Not such a silly idea.

cmohr · **Posted:** Tue Jul 08, 2008 2:46 am

Well, after the whole exploding diff episode, and folks buying up tools, I'll be looking at my tool kit as well. BUT, I 'm thinking that all the tools in the world won't help you, if you don't know the way to do emergency repairs to get yourself out of trouble.

So firstly. A list of things that can go wrong, that will stop you, and what you can do roadside to get yourself going would be a start. Tip and tricks on removal of components, and even tool days, so as people can see things apart for thyem selves.

Now I'm not a mechanics arsehole, but, I'm more than happy to let folks know when I am doing maintainence on the KJ and when I'mm pulling things apart, if they want to show up to see how, I'm more than happy to show them.

No# 1...

Symptom - Grenaded front Diff housing.

Roadside work around. - Remove both front drive CV shafts, and if LO range is required, remove front drive shaft from transfer case to diff.

Tools required - 36mm socket and breaker bar, 21mm deep socket, hammer(ball joint spliter) 10mm ,15mm , 18mm spanners, 1 pry bar, some rope or webbing to holdup and tie knuckle up out of the way.

How To -
Jack up car, make sure car is safe and secure,
Remove wheel ,always put the wheel under the car as a safety.
Undo sway bar from lower control arm, remove bolt. 18mm
Loosen Hub retaining nut , 36mm.
Loosen clevis fork bolt at base of strut 21mm
loosen clevis pivot bushing bolt at bottom of clevis fork ( where it attaches to lower control arm) and remove bolt.21mm
place a jack under lower control arm to hold small amount of weight (do not jack car up off the jacks that hold the car)
undo lower ball joint ( unscrew the nut all the way off, to clear the thread then do it back up so as it is just a few turns undone again)21mm
"Split " the lower ball joint from the control arm so as it is sitting on the jack, remove the nut, and then let the jack down.
Undo and remove the bolt at the top of the clevis fork at the strut (loosened ealier) and remove clevis fork.

Now this is where you need two sets of hands.

One person lifts the wheel bearing knuckle so as the ball joint completely separates and swing it out of the way, be careful not to damage ABS sensor wiring and brake lines. The other person pushes the drive shaft out of the wheel knuckle, then swing the knuckle further backwards. Pull the driveshaft straight out of the diff.

Swing the knuckle back into place and drop the ball joint back into its hole in the lower control arm (be carefull not damage the thread)
replace the clevis fork up onto the strut but don't tighten bolt
line up the clevis fork with the control arm pivot bush ( this is where the pry bar comes in handy) and replace bolt (don't fully tighten yet)
Make sure the clevis fork is all the way up on the strut and tighten it
jack up the lower conrtol arm (slightly) just to put a small amout of resistance on the ball joit so as you can tighten the nut.
replace swaybar bolt.
Jackup lower control arm until cars weight is on it, tighten the bolt at the base of the clevis fork where it attaches to the control arm.
Torque all bolts to spec ( see manual )

Replace wheel.

Do the same on the other side.

Now if you do not need lo range you are safe to just put the transfer case in 2wd and go, but if you require low range you must remove the front drive shaft from transfer case to diff.

10mm undo all bolts on each end of the shaft. the shaft telescopes at the diff end so as to release it, but, you may find you cannot get the shaft out without disconnecting (Splitting) the exhaust beside it. Then remove the shaft.

I may have missed something, will have to read it again and if anybody see anything let me know.
cmohr

PS, this is also handy if you rp a CV boot, as driving any distance with all the grease coming out of the CV will destroy it, so unless you have boot repair tape or a spare one. Take it out and save some money. Yes you must remove both sides as the oil will drain from the diff if you remove one, then if you drive with no oil in the dif...well. need I say.

CD · **Posted:** Tue Jul 08, 2008 3:03 am

I'm now scared to go off road.

Team J.a.G · **Posted:** Tue Jul 08, 2008 3:08 am

That Sounds all so familar somehow :!:

2wd driving might be a state of the J.a.g Team for a while :cry:

Team J.a.G · **Posted:** Tue Jul 08, 2008 3:14 am

Team J.a.G wrote:

That Sounds all so familar somehow :!:

2wd driving might be a state of the J.a.g Team for a while :cry:

Oh Yes

I think you omitted a spare car to get any tools not in the kit (e.g.the 3hr drive to get a 36mm socket) :!:

cmohr · **Posted:** Tue Jul 08, 2008 3:24 am

CD wrote:

:shock: I'm now scared to go off road.

LOL....

After we did the right hand side, and then moved to the left, The whole proceedure only took 15mins on the left hand side.

CD · **Posted:** Tue Jul 08, 2008 5:29 am

So I better look for a 36mm socket then, it's killing me that I now have to get tools. It costs enought just to run the KJ as it is. Oh well, better this than a hatch back.

pipeliner · **Posted:** Tue Jul 08, 2008 5:54 pm

CD wrote:

So I better look for a 36mm socket then, it's killing me that I now have to get tools.

But as Cmohr says, there is absolutely no point in carrying tools if you don't know what to do with them. Let's face it, some of us are mechanically minded and some of us aren't. Greg would be the first to admit that if cmohr hadn't been with us his Jeep would have stayed on the track until he could arrange to have it pulled off - regardless of how many tools he had in the boot. I consider myself to be reasonably competent with a spanner, but I wouldn't have known where to start. Even Cmohr had a couple of false starts before he worked it out - which is why the first side took well over an hour and the second side took 15 minutes.

cmohr · **Posted:** Tue Jul 08, 2008 10:39 pm

pipeliner wrote:

CD wrote:

So I better look for a 36mm socket then, it's killing me that I now have to get tools.

But as Cmohr says, there is absolutely no point in carrying tools if you don't know what to do with them. Let's face it, some of us are mechanically minded and some of us aren't. Greg would be the first to admit that if cmohr hadn't been with us his Jeep would have stayed on the track until he could arrange to have it pulled off - regardless of how many tools he had in the boot. I consider myself to be reasonably competent with a spanner, but I wouldn't have known where to start. Even Cmohr had a couple of false starts before he worked it out - which is why the first side took well over an hour and the second side took 15 minutes.

Thats exactly right, I had an idea, but, thought I may have been able to get around a few of the issues. BUT, I couldn't so it was do it right way or no way. Thats why as soon as it looked like we were having an issue with removing the drive shaft I said to Fros, "Lets just split exhaust and get it out" no use wasting time trying other things when the simplest solution is often the best.

I thought in the beginning I would have to remove the clevis fork, but being where we were and trying to "save time" I tried to avoid it, and I shouldn't have. Due to not starting out correctly that meant removing swaybar and other things was harder, not to mention having wasted time removing the brake caliper and disc for no benifit.

Once you have done some work in the front end, it's all kinda easy really. You just have to have an idea of what order to remove and instal everything.

CD · **Posted:** Tue Jul 08, 2008 11:17 pm

I just had a good read cmohr, you sure made it clear and easy to understand what needs to be done (skimmed it 1st time). Probably a good idea to print this out and keep it in the KJ :wink:

(I hope I never have to do this on a trail). When you say pry bar, is that a small crow bar? Was it hard to get the ball joint back in or was that easy?

cmohr · **Posted:** Tue Jul 08, 2008 11:31 pm

I have a tyre level, around 2 foot long.

Ball joint, simple, just dropped back in. Piece of fruit.

All easy if you remember to have a nice big glass on Badger Milk evry morning :lol:

loric · **Joined:** Tue Jun 03, 2008 10:17 pm **Posts:** 44

In addition to tools etc...
May i suggest also taking the workshop manual on each long trip?

I actually travel with a laptop with: the full workshop manual, the full parts list, a list of all the Jeep dealers in Oz, and depending on where you are going some courier details.

When i got into trouble recently, i was able to ring a dealer, order the parts and get them shipped to where i was stuck.
Even those who wouldn't consider themselves mechanically minded would benefit from carrying the manual as you can always find someone who is.

My other suggestion would be a scangauge (which i'm about to purchase myself). There are dozens of sensors on the car that can give you data, but we can only see the CEL. On the same fateful trip, i managed to break some abs electrical wires which set off a whole bunch of warning lights on the dash. At the time, all i could do was use the wiring diagrams in the manual to troubleshoot - and was able to find the broken wire (it was hard coz the wires broke internally thru fatigue) and mend it.
Now, if i had a scanguage, it would told me which sensor data was playing up. (still woulda needed the manual tho to figure out the colour of the wire etc)
Scanguage would also have told me that my 'apparant' overheating issue wasn't overheating at all - but an incorrect temp gauge cal.

lastly - now that i've seen so many chafed hoses on the KJ - i'll be carrying a few lengths of common hose diameters 1/2", 3/4" etc, some inline joiners and a few hose clamps!

Eric.

pipeliner · **Posted:** Wed Jul 09, 2008 12:06 am

loric wrote:

- i'll be carrying a few lengths of common hose diameters 1/2", 3/4" etc, some inline joiners and a few hose clamps!

Eric.

In Cheap As Chips (or some similar store) I picked up a pack which contained a roll of slotted steel strip and about 8-10 worm screw jointers, to make up any size of hose clamp you want. Don't know how durable they are, but surely good enough to get you out of trouble without having to carry several different sizes.

CD · **Posted:** Wed Jul 09, 2008 12:09 am

Lap top, don't own one of them. I just need to get me a lemohr.

pipeliner · **Posted:** Wed Jul 09, 2008 12:24 am

cmohr wrote:

Thats exactly right, I had an idea, but, thought I may have been able to get around a few of the issues. BUT, I couldn't so it was do it right way or no way. Thats why as soon as it looked like we were having an issue with removing the drive shaft I said to Fros, "Lets just split exhaust and get it out" no use wasting time trying other things when the simplest solution is often the best.

From the workshop manual:
1. With vehicle in neutral, position vehicle on hoist.
2. Remove left side exhaust flange (1) bolts.
3. Mark companion flanges (3) and C/V joints at the front (2) and rear of the propeller shaft for installation reference.
4. Remove bolts (1) from the front and rear C/V joints.
5. Push propeller shaft forward to clear transfer case companion flange (2).
6. Remove shaft from the front axle companion flange.
7. Pull down on the exhaust and tilt the front of the shaft down and pull shaft forward and remove from the vehicle.

So about the only thing you missed out was positioning Greg's KJ on a hoist before starting the job! Oh, and Item 3 as well - hope that doesn't cause an imbalance problem later on.

Actually the Service Manual gets it the wrong way round: the instructions above are listed for the CRD, which has the exhaust on the other side.

Team J.a.G · **Posted:** Wed Jul 09, 2008 1:15 am

Well after all the Post Mortems. The fact remains that I am left with a 2wd kj that was able to be driven out of a difficult (and dangerous) situation due only to the perseverance of good friends who cared enough to help their mate in a bad spot.

Cmohr and his talent for mechanics........ Fouros for coming from his sick bed and climbing under the kj with Cmohr in the dark(Forous Off Road Assist). Pipeliner with his rollout tool box and prepared to get dirty...........Mikey's photograghic record of events and all the spouses for their support.

Without the above my KJ would've been left there until a local helicopter could've been located for a lift out :lol:

and back to the mechanics work shop. Therefore all the tools in the world would not have help me. (Not even 36mm socket :lol:

)

I now await for the next lottery to purchase the replacement diff :roll:

But hey. It was a great day :!:

Not such a silly idea.

Who is online