Eagle

It's a closed system -- if there's air in it, it leaks. There are three components where it can leak -- the master cylinder, the slave cylinder, and the hose/line that connects the first two. How did you bleed the clutch system?

For starters, you can replace the head gasket and you can replace the rod bearings. That would take care of the head gasket, and should eliminate any rapping. I'm confused, though, as to how it is that you think an engine that needs a head gasket, raps, and makes ticking noises "runs well."

Merry Christmas, everyone.

Good catch. I remembered the name (and the engine, since I owned a Rambler American with the 199 engine), but I either forgot or didn't know that Navarro was the owner/builder, not the driver.

Correct -- and I know I intended to type "automatic" when I wrote that post, but it didn't make it to the screen. But you'll find that a majority of XJs and MJs with 4.0L engines are automatics anyway, so D30s with 3.55 gears aren't difficult to find. If you already have a 4WD and the gearing matches between the front and the rear, there's no need or reason to change the front axle. 3.55s are good for light off-roading with up to 30" tires, and not horrible with 31s.

The "early" tach was used from '84 through '87. The newer style, with the single digits, "fat" lines, and ticks only at the 250 marks, was introduced with the 1988 model year. I don't have a clue what that "leftover" part is.

Minor year-to-year differences aside, the 4.0L and the AMC engines on which it's based are incredibly "robust." Not many people remember that one of the AMC predecessors was used for several years in Indy cars by a second-tier driver named Barney Navarro. I don't think there are many other street engines that can make that claim. The conventional wisdom is that you can generally go to .060" over with no problems, and often to .090" over. Beyond that, the block should be checked for core shift to be sure you don't break through the cylinder walls. Whether or not a particular block will need to be bored as part of a rebuild depends on too many factors to have a valid answer. Primary, of course, is how many miles are on the engine. Considering that I have one that's currently at 287,000 miles and still runs well and doesn't use oil, my guess is that barring abuse anything with 150,000 or less can "probably" be rebuilt without boring. Maybe even up to 200,000. The only way to know, obviously, will be to mike the cylinder bores and check for out-of-round.

What's in the front now? All 4WD XJs and MJs came with Dana 30s, and all the 4.0L XJs and MJs came with 3.55 gearing. Why make life difficult for yourself? An XJ or MJ D30 is a good match for the Ford 8.8.

We need someone with a '96 XJ FSM. The '88 vintage XJs and MJs didn't use a fuse for the headlights -- the headlight switch has a circuit breaker built into it. I have the FSM for the 2000 XJ, and that DOES use a fuse (actually two fuses) for the headlights. The question is: when did they make the change?

The other problem is that the O2 sensor won't work. Several years ago on a NAXJA-NAC trail ride, one of the guys had a header tube crack. Just a crack -- but the air leak screwed up the O2 sensor readings, made it think the mix was lean, so it basically maxed out the injector cycle to the point he was pouring raw gasoline into the exhaust manifold. Turned it cherry red within a couple of minutes. One of the other vehicles pulled him out on a strap. DON'T DRIVE IT.

Jeep stopped using the front axle disconnect around 1992 or 1993, so ALL XJs from then up to the last one built in 2001 didn't have it -- and XJs with the Selec-Trac transfer case didn't have it. In theory, yes, it probably costs a bit in fuel economy. But you're not driving a sleek, aerodynamic SST, you're driving a brick on wheels. In the real world, you'll never notice the difference.

If he doesn't have one, he should. They aren't expensive. Lowe's and Home Depot both stock them, with or without a button to test GFI function. If there's a Harbor Freight store nearby, they also carry them.

1. Vacuum leak. 2. If there's a vacuum leak, the axle shift motor may not be fully engaging, and under power the connector collar may be slipping. 3. Please don't use funky colors behind your text. It's dang near impossible to read.

How old is the system? Is there an outlet on the same circuit that you can plug a wiring fault indicator into?

For those considering either spacers or rims with less backspacing, stop to consider that you would be simply trading one problem for another. With 31x10.50s on factory rims, the tires fit inside the stock wheel wells and tuck up inside the fenders when the suspension is compressed. The ONLY place you have rubbing is the rear inside shoulder of the tire on the LCA at full steering lock. That's easily cured with the WJ LCAs. Push the tires farther outboard with spacers or aftermarket rims, and now the tires WON'T tuck up inside the fenders when the suspension compresses, and very likely the rear outer shoulder of the tires will hit the lower corner of the flares when the steering is approaching full lock. The WJ arms are by far the cleanest, simplest, most elegant solution.

I had a '99 WJ Laredo, with the 4.7L V8 and QuadraDrive. I picked it up in January of '99, and Chrysler bought it back from me in October to keep me from going lemon law with it. I replaced it with what is now my wife's 2000 XJ Classic, and I was MUCH happier. Where to start: Brakes -- the front rotors warped if you looked at them cross-eyed. I think I put about 10,000 miles on the vehicle while I had it. In that time, the dealer turned the front rotors once, replaced them once, turned the replacements once, and they needed to be replaced when I turned it in. Noise, Vibration & Harshness -- It rode and handled very nicely. However, at cruising speed there was a loud droning sound that could be heard and felt, that the shop could not trace or eliminate. Transfer case -- I don't remember the specifics, but despite the fact that the QuadraDrive worked well in snow, it didn't like pavement much at all. Lots of noise and ratcheting. Again, the shop couldn't find what was wrong so, needless to say, it didn't get fixed. Transmission -- Two words: "It sucked." Electrics -- Sporadic problems with the cruise control, and the alarm had an annoying tendency to go off for no reason. One of the days I had it at the shop the WJ was parked right outside the shop door, and I was chatting with the service writer, service manager, and shop foreman when it went off. They all looked at me and accused me of pressing the panic button on the remote. I simply pointed out that the shop foreman was holding the key ... (That never got fixed, either.) The fuel mileage was about the same as an XJ with the 4.0L. Except that it went WAY DOWN if I cruised faster than 60 (which isn't much of a problem in Connecticut, because we have only a couple of highways with 65 MPH speed limits. In western states with higher limits, it would be a concern. Engine power was all at the top end. Subjective, seat of pants dyno indicated that an XJ was a better tow vehicle. At one point when the WJ was in the shop I had a ZJ with the 5.2L as a loaner -- it had LOTS more low end pull. The 4.7L doesn't start to make useful power until it hits 3500 RPM ... and I never drive anywhere near 3500 RPM. It's not a Jeep engine, it's a passenger car engine. At the end, that thing just died in the middle of a state highway. Dead as a doornail. I had it towed to the dealership, and it just happened that the replacement XJ was rolling off the transporter as we arrived, so I waited while they did a quick clean-up and paperwork, and drive the XJ home. The shop did find out what was wrong with the engine -- bad cam sensor. The good news was they found the problem. The bad news was there were no parts in the system to fix it. Good thing my new XJ arrived when it did. If all that's not enough to scare you off, a friend of mine didn't listen to me and bought a 2003 WJ Overland. His engine blew up. The XJ is a far better vehicle than the WJ.

If you can weld (or know someone who can) IMHO it's far easier to just move the spring perches on the XJ axle to the MJ locations.

The 242 didn't come in until the 1987 model year. Selec=Trac for the 1986 was the 228.

The B-W T10 was also used in the AMC Javelins and AMXs behind the 390 and 401 engines, and several friends of mine had drag race AMXs with 390s that were built far beyond the factory "go package" rating. The transmissions held up fine. I think those engines would have eaten an AX-15 alive in a few seconds. The AX-15 is considered a "medium-duty" transmission. (The BA 10/5 is considered "light-duty.")

The general rule for house wiring is 15 amps for 14-gauge wire, 20 amps for 12-gauge wire, 30 amps for 10-gauge wire, and 40 amps for 8-gauge wire. Ampacity is ampacity, so I have always believed that this also applies to DC wiring. %0 amps sounds like a heavy fuse for anything. If you had enough "stuff" on that circuit to be drawing 48 amps, even if the fuse didn't blow I'd be concerned that other things might be happening. Can you reduce the fuse to 40 or 30 amps? In general, fuses are to protect against both short circuits and overloads. A short circuit will blow any fuse (but you want the fuse to blow before it overheats the wires and melts the insulation). An overload, on the other hand, just heats everything up until the rating of the fuse is exceeded. It's usually not a good idea to run a fuse larger than what's needed for the total load on the circuit (plus maybe 10 percent as a safety factor).

Massive overkill. What's the width? My guess is that they'll be much too wide for an MJ.

You have to understand the difference between "shimmy" and "death wobble." Death wobble is when BOTH front tires start shaking so violently that you are ABSOLUTELY CERTAIN that you are going to die ... right NOW! If your life is not flashing before your eyes in full, glorious, Technicolor -- you don't have death wobble. If you can keep driving ... you don't have death wobble. With true death wobble, the ONLY way to stop the insane shaking is to stop -- almost to a full, dead stop. If you are driving and talking/thinking about it -- you don't have death wobble. Tire shimmy isn't unusual, and it's almost always caused by improperly balanced tires. When only one tire is involved, it's "just" shimmy, and you can live with it. I've seen cars on the Interstate with one front wheel bouncing around like Meadowlark lemon doing his trick dribbling routine, and the driver keeps on going at 65 MPH and appears to be completely oblivious to the tire. That would NOT happen with death wobble. Death wobble is a harmonic. One side starts wobbling. The wobble gets transmitted to the other side and, if everything is just right (or just wrong), the other side starts wobbling at the same frequency. Each side reinforces the other, so the amplitude of the wobble rapidly increases until it feels like the whole front is going to fall off the truck. But it's tough to pin down. My first experience with true death wobble was in a new 1999 Grand Cherokee. The vehicle at the time was about 6 months old, totally stock, had maybe 7,000 miles on it and it had never been farther off-road than my gravel driveway. I was on a 2-lane state road heading into a very long downgrade. I just touched the brakes -- not to stop, just to keep my speed at the speed limit -- and BAM! Death wobble! It had never happened before, and it never happened again. Remember -- it's a harmonic. The front tires, especially, travel different paths every time you go around a corner or a curve. Say two tires (on the front) each have a heavy spot that's not properly balanced. Say you start out with them both located at top dead center. As long as you only go straight, they'll stay that way, and both will want to go up or down at the same time. But what happens after some turns? Now one heavy spot is at the top when the other side is at the bottom. So now when one is trying to throw that tire UP, the other side is trying to throw the tire down. When one side is trying to throw the tire forward, the other side is trying to throw it rearward. Hit a bump just when that's happening, and that may be all that's needed to set it off. My second experience with true death wobble was in the '88 MJ. It only happened if I went into a gentle RIGHT turn (curve) at 50 MPH. Left turns/curves were no problem. Right curves were a BIG problem. I swapped a different set of tires onto it, and had no more problems. Harmonic ... harmonic ... harmonic.

There are u-joints, and then there are u-joints. The larger u-joints in the late-model axles are the u-joints in the axle shafts, between the inner and outer (stub) axles. The drive shaft u-joints are all the same, so unless you are replacing the u-joints in the axle shafts themselves, the newer axle should bolt right up to your existing drive shaft.

Try a 20-amp fuse for starters.

Nope. Just the opposite. Plug the bottom front, use the "nose."