Eagle

Lift doesn't solve nearly as many problems as people seem to think. It is possible to run 31x10.50s on factory rims on a Cherokee or a Comanche with NO lift. In the front, they will rub slightly where the rear inside shoulder of the tire hits the lower control arm with the steering cranked all the way to full lock. With the wheels pointed straight, on a Cherokee the tires will tuck nicely up into the fender wells when the suspension gets compressed. On the MJ, the front condition is exactly like the Cherokee -- very minor interference with the LCAs at full steering lock, no other issues. In the rear, a 10-1/2" wide time on the factory rims runs very close to the springs and the inner fender liner. You can run them and wheel them, but when the rear axle gets crossed up the tops of the tires rub the inner fender liner. I used to find black, shiny spots inside my wheel wells after every wheeling trip. So lift 3 inches. The lift does NOTHING to move the front wheels away from the LCAs, so it doesn't solve that problem. In the rear, the lift does NOTHING to move the wheels out from the inner fender liners, so it doesn't solve that problem, either. Both problems can be addressed by using either wheel spacers or aftermarket rims with less backspacing ... but then you've moved the tires outboard and they hit the flares when the suspension compresses. So then you either extend the bump stops and massively reduce your suspension travel ... or you remove the flares and chop the sheet metal. IMHO, people are much too anxious to throw on big tires without first thinking through the consequences of doing so. Unless you want to run big tires just because you think they look cool and you just HAVE to have them, consider that the optimum setup is the LEAST amount of lift and the SMALLEST tires that will get you where you want to go.

The map pockets were part of the Pioneer and higher trim packages. I don't think they were offered as a separate option. Color matched the interior -- basically Gray, Blue, Red (Maroon), Tan or Black.

Thanks for the thought, but the ad says it's a 215 -- I need a 225.

It was the "fast and dirty" part that I wanted to avoid, because most people use numbers like "30," or "31" or "33" for tire diameter, and they very rarely come close. For example, most 30" tires actually measure 29-1/2" in diameter off the vehicle, and the effective diameter with the vehicle's weight is closer to 29". So I went to tire company spec sheets and based the spreadsheet calculations on the most accurate number available -- the actual revolutions-per-mile provided by a tire company. But ... even within one brand, different models will be slightly different, so the spreadsheet can't be dead nuts on the mark for everyone. But it should be closer than just about anything else you can find. Note the disclaimer on the linked site:

Photos: That's all there is to it. I don't regard it as a "pressure bleeder," because there's no reservoir and you still have to refill the master after each wheel. It's more of a "pressure-assisted gravity bleed," but it worked very well and made my job a lot easier. I didn't know what to use for pressure. I talked to a friend who is a VW shop foreman. He said VW uses a pressure of one bar (one atmospheric pressure, or about 14.x psi) on their pressure bleeders. So we figured 10 psi should be safe for the plastic reservoir on the Jeeps, and I found that 7 psi gave me enough to move sufficient fluid to purge the air even after replacing the hard line from the master to the rear axle, AND the hard line across to the right rear wheel.

Now if I could match this for the old, Ford-style, dual chamber master cylinders on the early XJs and MJs, I'd be ecstatic. Had to replace nearly all of the hard brake lines under a 2001 XJ due to rust-out. Nobody around to help with the bleeding, and my Mighty-Vac suction bleeder wasn't getting the job done. I think it was pulling air around the threads of the bleeder screw. Dilemma. Then I noticed the neat little black circle in the center of the bright yellow cap for the master cylinder. That little hole just seemed to be crying out, "Drill hole here." I also had a set of XJ alloy rims on which two of the four had aftermarket metal valve stems. Hmmm ... Picked up a spare master cylinder cover. I removed the inner gasket and drilled out the center to a 7/16" diameter, which is the right size for the rubber gasket on the metal valve stem. Added a 7/16" flat washer on the outside and snugged it up. On the inside of the cover, there's a small channel across the top and down the side. That's for pressure equalization, but it would interfere with pressurizing the master so I filled that in with RTV sealant and struck it off flush. I cut the center out of the stock cover gasket (the center portion that expands into the reservoir if the fluid level drops). Done. I used it today, and it worked like a champ. My original plan was to connect a bicycle pump to it, but I couldn't find either of the two I should have here. So I took my spare air can and charged it to between 7 and 10 psi. (I think 10 psi is an upper limit, and I tried to not go above 7.) Once I had the air can ready, I put a length of clear tubing over the bleeder and into a bottle, cracked the bleeder about a quarter of a turn, and applied the fill nozzle to the valve stem of my new master cylinder cap. Just stood there for maybe a minute, watching the level drop, then I pulled off the air nozzle, closed the bleeder screw, and that wheel was done. Refill master and repeat for the other three wheels. "I love it when a plan comes together."* *Colonel Hannibal Smith, The A-Team

I think that's pretty terrible. $100 to replace the seal? Auto Zone has the seal for $7.19. As has been pointed out, it only takes a few minutes to change it. The worst part of the job is dropping the rear u-joint to pull the driveshaft. Pop the old seal out, press the new seal in ... button up the driveshaft and you're done.

It's only 5/8" longer. If the OP's new shaft is only "about" an inch too short, I think I'd be more inclined to try the YJ yoke at 5/8" longer than the Chevy truck yoke at several inches longer. The Chevy yoke is likely long enough that it would be jammed all the way in and break something when the suspension compresses -- or else it's so long it won't go into the vehicle at all.

Trying to fill out a couple of partial sets for street XJs and MJs in stock trim. I'm looking for a couple of the original "Goodyear Wrangler Radial" in 225/75R15. These are what came on XJs and MJs in the late 80s and perhaps the early 90s. If you have one or two with 50% or better tread, I'm interested. Likewise for Goodyear Wrangler RT/S and Goodyear Wrangler GS-A. Also in 225/75R15. I need one of the RT/S but one of the set (of four) I have is thin, so I could use two. And I have only one of the GS-A, supposedly a take-off spare from a Grand Cherokee. The one I have has never seen the road, still has the mold spikes on it. Could use three or four more to make up a set. Please let me know what you have. If you're close to southern Connecticut to avoid shipping, that's even better.

A friend of mine cut the driver's floor pan out of an old XJ in my yard and used it to repair his MJ. The tranny tunnel part was fine, but he had to do some customizing in the middle of the floor pan due th the MJ floor braces.

You can buy it, but the line is not what leaks onto the fuse panel. What leaks is the master cylinder itself. The seal at the back end fails, fluid starts "weeping" past it, and follows the pushrod through the firewall where it drips down onto the fuse panel connectors.

Tire balance. Tire balance would cause a clunking noise while i push and pull on the tire? :huh???: No, tire balance would cause death wobble. A clunk is a cause for concern, but probably is not the cause of death wobble. I know others are going to disagree with me, but the fact is I have driven, and seen others driving, XJs and MJs with severely worn and loose components and NO death wobble, yet the two times I have experienced death wobble were in vehicles with front suspension components mostly new and all tight. One of them was a brand new 1999 Grand Cherokee with only about 10,000 highway miles on it.

Tire balance. What if the alignment is what's causing it? Insufficient caster angle, for one thing, is a major player in causing death wobble.

Bah ... reading comprehension is important. You wrote "C100" and I read "C101," probably because the C101 connector is such a common topic of discussion. My apologies for the inadvertent hijack.

So rather than just replace a $10 seal you're going to drop several HUNDRED dollars on an SYE and have to modify that expensive new driveshaft you just bought? Doesn't sound like a great plan to me. I'd buy a new seal, spent 15 minutes installing it, and call it good.

The problem with this is that the '88 will have a C101 connector, but the '90 won't. It went away away in the middle of the 1989 production year.

Jack stands. Can't go anywhere if the wheels are off the ground.

Gibson. IMHO the ONLY exhaust that sounds even halfway decent on an in-line six.

You don't have to remove the tranny to check -- or to insert the bolts if you left them out. Just pop off the inspection cover at the bottom. IIRC, you can get a wrench in there to tighten up the bolts if necessary. I'm pretty sure I didn't have to pull the tranny back to fix my boo-boo.

This is not your Jeep? Don't even bother. Tell whoever owns it to either fix it himself or take it to a shop. If one freeze plug is bad, most likely the others are ready to fail. They ALL need to be replaced, and the best way to do that (as well as to access the one that's leaking) is to pull the engine. Candidly, that's more work than a high-mileage 2.8L is worth. By the way, you do realize that most people work on Wednesdays, don't you? IMHO it's kind of rude to post looking for help at 1:45 p.m. on a workday afternoon and bump your own post two hours later, when people are working and probably not just waiting at their computers to answer questions on the Comanche Club Forum.

It ran a lot better when the engine was connected to the transmission ...

I hope you didn't do what I once did. I replaced a flex plate on an '88 XJ. Got everything buttoned up, fired up the engine and thought "WOW! This old beast feels a lot peppier than mine!" Put in gear, and nothing happened. I have a friend who had come over to help me finish putting it all back together. So I asked him if he had bolted the torque converter to the flex plate. "No, I thought you did that." Oops. :oops:

Converting to a 4.0L in an '86 can be done, but it's a LOT of work. IMHO swapping in a 3.4L V6 is the best way to go. The basic block is the same, so it becomes essentially a bolt-in conversion and you get a much better engine with a bit more power than the 2.8L, and a lot more reliability.

They are the same year-for-year, but there are differences between/among different years, and you cannot mix-and-match without running into problems.

Not quite. Locking the front axle disconnect means that the front driveshaft will always rotate when the front wheels are turning. This means that some of the parts inside the transfer case will also be moving ... BUT, they won't be connected to the rear section of the transfer case or to the engine, so they just sit there and spin, they don't do any work. When the transfer case is shifted into 4WD, then the front and rear are connected together and power is delivered to both the front and rear driveshafts.