XJ Mods VSB 14

[darksidecustoms]

Originally Posted by alexbrown64

For $50 you have turned the original Jeep bull bar into a winch bar..

Ok great! Thanks AB



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[awg]

do the 2 front allen-headed fasteners that hold the hawse onto the bumper thread thru into the winch body,,, if not, what ?

[alexbrown64]

Originally Posted by awg

do the 2 front allen-headed fasteners that hold the hawse onto the bumper thread thru into the winch body,,, if not, what ?

The universal winch plate has a hawse mount built into the front of it. You make a slot and two holes into your alloy bull bar. Once the bull bar is fitted, you attach the hawse to the universal winch plate with two bolts and nuts. The alloy bull bar doesn't take any of the weight or stress. The 5mm thick universal winch plate and 5mm bull bar mounting plates do all the work. You could drive around and operate the winch without the alloy bull bar even being mounted. Its like a facade.

I welded mine up in position using low hydrogen rods and a DC welder. Great for overhead welding and super strong. If needed you could then still unbolt the brackets and remove the whole welded frame. It would come out as a single U shaped section.



Cheers.

[alexbrown64]

The good thing about getting some test driving in is that it reveals all the niggles. I had basically forgotten about it, but the drivers power seat doesn't like to go backward and forward.
Ive had this problem for a long time but had forgotten about it. Last week, i was reminded of the problem, so i started searching for spare parts. A guy was advertising left and right electric seat bases for a 1995 XJ. The add was 2 years old, but i emailed him and he still had them. Two hours of driving to pic them up and they were back home with me. Total cost $50 for both.



Ok, so i had the parts, now i had to figure out the problem. Out came the seat. Its just 3 13mm bolts and a 18mm bolt. I plugged the seat in upside down and took it for a spin......



All motors work, and all functions work. Its just that the forward/reverse drive felt like it was slipping teeth. It would go back/forward if you helped push it, but even though the motor was spinning, the drive was gone.

I tracked it down to the worm drive on the threaded bars that are in the track bar. The motor turns the worm, and spins the threaded rod. A bracket on the threaded rod goes backward and forward. The brackets attaches to part of the track bar and this in turn attaches to the seat. This makes the seat go back and forth. The worm is a sealed unit.



It was a bit of a fuckeroo, but i figured out how to remove both worm drive units. There is a couple of roll pins to knock through, a little bit of voodoo, and they came out. I swapped them over, greased everything up and by that time is was beeroclock and getting dark. I will trial it tomorrow and hopefully i have it figured out and the seat will be working at normal again.

I also now have a bunch of spare parts for any future problems with the seats. Motors, gears, brackets etc..

Cheers,

[alexbrown64]

Well, after all that mucking around with the seat, it didn't improve the back/forward motion.
I pulled the threaded bar/gear out again and on closer inspection you can pull them apart by removing two metal rings. I pulled them apart and exposed the worm gears. They were both broken. I pulled all the other ones apart as well and all the others were broken. They crack and then start spinning on the shaft. Once that happens, the seat doesnt want to drive back/forward. Seems like they all start to do it after a while so no real use buying junk yard ones.



I have two choices if i want my drivers seat to work properly. I can try and fix what i have, or replace the gears. I have bought some JB weld and roll pins and will try to permanently secure the gears back on the shafts. If that doesn't work, i have found one place in the US that makes new ones.

http://www.2men1garage.net/Jeep-Cher...001-Parts.html

Very expensive but once repaired, would probably last another 20 years.
Plus i have all the spare seat parts if any other problems arise.

Cheers,

[awg]

Originally Posted by alexbrown64

o real use buying junk yard ones.

I have two choices if i want my drivers seat to work properly. I can try and fix what i have, or replace the gears. I have bought some JB weld and roll pins and will try to permanently secure the gears back on the shafts. If that doesn't work, i have found one place in the US that makes new ones.
Cheers,

Thx for those informative posts

In my opinion, there is a better, cheaper and permanent solution.

Obtain MANUAL front driver seat (probably any color will do, as you should be able to swap your cover..double check that!...or seat covers (at worse)

I greatly prefer them in several vehicles, including my XJ, even my Mrs late model Mazda 3, easier & quicker to use, lighter, more space under seat ..and rarely if ever fail

just a left field thought to keep your eye out anyway, pick 'em up cheap..haggle..."what, they arent even power ! "

I have Luxury leather seats in my spare Limited, but no intention of swapping them in..not the Driver seat anyway

The seats in my DD Sport are cloth, and manual fronts + seat covers

[alexbrown64]

Ok, had to address the seats again. I let the epoxy dry on the gear and shaft for about 36 hours. I then drilled a 3mm hole through the gear and shaft and inserted a 3mm roll pin. This is just an added protection to help stop the gear spinning on the shaft. ( i cut the excess roll pin off ).





I used white lithium grease and put the shims back in the correct locations, together with the worm drive. Closed the housing up and installed the two holding rings.
Once rebuilt, i installed them on the seats. During the whole process, i had kept rotating the shafts in the housing to make sure everything was turning ok. I had to do a bit of filing to the gears to make them run smoother.
Also had to align the tracks a few times and trial the action with the seat upside down next to the Jeep and plugged in. Eventually i was happy and bolted it all back up. It works!!

I sat in the seat and had a play around and adjusted it to my preference. I will now leave it again. I think it will last and the epoxy will get stronger as time goes on. A set of the threaded gears posted to Oz is about $190 USD or about $300 AUD. So saved some money there, but a big fuckeroo.. If they go again, i will bite the bullet and get some new ones.. but for now, that money is going on a set of sensors and parts from RockAuto.

On a side note, out of the 6 shafts and gears i had, only two gears were cracked through on 1 side and slipping on the shafts. The other 4 were completely broken in half. I used the two cracked ones for my repair. I also had to grind the shafts down a bit to make the gears sit on properly again. Its definitely worth a go..



Cheers,