R2.8 Cummins Build
- Thread starter BugoutJeep
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OP
OP
It's migrated a bit too close to my washer fluid, but if you take my mistake into account you should end up with a good result.
98TJ_R2.8Swap
New Member
Sweet. Did you remove the old wire harness completely? After switching the hoses around for the coolant reservoir, I'm just down to doing all the electrical.
OP
I removed a bunch, but not everything. I plan to go back and remove more. I suck at electrical and having the Jeep running at that point, it was incredibly hard to do anything but drive for a bit.
I'm amazed at how much I can forget about my wiring unfortunately. I was like in zombie mode at that point. My off days were like 12 hrs of working on the Jeep with Bourbon as fuel.
But I need to stop being lazy and put a wiring diagram together, so if you've got questions let me know.
98TJ_R2.8Swap
New Member
I'm sure some will arise. Currently, I have the Wrangler at my friends' shop. I fear rewiring everything may be a burden on them. So far you're the only person I've found willing or able to spit out some knowledge, and I am truly grateful. Cummins and Axis aren't much help. The old wiring and fuse panel should be able to be removed completely?
OP
I suggest keeping much of the old stuff and then removing as you know you don't need it. There's still kind of a more primitive system of wiring for the Jeep you'll need. I kept the fuse panel too. At some point I'm sure you can remove it, but I suggest getting it running and go have fun and get back to it. I think there's some starting stuff in the fuse box you'll need at first.
98TJ_R2.8Swap
New Member
OP
My old PCM is in a box in my garage, not in my Jeep. Not everything is run off the Cummins ECM, I used physical sensors for coolant and oil pressure, maybe something else. Speed is from GPS. I do think my tach wire is to the DSL-1 which is hooked up to the Cummins ECU.
I wanted to run everything off of the Cummins ECU, but I never played with the ECU to see what I could see real time. I first was running a GPS Foretrex 601 for speed
and the Murphy gauge for the Tach. I was hoping to run an odd setup with a tablet or something, but it didn't seem like it was gonna work out, so I just doubled up on the oil pressure and temp gauges.
98TJ_R2.8Swap
New Member
Been driving the Jeep for the past couple days, but just short trips since most of the wiring isn't done. Fan is wired in though it's not working yet. Been using the Murphy gauge to keep an eye on my coolant temp. Waiting on this electric instrument panel https://www.intellitronix.com/product-page/jeep-97-06-tj-led-digital-gauge-panel in hopes of the wiring process to go a lot smoother. Also thinking of writing Axis a nasty email. I was reading over your other forum posts and got a lil pissed off when you mentioned Axis returns your calls. They won't do that with me or respond to my emails. I'll be sure to tell them it's sad that I'm getting most my info from you and not from them. Again thank you for being a reliable source and for answering all my questions thus far.
Someone here installed that gauge setup and had nothing but negative things to say about it. Wish I could find the thread, but it wasn't good.
They also said that the people who sell it are unresponsive and are of zero help whatsoever when installing it.
Just a heads up!
OP
Well I've got to call them too. I was out camping on our farm and it's a bit remote. I got packed up and was going to head to my granddad's cuz he rolled his Jeep and was going to figure out all the damage.
I tried to start like usual and heard the starter free spinning something light with a bit of a sheet metal sound. I didn't have tools to remove the starter, but I was pretty sure something with the adapter had come loose. I didn't want to roll start because I was afraid whatever was loose might cause some real damage. I might add that it was fairly hot. Also your normal tow truck can't get to where I'm at and there's no address which complicates things.
I called my wife to come to the nearest/easiest walk out point and grabbed some gear I didn't want to leave.
I met her and we went home. I picked off a bunch of ticks, had her cut my hair, ate some food, grabbed my truck and went to go get my trailer and unload it and got my dad to help.
Right before we got to the farm with the trailer, it had poured rain and if I hadn't just picked up dedicated mud terrains for the truck, I'm not sure we would have made it in.
I pulled the starter and the adapter was secure, but the welds on the ring had all broken. I had been thinking I must have messed something up and the bolts backed off, but there's only 1 little ring in there spinning.
We loaded the Jeep onto the trailer with some come alongs and hand winch, which worries me since the trailer is older than I am I think, but it didn't break. It had been dark for awhile at that point, but ratchet strapped down the Jeep was fairly secure.
The muddy steep hills I barely got up were making me nervous because I wasn't sure how controlled I'd be going down such steep grades. Luckily I wasn't thinking about slipping down the hills.
The steepest part I got pushed and slipped down, but only for a bit and going straight. I could hear the wet ground squishing under the truck as we went through one of the fields and tried to weave in and out of ditches you can't see with all the brush.
The last hill has some holes, ditches and uneven terrain and at one point the trailer started going sideways and the truck wasn't going very straight, so I just pushed the clutch in and used momentum to straighten everything out and to go through the last ditches that tend to bottom the trailer out.
Once on the road it wasn't bad, but I didn't finish up until 1:30 am and I haven't unloaded the Jeep either. I was pretty tired and a couple glasses of bourbon while picking off deer ticks and checking out a gnarly spider bite on my back, put me in pretty good spirits to start over sometime today to get the Jeep unloaded.
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98TJ_R2.8Swap
New Member
From my experiences so far it seems everyone who sells all these high dollar parts aren't very responsive. If they are, pretty much tell me there's nothing they can do or they have no information for me.
Intellitronix return policy:
"The panel kit comes with a Lifetime Guarantee and is made in the USA!
If you're not 100% completely satisfied, then just arrange to send it back within the return period"
Hopefully they back it up if this doesn't work.
I've been watching both of your builds with interest. I just ordered the R2.8. I'm doing a frame off build and just this weekend got a rolling chassis together. I appreciate you letting us know the flaws in the system and what aftermarket products work. I have no idea what to do about gauges at this point - it still seems like a long way off for me.
What ring? Is it a part that Axis produced or is it a part that comes with the Cummins or the starter?
Thanks for the on going oration, it is very informative and helpful.
OP
It's part of the adapter from Axis. It's the part that's directly spun by the starter. I hope this was bad welds and not bad design. There's a small port on the bottom of the Cummins and I could spin it from there, but once I pulled the starter it looks pretty clear that only the ring with the teeth are lose and everything else is tight.
If it had been an emergency, I probably would've just roll started and gotten out and replaced whatever got damaged, but I had the ability to tow it out. It's now tucked in the garage and I'm debating the next move. I've gotta talk with Axis, as I think this is a defect. From there I'm debating to let a shop pull the transmission for access.
And I'm debating to get a new transmission with either a 4.3 or 5.15 1st gear, if I can get one soon enough. I'm really excited with the idea of a really low 1st gear and then later 3.55s and 5:1 transfer case.
On a different note, I might add that I had some muddy steep hills and all of the steep grades had like 15 ft of heavy mud before you got to where it's steep and they'd kill momentum. I tried spinning my tires and never got as far as just 4lo, first gear, no throttle. I still had to use the maxtrax in places and there's no way my truck would have made it in anything but crawling the steep stuff with that trailer which clearly was digging in the mud.
OP
I have had another, ongoing issue with my redarc bcdc 1240d. I got an error 2 or 3 weeks ago and I'm either having ongoing issues or my battery got toasted at that point. It doesn't appear to be charging the battery when I'm driving and doesn't seem to be charging via solar anymore either. I had wonderful sun yesterday and I was aiming my 2 60w panels at the sun and could get no more charge into a battery at 12.3V more than about 2W between any panel in almost any way.
So that sucked too, I didn't want to run the battery down, so I decided to pull the power from the fridge so I could protect the battery, which wasn't a big deal, it was mostly filled with water and a couple beers and stuff that takes awhile to spoil at room temperature.
So that sucked too, I didn't want to run the battery down, so I decided to pull the power from the fridge so I could protect the battery, which wasn't a big deal, it was mostly filled with water and a couple beers and stuff that takes awhile to spoil at room temperature.
98TJ_R2.8Swap
New Member
I'm excited for you just as much as I'm excited for my own. If you have any questions along the way feel free to ask. Out of curiosity, did you get the R2.8 kit from Axis as well?
Hopefully they do! And if worse comes to worse, all you have to do is file a chargeback (done it many times) and you'll get your money back. However, I doubt it will come to that (at least I hope not).
OP
Well I emailed Axis this morning and they're sending out another adapter plate. Now I'm looking into some transmission option stuff. I'd really like a 4.3 first gear and I'm going to have the transmission out pretty soon. One of the local transmission shops doesn't seem to want to mess with my Frankenstein, so I'll probably have to find a weekend soon to pull the trans myself, which really doesn't look to be hard, but I've never done it.