Rob, from what I can understand, you really need to pull the rear dshaft (at least rear diff end of it) and tow with front hubs unlocked. Can you flat tow a Jeep without removing driveshafts? Jeeps don't normally have manual hubs so I'd think you have to remove both shafts.

 

Hm this jeep has probably 20,000 towed miles on it, all they did was tcase neutral and transmission neutral, no issues

Jeep hubs are normally unlocked, they vacuum actuate when the tcase is put into 4wd.

This is something I don't know a whole lot about, but I think it depends highly on the tcase design (manufacturer to manufacturer), if it flings oil inside when in neutral and the driveshaft is spinning, or not

 

That Airstream looks awesome! Can't wait to see some more pics of it!

 

 

 

I'd like to polish and paint like the bottom pic, wife likes the clear coat and woodgrain, we'll figure something out.

 

Anyway, back to why I originally came here, nobody wants free grille free brush guard?

 

Tiiiiiiiiming chaaaaaaaaaaain

It's time, engine started making the noises a couple weeks ago.

Ordered this kit from evergreen, saw a couple good reviews on it, showed up today and it looks pretty good quality.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B007Y8A3P8?psc=1&ref=yo_pop_mb_pd_title

Came with oil pump, water pump, chain, both gears, tensioner, metal guides, chain cover, gaskets for the things just listed, and I got some fipg for putting the oil pan back on.

Looking for some sage advice, are there any other parts I need before I rip into this thing this weekend and get stalled?

Do I need half moon seals?
Do I need a valve cover gasket, or is that also fipg?

 

Valve cover gasket is not fipg, it's a rubber seal that fits into a groove on valve cover. As for half Moon seals, in my experience the valve cover gasket kit usually comes with those and the seals that sit under the acorn nuts.

I've done 2 timing chain jobs on 22re and it takes me several days, there is just so much involved and something always seems to go wrong for me.

 

Are you leaving the head on? If so, be really careful when prying off the cover. You don't want to tear or bend the front of the headgasket (triple check that all the bolts are removed, some go into the backside of it) remember to smear a thin layer of fipg on the top of the new timing cover or it won't seal to the head gasket.

Chase and clean the threads before you put everything back together. It'll help with torque values and can prevent stripped threads.

 

Thanks both! I ordered a valve cover gasket set.

Yea, i plan to leave the head on. Thanks for the advice!

Today I​​​​​​ need to go read a few threads on this.

 

I say I plan to leave the head on, then i begin thinking

Is the headgasket on these one of those inevitable issues I should just take care of now to save more pain later?
Or do the headgaskets often last the life of the engine of its treated well?
I'm approaching 190K and would like to see this truck cross 250k

 

My take on that situation is, you're already into the motor pretty far, we not replace the headgasket? Get a good quality headgasket, its just cheap insurance IMO. I've used that Evergreen kit, and didn't have any problems with it.

 

yea, I'm thinking the same thing
Gonna order a new headgasket and studs, guess I'll spend this weekend getting the mustang up to the point where I can drive it for a couple days while the truck is out of commission

Resisting the urge to do anything else to the head, because if I start down that road ilI be poor, and my truck will be in pieces

 

Pulling the head is the "right way" to do this job but adds a lot of time, especially your first go-round. Take more reference photos than you think you'll need, from every angle. Bag and carefully label any bolts. I just helped my nephew do this job on a 2.5l Ford duratech and he tore it down as fast as possible, taking no photos, but at least threading most bolts back where they came from. (he said my way was too meticulous and time-consuming so I let him learn the hard way...) It took the poor kid an extra month to get his car running and out of my garage. He mixed up a bunch of hardware and had no idea where stuff was supposed to go because he had no photos. Don't be that guy!

​​​​​​I recommend you get a 12 x 1.25 thread-chasing tap (not the same thing as a thread-cutting tap!) or make one from an old headbolt if you're thrifty like me and have the tools to make it (Dremel, bench vise or clamps on a table): use dremel cut-off wheel to cut a few evenly-spaced channels perpendicular to the bolts threads. Deburr it (I have a 12 x 1.25mm chasing die, but a stiff wire brush should work). Oil it and then thread down till it bottoms out. Clean out with acetone and blast with compressed air. Repeat the process until you've got shiny, clean threads.

I have a suspicion that new head gaskets fail early due to improper clamping force (warped surfaces from overheat or bad threads and/or not being torqued in the correct pattern and steps up to 65 ft/lbs).

 

It begins... As usual... Off to a rocky start
started by checking compression
1 90 psi
2 5 psi
3 95 psi
4 93 psi


...
I mean, i have a bit of smoke sometimes... But not total blowby level...

 

Spark plug looks fine, same as the others

I am quite low on oil

Tried unthreading and threading back on, tried a different connection, still barely anything



May outsource this to a mechanic, because damn, i need a daily driver and I don't have time to do a full engine rebuild

 

Is this with a new head gasket? Time for a wet compression test or get a leak down tester if you have a compressor.

 

I'm not sure why, but 22re's don't always give a blue smoke show when they're burning oil. Mine used to pull at least a quart of oil through the pcv and breather hose every 1000 miles with no visible smoke. It had broken rings and leaky valves.

Pull the intake hose off the tb to get an idea how much blow by you got.

 

Ok, threatening to outsource was me being dramatic and whining. I formed and welded in a windshield channel with zero forming or welding experience, i can replace piston rings. I can borrow the old mans project heep (currently lacking a tailpipe, but it has floorboards now, so in better shape than last time I borrowed it)

Back on topic, no this is the original head gasket, i haven't touched anything but the spark plugs thus far. Getting my boroscope in there, it does indeed look pretty oily, way more so than cylinder 1. Combined with what you just said, evidence is pointing to rings.

Looking at this logically
evidence it's piston rings:
-low oil, not even on the dipstick
-oil in cylinder
​​​​​​
confusions:
-spark plug looks the same as all the others
-truck ran and drove more or less totally normally (yota baby)
-coolant seems low
-with the boroscope, valve looked like it might have had a burr, hard to tell

Evidence to gather tomorrow:
Drain the oil and look at it
Look at the coolant
Pull valve cover
Maybe pull o2 sensor
maybe pull head
Pull the intake hose off the tb
Whatever else yall recommend


Nominal repair plan:
-Pull head, oil pan, timing chain cover, hopefully i don't need to remove the front diff, someone let me know
-replace piston rings only, *maybe* valve seals if they need it, but I'd like to just leave the head alone
-replace the timing chain with the kit i already have
-clean the iacv while I'm in there
-Put the whole thing back together, resisting very strongly the urge to replace anything else

I'm playing on a very slippery slope that could easily end with an LCE crate engine, and a bankruptcy lawyer, so I need to walk the straight and narrow here and only replace the bare minimum. If it's a part that might have 50-100k left in it, it stays.

Please shoot holes in my plan and rain all over my parade with your firehoses of wisdom