Eagle

The headlight delay module plugs directly onto the headlight switch, between the switch body and the wiring harness connector.

It's a unibody. Once you separate the uni from the body ... then what are you going to do? Better idea would be to cut the bed frame rails a foot or so behind the cab, then see if they'll sell it that way. That part is spliced on anyway. If they won't go for that, also cut the front frame horns forward of the firewall. Those can also be grafted back on. I don't think you should even consider trying to separate the cab from the rails.

Bingo. I believe that "miniature shock absorber" is nothing more than a vibration damper and could probably be eliminated if you're not fanatical about minimizing "noise, vibration and harshness" (as the Chrysler/Jeep engineers refer to it). I'd have to trudge out through the snow to check, but my guess is that the engine damper (which is on the right side of the engine) probably occupies the space where the steering box brace is supposed to mount.

They are sidelit -- there are about half a dozen little push-in bulbs scattered around the gauge cluster, between the gauges so you can't see them behind the opaque areas on the bezel. To replace them you pull the cluster, rotate each socket a quarter turn, and they pop right out. Don't overlook the fact they are on a dimmer. Rotating the headlight knob when the lights are on controls the brightness, and all the way in one direction (don't recall which, because it has been years since I played with mine) turns them off completely. If the dimmer part of the headlight switch is bad, you won't have dash lights, and the only fix for that is a new switch (which isn't that expensive).

Nope. That's why messing with the bushings will have to wait until Spring. We just had our second snowfall of the year today.

So please tell us what you figured out. It might help someone else.

It's not that simple. Over-simplifying a bit (but not much), the shocks in a stock suspension are chosen so that at normal curb weight the shock piston is at mid-height in the shock body, and there's equal up-travel and down travel. The bump stops are set so the suspension hits the bump stop before the piston "bottoms out" in the shock body, and before the tire hits the bodywork. Everything works ... because everything was designed to work together. Looking up stock shocks on the Monroe web site, the total travel varies a bit from one shock to another but it's basically 7-1/2 inches. http://www.monroe.co...talog/e-Catalog http://www.monroe.co...LengthSheet.pdf So you install a lift, and bigger tires. Let's pick a 4" lift and 31" tires for example. Stock tires are around 29" diameter, so a 31 is two inches bigger in diameter (duh!), or one inch higher above the axle. The stock shock travel is 7-1/2". For simplicity, call it 8". Half of that is 4". If the shock piston is designed to ride at the point of mid-travel, if you lift the body 4" higher off the axle, the lift will actually pull the shock all the way up, and cause it to "top out" in the shock body. With a 2" budget boost, the piston will ride 2" higher in the shock body, but won't top out. So for the 4" lift, we need a shock with more travel so the mid-travel point will be 4" higher. That's actually a shock 8 inches longer, for a total travel length of 16 inches. You're not going to find one, at least from Monroe. Their longest are in the 10-1/2" to 11" range (and those may not have the correct mounts on each end). But let's pretend you can find one that offer 12" of travel, to keep the math simple. The suspension is lifted 4 inches, the shock has 4" more travel, so the mid-travel point has been raised 2 inches. But with a 4" lift you're riding 2" higher than that, so you now don't have 6" of up-travel and 6" of down travel. You have 4" of up-travel and 8" of down travel. Based on the original setup, you had 4" of down travel (actually, slightly less), and the bump stops were set to limit the travel to less than that so the shock wouldn't bottom out. If you don't change the bump stops, your down travel is the original 4" plus the 4" your lift added, so the body will now drop 8" before you hit the bump stops. With our theoretical shock, that's exactly at the point of bottoming out. Since there really isn't a shock offering 12" of travel, in a real world situation the shocks WILL bottom out before the bump stops make contact. Back to the budget boost. Adjust the above numbers by a difference of 2" and see what you come up with. In a perfect world, you would use a shock 4 inches longer and extend the bump stops by a full 2 inches to protect the shocks. But you're really only likely to find a shock that's about 2" longer (around 10" or travel), raising the mid-travel point by one inch when the lift is about 2". And none of this even deals with the other side of the problem, which is preventing bigger tires from hitting the bodywork.

Great. Considering that I don't have the tools (or the time, with Winter upon us) to mess with the axle bushings, I think I'll swap out the UCAs and see how it goes. That's going to have to take care of a lot of the noise and slop I have left. I can live with what's likely to be left at least until Spring.

But the listings I find don't specify if the bushing is for the axle or the arm, except for one source (don't recall which) that appears to list a different bushing for the axle than for the arm. Are the two ends the same, or different?

Still fighting rattles and clunks in the front of the "new" 2001 XJ. Replacing the lower control arms helped a lot, but there's still noise and things are still shifting around as the road surface changes, so it's time to move on to the upper control arms. Problem: On the forward end, the bushings are in the axle, not in the arms. Chrysler-Jeep wants $49 EACH just for the bushings. Not gonna happen (I hope). Quadratec claims to have them, but their OEM part number doesn't match the part number from any of the various years of XJ factory parts manuals. AutoZone lists a bushing, but in one place they say it's a front bushing and in another place they say it's a rear bushing. To further confuse a doddering senior citizen, Quadratec's listing is only for up through 1999 for the XJ. And, sure enough, the factory listing is different for a 2001 than it is for earlier years. Two questions: 1. For the UPPER control arms, is the bushing in the arm the same as the bushing for the axle, or are they different? 2. Is the axle bushing for a 2001 really different from the axle bushing in, say, a 1996, or is this just a superseded part number? Thanks. Oh, BTW -- will a Harbor Freight ball joint press give me the bits and pieces I need to press out and replace the UCA bushings in the axle?

So what transmission and what gear ratio were in the vehicle that t-case came from? And what size tires? The gear you have was (supposedly) correct for that tire size and axle ratio.

Construction adhesive is the wrong product. Use the right stuff. Windshield sealant used to be butyl, but I think I've heard that now it's urethane. In any case, get whatever product is sold for installing windshields. Be sure to check the sheet metal around the opening. From the photos, I'm guessing you need to do some metal work before you re-install the window.

It's glued in, just like a windshield.

It's not the instrument panel ground. It's the front parking light sockets. They lose their ground and the parking light circuit backfeeds through the turn signal circuit to force a ground. Cleaning up the main ground point for the front lighting (located behind the driver's side headlight) may help, but usually it's as simple as replacing the two parking light sockets. There's a Ford socket that's usually in stock on the HELP! rack at the parts chains that fits perfectly.

When you swapped the tranny and transfer case, which speedo gear did you use?

It is a GM Saginaw column. Follow any of the repair discussions you find on the Internet.

Are you certain the sprockets are fully seated on the cam and on the crank?

Actually, if he hasn't changed the bump stops, shocks for a 3" lift may NOT work fine. They should be longer, and full suspension compression could bottom out the shocks before the bump stops make contact. Goodbye shocks.

On which end? On the fuel tank end, it goes into the tank. On the dashboard end, it's part of a multi-wire harness that ends in a rectangular connecter that snaps into the back of the gauge cluster.

Roger that ...

I haven't done this swap, but I have given it a lot of thought because I think the XJ setup with separate brake and turn lamps (and 4-ways) is far superior to the MJ setup in which the 4-ways cancel the brake lights. I am considering changing mine to the XJ setup even without doing a newer-year conversion. What I have in mind is to keep the MJ brake lights as taillights/brake lights. I would put amber bulbs in the backup light sockets and wire those separately as turn signals and 4-ways. And then I would add a pair of small fog lights wired to function as backup lights. If you want to keep the stock backups as backups, the MJ has two stop/turn lamps on each side. It would be easy enough to split those, and run one lamp on each side as tail and brake lights, and the other lamp on each side as turns and 4-ways.

Nope. Shocks are good.

See post #7. It's an outside possibility, but it is a possibility. With a new radiator and no thermostat, the temperature should not get anywhere near 210, let alone 250. Remember, the purpose of a thermostat in an automobile engine is to keep the temperature UP, not down. Run it again until it's hot, and check the radiator to see if it feels hot.

It has to be something simple. Buy it, drag it home, and we'll help you figure it out.

I think your description of the problem is misleading. "Turning over" is when the starter motor causes the engine to rotate. "Turning over" is not "starting" or "firing." Are you saying that the engine initially will start, then die ... then WON'T start when you try again? How long do you have to wait before it will start again?