5.2 Magnum Swap Part 5: Pulling a 5.2 with time lapse

This is Part 5 of our 5.2 magnum swap, our goal is September 26th but we are hoping to be done done one week earlier for some pre testing.

Read The Rest
Part 1: It’s Finally Happening
Part 2: Out With the Old
Part 3: The Last of the Stock Components
Part 4: All About Brakes
Part 5: Pulling the 5.2 (time lapse)
Part 6: The Test Fit
Part 7: Cutting and (not) Fitting
Part 8: Broken and Upgraded Parts
Part 9: Leaky Plenum Gasket
Part 10: Side Projects and Summer Fun
Part 11: Setting the Motor
Part 12: Custom Exhaust & Driveline
Part 13: Cutting and Rebuilding
Part 14: Giant Radiator in a Little Jeep
Part 15: Custom Tube Bumper
Part 16: Driveshafts
Part 17: A Real Firewall
Part 18: Starting Final Assembly
Part 19: Extending The Engine Cage
Part 20: Still Assembling
Part 21: It Lives!
Part 22: Brakes and Wiring

Pulling the 5.2 (time lapse)

This week was a little anti-climatic with a lot of work done, but only two things checked off the list. After spending 22 hours in the shop between Friday night and Sunday afternoon this is where we stood.

What was left of the old crossmembers between the radius arm mounts and behind the transfer case is cut out to make room for our new skid plate and transmission crossmember (check one). The new CNC dual master cylinder pedal assembly is mounted, but only tacked in. The Grant 414 wheel and Grant quick release are assembled and attached to the steering box, but also only tacked in. We pulled the 5.2, transmission, and transfer case (check #2 for the week). But didn’t have time to test fit them between our WJ’s plated frame rails. And finally, we rebuilt the overdrive unit of the 46RH. However the new direct clutch steels were too thick by 0.014” each causing our overdrive piston to be out of spec by 0.067”. Now we need a new thinner pressure plate to make up the difference. With a lot of projects nearing completion we should be progressing faster this week.

With the TTB WJ still without brakes and steering it stood still in the garage this weekend and we set up to pull the 5.2 outside. Conveniently, we had better lighting outside and were able to do a timelapse of the day. Check out 6.5 hours of work compressed into 35 seconds.

Highlights from the video you may or may not have picked up

Plasma cutting the front bumper to make more room during the 5.2 extraction.

The engine hoist breaking, followed by a few minutes of despair while we decided what to do, then eventually running to harbor freight and buying a new one.

Having to reposition the location of the chains while the 5.2 was halfway out of the Jeep.

Celebrating after clearing the black widows from under the Jeep that appeared after sunset.

All things considered it went smoothly and now that it is out we can focus on freshening up the good ol 5.2. The first of which starts with a mini transmission rebuild.

46RH Overdrive Rebuild Part I

Similar to our brake tech post we are not going to pretend to be transmission experts, but will give you a quick rundown of what we did, and post the videos and articles we used at the end.

We knew going into it that the ZJ had a ‘bad transmission’. Once it was running we found that the only issue was the lack of reverse. This is common with the 46RH, and is usually caused by a broken snap ring, or a blown overdrive direct clutch. A quick look in the pan revealed the cause.

While we could have only replaced the bad direct clutch pack we wanted to do a mini rebuild while we had it torn apart. We couldn’t find an overdrive rebuilt kit online so we made our own, after shopping around we bought the following:

– 4 Overdrive frictions
– 3 Overdrive steels
– 8 Overdrive Direct Clutch frictions
– 7 Overdrive Direct Clutch steels
– Overdrive snap ring kit
– Overdrive bearing kit
– Overdrive case gasket

We bought the above parts from Transmission Parts Online. Partly because they were the only company who carried it all at a reasonable price, but also because that are a local San Diego company and we love buying local. They shipped out the next day and were at our door 1 day later.

For the alignment tool we bought and cut down a used intermediate shaft on ebay for $35, the overdrive piston & intermediate shim tools were from Side Street Tools, and the spring compressor tool we made from a 3” piece of steel pipe using these specs.

With all the tools and parts we tore into the overdrive. We didn’t take any picture of the process because we were focused on the transmission. After we assembled it we realized the new steel plates in the overdrive clutch pack were bigger than the stock ones by 0.014”. The extra thickness caused our final measurements to be out of spec by 0.067”.

Luckily there are two thicknesses of pressure plates (plates on the ends of the clutch pack) in the 46RH depending on years, and we have the thicker one. We have already ordered the thinner plate which should drop it back into spec and we can finish the rebuild next weekend. This time we will take more pictures and pick up where we are leaving off for Part II.

What’s Next

Next week we will be adding to the inside side frame plates in preparation for our new crossmembers, finishing the 46RH overdrive rebuild, finishing the steering wheel and finishing the brake mounts. If all goes as planned we will be able to hang the 5.2 in the WJ to get a picture of what we still have to do.

Don’t forget to check back next Tuesday for updates.