Eagle

If the clutch isn't chattering -- I don't see any sign of hot spots in the photos. I wouldn't even have it resurfaced -- I'd just go at it with a Scotch-Btite pad in an electric drill and clean it up.

Once again, life intervenes while I've been busy making plans. As some of you know, I'm in Connecticut. It appears that I may be taking a job at an Air Force base in ... Idaho. I have two MJs sitting here that aren't going to get any better if I just go away and leave them for more years, so I think it's time to find new adoptive parents for them. The problem is that neither of them runs at the moment. One is an '88 4-cylinder SporTruck, 4-speed, 2WD. The clutch slave or hose let go, so there's no clutch. Hasn't been started for several years. The other is the red '88 Chief, 4.0L, 5-speed, 4WD. Also hasn't run for awhile -- I had replaced the CPS, and I think the new one was faulty because in warm weather the truck would just die after 10 to 15 minutes of driving. If I let it sit for a half hour or so, it would fire right up and let me drive it home. I need to take some photos to post them in the classifieds but ... the AF seems to be in a rush to get this position filled so I want to sound out the potential interest. Is anyone interested in either (or both) of these trucks ... someone who can take it/them out of here sooner rather than later? Thanks.

I agree. Nothing whatsoever to worry about.

How bad is the wear? Those teeth really shouldn't wear much at all, so probably a previous owner hit the starter when the engine was running. If the starter hasn't been skipping on you, you can probably just clean up those teeth with a fine-tooth file and run it for another 100,000 miles or so. Can you post a photo of the worn teeth?

Don't lift it. An MJ at stock height on 30" or 31" tires is a VERY capable trail vehicle for up through moderate trails, and even some difficult trails. And lifts and huge tires do not make it better for daily driver duty -- they make it downright unpleasant.

Is that stuff synthetic or dino juice?

Really? Any idea why that changed it from the '84-'91 style?

WRONG!

Here's a hint -- I have two BA 10/5s out in the yard that are jammed in two gears at once. It happens, when the driver tries to yank the shift handle before the clutch has disengaged. What happens is that the bottom end of the shift handle gets out of alignment with the rods it's supposed to be pushing around. According to my friend, who was the service manager at the dealership where I bought my '88 XJ, it's usually possible to just remove the shift handle from the top, move the levers back into alignment, and then reinstall the shift handle. Usually they get stuck in first or second, and reverse. Since the vehicle obviously can't go in opposite directions at the same time, that's why it stalls when you let up on the clutch pedal.

I'd buy the two for $5000 and turn around and sell the wheels, tires, and axles for the $4000 they're worth, and put a set of late model XJ axles under it.

Hey, guys - I heard from Don's daughter that she has left the Air Force and is now working as a civilian. And she and her husband now have their first child, a daughter named Sienna who is now 1-1/2 years old. And they still have Don's Comanche. Abby promised to drop in and post a pic of the grandkid. It's just sad that she'll never know (first-hand) what a cool guy her grandfather was.

Is the hood release cable still there and intact, or did the thieves cut the cable? Where do you live?

My question wasn't about torque specs, it was about alignment specs. If you had it professionally aligned, they should have given you a printout of the alignment specs before and after they adjusted it. Alignment specs can make a big difference in how well or how poorly any vehicle tracks. Incorrect toe-in affacts this, and the caster angle makes a huge difference. Also, off-road tires have very non-directional treads, so they don't track well. You wrote that you're on 31" BFGs. I assume that means A/Ts -- those are among the worst offenders. They're good off-road tires, but on pavement they don't track well at all. That contributes to sloppy steering. Looks like you found the problem in the steering box adjustment. Adjusting it tightened things up for you, but now you need to ask why it needed adjusting. My original '88 XJ has 287,000 miles on it, the steering box is still tight and has never needed adjustment, and it has been driven on numerous fairly difficult trails. On the other hand, I bought a used 2001 XJ a few years ago that had less than 50,000 miles on it and the steering box was so badly worn that it couldn't be adjusted -- I had to replace it. I don't know how some people manage to destroy a Saginaw steering box, but they do. I think the most important advice is to NEVER turn the steering wheel unless the vehicle is moving. Doesn't matter if it's only 1/2 MPH -- if the tires are rolling, it puts much less strain on all the steering components that are subject to wearing out. Do NOT just sit there with your foot planted on the brake and crank the steering wheel over to full lock.

Update: We ran a comparative test on Saturday, trying the CBs from the same locations where we had previously tried the GMRS radios. Our GMRS units are both Baofeng UV-5R handhelds, so mobile (vehicle mount) GMRS radios with better antennas should do better, but what we have are the handhelds. The CBs are nothing special -- mine is a Radio Shack that seems to be a repackaged Cobra 25. My friend's is a Radio Shack compact. We were both using magnetic mount antennas, mine on the roof of my Cherokee and his on the roof of an Excursion. With the CBs, we were able to hear and transmit between my house and his house, which is 3 miles line-of-sight with a hill between us. With the GMRS handhelds, from our respective houses we can't even hear each other key up. Reception wasn't great with the hill between us, but from the top of another hill that's even farther from his house than my driveway, we were able to communicate. So, on the basis of this admittedly limited test, handheld GMRS is of little value. It works okay for the kind of distances you would typically encounter in a Jeep off-road group when everyone is traveling in a convoy and you only need to reach from the first vehicle in line to the last, but not reliable for much more than that. CB can reach out at least two to three times as far as GMRS handhelds. We're both going to get our ham radio Technician licenses. That will allow us to use the 2-meter band and to transmit at up to 50 watts (GMRS is limited to 5 watts). So that will get us a lot more distance (we hope), but it will be a quantum leap in cost. A tri-band mobile radio will be around $250, a decent antenna probably at least $150, and a mobile will require a heavy-duty power supply if we want to use them anywhere other than mounted in a vehicle. In the meanwhile, if we want to invest in higher, better antennas we can probably make CB work fairly well between the two houses.

Just remember that to be legal you have to have a license to use GMRS, and you have to use your assigned call sign, not a "handle" like on CB. Don't confuse GMRS with FRS -- you don't need a license to use FRS, but FRS is lower power than GMRS. When my friend and I were testing our GMRS, we found that when there was no terrain between us we could both transmit and receive at a distance up to 0.65 miles. In a different direction, with the crest of a hill between me and him, we had scratchy reception at 0.44 miles, but when I drove a little farther up the road to the library parking lot (distance 0.78 miles), we could even hear each other key up. By contrast, I've been able to transmit and receive as far as 13 miles with a cheap, compact Radio Shack CB and a magnetic roof mount antanna.

A friend and I are looking at going the other way. We have GMRS radios and we both have our licenses. The range for GMRS really sucks unless you have totally flat, open terrain. This weekend we're both going to pull out our old CB radios and see if we can get more range out of the CBs than what we get with GMRS.

I see no reason for anything to have been added to this thread after NINE YEARS. Closed.

1. What are the alignment specs? 2. What tires are on it? Post pics of the tread. 3. What does "it feels like I'm driving a boat" mean?

^^^ This. I had a 1999 Grand with the 4.7L. It's just not a "truck" engine -- never mind that Dodge uses it in their trucks. It's a passenger car engine and it drives like a passenger car engine. It has lousy low-end torque (the older ZJ was much more driveable in the lower part of the RPM band). It doesn't start to wake up until it's over 3,000 RPM. If you like to drive with the engine always in passing gear, then maybe it's okay. Otherwise, it's not so okay. As Cruiser hinted -- it'll break your heart. I had my '99 WJ less than a year, and much of that time it was in the shop. It did finally die on the side of the road. By that time, Chrysler had already agreed to take it back to prevent me from invoking the lemon law. I had it towed to the dealership, and as we pulled in the 2000 XJ Classic I had ordered to replace the WJ was rolling off the truck. I handed the dealer the keys to the WJ and never looked back.

Federal jobs have a one-year probation period, so initially I would rent, and keep my house in Connecticut. Assuming I survive the probationary period, then I would see the place in Connecticut and buy something in Idaho.

Is there anyone here from Idaho? I need intel ... Awhile back, I applied for a civilian position at Mountain Home AFB. This morning I received a phone call from the head of some facilities group at the base, and the call seems to have turned into a virtual interview. I think they're going to offer me the job. So ... what would I be getting into? I know the base is in the southwest corner of the state and is basically isolated. That's about all I know. Help me fill in the blanks. TIA

"Totalled" means that the cost of repairs exceeds the blue book value of the vehicle. It does not mean that the vehicle can't be repaired. My 2000 Cherokee was hit on that corner a few years ago. Mine looked a lot worse than yours. It cost a bit to get it repaired but it was new enough that the book value was still slightly higher than the repair cost, so the insurance company fixed it, and I didn't have to go through the salvage title process. Your truck can be repaired. Whether or not you can afford it depends on the cost of the repairs and the balance in your bank account. Get it checked out. If the front frame ear isn't bent, you can do most or all of the work yourself.

Actually, it was an AMC to Chrysler thing. Some sources say Chrysler took over in 1987. I have real world chronology. My original '88 Cherokee was purchased new. I took delivery in January of 1988. ALL the paperwork on the vehicle, and ALL the badges on the vehicle itself, say AMC. By about March of 1988 I had a couple of warranty issues. The dealer couldn't resolve them directly, so along about April of 1988 the dealer brought in a factory service rep. The factory rep (as of April 1988) was from Chrysler. So the effective change-over was first quarter of 1988. Since that was nearing the end of the 1988 production run, I'm sure Chrysler just let that run finish up, and then they started making changes as of the 1989 production run.

Nope. The 2.5L blocks didn't have any provision for a fuel pump after 1985. In any event, those old fuel pumps were notorious for having the internal diaphragm rupture, which tended to fill the crankcase with gasoline and then stranding the vehicle.

Actually, I believe it's 1.75" and 2.5". Both are 10" diameter.