Eagle

Clogged catalytic converter? Adjust tranny kick-down cable?

The XJ didn't get a driver's airbag until the 1995 model year.

Or not. The rear axles almost never had tags. Front axles did in the early years, I haven't paid attention to them after 1988. But if the axle was ever serviced, the tag may not have been put back. Simple rule: If the engine is a 4.0L, the 5-speeds came with 3.07 gears and the automatics came with 3.55 gears. 4-cylinders aren't that simple.

1984 thru 1994 There are several articles on the Internet on how to tighten a loose tilt column. Most are for Chevy but the XJ/MJ column is a standard GM Saginaw column.

Have you been having tranny problems? Your post indicates that you expected it to happen. Why? Shifting of the AW-4 is electronic, controlled by the TCU and also by solenoids. The factory troubleshooting method is to pull the fuse for the TCU and test drive. You'll lose second gear, I believe (or first). Other than that, you shift manually. Try that and let us know if there are any glitches.

Warn makes (or used to make) two versions of the conversion, Mile Marker only has one. The Warn conversion that maintains the 5x4-1/2" bolt circle is not especially strong. The Mile Marker is roughly equivalent to the weaker Warn conversion. The stronger Warn conversion requires changing over to a 5x5-1/2" bolt circle and a lot of machine work, it isn't a bolt-on conversion. Although I agree that the Cherokee and Comanche should have come from the factory with selectable (not automatic) hubs, there's no way either conversion will be stronger than the stock setup if you retain the 5 x 4-1/2" bolt pattern. Save your money and start saving for a stronger axle. Just to reiterate, Gator, you do not have automatic hubs. The hubs on the MJ Dana 30 are just hub/bearing units. There's no locking mechanism in there to break. If you broke it, you broke the bearing (or the housing).

Murphy's Law in action.

They are WHAT? Grand Wagoneers had 6-bolt wheels, whatever the standard Chevy pattern was. Was it 6x5 or 6x5-1/2?

They allow the springs to move through a greater range than they were designed for. This causes the steel to pass beyond the elastic limit (which is the range within which it can move and recover completely) and go beyond the yield point -- which results in permanent deformation ("sag").

Simple fix if you weld or have a friend who does. I have a friend who is a VW tech (actually shop foreman, I think). He had a bunch of VERY heavy pattern (thick) fender washers left from some suspension upgrade kit that VW sent out, and which apparently didn't require using all the bolts and washers. They were the correct diameter for the axle bolt on the MJ track bar (10mm IIRC). I drove over to his house, we took out the bolt, reinstalled with one of those heavy washers, and then he tack welded the washer to the axle bracket. Done.

Actually, the OEM Jeep rims are 5-1/4" backspacing. You can stop looking, because there aren't any aftermarket rims that match.

Automatics don't use a pilot bearing/bushing. No problem.

1. Extended shackles kill leaf springs. 2. I'll bet a Big Mac that the kit is actually a Cherokee kit, and the "extended" shackles aren't any longer thah stock MJ shackles. 3. $169 for two coil spacers and a pair of shackles? Who are they kidding? That's all you need out of that "kit." You can do a budget boost for half that. Buy the coil spacers wherever you can find the best price -- they're all the same. Get a Rancho XJ/MJ AAL or, if Heel Creek here on the CC has a 1-1/2" to 2" AAL for a similar price, get that. (The Rancho used to sell for $50 ... it's probably up to around $65 now)

He has already explained that is not an option, and why.

4" of backspacing is going to push those tires out an inch and a half more than stock on each side -- then factor in the the 31s are about 2" wider than stock and you're looking at +/- 2-1/2" on each side. You won't have to worry about changing the lower control arms. What you WILL have to worry about is that the tires will probably hit the lower rear corner of the flare in front on sharp (and maybe not-so-sharp) turns, plus on a trail the tires will crash into the flares when the suspension compresses. A 2" coil spacer will get you a little bit of help for the latter, but to save your flares you'll really need to either extend the bump stops, or remove the flares and trim the sheet metal. The tires will also be sticking out a lot in the rear, and interference with the flares when the suspension compresses may be a problem there, too. Again, you may have to extend the bump stops. You can't trim very far in the back, or you cut beyond where the inner wheel well liner meets the outer quarter panel. Once you cut that weld, there's nothing holding things together back there.

I honestly don't know what I would do. If there is "the usual" rust around the rear wheel flares, that means there's a lot more rust UNDER the flares, and who knows where else. So it is not "rust free." Without seeing it, in person, I would not want to offer an opinion as to how much I think it's worth. My opinion, though, doesn't mean much. What counts is how much it's worth to you, and how easy it might be to find another MJ in equal or better condition for the same price. Being the ornery olde pharte that I am, I would probably walk away from the deal, because to me a deal is a deal. If you tell me I can have it, fixed, for $600 and then you come back and tell me you want 50% more, that's what I call bait-and-switch, and I don't deal with people who pull that crap. However, if I had been looking for a year or so and this was the only half decent MJ I could find, I might be forced to back off my principles and cough up the extra 300 clams. For reference, a friend recently bought an '88 BJ base model with the Peugeot 5-speed, no rocker panels remaining, and a busted rear leaf for $1300 ... and he felt he got a decent deal.

Cooper Discoverer ATR 235/75-15 = 28.9" Cooper Discoverer ATR 30x9.50-15 = 29.3" Cooper Discoverer H/T 235/75-15 = 29" Cooper Discoverer S/T 235/75-15 = 29" Cooper Discoverer S/T 30x9.50-15 = 29.35" All specs directly from the Cooper Tire web site. The bottom line is, we've had multiple threads documenting that 31x10.50s will fit -- on stock Jeep rims. How can there be any question whether 30s will fit?

Actually, most 30x9.50s measure 29-1/2 in diameter. They are VERY close to 235/75-15s in size. The diameter is almost spot on, and the 30s are typically a hair wider.

IIRC, the horn relay is under the dash, near the foot brake. BUT ... The problem may well not be the relay. My 1988 MJ had no horn when I bought it. That is, it had two horn units mounted in the usual places, but no noises emanating therefrom. After wasting a lot of time tracking down the relay, I found that I had power in, and power out. I then did what I should have done from the start -- check power to the horn. Hmmm ... I HAD power to the horn (when the horn button was pressed, of course). So I removed one horn, cleaned up the mounting area and the ground (it grounds through the mount), reinstalled, and it worked. And has continued to work for severl years.

Up "nawth" where you are, you probably should be running 5W30, at least in the winter.

Keep in mind that most of us are Amuricans, so some of the official terminology will be slightly different than what you use in Canada, eh? :) Plus things have undoubtedly changed some in the U.S. Army since I was in. "Basic" was just Basic Training. "AIT," as noted, was Advanced Individual Training. AFAIK we still have "Basic Training" and it is still called "Basic" for short. Blanket party: http://www.answers.com/topic/blanket-party

Not true. The original Mobil-1 was synthesized from "stuff" other than oil. Other brands, including Castrol, were synthesized by heavily modifying the molecular chain of petroleum base stock. Several years ago, Mobil took the other companies to court and claimed that they should not be allowed to advertise their products as synthetic, since they began life as petroleum products. The court reviewed extensive petroleum industry and SAE documentation as to what the definition of "synthetic" was, and how its properties differed from conventional oils. The court's conclusion was that the other brands had all the same enhanced properties of Mobil-1 and satisfied all functional descriptions and definitions for "synthetic" oils. Mobil lost the suit. Within a few months, Mobil-1 had new packaging announcing a new "improved" formulation. Which was putting their spin on the fact that they switched over to making their synthetic oil the same way the other guys were making it. They are not just highly-refined dinosaur juice with an additive pack, and they ARE significantly better than conventional oils. http://motorcycleinfo.calsci.com/Oils1.html

There is no way the Fey bumper is beefier than the factory bumper. I have three of them, I should know. And the Fey brackets are fine for holding a bumper off the ground, but nowhere near as strong as the factory brackets. Nonetheless, I would get a receiver hitch.

If not -- there's always a blanket party. Which is why you do NOT want to be the screw-up.

You will probably also encounter some instances of being punished "unfairly," for things you didn't do (or things you didn't not do, depending on the circumstances). Drill cadre are famous/infamous/notorious for punishing the whole group when one or two or three guys mess up. Whatever you do, try not to be the guy who brings down the wrath of the DIs on your platoon. Next, when the wrath of the DIs does fall on your squad or your platoon because someone else messed up, don't give in to the temptation to whine and say, "But it wasn't my fault ... HE did it." That probably didn't work with Mom when you were a kid, and it definitely won't score bonus points with a DI. What they're teaching you (or trying to) is that an army unit is a team. Each member of a team has a job to do, and if any member of the team fails, the team suffers. In basic training, the result of one guy not having his boots shined for inspection could be that everyone's boots get soaked in a hot shower for several hours. Pretty rough and unfair, right? But the underlying idea is that if a team member messes up out on the battlefield, some other member(s) of the team get killed. They're teaching you to watch each other's back, and to realize that YOUR actions have consequences that affect not just yourself, but your entire team/unit. It's surprising how some stuff sticks with you. I have been OUT of the Army for 41 years this month. Got to talking with my brother-in-law over Thanksgiving dinner. He's been out about 30 or 35 years, I think. My sister was amazed because we could both still recite our service number without a moment's hesitation even though we haven't used it since the day we got out.