dave1123

Are you a toolmaker? I've been a journeyman since 1969 working in precision plastic molding. At what point do you call yourself a master?

In 1989 I had a chance to buy a special ordered Dakota with a 360 and 4-speed. The deal had fallen thru with the purchaser and he had lost his deposit so the truck was cheap. When I got home my wife said "Guess what! I'm pregnant!" Good by truck! It was a 4WD with a factory roll bar. My son is 24 years old now and I love him, but I sure would have loved that truck! My wife had bought a K-car which I hated, but that 4-banger got 28 mpg all the way to Florida and back!

What is the torque specs on the CA bolts? It can't be that much. My dad used the FAR torque wrench, "feels about right".

888

I didn't even know they put a 360 in the Dakota, I thought the 318 was top end V8. My 89 and 91 were 2.5L, the 92 was the V6, all 5 speeds.

Not exactly on the toolmaker but I can read about any print out there and see how things fit and work. I've worked in special machine building companies since 1985 but mostly in diagnostics of the machines when the engineering and design doesn't work. Special machines meaning high speed progressive die machines that made beer and food can tops and bottoms, with and without the ring pull tabs. I worked for the place that invented the ring pull can back in the 60's for 12 years, did all kinds of stuff there but settled into diagnostic work. The last 15 I've worked for a German company that I helped start that does something similar but uses multiaxis controls to steer sheets through a press. The Germans make the presses, controls, and the feed systems, we make the tools and put it all together in factories. Once again, I did a little of everything here getting it all started up but got stuck back in technical service/diagnostics because no one here else can do it. I get to diagnose machines I've never seen in remote parts of the world or send someone to fix them when they don't work. I've run Home Depot out of paint cans or closed down the Snapple tea filling lines on bad days. Good times.

It sounds like you do something similar, I'll never be a master because the Germans are convinced I'm an idiot even though I generally find and fix the problems with their machinery so people continue to buy their machines.

Enough about me, though. The CA bolts are 130 ft-lbs worst case IIRC, I think most of the others are in that 90 ft-lb range, just above the range of my torque wrenches. I could probably use a pipe and breaker and the FAR principle on a lot of them but there isn't a lot of room with the Jeep on it's wheels and since my son will be driving it, I want to be sure I follow the official recommendations exactly.

I did order the front and rear stabilizer bushings, just on general principles. Probably be here next week sometime. Looking forward to driving this thing, it's been a few weeks at least.

dave1123

A little Mopar history; in 1964, Chrysler re-introduced the Hemi and Richard Petty ran away with the Daytona 500. Ford protested the motor and said it wasn't a production engine, the criteria being you had to have 2000 units in the public's hands before you could run it in Nascar. Chrysler boycotted Nascar and had a program to put this engine on the street. You could order ANY car with ANY engine at the time. They even put the 426 Hemi in the "goldfish bowl" Baracuda, if you can imagine that. They even tried to sell the Dodge Daytona with the outrageous wing. Remember that?

SO, later on, you could get any motor that would fit by special order with a large deposit. Actually, the 360 is the 5.9 found in jeeps. BTW, the current hemi is third generation and is no way near as good as the other two. I'd love to have a "B" block hemi in a ZJ!

Eric M

You don't happen to work at tek4 in Wooster Ohio do you?

888

Thinking more about this, it makes more sense than trying to match where it was, who knows whether it was right. The new eccentrics don't have the holes punched and the flat on the bolt is on a different spot than factory but it does have a single line on the washer and I can line it up with the lines on the axle bracket.

My question is what are you calling the center of adjustment? The neutral centered position where the cam has no effect? Rotating it either direction from that point should move the axle forward or backward. I was trying to come up with a really good way to measure between the front and rear wheels on each side by myself and couldn't come up with one.

I ran out of light last night and didn't get the UCA's torqued after work. That really sucks with the Jeep down on it's wheels, BTW. Not much room.

I'll drive it as is and see how it acts but I was thinking of plan B for the eccentrics if it sucks.

Thanks

888

I not only remember the SuperBird, I remember the Ford Torino Talledega with the slant nose option that was released. Dad and I used to check out the new cars behind the dealerships before official release when model year changes were a big deal.

I cannot imagine the 426 in the early Barracuda, a friend had a 400 3 speed manual in a 1970 Firebird that i drove occasionally and it was silly powerful, crazy in the rain. Second gear blew out and it was still drivable.

888

No, I'm in SW Ohio near 70 and 75.

888

Okay, a quick update. I took the Jeep in for an alignment at the same place that did it before. The guy did it for free, since he missed the control arm issues last time, which I did not expect. He said I got it pretty close for not having the equipment to do it properly, so I didn't expect a big improvement in handling. Driving it home, I think it seems much better, for what is essentially a RWD vehicle with that extra axle up front instead of a traditional suspension. It's still not something I would accept out of a new Jeep but I really don't have anything to compare it to. I haven't put the new stabilizer bushings in up front but I don't think that will provide a huge improvement, based on previous comments made in this thread.

I guess I could start throwing control arm parts at the rear suspension to clean the handling up more but I think there is a limit to what to expect from a vehicle with this drivetrain design. I do have rear stabilizer bushings to install and I'll do that at some point but unless I find another Jeep like this with good suspension to compare it to, I'm not sure what is "good" on one of these.

I guess my big question is whether it is something a new driver should start out with on the country roads out where we live? As it drives at the moment, I'm guessing probably not so it will end up being my winter beater and next spring, I'll find something else for my son to drive. Something a kid who is 6'5" with size 13 feet can fit into, which narrows it down considerably.

I think it will be great in the snow but at the mpg it will get in 4WD, I really can't afford to use it for a 70 mile a day commuter back and forth to work. That's not what it was designed for, anyway.

So the only things I can see left to do is sort out the pesky PO138 O2 sensor CEL that just returned (the cylinder 6 misfire CEL is gone, thanks to the new ignition parts) and replace the valve cover gasket to fix the oil leak. At least the next owner should have less problems to deal with. I should be able to get my money back out of it, unless I wreck it or something else major goes wrong.

It's been a real learning experience and I appreciate the help and comments so far.

dave1123

My thought on your son is if he can handle the jeep, he can drive anything.

The 70 mile commute could be costly for sure.

BTW, I just watched a video of the new RWD Grand Cherokee ST8 on the dragstrip. Wheel stands? Really?

888

Well, just to ask one final question. I sold the ZJ to a good friend as a winter beater a few weeks back and he also thought the steering could be better. He took it to a friend's shop and they are telling him the LSD in the rear end is going out and pushing the rear wheels alternately or something of that sort. I didn't see any reference to this when searching on the web and never saw it mentioned here.

Has anyone heard of this? Is there a practical test for it such as one rear wheel on snow or ice?

Is this a Dana 35 rear axle?

TIA

Joe