Dale

[Croatan_Kid]

If you pull the rear diff cover to change the gear oil, I'd obviously make sure the ring gear bolts are tight and the tone ring is in good shape. It likely is though since you said the speedometer works just fine.

Sweet truck though! That was one of their best body styles!

 

[Buddy Holly]

Dale is getting driven all over the place! Drove up Friday to Maryland to visit friends and race the mini bikes. Sunday morning I woke up and helped a friend pick up a new roof for his FJ60. Unfortunately my transmission problem came back on the way to Long Island to get a d60 for Dale on Monday. I found out it was the PSOM module on the back of the odometer. Found another cluster on marketplace on our way there and swapped it in a Wawa parking lot and kept on motoring. Speedo jumps a little still so I’ll change the VSS for an OEM one and check the tone ring. My original cluster is getting sent out to be rebuilt.

Amongst the Saturday night shenanigans my friends girlfriend wrecked his XJ on her way to work. She walked away with only bumps and bruises. The Jeep did it’s job and kept her safe. With only liability insurance and her admitting fault we had to go recover it from the towing company. Tuesday we rented a trailer from sunbelt and hauled it back to his house an hour away. Needless to say I think dale earned his keep this weekend.

Anyways here’s pics

 

[Cribb]

Good job Dale.

Glad she's OK, but it looks like another XJ bouncer is born!

 

[getstucksome]

Dale is getting driven all over the place! Drove up Friday to Maryland to visit friends and race the mini bikes. Sunday morning I woke up and helped a friend pick up a new roof for his FJ60. Unfortunately my transmission problem came back on the way to Long Island to get a d60 for Dale on Monday. I found out it was the PSOM module on the back of the odometer. Found another cluster on marketplace on our way there and swapped it in a Wawa parking lot and kept on motoring. Speedo jumps a little still so I’ll change the VSS for an OEM one and check the tone ring. My original cluster is getting sent out to be rebuilt.

Amongst the Saturday night shenanigans my friends girlfriend wrecked his XJ on her way to work. She walked away with only bumps and bruises. The Jeep did it’s job and kept her safe. With only liability insurance and her admitting fault we had to go recover it from the towing company. Tuesday we rented a trailer from sunbelt and hauled it back to his house an hour away. Needless to say I think dale earned his keep this weekend.

Anyways here’s pics

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Did that front axle break into two pieces??!

 

[Buddy Holly]

Did that front axle break into two pieces??!

Yep. Shaft and all. Broke the tube out of the casting

 

[XJsavage]

Living the highway life!! Love it.

 

[mtnbiker4evr13]

OBS powerstrokes rock. Good info on troubleshooting the shifting issues, everyone crap on an E4OD all day but the later ones are pretty 4r100ish.

Looking forward to the D60 swap, going with super duty springs at the same time?

 

[Buddy Holly]

Living the highway life!! Love it.

Hell yeah! 2000 or so miles in 5 days.

OBS powerstrokes rock. Good info on troubleshooting the shifting issues, everyone crap on an E4OD all day but the later ones are pretty 4r100ish.

Looking forward to the D60 swap, going with super duty springs at the same time?

I don’t mind the e4od so far. We will see how my impression holds up after the truck has a tuner installed.

Probably not SD springs just because they require a reverse shackle and I don’t like how vehicles handle with that done. Brake dive. Stock 350 diesel springs and good shocks will do fine. It rides rough but it’s an old truck. I can’t expect it to handle like a new 250 platinum. I would have loved to do 05+ SD axles and coils up front but that costs more than I can justify right now

 

[mtnbiker4evr13]

Saw SD springs done without the reversal once on pirate4x4, redrilled the shackle location and a couple other tweaks to get things to swing right. I agree with the issues related to the reversal setup.

I DD a 97 F350... at least replace all the bushings when the springs go in or better yet new replacement F350 springs, and you are right on track with decent shocks. The worn out stuff is rough..

 

[Croatan_Kid]

Right up my alley. Simple, yet effective and looks good doing it!

 

[Buddy Holly]

Saw SD springs done without the reversal once on pirate4x4, redrilled the shackle location and a couple other tweaks to get things to swing right. I agree with the issues related to the reversal setup.

I DD a 97 F350... at least replace all the bushings when the springs go in or better yet new replacement F350 springs, and you are right on track with decent shocks. The worn out stuff is rough..

The trip through NYC to get on Long Island ruined whatever damping the shocks on here had left. It bounces like crazy now

I’ll probably order new 350 diesel springs. Auto Truck Spring sells them and people seem to be pleased. The ttb springs are way too stiff and very saggy. I only have about 1” of uptravel right now

 

[Buddy Holly]

Good job Dale.

Glad she's OK, but it looks like another XJ bouncer is born!

So somehow I missed responding to this. I wish the xj could be saved. My friend offered to give it to me. The hit was so violent it bent the unibody in and broke not only the motor mounts and block brackets but also bent the distributor shaft. We had an entire scheme to bring it back as my beater with all the spare shit I have laying around for an xj, but the unibody makes it almost impossible to save. I don’t think we can pull it out enough to mount the motor again

 

[GotWood]

So somehow I missed responding to this. I wish the xj could be saved. My friend offered to give it to me. The hit was so violent it bent the unibody in and broke not only the motor mounts and block brackets but also bent the distributor shaft. We had an entire scheme to bring it back as my beater with all the spare shit I have laying around for an xj, but the unibody makes it almost impossible to save. I don’t think we can pull it out enough to mount the motor again

Bring it home. I have a solid chassis.

 

[Cribb]

Oh well. That sucks.

 

[getstucksome]

Throwing in a good word for ATS - I worked with Junior to get new springs all around for my Excursion. Very knowledgeable dude and reasonable prices.

 

[Croatan_Kid]

I feel like if I needed a built Ford transmission I'd have to hit up BTS. I do love the way a 4R100 behind a 7.3 shifts with a little extra power!

 

[Buddy Holly]

Big things are coming for ole Dale. Picked up a d60 to swap in this spring when life slows down. The axle I got is from a 93 but someone cut all the brackets off to put it in the Jeep so I’m starting mostly from scratch. I plan to change the track bar design from the stock 20” long one to something that actually has decent geometry and doesn’t cause horrific bump steer. I think I can use a sleeved and extended TJ adjustable track bar and some universal brackets to get things pretty right.

I have a work trip coming up outside Sacramento, CA the first week of January. I don’t want to fly and since my xj is still in pieces missing a transmission I decided I’d take Dale out there instead. I hated the stock street tires he had so I went and had some new shoes installed in a 285/75r16 General ATx flavor. White letters out because they’re just better that way

I’m still having some odd shifting here and there. I’m working on getting a video of what it’s doing. Leaning towards something with the valve body now. It seems to be less frequent/violent when up to temperature.

 

[Buddy Holly]

I got some videos of the transmission fuckery this week. What’s been happening is at a steady throttle from about 50-75% it feels like the truck is shifting with the torque converter locked. Either it locks it and shifts before unlocking, or the computer commands lockup at the same time it commands the shift as well. The truck shifts hard and then “lets go” for lack of a better term. This usually is more harsh when not up to full temperature.

The first video is of the 2-3 shift. You can watch the tach drop a little when it locks the converter, then then drop when it shifts into second and immediately jump back up. It feels like it’s unlocking the converter versus slipping. I can roll back into boost right after and it handles it just fine.



The second video is of the 3-4 shift. You can watch it shift and lock the converter at the same time and then jump immediately back up as it unlocks, but after it gains a couple more mph it will successfully re-lock and stay locked like it should.




I have been through most of the sensors related to the transmission. The VSS has been replaced with an OEM unit and a new connector. I replaced both the shift position sensor and its connector, the solenoid pack connector, flushed the fluid out, and added a larger trans cooler. I swapped gauge clusters with one that has a known good PSOM module.

I’m leaning towards this being a valve body or solenoid issue. PO has the trans rebuilt and said it has an “updated” valve body. It feels like it has a shift kit with how firm it shifts under heavy throttle. I also am suspecting the throttle pedal sensor but if it was bad I would assume it would have weird throttle characteristics. Torque converter was replaced just before I got it as well. Magnet in the pan was very clean when I changed the fluid and filter.

This issue has been constant throughout the rest of the transmission issues. It has never improved or gotten worse with anything else I’ve done/replaced. At full throttle it will act up like this before it gets up to temperature, but usually once up to temp it acts fine at WOT.

Anybody have any ideas? Kinda stumped on this one. Short of yanking the trans out to put a valve body in it and new solenoids I’m not sure how to diagnose from here.

 

[Buddy Holly]

While I’ve been working in California since the new year, Dale got a new turbo! When I’m on the road I tend to order lots of parts to fill the void of being away from friends and family. Anyone who has had one of these trucks bone stock knows it’s a turd below 2000rpm. The turbo was high on my list of things to make not suck. Pops works for Advance and has the hook up for turbos. He talked to his rep at rotomaster and they were able to build a reman turbo to my specs. 1.0AR back housing, upgraded 360 degree thrust bearing, billet compressor wheel, and with the EBPV delete outlet and pedestal. It won’t pick up any power but it will broaden the power curve. Ended up getting it for a great price so I can’t complain.

This is where the great ended. First off, I will forever be grateful for my old man. This job SUCKED and I feel awful he tackled it without me there. Dad and I have done some big jobs together including multiple drivetrain swaps, engine rebuilds, axle swaps, you get the idea. According to him, swapping the turbo on an OBS 7.3 was THE worst project he has ever done on any vehicle. The amount of headache involved from both removing the old turbo and installing the new one is a new level of frustration. He swears I would have set the truck on fire if I had the displeasure of being there to do it myself. Seized and overtorqued bolts, broken stuff on the new turbo, the missing pipe plug that allowed it to puke 2 gallons of oil onto the driveway in about 10 seconds..... it’s a long list of shit. The good news it it’s installed and leak free now.

Onto some even better news, I talked to BTS about the goofy shifting and if it was valve body related. They have a good reputation in the Ford community for trans stuff. Brian seemed pretty confident that a properly set up VB would fix the issue. He thinks the regulator valves may have been mistimed. I decided to order a valve body and it’s waiting to be installed when I get home Monday. Fingers crossed it works.

Currently typing all this at 3:30am while my friend and I are cannonballing our way back east. I’ve got less than a week to whip this turd into shape and build a bed rack to hold the tent before I leave for a project in Nebraska. The plan is to run out to Moab the first week of April to ride the mountain bikes and get some camping/wheeling in after we finish up in Nebraska.

 

[Buddy Holly]

My grandpa level just went up twofold. Gave up on the rack idea and decided to just drag the adventure trailer out west with the bikes and rest of the gear in the bed. Now who wants to loan me an HVLP gun so I can spray some single stage black on it?

 

[GotWood]

My grandpa level just went up twofold. Gave up on the rack idea and decided to just drag the adventure trailer out west with the bikes and rest of the gear in the bed. Now who wants to loan me an HVLP gun so I can spray some single stage black on it?

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Bring a tarp with you to throw over the topper if you planon sleeping in it. Also consider throwing stuff on a pallet to keep it off of the floor and out of any water that leaks in.

 

[Buddy Holly]

Dale shat an injector yesterday. $1500 later he has a brand new set! Runs much better but there is still air to bleed out. I wasn’t able to get enough highway time in to get all the air out of the system. The drive to Nashville on Monday should take care of that. And if anyone was wondering, laying on the core support where the hood latch stabs you in the nuts is not a comfortable position to work in.

 

[/dev/ram]

Lucas, I just came across this thread - you're living the life! You've acquired knowledge that many only get after many more years of experience. Your dad has obviously been an incredible influence, but you're fearless to dive into things! You drove that across the country and back on basically the confidence you could fix it if it broke. And now headed west again. Pretty cool dude. Sub'd so can enjoy the journey!

 

[Croatan_Kid]

Now that you have a Ford diesel, might as well invest in a truck creeper. It'll be money well spent.

 

[Buddy Holly]

Now that you have a Ford diesel, might as well invest in a truck creeper. It'll be money well spent.

The good news is I already have a platform to stand on and a step that attaches to the tire. I'm just a shrimp that can't reach the back cylinders I think the next tool investment will be a flamethrower so I can burn this fucker to the ground and buy a Cummins