Eagle

SOA is what happens in the rear. How you get the lift in the rear has NOTHING to do with how you get the lift and correct the steering geometry in the front.

How are you going to put an AX-15 on a 2.8L engine? The bell housing is different, and the input shaft diameter is different so you'll need a different clutch.

Let's go back to basics: Fuel, Air, and Spark. 1. You brought up compression in response to my previous post. Have you checked the compression? If so, what is it? 2. You posted that you have fuel, but where do you have fuel, and how much? Has this engine run (for you) before? If you have fuel at the fuel rail, what's the pressure? Have you pulled an injector (or two or three) to be certain it's squirting? Have you tried starting it by dribbling a little gasoline directly down the throttle body? (NOT while cranking -- dribble first, move gasline container away, THEN crank) 3. Spark. You posted that you have spark. Where -- at the coil, or at the spark plugs? Have you removed a spark plug and grounded it to the block to verify that the plugs are firing? And then, of course, there's timing. Have you confirmed that the spark for the #1 cylinder occurs when the #1 cylinder is at top-dead-center (TDC) ... on its compression stroke?

It depends on what engine. The '86 MJ used only an AX-5 or (rarely) a T-5, with a small GM V-6 bellhousing bolt pattern. The 4.0L engines got either a Peugeot BA 10/5 or an AX-15 with a larger bell housing. If the Wrangler tranny is from a 4-cylinder it should work, but a 6-cylinder tranny won't fit your engine.

How long was the vehicle sitting? Have the front calipers been serviced? I recently had a front caliper sieze on my wife's 2000 XJ, which gets driven regularly. I drove it three miles to the post office and noticed that it seemed to be pulling to one side. Got there and I smelled the unmistakable smell of cooking brakes. I managed to make it home, but I would not have driven it any farther than three miles like that. Didn't release when it cooled down. I replaced both calipers. Another possibility is that your front flex hoses may have deteriorated internally and a flap of rubber is acting like a one-way check valve.

Seems to be. The way it's now plumbed, the bottle isn't under any pressure. Unless it leaks, there's no reason to replace the bottle or the cap.

Unlikely. My suggestion would be to try to get the portion of the rear wiring harness from an MJ that has the connector where the tailight harnes connects to the chassis harness. Use those plugs to make your own plug-in harness.

You have a mystery. An internal combustion engine only needs three things to run: fuel, air, and spark. You report that you have fuel and spark, and it's unlikely that changing the transmission could affect the air intake system, so ... what are we missing? Are you certain that the flywheel you bought is for the year of your truck? The "tone ring" (for lack of a better term) is different for the Renix system than for the Chrysler HO system. Likewise the CPS is different. You have to have the correct flywheel, and then the CPS has to match the flywheel. However, if you didn't have all that correct, it's unlikely you would have spark -- or injection, since both are controlled by the CPS. Did you do ANYTHING else while you were working on it? Did you by any chance have the distributor out? Where are you checking for spark, and where are you checking for fuel delivery?

Ah. I couldn't see that from the photos. Now that you tell us that, I can sort of make it out. Yes, if the filler neck overflow tube goes into the bottom of the tank, then it is acting as an overflow bottle.

Confirmed: 1988 2.5L 2WD. All stock, 200,000+ miles on the clock. It's currently wearing an aluminum utility topper on the bed, and the bed has about 300 pounds of parts in it. Hub to flare: 20" right side, 19-1/2" left side. Call it 19-3/4 for a well-used 2WD, or round it to 20 then add a half inch for the weight of the topper and parts. 20-1/2. 4WD MJs ride 1" (nominally) higher than 2WD, so for a 4WD it looks like the stock measurement should be 21-1/2" (plus-or-minus 1/2").

I think the previous owner lied to you. In the OLD old days, when we had carburetors and low-pressure mechanical fuel pumps that sucked fuel to the pump, you could do as he claimed (although putting a can of gas in the passenger seat area seems incredibly stupid to me). But both the '88 4.0L multiport injection and the '88 2.5L throttle body injection have the fuel pump in the tank, and the fuel system is pressurized all the way from the tank to the injectors. What would have delivered fuel from this alleged gas can to the injectors? And how would that fuel have been pressurized to around 40 psi?

But you still have the bottom hose leading into the tank, so what you have is a bastardized system that can't possibly hold pressure. Either put the closed system back to the original configuration so it has a chance of possibly working, or convert to an "open" system. In an open system, the overflow tank is fed by a tube that comes off the radiator filler neck, with the orifice above the gasket that seals the cap to the neck.

IMHO the radiator is the place to start. My '88 XJ is currently on its third radiator. They don't last forever. I don't see a vent. It looks to me like it's plumbed the way it came from the factory, which means it's still functioning as a pressure bottle.

http://hpibajass.com/spark-plug-color/ http://www.superstreetonline.com/how-to/additional-tech/130-0703-reading-spark-plugs/

How do you know it's running lean?

The measurement is to be taken from the center of the hub to the bottom of the flare lip. The accepted measurement for "stock height" on 4WD XJs and MJs is 17.5". When measuring ride height according to the factory service manual, they give a tolerance of +/- 1/2-inch. Your measurement puts you at the maximum for stock ride height, meaning that there has been zero sag, and you don't need to replace the coils. For street duty, OME shocks always get great reviews, but I don't even know if they make them for stock height vehicles (and I don't know if they have rear shocks to fit MJs). Bilstein is a good choice, according to many MJ owners. I've had good results with Monroes and with Gabriels, but you'll find other MJ owners who disagree. Do NOT waste your money on KYBs.

It doesn't appear that the front lift pads are placed where the lift points are located on the chassis. Small wonder it flexed a bit.

Why do you want a transfer case drop? You don't need it, and it doesn't do good things for the motor mounts.

What makes you think you might need coils? If your truck still has the flares on the front, measure the height from the center of the front hub/axle straight up to the bottom of the flare lip. Post that dimension, and tell us if you have a 2.5L or a 4.0L, 2WD or 4WD. Unless your front coils are badly sagged, I would just replace the shocks.

As I posted just above your question:

As I posted just above your question: Use the method in Hornbrod's link: http://comancheclub.com/topic/11098-how-to-measure-ride-hight/?hl=height I think the hub-to-flare measurement or a stock MJ is around 20-1/2 to 21, but I've never verified that.

I would not advise putting a Wilwood adjustable proportioning valve under the rear of the truck. I would put it up front, near the master cylinder, where it's accessible under the hood for adjusting it when needed.

"I love it when a plan comes together." . . . Colonel John "Hannibal" Smith, The A-Team

Correction to your correction: He has a Dana 35C. The 'C' is for "customer," meaning that Dana shipped the axles to Jeep incomplete, for customer completion. It's a common misconception that the 'C' is related to the c-clip versions, but it's not.

Paradise is correct. Your NAPA guys don't know what they're doing. I don't know how they even connected an OBD-1 scanner to an '88 MJ, since there's no OBD port. Start with the basics -- to run, it ned fuel, air, and spark. We'll assume that it gets air -- but you should check the compression. Then check fuel -- but for testing purposes you can dribble a SMALL amount of gas directly into the throttle body, and that will make it fire IF you also have spark. The most complicated to trouble shoot is spark. But first figure out what you have and what you don't have, then post more info and we'll keep making guesses until somebody gets it right.