Eagle

Don't you mean storker Eagle? :D Fixed it. Danged Dell mushy keyboard. I probably had "Stryker" on the brain.

Nope. This is a VERY common procedure on Jeep 4.0L engines at around 200,000 miles. It always lasts until the owner either sells the vehicle or decides to build a stroker.

I vote "or." The simple option you omitted is to drop the pan and install new bearings. Getting the pan off the first time is a nuisance but, overall, this is an easy fix. Do the rods and mains, and the rear main seal all at the same time. That will resolve the knock and probably help with the oil leaks -- then you can buy that used 4.0L and build it up as your stroker. You should be able to do the bearings with the engine in place over a weekend.

I don't know who makes them, but I bought a set of XJ rockers from JC Whitney some time ago and never used them. I gave them to a friend for his Comanche and he found the same thing -- the new rockers were bent such that the sit too far out at the front. I'm fairly certain all the discount body parts places will be selling the same thing, made in China. To do it right, I guess we have to go Mopar (4-door Cherokee) or go custom.

If it made zero sense, they wouldn't have done it. My best guess is that it makes engagement of the clutch bearing surface more progressive rather than contact/no contact. The goal, I suppose, would be to make engagement smoother. Given that few people actually know how to drive a clutch today (at least, how to drive one well and correctly), this makes sense to me.

They can't be the same. The '84 - '90 2.5L engines used a variant of the Renix system -- the injection was throttle body but the ignition uses the same CPS as the Renix 4.0L. And the '91 and newer 2.5L engines use the Chrysler multi-port system and take the same CPS as the '91 and newer 4.0Ls. The arrangement of the trigger teeth on the flywheel is completely different.

The 2.5L flywheel can be resurfaced. As to the advice not to resurface a 4.0L flywheel being BS, aside from the fact that every single person I know of who has done it has experienced problems there's the basic fact that the FSM tells us specifically not to do it. You can do as you wish, but when other people ask for advice I am not going to advise them to do something the factory plainly says not to do, AND which I know has caused problems for other people.

The '86 and '87 should be the same flywheel. They do list it for the '87: 1987 JEEP COMANCHE 2.5L 150cid L4 OHV : Transmission-Manual : Flywheel Wiki Price ACDELCO Part # 388088 More Information About this Part {#19181996} [Flag indicates this part fits vehicles sold in the US Market. It does not indicate where the part was made -- manufacturers produce parts in multiple factories worldwide.] FLYWHEEL,ENG ; SOLID FLYWHEEL Part Image * Stocked in outlying warehouse--shipping delayed up to 5 business days The part number for the flywheel ring gear is the same for 1986 and 1987, so it's probably a good guess that the flywheel is also the same.

In fact, on my way home from work just yesterday (Monday), I almost got taken out by some "cool dood" in a lowered ricer with extra wide tires. He was making a right turn out of a side street to my left, which SHOULD have put him into the oncoming lane and been no problem. Except that he decided to "drift" his right turn, and he overdid it more than a little. He lost control, his car slid broadside into my lane, and if the right-hand lane on my side hadn't been empty and left me somewhere to go, it would have been ... ugly. I'm sure he just wanted to have fun, and I'm sure he was also confident in his ability to control his car. Right up to the point where he totally lost it.

If all else fails, call Todd, the parts manager at Bradshaw Jeep in Connecticut. 860-274-8834, ext 3 for Parts. If Todd can't get it for you, it doesn't exist.

Good point MountainMan. Here's a link: http://gojeep.willyshotrod.com/HowtoAlignment.htm I'd take Marcus' word on any Jeep topic any day. Its in the very last paragraph on the page. He says there's a 10 mm difference in spacing due to the road crown to allow the Jeep to steer straight. If you take a left hand drive Jeep to a right hand drive country, you'd be constantly correcting to the opposite side to keep it straight down the road. 10 mm is quite a bit. The problem is that Marcus provides no documentation to support his claim that the wheelbase is different side-to-side. I haven't looked it up for the MJ yet, but I have a FSM for the 2000 XJ sitting next to my desk and I just checked the frame and alignment specs and sections for that vehicle. EVERYTHING is symmetrical on both sides. If the wheelbase is intended to be shorter on one side, it could be done only by making the axle mount points on the axles themselves asymmetrical, or simply by using different thicknesses of shims in the LCA frame pockets -- and I've never heard anyone suggest that this is the case. In fact, one of the checks body shops perform when making structural repairs is to verify that the wheelbase is the same, on both sides AND on both diagonals. If it's not symmetrical, not only will the steering pull to one side, the chassis will be slightly skewed to the direction of travel as it goes down the road.

Not "every" kid who owns a Japanese car drifts, and drifting on the street is definitely NOT cool. It's dangerous and stupid. People have been badly injured and killed by idiot kids drifting their cars in places where it shouldn't be done, by people who didn't have the skills to drive from home to the nearest Quickie Mart. If you choose to engage in such activity, make damned sure you do it where the only person you can possibly kill is yourself. Then consider that it sounds like you'll be driving this vehicle on the street. The fact that you would intentionally go out looking to buy tires with POOR traction tells me that you should not have a driver's license. Sorry if you don't consider that to be "respectful," but remember that respect is earned, not granted. A motor vehicle is a rolling deadly weapon. When you intentionally set out to make it LESS safe ... I don't even know how to comment on that.

I edited my original post. After grinding the extensions off, you're right, they look like they'll bolt right in. What did you grind? To install MJ bucket seats into an MJ no grinding of anything is required.

I just bought a new one for my 88 4.0 from mopar and it's marked 1.1 ohms. part number 33000682. Looks like the closest Auto Zone offers is a 0.8 ohm.They have higher resistances, but those would drop the voltage to the fuel pump too much. http://www.autozone.com/autozone/access ... ing=search

Sort of looks like the mechanic lied to you, doesn't it? My guess is he didn't have shims that fit MJs, didn't know where to get them or didn't want to be bothered, so it was easier to tell you it couldn't be done. Nice.

All doors from 4-door XJs will fit. Sort of. The issue is that the early years, including all years of the MJ, use a single post on the door jamb as the strike. Somewhere around 1994 or 1995 they changed over to a squared loop strike. I think those remained at the same vertical position through 1996 (not sure on that) but when the updated body style was introduced in 1997 the vertical position of the strike moved. This affects ALL years with the full window (1997 through 2001). They can (and have) been made to work, but you have to Mickey Mouse the strike attachment to the body. Personally, I would look for good XJ doors withOUT the operable vents (the fixed triangular lites), and go with that. In the event of an accident I want my doors to stay shut, so messing around with makeshift strike arrangements is not something I would suggest. Even if you think you can do a good job (and even if you're right), consider that in the event of an accident if you have a passenger who is injured and the door popped open, somebody is going to get a big payout and it's possible your insurance company won't want to know who you are because you altered the factory door latches.

If it were mine, I would seal it permanently with RTV and forget that it's supposed to be operable.

Since you say you checked the axle and it's not bent, obviously the problem has to be either the mounts on the axle, or the drop brackets ... unless your control arms aren't the same length. How are the drop brackets installed? Is the caster adjustment made at the lower end, where the lower control arms mount, or at the upper end where the drop brackets mount into the original LCA mounting pockets? Are you certain both drop brackets were installed in exactly the same fore-to-aft position?

Auto Zone has them listed as accessories rather than as replacement parts, and they offer several different resistance ratings (ohms). Does anyone know what the factory ones are rated for?

Interesting, but incorrect. Several years ago, when they were still called New Process, NVG had a chart on their company web site showing the torque rating for most of their transfer cases. (It didn't include some of the older "legacy" cases like the 228 and 229). The 242 was rated by the manufacturer as weaker than the 231. It wasn't a lot weaker, but it was weaker. I wonder if the info you found is perhaps referring to the 242HD such as used in (IIRC) Dodge pickups? From Novak Adapters: Also from Novak (for the 231): FWIW, some of the guys in NAXJA-NAC had pretty well-built XJs with stock 242 cases and nobody ever broke one, even when doing serious rock crawling at Paragon on very large tires. If I were doing a 4x4 conversion I would very much prefer the 242 ... but don't fool yourself that it's stronger than the 231. It isn't ... unless you modify it internally.

I've never seen a dolly with brakes. For a 2500 pound vehicle going 20 miles, I think that's overkill. I've towed an XJ on a VERY oversized 4-wheel car trailer behind a shortbed MJ, and I've also towed a complete longbed MJ on a dolly behind the shortbed MJ. The dolly was no problem at all -- without dolly brakes. The XJ on the car hauler was, because it was raining and the trailer kept trying to push the MJ under braking. (The trailer had brakes, but it was borrowed and the electrical connector didn't match my vehicle.) Don't forget that a longbed MJ with the Metric Ton package is rated to carry 2200 pounds of payload in the vehicle. I don't think another 300 pounds makes a lot of difference.

You're not sorry at all Jim. :D And for the life of me I can't think of a decent comeback. Bur seriously, they have never leaked H2O or wind whistle when latched shut. I've had lots of other cars with similar vents that did though. I think you're lucky. The problem is that the steel channel only runs along the bottom edge of the glass. There's a step from the steel channel to the glass, and at the window corners the rubber can't quite seal that step. That's where mine leaked, and that's where every one I've seen with the operable wing windows leaks. The Sil-Glyde fills that gap with silicone, and that keeps the water out. There was never a problem with wind noise -- the gap wasn't large enough to whistle -- but in anything heavier than a drizzle (heavy fog) that corner always weeped water into the cab.

New rubber will not solve the problem. The problem is a defective design. When I bought my '88 Cherokee new in January of 1988, I paid extra to get the operable vent windows. (They were not standard at the Pioneer trim level.) They leaked from the first time it rained. I took it back to the dealership, they brought in the Chrysler factory "service" rep, and he cheerfully informed me that there was a fix. Cool. What's the fix? Remove the operable vents and replace them with the fixed windows. Naturally, that didn't include refunding the money I had paid to get the operable vents, so I declined. I solved it myself -- sort of. NAPA sells a silicone grease under the name Sil-Glyde. I opened the vents, smeared Sil-Glyde on the rubber seals, and closed the windows on the Sil-Glyde. It worked perfectly, as long as I didn't open the windows. If you actually use the vents, you need to renew the Sil-Glyde every couple or three months. Otherwise, it's good for several years at a time. Having gone through that, I realized that I don't actually use the vents, so I just keep them closed. My MJs have the fixed windows, and I have no intention of "upgrading" them to the factory optional leak generators.

If you don't move the control switch to one of the a/c settings, the a/c won't turn on anyway. The a/c has never worked in my '88 MJ and the compressor just sits there.

Dropbox is a private, file sharing service. You need to have photos on a public, always-accessible-to-everyone photo hosting site such as Photobucket, Tinypics, etc.