Eagle

I don't recall exactly how I did it, but I know I didn't remove it from the truck. IIRC I had the air filter box out.

From the manuscript of the book I started several years ago: The above is copyrighted. Please do not distribute it beyond this forum. Basically, thecause there are different offsets to the knuckles, caliper brackets, and hubs, you can't mix and match parts. Everything needs to be from the same "year family" to work together.

But were your bumpstops in contact with the corresponding par5ts of the suspension? If the bumpstops weren't making contact, you didn't measure full compression.

It will bolt right in, but the entire ignition and injection system is different, so you're looking at replacing the whole wiring harness. I hope you got the wiring harness from the Wrangler. You DID get the wiring harness from the Wrangler, didn't you?

You don't need any lift. I have 30x9.50/15s on my '87 shortbed, at stock height. I had 31x10.50s on the '88 when I removed the lift and I left them on for about a year. The 31s are now under my original '88 Cherokee -- again, with no lift.

??? Huh? The XJ Dana 44 has historically been THE easiest and most popular rear axle swap for MJs with the Dana 35. How do you figure it's "rare"? And weaker than what? It was, after all, the factory optional heavy duty rear axle for the MJ from 1987 through to the end in 1992.

I sit corrected. There are two connectors. The one for the gauges will be on the back of the main cluster, sort of next to the speedometer head. There is another connecter way over at the left (viewed frojm the front) side that feeds that bank of indicator lights to the left of the gauges. The main harness connector is the one you're looking for.

There is only one wiring connector, where all the wires plug onto the back of the cluster. If the wires are the same colors as for 1988, you should see tan wires at terminals 15 and 17 of the connector that plugs onto the back of the cluster. 15 and 17 are jumpered together -- one feeds the actual gauge, the other controls the low fuel warning light. Tap the tan wire at 15 or 17 and run a jumper directly to the positive terminal/pst on the fuel gauge, then run a jumper from the negative terminal of the gauge to any good chassis ground. That should do it.

Rancho has an AAL set. They list the same kit for both the XJ and the MJ, so it's not quite a full-length under the MJ. It's good for about 1-1/2" in the MJ (2-1/2" in the XJ). Your other option is to roll your own using leafs from junkyard vehicles such as the older (spring under) Dakotas and S-10s.

After another try at thinking this through, I'm not sure how well a Helicoil would work in something as thin as the frame rails, where there's not nearly enough material for the coil to bottom out. How about thread-serts? https://www.nutty.com/Steel-Klik-Thread-Serts_c_270.html http://www.avdelusallc.com/products/nutsert.shtml You don't need a setting tool for one or two inserts. I used them to install thread-serts when I added a transfer case skid to my '88 XJ. You just put a nut onto a long bolt, thread the bolt into the thread-sert and put it in the hole, then use one wrench to prevent the bolt from turning while you tighten the nut down (up) against the frame. It's basically a threaded version of a pop rivet.

But it will raise $$$. Just another tax. In Connecticut it was a loser. By statute, the fee for a test is $20 -- half to the testing station and half to the state. If you fail, the first retest is free. For an OBD-2 vehicle, the test is quick -- run the mirror underneath to verify that the cat is still there, plug in the scanner to the OBD-2 port, fire it up and read the numbers. For any pre-OBD-2 vehicle they have to physically do a pressure test on the fuel cap, they have to put the vehicle on a chassis dyno and actually run the vehicle through a prescribed series of operational parameters. And then do it again -- for free -- if the first test failed. I'm sure the shops doing the testing were losing money hand over fist, and even the knuckleheads in Hartford finally realized that all they were doing was causing testing stations to leave the program.

The clusters in the Renix years used a mechanical speedometer. The HO clusters (1991 and newer) used an electronic speedometer. That's the reason the clusters can't be interchanged. Worse, for some screwball reason, Chrysler not only changed the resistance range for the fuel sender, they also reversed the polarity, so if you were to ignore the speedometer and plug an HO cluster into a Renix chassis -- the fuel gauge would read backward. Back to Will7798 -- does the cluster function correctly other than the fuel gauge? If so, you should be able to bypass the printed circuit and "hotwire" the fuel gauge. All the signals coming into the cluster come through the rectangular connector that plugs into the left (as viewed from the driver's seat) side of the cluster. The fuel gauge makes contact with the printed circuit through the two screws on the back, the same ones that hold the gauge into the cluster. You should be able to get a couple of pieces of fince wire and mak jumpers to connect from the connector directly to the two posts on the back of the gauge. Do you have access to a wiring diagram to figure out which two wires to jumper?

Colorado tests '88s? I thought Connecticut was pretty bass-ackwards, but at least we have a 25-year window on emissions testing. Cars and light trucks (pickups) over 25 years old are exempt from emissions. You Colorado guys need to start talking to your legislators. Years and years ago, when Connecticut first started requiring emissions testing, I did some research to see when they should stop. I spent a day at Department of Motor Vehicle headquarters, going through registration records by year. What I found was that 98+ percent of car and light truck registrations were for vehicles less then ten years old. Then factor in that the vehicles being driven the most miles annually are probably those less than three or five years old, and it's easy to see that testing just a ten year window would take care of probably 99 percent of the vehicle miles driven. Testing 25-year old vehicles is just NOT going to save the planet.

High idle on the Renix 4.0Ls is usually caused by a dirty IAC, but there's another possibility, also. The throttle cable from the pedal through the firewall leads to a bellcrank assembly mounted down on the driver's side frame rail. From that bellcrank, there's a rigid arm that goes up to move the throttle plate. The pivot of that bellcrank assembly can get gunked up and/or rusted, and resist allowing the throttle to close fully at idle. On my '88 XJ I've had to hose it down with PB Blaster a few times to free it up.

That connector looks worse than "faulty" to me -- IMHO she's be broke.

Too late, I already shipped them back. The problem is that Rock Auto claims they are not the wrong part -- because the number on the package matches the number they list for the part. The fact that the upper mount is nothing like the factory part apprentlky doesn't mean anything if the number on the package is "correct." I guess I'm old-fashioned. To me, OEM replacement means it looks and fits like an OEM part. It doesn't mean "can be made to work (sort of) with some effort on the part of the buyer."

Or Helicoil it ...

You were supposed to send me a blue MJ and a black MJ several months ago. I've been waiting. Where are they? ;)

Corect. Especially wiuth an '86 2.5L this is a very real possibility. If you have conventional vee belts, you need a straight or direct drive water pump. If you have a serpentine belt, you need a reverse rotation water pump. They look alike on the outside and they both bolt up to the engine.

Hmmm ... Well, I'm not a happy camper. I just shipped the parts pack. By FedEx it cost me $16.59 to send the parts back, and I'm going to get a $20.17 refund. So I'm out about ten bucks to Rock Auto, I don't have the parts, and it's still going to cost me the same as it would have cost me if I had just gone to Auto Zone in the first place. I may give Rock Auto a second chance on something, some day. Right now, they're not looking very good to me.

Based on a lot of positive comments on this forum, I decided to try Rock Auto. I am sorry to report that my first experience has not been a good one. It's pretty difficult to screw up wiper blades -- if they're 18" long, they'll probably work. But my order also included a pair of rear hatch gas struts for the 2001 XJ, and those did not fit. The configuration of the upper (hatch) end attachment was completely different from the factory configuration. Rock Auto's automated return request site takes the attitude that because they say they sent the correct part -- the part must be the correct part. Therefore, they'll give me a refund for the cost of the struts, but I eat the return shipping. So I'm going to have to buy the struts from Auto Zone after all, plus I'm out the cost of shipping the incorrect parts back to Rock Auto. I am not a happy camper. Is this typical of them?

You're referring to the CVs from the Grand Cherokee, I assume? The late-model Cherokees still used u-joints. I believe the ZJ CVs are considered smoother but weaker than the late model u-joints.

I would certainly go for the 5-speed. You won't be able to use 5th gear for much of anything except highway cruise on level terrain, but it won't hurt anything to have it in there.

Relays are always worth grabbing, if they use standard relays for anything.

I dunno about more expensive. Ten or twelve years ago XJ and MJ D44s were selling for $500 to $600 and people were falling over one another to pay those prices. Since the 8.25" and 8.8" swaps have become more common, the bottom has fallen out of the D44 market.