Eagle

The Metric Ton package was offered only on the LWB Comanches, so putting MT springs under a SWB is "experimental." The springs are the same, though, so I can't think of any reason not to do it. The part that bothers me is that reports on the MT springs from General are that they usually (always?) result in a lift of a couple or three inches. I'm not willing to deal with that. At this point in my life my MJs are going to be primarily street driven, or light trails (i.e. fire road type stuff) only. If I put in new springs, I want stock ride height, not a 3-inch lift in the back. Of course, in stock trim an MJ is spring under, so you could always use lowering blocks to get it back to stock height. Except that a 3" lowering block will create a LOT of axle wrap, and leave very little ground clearance.

Thanks, Don. I knew that had been posted but I don't have it bookmarked.

Sounds to me like the fuel pump ballast resistor isn't conducting. It gets bypassed on startup, so when cranking the fuel pump will run and allow the engine to start. Once you release the key to the RUN position, the fuel pump cuts out and the engine burbles along for a few seconds until it uses up the fuel and pressure in the rail, then it dies. After the truck has been sitting overnight, when you turn the key to RUN (not to START), do you hear the fuel pump run?

I'm having trouble understanding your goal. Would you be rebuilding the motor to put back in the XJ, or to transplant into some other vehicle? NEVER discard an XJ/MJ Dana 44 axle.

Exactly what did you measure that leads you to conclude that the unibody is out of square? That's possible, but extremely unlikely unless the truck was in a serious accident. The measurements as you report them suggests that the axles are close to parallel with each other (within 1/8"). For the 'X' measurement to be off by 5/8" while the axles are parallel means that BOTH axles are out-of-square with the centerline of the chassis.

Whatever you find out, I suggest that you NOT buy Rusty's springs. Fifteen or so years ago, Rusty was "da man" for XJ and MJ suspension parts. Since then, people have learned that his stuff is basically crap.

If it still has the original flares, measure from the center of the wheel (the centerline of the axle) straight up to the bottom edge of the flare. Stock 4WD XJ or MJ should measure 17-1/2" in the front. If you don't have the original flares, let us know and I'll look up how to measure from underneath, between the axle and the frame.

I wonder the same thing. Gear oil should NOT be milky gray. That's typically what color gear oil turns when it has been contaminated with water -- which would also explain why it was overfilled.

Thanks Cruiser none of the local parts stores have the bushing and there are no Napa's close so it looks like I'll have to order one . Thanks again As Cruiser wrote, go to a plumbing supply house. Pipe threads are NOT machine screw threads. Pipe threads are slightly tapered, so that as the male piece is threaded into the female hole the fit get's tighter. Whatever you do, don't try to use machine screw parts (or taps or dies) where you need pipe threads.

ZJs were also low pinion, IIRC. I would just rebuild the one you just bought. You'll need a bearing, a seal, a crush sleeve, and a pinion nut. If that doesn't work out, you can always buy another axle later, but you already know that 3.73 isn't a common gear ratio.

It depends on how well you drive a standard, and how much you enjoy (1) downshifting, and (2) replacing clutches. I'm running 31x10.50s on an '88 XJ 4.0L 5-speed. It's pretty terrible. I've been driving standards for well over 50 years so I can make it go -- but I try never to start up going uphill, there is no acceleration, and 5th gear is basically useless. 31s with 3.73 gears is equal to factory tires and 3.54 gears, so IMHO you should run 4.10s with 31s. 33s might be tolerable with 4.10s, but are better with 4.56 or 4.88 gears.

Toothbrushes are nylon -- much too soft to scrape through crude and corrosion to get down to clean metal. Go to Harbor Freight Tools and by a set of small, metal brushes. They're about the same size as a toothbrush, but mucgh more effective.

You posted that you "just found out" you have a crack near the top. That suggests that (1) the crack isn't in the driver's field of view, and (2) the crack isn't very big. I don't know about where you are, but around here cracks and stone chips ("stars") are ticket bait only if they're in the driver's field of view. The epoxy injection will stop a crack for propagating, and if the crack is small it may make it almost disappear. I have three or four stars in the windshield of my '88 XJ that have been epoxy repaired; you can't see them if you don't know they're there. On my old '78 FS Cherokee, I did one myself, with a kit. It didn't come out as well as the professionals, but it worked. Do check it out. A reputable repairer won't do one if it's in a portion of the windshield that's ticket bait.

Possibly an early sign of CPS failure.

The '87 XJ and MJ didn't use a rubber seal. The glass is glued in with a heavy bead of rubber sealant, then the stainless trim is snapped back into the posts. Why not have one of the traveling glass repair guys do an epoxy injection on the crack? It should stop it from traveling and be good for many years.

I had my '88 Cherokee painted by Maaco when it was eleven years old. It looked good for two, maybe three years. Then it went downhill fast. Cheap paint, lost all gloss and went flat, then rust started popping through in places where Cherokees never rust, because the cheap paint doesn't really keep moisture away from the metal. I hope to repaint it this year, once the weather cools off a bit. I'll be using rattle cans this time. I have a compressor and I have spray guns, but I can do it three times with rattle cans for the price of one gallon of good automotive paint plus clearcoat.

"Cranking" means the starter motor turns over the engine. It sounds like what you are talking about is "firing up," which is when the engine starts and you no longer need the starter motor. The Renix system is characterized by a long crank period. The reason is that it's a comparatively "dumb" system. It doesn't learn anything from driving, so every time you start it, it has to re-synch before it fires.

That's what I was looking for. Axles, yes, the 2.8L has 3.73s and the 4-banger has 4.10s. I wouldn't have thought to keep either the header panels or the peddle assemblies or the HVAC controls. Thanks.

Somewhere there's a thread showing how Hornbrod installed a steering column mount PRNDL. It eliminates the need for an indicator window in the gauge cluster. Or you could convert to an XJ floor shifter.

If you stop to consider that the last Renix-type XJ or MJ was made 25 years ago and that a huge number of parts have been discontinued, it's not a question of dollar value. It's a question of what is some fellow-Jeeper likely to need two days after I send the hulk(s) to the boneyard.

Time to clean up the yard. I have to scrap the hulks of a few XJs. There's an '86 2.8L that has already had the interior stripped out but the body and drive train are still there. There's an '86 5-speed 4WD with a rebuilt 2.5L that has 30,000 miles on it. There's an '87 4.0L 4WDthat was running well until it got t-boned on the driver's side A pillar. Still drivable, but ... bent. And an '89 4.0L 4WD with a very rough body and 219,000 miles on the clock. The basic plan is to pull small parts and scrap the bodies. The question is -- how much is worth saving?

Well done. Congratulations. Re-reading this thread, I'm still astonished at how the recruiter jerked you around. I enlisted in the Army at the height of the Vietnam "conflict." There was no fooling around, no BS. I enlisted in Connecticut. At that time, Fort Dix, NJ, was a Basic Training post, and most of the recruits showed up at the processing center in New Haven, took the oath, and immediately stepped onto a bus that took them to Fort Dix. I enlisted for Combat Engineer MOS, and Fort Leonard Wood, MO, was the engineer training center. I took the oath with all the draftees going to Dix, but they handed me a chit for a plane ride to Missouri and I left the same day for Fort Lost in the Woods. No fooling around, no waiting in some hotel somewhere. Of course, the month I took the oath was the month with THE highest number of inductees for the entire duration of the Vietnam debacle.

Neohic's verse is very nice, but IMHO (as an ordained minister) not what I've ever encountered as "vows." Your vows are the promises you make to each other. Traditionally, the vows are the same for the man and for the woman -- the typical "... for better or for worse, for richer or poorer, in sickness and in health, ..." etc. In more modern wedding the vows are customized, but still they are usually pretty much parallel. After all, you are entering into a contract, a bond, a commitment, that will last (hopefully) for a lifetime. The vows aren't the place/time to recap your courtship. The vows are are where you make promises to each other for how you're going to care for each other in the future. Of course, I'm an olde pharte, and a hide-bound traditionalist on top of that. I think if Jeeps and off-roading and such are central to both of your lives, and you can work it into your vows in a respectful way, then go for it. But my personal opinion is that trying to be "cute" when writing the vows isn't really respectful of the marriage you'll be entering into. So, a basic question: Are the two of you planning for your vows to mirror each other's, or are your promises to her going to be completely different from her promises to you?

Paying money for a broken transmission does not strike me as being a good plan.

The NV 3550 was used only in the 2000 and 2001 Cherokee.