'82 Jeep Scrambler Daily Driver

D300 mounted up. The fit is tight. So tight in fact that I can't fit any off the shelf transfer case shifter. More on that later.
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One thing about this that I hope to correct whenever I get someone to fab up an independent trans mount - the Barnes skid plate is made to fit the CJ (duh), so the additional length of the AX15 combo becomes a problem. By shear dumb luck I clocked the D300 up enough that all I had to do was notch the skid plate a little to give me some buffer. So far I haven't seen any signs of contact. Whenever the aforementioned fab work happens I will get another Barnes plate but get him to make me one with an additional 3 or 4 inches added on the rear.

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My AX15 came from an XJ so it had the little stubby shifter. Most(?) Jeep shifters are two piece so I started separating my old T5 shifter and the XJ shifter so I could put them together to get the correct shifter length and design.
Then I sold some junk on craigs and went all bling with it. :flipoff2:

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Hydraulics all plumbed up. The OE late YJ hydraulic system is closed loop so there is no bleed screw on the slave cylinder.
To bleed it you just hold the slave cylinder vertical in manual pump it 20 times and it will bleed all the air out.

I was skeptical when I read that and would have put money on me having to bleed it a handful of times, but it worked on the first shot and has been fine since.

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I had a time with the starter.

I read that the stock CJ starter would work on the AX15, which it will. But I soon found out that while it will work with the AX15, it won't work the 4.0 flywheel, the spur gear / bendix (whatever) protrudes too far out and contacts the flywheel.
So, I bought an early 90s starter, but they're wired differently. I read that I could just make a jumper on the starter to bypass the built in solenoid. That worked, but it was back feeding to the built in solenoid which was causing the starter to hesitate and hang when I let off the key.
THEN I found a diagram of how to actually wire it in, and it has worked perfect ever since.

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Topped fluids off and went for a test drive. This was FOUR MONTHS in the making!

I used full synthetic 10w-30 in the AX-15. My local parts store could get Redline but I would have to wait, and I didn't want to..

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Know what came of that test drive? A leaking seal from the spectacularly designed AMC 20 two piece axle...

The actual seal was easy to replace, just a simple axle outer seal. The hard part was getting the diff cover off to replace the chocolate milk that was in it.

This is what it took to replace that.

That big long socket contraption at the end was to TIGHTEN the 2 piece axle nut down to spec.

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While I was playing with the rear end I noticed that my vent lines were looking a tad dry rotted, so I took that opportunity to reroute and run all new vents for both axles and the D300

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After doing some test drives I noticed a knock that bugged me. I actually asked about it here (huh, and my starter issue), but ended up taking it to the nearest trans shop. The tech and I went on a test drive where he proceeded to drive the Jeep harder than I ever do, then lifted it up and looked under it. He gave it a clean bill of health and actually gave me a nice pat on the back for how well my swap looked :)

From that day forward the Jeep has been back on daily duty. That was September 21st!

You can also see that somewhere in that time frame I put the OE tire carrier back on there. You can see in post #32 where I had it off.

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So, this pretty much leaves me at where I am today.

In post #25 I mentioned how I had to scoot my trans over a little bit (maybe 1/16"?) to align with the holes I drilled.
I'm getting some vibrations at speed which I'm worried might be due to my drive line being out of phase.

In post #26 I mentioned how my t-case is super tight to the floor pan. My goal with this Jeep is to not hack it to pieces, so I have to get creative with my shifter in order to make it work while still being mounted to the stock CJ location.
I think I am going to run cables similar a post I saw on Pirate.
It also looked like the North West Fab shifter.. shifters, will fit my location the best.
I also looked at Blue Max cables to make the connections. They can take a radius as small as 4", which I think will be beneficial to me.

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Picked up an OE intake and exhaust set up from @stockcar this morning (thank you!!). I am going to clean up both the intake and exhaust manifolds before I install them on my 258. I will also be running an MC2150 with it.

I am getting rid of my Offenhauser/Holley 390 setup for a few reason:
First and foremost is that when problems arise with the motor, I'd like to talk apples to apples with people instead of apples to oranges. The first thing people think when they hear Offenhauser is 'that's your problem'.
I would also like to be able to run the water coolant through the intake like the stock has, and if I can figure out the wiring, hook the electric intake heater back up as well. It currently hates cold weather, which is making my early morning commute to work a pain.
Plus my motor is all stock except for that. If I was going to do a cam and a header I'm sure the Offy will be fine, but I don't plan on doing that.

Second is the typical too big carb/intake issue. I know I could spend more time and money on the 390 and make it work. But would it ever be worth it? I feel like I read more threads about people getting rid of the 390 and being happier than people keeping them and being happy. Plus, in the case of the MC2100/2150 I feel like I've read more posts about it's great off road performance than anything...

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My biggest issue with my particular Offenhauser intake is the lack of engine coolant passages, plus the OE intake has an electric heating element right below the carb to help with cold starts. I've actually got the 390 tuned pretty good, it could use a few more tweaks but I'm not going to put anymore money into it (I think it needs a bigger power valve and smaller main jets).
Plus I want to get the 258 as close to stock as I feel that I can for a DD; just what I want..

Also, I can quickly make this swap over one weekend, so I can get back to work on Monday.

I actually have a complete 4.0 that I will rebuild and install, but I've got a few things that I feel I should take care of first; I've got a D44 rear at ECGS right now getting 3.73s and a tru-trac, then I've got to finally get my four wheel drive working, then I will get the front end regeared with 3.73s and a tru-trac.
 
Yesterday my Jeep reached top tier mall crawler status. I have no four wheel drive and now my rear axle is geared different than the front.

Picked it up from ECGS yesterday. They loaded a D44 from an '86 CJ with 3.73s and a Truetrac, they also swapped the rear ends for me since I'm feeling a bit lazy.
Coming from the stock 2.73 rear end, it drives so much better. No more riding the clutch just to get started, and I actually put the AX15 into 5th gear for the first time since I installed it.
I will bring it back to get the front regeared as soon as I get the shifters figured out for my D300.
Should I install a Truetrac in the front? I'm thinking yes..

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I've got a drop in ready AMC 20 if anyone needs one!! :)
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Tomorrow I think I'm going to have to tackle my transmission mounting location issue that I stated in post 36. I'm getting bad vibes at highway speeds that I think are from the transmission not being parallel to the frame.

My only plan is to use my pneumatic die grinder to elongate the holes and the countersink.. Anyone got any tips, or should I just go for it?
 
I'd think if you elongated the holes you'd need to somehow fixture it so the mounting bolts don't slide horizontally in the slots. Either that or tighten the bejesus out of those bolts - but then you might run the risk of stripping threads with excessive tightening.
 
Got the skid / trans mount "modified" today. It didn't need much movement, and I kind of made a mess out of one of the locations with the countersink, but it's done. I'm not really pleased with it, even though practically no one will see it.
I took it for a quick test drive and it seemed to do ok, I also put it up on jack stands and ran it up to ~60mph and it didn't vibrate.. Maybe it has to have a load on it though?
The pictures aren't that great since I'm laying inches from where I'm working, but you can see how much it was off, how much material I took out, and then the final product.
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I'm getting more and more curious what someone would charge me to fab and install a stand alone trans mount. If any business or individual in Raleigh is interested shoot me PM.
 
I've still got that driveline vibration but it moved up in the MPH range. Before the axle swap it was around 55, now it's around 65. I would have thought with going from 2.73s to 3.73s it would have gone down in MPH since the driveshaft would be moving faster at slower speeds.. This is getting frustrating.

Any ideas?
 
Took it out on the highway again. Had the GPS on my phone going so I could confirm speeds.

The vibration is still at 55-60, same as where it was with the 2.73s. SO, would that rule out driveshaft? I feel that since the drive shaft is moving faster due to the deeper gears the vibration would have moved up in the speed range. Right?
I feel like I need to get my tires checked again, but when I first noticed it I immediately went to Discount to have the tires balanced and rotated again and all was well.

RPMs were below 2k at both gear sets. 273s I was in 4th, 373s I am in 5th.

You can really 'see' the vibration in the gear shift as it's happening.

Any insight? Really needing this resolved.
 
Any other speeds it happens? Have you tried to run 55-60 in 4th? I would look at RPMs now and before. If they are both in the same range, it might be driveshaft. Otherwise I would look at axle/tire.
 
paradisePWoffrd said:
Any other speeds it happens? Have you tried to run 55-60 in 4th? I would look at RPMs now and before. If they are both in the same range, it might be driveshaft. Otherwise I would look at axle/tire.
Click to expand...

I'll play with RPMs and report back.

I don't think it's the axle since it did it both with the AMC20 and the D44.

CAROLINA ROCKRUNNER said:
Is it death wobble ? If so long tube on front axle could be bent or is it from driveline?
Click to expand...

I don't think it's death wobble, it didn't start until after the AX15 swap.
 
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