Eagle

Unfortunately, no. The angle is set by the angle at which the spring perches are welded onto the axle tubes. If you need a lot of adjustment, you'll have to remove the axle and have the perches re-welded. If you only need a slight change, they sell tapered wedges to adjust that. I think Hornbrod uses wedges, he may be able to tell you where to buy them.

Several years ago I looked into Taylor's (another antique and classic car insurance company) and found that they won't insure anything with 4-wheel drive. In January of 2017 I was involved in a fender-bender with my 2000 XJ Sport. It still has less than 50,000 miles on it and it was in nearly showroom condition (to find a used one even close to it in condition would have cost $10,000 to $15,000). My insurance company said it was worth $4,750 -- and the repairs came within about 25 bucks of making it a total. I'm fortunate that I had worked with the body shop before and they bent over backwards to keep it from being totalled. For those carrying liability only -- I strongly recommed that you carry at least comprehensive. Collision coverage is the expensive part. Comprehensive is cheap, and that's what covers you if your vehicle is stolen, broken into, or a tree falls on it.

What about parking lights (front and rear)? Still sounds like a bad switch to me, but we still don't have a complete description of the symptoms. Do the hazard flashers work? All four of them plus the cluster indicators?

Good eye -- I completely missed that. I was looking at the spring perch.

You have better eyes than I do, Mate. I don't know how or where you're seeing that.

Absolutely agree on the angle finder. Your driveshaft has what's called a double Cardan joint at the front. Like the front driveshaft in a 4WD XJ or MJ, the double Cardan has 2 u-joints in it, so they cancel each other out. That means at the rear u-joint (the one at the differential pinion), you want the u-joint to be operating as close as possible to a zero angle (i.e. straight -- the pinion snout of the differential should be pointing straight at the driveshaft). Actually, at rest it shouldn't be exactly zero (see Dirty's post above), but nearly zero. It wants to be at zero degrees when you're going down the road under light to moderate load, which means the torque is twisting the axle and the springs a little bit. The SYE does make a difference. In a stock XJ or MJ, the angle between the transfer case output shaft and the upper end of the driveshaft should be the same as the angle between the pinion snout and the rear part of the drive shaft, when those angles match, the two u-joints don't fight each other. But with a double Cardan joint, you're adding a third u-joint. The two in the double Cardan are both operating at an angle, so they cancel each other out. The third one -- the one back at the differential -- needs to operate at approximately zero so that it doesn't introduce vibrations into the drive line. Is it "unsafe" if the angle is wrong? Not really -- just buy stock in a company that makes u-joints for Jeeps, because you'll be replacing them frequently.

Actually, my recollection is that it's two, but pull one of your old ones to verify.

Agreed, that's a Chrysler 8-1/4 axle. out of a Cherokee. The pinion nut torque should be 200 ft-lbs. Don't go more than 200 (according to the FSM). What I can't see from the photos is whether the XJ spring perches were relocated to the correct space (and angle) for the Comanche with slip yoke eliminator, or if the guy just bolted the Cherokee axle in and twisted the springs to [sort of] seat them on the Cherokee perches.

Cherokee front shocks will fit. Cherokee rear shocks will NOT fit. Don't just grab rotors off any Cherokee. They changed from year to year, and if you get the wrong rotor they'll lock up the front end. For what rotors cost today, you're much better off buying new ones from Auto Zone, Adance, O'Reilly's, or Rock Auto.

That's why I asked for a better photo of the area where the axle mounts to the spring. It's quite possible that the previous owner used a Cherokee axle to do a quick-n-dirty spring-over lift. Basically, 88mancheman, we need a lot of photos -- good photos -- to get a better idea what's going on with your truck. In the meanwhile, I very strongly recommend that you not drive it -- at all -- because with the way that pinion yoke is set right now, you'll destroy the differential.

His description pretty clearly confirmed that the yoke came off the nose of the pinion gear. The space (1/4"? 3/8"?) between the yoke and the crush sleeve, where there should be contact, confirms this. There isn't anything (yet) to suggest that the slip spline in the driveshaft separated.

Signature line seen on another forum: "Any time you think people can't possibly be that dumb ... they'll prove you wrong."

Any auto glass shop. The windshield is the same as all years of the XJ (Cherokee). The passenger side window is the same as any '84 thru '96 4-door XJ.

That's why I wanted more/better photos of the axle-to-spring mounting. You have a good point, there is something funky about that driveshaft -- a photo of the full length of it and another at the front end of it would also be a good idea.

The Dana 35 uses a crush sleeve to set the preload on the pinion bearing. To be strictly proper, any time that yoke comes off you should install a new crush sleeve and a new nut. The problem is that to properly set the crush sleeve you have to take the differential apart so the pinion gear is turning by itself. A friend who used to work in a Jeep dealership during the XJ/MJ years told me that when they changed a pinion seal, they just torqued the pinion nut to 250 foot-ponds and called it good. Unfortunately, most of the reasonably-priced torque wrenches only go to 150 foot-pounds. So you can either see if Auto Zone has a 250 foot-pounder you can borrow, or use a 150 and after it clicks for 150 keep turning a bit farther and hope you got it close. Those u-bolts holding the axle to the springs are supposed to be torqued, too. I don't recall what the torque is, but it's a bit more than hand tight. 14mm is larger than the 1/2-inch wheel studs, and we torque those to 100 foot-pounds (or so, depending on what year FSM you look at), so don't be afraid to make them tight. I'd go to around 75 foot-pounds if you don't have a source to look up the actual specification. If those photos are the way it looks now, don't drive it. The yoke is what compresses the crush sleeve. The way it is in those photos, the pinion gear can move in and out of engagement with the ring gear, and that's going to trash the differential (if it hasn't already done so). Looking at the second photo, it looks like the leaf spring is on top of the axle. That's not stock. Please take a better photo of the axle/spring mounting. The amount of rotation you described in your first post basically sounds impossible, so I'd like to see a good photo of how the axle is mounted in the truck.

I knew that, I was just testing you.

I don't think we're trying to be a tough crowd. Most of the members here are more than willing to offer advice and counsel, as well as explain what mistakes we've made in the past so new Comanche owners can avoid our past misdeeds. BUT ... in order to provide useful advice, it is first necessary to understand what the problem is. When the first post about a problem doesn't include photos, and uses words that can't possibly apply to the situation, it's very difficult to offer anything constructive. I've got some guesses as to what might have happened, but I won't offer advice based on guesses because I'll probably be wrong -- and that's not helpful. So, 88mancheman, please give us more details, and post some photos. Be sure to include photos of the big u-bolts holding the axle to the springs.

Heck, the spacing on an XJ axle is closer, and people have actually just bolted in XJ axles to get a quick spring-over conversion. Then they wonder why it rides and handles funny and the spring bushings wear out ...

As Minuit commented, the XJs and MJs are prewired to work with full gauges, all you need is a cluster out of a compatible year. Yours is an 86? So you need one with a mechanical speedometer -- they changed to an electronic speedometer in 1991. The speedometer cable connection to the actual speedometer changed in 1987, so the easiest for you would be a cluster out of an 84-86 XJ or an 86 MJ. You can also use a cluster from an 87-90 XJ or MJ, but you'll have to replace the speedometer cable with the newer type. There should be several discussions on here about swapping the cluster. Try a search.

Wait -- you're trying to tell us there's a Comanche under all that tubing?

This post has been split off from another members post about gauges because one is for a stock truck and this one is about a custom installation.

The Rancho rear AAL is an almost full-length leaf, it's a good product, and it's reasonably priced. But ... don't pay attention to their lift specs. Rancho lists the same AAL for both the Comanche and the Cherokee, and they claim it will lift the vehicle 2-1/2 inches. But Cherokee springs sit flat, whereas Comanche springs start out with an arch. Years ago I called Rancho to ask about that. I spoke with an engineer, who went off and spoke with another engineer. When she came back on the line, she told me I was right and their catalog listing was wrong. It lifts an XJ 2-1/2", but it only lifts an MJ 1-1/2". Which, IMHO, is perfect for a budget boost, and a much better solution than playing with lift shackles.

What spindle is on the rear differential? I've never heard of one.

All possibilities, but there is no part associated with the rear driveshaft or differential that is called a "spindle," and there isn't anything that can "pull out of" the rear differential, so until the OP comes back and explains what happened we really are just guessing.

Without modification? 1987 thru 1990.