1996 Grand Cherokee transmission rebuild & on to other stuff

[SirRobyn0]

Could be a battery on the way out too.

Thanks, for the idea but not in this case. It's 2 years old and I've load tested it numerous times.

As I said in post #41 I think most of it was caused by me not paying attention and installing lower amp rated alternator than what the Jeep i suppose to have. I feel doubly dumb about it because I've an auto mechanic (professionally) for about 30 years. I should know better than to have made an assumption like that. They had a reman 90amp, a reman 120amp, and a new 90amp available. I did the new 90, feeling I was getting a better quality part.... I'm not really sure cleaning all the contacts did anything for me since they had passed voltage drop and resistance tests, but still on a 25 year old vehicle it couldn't hurt.

Slim chance the AVR might be weak, but I've driven the Jeep all week and the voltage readings on the gauge certainly look more normal.

 

[SirRobyn0]

This morning was brake morning. I'd hoped to do this at the shop but sometimes finding the time is just impossible. The weather was cool but dry so why not. I've been getting a little bit of pulling to the left when I'd hit the brakes. Not surprisingly I'd found that the right front caliper was hanging up. About 20% left on the pads up front, maybe a little less on the rears, the brake fluid looked about as black and dirty as it could get. I had a little pulsation from the rear and remembered that I'd turned the rear rotors a little under minimum last time I did the rear brakes, and there was only maybe 10% on the pads back there. So major brake job. I've put a tranny in the thing so she's going back into regular service and staying around so gotta do it right.

Started with the rear. Pads and rotors. Done, I had to spend sometime cleaning up the caliper pins and slides as they were stiff probably from so much sitting the last few years. E-brake shoes inside the rear rotors were in good shape.

Front new pads, calipers and rotors all went well with that.

For flushing the brake fluid I just sucked the fluid out of the master cylinder, filled it up with fresh and then went to each bleeder one by one opening them up and letting it gravity bleed until clear fluid came out. High likely hood I'll need to flush it a second time and the next oil change, but want to make sure and have good fluid in there to protect those new calipers.

 

[SirRobyn0]

Sorry I forgot to post pictures earlier.

Below the old brakes on the right front:

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Below the new brakes on the right front (new pads, calipers and rotors:

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I choose to use OEF3 brand brake parts. I don't think they are sold retail, but we've been buying them from a wholesale supplier for the last few years and have had good luck with them. Went with ceramic pads all the way around.

Below one of the rear rotors:

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So that's the inside of the rotor and you can see it just has a lot of wear and rust. On this Jeep the inner part is also a drum, and there are a set of shoes in there and that is the parking brake. I noticed it wasn't working very well the other day even though the handle felt like it had normal resistance when I pull it. Well I found answer, look it's very rusty in there and the shoes were covered in rust. So pulled the shoes off and scuffed the rust off. (used sandpaper and lacquer thinner for that) Cleaned up the backing plates and gave them a coat of paint. I should have grabbed a photo of that, but didn't. Pulled the pins out of the rear caliper and lubed them up good.

Below my supervisor:

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[Ricko1966]

@SirRobyn0 I couldn't find any of your posts about wanting a gear vendors overdrive,so actually don't even know what vehicle you want it for or why.But today I got thinking,I think you could use a 3spd transmission as an underdrive or a shift on the fly transfer case as an under drive and then gear the rear end real steep like 2.41 or less. The 3 speed would be in addition to your automatic and the transfer case you just wouldn't run a front driveshaft.

 

[SirRobyn0]

@Ricko1966 I don't want gear vendors overdrive. I have mentioned before that if I had a square with a SM465, that I'd like the now discontinued advanced adaptors ranger overdrive on that. They actually bolted in front of the transmission not behind it like most overdrives. I think that's what your remembering. Me and Andy (Bucket) had a bit of conversation about the AA ranger unit, in some other tread a while back. No I don't need nor want want GV overdrive on any of my current rigs.

 

[DoubleDingo]

I know I have mentioned it before, but can't remember if it was in this thread. I have one, new, and it scheduled to go in Crusty Biscuit.

 

[SirRobyn0]

I know I have mentioned it before, but can't remember if it was in this thread. I have one, new, and it scheduled to go in Crusty Biscuit.

I remember you mentioning. I can wait to hear about the install and how much you like it.

 

[Grit dog]

D@mn Dodges!
Your 96 GJC has 4 wheel disc and my 99 Doorango has rear drums….
(I knew that going in…heck had an 01 Ram 1500 still had drums out back)
Which leads to my “I know a guy” (you) question?

So the brakes on that Durango work great. A little weird but great.
Here’s what I know and how they act. The question is one word. Why?

What I know. Stops straight, no warped anything, all the brake pads/shoes have enough meat on them. And back brakes also appear to work great.
Can get them to lock and Abs kick in easy enough in a panic stop.
Issue is pedal “feel” or pressure required. Not pedal travel. Pedal is firm and don’t suspect any master cyl leaks nor air in lines.
Slowing down from speed any speed above 10-20mph.
Push on brake pedal lightly and initially the stopping power seems appropriate for the amount of braking called for.
Push a little harder and brakes don’t seem to stop proportionally greater.
Push a little harder yet and they seem to know they missed the step above and go right to step 3 and proportionally they are doing what they should.
Step 4 (panic stop) is fine. Stops as fast as expected.

Rear drums were/are squealing consistently when barely riding the brake at an idle. Like the last 2 seconds before coming to a complete stop with light pedal pressure.
Popped drums off last week, knocked the dust out hosed em off and reinstall.
Didn’t help. Thought maybe self adjusters a little behind the program since drums slipped off so easy. (Look like they hadn’t been off on years or ever)
Last night adjusted up the shoes manually until they were as tight as possible. (Very Slight drag on the shoes).
Not sure if it helped the squeak (couldnt go for a spin) but thought it might help the pedal feel thing like maybe the shoes were taking a short vacation until kicked harder lol)
Didn’t make a difference
Prop valve maybe? Slight blow by in the master cylinder?
Or it’s a Dodge, Chevys are better?

Those are the 3 things my pea brain has maybe narrowed it down to…lol.

 

[SirRobyn0]

@Grit dog I would say that does not sound normal, but I guess I'd have to drive it to tell you for sure. I've always thought that the Durango brake pedal "feel" was better than the same age blazer or suburban.

Did the Durango sit before your bought it? What was the shoe to drum contact pattern in the drum? In other words does it look like the shoe is fully contacting?

Porp valve or master are possible, but also if there is trapped air in the ABS unit, just a little tiny bit can cause odd pedal issues, so to avoid needing to use a pro scanner, take the Durango out to the closest place you can safely do a 4 wheel ABS stop (gravel is great for this). Lock them up a few times and then immediately bleed it. You can drive a few blocks to home but preferably not further. It my not help at all but it's free.

That's what I can think of anyway.

Do not feel like your missing out not having rear disk brakes on this generation. Frankly the parking brake being a tiny drum inside the rotor leads to not a very good parking brake. Yes, it's better than nothing and I keep mine in working order, but I'd rather have the drums personally.

 

[Grit dog]

^ And the parking brake works awesome on this thing! Normally I’d be afraid to even push the pedal on an old car before I was prepared to get it unstuck. But guy had the brake on when I bought it.
Not sorry about the drums. They’re fine. And they’re worn perfectly evenly so good contact pattern.
I’ll try the backwoods abs bleed before I do the brakes.
Thanks again.
Btw heater core was plugged. Now it’s not… Blew all kinds of junk out of it.
Wasn’t t stat but I had a 50/50 chance and it was most definitely original so did it first. And it was fine.
Heat’ll cook you out of it now

 

[SirRobyn0]

^ And the parking brake works awesome on this thing! Normally I’d be afraid to even push the pedal on an old car before I was prepared to get it unstuck. But guy had the brake on when I bought it.
Not sorry about the drums. They’re fine. And they’re worn perfectly evenly so good contact pattern.
I’ll try the backwoods abs bleed before I do the brakes.
Thanks again.
Btw heater core was plugged. Now it’s not… Blew all kinds of junk out of it.
Wasn’t t stat but I had a 50/50 chance and it was most definitely original so did it first. And it was fine.
Heat’ll cook you out of it now

Good deal on the heater core. If I wasn't going to do the evaporator in the Jeep I'd flush the heater core as I've been noticing the heat is not the best.

So back like 20 years ago not all professional scanners we capable of manually activating ABS pumps. So when I was at Goodyear, in the mid-2000's the backwoods ABS bleed was our go to method, because it was all we had. And at the time there was a vacant lot a block or so away.

If that doesn't do it and you happen to be up in Redmond I'd be happy to spin it around the block with you and I'd be more able to tell you if I pick up on what you feel.

 

[SirRobyn0]

Another Jeep road trip report. Drove the Jeep to Yakima for the weekend. Primary reason was just to get out drive the canyon road from Ellensburg to Yakima, and sight see a bit, while the weather is good but before summer. Total mileage for the weekend 543 miles.

Jeep did great, other than one thing. Check engine light came on, code 21 stored in system which should be for the oxygen sensor, so did not worry or address it on the trip. This is a 1996, so it's OBD II, but still carries the legacy roll the key 3 times and count the flashes of the check engine light. So in addition to the code 21, there should be a P-code and freeze frame data stored which I will check out at work on either Monday or Tuesday.

 

[SirRobyn0]

One of my long standing complaints with the Jeep is the poor headlights. I replaced the buckets a couple of years ago and that helped some. I've installed Hella 450 fog lights as well which are great, but that doesn't stop the main headlights from sucking. There are no improved buckets for the Jeep like we can get for our squares but there is this. There is a wiring kit which allows me to run 9007 bulbs instead of the 9004 that were factory. What does that mean? That means 10 more amps of power on high and 15 more amps of power on low. I've been running the Hella brand 50% brighter bulbs (H4) in the truck and been very happy with those, so I got a set for the Jeep. Of course we all know bulbs like this are not really 50% brighter, it's just a halogen that produces a little bit whiter light. But the Hella bulbs are cheap and frankly seem to be a better bulb that Silvana. I use to run the Silvana silverstars in a car in the past and those bulbs seemed to have a really, really short life span. The Hella 50% in truck any way have been great. So here's the stuff.

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Plan is to install and aim tonight!

 

[DoubleDingo]

Are they on relays? If not, Jeep Cables has a great kit that is easy to install.

 

[SirRobyn0]

Are they on relays? If not, Jeep Cables has a great kit that is easy to install.

On my Jeep there is a factory relay in the relay box under the hood, however I have wondered if an aftermarket system, which would have larger gauge wiring, and it would be new wiring if that would help at all. We'll see where I'm at after this work.