Cable for YJ auto hubs
- Thread starter chans
- Start date
I put a posi lock in a guys xj over two years ago and he loves it. be careful routing the cable clear of the exhaust and everything should be cool.i would rather have the manual hubs myself but if you dont want to get out of the jeep to lock them in or spend the extra money the posi lock is a good way to go.
RockMonkey
Suddenly Enthusiastic
I wheeled a YJ with a cable actuated front disconnect. It ruled. I didn't spend money on a bling'n one. I made it out of my old vacuum unit, and a Shimano shifter from a bike shop. It worked flawlessly until the 30 was swapped out in favor of a 60. If I had a YJ and wanted to run 33s or so, I would prolly keep the 30, and use a cable disconnect. It's not the cool thing to do, but it works.
4x4phil
Registered User
- Location
- Salt Lake City
I ran a posi-lock on my xj. I had th cable ajusted wrong. I don't think it slid the sleeve far enough the other shaft and on moab rim I broke the retainer fork that slides the sleeve over. I took it off and had some barefooted guy weld it back up. This time I adjusted the cable right and it really worked great. My old vaccum unit wouldn't work when it was cold outside. I think it's a fantastic idea to rig a bike shifter to your original unit, but make sure you have it adjusted right so you don't make the same mistake I did. Not that it's tough at all. I was just too exited to go test it and didn't finish the job right.
RockMonkey
Suddenly Enthusiastic
I drilled a hole through both sides of the shifter housing, and through the shift fork. I ran a bolt through all three holes and put a spring on one side of the bolt so it pushed the shift fork to the 2wd position. Then I drilled another small hole in the housing, and another small hole in the shift fork. I passed the cable through the hole in the housing, and though the hole in the shift fork, and put a cable end thingy on the end of the cable. When I shifter the shifter it pulled the shift fork against the spring to the four wheel drive position. The spring returned it to the 2wd position when I shifted it back.chans said:
TurboMinivan
Still plays with cars
- Location
- Lehi, UT
chans said:
Is your vacuum unit on the axle physically broken? If not, there is another option which will cost you virtually nothing... and it's reliable to boot.
My friend Mark's YJ kept having problems melting through the nylon vacuum lines that passed by the exhaust pipe on their way in & out of the t-case. Of course, you don't discover a problem until you're in serious doo-doo and the front end suddenly quits pulling.
Anyway, he was upset (again) and told me he wanted to do something about it.Borrowing from my turbo wizardry experience, I grabbed a pair of 3-way solenoids which were lying around my garage and mounted them high on his inner fender. We removed all his stock nylon lines (what was left of them, anyway) and then I designed a vacuum hose "circuit" and plumbed them to the axle disconnect; we used the same engine vacuum feed from the stock setup. The solenoids were wired together (ie- both on or both off) and he mounted a spare toggle switch on his dash to control them. With the switch off, you're in 2WD; flip the switch and the front end comes to life.
Mark has been really happy since this setup has not given him the slightest bit of trouble... and it's been there for years. He's also happy since it offers him a 4WD LO option whenever he chooses. This mod cost us literally nothing since we simply used extra parts that were just lying around gathering dust (even the vacuum line). Even if you had none of this stuff, some bulk vacuum line and a toggle switch are uber cheap... and the solenoids are "dollar items" at the junkyard (which is where I get mine).
Want more info? Let me know.
I think the unit is broke but I haven't torn it apart yet. I replaced it with a used unit last year. I will probably go with a cable now but just in case can you run the vacuum from anywhere on the intake to make the hose as short as possible to cut down the chance of damaging it?TurboMinivan said:Is your vacuum unit on the axle physically broken? If not, there is another option which will cost you virtually nothing... and it's reliable to boot.
My friend Mark's YJ kept having problems melting through the nylon vacuum lines that passed by the exhaust pipe on their way in & out of the t-case. Of course, you don't discover a problem until you're in serious doo-doo and the front end suddenly quits pulling.
Borrowing from my turbo wizardry experience, I grabbed a pair of 3-way solenoids which were lying around my garage and mounted them high on his inner fender. We removed all his stock nylon lines (what was left of them, anyway) and then I designed a vacuum hose "circuit" and plumbed them to the axle disconnect; we used the same engine vacuum feed from the stock setup. The solenoids were wired together (ie- both on or both off) and he mounted a spare toggle switch on his dash to control them. With the switch off, you're in 2WD; flip the switch and the front end comes to life.
Mark has been really happy since this setup has not given him the slightest bit of trouble... and it's been there for years. He's also happy since it offers him a 4WD LO option whenever he chooses. This mod cost us literally nothing since we simply used extra parts that were just lying around gathering dust (even the vacuum line). Even if you had none of this stuff, some bulk vacuum line and a toggle switch are uber cheap... and the solenoids are "dollar items" at the junkyard (which is where I get mine).
Want more info? Let me know.
RockMonkey
Suddenly Enthusiastic
Most likely the vacuum switch on the transfer case is stuck, or there's a hole in one of the vacuum lines. I think the actuators themselves are fairly reliable.chans said:
TurboMinivan
Still plays with cars
- Location
- Lehi, UT
chans said:
Yep, you sure can--all it takes is vacuum, doesn't matter from where. As I said, we used the OEM intake source (IIRC) since it was handy. Note that we did not use the "exit" from the t-case for our source; in fact, we completely eliminated the t-case from the loop as far as vacuum lines are concerned! Our setup simply goes (engine) --> (solenoids) --> (axle connect).
HTH
XJEEPER
Well-Known Member
- Location
- Highland Springs
I'm running my own version of the posilock, similar to Braden's but I used a 6' push/pull cable from SixStates, total cost about $40. Works great and nice to have 2Low whenever I want.