Builds 1988 BJ74 “Number 1” (6 Viewers)

[FJBen]

Hijack:
I've got the same problem with my rear T-case output. Lateral movement, anyway.
Can you pull the tail housing and fix it under the truck?
Maybe fix temporarily with some shims to increase preload?

What route are you taking?

I'm going a full rebuild. I'm not sure when it was done last on this cruiser, so might as well at this point.

You can pull the rear tail housing and replace the seal under the truck, as for the bearing, I'm not sure. You might be able to throw another shim to tighten it up to buy some time. Do you know when it was rebuilt last?

 

[nuclearbeef]

No clue when it was done last. No leaks or other problems. Just lateral play that translates into a vibration above 120kph. Worse when I let off the throttle.
You'd never suspect anything while driving around town.
It will get a rebuild at some point. Just like to push that down the road a bit.
Thanks.

 

[FJBen]

loaded her up and drove to Colorado to work on.
drove to work today with it, hit the car wash to try and clean it off good before the tear down.

 

[Honger]

Will be watching closely... I'm going to need to at least reseal my transfer case as well soon.

Good luck with the move man. We are now finally in our own house. Moving along with all the pre/post busyness is a stressful/exciting time.

 

[FJBen]

Did a few things last night.
I built a Dawes device to adjust boost. Currently I just have my wastegate shimmed and can get 11psi, but I known that will weaken the wastegate spring over time. So instead of taking a chance on an ebay manual boost controller or the $80~$100 for a better known brand, I decided to make my own for around $15.00.

I take no credit for this, it's just off the internet. You can buy the actual "Dawes Device" from a few places for $70, Dawes Devices by 3 Bar Racing Inc. | Home of Dawes Devices, the Best Manual Boost Controllers is the "orginal" I suppose. These are lists/photos from the web.

Parts list:
first you need the parts.
go to McMaster-Carr.com and get these parts
48935K25 - 0-20psi valve
44555k142 - 90* barb
5346K51 - brass barb.

Fit them all together. You have to bang the 90* barb into the end of the 0-20psi valve. It seats in there nicely after a whack of a hammer. You also need to drill a really small hole, .020" or slightly larger for a bleed off.

Completed

Rough boost settings. The more you screw that in, the higher boost you get. Kind of trial and error.

My temporary setup.

Works great. At this setting, I was able to finally trip the overboost light on the dash just for a second when really pushing on it. So thats right at 15psi is when the light comes on. Boost is very predictable, no spikes and just seems to work.

The only gotcha I have, is that the elbow is only a .17" barb so that it will fit into that pressure valve. That is too small to tie into the wastegate vacuum line. I built it up a little with some tape for a test to see if it would actually work. Which it does. So I'm going to put in a reducer/splicer to make it a bit less ghetto.


All in all, for ~$15, works quite well.

 

[FJBen]

Will be watching closely... I'm going to need to at least reseal my transfer case as well soon.

Good luck with the move man. We are now finally in our own house. Moving along with all the pre/post busyness is a stressful/exciting time.

Thanks! This moving is DRAGGING like crazy and become very stressful.

So as imagined, I topped off the fluids, cleaned it off....and it hasn't leaked in 2 days of driving. The tranny is probably a little low, I need to top that off, but always something. There is no doubt the t-case needs rebuilt, which I'm going to start either tonight or tomorrow night.

Reasons for T-case rebuild:
leaking front output shaft
Front output shaft bearing knotchy/play
Has equalizer tube between t-case/tranny so seal has blown at somepoint before I owned it
No idea when it was last rebuilt.

 

[FJBen]

Rear bilsteins. The rear shocks on this BJ74 are old, not sure how old and the brand Maxi-trac which were put on in Australia, at some point. IMO, they were too short, and the right rear was blown. The BJ74 didn't ride too bad at all per-say, but bumps could be a little harsh and it had some sway.


Bilstein 5125 series: 33-104652 - 255/70 valving
11" travel
Collapsed Length (IN) - 17.01
Extended Length (IN) - 28

I'm not sure what actual lift/springs I have on there. I can't find any identifying marks on there to know if its OME or Ironman or something else. It does have yellow anti-friction pads, whether original or not then OME used/uses.

Next to the old maxi-trac shock. This one had almost zero compression at times. The old shock is fully extended, and the bilstein has a ways to go.

I also purchased these so that they would fit over the bolt stud. Pretty easy to knock out the old ones and put new ones in.

Amazon product ASIN B004IARRGI

First test drive, they feel quite a bit better than the old shocks. Way less harsh and rebounding which has been my previous experience with bilstein shocks. Next time will be the fronts.

 

[FJBen]

Thanks @orangefj45
split case rebuild kit, 5th gear oiler cup, hex drain plugs.

and of course, a little stop by the dealer and struggle to find parts locally...

 

[FJBen]

Huge thanks and props to my friend @PabloCruise
My ribs are fractured/bruised and it’s painful to really torque on anything to get it loose.
he came over tonight and helped me take the transfer case out after a quick test drive.
those rear driveshaft bolts were ridiculously tight and no way I could have done myself.

Which also opened up the fun of a leaking pinion seal No play or noise from pinion. Hopefully just a seal.

Probabaly going to do ujoints. They don’t feel bad, but they look not great, might as well do now. The slip has a little rotational play, need to see what shop says about that.
The front shaft has a lot of play in slip. Funny not noisy in 4wd surprisingly, but it will need rebuilt.

overall the TCAse looks pretty good. Everything felt pretty good with the exception of the front output bearing which is junk. Dirty, but not the worst by far. No real bad wear anywhere than I can see.
Need to find a press and pullers tomorrow Hoping to find a machine shop to clean the parts up

 

[PabloCruise]

Huge thanks and props to my friend @PabloCruise
My ribs are fractured/bruised and it’s painful to really torque on anything to get it loose.
he came over tonight and helped me take the transfer case out after a quick test drive.
those rear driveshaft bolts were ridiculously tight and no way I could have done myself.

Which also opened up the fun of a leaking pinion seal No play or noise from pinion. Hopefully just a seal.

Probabaly going to do ujoints. They don’t feel bad, but they look not great, might as well do now. The slip has a little rotational play, need to see what shop says about that.
The front shaft has a lot of play in slip. Funny not noisy in 4wd surprisingly, but it will need rebuilt.

overall the TCAse looks pretty good. Everything felt pretty good with the exception of the front output bearing which is junk. Dirty, but not the worst by far. No real bad wear anywhere than I can see.
Need to find a press and pullers tomorrow Hoping to find a machine shop to clean the parts up


View attachment 2451873

Oh yeah, good times!

 

[Honger]

Huge thanks and props to my friend @PabloCruise
My ribs are fractured/bruised and it’s painful to really torque on anything to get it loose.
he came over tonight and helped me take the transfer case out after a quick test drive.
those rear driveshaft bolts were ridiculously tight and no way I could have done myself.

Which also opened up the fun of a leaking pinion seal No play or noise from pinion. Hopefully just a seal.

Probabaly going to do ujoints. They don’t feel bad, but they look not great, might as well do now. The slip has a little rotational play, need to see what shop says about that.
The front shaft has a lot of play in slip. Funny not noisy in 4wd surprisingly, but it will need rebuilt.

overall the TCAse looks pretty good. Everything felt pretty good with the exception of the front output bearing which is junk. Dirty, but not the worst by far. No real bad wear anywhere than I can see.
Need to find a press and pullers tomorrow Hoping to find a machine shop to clean the parts up


View attachment 2451873

The press is required for the bearings on the input and output shafts, right?
What do you need pullers for?

This overall pic is a very helpful reference. But could you clean up the parts a bit to make things clearer?

 

[FJBen]

The press is required for the bearings on the input and output shafts, right?
What do you need pullers for?

This overall pic is a very helpful reference. But could you clean up the parts a bit to make things clearer?

I was able to tap out the front shaft bearing, then knock out the race.

The puller will be used to get the bearings off of the output shaft. You can tap the bearings back on carefully, but a press is probably better.

Yes definitely need to clean it. Although it's defintely not the worst t-case I've dealt with.

 

[FJBen]

A little cleaning last night. A bit more to go overall.
Monday night my friend has a press and we are going to replace bearings and such.

a parts washer would be so helpful right now.

 

[PabloCruise]

A little cleaning last night. A bit more to go overall.
Monday night my friend has a press and we are going to replace bearings and such.

a parts washer would be so helpful right now.

View attachment 2453290

Looks great!
We need to find a hydro-blast cleaner

 

[FJBen]

More fun to be had.

 

[paul r]

Looks great!
We need to find a hydro-blast cleaner

Wish you were in SLC. I'd take care of you!

 

[FJBen]

Wish you were in SLC. I'd take care of you!

That would have been great for so many projects!

 

[FJBen]

Went over to my friend house, Thom. He’s not a cruiser guy but just a gear head, car guy and has a cool built commanche he’s had for 30 plus years. Big thanks to him. Known him quite a few years.

Used the press, and pullers and heat and whatever to get the bearings off. The main shaft was still in spec so just put new bearings on. That needle bastard bearing in the end was awful. Didn’t have a puller to fit. Knocked our inner cage, then fried in vain for almost an hour to chip/grind/chisel without touching or dinging the main shaft.

Reassembly should start tomorrow if I get all the cleaning done.

couple of his toys he built
Merc

Malibu witha small block 396. 495hp

 

[saltycoconuts]

Thanks for the idea!

Ordered up the valve last night and it showed up today at work.

 

[FJBen]

Thanks for the idea!

Ordered up the valve last night and it showed up today at work.

View attachment 2458205

Nice! I still need to find a better way to go froM the Elbow to the larger wastegate house. A reducer barb would be the the ticket, I just need to find one.