Eagle

Unless you are certain that you'll never want to use a pickup again -- keep it. The 4-cylinder, 4-speed, 2WD is not a desirable model. I don't really know what it's worth -- my guess would be $1,000. Even if it's $1,500 ... look at prices for used S-10s and Rangers, check the prices, and then look at the mileage and condition. As Frank the Dog wrote, "You can't by anything at twice what that truck is worth that'll be half as good."

I forgot that Hornbrod had already posted instructions on running that test. If the printed circuit is damaged, it should be possible to run jumper wires from the harness connector on the cluster directly to the two terminals on the gauge. But first ... find out what the problem is.

No, now it is time to look at the wiring between the gauge and the sending unit. Do the test suggested -- find the plug where the fuel pump/sender harness pigtail connects to the chassis harness. Unplug it. Turn on ignition. See where gauge reads. (Should be Full) Then identify the wire in the chassis harness side for the sender input. Connect to ground. See where gauge reads. (Should read Empty.)

Does Carfax provide actual owners' names? To be honest, if some stranger called me about a vehicle I sold years before, I'd hang up on them.

Not just off-road. Remember, I made the mistake of buying a '99 WJ V8, which had that axle. It didn't say it in the owner's manual, but in the factory service manual it specifically said NOT to jack the vehicle with a shop jack under the rear pumpkin. After some research, I finally found that the reason is the reverse strain of having the weight supported on the pumpkin with the springs pressing down on the outer ends of the tubes warps the housing, resulting in gear noise and premature wear. In addition, the internals don't interchange with a "real" Dana 44.

That doesn't look like any Dana 44 I've ever seen. Is that by some chance a ZJ Dana 44 -- with the aluminum housing? If so, don't touch it.

An MJ main leaf will give lift to an MJ, just as an XJ main leaf gives a lift to an XJ. In the XJ, using a second set of main leaves with the eyes cut off results in 1-1/4 to 1-1/2 inch of lift. The same is reported to be the case for the MJ. To get additional load capacity without adding lift, you need an AAL that matches the loaded (at empty curb weight) arch of the springs, not the free arch.

I don't know what you think you saw, but there was never a Metric Tonne" package for the XJ.

There's one caveat -- the MJ never had rear disk brakes, so the conversion might have changed the overall width. In stock, drum brake trim, the XJ and MJ rear axles were the same width, although the spacing of the spring perches was different (as well as one being SUA and the other SOA). The "posi" is probably a factory Trac-Lok, so you should assume that the clutches are worn out and that it will need a rebuild kit. I think those are running about $100 these days -- maybe a bit more.

I haven't gotten around to verifying it yet, but I believe that a cut-off XJ main leaf would be perfect for adding carrying capacity without adding lift. The key is to find an AAL that has approximately the same free arch as the MJ springs have when sitting at curb weight (unloaded). Unscientific eyeballing tells me that an XJ main leaf should be about right, but I haven't actually crawled under one of my MJs with an XJ leaf in hand to compare. There is no reason why an XJ AAL would make the ride harsh. I've done the XJ AAL using cut-off main leaves twice, and the resulting ride was very comfortable. I see no reason why it would be any less comfortable in an MJ. Keep in mind that the XJ uses 5/16" center pins for the springs, where the MJ uses 3/8" pins. You'll probably have to drill out the holes if you use XJ leaves.

True -- fortunately (and unfortunately) my MJ is sitting in my buddy's garage, waiting for us to put a new clutch into it.

I wonder if reversing the two wires for the fuel gauge at the connector to the cluster would reverse the way the fuel gauge reads.

Don't forget an adjustable track bar.

All MJs had at least one overload leaf. There were, IIRC, two configurations for the metric tonne springs. One was 4+1, the other was 3+2. If I had your truck, I think I would start by removing the shorter overload leaf AND the AAL in the body of the pack, and see where that brought the ride height.

Third one down from the top (the one that's thicker than the others and has no hole for the friction pad) is the non-factory leaf.

Those aren't factory MJ flares, so any measurements you get won't be worth anything to you. Somewhere on this site I posted the factory service manual measurements for stock ride height. These are taken from the axle to the chassis, so they aren't affected by tire size or by flare selection. I think that's what you need. Here it is: http://comancheclub.com/topic/11098-how-to-measure-ride-hight/

There is nothing "Renix" about a volt meter. The Renix system controls ignition and injection. Everything else is just wiring.

A search for "J-bolts" or "J bolts" on the ACE Hardware web site comes up blank. Do you remember what they were called? Do the ACE bolts have a flat, button head?

Too dark to see, but I wouldn't bet against you.

Yes, problem solved. Thanks for all suggestions.

Maybe in your store. A friend of mine had a fairly new (Windows 8) Toshiba notebook that he had problems with. It came from Best Buy. When he took it back to the Geek Squad, they told him the hard drive was fried and that it would be cheaper to buy a new computer than to fix the old one. So he bought a new Toshiba (Windows 8.1) -- and promptly had trouble with that one, also. I took them both, used the system recovery utility to wipe the hard drives and reset everything to the out-of-box state, then re-installed his software. I also updated the older one from Windows 8 to 8.1. I kept both of them around for a month, playing with them. Never a hiccup. The Geek Squad flat out lied to him so they could sell him another computer. His problem was just that he's not computer savvy and he had it loaded down with toolbars on top of toolbars -- many of which carried viruses or Trojans, Once the junk was cleared out, they both functioned perfectly.

I know the drawbacks of XP. My new desktop and my primary notebook both run Win 7, but the old notebook is an XP machine and I see no reason to try to replace it -- it's strictly a back-up. Plus, I have an excellent, office-grade multi-function printer that's old enough there are no drivers for it that work with 64-bit Win7, so I like having the XP machine around for the ability to use that printer and scanner. There is a hack so you can continue to receive security updates for Windows XP. I've installed that, and it gets updated periodically. Open Office has largely been supplanted by Libre Office. I've tried it and it will do in a pinch, but I'd prefer to use Microsoft Office because that's what we have to use at work.

No Black Friday deals for me -- I worked. And on my weay home from work, I was rear-ended at a stop light in my wife's 2000 Cherokee. Two lanes each way. I was in the right lane, to go straight. Left lane in both directions is for left turns only, and gets an early left turn arrow so they can cross traffic. The left turn arrow went green, and the woman behind me decided to go. She stopped upon hitting my rear bumper. Doesn't appear to be any damage beyond scraped paint, but I'll want a shop to check it to be certain the unibody hasn't been tweaked. Ho, ho, ho ... :fs2:

I can guess. Dunno if my guess is correct, but here goes: Some shops crank the oil filter on much too tight. Getting it off can be a real problem, and some people have been known to hammer a long screwdriver through the filter body to use as a lever. Possibly a screwdriver hammerer drove the tip of the screwdriver into the tip of the filter nozzle.

Keep in mind that even the short wheelbase MJs have a longer wheelbase that the XJs.