Eagle

I use one from either Auto Zone or Walmart. It fits, and it does the job. There's no way I would pay more than $10 or $15 for one of those. The cheap ones do just as well as the $60 model.

Is there supposed to be an engine underneath all that plumbing and hardware?

Clutch type limited slip differentials are really intended for street driving in rain and snow, not for hard-core wheeling and rock crawling. They aren't "lockers," they are what they are -- slip limiting devices. A better type of limited slip for off-road use is the Torsen type, which is mechanical. The Tru-Trac is similar to that; it's an all mechanical differential, so it doesn't require the use of friction modifier. That's what I have in the rear of my 88 MJ Chief, and it works very well. It's transparent on the road -- you don't even know it's there -- but it has worked well wheeling with NAXJA-NAC at the old Paragon Off-Road Park in Pennsylvania, and in snow on the street. I don't think it's robust enough for really big tires on slick rock such as at Moab, though. The life span of a Trac-Lok depends partially on how much abuse it gets, and also on whether or not you maintain the friction modifier. A Trac-Lok defaults to being engaged. The clutches are in contact all the time. They allow the two wheels to rotate at different speeds only when the torque differential between the two wheels exceeds the limit -- such as when going around corners on dry pavement. In other words, it's "locked" until there's enough torque to make the clutches slip. The limited slip diffs in the WJ Quadra-Trac system work just the opposite. In that system, it's still a clutch system and requires friction modifier, but it defaults to being UNlocked. When the speed difference between the two wheels exceeds some limit, a "gerotor" pump in the diff applies pressure to engage the clutches. I always wondered if we could retrofit the Quadra-Trac diffs to XJs and MJs, but I've never had the time or money to pursue it.

No springs. The clutches are pre-loaded by adjusting the shim pack. The original Trac-Lok in my 88 XJ finally gave up the ghost ate around 150,000 miles. The guy whose stock car I used to crew on was also the service manager at my Jeep dealer, and prior to becoming service manager he was their top mechanic. Instead of buying a new Trac-Lok unit, he re-shimmed it and I got another 50,000 miles out of it. The downside to a Trac-Lok is that it IS always engaged ... until the difference in torque from one side to the other becomes great enough to overcome the friction in the clutches. That's what happens when you go around corners on dry pavement.

According to that article, the 0630 and the 7120 take a different valve cover, and they aren't interchangeable.

Is that article missing a head? I thought the early 2000 4.0L heads (#0331) were prone to cracking and had been replaced by a different casting number. The article says the 0331 was used from 2000-2005. Found it: https://www.naxja.org/forum/showthread.php?t=1076299

If the heads were exactly the same, they wouldn't have different casting numbers.

Respectfully, assumptions don't indicate anything. What would indicate spark is pulling a spark plug wire and seeing a spark when cranking. You could have a coil that doesn't generate enough spark for starting when hot. The vehicle starts when cold, so the choke must work when cold. But does the choke stay open for hot starts, or is it closed and causing an over-rich mixture that can't fire?

"No combustion" would indicate a lack of spark. Have you checked for spark? Is the choke adjusted correctly?

That's what I figured. Might be worth doing anyway. Using a stubby filter would eliminate the adapter and all those O-rings, and it would also eliminate issues of oil drain-back because the filter would be tipped slightly down (IIRC).

Has anyone tried just doing an adapter delete? My fuzzy recollection from my AMC days is that the oil filters originally mounted directly to the block. Is there enough room in the MJ/XJ engine compartment to do the filter without the adapter?

I don't know where you get that interpretation out of what I wrote. You asked about the stripe, not the truck. The truck looks great - the stripe adds nothing to it, and IMHO detracts from it. It would be more appropriate to say, "Just throw the stripe on a bonfire."

Can't you just use the speedo drive out of the BA 10/5?

Cruiser does know. Scroll down to post #3

Neither the original part nor the [incorrect] replacement part is a valve. Those are only inlet adapters -- i.e. fittings.

Keep in mind that the '87 -90 Renix 4.0L engines did not have a CCV "valve." There is no valve. The closed crankcase ventilation was supposed to be regulated by the small size of the tube off the rear of the valve cover. That rear tube is the suction side. The hose and fitting going into the front of the valve cover is supposed to be the fresh air inlet side of the air flow circuit. What happens is that the tiny suction tube gets clogged, so the crankcase can't release pressure through the correct path. The alternate is to push the oily fumes backward through the inlet -- which comes from the air cleaner box, so that's where the oil ends up collecting.

I'm taking the ones from schardein. Too good to pass up. Thanks.

Don't like it. Looks weird.

Yes, the valve is vacuum actuated.

I'd like to convert my '87 MJ to the full-time 4WD option. I have a 242 transfer case, but it came with an engine and tranny that I was given -- I didn't get the donor vehicle. So I need the shift gate -- the part that screws to the floor beneath the trim bezel. It's different than the gate for the 231. If anyone comes across an XJ in a junkyard that has (or had) a 242, please snag the shift gate for me. If you have one, please send me a PM and let me know how much you want for it. I could also use the transfer case shifter bezel with the shift diagram that includes the full-time position. Thanks.

Back in analog days (the 1960s and 1970s), AMC cars had a heater control valve that was operated by a simple choke-type cable by a lever on the dashboard. There were two versions: one had the inlet screwed into a threaded port on the head and a hose connection on the outlet; the other mounted to the firewall and had hose connections for both inlet and outlet. They were simple, and they worked. I often wonder if all the fancy control gizmos we see on modern vehicles are really better than the simple, analog controls we had when I was learning how to drive and to wrench. http://www.americanpartsdepot.net/images/130 3501H.JPG

Jeep deleted the valve on the newer model XJs because with the flow of coolant shut off, the heater core tends to get clogged with gunk. But there's no reason you can't run a valve and just remind yourself to blast the heat for a few minutes once a month or so -- or manually reverse flush the heater core once a year.

Sweet ride

Post a photo of your rear springs. If they are factory, it's virtually impossible to be missing a leaf because of the way they are made. Measure the height from the center of the axle/hubcap straight up to the bottom of the fender flare. Better yet: Having driven a Comanche with a 4-inch lift on a regular basis, I predict that you won't like driving it as a commuter with a 4-inch lift, and you'll hate it with a 6-inch lift. Mine had the lift when I bought it, and removing the lift was the single best "modification" I made to the truck.

The Aztek gets my vote as the ugliest automobile ever designed. And I've seen a lot of ugly cars, including things like the Renault Deux Cheveaux. You see an Aztek rolling down the road (maybe once every ten years!) and you have to think, "Were they all on crack when they designed that?"