Eagle

It's fine ... if you have facebook.

I'm in a situation of possibly having too many Jeeps, and I don't know what to do about it. I currently have registered and running two 2000 XJs and a 2001 XJ. The '00s were both bought new and are in top condition. The '01 was bought used with the intention of it becoming my daughter's, but she's out of the country and never got a driver's license, so I've been driving it since my '88 became unreliable. The '01 is a 4.0L Sport, with the beginnings of some body rot, a lot of rust underneath, and it doesn't get great gas mileage. My work situation is about to change. My commute now is about 12 miles each way. Starting in about a month, I'll probably be traveling to remote construction sites two days per week, and each site is about 100 miles each way. Gas is cheaper than it was a year ago, but 400 miles a week at 15 or 16 MPG will run through some petrol. I'm wrestling with the notion of putting an '88 2.5L 4-speed MJ on the road and using that as a daily driver for awhile. But -- I don't know if I really want to rack up a lot more miles on an older MJ like that. If I were to do the MJ, I'd probably sell the '01 XJ. I just don't know if the XJ is worth enough at this point to make it worthwhile selling, or if I should just keep it and drive it. The XJ has about 120,000 miles on it; the MJ has 219,000 miles on it. What's an '01 XJ Sport worth these days? It has air, AM/FM radio with no CD, no cruise.

This one is a 2000, but be careful. I had a 1999 WJ with the then-new 4.7L engine, plus the then-new Quadra-Drive system. I owned it about nine months before Jeep bought it back from me to stop me from going lemon law with it. Out of the nine months I had it, I think it spent two (or maybe more) in the shop, and they never got the transmission or the axles straightened out. The final straw came after the buy-back had been set up. I was driving it to the supermarket, with is 4 miles from home. Got about halfway there and it died in the middle of the road. I coasted off to the side, called a wrecker, and had it towed to the dealership. They announced that they had identified the problem -- and that replacement parts to fix it were no yet in the system. Literally while we were discussing this, a transporter rolled in with the 2000 XJ Classic that I had ordered to replace the WJ, so I just handed them the keys and drove home in my new Jeep. The WJ rode and drove well if it was running, but it had more problems than any new vehicle should ever have. The problem is, if the engine isn't running you can't check the axles for noise, you can't check the drive rain for vibrations, and you can't check the transmission for various problems. It's probably worth the $400 asking price, but be prepared to part it out rather than fix it.

That's normal. The guys above reporting 45 psi at warm idle are the ones that are unusual. Factory spec for oil pressure is 13 psi minimum at warm idle, and 37 to 75 psi above 1600 RPM. Based on having driven well over half a million miles in XJs and MJs with the 4.0L engine, every new one I've had over the years has showed warm idle around 25 to 30 psi, and runs (warm) at 50 to 55 psi at highway speeds (which for me means 55 to 65 MPH).

There is a bank of three or four (depending on options) relays under the hood of the '88 MJ, but no fuse box/panel.

I'm running a '98 ZJ box in a 2001 XJ with the stock XJ pump and there are no problems. There shouldn't be any incompatibility between your pump and the steering box -- and you ran it that way for five years, which should be proof enough. If I'm remembering all the old posts correctly, you now have a new (to you) pump in there and a new (to you) steering box, and the same problem keeps happening. So let's think about what you HAVEN'T replaced. I think you mentioned saving by not buying hoses. Maybe that wasn't such a saving. We know that brake hoses can deteriorate internally and create blockages. Why would a power steering hose be any different? The makeup of the fluid going through them may be different, but both are hydraulic pressure hoses. I would look at the hoses as being the only thing left that you haven't replaced.

The throttle body injection was used only in the Renix years, '84 through '90 ('86 through '90 for the MJ). Starting in the 1991 model year Chrysler switched the 2.5L to a multi-port injection. I hope you're also aware that the electronics changed, so to stay Renix you'll need to use the old distributor, the old CPS, and you'll have to swap in the flywheel from the old engine.

The '86 2.5L uses throttle body injection, with an ignition and injection control system by Renix, so the electronics are very similar to the 4.0L. Some piossibilities to check out: * Oxygen sensor * Oxygen sensor wiring (is the ECU getting the signal from the O2 sensor?) * ECU * Temp sensor (there should be two -- the one that sends data to the ECU should be on the lower left side of the block if it's located similar to the 4.0L)

I don't think a ZJ (Grand Cherokee) column will be an easy adaptation. It certainly won't be a direct bolt-in. The reason the swap is for XJs up to 1994 is that in 1995 Chrysler changed the XJ steering column to incorporate air bags. The '94 and older are the standard Saginaw column so they can be easily swapped into a Comanche. The ZJ came out in 1993 and I believe they all used the Chrysler column with the air bag.

You can't steer without the track bar.

Fuse panel ... but that would be the driver's side. Antenna?

It isn't? :doh: As long as I hold the wheel straight it continues to go straight over bumps. Then you are not experiencing bump steer.

Taking you hands off the steering wheel is not a test of bump steer. Bump steer is when you hold the wheel straight but the vehicle changes direction when going over a bump.

Several years ago I ordered two sets of SS rear axle brake lines for an MJ Dana 44 axle. The tubes I received were beautiful -- very high quality, and fully wrapped with the outer gravel shielding. Only problem was -- they wouldn't fit an XJ or MJ Dana 44. They might have been correct for the rear of a full-size Cherokee, but mine was sold years before so I had no way of knowing. They made good on it, but I had to pay for shipping back the incorrect parts and ship them the rusty old lines off one of my axles to use as a template. Overall, I think if I had it to do over -- I wouldn't. I'd just buy a coil of coated brake line from Auto Zone and make up my own.

Either swap everything, or nothing. From my unpublished manuscript: Please note that the above is copyrighted and I am not granting permission to reproduce it.

In the vehicle, with the factory steering stops on the knuckles, the XJ box (@ 14:1 ratio) is 3-1/2 turns lock-to-lock. The ZJ box (@ 12.7:1 ratio) is 3 turns lock-to-lock. The question is what the lock-to-lock is for a bare box, out of the vehicle, for use when checking a rebuilt box on the parts house counter.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=FPQlXNH36mI#t=6

Are you planning to flat tow it, tow it with a 2-wheel car dolly, or load it onto a full-length, flat-bed auto transporter?

If you have power at the fuse and power at the socket, but no light, ground is a likely suspect. The fact that the turn indicator on the dash sometimes lights up is a clue that the circuit is seeking a ground by back-feeding through the indicator.

Something is very wrong. The XJ never had rear disk brakes -- not in any year, and not on any axle. I'm guessing you found an axle from a ZJ Grand Cherokee. If so, DO NOT BUY IT. It has an aluminum housing that's prone to bending, and the internal parts are not 100% compatible with a "real" Dana 44 axle.

You can get gears up to 4.88 for the D35. Maybe even deeper, but 4.88 is the deepest you can go with a D30 in front, so I've never looked beyond that. Rusty's is not talking about a new housing, they're referring to the carrier. Most axles (including both the Dana 35 and the Dana 44) have a "carrier split," which means gears in one range of ratios need one carrier and the gears in another range take a different carrier. The Chrysler 8.25, however, does NOT have a carrier break -- all ratios use the same carrier, and backlash is adjusted with a set screw. For the Dana 35, the carrier break is divided into 3.31 and lower numerically, and 3.55 and higher numerically. IMHO it isn't worth spending the money for new gears and a new carrier in a Dana 35. Choose 4.10 as your ratio, then go junkyard shopping for a set of 4.10 front and rear axles out of a 4-cylinder Cherokee. Having written that, let's back up and ask about specifics: Is your truck 2WD or 4WD? If it's 2WD, do you plan to convert to 4WD? What size tires are you running now, and what size tires do you plan to run in the future? What engine do you have? (I assume, if you have 3.07 gears, that it's a 4.0L with a 5-speed, but let's be sure we're all on the same page.)

It's hard to find a better spring perch than the ones in the Mopar Performance catalog, and the price is stupid cheap for what you get. I ordered a set several years ago. The price was so low that I couldn't believe it was for a pair, so I ordered two. And I got two -- pairs. Here they are at Jeg's http://www.jegs.com/i/Mopar-Performance/312/P4120074/10002/-1 Part number is P4120074. You may be able to order them from a local Jeep, Dodge, or Chrysler dealer and not pay any shipping.

Do you have the correct speedo gear installed? Your tach should be reading ~2100 RPM with that combination. No, 2265 RPM at 65 MPH is correct. The question is why that's a concern. That's right about on the torque peak of the engine, which is the most efficient cruise speed for the engine, and it's slower than what the original AMC engines were designed for. As I've posted before, over the years, starting in 1966, my family has had a number of cars with the AMC 199, 232, 258 engine, all set up with non-overdrive 3-speed transmissions. They were all geared to run 24 MPH per 1,000 RPM -- which works out to 2500 RPM at 60 MPH, and a 72 MPH cruise at 3,000 RPM. Set up like that, we've seen them go more than 300,000 miles. 2,300 RPM at 65 MPH is not an issue.

Agreed. Red is the next stronger, and that's for things you won't take apart.

70 MPH will be 2500 RPM in overdrive. Not bad at all -- that's what the earlier versions of the AMC I-6 were all geared for in the days before we had overdrive transmissions. Should give you a nice crawl ratio off-road.