Louie4's YJ by Louie4

9 minute(s) of a 411 minute read

I went by my buddies house to check out his D30 yokes from his CJ's. They were not much better than mine. So I just bought a new one off Quadratec. It's the u-bolt conversion kit. It comes with the yoke, u-bolts, seal and pinion nut. It was $55.00 shipped to my door. Hopefully I'll get it before my wheeling trip at the end of the month.

3-20-2012

Well I bought an 85 amp continuous duty relay for my Ford Taurus fan. I'm going to wire it up to the high speed side of the fan because I don't have it hooked up now. The current draw is about 50-60 amps (per Que) for the high speed. Right now my engine is getting a little hot at cruising speeds and I need the high speed to help it cool.

I also got around to putting my diff cover and guard on. Then I found out how big of a doofus I was. I tried to move my jeep close to my deck so I could throw a drop cord down and use my angle grinder to clean up the RTV. Well I backed up and pulled forward then stopped. I got out and kicked myself. There was no yoke on the pinion gear so it shifted and bound up. I got out and checked everything out and found a gouge in the carrier. Luckily that was it and the gears looked good so I put the old yoke on to get it out of the middle of the parking lot.

I put a small strong magnet in the little sump in the bottom of the diff. It's been on my fridge for forever and I figured it could collect all the small metal particles.

3-21-2012

I got the HD yoke today. I guess I would consider it heavy duty. It seems to have slightly larger ears to allow the nuts and lock washers to sit on. I compared the stock yoke to the new one. I also forgot to lubricate the new seal so I had to get clever.

3-27-2012

Well I got some more work done on the jeep last night. Well evening. The weather has been so nice it's a crime not to stay outside till dark. Anyway I got my HD continuous relay in and mounted on the fender. I pulled the high speed wire to the Taurus fan from under the electrical tape and got it hooked up to the relay. I also hooked up 12V from the battery to it and put a small ground wire on. All I need to do now is tap into the stock fog lamp switch already in the dash and wire up the stock plug to the relay. Luckily the stock fog lamp plug is right next to the relay so that part is easy. I only need to tap a hot wire from the fuse panel into the fog lamp switch because it's only hot when the headlights are on.

I also tried to make a 5/16" pipe plug bit out of a 5/16" allen key. I ground a little too much off so it didn't fit snug. I'm going to try again this evening. I am going to use it to take the plug out of the block and put the thermal switch I bought from Summit Racing in. It will close at 195* and open at 185*. Those temps are a little low but Que89YJ suggested that I attached the switch to the Hayden thermal probe wire and adjust the temp to which the fan cuts on. I'm going to give it a shot. I started a whole thread on it actually.

http://www.jeepforum.com/forum/f12/e-fan-thermal-switch-1346805/

Well I got my high speed fan circuit wired and I'm very impressed with how much air it pulls. I tapped into the stock fog light switch I no longer used. I had to run a hot wire from the fuse panel where "RADIO" was with a spade terminal to attach that to the power source of the switch. I did this because the switch would only power up when the headlights were on plus the high speed can't be turned on when the ignition is off. I also put some aluminum foil in the radiator where the probe went and stuck the probe in. It's in there tight now, for how long I don't know. I couldn't get the pipe plugs out of the block to put the thermal switch in so I'm going to get the proper tool and wait till after my wheeling trip.

More pics.

3-29-2012

Well I'm about packed up for the trip this weekend. Going to Morris Mountain OHV park in Delta, AL. Should be fun. I'm ticked though because I checked the codes my computer has stored and I once again got a 21 which is a bad O2 sensor. I have an entirely new exhaust (cat, manifold, etc.) and I've cleared the computer twice so I guess it must be the sensor itself. I wish I would have checked and taken care of it before the night I'm suppose to go wheeling.

4-1-2012

Got back from my trip to Morris Mountain. Had a great time and got a lot of riding in. I do need to replace a few things though. Overall the carnage was minimal among the three of us: Axle shaft u-joint, bent drag links & tie rods, bent exhaust, busted valve stem, and my CJ buddy ran out of gas. Unfortunately it rained during the night so everything was just mushy and wet. I'll post up pics of the actual trip when my buddy gets them off his camera.

Here's some pics of my steering. I'm set on getting the Jcr Offroad 1 ton kit when funds allow.

My buddies were surprised it didn't bend even worse. They said they were impressed with the elasticity of the tie rod. At one point they said it was literally a "U" shape.

The first trail I hit I ended up bending my tail pipe back 90+ degrees from the horizontal and kinking it. Luckily with the help of a 36V battery powered angle grinder I solved the problem. It sucks because I had this exhaust redone and rehung at a shop back in February.

I also always end up getting decayed wood lodged in my wheels. I picked as much out as I could with a pair of needle nose.