Eagle

I did. The load on the alternator doesn't depend on the alternator RPM, but the load on the alternator sure as hell increases as you increase the amperage draw on the system. A heavy load makes the alternator pulley work a LOT harder. And that's when that minimal contact patch probably won't cut it.

PLEASE! Start a new discussion when you start talking about a new problem. It doesn't help you and it gets very confusing to have two completely unrelated discussions going on in the same thread. THIS thread is about radios ...

Are you aware that the "quill" that holds the speedo drive gear -- the piece that you bolt into the transfer case -- has to be oriented properly depending on the number of teeth on the speedo drive gear or it won't work? You can't just bolt it in and assume it's right.

Bigger bolt? Are you going to drill out the hole in the axle bracket? If so, then you'll never EVER again be able to use a stock track bar and bolt. Sounds to me like you need a track bar -- unless you can source a bushing. I've read that the bushing can be replaced, but I don't know of anyone who has actually done it. Also, FWIW, a loose track bar does not cause death wobble. I drove my '88 XJ through an entire winter with almost a quarter turn of free play in the steering due to the track bar, and I had zero death wobble. You should fix the track bar ... but it's not causing your death wobble.

thanks for the diagram, that'll be very useful, only question right now is, where are the relays located, on the fuse box or inside the dash? Redwolf They aren't "located." You provide them, and you put them anywhere you want them. Your new lights may come with one relay, but to make the lights go off when the headlights are on high beam (which is required by law, so it's not a bad idea) you need the two relays in series, as drawn in that very excellent wiring diagram. The onlyy thing I would do differently would be the power tap to the toggle switch. Where Skidoo shows the white wire going to the ignition, I would tap it of one of the parking lights. That way, the fogs won't work unless you have at least the parking lights turned on. But -- that's a matter of preference. It'll work just fine as drawn -- provided you know how to find a circuit to tap that's controlled by the ignition switch. Also, pay close attention to the relay terminal markings. Skidoo shows only four terminals, but the relays have five. On one of them you use terminal 87, on the other you use terminal 87a. This is important.

Yeah -- after you make a bunch of careful measurements, drill new holes in the door post, and remove the interior behind the door post to get a new backing plate in there for the new latch post to bolt up to. Piece of cake. NOT!

If that's not a problem ... he's not trying hard enough. I can see how a set of four roof-mounted trail lights, paired with upgraded headlights, and a winch would really tax the alternator, and I don't think that tiny contact patch would be up to the task.

That doesn't give the belt much "grab" on the alternator pulley. Doesn't it slip if you turn on a lot of stuff that draws big current?

If I remember correctly, the '93 ZJ came with the AW4. (However, my memory ain't what it used ta was.) Basic considerations I expect you're already aware of: you'll need the TCU for the AW4, and I assume it may require an AW4-specific TPS to send the correct signals to the TCU.

Those shock mounts are well made (or appear to be), but they are a VERY bad idea IMHO. Look at the stock mounts for an MJ. Both the upper studs and the lower studs are parallel to the axle (perpendicular to the driveline). These mounts locate the lower bolts parallel to the driveline and perpendicular to the axle. That means if the axle rotates much at all during flex, instead of the lower shock mount allowing the shock body to rotate on the bolt, it's locked in and the only movement you get is however much flex there is in the rubber bushing. They should have run the bolt through both sides of the mounts.

That takes care of locating the new perches laterally (side-to-side). With a lift of more than 6 inches (the SOA alone is going to generate about six inches -- with those drop shackles you're probably look at 7" to 8" of lift), you should do a test fit of the axle in the truck so you can check the u-joint angles and adjust the angle of the perches on the axle as necessary. If what I just wrote doesn't make sense to you -- your driveshaft has two u-joints in it, one at the front and one at the axle. The front one puts the driveshaft at an angle to the transfer case output shaft. The rear one transfers the angle of the driveshaft to the angle of the pinion gear in the axle. Those two angles need to be the same, or you'll have driveline vibrations and you'll eat u-joints. Mounting new perches parallel to the old ones will almost certainly NOT be the correct angle for properly orienting the pinion to the driveshaft.

I assume your opening question refers to the two steel brake lines running from the distribution block on the axle to the wheel cylinders. Yes, those are in the way of the relocated perches. They will have to be removed. After the perches have been welded on, you make up new hard lines that bend around the spring perches. If you are having a shop do the welding, have you considered how to locate the perches to set the correct driveline angle? How will you convey this information to the shop?

The springs in it now are very soft ... so soft that my wife complained about how she almost got seasick when she rode in the back recently when driving relatives to the airport. I've done the extra main leaf AAL before and the ride is very comfortable. The result is also fairly predictable. Doing a mixed pack with MJ springs would be completely unpredictable, and mixing leaves with greatly different native arch is never a good idea.

Thanks, but I'm not interested in screwing up the suspension geometry. This XJ is my daily driver. Besides, you apparently missed this part: I have an intact pair of mid-90s XJ springs that were take-outs when one of the guys in NAXJA-NAC lifted his. I think what I'll do is cut the eyes off the main leaves on those, then remove the lower three leaves from my spring packs and put the full four leaves from the donor springs in. If that doesn't get me all the way to the 18" it should be, it'll still be a lot better than it is now. I was considering adding a sixth leaf, but I suspect that will take it too high.

It has fewer turns lock-to-lock because of the faster ratio. The lock is in the same position, in terms of angle off straight ahead. The faster-ratio box would make no difference with respect to rubbing (or not) on the LCAs.

I can't find it on-line, but in their printed catalogs JC Whiney used to offer two versions of those. One was for cars, and extended (I think) 2-1/2 inches (about 60mm). The other was for trucks and buses and extended (again, if I remember correctly) 3-1/2 or 4 inches (around 80 to 90mm). It was available either as pre-cut lengths, or in a roll. If you can't find it, let me know. I may have a virgin roll of it tucked away in the basement.

Money isn't as much an issue as it is just me trying to save where possible. I do realize what's required for a lift, but I'm planning on using the junkyard to my advantage. Y'know, beefier zj coils with spacers and control arms, bastard pack, ome shocks, etc. I know I can run 31s with stock height, but I'd like a bit of flex, with a sway bar disconnect. What do you think? ZJ V8 coils are the same springs as late XJ Up Country coils -- they give you 1-inch of lift over stock. To get to 4-1/2" you'll need the ZJ coils plus two 1-3/4" spacers on each side. The spacers alone cost $40/pair, so you're talking $80 plus the cost of junkyard spring to do a kludge of a lift. ZJ control arms are exactly the same as XJ control arms. The better arms are WJ, but they're still the same length, so they won't correct the steering/suspension geometry issues created by a 4-1/2" lift. The best way to save money on a lift is not to lift any more than you NEED to. If you run 31x10.50s on OEM Jeep rims, they tuck inside the wheel wells just fine and the only way you can increase articulation is to remove the bump stops. I don't think you've thought this out very well.

Universal flare extensions from JC Whitney? http://www.jcwhitney.com/pacer-fender-flares/p3064973.jcwx?filterid=c13049u0j2

Your MJ is already capable off-road, and you can run 31x10.50s with NO lift. Think hard about why you think you need a 4-1/2 inch lift. Especially as it seems money IS an object. To go to 4-1/2" you're looking at some serious money. You'll need springs, adjustable track bar, adjustable control arms, and possibly drop brackets if it's going to be a daily driver. And new shocks, all around.

Trying to decide what route to take to bring a 2001 XJ up to where it should sit. New front coils are Up Country (bought new from dealership) and the front sits at exactly 18". So far ... so good. The rear sits at 16" ... which is a full inch below where it should be. Everything is so rusted underneath that I don't want to risk breaking a weld nut loose, so rather than swap the rear springs entirely, I'm looking at doing a bastard pack. I have leaf springs around here from YJ Wranglers, XJs, and MJ. I'm trying to decide between adding one leaf (making it a 5-leaf spring) or two leaves (making a 6-leaf spring). I found a decent on-line spring rate calculator, but I need better input. Curb weight for an XJ is around 3350 to 3400 pounds. Does anyone know how that's distributed, front to rear? For front engine, rear wheel vehicles I typically assume it's about 60% front and 40% rear, but I wouldn't mind more accurate figures if anyone has them. What's the length of the XJ rear springs, eye-to-eye?

Jeep didn't make any changes to the chassis when they beefed up the springs to offer the Metric Tonne package. The Metric Tonne MJs have a load capacity of 2200 pounds -- that's a full one ton capacity (hence the name -- a metric ton is 1000 kilograms, or 2200 pounds) in a compact pickup. I don't think we have to worry about the MJ's ability to carry loads. Sounds to me like you need new shocks.

A number of members here have run bastard packs. I've used them in pony cars set up for road racing and in XJs, but I haven't done an MJ ... yet. How much lift do you want, and how stiff a ride are you willing to tolerate? There comes a point where the springs no longer act like springs. Example: A (very) long time ago, I was an active member of the Hudson-Essex-Terraplane Club. Not many people are aware that, until 1947, Hudson made pickups as well as automobiles. At one time I owned three. Two had standard leaf springs in the rear -- with probably five or six leaves (going from memory). The best one, a 1947, had springs that were at least twice as many leaves as the others. It was all factory -- the springs were assembled the same way, and there was no indication they had ever been out of the truck or tinkered with. It was just a one-ton rather than a half ton. There were no rear shock absorbers in it when I bought it, and it didn't need any. My brother and I were not small guys. We could both climb into the bed and jump up and down, and it just didn't move. Not an inch. Not even a half an inch. On my road race Javelin, I think I ended up with a six-leaf spring. Ride was firm but not uncomfortable, and with truck shocks both the ride and handling were fantastic. Have you tried using search yet? I would think if you search this site for "bastard pack" you should get some hits.

pop the hose off, trim accordingly for new location, rehook Vacuum hoses, start motor. Done. It's a vaccum canister with a check valve in the vaccum line, it simply stores a vaccum that the engine itself creates. Good description of the system, but when you conclude that the evaporative emissions systems "stores a vacuum" you are off the mark. Since the purpose of the canister is to store gasoline vapors that evaporate off the fuel in the gas tank, it is connected to the tank, which is in turn vented to the atmosphere via a check valve (usually in the gas tank cap) that allows air in but doesn't allow vapors out. If there was vacuum in the fuel tank it would likely crush inwards (the canister might crush, too). Thus, the fuel tank and the cannister connected to it remain at atmospheric pressure, whether the engine is running or not. . The purpose of the check valve you mention is not to store vacuum, but rather for safety (by the way, it isn't really a "check valve" that operates only one way - it is an electrically-operated servo valve that opens upon receiving voltage from a running engine). It prevents the charcoal canister (yes, the canister contains fine charcoal - providing about 5 acres of surface area to bind and safely store gasoline vapor) from overflowing and passing explosive vapor to the manifold of a non-running engine, where otherwise on a hot day it might accumulate sufficiently to overflow from the manifold and air cleaner and into the engine compartment... whence upon engine startup, a stray spark might cause an underhood explosion. The other reason for the servo valve is to cut egress of leaking fuel in the event of a rollover accident. . Sorry for the highjack, but I was a homologation engineer. My only intention here is to provide clarity. Good intentions, but all you accomplished was to introduce confusion. The vacuum canister being discussed here is the vacuum reservoir located behind the front bumper, NOT the charcoal fumes canister back by the firewall. The canister in question DOES store vacuum -- that is its only purpose. Without it -- or if it leaks or the lines to it leak -- any time you go up a steep-ish hill the drop in engine vacuum closes the ventilator doors and shifts all heat or a/c output to the defrost outlets on the top of the dashboard.

Them winders don't grow on trees, Mate. That "weather stripping" is nothing but trim, the window is held in and sealed by adhesive. Worst case, after installing the slider and letting the sealant cure, another bead could be applied with a slightly convex profile to simulate a trim gasket. The latch isn't a huge deal, either -- I don't think I've ever seen one that had a latch.

i've tried wigglin every wire and nothin changed, the only thing i can not check is the antanna wire, i can't get enough slack in it to track it through my wirey mess under my dash, is there anyway to test is with a multimeter? Redwolf Time out. You wrote above that it cuts out when you take off. Does it only cut out when on radio, or does it also cut out when playing a CD? I seriously doubt it's the antenna. You can usually pick up strong, nearby stations with NO antenna, and if you lose the signal you should get hiss, or "hash." I'm leaning toward a bad ground of the radio chassis to the dashboard.