Eagle

Your friend is wrong. First, there has been a lot of feedback on the NAXJA forum that Centerforce clutches simply are bad news behind the 4.0L engine That's point number one. Second point is, think about what a Centerforce clutch is and how it works. It's a drag race clutch, intended for high horsepower, high RPM applications. The theory is that a drag race vehicle needs a LOT of clutch pressure to keep the clutch from slipping under full throttle runs. If they beefed up the springs in the pressure plate, you'd get a clutch that's so heavy you couldn't drive it. So some smart person came up with the idea of using centrifugal weights in the clutch to allow a lighter spring set, but when the revs increase the weights are thrown outward and increase the pressure on the pressure plate. The higher the RPMs, the more pressure. Which is great -- for a drag racer who routinely operates above 6,000 RPM. My Jeeps run under 2,000 RPM at highway speeds. Crawling on trails, I doubt I ever exceed 1,500 RPM, and when rock crawling I may not even hit that. At those low RPMs there's not enough centrifugal force being generated for a Centerforce clutch to do any center forcing. Don't waste your money. Buy a Luchs and drive happily.

This is understandable. Jeep may have soldiered on with the 4.0L engine for a few more years, but for the XJ fans the universe ended in May of 2001. If the revised/improved heads came on-line later than that, they aren't found in ANY Cherokees, so for all practical purposes they don't exist. It is nice to know that there's a viable replacement to be found in junkyards, but as an owner of TWO 2000 Cherokees, it is not a nice feeling to know that I'm driving ticking time bombs and that the only question is "when" (not "if") my heads are going to crack.

Keep in mind that width is as much of a problem (or more) regarding clearance for large tires as diameter. 33s come in various widths, and unless you really need fat, wide tires to float over sand, you can probably do better and need less lift with the narrowest tire you can find. These days I think that may be a 33 x 10.50, but a few years ago at least one company offered a 33 x 9.50 that we called the "pizza cutter" tire. It worked great.

Do NOT have the flywheel turned. The factory service manual specifically says the flywheel has a proprietary contour and CANNOT be resurfaced.

For a manual transmission, it's called a "block plate." It is not an inspection cover, and it doesn't cover only the lower part. It's a complete spacer plate that fits between the block and the bellhousing. It isn't a part of the transmission and I'd be willing to bet that most junk yards would not include it when selling a transmission, even if they include the bellhousing.

They sure don't look like four sizes too big. In fact, they don't even look one size too big. What size does your sticker call for? IIRC my '99 came with 245/70R16s

If you still have the factory flares, measure from the centerline of the wheels/hubs/axles stright up to the bottom edge of the flare. Stock height for an MJ should be approximately 17-1/2" front and 20-1/2" rear. If you don't have the factory flares, I've posted the official factory method of measuring a couple of times, and a search should turn it up.

Don't misunderstand -- when my WJ ran, it was very enjoyable to drive on the street. Over 50 MPH it had lots of power and it rode and handled very well (mine had the optional Up Country suspension). The problem was ... I thought I was buying a Jeep, not a sports car. Aside from the engine, I also had innumerable electrical gremlins, the transmission had problems, the transfer case had problems, and the factory rebuilt both front and rear axles (miraculously making both of them worse instead of better). And it ate brake rotors. If you must have a WJ, DO NOT buy a 1999, and if possible don't buy a 2000. By 2001 they might have had most of the problems corrected. Maybe...

COOL! I was running short of targets! :banana:

Back then they offered optional ratios, so it's possible. But it would not have been standard -- you didn't mention that you had the window sticker.

I try ... but people keep reminding me. Mine lasted 8 months and 14,000 miles before the engine crapped out and it had to be flat-bedded to the dealership, where they determined that it could not be repaired. By that time it had spent more than a month out of the 8 months I owned it in the shop, and Chrysler had agreed to buy it back (to prevenbt me from going lemon law with it). As luck would have it, the day the WJ died was the same day the 2000 XJ Classic to replace it arrived at the dealership. The Classic has been as good as the WJ was bad. It isn't just me. About a year ago a good friend paid far too much money (IMHO) for a used 2001 (I think) WJ with the 4.7L HO. I advised him not to buy it, but he liked it. He e-mailed me a couple of weeks ago that the engine blew -- he's facing either a complete long block replacement, or a VERY expensive rebuild with a new crank and rods. Tell me again how great the WJ is ... I need to hear it, 'cause there isn't enough humor in the news these days.

No, an '86 2.5L 5-speed would have had 4.10s. A 4-speed almost certainly had 3.55s. As noted, the '86 axles will bolt right in, but the front hubs, rotors, knuckles and calipers are ALL different between '86 and '92, so you will need to remember that anything you buy for the front axle will have to be bought for an '86. In the rear, the '86 is probably a non c-clip Dana 35 and the 92 is probably a c-clip Dana 35. The '86 will have 1-3/4 x 10" brakes, and the '92 should have 2" x 9" brakes. Again, not a problem (I think the old brakes work bettter and are easier to work on), but you can't mix and match parts between the years/axles.

If you had read some of the previous discussions on this, you would have discovered that this swap is generally NOT recommended. You don't have to cut any fenders, but you do have to replace the complete inner front radiator support section to accommodate the wider 4..0L radiator. In addition, many people report that the firewall has to be cut or hammered to fit the 4.0L engine into the engine bay. (This part is not 100% -- it may be that late '86s were built using the same firewall that came on the 87 and newer vehicles.) This is why the usual advice when someone asks about replacing a 2.8L is to drop in a Chevy 3.4L. Don't know what you mean by "major fabbing." You need to swap the radiator support structure. That's a nuisance, but it's a straightforward swap and does not require any custom fabrication.

They say ask the man who owns owned one. As a former owner of a 1999 Grand Cherokee Laredo, I can knowledgeably state that the only problem with the 4.7L engine is that it isn't the 4.0L engine. My 4.7L was horribly unreliable. It also isn't a "Jeep" engine. It has lousy low-end torque, and doesn't start to make power until around 3500 RPM and up. It would be fine for a passenger car engine (if it were reliable), but for a Jeep? NAH! Mine was a Laredo and I don't recall lots of black cladding ... but I've been doing my best to forget the entire sorrowful experience for 11 years now, so my recollection is imperfect. The Laredo had cloth. I don't remember if a seat warmer was an option. If so, I didn't order it. The Limited had the dual controls. The Laredo had single controls. The Selec-Trac was available only with the 4.0L engine. The base drive system behind the 4.7L was Quadra-Trac, and the optional system was Quadra-Drive.

I didn't say you did, Amigo. But that ad in the Craigs List link said Trac-Lok, and I ain't buyin' that for a nanosecond. AFAIK Dana doesn't even make a Trac-Lok for the D30

Are you sure you have a Peugeot? The Peugeot splits lengthwise. Sounds to me like you have an AX-15.

Not sure if a dealer would still be able to get that part for you or not, but I would NOT install a tranny without it. Auto or manual, I can foresee all sorts of long-term problems that could grow out of a slight misalignment. Remember, Detroit counts pennies. They do NOT put anything into a motor vehicle that they don't think is absolutely necessary.

I briefly had a '99 WJ with the 4.7. When the engine died, the problem was a failed cam (NOT crank, I do know the difference) position sensor.

The 2000 WJ never had Trac-Lok as an option for the front axle. But the WJ Grand Cherokee had an option for Quadra-Drive. That had a traction device in the front -- but it wasn't a Trac-Lok. In fact, it worked the opposite (when it worked at all) -- it was unlocked until one wheel started spinning faster than the other by some programmed amount, at which point the differential speed actuated a "gerotor" pump that applied pressure to engage the clutches and "lock" the axles together. It was a great system -- in theory. As we know, however, practice doesn't always follow theory and I believe after only two or three years Jeep abandoned the gerotor scheme in favor of electric lockers in the front and rear for the Quadra-Drive system It was never offered in the Cherokee or Comanche, or the TJ Wrangler. I don't think you'll find it in any front axle that could fairly be considered a bolt-in for the Comanche.

No, that would not be nice. That truck is rough but it appears to be complete. It should be restored, not butchered.

If LS means "limited slip," where are you going to find a Cherokee front axle with a limited slip? It wasn't a factory option, and there aren't a lot of aftermarket limited slips for the Dana 30.

I have not tried it ... but it sounds like a great way to ruin a radiator.

When you're going shopping for a gift for you're wife after she asks for something that goes from 0 to 200 in 3 seconds.... and you come back with a bathroom scale. PERFECT!

So how do you account for the fact that my friend in Greece was able to use a tach from a 1989 4.0L MJ in his 1984 2.5L XJ? Yes, he used the potentiometer to adjust for the 4-banger, but the reading when he first fired it up was consistent with what it should have been if his engine had been a 6-cylinder. A tachometer only reads pulses, and counts them. If it did anything else, we would not be able to walk into Auto Zone, buy a Sun Super Tach, and just flip to switch to 4 or 6 cylinders and hook up the wires.

So, like ... where does "chutzpah" fit into that hierarchy of death-defying idiocy?