Eagle

No. If you can SMOKE the brakes from 75 MPH, you do NOT need more stopping power.

Are you sure? Using XJ main leaves as AALs only lifts an XJ 1-1/2" ... or less (the one I did grossed 1-1/4", which resulted in a net gain of 3/4" higher than stock because the original springs had sagged a bit). The MJ springs have more arch, so an XJ leaf should generate less lift in an MJ than in an XJ. I haven't done one yet, but I'm predicting that I'll get basically zero lift, but added load capacity. Which is what I'm hoping for ... a home-brewed Metric Ton.

Before you start ripping the dash apart, be sure the system is full. I don't know how it reacts with a converted "open" system, but the closed system stops delivering heat if the coolant level is even a little bit low.

Words fail me.

Remove the bulbs from the FRONT turn signals and try it. My guess is the dash lights won't blink. For some reason, the front turn signal sockets on the XJs and MJs get funky after awhile. Things seem to work -- sort of -- but the ground within the socket is bad, so the turn signal filament, in order to find a ground, backfeeds through the parking light filament. Or vice versa. Or both. Then, when the lights are ON, that path is being used so when you try to run the turn signal with the lights on, much hilarity ensues. Simple fix is a replacement socket. Skip the junkyard. There's a Ford socket that's a perfect replacement, available in the HELP! aisle at all the national parts chains.

Thanks for showing up, Jeff. I went looking for your thread yesterday when I saw this question, and I couldn't find it.

It's academic, since there's nothing you can change. There's no "high performance" version of the Renix ECU, and there's no chip for the Renix ECU. What might happen is that you'll have to upgrade to newer injectors to increase the flow at wide open throttle. Why do you want to INCREASE the compression? For the 4.0L it's not exactly low. Most of us leave it stock or try to lower it to reduce pre-ignition.

The tachometer has to be recalibrated if you change between a 4-cylinder and a 6-cylinder. The early clusters (the ones that use a metal clip and screw to hold the speedo cable to the speedo head) do not have an adjustment. The later ones (the ones that use a white nylon squeeze lock to hold the speedo cable to the head) have a potentiometer on the tach circuit board, which is used to change the calibration. I'm not sure which type your '87 should have. I have always suspected that the speedo type changed mid-year in the '87 production, but I have never been able to confirm that.

Why didn't you put the original plates on top, with u-bolts? That way you could stay with the stock length shocks.

"Power to the people." I love it when a plan comes together.

After bleeding, you have to stomp on the brake peddle -- sharply and HARD -- to reset the slider that operates the light.

Not really. '99 was the first year for the WJ Grand Cherokee. The hub bolt circle is different from the XJ and MJ.

No it won't. The heater/blower box is on the passenger compartment side of the firewall. Removing the engine will do NOTHING to make getting at that any easier. The only heater part accessed from the engine compartment is the fan motor/blower itself (not the box), and you don't have to remove the engine to R&R the blower fan.

Sounds like your brakes work. By the time the shoes and pads are smoking, everything is so hot that the brake fluid in the calipers is boiling. That by itself creates brake fade and a soft peddle, because the liquid turns to vapor, and vapor can be compressed and expanded.

No. Step three is incorrect. As noted above, longer LCAs will re-center the wheels fore-to-aft in the wheel arches and will correct for the caster lost to the lift, but they will NOT reduce the stiffness in ride that is caused by the steeper angle of the LCAs. In stock trim, the UCAs and LCAs are level, which allows them to swing upward without resistance when a bump is encountered. Once you lift, they point downward. This means when you hit a bump, in order for the tire/wheel to swing upward it also has to swing forward -- which is in opposition to the direction the road is pushing it. Result ==> stiffer ride. The reason drop brackets solve this is that they maintain the stock geometry of level control arms. But, the commercially available drop brackets are made for a 4" lift. The effect of using drop brackets with a 3" lift is that the aft end of the control arms will be lower than the axle end. I found that the brackets were rick magnets even at a true 4" lift, so I would not recommend trying them at 3".

The idler pulley bearing doesn't "knock" when it goes bad. It "howls" or "shrieks." Very loudly.

What drilling and tapping? He asked about the front. They are bolts, not studs. They're metric, but who cares? Replace with the nearest SAE grade 5 or grade 8, use anti-seize on the threads, and it's done.

What? You can't wait 3 hours for an answer? Were you going to the junkyard at 7:00 p.m. on Sunday? The answer is "No." There is nothing from a Grand Cherokee aluminum "D44" that fits a real D44.

Terminal B7 on the ECU. It should be a red wire feeding it. It's labeled "BAT" on the schematic -- dunno if it'll be marked that way on the ECU. According to the plug diagrams, B7 is in the smaller, rectangular plug, that has two rows of 12 pins. B7 is the bottom row, with #1 at lower left and #12 at lower right. (Lower refers to the smooth edge, not the edge with the snap fittings on it).

You should be correct. The ZJ supposedly used the AW4 only for 1993, and after that went to some Chrysler transmission. At least, that's what I have always been told by Jeep/Chrysler tech friends. I've never worked on any ZJ of any year or configuration so I don't know.

The wiring is different from '87 to '88, and again from '88 to late '89, so Haynes probably isn't the best possible source. So if you used a '90 harness, you don't have a C101 connector to worry about -- although that wouldn't affect power into the harness. Begin at the beginning, Grasshopper. Power runs from the battery to the main power connector stud on the starter relay. From there, you should have a #8 red going to the starter solenoid, and several fusible link wires. The fusible links should be (according to my 1988 factory electrical manual) a green #18 that transitions to a red #12 feeding the ignition switch, and a #12 blue that transitions to a #8 red and connects to the alternator. The fuel pump relay and the ECM both get power through the same fusible link. That one is an Orange #20 that transitions to a red # 14. It splits into four, a #14 red feeding the fuel pump relay, a red feeding the TCU (note says "with auto trans only" so I don't know if your harness will have it), a #16 red feeding the ECU, and a #14 red leading to connector C106 -- whatever the heck that is.

Replacement sockets are cheap at AutoZone. IIRC the one that's a direct replacement is listed for a Ford of some type.

According to your post, this is a 1986 MJ ... with a 4.0L engine and an AX-15 tranny? Who swapped the wiring harness, and what year vehicle did it come out of?

Fab work plus rear u-joint conversion plus wheel spacers. IMHO the 8.25 (the '97+ 29-spline version) is a far more logical choice for an MJ.

It's going to depend on what you hope to swap over. For example, from 1991 and newer the speedometer is electronic rather than mechanical, and the polarity of the fuel gauge is reversed, so you won't be able to use a gauge cluster out of a '91 or newer XJ. The spline count on the transfer case input changed, but since you'd need the tranny and transfer case together to upgrade to 4WD that's not an issue ... as long as both the tranny and transfer case in the XJ are known to be good. You can certainly swap in an entire newer front axle -- you just have to be aware that you have to swap in an ENTIRE newer front axle. You can't mix-and-match calipers, knuckles and hubs between the newer and older axles. Chrysler started using c-clip Dana 35s with the smaller brakes in 1990. To reiterate: what year(s) would be the best donors depends a lot on what you want to use off the XJ.