moab was a little bit of a battle for the old jeeps. My buddies we battles not running, and after my creek crossing the trans was not happy after moab rim and tow strapping my buddy's 3a back to camp. Trans was stuck in second gear. Well this is why
not sure how so much water got into the trans but it did. The syncro got so hot it warped. I was able to beat it kind of back into shape for running hells revenge the next day. I slowly started losing gears on hells, but it worked to get another day of wheeling in. Pulling back off the trailer into the garage I know have 1st and reverse and that is it. Not all bad, I really needed to rebuild the trans again anyway. I only got a seal kit when I did the gear change, because the trans shifted great before tear down. I quickly realized that it needed a full rebuild but I didnt have time to wait if I was going to make it to moab for memorial day.
Picked up a winch, jeep is still 6 volt so still on the fence about what I am going to do. For where we wheel these things though, I need a winch.
J10 doing some more work
The J10 had a struggle coming home from moab. On the washboard out of the camp site I got a short in the wiring which blew half the fuses in the fuse panel. This made my brake lights, turn signals, trailer brakes and gauges all go out. Was able to get the gauges and trailer brakes work by pulling the flasher, so started the drive home with no turn signals or brake lights. This made us leave way later than we wanted, and the drive from moab to grand junction in 90 degree heat was rough with no a/c. Next it seemed to be running slightly hotter than normal on normal grades on the way home. Time to pull vail pass, usually it will get to about 220 on these climbs. Well it got to about 230 at the top and I am sure the trans was hot. I dont know happened but at the top when we started to go down the pass the truck shuts off. I coast all the way down vail pass to copper mountain with the truck off, during this time I realize I forgot a scan tool and have no idea how I am going to diag this on the side of the road. Luckily after a few cranks the truck fires back up, but the trans is shifting kind of weird (why I am assuming the trans got hot going up the pass). So we have one more hard climb up to the Eisenhower tunnel, truck is running fine because it is a few miles of flat or down hill driving so everything has cooled down at this point. At the bottom of the hill I stop and pack the front grille area with ice and hope for the best. Usually I drive up in 2/3rd gear at 60 or so mph, I decided to take it easy and just climb the hill in the right lane at about 50 let the truck sit in second gear. Truck was at 240 degrees after that climb. Luckily after that it was smooth sailing the rest of the way home.
So now I am looking at cooling system upgrades (with a/c in mind) for the truck. I had a nice novak radiator in it when I first did the swap, but had a electric fan put a hole in it. Currently it has a jegs brand radiator that I had a buddy tig brackets on to. It has never cooled as well and is starting to leak at the core already. The way they mount to the core from the factory isnt ideal in my opinion, so looking into fabbing up a top and bottom mount to isolate the radiator a little bit more, then I can buy a drop in radiator that I dont have to wait on to be fabricated etc. That is next on the list for the truck, I did get it through emissions testing last week so stoked on that. It has been creatively registered for awhile
