Eagle

Thank you for posting this with the photo of the cemetery, because that helps tell us who Memorial Day is really for. As a Vietnam veteran who came home, I am irritated beyond reason every year by well-meaning twits who materialize every Memorial Day and think that's a good time to thank active duty military, or living veterans. News flash: We have something called Armed Forces Day. We have something called Veterans Day. Memorial Day is a day set aside to honor and to remember those who went away to protect us, and who died before returning. Some are still MIA. Some were sent back to Dover AFB in a flag draped coffin. And tens of thousands are buried in U.S. military cemeteries in foreign countries. I had the honor twenty years ago to stand in many of the U.S. cemeteries around Normandy. The experience is indescribable. You can sort of get it if you have ever visited Arlington, but many of those buried in Arlington died natural deaths years after whichever war they served in. At those American cemeteries in Europe, every single cross or Star of David marks the grave of someone who died on a battlefield. We NEED to remember that this country exists today because of the men who were willing to die for it. That's why Memorial Day is important, and that's why we should never allow the meaning of Memorial day to get watered down and confused with Armed Forces Day or Veterans Day. By all means, thank vets and active duty any time you see them ... but don't lose the meaning of Memorial Day. [/rant]

For decent penetration, you need to soak it every day for at least a week.

Opinions are perfectly acceptable ... when the subject of discussion is a matter of opinion. In this particular case, it is NOT a matter of opinion. The Jeep XJs and MJs simply did NOT have a full-width shroud when equipped with only the primary, mechanical fan. This is not a matter of opinion; this is the fact and it doesn't matter what your opinion is nor what other vehicles may or may not have for shrouds. There is a separate shroud for the mechanical fan, that covers the right (passenger) side of the radiator. If the auxiliary electric fan is installed, its shroud is part of the fan -- just like the photo I posted. (The other photo of the two fans with curved blades shows the newer style aux fans. The photo I posted shows the Renix-era style) People come to this site for information on how to fix their heaps. Opinions are fine when everyone is guessing what the cause of a problem might be. However, when you make statements as fact that are factually incorrect, that doesn't help anyone and it can result in the member wasting time, effort and money.

Buy it or not ... facts are facts. We are not talking about "most cars," we are talking about Renix-era Jeep Comanches. If the truck did not come with an auxiliary fan, there is no auxiliary shroud. The photo I posted is a photo of the Renix-era Jeep XJ/MJ auxiliary fan.

Since you know how to bypass or disable the CAD, you have all the tools you need. In fact, you don't even need to tinker with the CAD. Park with the rear wheels on the ground, put the transfer case into what it says is 2WD, jack up the front end, crawl underneath and try to turn the front driveshaft. If it turns, the transfer case is in 2WD. If it doesn't turn, the transfer case is in 4WD. Vacuum does not actuate the transfer case. That's all mechanical. Vacuum moves the CAD slider, and vacuum turns on the light.

Could I get adjustable ball joints? Ball joints are not "adjustable." Offset ball joints are set when they are installed and they correct for out-of-spec camber, but once installed they cannot be adjusted. We may be talking about the same thing, but the correct term is "offset," not "adjustable."

The factory specification for camber is zero, with an allowable range of plus-or-minus 1/2 degree. The FSM stresses that camber must be the same on both sides. If the tubes are straight and parallel, the fix is either to replace the entire axle assembly, or offset ball joints.

The worst case scenario is that your axle is bent. If that's the case, one or both axle shafts won't be engaging the differential at 90 degrees and the condition will result in accelerated wear of the differential carrier bearings. IMHO the first thing you need to do is accurately measure both axle tubes (passenger side and driver side, not front and rear) to make certain that they are parallel. If you took the truck in for an alignment, didn't the technician tell you what the readings were? If the Cs are at the wrong angle to the axle tubes but the tubes are straight and parallel, there are ofset ball joints available that can correct for a certain amount of excess camber. Typically I've seen thenm in 1-degree flavor, but I believe there are other values available.

There ain't no such critter as a 2007 Cherokee. 2001 was the last year. If you mean GRAND Cherokee, that axle is an aluminum-cased version they call a Dana 44 but it's a piece of junk. My understanding is that none of the internal parts swap with a standard Dana 44.

Why don't you measure the actual rear ride height before doing anything, then you'll have a better idea of how to get from where you are to where you want to be. For that matter, also measure the front so you'll know if your 3" coils are really giving you 3" of lift. How to measure the ride height has been discussed here several times recently. Frankly, going to the trouble of doing a spring-over conversion and then removing a leaf from weak, sagged springs in the hope that the SOA conversion will result in 3" of lift rather than 6" of lift seems to me like a bad bargain. If your springs are that bad, I would just get a new AAL or get a pair of new, custom springs to put the ride height where you want it. You're going to go through all that work, and then your springs could break next week. [Edit to add] I found one of the posts explaining how to measure:

Yes. Same thing.

Don't go by spline count alone. It doesn't really tell you much. The Dana 35 had 1.18" shafts and 27 splines. The early 8.25 axles had 1.17" shafts and 27 splines. The ring gear is larger than the Dana 35, but that's not where most Dana 35s fail. If you go strictly by shaft diameter and spline count, the Dana 35 should be stronger than the early 8.25. The later 8.25 has 1.21" shafts and 29 splines. For comparison, the Dana 44 has 1.31" shafts and 30 splines.

What you have not mentioned is that the Ford 8.8 is several inches narrower than the XJ and MJ axles, and can't be used in an MJ with any factory Jeeps wheels unless you also run wheel spacers.

The ride doesn't change, because you don't change the springs. If you change the shock absorbers, any change in the ridge will be caused by what shocks you choose. However ... your opening post says you are looking for "a little" extra lift. How much lift do you want? The minimum you get from a SOA is 5-1/2 inches. Do you need that much?

If you have plans both the replace and water pump and to install power steering, plan ahead. It was possible to get the 2.5L with power steering either with multiple vee belts, or with a single serpentine belt. This is important, because the serpentine belt spins the water pump in the opposite direction. Yes, there are TWO water pump part numbers, one for vee belts and one for serpentine belts. Externally they look the same and you can install the wrong one without ever knowing it -- except that it won't circulate coolant, and you'll have a constant overheating problem. Get your power steering setup squared away and choose compatible parts.

For the AMC years, the D35 had 10x1.75" rear drums. Chrysler changed to 9x2.5". I don't believe there was ever a 9x1.75" rear brake used under the MJ or the XJ.

Why would you want to do that when a factory cluster is just a junkyard (or a phone call) away?

You can run 31x10.50s on stock Jeep rims with NO lift at all. Aftermarket rims probably won't mean spacers -- no aftermarket rim as as much backspacing as the factory rims, so any aftermarket rim will stick out farter. That's when you start smashing tires into sheet metal and plastic. Rather than throw money at a lift, I recommend that you shop for a good set of used XJ or MJ rims.

No. Speedo cables are not all the same, Jeep changed the design in either '87 or '88. Ideally, you need a cluster from a 1984 thru 1986 XJ or MJ -- 1987 will work if the cable attaches to the speedo head with a metal clip and a screw, not a white nylon push-on connector. You can use the '88 - '90 style if you get the speedo cable along with the cluster. If you get the older style cluster, it MUST be from a 6-cylinder vehicle. The older ones did not have a calibration potentiometer on the tachometer, so a 4-cylinder cluster will be WAY off on the tach reading. The '88 - '90 clusters had a potentiometer on the tach, so it could be set for 4-cyl or 6-cyl operation.

What's wrong with the popular Jeep Cherokee electric fans. Unlike Ford Taurus fans, Jeep fans fit ... Jeeps. Are you looking for manual operation or automatic, thermostatic actuation?

http://www.monroe.com/assets/downloads/english/MonroeMountingLengthSpecifications.pdf The on-line Monroe catalog lists two shock series for the MJ, the SensaTrac and the Monro-Matic Plus. The SensaTrac is #37029 and it has a collapsed length of 12.75" and an extended length of 20.0" with 7.25" of travel. The Monro-Matic Plus is #31094. It has a collapsed length of 10.38" and an extended length of 16.25" with 5.88" of travel. Since you lifted your truck 4-1/2" and maintained the stock shock mounts, you need shocks that are 4-1/2" longer than those. Basically, something about 15" to 16" long collapsed and about 22" to 23" long extended. The end mounting types for the MJ shocks are L1 and L1 (upper and lower). Go to the link and see what you can find with L1/L1 mounts in approximately the length you need.

^^^^ Agreed

There's a special tool made for drilling out spot welds. That's what you need -- plus a lot of patience.

Something like 17 out of the 20 original, stainless steel lug nuts on my '88 Cherokee are still going strong. I have replaced a couple where the stainless cap has popped off. On one of the MJs I tried a set of solid, chrome-plated lug nuts. I try to be careful about not using a burp gun to beat up on my lug nuts, and the plated ones were solid rust after one winter.

The two u-joints on a drive shaft have operate "in phase" or they set up a vibration. To be in phase, the two u-joint angles have to be the same (within about a degree or so). Look at the diagram Don posted -- the angle of the mainshaft through the transfer case is parallel to the angle of the pinion shaft in the differential. That makes the two u-joint operating angles equal and opposite, so any vibration gets cancelled out.