[svsantosh]

Isnt the nut on the top of the steering box used to tighten the play and increase the feedback a bit? Of course better and surer step is the damper.

[dhanushs]

Originally Posted by svsantosh

Isnt the nut on the top of the steering box used to tighten the play and increase the feedback a bit? Of course better and surer step is the damper.

Hi Santosh, one of the main reasons I fitted a damper is to reduce the surprising and very hard return on rocky terrain.

Before damper fitting, whenever I was not attentive, or steered with one had with cigarette on the other, over boulders, I would hurt my thumb badly.

[Sutripta]

^^^
The (one and only, IMHO) correct reason for fitting the damper.

Most mechs fit it in the (mistaken) belief that it will cure the death wobble.

Regards
Sutripta

[dhanushs]

One and a half issues faced while fitting MRCBT, or rather.. while removing power steering.

1. My Jeep had vacuum assisted disc brakes. Previously, when I had power steering, the alternator was placed on the top. And a belt was driving the alternator from the water pump pulley. Now, as the alternator was placed on the top, the oil return inlet from the alternator to the engine, was at the middle.

This was the 1st location of the oil return inlet, from the alternator.




After removing the power steering, the alternator was lowered, to avoid a long belt, and hence problems arising due to it. Now, the oil from the alternator, back to the engine sump has no pressure. It just moves due to gravity. Hence, the oil return inlet had to be lower than the alternator, and not like in my case, which it was at same height.

So, we decided to close the current oil return inlet and create a new one, much lower in the oil sump. I was a bit hesitant about punching a hole in the sump and all.. But, finally, I got was convinced.

To avoid any leaks as such, we decided to go for brass welding.

[dhanushs]

The half issue faced.

Well.. initially, the alternator was driven by the water pump pulley, which inturn was driven by the crank pulley, with the power steering pump as the slack adjuster. This is the OE set up for all XD3P vehicles with power steering.

However, one confusion started when I lowered the alternator.



The above picture is the OE set up for XD3P engine without power steering. In that, the alternator is driven by the crank pulley, and the alternator itself is the slack adjuster. The water pump pulley is driven by the crank pulley but, both are fixed. So in order to adjust slack and have proper mounting, a small pulley (in yellow, just on the right of the water pump pulley ) is added.

However, the problem was that, I didn't have the small pulley in my engine, as didn't need it in the earlier set up. So, now, the solution was to drive the waterpump, alternator directly from the crank pulley with alternator as slack adjuster.

Now, another issue in this set up is the belt. Which belt do we use? All the belts we used were either too short or were too thick. Finally, got one with number 1205, which is used in HM Isuzu engine.

[dhanushs]

Dash Fitted and Gauges Corrected:

Fellow bhp'n and dear friend Sreejesh, kindly gave away his dash board to me.

Dash fitted:



Also, corrected all the gauges. There were no fuel meter, no temperature meter, no oil pressure gauge. Only the Speedo was functioning. Everything else was corrected and fitted.

There were no issues in correcting and fitting the fuel gauge and temperature gauge. Just some wiring issues. However, the oil pressure gauge wasn't electronic. So, needed a separate oil pressure pipe into the cabin.

'Edited' the banjo from lathe, and took an oil pressure pipe into the cabin.







Well... Only after all the oil pressure gauge work was completed, did I learn that, like my 2WD 540, there was an option of having an electronic oil pressure gauge, with warning light for low oil. Damn!!.. . The added advantage of this system is that its safer than the old manual oil pressure into the cabin method. As, in any case, there is a leak or the pipe ruptures, you will have hot oil all over you. With the added risk of catching fire.


Right now, I will not be changing to the newer system, but gradually will...

[dhanushs]

Electrical:

The complete electricals of the Jeep was a mess. Hence decided to remove it all, and re-lay the wiring with good quality wires from scratch. Luckily, I managed to find the wiring kit for MM550, or MM540 with XD3P engine.

Three days of work.








New battery terminals.



Got JCB lights for the rear!



Got a pair of Autopal lights and installed it on the two bottom corners of the windsheild frame!. Excellent lighting of the road sides guaranteed!..





Fusebox placed inside the cabin for ease of access, and protection.



Installed a 12v out. Which I thought will be very useful for Jeeps and OTR's.



I have done the wiring such that, when you crank the engine, the current to every accessory, light, 12v out, everything cuts off.. except to the fuel pump. This reduces the load on the battery.


Electricals sorted out completely.

[dhanushs]

Wipers:

The Jeep when I bought, didn't have any wipers. With the onset of monsoon, sorting out of wipers was unavoidable.

My Jeep is 96 make, and wiper mechanism is what they say 'milling type' . The milling get damaged very easily and wiper arm starts to slip. So, it was advised to change to nut-bolt type ones. However, my wiper motor has only one speed. So, I was thinking of changing the entire wiper motor + wiping mechanism sometime later.

As of now, I have continued to use the old mechanism, as its working fine. Let it last as long as it can.

Wiper washer installed.



New Wiper arms.



Brand new Bosch Wiper Blades.

[svsantosh]

Why didnt you leave the alternator in its original position in the 1st place? why bother all the resulting work? Am I missing something?

EDIT - Suddenly doubted 'if' the PWRSTR pump was driven by the same alt belt (earlier) but it wasnt, so WAS the PwrStr driven by a seperate belt? It is done for safety purpose (load sharing). Alt, pwrstr and AC have their own belts...

Originally Posted by dhanushs

After removing the power steering, the alternator was lowered, to avoid a long belt, and hence problems arising due to it.

Now, I read the above line... frankly I am taken aback... you made all the right noises till this post in page.3. Why create a new, never seen before problem and then break your head to find a complicated solution for it? dont get me wrong, please understand my frustration! It simply sounds silly to say to reduce a un-necessary long belt length - I ended up burning a hole in my engines oil sump! Why?!!

[dhanushs]

Originally Posted by svsantosh

dont get me wrong, please understand my frustration!

haha.. I completely understand your frustration, arising from confusion Santosh!.. Just because, I, mech, Jeeva, Spike etc.. etc..etc.. had gone through the exact same confusion when the problem was noticed. The only edge I had was that I could actually see the problem, and hence slightly less confused.

1st of all let me clarify this:

EDIT - Suddenly doubted 'if' the PWRSTR pump was driven by the same alt belt (earlier) but it wasnt, so WAS the PwrStr driven by a seperate belt? It is done for safety purpose (load sharing). Alt, pwrstr and AC have their own belts...

Earlier set up, was just like OE set up in Bolero with PS, or just like your new pre worshiped AG. ie, alternator was driven by the water pump pulley. Water pump pulley was driven from the crank, by a belt which also drives the PS pump.

I hope you understand the situation.

Now... Option 1.

Why didnt you leave the alternator in its original position in the 1st place? why bother all the resulting work? Am I missing something?

If the alternator was left in the original position, then yes, the water pump pulley will still drive the alternator. But, what will drive the water pump pulley? It needs a drive.

In earlier set up, the crank pulley drove the water pump pulley through a belt passing through PS pump. Now, in the absence of the PS pump, we need a similar pulley to replace it. Or one like shown in the figure.



Problem: I couldn't source a good pulley.

Option 2: (Still Alternator in the top (original) position): Have a belt to drive the alternator, water pump pulley from the crank pulley. This is like you mentioned.



Problems:

1. As seen in the image, the contact area of the belt and the water pump is not sufficient to power the water pump. The belt will slip.

2. Here, as seen in the image, the belt would also become too long, and the red portion of the belt will surely vibrate/wobble, with no additional pulley's to tighten/adjust slack. Moreover, the clearance between the red portion of the belt, and bolts protruding from the engine is very very close, and there is no tolerance in vibration, belt wobble.

Option 3: Lower the alternator. Like I did. The reason why I went through this process is, in all disc brakes equipped, XD3P non-PS vehicles. This is the exact way it has been done. The oil return is to the sump. Hence I thought no harm in going the OE way. I hope you understand.


PS: Good Question. This was indeed a confusing situation.

[svsantosh]

oh boy, there goes my sleep, 1st thing tomm morning, run down to AG and see how all this works! Cant believe the OE way for non-PS vacuum alt is drilling into sump!

[svsantosh]

Couldnt just the campulley drive the alt? Two belts - 1) drives crank->cam 2) cam->alt. I havent seen this anywhere but just asking.

[rajeev k]

Well written buying and maintaining experience. The Jeep looks very nice, I liked it.

the owner very very cooperative about everything. Its been more than 3 months after purchase, and we still keep in touch. He even visited Wayanad!!..

That is still better.Good work and fantastic effort by you and your team.
Congrats and happy jeeping.

[dhanushs]

Originally Posted by svsantosh

Couldnt just the campulley drive the alt? Two belts - 1) drives crank->cam 2) cam->alt. I havent seen this anywhere but just asking.

Hi Santosh,

By cam pulley do you mean the water pump pulley? ( IIRC, the cam is lower just above the crank, as this is push rod engine)

If so, it is not possible to drive the crank -> water pump alone. One needs an intermediary pulley ( as shown in figure) for slack adjustment and correct mounting.

[dhanushs]

Got skid plated installed.







The reason why I was so keen on installing the skid plates is not only to protect the underbody, but, while travelling in grasslands like shown below, all the tall grass would get cut and accumulate near the propeller shaft U-Joints. This, I think would damage the oil seal(?). Moreover, the prospect of removing the grass with a screwdriver by lying down in a leech infected ground was terrifying!



Cost me ~500 bucks. Got it from my Mechanic. And, installation took ~15mins.