Eagle

Advanced Auto sells Monroe, you should be able to look them up there. Not Auto Zone or Pep Boys -- they sell Gabriel. Gabriels are also excellent shocks, but I don't think they have a coil-over load-carrying shock.

My 30x9.50-15s do rub, but not much. Generally, 235/75-15 is the largest tire that doesn't rub but, once in awhile, even those may rub the LCAs just a little bit (usually only on one side). If you want 100 percent certainty -- 225/75-15. I would rate 235/75-15 as about 95 percent certainty, and that's my choice. One reason is that Goodyear still offers the original Wrangler radial in that size -- and that size only. You can buy them in any Wal-Mart for $87 per tire, and IMHO they are far superior in just about every respect to the several new "Wrangler" lines that have followed the original.

That's a start, but not a good one. Doing the adjustment with the wheels off the ground is not a good idea, because if there's any play in the ball joints that can affect the setting. If you do it with the tires on the ground, you have to compensate for the resistance of the contact patch to moving. I just went through this today after replacing a drag link (the long tie rod "end" from the right steering knuckle up to the pitman arm). IMHO the only way to do it is to adjust some, then start the engine, back up several car lengths, then pull forward again before checking to see if you moved it enough. It took me about half a dozen tries to get it where it should be. You can turn the adjusting sleeve with a pipe wrench, but there's a special tool made for the job:

Heat. The door post switch is in the ground side of the circuit. The courtesy lights are always hot, and the door post switch just closes the ground side of the circuit when the doors are opened. When wires and connections are cold, they conduct optimally. Heat increases resistance, and current flow generates heat. So ... my guess is that there's still a bad ground, or a bad connection somewhere in the circuit, and as the lights run for a couple of minutes that connection heats up and the resistance increases at that point, thus lowering the voltage. :shrug: That's the best I can come up with on short notice.

Camber isn't the only thing that can cause uneven tire wear. The only adjustment for camber is to install offset balljoints. Have you had your alignment checked? Incorrect toe-in/toe-out can easily cause wear on the tire shoulders, and toe-in is the only setting that is usually adjusted on these vehicles. You can do a pretty decent job of checking and setting toe-in by yourself, with just a tape measure.

They do run off the same drive gear. But ... the odometer has a completely mechanical connection all the way from the transfer case through the cable to the number indicator in the cluster. The speedometer head isn't a direct, mechanical connection at the head. The dial needle is mounted on a steel cup that's free to rotate, and has a spring on it. Inside the cup, there's a slightly smaller diameter magnet that is driven by the speedo cable. As the magnet rotates faster inside the cup, it pulls the needle against the spring. There is no mechanical connection between the cable and the needle. It's actually unusual for an old-style speedometer like this to be 100 percent in agreement with the odometer. As the speedo ages, the spring may lose tension, which allows the needle to rotate easier and to read faster than the actual speed. The only way to get the speedo calibrated to/with the odometer is to take the speedometer head to a speedometer repair shop (if such even exist any more) and have it recalibrated.

The FSM says it should be a Model YFA carburetor. I believe that's a Carter, but I don't rightly remember. That's a computer-controlled carburetor, so if yours doesn't have computer-controlled air/fuel mix, it isn't an original Jeep 2.5L carburetor.

If it has a carburetor, it should already have a round air cleaner. (I think -- says me who hasn't looked at a carbureted 2.5L engine for something like five years.)

86? 2.5L? Carbed? Are you sure you don't have throttle body injection?

Y'all made me break out the tape measure. Dana 35 axle tube = 2-1/2" Spring pack (3-leaf + overload) = 1-1/2" Perch offset = 5/8" (x 2 = 1-1/4") So a basic spring over using a Dana 35, and reusing the stock spring perches (or aftermarket replacements that aren't offset farther from the tube) will generate a lift of 2-1/2 + 1-1/2 + 1-1/4.= 5-1/4 inches ... that's less than I have generally seen quoted, but I think most people use a Dana 44 axle (larger tubes) and aftermarket perches that don't fit as tight to the tube as the factory perches.

I can't tell you what it is. Why don't you measure it and tell us? The official measurement, from the factory service manuals, is taken from the top of the axle tube straight up to the underside of the frame rail, inboard of the bump stop. The stock measurement is supposed to be 9.2 inches (+/- 1/2 inch) for 4WD trucks, and 8.2 inches (+/- 1/2 inch) for 2WD trucks. Take that measurement on yours and then everyone will know exactly how much your SOA generated.

Gear oil is for ... gears. Transmissions have gears.

No, it won't ... it can't. The truck starts off with a "factory rake." To keep the same rake, the front and the rear would have to be lifted by the same distance. Doing a rear SOA conversion lifts the rear by the diameter of the axle tube plus twice the offset from the tube to the spring perch (because that gets moved to the top) plus the full thickness of the spring pack. That's more than 5 inches, so using a 5-inch lift in the front will increase the rake.

If you are going SOA in the rear, that's going to lift you more than 5". You will probably need a 6" to 6-1/2" front lift to even out with the rear. Plus, unless you plan to run either offset rims or 33x9.50 tires, you'll need wheel spacers on the back because a 31x10.50 is the widest tire you can run on factory rimes -- and even those make contact with the inner wheel well walls off-road. Personally, I think 33-inch tires are too big for a 4-banger. Your life would be a whole lot simpler (and a whole lot less expensive_ if you were to run 31x10.50s. Then you could run a budget boost, or no lift at all. No problems of being top-heavy. Far fewer problems with tire clearance. No need for SOA in the rear.

A 30x9.50 is almost the same size as a 235/75-15. A 235/75-15 is 28.9" diameter (that's one brand -- call it 29") and 9.3" in cross-section width. A 30x9.50-15 is 29.5" diameter and 9.5" in cross-section width. A 30x9.50 will not touch the flares if run on stock Jeep 15" rims. As commented above, there may (or may not) be slight rubbing of the tire shoulder on the lower control arms. If so -- either shim the steering stop, ir just live with it. A lift will NOT cure this. However, if you use 1-1/2" spacers, then you WILL rub the flares.

I am accustomed to seeing core charges in parts stores for things that are commonly rebuilt and sold as such, like alternators and starters. Granted, I'm only 69 years old and I've only been playing gearhead since I was 14 (that's a mere 55 years), but I have never heard of a junkyard charging a core charge for something like a used axle. And the axle in that photo does NOT look like a rebuilt axle. A rebuilt would have at least had a thin coat of cheap black paint on it. I strongly suggest that you never go back to that shop for other work. He's a robber.

What size tires do you plan to run?

I think it's a great idea. Please post photos when it's installed.

2001 Cherokee -- The never-ending saga thereof. This is the XJ the seller of which really saw me coming. Every time I think I have one issue resolved, two more crop up. (Not the vehicle's fault. It has been through multiple owners and multiple auctions in multiple states, and has apparently been thoroughly abused before I got it. Lesson learned -- run CarFax before you buy, not after.) One problem is a heavy vibration that starts to kick in above 50 MPH and gets significantly worse and louder around 60 to 65 MPH. There seems to be a lot of play in the front driveshaft, at the slip joint. I'll pull the driveshaft this weekend to verify. The 2001 XJ has a LOW pinion D30. I have several older XJs for parts, with the high pinion D30. Does anyone know how much (if any) difference there is in the driveshaft length? Is there any reason I can't try a front drive shaft from an older XJ? What about ZJ front drive shafts? Are they the same length as the 2001 XJ?

For starters, check the ground strap from your engine to the firewall for continuity.

Thanks. I am taking it back to them tomorrow. Does the appearance concern you? It looks all beat to hell. It's a Dana 35 rear axle. You have a 1988 MJ. The last MJ was built in 1992 and it's now 2013, so the newest any used MJ axle could possibly be is 21 years old. The axle came from a junkyard -- seriously, what were you expecting? It doesn't look beat to hell -- it looks like it was lying in a junkyard for quite awhile, the paint got scraped, and where there's no paint it has started to rust. Wire brush it, spray it down with brake cleaner, and go crazy with gloss black Rustoleum. You had a shop do the install? The old axle is yours -- he should have given it to you, unless you specifically instructed him to throw it away.

The load (height) sensing valve will not affect the brakes dragging. But the adjustment of the star wheel inside the drums will. And if the parking brake cable is rusted and can't release completely, that will also cause the brakes to drag.

Both lamps in the MJ taillights are dual filament bulbs. They both light up one filament for taillights, and the other filament for brakelights. It's possible the brake light filaments aren't working, but it seems unlikely that all four would have the taillight filaments working and the brake light filaments burning out. Also, if just the brake light filaments were burned out, the hazard flasher should flash the fronts. I think you need to trace the circuit, starting at the brake lights and working forward.

My '88 MJ came to me with a 4" lift installed (since removed). Running 30x9.50R15s on factory Jeep rims (15x7) is no problem at all. I ran it with 31x10.50-15s on factory rims. The inside of the tires is close to the rear springs and inner fenders, but not unworkable. A day of hard wheeling would result in the upper-inner shoulders of the tires polishing the metal on the inner wheelwell liners in the rear. An inch or so more clearance would have been nice, but not absolutely necessary.

Either the line to the slave cylinder sprung a leak, or the slave cylinder itself spring a leak.