Eagle

I know one guy from NAXJA-NAC who did a Renix 2.5L to Renix 4.0L swap in one weekend. But he already had all the donor stuff stripped out of the donor vehicle, prepped and ready to go -- and he worked the ENTIRE weekend, Friday evening through late Sunday night with no sleep to get it on the road for Monday morning. Realistically, it can't be done in a weekend.

Ouch. Yeah, that'll do it.

U-joint.

Why would you take the axle down that far to clean it out, and NOT replace the seals? False economy.

Test the CPS. Don't do the resistance (ohm) test -- it isn't reliable, plus the spec is for the resistance at operating temperature, and how the heck are we supposed to reach operating temperature if the engine doesn't start? Do the voltage-whe--cranking test -- somebody posted a link to it just a couple or three days ago.

I'm pretty sure Jeep called that wheel color "Argent," which is the French word for Silver but which as Jeep used it on wheels is like a silver-grey (or grey-silver) rather than the more "canned chrome" look of Rustoleum silver paint. If you're doing them all, I wouldn't worry too much about being an exact match to the factory color.

The XJ and MJ (and the YJ, TJ, etc) don't have locking hubs. The axle shafts are always engaged to the wheels. The YJ Wranglers and the early XJs and MJs with the 231 transfer case used a split axle shaft on the right side, with a sliding coupler like a transmission synchronizer ring, to engage or disconnect the front axle in 4WD. Please answer the questions I asked in post #6.

The 5.0L Ford injectors are used as replacements for the Renix 4.0L Jeeps. They don't flow enough for the HOs and post-HOs.

Assuming a 2-3/4" axle tube and making NO changes other than just flipping from spring-under to spring-over, the flip should generate 5-1/4" to 5-1/2" of lift. If you're doing an axle swap at the same time, and replacing a Dana 35 with a dana 44, Chrysler 8.25", of Ford 8.8", add to that the difference in axle tube diameter between the D35 and whichever axle you're swapping in.

Big tires certainly accelerate wear on the hub/bearing units, but ... ... a couple of centimeters is almost an inch. The hub/bearing unit is held together by the nut on the stub shaft compressing the bearings against the shoulder on the stub shaft. The hub absolutely CANNOT separate by anything remotely approaching an inch unless it turns to powder.

Even a bad unit bearing can't make a tire stick out "noticeably." Do you have a lift? If so, do you have an adjustable track bar? By all means, jack it up and check the hub/bearing unit, but I suspect something else is going on. And please post whether or not you have a lift, an adjustable track bar, what tire size you are running and what wheels you are running.

Sheesh. I would have voted for Taupe.

Nope. Either they lied to you, or they don't have a clue how to work on a Jeep. Camber is basically not adjustable -- if it's out of spec, it has to be corrected by installed offset ball joints. Caster, however, IS adjustable. Caster is set by loosening the rear bolt on the lower control arms and sliding the control arms forward or back. There are special shims that fit into the frame pocket, between the rear wall of the pocket and the adjusting clevis. Then the two studs in the clevis are tightened to hold the shims in place (and maintain the caster setting). Look under your vehicle from about the driver's door. Find the lower control arm frame pocket, and you should see two studs sticking out of it, pointing straight back.

I agree -- almost. I do agree on setting 2 inches as the maximum lift. But don't forget that part of the plan here is to increase load capacity, which coil spacers and shackles will NOT do. But the front can be lifted 2" (or 1/3/4") by a combination of ZJ V8 coils with 3/4" spacers. In the rear, it's easy to get a 2" lift and added capacity with a bastard spring pack. Using a second set of MJ main leaves would likely be perfect, but that may be difficult to find. But there should be a (ahem) metric ton of older S-10s and Dakotas with spring-under rear suspensions, so using the leaf packs out of any of those would be a good source of donor materials. Even springs from a YJ Wrangler could be used.

I was thinking about trying this, as a matter of fact.

Sure -- for big bucks. I'm looking for do-it-yourself methods.

Double AAAARRRRGGGGHHHH!!! Got the brakes all replaced over the weekend, but tanks to errands and "stuff" justy didn't have time to bleed them. So I did that today. System seemed to bleed okay, had good peddle, so I then progressed to doing a series of forward-the-reverse stops to let the brakes make their own final adjustment. Naturally, the steel line to the rear axle popped when I was doing this. Everything that came out looked good and was dry, so I'm pretty sure the rusted steel line was the problem all along. The mystery is why I didn't see any wetness underneath. But, knowing my wife, she was probably driving it with no rear brakes for weeks. The real mystery is why the brake warning light never came on ... it DID come on when the line popped as I was adjusting things. So ... another unscheduled repair task to look forward to.

The ECU is under the dashboard, and there are more wires going from the C101 to the 6-cylinder ECU than there are for the 4-cylinder, so you will have to swap the under-dash part of the harness with the ECU.

For those of us who still have drum brakes on the rear, I'm sure you all know that drums are a lot more expensive than rotors, and drums for a Dana 44 are almost impossible to find. For the most part, when doing a brake job I've found that the working part of the drums don't need anything, but there's a lip of rust at the open edge that screws things up. It's also difficult to find a shop with a brake lathe these days, it's expensive when you do find one, and they don't listen when you tell them to ONLY cut that rust ridge down to fluch with the rest of the drum, not to cut the actual braking surface. So ... for the dedicated do-it-yourselfers who don't happen to own a brake lathe or a machine shop ... does anyone have any good ideas as to how to remove that ridge when doing a brake job?

AMC changed from using Borg-Warner automatic transmissions to Chrysler in 1970. It was my understanding that they changed the bellhousing bolt pattern when they made that change. What I know for a fact is that my friend bolted a junkyard AX-15 to a brand-new AMC crate motor for his Hudson. So, regardless of what the bolt pattern is or where it came from, the XJ/MJ transmissions will bolt up to any AMC engine newer than 1970. I don't know about the 68 and 69 engines.

In the MJs (and XJs), another benefit is that it isn't corrosive, so if the master cylinder leaks and fluid bleeds onto the fuse panel, the panel isn't trashed. I think the silicone is also kinder to the rubber in the seals, as well.

I think part of the answer with the after-market clutch hydraulics is to ignore the "experts" who say it can't be done, and use DOT-5 silicone brake fluid instead of clutch fluid. I've been running the '88 XJ with silicone in the brakes for over twenty years and in the clutch for about twelve years. No problems yet ...

The prevailing wisdom used to be to buy from a Jeep dealer, and nowhere else. It is my understanding that the factory no longer offers clutch cylinders for the XJs and MJs, so I have no idea what's a good brand or source now.

Timing? Clogged catalytic converter?

AAAARRRRGGGGHHHH!!! I HATE those 9" Chrysler brakes. So far, the left side was dry when I took the drum off, but I had already bought new wheel cylinders and new shoes, so with 100,000 on the clock I decided to just do a preemptive strike. What a friggin' mistake that was. Took me the better part of an afternoon to do ONE side -- and that doesn't include bleeding. In the time I spent fighting that one 9" brake, I could have done all four wheels on my '88 XJ or MJ and had time left over for a Big Mac attack at Mickey D's. I'll deal with the right side tomorrow. For those contemplating swapping an XJ proportioning valve into an MJ, here's proof of why it's a bad idea. The way it's set up, the rear brakes don't do any work. My wife wore the front pads down to metal-on-metal two or three years ago, and we're probably getting close to needing new front pads again. The rear drums had never been off the vehicle, and I would estimate that there's probably 75% or more lining material left. If I were fixing up a used Jeep to sell, I wouldn't hesitate to throw these shoes in, and I wouldn't feel even a little guilty about it.