The Rubi Q Build

RockChucker

Well-Known Member
Location
Highland
@RockChucker will tell you to skip the 4Lxx and go to a 6L80. :)
💯💯💯
Gen IV and a 6Lxx is a great combo. No need for low tcase gearing because of the low 1st gear. Tap shift is rad, and 6L80 is shorter than a 4L80 and waaaay more durable than a 4L60. The deep OD is great too. With 5.38s and small 39s for hwy driving it putts along about 2200 rpm at 70 mph. Definitely don’t do the stand alone controller for the trans like I did though. I’d have been money and headache ahead to build my 6.0 with a 58x crank and redo the engine harness.
 

UNSTUCK

But stuck more often.
I knew this would happen. :rolleyes:

:D

Can the 6Lxx mate to my 241 yet? Or do I sell it and run what ever t-case comes stock with the 6L? I've always liked the 4l60 in a Jeep and being able to run my t-case is a plus.
 

1969honda

Well-Known Member
Supporting Member
Location
Cache
6L80 should bolt up to a 32 Spline NP241 without issue. The 6L90 due to the 29 splind output is not as friendly.

I've got a gen4 5.3l LC9/6L80E combo waiting for my K5; also have a 32 spline Chevy LH drop NP241 or a Ford NP205 to go with it when I make up my mind on going doubler or not. The NWF ECO box is really tempting though...
 

RockChucker

Well-Known Member
Location
Highland
I knew this would happen. :rolleyes:

:D

Can the 6Lxx mate to my 241 yet? Or do I sell it and run what ever t-case comes stock with the 6L? I've always liked the 4l60 in a Jeep and being able to run my t-case is a plus.
Imo a 4:1 tcase is unnecessary with a 6L80 trans. You could sell yours for serious coin and rock a 32 spline gm 241 or get a Jeep 231 and swap in a 32 spline input. I believe Novak does sell a 23 spline output shaft for a 6L80 if you really want to keep your rubi case, but I think you’d quickly find that 1st gear is ridiculously low and wish for taller gearing. I have a 3 speed tcase with 2.41 and 4.33 low gears…since the 6L90 install I’ve only used the 2.41 gear and wouldn’t even think a 2.0 gear would be bad.
 

glockman

I hate Jeep trucks
Location
Pleasant Grove
With 37's and 4.88 gears, the 4l60 and NP241 is geared plenty low for my mild wheeler. When I get around to it, I'm going to change the throttle response table when in 4lo to be less sensitive. It would be really nice to have a more forgiving pedal with V8 power when off road in lo range, less bouncy.
 

mbryson

.......a few dollars more
Supporting Member

Hmmmmmmmmm.


I know someone that may be able to haul that back in the next few weeks? (He's helping move his son to South Carolina. Loaded out, unloaded back. He's looking for an enclosed trailer to use to haul stuff out with. If he can find that, I'd bet he'd haul anything back he could for some fuel $)
 

Greg

Make RME Rockcrawling Again!
Admin

Hmmmmmmmmm.

Awesome engine, it would be a LOT in a LJ. With near 300k miles it would be wise to freshen it up. If it were mine, I'd do a full teardown and rebuild, new bearings, pistons and rings, timing set, oil pump, have the heads gone thru, etc.

If you tossed a decent aftermarket cam in it, you'd be close to 500 HP & ft/lbs without needing much else.

Combined with a 6l90E it would probably return better mileage than stock, just loping along at low RPM.
 

UNSTUCK

But stuck more often.
I yanked the transmission out of the jeep today so that I could R&R the clutch. Removal was pretty straight forward. Turns out the clutch was fine, as I figured it would be. The throw out bearing was all but gone. There was a pile of balls inside the bell housing.
Since I was digging deep I decided to go deeper and fix the rear main and oil pan leaks. I was interested to see what the main and connecting rod bearings looked like. I was very impressed and surprised at how clean everything was. Just a very small amount of slug at the drain plug. No other slug anywhere. I was also surprised to see little to no wear on the bearings. The connecting rod bearing I looked at was a .001 over bearing. Would that come from the factory that way?
I then decided to throw an oil pump on. Just because I was there. I got the engine all put back together and called it a night.



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1969honda

Well-Known Member
Supporting Member
Location
Cache
My guess would be no on the .001 oversized bearing. I do however know that in production several import manufacturers use grade A, B, C, etc.. "standard size" bearings to get the tolerances in the specific range they want. After that they go to "service" grade or rebuilt size bearings and tolerances.
 

UNSTUCK

But stuck more often.
It does make me wonder if the engine has had work done. I forgot to mention that I think the crank bearing I looked at had a date stamp on it. It said 08 05. My jeep was made in October of 2005. So those dates line up, if that’s what those numbers are. Who knows.

Anyways, I finished up the repairs today. All in, the jeep has a new oil pump, pan gasket, rear main seal, pilot bearing, throw out bearing, clutch disc and pressure plate. I drained the transmission and t-case and put in fresh lube. I used a LUK clutch which is oem, and very good as I understand it. However, the bearings in the kit are junk so I ordered National bearings and used them instead.

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The National bearing is on the left. It has a metal housing vs a plastic housing. It is much smoother as well. Hopefully I never have to mess with it again.

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Clutch in and torqued to spec.

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My mileage, so I don’t have to remember.

In my test drive I noticed the pedal feel is much lighter than before. I hope that does not mean the holding pressure will be less. It is much more comfortable though. I’m sure it will hold up just fine in all the mall crawling Livy does.
 

RockChucker

Well-Known Member
Location
Highland
Interesting on the throw out bearing. All the luk clutch kits I bought back in the day had a throw out bearing like the national one. Never had one that was plastic. I noticed the pedal pressure always was lighter with a luk clutch too. But never had slippage issues.
 

UNSTUCK

But stuck more often.
In reality I could have used the old clutch over as it looked new. Just the throw out was beyond melted and scattered it’s balls everywhere. Junk.
Although I should say I could not find a brand name on the old one so I don’t know what it was. Bit it was the same/similar plastic housing.
 

UNSTUCK

But stuck more often.
Just to finish up the latest work we’ve done on the jeep:

We’ve been fighting the stupid led headlights on this jeep since day one. They were trucklite 24 volt lights that used upconverters (?) to power them. I finally gave up on them and purchased new one. These actually are pretty nice. The wiring was simple and effective. They were cheap so who knows if they’ll last.
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Out with the old and in with the new.

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I don't really care for the look and was pretty tempted to go back to stock, but the stock lights put out so little compared to these.

When I pulled out the clutch I noticed the cv on the front driveshaft was starting to bind up. I sent it in for a rebuild and putted around in 2wd for a week while that happened. Sure made navigating the malls difficult.
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And of course the very next day the gauges died giving me the “no buss” notice on the dash. I was worried that I messed up one of the connectors when I pulled the tranny. Went back through them and didn’t find anything obvious. I then pulled out the gauge cluster and packed those with dielectric grease. That was the ticket and now they are working great again.
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This jeep sure seems to be taking on more of a rebuild theme then a build theme. 😕 on the bright side, the last week or so has been fantastic. Working great and fun to drive.
 

UNSTUCK

But stuck more often.
Just a one month update here.
We have put about 400 miles on it since the clutch repair. It has been driving fantastic. I'm scared to say it, but there have been no issues (me knocking on wood). I get a smile on my face every time I drive it.

Now after saying that I am considering selling it. I really want to get back into the harder rock crawling that I used to do when I lived in Arizona before. Now that I'm here again it's calling me. I just don't want to mess this one up. It's too nice. I think I'll get rid of it and purchase an older TJ with an automatic. Then build it as needed.
 

UNSTUCK

But stuck more often.
Anyone know anything about the subwoofer in the center console? This one ripped apart and needs to be replaced. I know it's a 6.75" dual voice coil sub. Talking to a guy at Crutchfield he says it's a 2 ohm speaker. After a bit of looking I only see one speaker that matches those specs. A Kicker and it has pretty poor sensitivity so I was hoping to avoid it. So, what are my options? I watched a video where a guy installed this one and is very happy with it:


It's a single voice coil and 4 ohms. Should I just go that route? Or I could find a dual voice coil in 4 ohms. Lots of those around. Just don't want to kill the factory amp.
 

I Lean

Mbryson's hairdresser
Vendor
Location
Utah
More ohms won't kill the amp, it won't be as loud. Less ohms than designed would kill the amp quicker.
If it has a dual voice coil, it would be easiest to stick with a DVC as the replacement since there are two sets of speaker wire existing.
Is it just the foam surround that is bad? That can be replaced separately if you want to keep that factory speaker. That route is fairly common for the Land Cruiser crowd....
 
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