Eagle

We come back to the basic reality that you don't need ANY lift to run 31" tires, if you run Jeep rims. So now the question is, why do you really want to lift your truck, and how much do you want to lift it? Personally, I bought an '88 MJ that came with a 4-inch lift and I dropped it back to stock height -- with 31-inch tires. It rode better, handled batter, and was just as capable off-road.

That mismatch can be overcome. Before mounting the new header, fill in the upper, outside corners with bondo. After the header is mounted, just grind it down to blend into the feder contours. Bob Salemi (of the pro stock MJ) did that on his XJ.

Locksmith.

31s shouldn't hit the flares. What wheels are you running?

Just be sure the wedges are steel. Some years ago, before Paragon Offroad Park in Pennsylvania closed down, NAXJA-NAC had one of our annual trailfest gatherings there. One of the guys had an XJ that he lifted in the rear with aluminum blocks. The block had been in place for awhile and, of course, Pennsylvania is in the snow belt, where they use salt on the roads in winter. Out on the trail, his lift blocks literally disintegrated. It wasn't pretty, but thank God it was at very low speed on a trail and not at 65 MPH on the way home after the event.

If youget your 242 from a junkyard, be sure you also get the shift gate and bezel from the donor vehicle. The shift gate for the 242 is different from that gate for the 231.

There is no comparison between the '87 and '95. The '95 is an HO -- the torque peak is at 4,000 RPM, compared to 2,000 RPM for the '87. The '87 was rated at 173 horsepower, the '91 - '95 were rated at 190 horsepower (and felt like more of a difference than that due to the change in the torque curve). The HO still produces acceleration well into the RPM range -- the Renix engines basically fall on their face above 3,000 RPM. They'll rev higher, but doing so is useless. In my '88 XJ and MJ, I use 2,250 RPM as my shift point, for pretty much all driving conditions (both are 5-speeds, so I obviously have control over the shift point).

This is a tough issue to address, because we don't know what you think the acceleration should be. What vehicles are you comparing it to, and how do you typically drive? Have you ever driven a truck with an in-line 6-cylinder engine before? The '87 was the first year of the 4.0L, it was rated for less horsepower than the '88 and following years -- and then in 1991 came the HO (for "High Output) and even more power. The 87 is not a high RPM engine. If you're accustomed to rice rockets, you probably keep your foot on the floor and let it shift at 4,000 RPM (or higher. That's not how the 4.0L engine (especially the early ones) want to be driven. The torque peak for that engine is at a little over 2,000 RPM -- revving it far beyond that before shifting is a waste of gas and an exercise in frustration. What you have is a torque engine, made for lower RPM pulling power -- it's not a Z28 that starts producing power at 6,000 RPM.

The OP has conflicting issues. Bending the top of the window frame inward a bit will help with the weather and wind seal, but it won't make the door easier to close.

As already commented, just lock the front axle in the connected position and forget it. Jeep eliminated the front axle disconnect after a few years anyway, and nobody missed it. By all means, get the 242 transfer case. The 2000 XJ my late wife drove has a 242. When the first snow of the winter came, I used to just put it in full-time 4WD and leave it there for the duration of the winter. There are no handling issues as a result. My wife never had a problem with it.

When the service manager at the dealership where I bought my original '88 Cherokee was the friend on whose stock car my brother and I crewed, I used to hang around the shop a lot. You didn't hear this from me, but they used to address issues like that by opening the window,, opening the door partially, then sliding a 2x4 down through the opening and bending the top of the door inward.

The 84 through 86 years had a wide variety of axle ratios. I have an '86 XJ 4-cylinder 5-speed with 4.10s; the running gear from an '86 XJ 2.8L V6 auto with 3.73s; and I had (and gave away) an '84 XJ Wagoneer 4-cylinder auto that had either 4.56 or 4.88 gears in it.

That's highly debatable, but strength is not the only criterion for "better." I own XJs and MJs with all three transmissions, and the 3550 is by far the best of the breed. Stronger, smoother, easier to shift, better gear ratios, and quieter.

And compared to the 3550 the AX-15 is junk. Once you start that argument, you can't stop. I bought my '88 XJ new. The original BA 10/5 transmission now has over 287,000 miles on it, has been driven offroad extensively, and it still works fine.

Not on an MJ, but Jeep used the same coils for the Up Country suspension in the late model Cherokees. When I bought a 2000 XJ new with Up Country I pulled the part numbers off the front coils and went to the dealership to buy a set for my '87 MJ. The parts guy asked why I was buying ZJ coils for an MJ. They ride 1-inch higher than "stock." Ride is better than the standard springs (IMHO).

You don't need a new steering column, but the horn parts for the 3-spoke style wheel are totally different than for the base "station wagon" steering wheel. Look closely at the parts diagram in the link Hornbrod provided.

If you have cruise control, isn't your cable in two parts? The long (lower) cable runs from the transfer case through the firewall to the speed sensor module, then there should be a short cable from that to the speedometer head.

No, current draw is not the problem. The problem is that the factory turns, brakes, and hazards all use the same bulbs and the same wires. If the hazards are supposed to be flashing and you step on the brakes, the brakes override and the hazards freeze. Not only don't they flash in the rear, they also stop flashing in the front. What's needed is to separate the hazard light circuit from the brake light circuit. I'm not terribly upset by the way the factory brake lights and turn signals work, but I don't like that if I step on the brake peddle I can't have hazard lights flashing.

For the Wagoneer he'll need the 4x6 size, not the 6x7 size

Remember, carburetors don't feed fuel to the engine by pressure, they feed by suction. The pump just delivers fuel to the fuel bowl (reservoir) in the carburetor, and typically a fuel pump for a carbureted engine only delivers 5 to 7 psi. Then the fuel just sits there in the bowl until the engine starts pulling suction, at which point the gas is literally sucked out of the carburetor through the jet(s) and into the intake manifold. If everything but the pump is working, even a low flow should be enough to fill the reservoir and allow the engine to start and idle. It's only at higher speeds and/or heavier load, when you need more fuel volume (the pressure remains constant) that you need higher flow rates.

Interesting observation. I hadn't considered that. Back to the drawing board ...

WD-40 is a mix of kerosene and paraffin. It is NOT a lubricant.

The Cherokee my late wife drove has a 242 transfer case. She came from an area that never saw snow, so driving in real winter wasn't something she was comfortable with. When the first snow flew I would put it in full-time 4WD, and just leave it there until spring. It made her feel a lot more secure on the road.

Correct. To retain the LSV, you have to keep the MJ distribution block. The inputs (the top side) are identical between the XJ and the MJ, so you run the lines from the 95 master to the MJ distribution block exactly the same way they ran to the XJ proportioning valve.

Both Auto Zone and Advance Auto show only the one for the idiot light, nothing for the gauge. You can do a GO - NO GO test on your wiring and gauge with a simple test. I don't remember which way the needle goes, but basically remove the wire from the sensor and leave it in air, not touching anything. Turn on ignition -- needle should be all the way to one side of the scale. Now ground the wire to the engine -- needle should swing all the way to the opposite end of the scale.