This has been a long slow frustrating, did I say expensive process some my responsibility and a lot of COVID related delays and some excuses Just because. expensive cause a lot of other things needed replacing along with the engine. With everything added up parts and labor pretty sure I would have been better off parting it out, but heck I like driving it and it suites my needs on the trail, so in for a penny in for a pound... as done for now as it ever can be.
would I choose a stroker again? The stroker was no problem getting smog checked the guy didn’t give it a second look, never even lifted the hood in fact. More power I’m not sure how much to attribute to the engine and how much to put on the re-gearing from the 4.10 to 5.13, the engine runs smooth now with the old crappy throttle body sensors replaced the IAC was heavily coated in thick black soot and the new MAP reads completely different the old one registered the atmospheric pressure 9 inches at start vs 12 on the new one and same with the live data thru WOT. Anyway I like the Stroker, Chad is a phone call away or email accessible and was/is really helpful.
later talking with Ryan at Vegas 4x4 he was telling me he can do a V-8 Swap smog legal for 20k one wire harness one PCM, not sure if he was using the existing cluster? He didn’t recommend it on the stock d-44 axels to make it reliable he was using some impressive looking gear on the builds in the shop. front and rear axels I think he said I’d be looking at another 20k and then everything else needs to match. He also would have sold me his Stretched TJ with a V-8 and 1 ton custom axels for 35k, all it needed was to have A/C installed he’d removed it at some point. So, the Stroker was less total investment in the end. I do pay more for premium fuel now although I don’t know if I’d have a knock if I used regular, I’m going to stick to Chad’s recommendations along with the Zinc in the oil every change, it’s just not that much more money or hassle. The one down side to buying anything from across the country is you can’t just run over to where it came from point a finger in the direction of concern and admit to being to stupid to figure it out, but like I said, Chad was good to deal with.
The tally of discarded old parts has gotten fairly long, engine, transmission, radiator, service and balance front driveshaft, new rear driveshaft, new revolution rear axels and assemblies, 8 new Savvy dbl-adjust Control arms, new bomb proof front lower control arm mounts (no cam bolts), new Yukon 5.13 gears, new fuel pump, New Toyo 33x12.5’s, hood louvre, throttle body sensors, exhaust header, larger throttle body and injectors, water pump, harmonic balancer, a trip to Doc’s Dyno tuning I don’t think I needed and stuff I’m forgetting I’m sure. I still need to replace the shocks (Rancho 5000x) and I’d like to replace the springs for something with a slightly more forgiving rate of rise. Then do an alignment, the pinion angles were off after getting it back and I had some serious vibrations I didn’t notice at first, some of the vibration developed driving it I think from the pinion angle it was set 10* under and I’m guessing took out the u-joints the vibration thread was really helpful, when Adams driveshaft was balancing the shafts they discovered both rear axels bent, this along and with transmission torque converter going out I had vibrations coming from too many places at once to do anything but pick things off one at a time. Now with the rear set +/- 1/2 and my castor set to around 2 1/2 * the steering feels OK on the freeway and I don’t feel much if any vibrations until I’m up above 71/72 and It’s fairly minor I don’t drive that fast that often it’s not something I couldn’t live with.
All these little issues it was difficult as a weekend wrencher to figure out if an engine I had no experience with was running the way it should? Can’t really compare enough with the old 4.0 and 4.10 gears with and 42rle? If not for the OBD2 and trying to understand what the live data was telling me without any dtc’s I’d never have made the connection don’t know why I didn’t buy one years ago? Probably because they cost a lot more money back then, lol.
anyway, it’s running good, I think... I don’t trust it yet but so far so good next week I hope if all goes well hooking up the trailer and head into the Arizona desert.
would I choose a stroker again? The stroker was no problem getting smog checked the guy didn’t give it a second look, never even lifted the hood in fact. More power I’m not sure how much to attribute to the engine and how much to put on the re-gearing from the 4.10 to 5.13, the engine runs smooth now with the old crappy throttle body sensors replaced the IAC was heavily coated in thick black soot and the new MAP reads completely different the old one registered the atmospheric pressure 9 inches at start vs 12 on the new one and same with the live data thru WOT. Anyway I like the Stroker, Chad is a phone call away or email accessible and was/is really helpful.
later talking with Ryan at Vegas 4x4 he was telling me he can do a V-8 Swap smog legal for 20k one wire harness one PCM, not sure if he was using the existing cluster? He didn’t recommend it on the stock d-44 axels to make it reliable he was using some impressive looking gear on the builds in the shop. front and rear axels I think he said I’d be looking at another 20k and then everything else needs to match. He also would have sold me his Stretched TJ with a V-8 and 1 ton custom axels for 35k, all it needed was to have A/C installed he’d removed it at some point. So, the Stroker was less total investment in the end. I do pay more for premium fuel now although I don’t know if I’d have a knock if I used regular, I’m going to stick to Chad’s recommendations along with the Zinc in the oil every change, it’s just not that much more money or hassle. The one down side to buying anything from across the country is you can’t just run over to where it came from point a finger in the direction of concern and admit to being to stupid to figure it out, but like I said, Chad was good to deal with.
The tally of discarded old parts has gotten fairly long, engine, transmission, radiator, service and balance front driveshaft, new rear driveshaft, new revolution rear axels and assemblies, 8 new Savvy dbl-adjust Control arms, new bomb proof front lower control arm mounts (no cam bolts), new Yukon 5.13 gears, new fuel pump, New Toyo 33x12.5’s, hood louvre, throttle body sensors, exhaust header, larger throttle body and injectors, water pump, harmonic balancer, a trip to Doc’s Dyno tuning I don’t think I needed and stuff I’m forgetting I’m sure. I still need to replace the shocks (Rancho 5000x) and I’d like to replace the springs for something with a slightly more forgiving rate of rise. Then do an alignment, the pinion angles were off after getting it back and I had some serious vibrations I didn’t notice at first, some of the vibration developed driving it I think from the pinion angle it was set 10* under and I’m guessing took out the u-joints the vibration thread was really helpful, when Adams driveshaft was balancing the shafts they discovered both rear axels bent, this along and with transmission torque converter going out I had vibrations coming from too many places at once to do anything but pick things off one at a time. Now with the rear set +/- 1/2 and my castor set to around 2 1/2 * the steering feels OK on the freeway and I don’t feel much if any vibrations until I’m up above 71/72 and It’s fairly minor I don’t drive that fast that often it’s not something I couldn’t live with.
All these little issues it was difficult as a weekend wrencher to figure out if an engine I had no experience with was running the way it should? Can’t really compare enough with the old 4.0 and 4.10 gears with and 42rle? If not for the OBD2 and trying to understand what the live data was telling me without any dtc’s I’d never have made the connection don’t know why I didn’t buy one years ago? Probably because they cost a lot more money back then, lol.
anyway, it’s running good, I think... I don’t trust it yet but so far so good next week I hope if all goes well hooking up the trailer and head into the Arizona desert.
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