Looking better all the time Rick.

 

I have a Wrangler NW Power Products dual battery kit similar to the Painless Wiring kit.


Thanks. It's taking A LOT longer than I'd planned but what the heck right? It'd been parked for 10 years so what is one or two more gunna matter?

 

I'd always had some issues with the 44RE trans in my old setup getting starved out for fluid on some steep downhill or uphill trails here in WA so I decided to spring for a larger oil pan but didn't want or have the room for a deep pan. So I settled on a Mag Hytec pan that adds approx 2 qts.. If I can figure out the room I'm also going to add a aux filter for it just to add a little more fluid.




It seems like it is just TOO nice to be covering it up with a skid plate and down under to get all dirty.



Not much deeper than a stock pan but as they say when it comes to transmission fluid every little bit helps.



I used a Lube Locker to see how it works. I've had good luck with them on axles so I thought I'd try it out on a transmission. But DANG that pan looks REALLY nice on there.

 

OF course there are always fitment issues when doing things like this and YEP I was lucky enough to have them too. I'd ordered a new belly skid & transmission & engine skid from UCF so when they arrived I was excited to see how it all fit.





I had my plasma cutter fired up already to cut the body mounts off so I marked and cut the skid so it'd clear the trans pan.





Fits real nice now.




And it's notched enough to properly clear the skid but keep the pan safe also.




UCF makes a flat skid & 1" drop and 2" drop which is what I went with and am glad I did since a 1" drop would have hit the trans pan.




Unfortunately the new UCF transmission/engine skid wouldn't fit due to it's design so I had to pull out my old bent Skid Row skid. It fits and works I just need to bend the few WOW's back out of it.

 

Wow! That's some good progress. Nice job!

 

I had a set of those headers. I had problems with them cracking near the flange. Keep an eye on that.

 

Did the trans pan come with a spacer to set the filter deeper into the fluid? Seems like that would be a really good idea for a vehicle that sees extreme angles and such.

 

I'll keep an eye on them Thanks. I'd bought them more for mock up than anything and then if I could make them work will replace with a ceramic coated type that are a better brand.

No they don't include a spacer. But I'm thinking just having that extra amount of fluid will be helpful. The pan really isn't that much deeper than stock it is just heavier cast and the fins. I think the added capacity comes from being bigger diameter.

 

I finished the wiring today. I had just taped the wires together when I was tracing wires as I had wanted to come back later and route wires in a neat fashion. So I'd decided to tackle that for my Friday project. I'd bought these connectors a while ago in preparation for when this time came.



They work really well too.




Then I had to break out my new torch/soldering iron as there was one connection I needed to solder together. I needed to connect one wire to a line that wasn't cut.




Soldered it together and then taped it up.




Then I did a final taping of the harness and it will now wait until I'm ready to test start the engine. Once I've verified that the engine runs properly and the gauges all work like they should then I'll install the loom.

 

Here are the crimpless splicing joints I've been using. So far I really like them and they seem to work really well without increasing the size of the wires like a normal crimp butt connector does.