Eagle

Unfortunately, my nephew (my sister's only child) is a classic yo boy. Fortunately, he lives several hundred miles away and I see him at most once or maybe twice a year.

New Brunswick? Check the frame -- CAREFULLY!

I always thought it would be interesting to do up an MJ in that style.

You most likely need an oxygen sensor. You may also need a new thermostat -- running a cold thermostat can affect emissions.

I don't have a '96 wiring diagram, so I can't look at it. I'll take your word for it. So if it starts okay and then pops the fuse after starting, your conjecture would appear to be spot on -- there must be a short somewhere in the RUN circuit that's being by-passed in the START circuit. But ... when you initially just turn the key to ON, that is the RUN position. The circuits are all connected the same, whether or not the engine is running. So if he just turns the key to RUN (but doesn't start the engine) ... does the fuse blow? If not, the answer must lie in what's different when the engine is actually running. The circuits are all connected the same ... the ONLY difference is that the alternator is producing electricity when the engine is running. So maybe the alternator or voltage regulator is bad?

I don't have a '96 but my immediate reaction is: WHAT 60-amp ignition fuse? I have never heard of a Cherokee being equipped with an ignition fuse. However, the '96 is a unique year, because it's the year when the factory sliced and diced the old wiring harness to implement OBD-II, but they did it as a kludge because they knew they were coming out with a new body style and new dashboard the following model year. When you say it blows the fuse "as soon as it starts" ... is that what really happens? Does the engine actually start before the fuse blows? Or is there a fuse on the starter itself and it blows when the starter tries to crank the engine?

The "Dana 44s" off new Wranglers are a combination of a Dana 44 center section with the outers and hubs from a Dana 30. If the front axle comes off the latest model Wrangler, when they widened the track they did NOT beef up the axle tubes and they are prone to bending. Over a year ago one of the 4x4 magazines did a write-up on a company that sells a kit to strengthen these axles. It involves a tightly-machined sleeve that gets pressed inside the axle tubes, basically doubling the wall thickness, plus some gussets to reinforce the 'Cs' to the tubes on the outer end.

My advice is as it always has been ... remove it. Since mine exploded in a panic stop I consider it a liability to have one in the truck. I would much rather have to deal with too much braking in the rear rather than none.

Two points: 1) It isn't "a" badge. The '86 should be four separate letters. 2) The '86 should use the pin-through style. The stick-ons didn't come into use until the 90s. Does your truck have the original header, or a replacement?

The other problems are that (a) most junkyard donors will be XJs, and the XJ harness is not the same as an MJ harness so there will be splicing and adapting involved, plus (B) most junkyards cut the harness at the radio anyway, so good luck finding a donor harness that's any better than the one you're trying to replace.

Let's put this in perspective (again). The gentleman is talking about running 31" tires. With 3.73 gears, 70 MPH would be 2881 RPM in 4th gear and 2161 RPM in 5th. With 4.10 gears, 70 MPH would be 3167 RPM in 4th gear and 2375 RPM in 5th. Guys ... 2400 RPM at highway speed is NOT going to burn up the engine. I know I have posted before that this basic engine was designed long before overdrive transmissions were commonplace. Top gear used to be 1:1 (what 4th gear is in our vehicles), and we routinely cruised for long distances at 3,000+ RPM. My brother's '72 Gremlin went over 350,000 miles with no engine work, with the basic 3-speed manual tranny.

You have an 1986 4-cylinder, correct? That should have a separate, external hydraulic slave cylinder that can be replaced without dropping the transmission. Jeep began using the internal, combination slave/throwout bearing in 1987. [EDIT]Never mind -- I was looking at your signature. Your opening post said 4.0L with AX-15. Did you mean external slave? The master cylinder is always external. If you have an AX-15 with the external slave, then there is nothing inside the bellhousing to blow out or leak, but if the slave blows it could be shooting the clutch fluid into the bell housing. But the external slave with the AX-15 didn't come back until two years after the MJ was out of production. Are you sure you don't have the internal, combination slave/release bearing?

I assume the new radio isn't a factory radio, so IMHO there is nothing to be gained by restoring the factory harness. You'll have a big connector, into which you will then have to plug an adapter which then goes to the input connector for the new radio. Having done that (twice), I can tell you it's a very tight fit with the factory connector in there. The next one I do that has already had the connector cut off, I'm going to splice the connector for the new radio directly onto the cut-off wires and save all that hassle. (And space.)

Yes, it is probably the slave.

It doesn't sound like you really understood what I wrote. Yes, I ran the 3.73s with 31x10.50s. But it was NOT an optimum combination, and it was not done by prior intention. I bought the 3.73 gears to run in my XJ with 30" tires, but then the MJ came along with a lift and 31" tires (and stock 3.07 gears) before I had installed the gears, so I put them in the MJ. As I said ... the end result was exactly (and I mean EXACTLY) the same as stock tires with 3.55 gears. Not bad on the street, but nothing to brag about. And not nearly enough crawl ratio off-road. IMHO there is no question at all that 4.10s would have been MUCH better.

It's a 2WD, so it ain't a u-joint. Could be a warped brake rotor. Could be funky alignment, and the slight right turn puts one tire at just the right angle to start "scrubbing" and skipping around. I agree - not death wobble.

I have posted several times that the setup I had in my '88 MJ was 3.73 gears with 31x10.50-15 tires, and the overall final drive ratio (as proven by speed-to-RPM) was exactly the same as my wife's XJ automatic with the stock 3.55 gears and stock tires. IMHO 3.73s are better for 30" tires -- which was my plan when I bought the gears. I think 4.10s are a better choice for 31" tires. And even that isn't anything "extreme" -- that's for general purpose, combination daily driver and light trail use. For a dedicated trail rig I'd look at 4.56 gearing.

The "best" tranny for the XJ and MJ is generally considered to be the NVG 3550, and that has a much lower gear than either the Peugeot or the AX-15. The ratios are 4.01 - 2.33 - 1.39 - 1.00 - 0.78. You don't seem to appreciate that Jeeps are not sports cars, they are trucks. First gear, as you pointed out, IS for getting started. I have the NVG 3550 in my 2000 XJ and with stock tires for street driving I find it to be far superior to either the Peugeot or the AX-15. As to the last sentence I quoted above, with 3.55 gears and stock tires, 2500 RPM is approximately 80 MPH. With both the Renix and HO vehicles, I don't consider 80 MPH to be the "sweet spot." I do think the factory 3.07 gearing was a mistake, but with 3.55 gears and a 5-speed things seem to be pretty close to a good, overall compromise. Hurst makes a short throw shifter for the AX-15. You can get it from Summit Racing.

They can both be bought with Dodge badges. And a Dodge dealership is where they belong. I agree ... they are not Jeeps.

The AMC 20 is a beefy axle. The problem was that, as used in the CJs, Waggys, and Javelins and AMXs, the hubs were splined and bolted to the axle shafts and were very prone to stripping the splines and just spinning. The version used in the MJ had one-piece axle shaft/hub assemblies, which removed that problem. Also, the Waggies had 6-bolt wheels. I wouldn't do it.

We had VERY heavy rain about 4:15 or 4:30, enough wind to take down numerous branches, but didn't lose electricity at home. Then the sun came out, all was good for another hour or hour and a half -- and then we got clobbered with Round Two. More heavy rain, more wind, more branches down -- but again we didn't lose power.

The '84 and '86 engines are basically the same. But the '84 was carbureted and the '86 was throttle body injected. What I don't know is if the intake and exhaust port heights and shapes changed when the went to injection. It's worth a look. The worst case would be using the head off the other engine.

Won't help. For normal driving you don't even need a stabilizer. Either you have other problems, or you don't understand that the Jeep front steering/suspension setup is not rack and pinion and will NEVER feel as tight as rack and pinion.

If this is mostly on damp days, especially just for the first couple of stops in the morning after being parked overnight -- it's because the rear shoe lining material absorbed moisture and swelled up. Same thing happens with my '88 XJ. The solution is to replace with semi-metallic or ceramic shoes.

They are 10mm. I think Red was referring to the size socket that fits the head. Red ... that's not what designates the size of the bolt. Bolt size is the major diameter of the shank.