Trailer has a bent axle and a bad tire now, but outside of that, everything is ok.
Jeep started losing a fair amount of transmission fluid out of the tailshaft seal after this last trip. I need to drop the transfer case to replace the seal, and since it is out, I will likely be swapping over to a junkyard 242 transfer case. Stock in mine is a 249, which has 4high and 4low only. It would be nice to have 2 high for the sake of low speed maneuverability. 3 point turning sucks in the woods most times.
Seems it is a direct swap from one to the other, as I have a 242 out of a '98 Cherokee to work with.
I'll post photos up of the trailer work, and the jeep work after Saturday.
Orrrrr. I won't. Because I didn't take any photos.
I'll dig around and get back, along with my story about how the jeep wouldn't start to be put on to the trailer this past weekend, preventing me from going to my favorite place.
If I had a scanner the day it started acting up, I could have made it to the event. However, things around the house needed to be done which I had been putting off.
I'm happy and the jeep is happy for now. On to the next trip.
The first time I have used a rebuilt anything that has failed within literally minutes of use.
Steering gearboxes on off-road rigs take a lot of abuse. I mean A LOT. So over time the get a bit sloppy and need to be replaced. When I bought mine, it was already sloppy as all get out. So we went ahead and replaced it to tighten things up and all. The rebuilt unit wasn't assembled properly and a c-clip didn't get replaced when it should have. This caused the gearbox to puke the seal, along with all of the power steering fluid out onto mother Earth.
Insult to injury, this was the first trip with the new shocks out back to allow for all of the suspension flex. I dropped the rear springs out at the see time this all happened.
Here is the kicker, it was in a big ass puddle with a nice flat plateau that I was trying to climb.
Needless to say I got to go swimming while looking for the springs. We found everything after about an hour in the water at 1 in the morning.
Next day I am scrounging about in all the local parts stores to find a new box, because it would be a long time before I'd be able to wheel again due to my surgery in a few days.
There is one about an hour an a quarter away. I unhook the trailer and set out while my buddies start removing the old box. They get it off and tidy up my suspension limiters a bit, about the time I roll up. 40 minutes later, I'm back on the trail.
We wheel for a while and after a few bouts of the springs still popping out, I get the limiter length figure out and the rest of the day goes off without a problem.
Lesson if the day, test shit out before you go out to play.
On that notion of testing things out before you wheel...
Nothing I have touched broke this time out.
However, I had a solid 3-4 hours of good wheeling without springs falling out or anything wild.
Fast forward to right before dinner and I'm crawling over an 8 in flat Rock with water veins cut through it. I take a different line than the guys in front because I wanted to have some distance from the tree on the passenger side.
Mistake. I slide the driver rear off the rock table, and the wheel hit another rock in the process, snapping the factory panhard rod attachment. This also broke the cheaply welded on panhard rod drop mount.
Needless to say my driving period of that day was over and I packed up the jeep and was co-pilot/navigator the rest of the day. Still had fun.
Fast forward to the first planned workday of replacing the entire front steering track bar, tie rods, tie rod ends etc. All of it. I get it all apart and have all of the new bolted up. The steering damper bolt strips out of the old setup. No biggie because it's like, 6 bucks. Entire front steering was overhauled fo like 80$.
At this Tim, we take some measurements because the steering components are still hitting the sway bar attachment points. The front lower long arms are like a full 0.5 inch too long. Put that on the list of shit to do.
Go to start the jeep up to pull it off the trailer. No dice. Swap coil, plug wires, and cap/rotor, off buddies 5.9. still nothing.
And that's the exact spot it is in until next time I can go mess with it.
I tried dicking with this POS again. Just realized it has been since January that it was last touched.
Tested for power at the coil, tested for ground while cranking, both present. Means the coil is bad, replace coil, no start still.
I am heavily considering selling this to fund for things around the garage, but not until it works.
The engine needs an overhaul, transmission likely could use one too. Right there is roughly 600-1k in parts and labor. That kicks me over the point of a positive ROI. This was just a temporary stopgap for me to get back into something fast again.