Monday 30 September 2013

More Jeep Shit, Sorry


I have to thank everyone for their comments on my last post regarding the Jeep, amusing, sympathetic and in John Delaney’s case, bloody useful even though I am now left completely confounded!  I am following up Beach Bum’s lead to Quadratec.com and Nigel’s advice to email, rather than phone.  I had been looking for a quick solution but now, I guess, Marcia will just have to get used to driving in the three tonne truck again until I get this sorted.

I had to laugh at the suggestion I needed a ‘Toe Truck’.  My toe is improving albeit very slowly and painfully.  I did promise the Fifth Columnist no more graphic photos so you will all just have to take my word for it but yes, it was jolly uncomfortable crawling under a vehicle in the rain (it has not rained here in months, the one time I really did not want it to rain, it poured yet more misery upon me) with a sore appendage that no matter how hard I tried to avoid such an occurrence, managed to stub on every sharp object underneath the car my knee jerk reactions to which added a few more puncture wounds to my leg and head and turned the damp air blue.

On the subject of comments, I really did not expect many from those whose knowledge of things mechanical was limited but Fifth Columnist, whose interest in cars extends only to a small nod of appreciation to his chauffeur when noting the waxed-to-perfection coachwork of his classic 600 Mercedes Pullman as he climbs in came up with the best:

If you keep ogling the nieces Marcia won’t need much persuasion to drive the truck over you, and you might worry more about your spleen rather than the jeep's spline.”

I have to confess, as she started the car up and stuck it in gear, it did occur to me that everything I own is in her name.

I’d like to think she carefully followed my instructions so that I could identify the problem but, being slightly neurotic, I could also imagine her calculating the outcome.  She has this grudging respect for me knowing that I am a far better mechanic than the locals so was best placed to problem solve and restore to her a working Jeep and that if she did squish me into the dirt, the car would be seized as evidence.  So long as I remain useful, I think I am safe but in the meantime, I have hoisted in the gypsy’s warning about her nieces.

Anyway, the car situation merits a summary.

John D has discovered that according to the factory records, Chrysler reckon my car is a 1996 4,0 litre, six cylinder Jeep Grand Cherokee.  Now even an apprentice mechanic on his first day at work can count plug leads.  I have eight of them.  Furthermore, a six cylinder Chrysler has all its cylinders in line under one cylinder head.  A V8 has eight cylinders arranged in two banks, forming a V and requiring two cylinder heads.  I have two cylinder heads.  I’m not a mechanic by trade but I was becoming reasonably confident that there was a V8 under my bonnet (or hood if you are American).  Besides, it says V8 on the back of the car.

That looks like a factory installed Chrysler V8 to me.  I could be wrong of course.

I checked the handbook entitled ‘1996 Jeep Grand Cherokee’.  It described a 4.0 six-in-line and a 5.2 litre V8.  I checked the vehicle registration documents.  They described the vehicle as fitted with a 4.497 litre V8.  Did Chrysler ever make a 4.5 litre V8?

John  D (blast his eyes) suggested the car might be a chop job, a car with which someone had gone to all the trouble of lifting out a six-in-line and dropping in a V8.  If that is the case, whoever did it went to extraordinary lengths, right down to applying the factory under bonnet stickers.

Anyone could forge those stickers with an HP printer and a bit of glue...

The handbook announces the car as a 1996 model but the Americans are fond of releasing new models in one year and declaring them as of the next model year.  A car designed during the years preceding 2013 and released that year is, therefore, announced as the 2014 model.  Yes, I know it is desperately confusing and defies all logic, I guess the designers and marketing men are all Trekkies and have wasted their youth collecting New-in-Box Star Trek memorabilia and wearing underpants far too tight to let testosterone take its normal course and modify behaviour from childish fantasy to reality.

The trouble is, if it is an American 1996 model, which means it was probably built in 1995.  That means it was built before the transfer case was modified.  That means I cannot run the car without the front drive shaft.

To add to my confusion, I read the instructions contained in the vehicle manuals, all of which were supplied with the vehicle.  It clearly states, and unless the guy chopping the vehicle employed an outstanding forger to modify the graphics printed on the centre console to factory standards and then went to all the extra trouble to wire in the relevant warning lights on the dash, that the means of switching between modes of traction is supplied by a Quadro-Trac transfer case.  But, according to the manual, Quadro Trac does not have a separate 2WD function which clearly, mine has.  When I first bought the vehicle, I tested all the traction functions.  In 2WD I was able to pull off rooster tails and even posted videos of me doing so.  In part time 4WD and Full Time 4WD it stuck to the ground like glue and in 4WD LO the car appeared willing to climb the side of a building.  It all worked so I doubt there is a problem with the transfer case.  I also doubt that this car is in any condition other than when it left the factory, wear and tear excluded.  Could it be that this was a cross over model and that although the factory was still fitting the old transfer case they were fitting the new model year centre consoles marked up with Quadro-Trac?  Mine is definitely marked up Quadro Trac yet has the 2WD slot which, according to the factory handbook, Quadro Tracs do not have.  And the factory VIN database can say what it likes, this car has a V8 complete with all the relevant factory stickers.  Confused?  Yes I am rather confused.

According to the driver's handbook, what you are seeing is a figment of your imagination.
Quadro-Trac does NOT have a seperate 2WD position.

When you are up to your neck in Alligators, it is bloody hard to remember that the original intention was just to drain the swamp.  All I want to know is: can I drive the car with the front prop shaft disconnected?

Anyway, it isn’t going to fix itself so I got underneath the car today and hauled the shaft off.  I need either the UJ rebuild kit or a complete new prop shaft, I don’t care.  I just want the right part.  You have no idea how pissed off a man can get when he tracks his part all the way across the world on the DHL on-line package tracking system, slogs into town to pay the import duty when it arrives in-country only to discover it is the wrong part.
 
This is the bit I need.  It's a yard long and weighs a tonne.  This one's fucked.
 
 

24 comments:

  1. The u joints should cross over to any number of other part numbers. I bet they are available in country. Don't you have anything resembling an auto parts store somewhere around? They didn't design a new u joint just for that car. Measure it & look for a part number & email someone. The axle spline will loosen up with some acetone & transmission oil mix, then re-grease it. By the way, the toe fever has caused you to post multiple times again.

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  2. Thanks for the heads up on the multiple post. It isn't that I am half nuts, it is a combination of blogger and a crap internet connection. I see that many people are drifting over to Wordpress which seems to be a damn sight easier.

    There is no such thing as a decent parts store here. I think I may have found a replacement shaft from a car the ECU of which has stuffed up. I'll get the shaft I need in exchange for helping the guy get a replacement ECU giving me time to sort out my shaft to give back to him. It is the way it works here.

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  3. I hope the two of you get your shaft sorted - how did we get back to the subject of your "nieces" so quickly?

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    1. Let me see... what did cause them to Spring to mind? Oh! I know! They visited and then ran round the kitchen in their underwear the following morning making breakfast.

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  4. Is it possible that the exact same prop shaft might be used on a totally different vehicle? My big 3.5 litre Rover broke down here once, and the garage man replaced the part with something from a Ford.

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    1. It's possible, Cro. If I can't get any joy with the parts, I reckon it is a trip down Congolense market clutching the shaft and trying to match it up with what they have lying in the dirt!

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  5. It is fascinating what I learn on your blog. Motorised conveyances have engines, and they're housed under the lid near the horses' behinds. They even have bits (that are fucked), as in your last photograph. I'm sure all of this information will be very useful one day.

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    1. If only to remind the natives that you do know what you are talking about...

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  6. ...tracks his part all the way across the world...

    Way back in the 1960's when my home state of South Carolina was only loosely connected to the rest of America my granddad had a similar incident. An expert mechanic in his own right he waited for close to a month for a part for his truck he used to drive to work and back.

    Long story short the part that came in was for the right model but the wrong year. His truck was an old 40's Ford but given the difference in years they might as well sent a part for a Dodge or Chevy.

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    1. It's like eagerly unwrapping what you think is a GI Joe at Christmas only to discover it is a GI Jane.

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  7. Just read some of your previous post to husband asking him, " can he drive that jeep ?" " No "

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    1. Pass on my thanks to Mr Husband for the first definitive answer I have received. The car remains off the road until I get the right part.

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  8. My 65 looking Chevy 4x4 is the Johnny Cash song 51,52,53,54,...59 Cadillac tune. VIN does not match the parts either because they bolted on a different cab on top the frame.. Go figure, a lot can happen in 30 years.

    Did you ever find an ID off the transfer case while busting knuckles under the Jeep?

    Based on the floor plate choices, is it the NP242 version that is a - no VC, no drive case?

    In any case, lol, it is a fucked crank. But ... this in no time for romance. Good luck with your joint!

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    1. Common sense says it's a 242 but then common sense said stir the cryo tanks on Apollo 13...

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  9. Look Hip, cut all the mechanical mumbo-jumbo, how's the frigging toe...
    dropped off yet?

    LLX

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    1. Actually, I am quite worried about it. I do not think it will be amputated. At this rate it will fall off of its own accord. It is bloody uncomfortable. The Doc came to look at it and said there was nothing to be done except keep swallowing the antibiotics and see what it looks like in a week's time.

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  10. Based on the floor plate picture with the 2H on it, I believe your transfer case is the 231, which has the 2H on the floor plate. It's also known as Command Trac.

    Based on the video illustration on Command Trac (231) on one of the links I sent you, the front crank does not turn in 2H, so you should be able to run in 2H without the crank. Still IMO.

    Scroll down and read the info on 231.. says it was on grand cherokee's too.
    http://www.4x4review.com/jeep-transfer-case-identification-guide/

    You still need to get a closeup picture of the transfer case ID plate (circle with red nicks around perimeter. I see it in your pictures, but cant read it. I think you'll find it is a 231 something.

    This part is not a get under it to check test !!!

    If you put it up on blocks in back, then in 2H, you should be able see the front driveshaft does not spin.

    Again, This is not a get under it to check test.

    Just make sure you keep it in 2H without the front crank installed. If front is not spinning and 100% goes to back axle, I cant see how you could do any damage up front.

    Used to have locking hubs up front, but guess all the new stuff does not.

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    1. Ahh, since the front crankshaft is gone, the front U coming out of case should not spin.

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  11. Greetings to John Delaney. He has delivered to me the perfect epitaph: "Since the front crankshaft has gone, U in your casket will spin no more. Next: The weather forecast."

    Ref your reply to Lettice Leaf: How your toe can live with you, Tom, I do not know. It's clearly attached to you. Rarely do we know when to quit.

    U

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    1. Crankshafts and U-joints, spinning merrily down the road in perfect rythm and harmony.

      Man you ought to hear her, with the siren on - Tom Waits

      Rev' er up, and she casts a spell - Ray Wylie Hubbard

      This mechanic stuff is getting me amped up, but again, this is no time for romance.

      Cheers BOTB

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  12. I feel left out, all this technical mumbojumbo. How about: http://www.jeepforum.com/forum/

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  13. I know absolutely nothing about the maintenance of motor vehicles but I love the title of this blogpost - "More Jeep Shit, Sorry" I assume the play on words was intentional? How about another photo of your toe Cap'n? I'd love to see proof that it's getting better.

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  14. I am a mechanical retard so can add little useful information. My brother's friend, whose father owned a Ford dealership, used to say that the new year models started Oct 1 of the previous year; thus, 2014 models roll out 01 October 2013.

    I do know that sometimes they change up some things during the year's run, which is why you may find that your 2WD has its own doohickey, although the manual you read doesn't cover that.

    Don't forget, with US cars, you'll need US tools as we still do stuff in inches here. A mm more or less can really make a difference if you're trying to connect/disconnect something.

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  15. Devin Brugman Sex Video !!!!!!!

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vIDLi--vPes

    ReplyDelete

Please feel free to comment, good or bad. I will allow anything that isn't truly offensive to any other commentator. Me? You can slag me without mercy but try and be witty while you are about it.