Novak Conversions Jeep Wrangler TJ engine mounts
I'm so tired of messing with this that I'm reduced to watching this guy on YouTube and working on smoking my new Savanelli pipe.

You want to talk about a hobby teacher that will put you to sleep. 🤣 Good teacher though!

heck I have a hard enough time drinking (tasting) wine the right way. :geek:
 
I got the rear end back together. There was a very thin shim on one side along with a thicker shim. I put those two in first and the shim on the other side was thick and I was able to tap it in w a rubber mallet.

@bobthetj03, the short wasn’t it.

@DrDmoney DC will work, just barely, better not hit a bump. 😂 they look pretty different, but the both have 16 splines. Gotta go to work tonight. Either late tonight or tomorrow AM I’ll install and know more. Hopefully it will be perfect and this saga can be put to rest.

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End of saga.

@DrDmoney’s DC shaft worked, isolating the problem to the DC. I’m going to rebuild it myself and get back on the road. Im so happy. 6 weeks and I didn’t look at that because Adam’s went over the shaft, replaced a ujoint, rebalanced, and said it was G2G.

NOT G2G

Here’s what I did ALL because they didn’t diagnose a problem and I trusted they did. Literally everything from the transmission mount back.

- Rear driveshaft sent back to Adams. 1 u-joint replaced at the pinion end. Shaft re-balanced
- TCase opened and taken apart. Found bad bearing. Good find. Replaced bearing. Didn't fix the problem
- Rear driveshaft removed. The sound was gone.
- Front driveshaft removed. The sound was present
- Changed gear oil in rear diff. Teeth were checked on ring and pinion. No metal shavings. Very clean fluid. New 85w-140 fluid.
- Adjusted rear pinion (2*low, 1*low, 0*, 1*high, 2*high). No change. I left it at 0* for now.
- Maintenanced 3 of 4 rear MC Arms. Everything looked good. No visible splits in the rubber. One more to do. Need to test by mimicking articulation
- Changed rear axle shafts and bearings. Some rust in the passenger axle tube due to the exhaust dump above the axle. Something to correct later. Cleaned up.
- Slo-Mo video shows sound is loudest near rear diff
- Go-Pro video shows the sound increases as speed increases
- Mechanics stethoscope under slight load on jack stands shows most change in sound is at the pinion on the rear diff, but the sound is not very pronounced.
- Swapped rear axle shafts with different bearings. No change
- Opened the diff again, removed carrier, cleaned everything, checked carrier bearings, races, and spent a lot of time going over the teeth. Looked in the elocker window and checked as many teeth as I could turning by finger. Nothing. Did not remove pinion bearing, but no play, rotates, all bearings turning by hand. No play. Pinion seal good. Ran it in 1st gear on jack stands and pinion bearing sounds smooth.
- Read more and talked with @Alex01 and @DrDmoney, both thought it was the DC.
- Called Adams and sent them this list. They said to lower the TCase or put in shorter coils bc my operating angles were near max (22.5).
- I used Darren’s DC which was short, but long enough for a test.

DRIVES LIKE A DREAM.

Videos to help others, though I think this is straightforward if you don’t get misled.




I should add that my original plan was to just rebuild the rear driveshaft. But Adams insisted that I send it back for their inspection. That was a mistake.

Happy New Year! I’m going to try to round up parts.
 
End of saga.

@DrDmoney’s DC shaft worked, isolating the problem to the DC. I’m going to rebuild it myself and get back on the road. Im so happy. 6 weeks and I didn’t look at that because Adam’s went over the shaft, replaced a ujoint, rebalanced, and said it was G2G.

NOT G2G

Here’s what I did ALL because they didn’t diagnose a problem and I trusted they did. Literally everything from the transmission mount back.

- Rear driveshaft sent back to Adams. 1 u-joint replaced at the pinion end. Shaft re-balanced
- TCase opened and taken apart. Found bad bearing. Good find. Replaced bearing. Didn't fix the problem
- Rear driveshaft removed. The sound was gone.
- Front driveshaft removed. The sound was present
- Changed gear oil in rear diff. Teeth were checked on ring and pinion. No metal shavings. Very clean fluid. New 85w-140 fluid.
- Adjusted rear pinion (2*low, 1*low, 0*, 1*high, 2*high). No change. I left it at 0* for now.
- Maintenanced 3 of 4 rear MC Arms. Everything looked good. No visible splits in the rubber. One more to do. Need to test by mimicking articulation
- Changed rear axle shafts and bearings. Some rust in the passenger axle tube due to the exhaust dump above the axle. Something to correct later. Cleaned up.
- Slo-Mo video shows sound is loudest near rear diff
- Go-Pro video shows the sound increases as speed increases
- Mechanics stethoscope under slight load on jack stands shows most change in sound is at the pinion on the rear diff, but the sound is not very pronounced.
- Swapped rear axle shafts with different bearings. No change
- Opened the diff again, removed carrier, cleaned everything, checked carrier bearings, races, and spent a lot of time going over the teeth. Looked in the elocker window and checked as many teeth as I could turning by finger. Nothing. Did not remove pinion bearing, but no play, rotates, all bearings turning by hand. No play. Pinion seal good. Ran it in 1st gear on jack stands and pinion bearing sounds smooth.
- Read more and talked with @Alex01 and @DrDmoney, both thought it was the DC.
- Called Adams and sent them this list. They said to lower the TCase or put in shorter coils bc my operating angles were near max (22.5).
- I used Darren’s DC which was short, but long enough for a test.

DRIVES LIKE A DREAM.

Videos to help others, though I think this is straightforward if you don’t get misled.




I should add that my original plan was to just rebuild the rear driveshaft. But Adams insisted that I send it back for their inspection. That was a mistake.

Happy New Year! I’m going to try to round up parts.
Everything happens for a reason, glad you are sorted and you did find some things that weren't right and could be better. Heck that TC output bearing could have gone out on our 2022 Rubicon trip. ;)
 
That’s a wrap folks!

It only took about 30 minutes to rebuild the DC end of the shaft. I just use a hammer 🔨, a 2x4, and some needle nose pliers. My precious daughter Corah helped tap in the u-joints. She’s a gem 💎, a true work of art. One of my favorite people in the world 🌎! I’m taking her and her neighborhood friends sledding at the OHV tomorrow! The hills are about 80 yards long!

Drives great. It’s snow here, so playtime. I’ve been cooped up without my Jeep for 6 weeks, so playtime is way overdue!

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Novak Conversions Jeep Wrangler TJ engine mounts