Fun with an XJ

Out of curiosity, why go with Fox over OME shocks? 

Because I've worked with Fox fairly extensively and I know how good they are. It helps that they're rebuildable and revalvable and have an aluminum body (as opposed to painted steel) that won't rust - but mostly, because they make damn good shocks and know how to tune them.

I had to look up the linkage names too. That's a handy diagram. Pretty sure The Cure goes in the joint between "drag link" and "tie rod."

In reply to Keith Tanner :

Fair enough. The paint on the OME stuff is garbage to be honest. I've used their shocks on three 4x4s now and each one lost a ton of paint from the first time on a gravel road. 

Ride quality was actually a fairly major consideration for this thing. The streets in Ottawa are in bad shape, and Eric wanted something that would beat them into submission. His other commuters are a Grand Marquis (smoooooth) and a modified Miata (not so much, but it's going to get rally suspension in a few months). So the damping quality was more important than it is for most 4x4 builds. I figured there was a good chance  that I'd end up revalving, but as it turns out I haven't had to.

That's also why I've been going after rattles, as nothing makes a road feel worse than having the car sound like it's self-destructing.

Time to work on some of the day to day problems: a right rear window that doesn’t work and drops down slightly; and the power door locks. 

I have a full set of replacement actuators for the door locks and the rears don’t unlock, so the right rear door is the obvious start because that’s where the window is. 

First thing, it’s obvious I’m not the first one in there. A missing fastener and a couple of damaged Philips head screws are the first clue. Then I see the grinder marks, and it quickly becomes obvious what’s going on. 

That’s not where the factory put the motor for the power windows. It appears that the previous guy in here had the regulator out (see grinder marks where he removed rivets) and he reattached it with aluminum pop rivets designed for plastic. 

The motor sheared the rivets and then basically ripped apart the cable mechanism, including chewing up some wiring. It also burst the steel tube that guides the lift cable and tore the connection to the window apart  

As far as I can tell, there are also parts missing. This is not repairable easily, and maybe not at all. Used regulators are in the $40-50 range, so that’s what’s going to happen. A custom piece of wood was deployed to hold the window up in the meantime. 

By the way, that window regulator looks very similar to a Lucas wiper setup, minus the ability to disassemble. This is foreshadowing of a sort. 

On to the locks. I popped in a new regulator and it still couldn’t unlock the rear door. Just like the back hatch. I pulled the latch and lubricated the wazoo out of it. No joy. Just like the rear hatch. Hmm. 

The passenger’s front door is rock solid for unlocking. The driver’s works occasionally with the keyless entry, almost every time when using the switch on the door, and every time with the auto-lock and -unlock while driving.  The rear doors don’t really work at all. So I started thinking about voltage and resistance. 

The stock keyless entry system has been replaced with a Viper unit, but it works on the passenger door. I decided to pull out the relays for the locking system to see if they were corroded or something. They’re in the passenger footwell, very close to the one lock that works every time. Interesting. 

I can’t even think of a good joke here. Both the lock and unlock relay are the same type. Look closely.

Unfortunately, despite the RHD relays, they tested out okay. I also checked power draw of the two used actuators I’d pulled out: about 6-7A.  A sample new one pulls 4A. So I’ll take that as a good sign, and continue to replace them. 

Still chasing those door locks...

Driver’s door actuator appears to be original. New one didn’t solve the problem, but if you cycle the locks twice with the fob it gets the job done the second time.  Still odd. 

The locks are still on probation, but I think they’re better. I’m wondering if replacing the bad left rear door one will stop a power draw that’s dragging them all down, as they all seem to be getting perkier. We’ll see. 

Today, it was DRLs. This truck is moving to Canada, remember, and 1990+ vehicles need them. There was a factory setup, but it doesn’t appear the wiring is present here. I had a wiring design worked out, then came up with a better one that makes me really happy. I replaced the headlight delay module (mystery module #2, remember?) with a simple relay. When the ignition comes on, so do the lights. Full lights so you don’t forget and drive around at night with no tails. It uses a separate (factory) fuse from the headlight switch so the Jeep now has two independent headlight triggering systems, which gives a nice bit of redundancy. The headlights can be turned on with the ignition off, and if my Bosch relay fails then it’s a backup system. Elegant and robust, and nobody will ever know. 

I even made sure there would be no mystery module shenanigans in the future. 

on a related note, I found a partially disassembled cruise system while doing this. It has been reassembled. Let’s see what happens. 

The cruise is not rewarding. Or I haven't figured out how to make it work yet. Maybe I should read the manual.

The DRL setup does not run the tails or dash lights, it's headlights only. So a normal DRL then.

What's the gauge of the wire running to the lock actuators? If it's overall circuit voltage drop, could it be the resistance going up from the wires fatiguing at the door pivot locations? 

The weird thing is that it acts differently depending on how it's triggered. The door switch seems to have a higher rate of success than the keyless, even though the signal going to to actuators should be the same. It's not the factory keyless system, that was replaced with a Viper box. I'm going to take home a Fluke that should let me test the size of the spike. My multimeters don't have peak hold capability. I should check the duration as well. That's a good idea to check resistance between the actuators and the relays.

With the new actuators, the RR door has become more reliable. That's the one that got the most lubrication as well. The LF is working pretty consistently, but sometimes takes two tries to get it to flip when using the remote. Always works the second time. I'm going to pull out the latch for the LR and hose it down directly instead of through the door to see if that works. Also, one more actuator to put in the RF door even though it's been pretty solid. Lots to do tomorrow.

Any recommendations on where to get Fox shocks? I'm planning on the OME spring/Fox shocks route with my Land Cruiser.

I got them through seller Advance Cycle Parts on Amazon. Prices are pretty consistent, but they were a bit less than the norm.

My ZJ door locks make grindy noises but they all work. Well 4/5 do. I dont have a keyfob, but they function the same with the door switch or the auto lock.

But....the auto lock generates a random number of locking events. Sometimes the locks go RRRRRRR. And sometimes they go RRRRRRR  RRRRRRR  RRRRRRRR.   You get anywhere from one to seven actual lock firing events based on some unknown Lucas math.  I don't know if the XJ does that, but it might explain why your autolock is more effective sometimes.

The lock system doesn’t do multiple cycles, but it does seem to run a bit longer on a successful operation. 

Today was the last round of a Keith vs the locks. Step 1. 

I pulled the hatch and door cylinders to  have them rekeyed to match the ignition key. I also spent a not inconsiderable amount of time dealing with Jeep and FCA trying to get a key code for the creature as the one ignition key I had was heavily worn. The dealership said “we don’t have records that far back, call this number”. I called the number and got cut off after giving info. I called again and got cut off. I called again and got cut off after 10 minutes of waiting for someone to come back with my answer. It’s possible I was a little terse with the fourth person who asked the phone, who then requested copies of ownership and other things, then told me she was going to send me to a Jeep dealership because they don’t keep key codes at the customer service center. That’s a piece of information I would have appreciated at the beginning of the first call. 

Anyhow, a local pro locksmith was able to carve me a new copy of the ignition key that worked perfectly.  He also put it on a Jeep key, which was not available at the dealership. Sheesh. He also rekeyed the door tumblers to match my new ignition key, but couldn’t take the hatch cylinder out to work on it. 

I went back into the hatch and spent time looking at the mechanism, changed out the new actuator for a different new actuator, fixed up some weird wiring and gave one last shot of lubricant. I don’t know what did the trick, but now the hatch locks electrically. That’s acceptable. 

Current status: front doors and hatch work on the keyfob - the driver door sometimes takes a second cycle. Works every time the second time. Rear doors need manual locking. Both front doors and the ignition share a common key. This is as good as it’s going to get, and it’s going to be just fine for a childless couple with dogs. Heck, the rear seats will probably stay down all the time. 

I reattached the rear hatch interior trim and spent some time trying to eliminate rattles. We’ll see tomorrow. 

I also fixed something that’s been bugging me. The center console latch is broken (as with all XJs) and the top wobbles all over the place. A piece of UHMW (leftover skid puck from the Targa Miata) and that problem is solved. The plastic is slightly wedged and the console lid is soft, so it’s a nice press fit that locks the lid in place both side to side and up and down. Score. 

Wait! Is the top of the center console still attached to the hinge? I've looked at 20 XJs in junkyards for a replacement and every single one has the hinge detached from the top.

My ZJ latch is broken too....and I'm the gorilla that broke it :-(

In the ZJ most of the hinges are broken because you can't lift the console lid if the rear seats are down. The back of the lid hits the folded seatbase and only opens halfway, which is just enough to make you think you can force it. In mine it ripped the rear retainer screws out in the bottom of the center console but the hinge survived, but it was that way when I got it. Just a dumb design.

The hinge is still in place, but without lateral location I can see how it would eventually wear/break. It was a little sloppy. No longer!

Drive report: The newly rattle-free rear hatch and the solid center console make a massive difference. All of a sudden, the truck feels about a decade newer. The big rattle over sharp bumps is gone, so all you hear is the thump of the tires as the Fox suspension eats them up. There are no squeaks even in sub-freezing temps. Nothing shifts around as you put your weight on it. Getting rid of the noises and looseness lets all the other improvements be felt. This is what I was hoping for and I'm really happy with it. That stupid little UHMW block is worth its weight in gold several times over.

Still some things to do, of course. There's a clunk under initial acceleration that feels like there's a loose bushing underneath somewhere, I'll go looking for it. The radiator leaks a bit, the PS pump whines occasionally and it looks like the trans cooler might have a leak in a line somewhere. The Cure for the steering arrived yesterday. I'll be spending quality time underneath the car addressing all this as well as installing those longer brake lines and giving the brake system a checkup, but we're making progress.

Work! 

For some reason, I had the hood open and the remnants of the ABS system offended me. So they came out. Which was not as straightforward as it really should have been thanks to a nutsert that had come loose. Still, this is what landed on the floor.

I'm thinking there has to be some interesting use for that pump, as it was somehow also the brake booster. So it's a high pressure electric hydraulic pump of some kind. Hmm.

Next step was to pull off the wind deflector on the rack. It was covered with stickers, which is cool, but they were not stickers we wanted, which is not. 

They came off hard, but I eventually won the battle. This got three coats of Rustoleum for future protection and it will gain more interesting stickers in the future.

Next step was to reinstall the tool box I pulled out a while back. It takes up a fair bit of space, but it's organized space and it gives a good location for storing things like tow straps and jumper cables. It's also a good spot to mount a fire extinguisher. Let's see, French design built by unionized American workers using at least some Lucas components and then rattled around for nearly 30 years? Yeah, fire extinguisher.

I also installed The Cure, which is a quick job. For those who haven't figured it out yet, it's basically a Delrin cup that replaces the ball joint boot at the tie rod/drag link connection. This keeps the tie rod from twisting - quite effectively. Installation is pretty easy, you just pop the ball joint out of the drag link, pull the boot off and put it back together. 

Which means it's time for a test drive! A totally gratuitous test drive. First, The Cure. It did take a little bit of slop out of the steering. The range of steering wheel positions that translates to "straight ahead" is now smaller. Still no real steering feel but there's definitely a tighter connection between the steering wheel and where the XJ is going and it was well worth the low price and simple install. Thanks for the suggestion, Ultracylde.

And now, pictures for Eric because he loves seeing pictures of his Jeep. It snowed a little bit last night so all the dirt is now mud. This is the first time I've had it in the loose stuff since it got the diffs, so I might have had a little fun testing them. The rear works well - drop one wheel into a deep muddy tire rut and both rears will pull hard. The front is pretty much impossible to notice which is what you expect from a TrueTrac.

Eric thought that these rubber mats would be a good idea. I concur.

Next weekend is all the greasy dirty work, I'll have the thing on a lift.

This is a nice looking Jeep, I've always wanted one. I almost bought one a very long time ago, and I remember really liking the steering wheel. I went back to page 2 and see this one has the same one. Awesome!

Next time you have the door panels off and are looking at the power locks, I'd highly recommend doing some voltage drop tests to see if the problem is insufficient power going to the actuators or too much load on them. If there's not enough power, continued on to see what's eating up your voltage. If there is, maybe the linkage is binding/too stiff?

Four of the actuators are working solidly now. One of the rear doors is sketchy, it doesn't always lock. I've already played with the linkages and lubrication. 

Voltage drop is hard to test, as it's a momentary burst and I don't have a multimeter that shows peak numbers. The plan is not to remove the door panels any more, I'm good with the current status. I might just disconnect the left rear door so it won't leave itself unlocked.

Oh okay, I thought both rears still didn't work and the regulator was still on the to-do list. I know you've lubed stuff, but maybe it's resistance from wear internal to the latch?

True, the blip of power for power lock actuation can be pretty short. My DVOM has a little bar along the bottom of the screen that almost acts like an analogue meter in it's responsiveness, very useful. Maybe jump the actuators with some alligator clips and a good battery and see if they look/feel/sound stronger that way?

I am not really bothered with the state of the locks. It's good. Three doors and the latch are solid, one door is a bit occasional.

Work update.

The new used regulator for the right rear door arrived. Unfortunately, I had ordered one for the left rear door. Dead Jeeps got right on it and a more appropriate part is on the way. Now I have a spare for the driver's side.

Today was...do everything day.

The sawdust is there to soak up brake fluid, oil, coolant and a little bit of trans fluid. I can make the most incredible mess when equipped with a cooling system.

In order - the truck had a bit of a pulse in braking and it felt like it was in the rear. It also occasionally made a scraping noise, so I grabbed a full set of everything mechanical for the rear brakes. When I pulled the first drum, a little cylinder fell out. Like a hefty bearing from a roller bearing, or an oversize locating pin. I have no idea. My coworker Matt was in there most recently and I'm assuming he left this behind. I'll ask him if he recognizes it. I pulled apart the driver's side rear wheel (always do drums one at a time so you have one to tell you how the other goes together!) and realized the shoes were at full depth. No reason to change them. So I reassembled and stuck the new drums on each side. I also installed a longer rear brake line to deal with the extra droop that comes from the extended Fox shocks. The mud traces on the shocks show that they are almost but not quite bottoming, so that's perfect. The new brake line is a stock YJ part. Bolted right in. Yay for parts interchange!

Up front, the pads looked great so I swapped out the rotors (they're cheap, and NAPA is 15 miles away) and lubed the very dry slider pins. The front lines didn't get changed because one of them was being annoying and they didn't show any signs of needing it. The shocks showed a similar range of motion as the rear, so that's good.

Now the messy part. Very few pictures here because - well, you saw that first pic.

Pulled the front skid plate off. This is not stock, it's one burly piece. Looks like plastic, very much is not.

Pulled the oil filter and got ready to change out the o-ring on the oil filter adapter. More on that tomorrow.

Pulled the weeping radiator, which was designed to make maximum mess. Seriously, there is no way to drain the coolant in this thing without catastrophic splashing. The drain plug is basically behind the grille and drains directly into the passenger's headlight, a vacuum canister and then the bumper. I can make enough of a mess on my own without your help, Jeep.

Pulled the PS pump off because it had been making some bad noises. It seems to be better these days (cool weather?) but they don't fix themselves and it's easier for me to drop in a rebuilt pump and new hoses than it will be for Eric. Reassembled, then pulled it again when I found the secret o-ring hiding inside the paperwork. Sheesh.

So I'm about ready to reassemble everything with a new thermostat, new expansion tank, new upper and lower radiator hoses, new radiator, new PS pump, new PS pressure and return hoses, new serpentine belt and a bunch of fluids. Phew. Should hold it for a while.

Also, this arrived today which made me absurdly happy. I got one for Eric to play with while he waits for his Jeep, and one for me to play with when it's gone.

That is a stick front skid plate. The standard XJ got a plastic one, the Up Country models got one that looked identical, but was metal.