96EXXLTinCO

I've been lurking around here for a while now. I originally bought this 96 XLT, 4.0L, 5-speed man., 4x4 from a buddy. I was driving a 2001 Mitsubishi eclipse spyder GT, but it broke down. My buddy and his wife had just bought a newer Cherokee and the explorer was just sitting there. So he let me drive it for a while till I got the car fixed. Then I didn't want to let it go. So I gave him $1250 for it. This is pretty much it as I bought it:

started out with some lights under the dash:

Added some sound:

Then came my bday present:

But is looks WAY too small IMO, so off to Cabela's I go with gift cards.....oh btw, the body damage was from my buddy when he still owned it, backed into a gas pump pylon.....anyway, OFF TO CABELA'S:

Bought the extra 22 or so inch extension off the shelf, I think that looks much better, and is way more functional too. Then I added one of these: (yes it says ice, it was a cold day).

Next it was time for a AAL and TT:

Yes the back is still sagging, but I finally pulled the trigger on the leaf spring bushings today (will be here saturday) so I can install the cheap autozone shackles for now. I found a decent set on a 95 at one of my pick and pull yards, but bolts were seized of course and I almost lost a finger trying to get em off, so autozone cheapies it is for now until I get my hands on some 2"x3/8" and fab up my own shackles. Really not looking forward to wrestling those bushings, but I want this part of the lift done. I got a line on some Mickey Thompsons for cheap that I want to get on this thing soon. So I finally took her out on her maiden voyage run to Johnny's Park. I know, not smart, but I went alone. Back in the day I had a 79 Bronco, and then a 90 F-150 that I took up to that trail all the time. Got to one rocky section that I wasn't feeling confident about and it started raining, so I decided it best to get the hell outta dodge. Had a blast and she did well. Here's a few pics from that day:

Ya'll know how much pics never do the steepness any justice:

Found this little spur off the trail that looked fun:

And again, pics never do the steepness any justice, but was steep, and it was loose, just after where I took this, I lost traction and has to turn around. Not a fun task on a steep loose hill, thought we were gonna eat it at one point, but we finally got the nose pointed downhill.

And back home with her first bit of dirt from wheelin on her:

The very next weekend, took a gal out wheelin on a first date, LOL. Tried to hit Pierson park road in Estes, but it's still closed from floods. Headed down to Allenspark and took the ski road quite a ways back, really rocky bumpy trail, constantly getting thrown around, but I can't wait to go back up there and take the trail all the way back. Apparently there was a ski area back in there in the 40's. Was only open a few years and only had 4-5 runs and 2 tow ropes. I dont believe any evidence of it is left. So once we got out of there I attacked Johnny's park from the other end, this time crossing the sketchy rocky area that turned me back before with no problems. We found a spur off the other end of the trail and parked where we could see the lights out east and just hung out for a few hours. I did discover I'm going to need more lights however.........I turned into some pretty sharp turns without being able to see what I was turning into......a little creepy...But we made it out and then next day it was time to delete those running boards. Before:

And after:

Then I went ahead and finally installed a black herc'd grill I came across at the pick and pull:

And that's how she sits right now. I got tons of little things to fix/replace and lots more mods. I hope to have 3" BL and 33's under this time next year. For now, I just want some 31-ish tires on it, and get everything back up to par before waterfowl hunting season.

 

[96EXXLTinCO]

So got the Ex down to the Springs, turns out a guy I've wheeled with was the tow driver that brought the General down to me, I felt a little better when I found out he was towing it. So It sat here for a couple weeks till I had a chance to get up to Longmont and get the spare tcase. Started pulling the old shot 4405 out yesterday, but nonstop interruptions caused me to only get as far as having 4 bolts left and it's out. Looked over the spare I have and turns out it's an electric shift BW1354. I got a little excited for a minute because I knew I had seen something about being able to convert those to a manual shift. A little searching and reading later, and no. Looks like you pretty much have to have a manual shift 1354 to swap parts from anyway. So, not sure of the differences between the 4405 and 1354e, other than the shift motor wire harness connector. I didn't check to see yet if I can just swap the motors, I'm hoping it's that simple, but with my luck......yea right. Really wanted it fixed tonight to give her a shakedown in the snow we got last night, maybe it will stick around long enough for me to get some sideways turns in before it melts off.

So anyone know the difference in the 2 tcases? Really hope I'm not putting an even weaker tcase in, I'm too hard on it for that!! What about install differences? Should bolt up I believe? Shift motor swap over? Obviously I'll have to cut and splice that brown wire, but that "should" be it? Or will my motor from a 4405 even work on a 1354?

Side note, the General 2.0 (the 94 sport) is down right now too, RF wheel bearings. I'll update that thread though with that story. Looking like a repair weekend, though I can't complain. Wheeled my 96 hard for over a year with no issues at all, and the 94 has been going hard since around April/May. These things are tough, and even die hard XJ guys I know are taking notice, albeit mostly about the amount of time we're on trail vs. in the garage fixing stuff.

 

[96EXXLTinCO]

Had the BW4405 tcase that fell victim to the all too common elongated shift rail bores. Luckily I had a BW1354e laying around. Obviously this is a direct bolt on, but cannot be shifted with the dash knob. I took it out a couple days ago after swapping the tcase (leaving the shift motor unbolted, but hooked to the wiring harness.) I can manually shift it by hand by crawling underneath with some channel locks and turning the selector. When in 2WD I can spin the front drive shaft. I also turned the dash knob to 4LOW to engage the CAD. All seemed to work on the test drive, but now, even though I shift it into 4LOW and grab the front driveshaft to see if I can turn it. Once I put it in 4WD however, I can not turn the front driveshaft. BUT when I got in the snow and romped on it, Only the back tires are spinning. I havent tested anything or checked anyting out. Anyone ever run into this? Anybody know for sure how to test the center axle disconnect? I hope to holy hell this is something dumb and easy, crawling under everytime to shift it is already old, Need to find another BW1354m

 

[WormsExplorer]

Did you do the Brown Wire Mod?

 

[96EXXLTinCO]

Did you do the Brown Wire Mod?

No, I never had the need for 4WD high to stay engaged. If I needed 4WD I'd just use low range. If you can travel over 30mph, you dont need to be in 4WD!! LOL.

 

[96EXXLTinCO]

Only thing to report lately on this rig is I finally split the old 4405 tcase to see just what the issue was. Was hoping to find just missing plastic pieces in the shift fork. LMAO!!! YEA RIGHT!! Not only were the plastic pieces chewed ap and all over the inside, the part of the fork that they sit in was spread apart on both sides and and had been rubbing metal to metal for quite some time. Plus, shift rail bores had a ton of slop also. Not sure how this thing held it in 4lo for as long as it did. So been crawling underneath and manually shifting it for quite some time. Still have yet to replace anything else, and this thing is making noises of all kinds and from all kinds of places. No plans to fix anything at the moment though as we have acquired another explorer which puts the count at 3 now. This one however is big. 8" of lift and 35's. I'll start another thread on that one soon as this was the most involved 3way deal Ive ever been a part of. So new rig to wheel, and this one will be sitting for a while now.

 

[WormsExplorer]

Can't wait to see the write up of your 1st gen.

 

[96EXXLTinCO]

This thing doesn't quit!!! Well unless.................................................................get to that in a min. I mentioned it's been making all kinds of noise. turns out the worst noise was due to the front shocks' top mounts not having any bushings left. An Explorer enthusiast her in town hooked me up with some brand new in the box Energy Suspension shock bushings. This quieted down the front end a lot on the rough road we frequent to get to the trails we like nearby.

Next, I've had a squeek underneath whenever I'm under load for a while. Time to find it!! Well that was easy.........rearmost ujoint had play in 3 of 4 caps. swapped it out in a WalMart parking lot in the middle of the night, those 3 caps had ZERO needle bearings in them and they had turned to dust.......literally. Got that checked off the llst this weekend.

 

[gmanpaint]

3 caps? Wally, don't be so hard on the Beaver!

I keep a few extra sets of those bushings in the 1st gens spare parts bag. Haven't had to use them yet, but I have considered this could happen someday.

 

[96EXXLTinCO]

It started as a little squeak when taking off in 1st gear. After a couple days I had settled on it probably being a ujoint. The squeak squeak squeak was happening too fast to be anything past the diff. I drove it like this a while, kept wheeling, and old General just kept plugging along, and even before this squeak squeak started, in fact LOOOOONNNGGG before, started hearing the familiar sound of a bearing headed south in the front end somewhere. Not the Drivers' unit bearing, just did that a couple years ago. Not the diff or CV's. Took passenger tire off and there it was. Passenger side hub/unit bearing. Sounds like it has sand in it I ignored it so long.

Not one to shy from a trail cuz of a little bearing noise, headed up the hill. didn't do anything difficult at all, and with the exception of needing lower gears, I could have easily done it all in 2wd. We were getting tired and decided to head down since it would still take a while to air up, connect sway bars, blah blah blah.........I did get tired of fighting this BW1354e with pliers or channel locks to manually shift him from below the floorboard, so I took an old shift motor and pulled the gear out that goes over the input shaft on the shift motor. Much easier to shift it by hand underneath with one of those. Now if I'd just find that thread about wiring the center axle disconnect to a switch, that would eliminate the need to crawl under the drivers' side and shift the tcase, then to the pass side to switch the vacuum lines. Would save me from getting as soaked as I did a couple weeks ago trying to get him back in 2wd during a downpour.

So anyway, bearing is growling at me, ujoint now sounding really bad, I headed down the hill and grabbed a ujoint. Stuck that in and headed back up. It's been a little jerk trying to shift if for quite a while and it's all but impossible to put it in 1st or reverse if at a dead stop. shifting up through the gears I would do my best to rev match in addition to using the clutch to make it as easy on it as possible. so after wheeling a while, I need gas. Head down the hill and get gas, then head over to McDonalds for some breakfast. Pulled in there at 5AM. Still there at 1130AM and by then it had been decided that home still wasn't sounding too appealing, so we decided to head back up again. Leila was a couple miles away and said she'd meet me where the asphalt ends. Cool. Go to put it in reverse and the clutch pedal has nothing..........it's a wet noodle. SO, check a few things, come up with a bad master cylinder as the most likely culprit. I spent a couple more hours (still in McDonald's farm)) reading through some threads here on the forum which only confirmed my suspicions. Off to get a clutch master cylinder. Already know these are a b***ch to bleed, I bypassed doing things correctly due to lack of sleep, and just wanting to get it fixed and drive it home. DONT DO THAT!!!! I realized my mistake after signing the reciept for the tow truck driver and sending him on his way.

We're now approaching midnight. Yup, staring 20 hours in McDonald's parking lot in the face was not my idea of a good Monday.. Having access to AAA, I surrendered and General came home on a rolloff's back. Took the MC back out and strung/stretched it out on a fence picket clamped to the workbench with the resovoir at the top, MC inverted so no air can be trapped and the remainder of the hose stretch and pegged at the bottom so that every piece is at a vertical angle and unable to trap air. Started with tapping the line with a screwdriver handle starting at the bottom and working upward. Did this a couple times, then grabbed the master cylinder and began working the plunger rod slowly back and forth, working the air out. Once you're unable to work the plunger anymore, that part is done, and good to go. Reinstall the resovoir, line and master cylinder. Gravity bled the slave for a bit and I had enough pedal to be back n the road again. Will hopefully getting more front end parts soon and take care of some more sounds. Motor is tired, tons of top end noise and little knock in the lower. Disappointed I had a shot at 2 separate 5.0's, complete swaps, everything there. No where to park another rig and nowhere to do the work really. A slanted driveway is not the place to work on it either, right Jonathan??? Anyway, it's running and driving now after one more bleed on the slave cylinder, and I'm calling it good for the moment. What's that you say about these rigs @gmanpaint ???

 

[gmanpaint]

Ok, you win the crappiest Monday award.

I would install a new shifter kit in it. If it is still hard to shift into 1st & reverse, you might start thinking about the slave cylinder.

How is the pedal feel? Easy or stiff?

It's always something with these rigs!

 

[96EXXLTinCO]

By shifter kit, do you mean the plastic bushing type things that go in the top cover for the shifter? They could probably use replacement, but Ive seen those in REALLY bad shape the truck still shifted. The pedal feels better but still feels like a bubble in there somewhere. It's got just a touch of play at the very top, and then the more you push the stiffer it gets up to a certain point. It's like I can almost feel that air compressing until it reaches the limit and starts moving fluid.

 

[gmanpaint]

Yes, the parts on top. Those pins get worn, and impede the shifting.

Pedal should have the same feel throughout the swing. I recently learned on the 95 that the stiff pedal it had, was not right. Wasn't until the new clutch system went in, that I realized it was a bad slave cylinder. Master still worked, but it felt like it had air in it. The new slave & throwout solved it. Pedal is easy as can be now. Takes no effort to depress/release, compared to how it was before.

 

[96EXXLTinCO]

I just did a new slave almost exactly 2 years ago. Dont really care to do it again, but I guess if it needs it then I'll have a chance to change out the rubber plugs on the top cover, throw in a better clutch, resurface flywheel, put in a tcase that won't require crawing underneath to engage.....I guess this is price I pay for wheeling hard and often all last year with no issues huh? General says "you had your fun, now I get some attention".

If there is still air in it, it has to be in the slave, or as you said it's on it's way out already. I wouldn't mind so much if it wasn't a concentric slave. Only difference between the men and the boys is the price of their toys, and we pay for it one way or another...

 

[5spdman]

Don't get me started on those dang slave cylinders..........

 

[96EXXLTinCO]

Don't get me started on those dang slave cylinders..........

Oh yea, you had a recent run in with one didn't you? I mean, if having to replace one every couple years is the price of wheeling, I'm fine with that. What I'm not especially a fan of is pulling the trans to replace it. What was wrong with the ole external slave and a fork??

 

[5spdman]

3...the 1st was my mistake (forgot about my 93 hose on my 91 MC, meaning the connector for the 91 slave didn't fit), decided I was tired of taking off the trans and bucked up the cash for the Motorcraft slave, only to remove the pilot bearing from said slave for some reason, forget to replace it and destroyed it in a matter of 1.8 seconds...3rd slave was fine, no problems, just don't rely on a vacuum bleeder or you'll believe something else is still wrong, purchase an un-needed new MC from Rockauto because you've already dropped big bucks on the Motorcraft slave, only for it to not quite 100% work the way it should and end up not being the issue in the first place....

.....deep breath.....

I may have had a recent run-in with a slave cylinder, yes...

 

[96EXXLTinCO]

Well.....been really busy and just now getting a chance to update.

just don't rely on a vacuum bleeder or you'll believe something else is still wrong

We have one of the mighty vacs, and I only gravity bled the slave. I still have a little play at the top of the pedal swing that's coming from the slave cylinder. If I disconnect the line at the slave, the pedal is rock hard, so it's in the slave for sure. Gravity bleeding isn't getting it bled all the way. I haven't tried the vacuum bleeder to get the last bit of air, but I need to try something else. I've never used a vacuum bleeder on anything before, what's the procedure on that? I've read of bleeding with the vacuum at the bleeder screw on the slave, but I've also read of using the vacuum at the top on the reservoir, and then also forcing fluid down from the reservoir with a syringe? Anyone have any experience with any of these procedures and how did it work? With this small amount of play still in the pedal, with the clutch pedal pressed all the way to the floor, the clutch isn't disengaging all the way. At a stop with the clutch pedal at the floor, not touching the brake, shifter in first gear........if I pull it down into neutral I can feel the truck rock back slightly indicating the clutch is not entirely released and is still dragging a touch. Would love to hear about what's worked best for everyone else, I'm buried in house chores and repairs on the 9 vehicles we have here. Normally I enjoy searching the forum and reading threads, but this is one time I could sure use a little shortcut if anyone has one.

We headed up our go-to road for a few days on trail and the clunk from toasted shock bushings was back on the right side. Got to the top of the initial climb and stopped at one of our favorite places to take a look. The top busing on the top end of the shock was gone!! This was brand new Energy Suspension bushings. I'm hard on these poor ole shocks, but I'm stumped as to what happened here. I always carry assorted bits of hardware and happened to still have one of the old bushings. The hole in the shock tower that the stud goes through seems to be rather big. Found a fender washer that fit fairly well over the shock stud to close up that hole some, so going bottom to top I now have; curved washer that cups around the bushing, lower bushing, shock tower, fender washer, upper bushing, curved washer, nut. So far it's still holding. Am I missing something on the shock tower? That hole seems way to big for the bushings to work correctly, so either the bushings that were on it originally, as well as the new Energy Suspension bushings were too small, or???

 

[gmanpaint]

As far as the Slave goes, I can think of three things. ..

1-Gravity bleed again, and use at least a Qt going slow, and tapping all the way from resi to trans.
2-Vac bleed at the Slave
3- I was told that the newer Mustang Slave's do not come with bleeders. They get reversed vac bled thru the reservoir. If you have the mighty vac, it should have came with the adapter tips and such for the Resi tank. There are How to Youtube vids.

I use a bleed feed bottle (made for this) that holds a Qt or more of fluids when gravity bleeding. Turn it upside down and it drains itself into the Resi tank keeping it full as the system bleeds. Came with the compressed air vac bleeder kit. HF & Northern tools sells them pretty cheap I believe.

The only real sure thing that will fix it, is to drop the trans and replace the slave, throw out, & pilot bearing with a known good brand that will last for years to come. The extra $$ it costs now, will be worth it when you don't have to keep doing this PITA repair.

Shocks...

Swaybar still on? If yes, how do those bushings look?
Are you running limit straps or are you using your shocks as the limiter?

When you have some down time, take off the rubber bushings from both sides, and compare them to each other. They get indented upon compression.Save an old bushing to compare it with? See if one indent is larger then the other, and you will have your answer about the towers openings. Or get a digital caliper up in there, after the bushings are out.

If your TT cranked fully, and run stock shocks, your down travel stroke on the shock is short. It doesn't take much to max them out. If your not using limit straps to stop the shocks from bottoming out, then you should be. If the shocks are maxed on droop, they pull on the bushings hard. These will ensure your shocks and CV axles stay safe. Do not rely on a weak swaybar link bushing to do this when off roading in remote areas, such as you do.