Eagle

If they were the same, Jeep would have changed the recommendation for the BA 10/5 when they changed the recommendation for the AX-15. But ... they didn't. And it's also highly likely that my BA 10/5 would not have gone 287,000 miles if the gear lube was dining on the synchros. I have a call in to the parts guys at my dealership. If they can dredge up a current recommendation, they'll call me back and I'll post it.

You are correct -- for the AX-15. The question is about the BA 10/5

I've run what the factory calls for in my '88 XJ since it was new. 287,000 miles and still going strong ...

The track bar did change. The original track bar that was in my '88 XJ (which I purchased new) didn't have a grease fitting in the TRE at the frame end. ALL replacements I've seen, factory and after-market, have a grease fitting.

For what? Yes, wheel spacers will move the tires out to alleviate the tires rubbing the lower control arms. BUT ... move the tires out and then they'll be hitting the flares, both when turning and when the suspension compresses. To me that's just not a good "solution," since it creates two problems while fixing one problem. Run stock Jeep rims, don't lift (since a lift doesn't help the LCA problem anyway) and spend your money on a pair of WJ lower control arms. As already covered above.

Everybody tries to be a comedian. Don't give up your day job ...

How about posting some good photos so other folks can see what they look like and try to figure out how to replicate them?

No, I DON'T know. That why I'm kinda throwing it out there and asking. I went to a couple of sites which say that the ignition cylinders they sell don't interchange. But, of course, it's possible that they're going strictly by model years. Well, if they need different key blanks to work ... they don't interchange. That doesn't mean they won't fit the same steering column. When a locksmith replaces an ignition cylinder, he uses the existing key and grinds the tumblers to work with that key.

No, but if you get the ignition cylinder and the two door cylinders from any one-key XJ, even a half-blind locksmith can easily make up a pair of new keys to fit those cylinders. But are the earlier GM ignition cylinders the same size as the 91+ cylinders? I'm not sure if the later cylinder will fit into the earlier steering column. I can't answer with certainty because I haven't worked on any early to mid-90s XJs or MJs, but consider ... it's still a GM Saginaw steering column that Jeep bought from GM. Compared to how many vehicles GM put those columns in, how many XJs and MJs were there in each year between 1991 and 1994? Do you REALLY think GM re-engineered their steering column production to accommodate an odd size cylinder from Chrysler?

Since some of us have updated to '97+ dioors in their MJs, perhaps I'll be forgiven for posting this here. Another problem with the 2001 XJ from Hell is that all the power windows work from the driver's seat, but they can't be operated from the switches in the other doors. I've tried multiple times, and pressing the lockout button on my door doesn't make any difference. Eventually I suppose I should chase down a replacement switch but, for now, with Summer here and my wife not able to control her window it's a nuisance (more for her than for me). No kids at home, so we don't really need the lockout. It's never been used in the other two XJs. Does anyone know how it's wired? For all door switches to function, is the switch normally open or normally closed? (In other words, should I jumper the terminals, or disconnect the switch?)

No, but if you get the ignition cylinder and the two door cylinders from any one-key XJ, even a half-blind locksmith can easily make up a pair of new keys to fit those cylinders. However, I wasn't aware of this:

Must have been Goodyear tires. Possibly Wranglers GSA's? They make them square. Yeah, now that you mention it I believe the WJ did have GSAs. Don't remember what the ones were on the MJ.

Aside from the cost, how did they fit?

Nope. Just change the lock cylinder. Here's the catch-22: I've gone over this with two professional locksmiths. The ones that use two keys don't use the same blank for both keys. There's more of a difference than just one having a rectangular head and the other is oval. Look at the key itself and they appear similar, but they actually aren't. It's been years since I played with this, but either the ignition key won't fit the door keyways, or the door key won't fit the ignition keyway. That's issue number 1. Issue number 2 (according to the pros) is that the door keys are 5-bit keys and the ignition uses 6-bit keys. What that means is the door key cylinder has five tumblers and the ignition has six. The key length is the same, so the spacing of the tumblers is different. I asked if there was any way to re-key either the ignition or the doors to use the same key in both. One locksmith just flat out said it's impossible. The other said he "might" be able to get it to work, but because of the different spacing the keys or the cylinders would wear out very quickly. Which means if you want a one-key vehicle, you have to bite the bullet and buy all new 91+ cylinders and keys -- or raid them from a junkyard. Don't forget the glove box, if you ever might wish to lock it. If it's for an XJ, don't forget the rear hatch.

Just the early ones. Changed to one key in -- I think -- '91.

Yes you should purchase it. The death wobble may or may not be easy to fix. If you have read a bunch of posts on the subject, you must already know that very few of us agree on what causes it. Many people claim that a loose tie rod end or a bad track bar "causes" death wobble. Having driven to work daily with a very bad track bar for a period of several months when it was too cold and snowy to crawl under my XJ to replace it, I know absolutely for a fact that a loose track bar does NOT and CANnot cause death wobble. Nor does a bad tie rod end. I have experienced true death wobble twice in my life. Both times it was terrifying, even though I knew what it was instantly. The first time was in a brand new (less than six months old, under 10,000 miles, never driven off-road) 1999 Grand Cherokee. What triggered it was touching the brakes lightly on a long downgrade, when the front rotors were warped. But ... the rotors had been warped for awhile, and I had just driven over 100 miles on that trip alone. That was the ONLY time death wobble kicked in. Why that one time? My best guess is that I had never before encountered those exact conditions. Usually, I use the brakes to stop, not to regulate speed at 55 MPH. Even with warped rotors, when you step on the brakes hard enough to stop, the calipers clamp the rotors tightly. I think that light touch, possibly combined with the weight of the vehicle being shifted forward due to the grade, created a different reaction. The calipers (or at least one of them) got knocked back and forth by the rotors, that got transferred to the tires, and from there on it was Katie bar the door. What IS death wobble? Death wobble is a phenomenon that takes place when one tire starts to shimmy and, for whatever reason, instead of the one wheel just bouncing happily along (which can happen -- I've been beside cars on the Interstate where I can see one front wheel bouncing up and down at least two or three inches and the owner seems totally unaware there's anything happening), the shimmy gets transferred to the opposite wheel as well. That wheel starts to shimmy, and they create a harmonic, where each oscillation of one wheel send a reinforcing vibe to the opposite wheel. It keeps escalating until you either stop the vehicle ... or you crash. So they key is to stop tires from shimmying. In theory, a tire in motion should be self-stabilizing, like a gyroscope. But a gyroscope has to be perfectly balanced to run true. That's our clue -- if a tire is a gyroscope, then a tire has to be perfectly balanced to run true. Often, they aren't. And too many shops are perfectly willing to charge you full price for a half-assed job, and send you home with tires that are NOT properly balanced. The only other time I had death wobble was just after I had swapped a different set of tires onto the '88 MJ. I set off on a short drive, got about ten miles up the road, went into a sweeping right hand turn that took some weight off the right front wheel, and BAM! I stopped, caught my breath, turned around and drove home, and took those tires off. Never had death wobble again, even running 31" tires. (The ones that caused the problem were stock size.) My answer, obviously, is: TIRE BALANCE.

The ZJ box I got from a junkyard has a rubber collar (I wouldn't call it a boot) that fills that gap and covers the exposed splines. I've never seen that before -- none of my XJs or MJs has it.

Like most rust in comanches, it took the majority of my box brace from me, I only have it from the branched out frame support which is less than half of it. That's mainly why I asked So make a new one. You can mock it up in cardboard, transfer the cut and bend lines to sheet metal, and make your own.

Except that Metric Ton springs shouldn't give any lift at all -- unless the springs you're replacing are sagged. The factory MT springs provided additional load capacity, but they didn't provide any lift. What I plan to try is using a set of XJ main leaves with the eyes cut off as AALs for a set of standard MJ springs. The XJ springs have less built-in arch, so they won't add much lift (I think), but they will add load capacity.

I believe Hell Creek announced several months ago that they were no longer selling MJ springs. Search old threads.

XJs had horrible crash ratings? Really? Tell that to my graduate school roommate. His wife was driving a Cherokee, with their two sons on board, when she was hit head-on by a truck. Minor injuries, and my roomie credits the XJ with saving their lives. Why not use an XJ floor pan and weld the MJ box brace back on top, like the factory intended it to be?

What makes you think the pitman arm is supposed to be flush to the steering box? I've never seen one that was.

The only electric fuel pumps I've ever used were Stewart-Warner, and that was a long while ago. No problems whatsoever, but I don't know if they are even available today.

Nope. My wife destroyed a rotor on her XJ by ignoring a "funny noise." I knew what it was just by backing it out of the garage. When I asked her why she didn't tell me when it started squealing, so we could have saved the rotor, she said, "I thought all Jeeps made noises like that." Never mind she had been driving it for 50,000 miles withOUT any such noises ...

The caption was wrong. That wasn't even going to work on paper.