gallon before leaving. Last night I found it on the highway, I was missing about two or 3 miles per gallon. I know the PCM controls the timing, but anything above 2000 RPM she runs smooth, but anything below that she’s chugging. In about an hour from now friends going to help me find top dead center with some mechanics wire(coat hanger) and I’m gonna get it right. I just wanna make sure I’m getting all my miles per gallon before leaving. Last night I found on the highway, I was missing about 2 or 3 miles per gallon.

I know the PCM controls the timing, but I must’ve been off by 10 or 15°...

 

[quicksilver]

Took most of the day to get the new distributor from Grand Junction to where I was parked. I went to get the timing done right, and found the the balancer was reinstalled by a previous owner incorrectly. The 0* mark was inline with the #1 piston being at the bottom of the cylinder. It looked like that the balancer marking was about 45* off when the piston was at TDC.

FWIW, the harmonic balancer is keyed on one way only. I wonder if somehow they had gotten the wrong balancer for it, but that's beyond me, I dont know anything but the right part would fit. Thats a curious situation ya got there though, really curious, cause that would throw out the method to properly time the distributor, which is really simple to do. Its almost fool proof, the most important thing is to make sure you're on compression stroke for cyl #1.

 

[DaingMaing]

FWIW, the harmonic balancer is keyed on one way only. I wonder if somehow they had gotten the wrong balancer for it, but that's beyond me, I dont know anything but the right part would fit. Thats a curious situation ya got there though, really curious, cause that would throw out the method to properly time the distributor, which is really simple to do. Its almost fool proof, the most important thing is to make sure you're on compression stroke for cyl #1.

I am not sure what has exactly transpired. I just slapped the distributor in there, and got the TDC/Timing together then drove it about 1500 miles. I just pulled in this evening and have not had too much time to look at it yet.

I have set a few 4.0's with TDC and dropped the distributor in, and that first night I got the replacement distriubutor I just couldn't get it done. I did not have too much light and it was already below 40 with the sun gone down.

We drove 3.5 hrs home and I drove out 1st thing the next day. It took me about 10 minutes to figure out what went wrong. I just wish I had figured it out the night before. It would have saved me 7 hrs of driving and two tanks of gas.


I plan on replacing the timing chain set up while I have a garage over the next three weeks. I also have access to a few PnP Junkyards with in 20 minutes of the house. If I have to, I'll go get a balancer and replace it.

I had planned on an engine rebuild in the next year or so, so I just want to make sure she doesn't snap the timing chain in the next six or 12 months before I can get the engine rebuilt. There is a reputable garage in Indianapolis that specializes in 4.0's and Jeeps in general. They have a 'Performance' rebuild option for 3.5k. They do the pulling and rebuild. I'm not in for doing too much detailed internal engine work. I've done it before, but would rather a professional do it.

 

[DaingMaing]

The area where she turned 250,000. Just about 5 miles from the base of Monarch Pass...

 

[DaingMaing]

Getting started today with the Motor Mounts, Oil Pump, fixing a trans leak, and the timing chain set....

The new Bilsteins should be here in a few days! I've had a bad rear mount and a dead front shock now for a few years.... I finally just got tired of dealing with it....

 

[DaingMaing]

So I got the engine pulled apart, and thought to at least check to see what 250,000 miles on a stock chain looks like. It was a good idea to change it out, just to make sure she doesn';t leave me stranded over the next year. I probably should have rolled with it as is... but you just never know.

New shiny goodness...

Apparently, the set could be used to move the power band slightly by 4* before or after DTC. I figured that the PCM would adapt to it and it would have been fruitless, and I didn't feel like pulling it apart again any time soon. Hopefully I can arrange to have it rebuilt this fall, but if it has to go till the spring then so be it....

A new oil pump, also just because I'd rather not be stranded.

I figiured while I was making some repairs, and chasing down leaks: I should try to get this bastard to stop leaking as well. I hope it was good enough, but we shall see.

The new oil pump caused the oil pan to be slightly off and of course I thought I could force it up there by tightening the bolts as I went form front to back: The oil pump had other plans. Thank goodness my brother had a quality tapping kit. It took a bit to find the right hardware, but a disaster was avoided....



She's all buttoned up as of tonight, but I managed to buy the wrong weight Rotella. I also have to get to the engine mounts, as well as the new Bilsteins. I found that both rear axle shaft seals are leaking..... curious. I'm hoping it just needs new axle shafts... ugh.. Just empty every pocket!

 

[DaingMaing]

So after thinking I had all of the leaking sealed up, the adapter started up again. A bit of cutting and new hose clamps, she's not leaking anymore.

After spending a year or so on some blown out rear and front shocks, it was time to get new one's on there. Thinking if I go with some OME springs next, the ride would be a bit more soft. The lack of operable shocks and these stiff springs has made for a rough ride. It is smoother, but the front shocks are still on back order. I won't get them till after I get back to CO.

As a bit of preventative maintenance, I wanted to get the timing chain and a few other essentials installed before they broke. A new Oil Pump, Timing chain, and I had noticed that the driver's mount was falling apart. Of course you should always replace the mounts in pairs...

Before:

After:

So back in Gunnison / Salida earlier last month, The Yeti stranded me for the first time in over 145,000 miles. The distributor 'wore out' something fierce. I had a hard time finding TDC by just the balancer alone. I couldn't figure out why it was like that. The #1 cylinder would be at the top of a compression cycle, and the timing mark was in different places every time.

Well there is a part of these balancers that are rubberized plastic. The old balancer's ring had broken down due to old age. Here's a picture of the old one after I got it out:

After having to replace the rear axle shaft seals (they were only a year old), I had several issues with broken bolts that needed extraction, and the several times this jackass had to pull the rear housing cover off due to several instances of dumb-assery. I had finally got all of the repairs(save an exhaust leak) done and was driving down the road testing her out and getting the PCM back into the 40 cycle learning curve with all of the new components: the rear brakes developed an issue while driving. Loud screeching noises were coming from the rear. After a friend helped diagnose of where the noise was coming from, I pulled the rear apart yet again to find the source of the noise.

The dust shield got bent into the rotor somehow, while I was driving. I'm not sure how that happens while driving but there it is in all of it's bent out glory.

After the distributor going out, the engine has been stumbling at low idle range RPMs. It will chug a little and sometimes it feels like the timing is off or I have a sticky valve or something, but I started to try and fix this stumble with cleaning out the IAT, MAP, TPS, and IAC sensors.

After cleaning, the stumble persisted. I decided to throw an new IAC in there to see if that helps. It did on the first several starts after the replacement, but now the stumble is back when it is cold. After it warms up and is driven for a bit, it appears to lessen or goes away completely.

I have an exhaust leak that I think I am going to attempt to solve over the next few days. I'm just gonna see if a new gasket on the intake/exhaust, and a new flange doughnut will stop the leak. Hoping I didn't crack the exhaust manifold, or worst yet the head while trying to maneuver the new motor mount into place earlier the other week. (fingerscrossed)

 

[DaingMaing]

Any ideas or suggestions about an Idle stumble at low RPMs?

I have already replaced the IAC and have cleaned out all other emissions sensors. I have already checked on, cleaned and replaced some of the usual suspects.

I think I am gonna start with a seafoam treatment and injector cleaner, then see where it goes from there. I'm hoping it is not a coil or the wires. The plugs are less than 5,000 miles old: regular plain-jane champions.

 

[DaingMaing]

So after chasing down the idle-ing issues the yeti has, I have bought: TPS, MAP, IAC, wiring harness, ignition coil, CSPS, 2 CKPS, and a new to me exhaust manifold. Only to find out that the CKPS was the main culprit all along.

I had a couple of issues occurring at the same time, and have removed two of the three and now am chasing down the idle stumble. I believe I will likely solve it with re-gapping the plugs and new wires. The wires I have are about 12 years old.

Just a friendly reminder that when you are replacing a Crankshaft position sensor ALWAYS BUY THE MOPAR OEM REPLACEMENT! I can not emphasize this enough.

A month ago I wound up buying two CKPS, and both were bad out of the box. One was far worse than the other, but suffice it to say that one should always go with the MOPAR REPLACEMENT. ALWAYS... it may be double the price, but at least it will work like it is supposed to.

She's back to running smooth but still has a idle stumble when starting up from cold. After warm and being run for a bit: the stumble goes away. I'm thinking the new wires and regapping the plugs should do the trick. I've just about replaced everything else that it can be.

 

[JandDGreens]

It's always good to get your rig running good again. I just went through fixing mine.