Wrangler Om617 Diesel Swap- How To

a half assed video of the engine swap in my 92 wrangler, some video was lost so I did the best to piece together what I had left. enjoy!

[@kdmkid8759]

Nice job! I will be starting my OM617 swap in my 93 yj within the next couple weeks. Thanks for the video!

[@oakleymiller2907]

how did it go?

[@MatsuYoda]

hell yes good morning sir!

[@CowbellCustoms]

Goooooooood. Morning, how's your week going?

[@MatsuYoda]

@@CowbellCustoms pretty good man. Actually went outside to see my back yard I tore up is actually growing Grass now! Kentucky blue Grass all the things! Haha waiting on some nicop line and fittings to run all new Hardline on the rx7. So dope you got it running and driving man. That jeep must be a blast

[@CowbellCustoms]

That's good, I've been waiting on the rain to stop to even mow my Forrest or lawn. Not sure what it is at this point. This things a hoot to drive, 21mpg so far and get the damndest looks when your going through parking lots in boost.

[@MatsuYoda]

@@CowbellCustoms that's so rad! Great work man. Clean swap!

[@CowbellCustoms]

Thanks again!

[@stevenprzybrowski3284]

Karl built hey was watching this video and realized i am the new owner of your jeep

[@CowbellCustoms]

Forgive some of the lazy engineering, It got pushed into daily driver duty alot faster than it should have been but I didn't have a choice 🤣 how is it now that's its been through a few others?

[@stevenprzybrowski3284]

@@CowbellCustoms im actually working on few things to get it inspected but did you have trouble with the gauges not working on dash and what year motor need to change oil wasn't sure the year motor

[@CowbellCustoms]

Let me look through my notes to make sure but I think it was a 87 ish engine I don't think the 0m617 changed oil filters through the years though. I didn't have much issue with them other than the coolant gauge wasn't ever really accurate. But YJs have the ribbon on.the back of the gauges that gets corroded and throws the gauges off.

[@thegarrett2643]

Hey I’m about to do this swap and would like some help, I’m gonna go off this video but I need to know where you got at least the adapter plate

[@CowbellCustoms]

Mercedes diesel 4x4 no longer sells them, and to be fair if i did it again I wouldn't use them your going to have to go through doomsday diesel for the adapter. Absolutely get the new flywheel balanced like the original and make sure you mark orientation of it how it goes on the crank shaft

[@coachgeo]

so it has been awhile. How has the MB engine mounts held up????. Have heard others discuss that in 4wd.. esp. Low Range.. the up lift of engine due to torque on driver side begins to rip apart that MB rubber mount. My TJ with this conversion seems to support this. Came to me with the rubber mounts SHOT TO HELL. Not enough test on my soution yet to know if it worked Solution: Filled them with Urethane.. pretty low shore.... about 45-50 maybe..Should limit passenger side squash... which limits driver side lift. Also am "limit strapping" the driver engine mount to where engine cant rotate up more than 1/4". Just a guess on that number.

[@CodyFazio]

Nice vid, well put together. The spongebob time card had me laughin

[@CowbellCustoms]

Thanks!

[@aaronsanford5203]

What did you do about the mercedes oil pressure port?

[@CowbellCustoms]

Oil pressure I made a adapter to run the oem jeep oil pressure sensor

[@justinperry5139]

How did you do the wiring

[@aaronsanford5203]

Also how did you wire the glowplugs?

[@CowbellCustoms]

I used a high amp starter solenoid and wired in a push button in the cab, just hold it for like 15 seconds and it was good enough to start it. I daily drove it that winter and we had multiple weeks in the single digit Temps.

[@lma112567007]

Your doing a fantastic job by yourself and I’m learning from your efforts. Thank you

[@CowbellCustoms]

Thank you! Glad I can help!

[@righthand2571]

Where you from man can you do my Jeep tj 2000 with an om617

[@Ty-bw9sw]

I’m trying to get a om617 or something comparable in my K1500 I’m taking notes of what I need and what I’ll need to do. The 350 isn’t doing it. Trash gas mileage, slipping 4l60r, slight head gasket leak etc

[@CowbellCustoms]

I'm not sure if the om617 will be the same power as the small block, as cliche as it is. I think a 5.3L with a 4l80 might get you better power and fuel economy. I was getting mid 20s for fuel economy but fuel that costs more. Just something to take in consideration.

[@andrewjackson9853]

I did an 81 CJ, 6" lift and setting on 37's... Love the Mercedes.

[@anotherstateofmind_xjsteve9174]

Ha...had to back up bc I thought I heard Suicidal Tendencies and I did! 👍

[@CowbellCustoms]

Always playing some suicidal

[@AlfonsLC]

I enjoyed your build summery. Good job cleaning up the engine. What did you do with the oil pan ? Good choice building it with the heavier trans. A mistake i will have to correct someday. No lowering kit on the trans ? How the vibrations ? Check out my channel for my build if you want.

[@mattgreen8530]

Awesome man I am doing same thing.. can I use my yj ax5 and transfer case. I know everyone says it’s to small but I would be willing to try as I have a couple ax5 laying around and am not planning on abusing it

[@CowbellCustoms]

I wouldn't trust it behind the ax5. Just reduce future headache and go with the ax15.

[@ta51503828]

Nice work! What did you do about flywheel balance? Some people neutral balance the new flywheel. I'm wondering if that is what you did and if its working ok?

[@CowbellCustoms]

The first flywheel that was in it was neutral balanced. The second one was not because I needed to get it back together and a bad starter killed my ring gear. Second time around and even the first time around the thing vibrated like hell, I think I needed to do a little motor and mount work

[@josueamezcua5749]

what's up my friend, a question ... where did you buy the adapter for that mercedes engine? on some internet page that you recommend me? I have a cherokee xj 4x4 6 in line, with automatic transmission, do you think that adapter is left? God bless you

[@CowbellCustoms]

Try doomsday diesel, they seem to be everyones go to with these swaps now.

[@vee950]

Good work and 0m617 is way cheaper than a Cummins swap

[@CowbellCustoms]

And it fits better, weighs less, and in my opinion easier to do.

[@vee950]

@@CowbellCustoms um thinking of getting 1 someone told me a year ago of going om617 instead of 4bt in my ZJ is a ecu needed or all mechanical

[@justinstrausberg]

@@vee950 it's all mechanical.

[@ipodpancakes2874]

@@CowbellCustoms what engine mounts did you go with?

[@ipodpancakes2874]

@@CowbellCustoms can you give me a full list of all the parts

[@2000freefuel]

why not use a different transmission?

[@CowbellCustoms]

The ax15 is a great transmission. Anything else would either be a issue with length. Or getting a transfercase on it. The jeep was already set up for a manual as well.

[@jonscotty422]

@@CowbellCustoms did x15 bolt up with engine or did you buy a plate

[@christophernelson1483]

@@jonscotty422 adapter plate

[@tylerg5768]

Hey man just courteous which starter are you running ?

[@CowbellCustoms]

It's a jeep 4.0L starter from what I remember.

[@DasMoose9001]

Recently located an OM617 in my local yard and plan to grab it soon. I also managed to score a TJ from a friend for a damn good price in this Narnia market. Always wanted to do this, looks like something I could get done relatively quickly. Great job fabbing that all together

[@CowbellCustoms]

Thanks man, it was good fun while I had it and was pretty simple to do, might I suggest the doomsday diesel adapter kit. There's some thing that look a little nicer on their adapter plate than the Mercedes 4x4 one.

[@DasMoose9001]

@@CowbellCustoms I will absolutely look into that. Trying to get comfortable behind a camera, everyone around me says I should document these projects I’m about to tackle. Thanks for the input, maybe you’ll see my 3rd gen dodge complete rebuild pop up on the YT Airwaves.

[@CowbellCustoms]

That would be cool, getting started and comfortable in front of the camera is the biggest hurddle, once you do it and get in the flow of stopping and filming you can do great things. Unfortunately I get focused and forget to film alot

[@DasMoose9001]

@@CowbellCustoms Thanks for that man! I'll be giving it a shot soon

[@wymanlovestkd]

What transfer case did you use with the AX-15?

[@CowbellCustoms]

Just a NP231 from a cherokee with a Ax-15. I had to reclock the transfercase to keep it from hanging down low

[@JedTrackStar]

Did you have an issue at all with starter engagement on your flywheel?

[@CowbellCustoms]

The only issue i had was caused by me not having it set up right. I didnt have good glow plugs in it, so when it was cold it would take a shot of ether to start. That caused alot of kick bacl on the starter and it ended up blowing the bushing out of the starter nose cone and destroying the flywheel. I had to pull the flywheel out and get a new one balanced. But i dont think the last flywheel was balanced right because it made the jeep vibrate pretty bad after.

[@garrickg7633]

What did you do about the gas tank/ fuel lines?

[@CowbellCustoms]

I flushed all the gasoline through the fuel lines, pulled the tank cleaned it out really well, and modified the pick up tube by removing the pump amd running a diesel safe submersible hose into the bottom of the tank with a fuel sock on the end in the oem slosh cup in the tank. It worked pretty well.

[@boomboom3068]

What kind of wiring did you do?

[@CowbellCustoms]

Just power to the starter, the alternator was tricky and i mever got it sorted 100% and other than that coolant temp, oil pressure and my glow plugs is all the engine needed

[@200Johnnyboy]

What did you do about the power steering and making it work with the yj box.

[@CowbellCustoms]

Currently I have the belt off the power steering pump and I'm running it as manual steering. It sucks. But I took the return hose from the box and just used a section of hose to thr reservoir on the pump. Then I've got a YJ feed hose and a section of the Mercedes hose that I'm going to have a local hydraulic shop crimp some new rubber hose between the two fittings. Then I should be golden.

[@200Johnnyboy]

Ok cool thanks. Yes

[@CastellawSpeed]

Smexy

[@CowbellCustoms]

Thanks doood

[@TheRowdyJ]

hows it working? im about to start my merc cj6 build. do you still have it?

[@CowbellCustoms]

I did end up trading it for a 1969 lotus Elan, because I'm so ADHD and it felt like a good decision. I really did like the swap. There were a few kinks I needed to work out. And am kinda sad I didn't complete it. But at the time I was having daily driver issues and for several months in the winter that was my only running vehicle and soft top with barely any working heat in 12° weather got old