Operation Phoenix
- Thread starter macleanflood
- Start date
That alone was worth the price of admission! 
I've always been impressed with the quality of your videos. Your editing skills go a long way towards making your videos easy to watch. Great job, Mac! 
I've always been impressed with the quality of your videos. Your editing skills go a long way towards making your videos easy to watch. Great job, Mac!
My bad habit is making way too long videos. Need to cut a lot more.
-Mac
Took the fan shroud and fan off to check torque on the crank pulley. 100 ft lbs on the money. Checked with two wrenches. Pulley face is 2 1/16" from the face of the engine next to the bolt below the timing marks.
My only theory is the Napa crank pulley is somehow 1/8' proud of the original Mopar one.
And strangely it didn't throw a belt or have any issues until we drove the Rubicon.
I don't dare put another belt on it until I know I fixed something.
Issue is the belt is down one rib...sits forward on the pulley on the crank and back on the rest of the pulleys.
Checked Rock Auto and no more Mopar. So maybe I go to O'Reilly's and roll the dice on another aftermarket and see if something changes.
-Mac
My only theory is the Napa crank pulley is somehow 1/8' proud of the original Mopar one.
And strangely it didn't throw a belt or have any issues until we drove the Rubicon.
I don't dare put another belt on it until I know I fixed something.
Issue is the belt is down one rib...sits forward on the pulley on the crank and back on the rest of the pulleys.
Checked Rock Auto and no more Mopar. So maybe I go to O'Reilly's and roll the dice on another aftermarket and see if something changes.
-Mac
The only thing that makes any sense is this one is separating. I'm almost certain all 4.0s use the same crank pulley.
Advance and AZ both have the Dorman one.
Edit: So does O'Reilly.
Advance and AZ both have the Dorman one.
Edit: So does O'Reilly.
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Well shit...
That might explain things. Hopefully there's enough left in the crank.
Chase with a tap I assume and replace the bolt...grade 8 or anything special?
-Mac
P S. Making a post on this in the General forum ...
That might explain things. Hopefully there's enough left in the crank.
Chase with a tap I assume and replace the bolt...grade 8 or anything special?
-Mac
P S. Making a post on this in the General forum ...
Last edited:
Well shit...
View attachment 563044
That might explain things. Hopefully there's enough left in the crank.
Chase with a tap I assume and replace the bolt...grade 8 or anything special?
-Mac
P S. Making a post on this in the General forum ...
Doesn't that just gall you?
Went Christmas tree hunting topless in the Jeep...snow wheeling along getting soaking wet and muddy. Had a blast and made a good video.
Got back and decided to install the Hooke Road cargo platform I bought for black Friday. At first I was thinking I didn't like the dimensions. Not as deep and as wide as I would have liked... should have looked over the specs better...the $180 should have gone into my TIG welding aluminum piggy bank and I should have just made what I wanted from aluminum.
Now that it's installed I'm thinking of ordering a 28" wide, 32" x 3" aluminum drain pan and mounting it with drawer glides under the shelf. Be a great place for tools and gear... especially with it filled with foam cut out for the tools and gear. No rattles and easy visual verification nothing got left behind.
Also ordered new Anchor motor mounts, JKS MML and BMB body lift pucks. Going to start there...and then fabricate my own transmission mount and decide if I'm ordering a skid plate or making my own.
-Mac
Got back and decided to install the Hooke Road cargo platform I bought for black Friday. At first I was thinking I didn't like the dimensions. Not as deep and as wide as I would have liked... should have looked over the specs better...the $180 should have gone into my TIG welding aluminum piggy bank and I should have just made what I wanted from aluminum.
Now that it's installed I'm thinking of ordering a 28" wide, 32" x 3" aluminum drain pan and mounting it with drawer glides under the shelf. Be a great place for tools and gear... especially with it filled with foam cut out for the tools and gear. No rattles and easy visual verification nothing got left behind.
Also ordered new Anchor motor mounts, JKS MML and BMB body lift pucks. Going to start there...and then fabricate my own transmission mount and decide if I'm ordering a skid plate or making my own.
-Mac
Bought that same cargo rack, but decided to modify it when my doggo got too big to fit back there.
Working through a BL and MML. Was originally thinking of building my own cross member that would support a factory transmission mount... bought and cut some metal but did not like the direction or weight it was heading. Decided to order a UCF skid...27 lbs sounds good to me. Paid extra for the 3/8" version.
I figured the skid would be here by now but it's not...only been a week...not shipped... assuming they fabricate on order...so I ordered some M8 1.25 40mm couple nuts and some flange bolts. I figure I can use those as a temporary spacer on the stock skid until the UCF one arrives...but Amazon won't get me nuts and bolts till next Thursday.
Meanwhile started installing my oil heater...not calling it's cooler...and I'm glad I waited until I got a MML installed because the spacing is tight on the oil filter. Opted for new 3/4 heater hose instead of cutting the original and adding 90s.
Meanwhile my channel monetized...at 1250 or so subscribers...been hitting the cleanups hard...we did 235,000 lbs of trash last year and 40 cars, trucks and RVs.
-Mac
I figured the skid would be here by now but it's not...only been a week...not shipped... assuming they fabricate on order...so I ordered some M8 1.25 40mm couple nuts and some flange bolts. I figure I can use those as a temporary spacer on the stock skid until the UCF one arrives...but Amazon won't get me nuts and bolts till next Thursday.
Meanwhile started installing my oil heater...not calling it's cooler...and I'm glad I waited until I got a MML installed because the spacing is tight on the oil filter. Opted for new 3/4 heater hose instead of cutting the original and adding 90s.
Meanwhile my channel monetized...at 1250 or so subscribers...been hitting the cleanups hard...we did 235,000 lbs of trash last year and 40 cars, trucks and RVs.
-Mac
That's a lot of shit to pull out of the woods. You're doing some great work, thank you. 
Ok...UCF skid still hasn't shipped. Talked to them Tuesday and they said it might ship late this week.
Meanwhile my M8 couple nuts and flange bolts arrived from Amazon. This essentially lets me simulate where I expect the UCF skid to land the transmission.
Drove it around the property and I'll take it out and test vibrations tomorrow. Hoping things are close enough that I don't have to mess with pinion angles until the UCF is on.
I'm also more and more convinced I didn't quit get my MM in perfect spot...had to pull my transfer case about an inch driver and a quarter inch forward to get the flange
bolts into the couple nuts.
-Mac
Meanwhile my M8 couple nuts and flange bolts arrived from Amazon. This essentially lets me simulate where I expect the UCF skid to land the transmission.
Drove it around the property and I'll take it out and test vibrations tomorrow. Hoping things are close enough that I don't have to mess with pinion angles until the UCF is on.
I'm also more and more convinced I didn't quit get my MM in perfect spot...had to pull my transfer case about an inch driver and a quarter inch forward to get the flange
bolts into the couple nuts.
-Mac
Spent about four hours in the shop. Cut an inch out of my fuel tank skid. Changed the speedo gear... wasn't that far off from my previous gear for 33s but since the o-ring appeared to be leaking seemed to be the Jeep gods sending me a message. Knocked a ton of fine dirt and sand down. Drove down to the logging scales...4380 lbs...down 20 lbs from either the mostly empty tank or the dirt I removed.
-Mac
-Mac
Wife said I needed to work on our communication skills.
So I installed a new antenna on her JK.
Pulled off the roof rack front section, cut up some metal I salvaged off an RV and welded it on. She did the grinding and painting.
Nothing like RV parts on a minivan.
-Mac
So I installed a new antenna on her JK.
Pulled off the roof rack front section, cut up some metal I salvaged off an RV and welded it on. She did the grinding and painting.
Nothing like RV parts on a minivan.
-Mac
Called UCF this morning. Bonus points they always answer the phone. Order was placed 1/8 and they're saying with 3" of snow on the ground they're shut down today and might be in the office tomorrow...no updates or news.
@Fluxor needs to start making skid plates! And I just saw all the aluminum hinges and tire carrier. I put the Morryde stuff on mine and she weighs 4400 lbs no body armor.
In other news for MLK day, in honor of Dr. King and in the spirit of public service we went and recovered a pickup camper abandoned in a creek. Should have brought the Jeep.
Going to add 2" recievers to the left and right back sides of the dump trailer. I have a spare HF 9k winch. 25' of 1/0 and some Anderson connectors and a winch plate mounted to a hitch. That'll make this easier.
-Mac
@Fluxor needs to start making skid plates! And I just saw all the aluminum hinges and tire carrier. I put the Morryde stuff on mine and she weighs 4400 lbs no body armor.
In other news for MLK day, in honor of Dr. King and in the spirit of public service we went and recovered a pickup camper abandoned in a creek. Should have brought the Jeep.
Going to add 2" recievers to the left and right back sides of the dump trailer. I have a spare HF 9k winch. 25' of 1/0 and some Anderson connectors and a winch plate mounted to a hitch. That'll make this easier.
-Mac
Still no word from UCF. Called Wednesday and today no answer. Left VM no return call. Just sent sales an email. Order was placed Jan 8th.
Went scouting for trash. Did 125 miles of FS roads and a little freeway. Vibrations aren't much worse than before. Drives 75 no issues.
Had a high idle issue. Found the vacuum line from the intake to the evap solenoid had pulled loose installing the motor mounts and spacer.
Found a 26' Tahoe RV and a Pioneer pickup camper. Plus five more RV debris piles... essentially dumped parts leftover from scraping frames.
And a Honda Fit on its roof, sans engine and transmission. And a couple of large, occupied encampments.
Yesterday I fixed my driver's door latch...screws were bottoming out before tightening on the door. Added a washer and a lock washer, lubed everything up and reassembled. Works great now...no more leaning into the door to open.
-Mac
Went scouting for trash. Did 125 miles of FS roads and a little freeway. Vibrations aren't much worse than before. Drives 75 no issues.
Had a high idle issue. Found the vacuum line from the intake to the evap solenoid had pulled loose installing the motor mounts and spacer.
Found a 26' Tahoe RV and a Pioneer pickup camper. Plus five more RV debris piles... essentially dumped parts leftover from scraping frames.
And a Honda Fit on its roof, sans engine and transmission. And a couple of large, occupied encampments.
Yesterday I fixed my driver's door latch...screws were bottoming out before tightening on the door. Added a washer and a lock washer, lubed everything up and reassembled. Works great now...no more leaning into the door to open.
-Mac
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