Eagle

Dave -- PLEASE tell me you welded the spring perches to the axle tubes after that first photo was taken.

A '91 will probably still have the smaller u-joints, but other than that it's as good as any. I don't recall which year they changed to the larger front axle u-joints across the board -- '94? '96? Before that, vehicles with anti-lock brakes got the larger u-joints and the non-ABS vehicles got the 260s.

Three little words: "Oh" + "My" + "Gawd" Centrifugal force? Centrifugal weights? And you were told this by a mechanic in a Jeep dealership? Man, that's one dealership you don't EVER want to let touch your vehicles. The Trac-Lok differential (it isn't "positrac," Positraction -- or "Posi" for short -- was a GM registered trade name) does use clutches, but there aren't any centrifugal weights. The clutches are pre-loaded by springs. The default condition is that the clutches are engaged. They stay engaged until/unless the torque difference from one side to the other exceeds a certain level, at which point the clutches slip and allow the differential to work as a ... differential. When the friction modifier wears out, the clutches should not make a grinding or crunching noise. There will be some banging/clunking going around low-speed corners as the clutches release abruptly. The purpose of the friction modifier is to smooth out the release so you don't hear that banging/clunking. "Centrifugal weights" ... Bwaahaahaahaahaa :rotf: :doh: :dunce:

Not a bad price, but definitely an aftermarket hitch, and there's no way I'd feel safe towing 5,000 pounds behind that thing.

Hmmm ... Connecticut (home) Massachusetts New Hampshire New York New Jersey Pennsylvania Rhode Island Vermont Don't think I've taken any of mine farther afield than that.

Yes, but work carefully. Be sure you wash the gunk out and down on the ground, not into any part of the engine. Seal up or otherwise protect ALL orifices and sensors. No. The Jeep engines are not overhead cam, so removing the head doesn't affect timimg in any way if you don't disturb the distributor. BTW -- this isn't a timing issue, but be sure you keep each set of valve components (valve, spring, keepers/locks, pushrods, etc) together and in order so that when you put the head back on every valve and associated parts goes back exactly where it started out. Impossible to predict. I've done it. In my case, I reamed out the carbon ridge and honed the cylinder walls, but I left the pistons and rings in place and just buttoned it up again. Not high tech, but it ran fine. Yupp.

Yes, you did. The factory service manual specifically says NOT to turn flywheels. Don't use it -- it might work, but there's about a 75% probability you'll have to take everything apart again to replace it if you try to use it.

By FAR the best deal for spring perches is the Mopar perches from the Performance Catalog. Even at full list they should cost you less than half of what you'll pay some aftermarket company, and the Mopar perches are probably beefier anyway. Or just cut off the old ones and reuse them. Easy to do -- the welds are all on the outside where it's easy to grind them out without damaging the perch or the axle. You don't need shock mounts. The MJ shocks mount to the spring plates, not to the axle. You can leave the XJ shock mounts in place to save work, or grind them off the clean up the axle.

Each side has a bearing at the outer end of the shaft. If the noise isn't coming from the center section, and you don't get it when jacked up, my guess is a bad outer bearing that isn't happy when it's carrying load.

Too old for on-board diagnostics. You have to test each sensor individually.

Only you can answer this question. It all depends on what YOUR goals and priorities are. If you want to learn how to rebuild an engine, then go ahead take it out and rebuild it. It's heavy and awkward. You'll be disassembling a significant portion of the front of the truck, and you'll need an engine hoist and an engine stand. You'll also be looking at several hundred dollars (minimum) between parts and machine shop work to do even a half-assed rebuild. You'll be disconnecting a lot of lines and wires -- you'll have to be very careful to take a lot of "before" photos and tag every single line and wire you disconnect or you'll never get it together again. If your intention is to have a driveable MJ, it is possible that you can get it running by just removing the head and freeing up the pistons, as we have been discussing. It's a LOT less work to R&R (Remove & Replace) a head than it is to pull the entire engine and driveline. If you can get it running by just pulling the head, that makes good sense. If you pull the head and find something seriously broken inside -- you're just a little closer to pulling the engine because you will already have disconnected some of the things that would need to be disconnected anyway. It all comes down to what YOU hope to accomplish.

An '86 with Command-Trac should be an NP 207.

It isn't the alternator. You can drive for a long way on the battery, and if the battery gets so weak it won't power the fuel pump and injectors, it sure isn't going to crank the starter motor. The symptoms you describe are classic signs of a dying CPS. Been there, done that, ruined the tee-shirt crawling under the Jeep to change the thing.

Rebuilding an engine is a good way to learn and I'm all in favor of that. However, that is NOT what you indicated when you started this discussion, and frankly if you had stated from the beginijng that you planned to pull the engine and do a complete overhaul you would have saved several of us a lot of time we wasted trying to guilde you in accomplishing what you originally asked about -- getting it running:

Bypass to the front brakes? The front brakes are completely independent of the rear brakes. Moving the arm up does not "close" anything, and moving the arm down does not bypass anything to the front brakes. Wherever you found that explanation of how the valve works, it is incorrect. You either bleed the rear brakes the way the FSM says to bleed them, or it isn't done right.

This is what we deal with around here: http://www.nhregister.com/articles/2009 ... 993326.txt 94 MPH in a 40 MPH zone, racing another patrol vehicle when not responding to a call. Result: two young adults killed. Video is from the other patrol car's dash cam. Speed is at top of the screen. The unit with the dash cam was going almost 70 MPH (in a 40 MPH zone) when the other patrol car blew by him on the right (passing on the right is also illegal in Connecticut).

I don't understand why you are removing the engine BEFORE you know what's wrong with it. It would make a lot more sense to pull the head, inspect the cylinders, maybe cut the carbon ridge and hone the walls, and then tap each pistol with a wooden block to try freeing them up before you go through all the work of removing the engine. Many years ago I was given an old Javelin with a frozen engine. That's what I did. It freed up, I slapped in a new head gasket, and used it as my daily driver for over a year.

??? Is it broken down, or did it restart and let you drive home? What's an 88 American? AMC discontinued the Rambler American in 1970.

No. What the height sensing valve does is severely reduce the amount of braking force to the rear wheels when the truck is running unloaded. I don't know how much it reduces it, but I'd guess between 75% and 100% (meaning NO rear brakes at all when empty). If you upgrade the booster (I don't see how changing the master cylinder can in any way "improve" the braking, unless you swap in a master with a very different piston diameter), you improve the braking pressure in the system. That means the front brakes work better/harder. If the rear proportioning valve eliminates most of the pressure going to the rear brakes, then by definition it eliminates 75% to 100% of any improvements you make to the system. IMHO the single biggest and easiest improvement you can make to MJ brakes is to eliminate the height sensing valve.

That's called threatening. It's illegal and your friend the cop should have encouraged you to file a formal complaint so they could arrest the guy. But ... I'm sure he was one of the fraternity, so there's no way they would encourage you to do that.

In 13-plus years of law enforcement I have run into a few folks who have this very short sighted opinion. I always try to be fair and listen to opposing views, but I'll put it like this: While there are certainly individuals that are comissioned officers that should not be, by far the number that are honest folks trying to do a job outweigh them. Please remember that the next time you call 911 for assistance or do something else spectacularly silly that requires your upper-most appendage removed from your defecator. As a civilian, no matter how "John Wayne" your are feeling it is almost always a bad idea to confront an aggressor (unless you have no choice). As God has given most of us the ability to see and record the details of events that go on around us, it is far better to be a good witness rather then a possible hero....as it is very difficult to relate the facts to the police later if you are dead. If you are a "good cop," you are in a very small minority. Maybe it's a regional thing. Around here (and I'm in the same general area as CWLongshot), most so-called police officers are low-lifes who have a power problem. They almost all have shaved heads and think of themselves as "operators." They act like laws don't apply to them, they think nothing of lying to cover when a fellow officer screws the pooch, they treat victims like criminals, they speed whether on or off duty, they yak on their cell phones while driving even though that's against the law ... and then they have the nerve to wonder why the world isn't kissing their posteriors. When I was a kid, I knew every cop in town and was on a first name basis with all of them. Except the chief. He wasn't "Richie" ... he was "Chief Richie." Back then, if you called because of a trespasser or someone suspicious in the farmer's field across the street, they went after the subject of the call first, found out what was going on, and came over to fill you in and take your complaint after the fact. Now, they roll two or three "units" for every call ... and they all come to my house first, clog up the driveway, and while they're busily writing down my full name (including the spelled out version of the middle name), date of birth and social security number ... the perps are making tracks. By the time our intrepid boys in blue finally get around to investigating ... there's nothing left to investigate. Had to call State Police headquarters one day to ask a routine, administrative question. Female trooper answered. Before she would let me start my question, she asked my name and date of birth. I told her I wasn't making a complaint or filing a report and she didn't NEED my name and date of birth. She immediately shifted into "command voice" and demanded that I give her my full name and date of birth. After a couple of volleys of this idiocy, I hung up, called back and got her sergeant, had a nice chat AND got my question answered ... and didn't ever mention name or date of birth. We have a big problem here in Connecticut about open carry of handguns. CW probably knows about this. It's legal if you have a carry permit; the permit and the law say nothing about "concealed." but the police have decided that they don't like open carry, so they arrest you if they see you open carrying. When they can't find a statute that says open carry isn't legal, they use the old stand-by: "disturbing the peace." How's that for a crock of manure? Yeah, I just LOOOOOVE cops.

Yeah. So build cute utes and crossover vehicles and AWD mini-utes ... but don't try to call them "Jeep." Call 'em Dodge, or Chrysler, or Plymouth, or any damn thing, but not Jeep.

Ford didn't, but I think Willys did. But not for long. By the time I was a kid (in the early 1950s), Jeep was sponsoring several of my favorite cowboy shows, and Jeep at that time was Kaiser-Jeep. I think then it was the CJ3A. I thought the CJ2 was a Willys. I know for a fact that Willys made the old, narrow grille, flat-fender pickups and station wagons. Those bore the Jeep name.

Removing the rear height sensing valve ... that thing you're so worried about. Not "double booster." "Double diaphragm" booster. Typically from a late model Cherokee, although I would probably go with one from an older AMC car that still uses the old style master cylinder. Don't trust plastic. I am one of those who recommend that. Nothing. One of the lines serves no purpose and should be removed. That leaves you with only one line to worry about, and no special bleeding procedure. The rear valve allows more braking force when the rear is loaded. If yours is working correctly (which it may or may not be ... most of them aren't), you'll have more brakes when towing. With the rear valve removed, you will have maximum braking when towing. No problem there. Is there a possibility of premature rear wheel lock in slippery conditions when NOT loaded? Yes. If that's a problem for you, put a Wilwood manually adjustable proportioning valve in the line to the rear where it exits the front distribution block, and use that to dial back the rear brakes when you run empty. It isn't BS. The procedure is spelled out in the factory service manual, and if not followed you may have NO rear brakes. That's for Cherokees, and it's in the front proportioning valve. The front metering block in the MJ is not a proportioning valve and does not have the spring and O-ring you can remove.

Yupp. Yes ... if you get the ones that are machined from solid billet, not castings. They are expensive. My opinion: If it ain't broke, don't fix it.