Eagle

Don't do it ... you'd never be able to sleep peacefully again ...

Turn WHAT? I repeat -- the cause of loose steering is almost NEVER the steering box, and if you tighten the steering box even a little too much you will destroy it.

The "flag" mirrors were black, not chrome, and they weren't large. Are you perhaps confusing the "flag" mirrors with the "west coast" style towing mirrors?

Yes an XJ mirror will fit your door. NO on removal. The little "flag" mirror was the stock mirror on the base model MJs. More likely the municipal garage found a junkyard XJ and added the passenger side mirror. My 1988 SporTruck came with the "flag" mirror on the left side and nothing on the right side.

To go from an '86 2.5L to an '89 4.0L you will need the ENTIRE underhood wiring harness, plus the ECU (which is under the dash, above the driver's right foot). You will also need the transmission for the 4.0L, since the 2.5L tranny won't bolt onto a 4.0L block and likely wouldn't stand up to the torque anyway. If the 4.0L is an automatic, you'll also need the TCU and harness. Personally, after studying the stroker for many years, I would not build a home-brew stroker. There are too many issues attaching to controlling the compression ratio and resultant detonation.

There is ... but you really REALLY should not mess with it if you don't know what you're doing, because if you do it wrong you WILL destroy the steering box. The cause of loose steering is almost NEVER the steering box itself.

Did you buy it new? I have NEVER heard of an MJ that came from the factory without that massive overload leaf.

The original Cherokee/Comanche mirrors that mount to the forward corner of the vent window fold in. Moving the flag mirrors IMHO would be a step backwards. They're junk anyway. Get rid of 'em.

I think you're the only other person I've known that's read Anne McCaffrey. I have all of her books in the Dragonriders of Pern series (multiple copies of some of them), and most of the Pern books written by (or with) her son, Todd. I think I have one more of his yet to acquire. I've also read most of her other books from other series. The one I never really got into was the Acorna series. I've read two or three of them, but they just don't ring my chimes.

Not really. But ... I AM an Anne McCaffrey fanatic.

You swapped in a 4WD front axle? Did you just bolt it in and drive, or did you make some attempt to check the alignment? Caster angle is an important factor in the death wobble equation (although you haven't told us enough to know if you actually have death wobble). The caster is adjusted by adding or removing shims in the lower control arm frame pockets. I'm going to guess that you didn't know anything about that (which is not a mortal sin) and just threw the "new" axle in there with whatever shims were set up for the original axle. You need an alignment.

I have an '86 2.5L and an '88 2.5L, both with PS and w/o A/C. Both have vee belts. I think if they had PS and A/C they would have had serpentine belts.

Even at 75 MPH the engine is still only turning about 2000 RPM. That's more than 2000 RPM below the torque peak and the horsepower peak. Even at 75, if you punch an auto it'll downshift. There's a reason. BTW -- another reason not to compare a 5-speed to an automatic is that the automatics have different axle gearing.

I might have, back in 1987 or 1988. My '88 XJ (bought new) was the first new car I ever bought that had power steering, and the reason I got it was that I ordered over the phone (dealer was a long-time friend of the family, so we trusted each other) and I forgot to mention a delete on the power steering. But ... I'm glad, because my manual steering setups were quick-ratio boxes in Javelins and AMXs. They had a 16:1 ratio. The manual box in the XJ and MJ is (IIRC) 28:1. I could die of old age before cranking it from one lock to the opposite lock. Back to the original poster: No mention of engine, but he did specify no A/C. A 4.0L without PS or A/C will probably still have a serpentine belt, but a 2.5L will probably have a vee belt.

I just went back and looked at the photos again. It appears that the driver's seat is not a power seat. The driver's seat in my 2000 XJ Sport is a power seat, and I think that was standard. I think it's clear that this was a fleet vehicle, probably the U.S., gummint because most state and municipal agencies don't buy large enough numbers to be able to delete standard features such as roof racks and power seats.

:sniff: Moderately amusing, at best. The problem, of course, was the professor mixing writers of different genres and expecting the result to be a coherent entity. When you attempt to mix romance novellas with science fiction, this is what results (this, or a SNL skit). In general, I think Bill was the better writer, but he needs help with his fact checking. Anyone who is anyone should know that Anu’udrian motherships never carried lithium fusion missiles. In general, they were armed with the more advanced nuclear anti-matter bypass ymitters ("NAMBYs," to the cognoscenti), with lithium ionization enduction bombs (a.k.a. "LIEs") for back-up.

Expensive to fix .. no. But power steering was an option. I don't think he means it's broken, I think he means it has manual steering. To convert to power steering you will need a power steering box, a pump, the connecting hose (if you buy junkyard, do NOT reuse the old hoses), and the mounting brackets. An MJ without power steering may also not use a serpentine belt, so you'll either have to look for a setup from an MJ or XJ with vee belts, or else convert ... which means replacing the water pump.

Are you saying that you are trying to accelerate from 50 MPH in 5th gear, and you think you don't have adequate power? If that's what you're saying ... you're right. They put that shifter handle beside your right knee and gave you five forward gears so you can match the engine speed to the road speed for optimum power. Assuming stock tires are gearing, at 50 MPH in 5th gear your engine is turning approximately 1400 RPM. With a 1991 4.0L HO engine, the torque peak on your engine is around 4,300 RPM. For acceleration, you want the engine to be operating somewhere near the torque peak. Of course you aren't getting acceleration. You can't compare a 5-speed to an automatic. The automatic downshifts automatically when you begin to accelerate. You should be doing the same thing with your manual.

I'm pretty certain the roof rack was standard on the Sport. However, the U.S. government bought vehicles in large enough numbers that they probably could have ordered Sport models with a delete option on the roof rack.

Got a photo of the remaining piece on the opposite side? I don't see how any window trim could get knocked off in the woods. Are you asking about a piece of factory trim, or does ("did") your truck have aftermarket rain visors on the side windows?

Not all years. Somewhere in there Jeep started using the same unit bearings as the 4WD on the 2WD XJs and MJs, with a stub axle that was flat on the back instead of having the ears for the u-joints. If the 2WD axle is the type that uses a hub/bearing unit like the 4WDs, it will be the same as the 4WDs for that year used. Just remember that there were changes, they do NOT all interchange. If the 2WD axle has a conventional spindle and wheel bearings -- obviously you can't replace it with a hub/bearing unit. (Nor would it make economic sense to attempt doing so.)

Yes. But the early tachometers did not have an adjustable potentiometer on them, so be sure the cluster comes from a donor vehicle with the same number of cylinders as yours. And I am not certain that the change in speedo cable attachment was between the '87 and '88 model years ... I haven't researched it, but I suspect that it may have been a mid-year change. So double check that the attachment for the donor cluster is the same as on yours.

Insurance rates for a teenage drive in a pickup will be much higher than for a teenager in a Cherokee. And our state law won't allow a teenage driver to carry any passengers other than immediate family for the first two years she's driving (license at 16, no passengers until 18).

Sounds very decent. Good price, too. I wish it weren't quite so far away. My first wife's grandparents lived near Bellefont and we were married in State College, so I remember how far that is -- and this would be about an hour farther. The logistics of checking it out, and then getting to it if I bought it, would be a bit difficult.

The '84 - '87 XJ ('86 - '87 MJ) cluster and the '88 - '90 cluster are both mechanical, but different because of the way the speedometer cable attaches to the speedometer head. They can be interchanged if you also change the speedo cable. Jeep went to an electronic speedometer in 1991. All clusters from '91 - '96 can be swapped. As for resetting the odometer -- I have read some reports of successfully resetting the mechanical ones, while other reports said they broke it in the attempt. I don't know of any way to reset the electronic ones, other than to take/send it to a professional speedometer repair shop.