Jeep Enthusiast Forums banner

ratmonkey's build. In progress: 3/4 ton and 37's

211K views 730 replies 130 participants last post by  narnwv 
#1 · (Edited)
i've gotten to the point where i'm totally unhappy with my drivetrain. in the coming weeks i'm going to be swapping out my motor and transmission, i'll document the tranny and motor rebuilds here as best i can. with all the tranny problems people see here that are mainly wear related, it'll be nice to show everyone just how simple it is to pull a chrysler transmission apart for a simple rebuild.

right now i've got this in my powertrain.
junkyard 44re that's slipping in 1 and 2 just like the one i replaced(rebuilding with aps parts)
318 with some bolt ons, those being;
hughes engines f1 intake manifold
iron ram 1.96 heads
harland sharp 1.7:1 roller rockers.
turbo city intake
24lb/hr matched injectors.
summit digital ignition box
accel coil and wires.
swapped in an np242 as well.
what i'll be doing
360 with flat top pistons(shooting for 9.5-10:1 compression)
new cam that i still haven't decided upon yet. probably in the just under .500 lift area with the roller rockers' increased ratio
double roller timing chain of course.
all the bolt on parts from the 318, and a tune from kolak to get it all purring properly.
the transmission will get a racing master rebuild kit and a transgo shift kit. leaning towards manual shift at the moment as well.

after and during this i'll be tackling all the squeaks and clunks in my suspension.
i'll be picking up the 360 tomorrow or monday and doing as much prep work on it as i can during next week as i've got a layoff then. if i have time i'll throw my transmission back together so that i can get you step by step on how to pull it apart.
 
See less See more
#2 ·
ran out of light putting the tranny back together so i can pull it apart with pics for you guys, i've got a tatt app tomorrow at noon so i don't know if i'll get it then. only took about 45mins and 1 beer to get it together from everything torn down except the valve body. too bad i started so late in the day on it.

here's a pic of me after a day at the mud pits for a jeep get together. sadly i didn't win muddiest rig. this was after a slight rain. :)


here's a pic from my first engine top end rebuild. with the hughe's engines f1 intake, eq iron ram heads, and h/s 1.7 rr's. the rockers and intake look sharp as all get out.


also visible is a junction block for upgraded under hood 4ga power wire. this will be replaced with 00 welding cable when the new engine goes in.
 
#5 ·
new 32x11.5 bfg at's on soft 8's.

good shot of the sliders too

in hind sight, with the type of terrain found around here, i'd be much better off having gotten a set of km2's or gone with the larger mtr's again.

shot of the intake on the work bench.


old heads and lifter galley from when i redid the top end, sadly i didn't take many pictures of this project.
 
#8 ·
for other people's reference.
the top two solenoids are your governor pressure solenoid(facing into the trans) and gov press sensor facing rearward.
the other two, facing towards the valve body on the side are the tcc lockup and od shift solenoids, they are one assmbly and are sold as such.


beauty shot of the crystal lenses, corners, and signals. unfortunately it's sleeting outside right now.
 
#9 ·
if your mirror looks like this

it's time to drain the electro reactive fluid from it, this is for the dimming mirror function.
mine did this after getting a pretty severe side shock when i slid into a curb. surprised the mirror isn't more isolated from the body than that.
use a utility knife to pry around the molding that holds the two panes together. some people can get it to drain, i just removed the whole thing.

there are two wires on it, one at the bottom inner corner and one at the top inner corner that'll need snipped if you need to pull the molding and outside pane.

here's a clear mirror again.


that's all for today folks, this sleet is killing my hands.
 
#10 ·
let the fun begin. just thought i'd get a shot of it in the back of the jeep before i started pulling it apart.


came out of a 96 ram 2500 work van with 112k miles on it. should still be good but i'll figure that out when the teardown starts. it sure is dirty though.

should have the proper motor mounts and i know it's got the right flexplate.
 
#17 ·
ok, after a test drive it took care of the majority of my bearing noise in the rear end, i think that my driver's side shaft is too scored as well, since that bearing is nearly new too.

here's some pics from the process. firstly...
the most important tool for the job.

second best tool in the arsenal. if you've never used a ratcheting wrench, you're missing out.

don't forget to slather some of this on every nut and bolt you take out.


if you don't know where to start on this, well, i kinda feel bad for ya. crack the diff and drain it.


pull your tires and ebrake hardware on the side you want to pull(more room to work with) take the other tire off as well so you can spin everything easier.


pull your drive shaft so you can freely spin the diff as needed.

get the right tool for the job of pulling the cross shaft pin, e8 torx.

for this guy

now you can rotate the locker around(or pull the spider gears if you don't have an aussie( :) )
if you have an aussie, pull these springs.(never mind the milkshake)

now the c clip will either fall right out or it'll take you 2hrs to get it wiggled just right to come out. guess which way it went for me this time...

pull the shaft out, use a slide hammer to yank the bearing and seal at the same time.

tap the new bearing into place a little bit with a non marring hammer. then use the old bearing to pound it evenly the rest of the way in.

the same method works for the new seal using the old as a punch.

throw the new shaft in, pop the c-clip back into the slot, put the springs in, throw the cross shaft in. rtv the cover and put it back on, then fill with your choice of gear lube. i happen to use this wonderful contraption known as an oil safe to pump the oil into my diffs. saves a lot of messing around.
 
#18 · (Edited)
machine shop should have my motor ready to go in two weeks, for about 600 bones worth of work. glass beaded, bore and hone, deck to true and remove any high/low areas, replace cam bearings, and replace freeze plugs.

can't wait.

one completely stripped block, good to go.
 
#19 ·
i am about "this" close to taking a torch to my 44a, now that the pass side axle is silent i've got a VERY minor wobble in the drivers side brake rotor(brand new) and that bearing, timkin with about 3k on it, is grinding. plus it needs a new pinion seal and carrier bearings are a bit loud now. ugh...regear and mvc truss time. mvc is only about 3.5hrs from me....
 
#20 ·
took the time yesterday to reroute my power cable for my stereo, along with relocating my ignition controller and light and fan relays to under the rear seat.
ran all wires under the carpet and to a hole i cut in the tranny tunnel. pulled the wires up the trans tunnel and back of the fire wall around the pass side head and secured to the wire looms already there. significantly cleaner than what i was running, plus i was going through corroded relays about every 2-3 months with them being under the hood.

everything is on push connect fittings so that i can reorganize everything under there when i get a box built up.

it was dark out while i was doing the work so no pics of the in progress this time, i'll get some pics of the wires routed in the daylight though.should have picked up more 14ga red and white(ran out) and 10ga orange so that i could keep the colors consistent with what they went to. as it is i had to sub in some blue and gree 14ga and black 10ga.
yellow 10ga running main power back to the relays, 12ga red running power to the lights, 10ga black power to the fan, 14ga orange, black, blue, and green for the ign controller. white and light green for the switches.

the hole in the trans tunnel is 7/8 to fit the 4ga power wire for my amps and all the other wires running through it. i will need to enlarge it if i do end up running 2/0 welding cable to the back for power like i want to.


the reason for the separate power cable for the relays and ign box is that if something overcurrents my amplifiers, i don't want to have it shut down my fan and engine as well.
 
#21 ·
my wallet is now 1200 dollars lighter due to a 408 stroker kit being purchased. :)

still waiting on aps to get my shift and rebuild kits here. wayne certainly does know his stuff about the inside of a gearbox. he isn't the best at email or shipping quickly, though that's only my experience thus far.
 
#23 ·
the powerband on the intake(and the overall flow) is actually a bit too high/much for the 5.2 unfortunately as i'm experiencing. it doesn't really kick in till about 2250-2500rpms and pulls strong till the tranny shifts at 5000rpms.
it's really much better suited to a 360(what they designed it for) or a stroker.
 
#25 ·
got the OD unit back together, sorry no pics on that as i had to do it during "government" time at work and had to hurry.
it's pretty straight forward, but you WILL need a hydraulic press with a decent stroke on the ram to do the job. 215lbs of me standing on the old spring doesn't even budge it. :)
 
#26 ·
tranny is in, jeep moves, will post some pictures later today. tired after work now.

i accidentally put in the rear servo for a manual shift valve body, while drilling out the shift firmness holes in the seperator plate for an hd gasser work truck(holes are about 3/4 the size they need to be for manual shift) so i'll have to drop the valve body again and hack at it some more. the valve body is easier to drop than pulling the rear servo.
i didn't get much "in progress" pictures, i was lazy and frustrated at times, but i'll give a text write up on everything with some shiny tranny pictures. and possibly some valve body pictures as well.

let me tell you all one thing. if you've got a transmission with 100k on it and you want to perk it up a bit. next fluid change you do, disassemble the valve body(it's super easy) and clean it out. you'd be amazed by the amount of gunk that gets stuck in there. you just need your trusty t25 torx driver and a good memory to take it apart.

on the engine front. the shop i'm getting my rotating assembly from says they'll have it to me middle of next week and the machine shop doing my block just finished up friday with the zero decking operation.
i now need to start ordering all the other goodies that go in the engine bay. wires, iridium plugs, new coil, new ignition box, water pump, wire looms(gotta color it up a bit), new injectors(gonna need more than 24lbs/hr according to new calcs, gotta get 32lber's), fastman tb...too much fun stuff.
 
#27 ·
first, a joke to start off the post. this is effing hilarious.


now on to the fun, some of the guts of a transmission.

pulling it out is pretty straight forward, here's what needs done to pull the valve body though.
remove the shift and tv cables, they just pop off.
loosen the clamp bolts on the shift and tv levers and pull them off.


flip it over (if it's out) or climb under there and pull the 10 hex head bolts on the valve body. they are different lengths, long ones go on the accumulator, the rest are pretty self explanatory.

park rod e-clip.

valve body will wiggle the rest of the way out and now you've got your guts showing. very dirty guts if you're over 75k.

you need to unscrew the band adjusters at this point and take out the front band apply strut.
after this you start pulling things from the oil pump back, it's easy and pretty self explanatory. the pump comes out with a slide hammer, you can get a puller tool for it or just yank from one side at a time till it pops out(alternate sides when you get a bit of movement.)

here's what you'll see after the pump is out, just grab the input shaft and pull up, the front half of your transmission's fun parts will just come right out for you.(front planetary and clutches)

next you just take off the retaining ring on the intermediate shaft and the rear planetary and clutches will come out.


this is just to show you generally what all is in there, you shouldn't attempt this without an fsm handy.
 
#28 ·
cleaned and painted housing.


down the front. no guts yet.

all seals replaced

overdrive unit with intermediate shaft. aligning the od planetary splines sucks.

front half back in the jeep, it was MUCH lighter and easier to maneuver this way.


will add some final pics when i get under there again to adjust the valve body a bit more.

here's my underhood wiring i was talking about earlier. runs into the trans tunnel and up the firewall to the batt area, power for amp and relays send/return for ignition box and power to the kc slim lights and fan.

 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top