Eagle

There was NO light when you grounded the wire to the block? Was the ignition turned on? If you have no light, you have a broken circuit. The idiot light should shine brightly when you ground the wire directly to the block. (I think. If anyone out there has an XJ or MJ with idiot lights, can you confirm?)

Are we talking the front parking lights, or all four? Do the 4-way hazard flasjers work? My guess is that the parking light sockets aren't getting a ground. You confirmed that you have power, so the only part left to complete the circuit (other than a known-good bulb) is a ground.

The only thing to watch out for is that the 2.8L wasn't a well-balanced engine, so the flywheel has an eccentric balance weight on one side. When they came out with the 3.4L they did a better job balancing the engine internally, so the flywheel didn't need to be externally balanced. So you can use your flywheel but you'll need to send it to a machine shop to have it neutral balanced.

Go factory or go home.

I can verify that. The front eye (and bushing) is much larger in diameter than the rear eye (and bushing).

Are you sure the thermostat didn't slip and you tightened it down with the flange under the thick part of the housing rather than it the recess?

The fact thatit's dim suggests it may be a wiring problem. The "sender" for the idiot light is an ON-OFF switch ... there's no setting for "dim." The light should either be off, or bright. Try unplugging the wire from the sender, start the engine, and see what the light does. If it's off, then have someone ground the wire directly to the block and see what happens.

Tighten it another eighth of a turn.

Then you're not shifting it to 2WD.

Rancho's AAL supposedly fits both the XJ and MJ and their catalog says (or used to say) it gives 2-1/2" in both. I called and questioned that, and after much checking around the engineer came back and said it's 1" to 1-1/2" in the MJ. So figuring about half as much as in an XJ is probably a good rule of thumb.

Physically -- yes. It's the same engine. However, the '86 has the older Renix throttle body injection system (and corresponding ignition), and the 95 Wrangler has the newer Mopar multi-port injection (and corresponding ignition). If you're willing to swap over the woring and keep the newer MPFI, it's worth several horsepower and makes it a much more driveable package.

Jack it up by the rear axle and try having someone rotate a rear wheel back and forth while you shift. You need to release any load on the mechanism.

Interesting. The gas in the crankcase must have cleaned out all the residual sludge that was sealing the RMS.

I'm an at-large member of VFW and have been for awhile. I might be more interested in affiliating with a local chapter if they didn't wear those goofy hats for all official functions. They look like idiots. I do that well enough already that I don't need a stupid hat to confirm it.

That's going to be hard to live down. Speedy recovery, Mr. Pong. Hopefully, by the time you get that laptop running you will have had time to develop a suitable cover story for such an ignominious incident.

NAPA on-line seems to be brain dead. They think an MJ has a rear sway bar, so I won't even try to decipher their listing. Auto Zone shows B371 for the front, and SK7056 for the rear. That's for 4WD - I didn't try it again for 2WD to see if it's the same, but I'm 99.973% certain it is. Advance Auto lists Moog. They show SB371 for the front, SB372 for the rear.

You can't be a redneck if you're from Nova Scotia. The sun doesn't stay up long enough to burn your neck. "Redneck" is for us hooligans in the yoo ess of ay.

Good move.

Your '94 XJ has the HO engine, which for that year had a torque peak of 3,950 RPM. Most MJs are Renix era, not HO, and the torque peak for the Renix engines was 2,000 RPM for 1987 and 2,400 RPM for 1988 - 1990. I don't have any way to post up my full spread sheet, but let's look at a cross-section. The following numbers are based on 225/75R15 tires, 5th gear, 70 MPH: 3.07 ==> 1883 RPM 3.54 ==> 2171 RPM 3.73 ==> 2287 RPM 4.10 ==> 2514 RPM 4.56 ==> 2796 RPM 4.88 ==> 2992 RPM Considering that in pre-overdrive transmission days we used to cruise basically the same engine at 3,000 RPM on the highway all the time (3000 RPM was 72 MPH), even 4.88 gears is not "excessive." 4.10 gears puts you basically right on the torque peak at 70 MPH, 3.73s puts you on the torque peak at about 75 MPH. My '88 is currently running stock tires and 3.73 gears, and I like it.

To get 3-1/2" of lift the shackles would have to be 7" LONGER THAN STOCK. Lateral forces of the springs would be huge. Looks to me like a very nice execution of a truly horrendous idea.

Conversely, my 2000 XJ 5-speed has a horrible vibration (not shimmy ... vibration) above about 40 or 45 MPH that's caused by driveshaft angles. Mine has the Up Country suspension. The factory wanted to put a transfer case drop on it, which to me is a band-aid approach. Eventually, I'll get around to putting a short shaft conversion on the transfer case, but for now I just keep an easy foot on the loud peddle to avoid stressing the u-joints any more than necessary. My ill-fated 1999 WJ was even worse. That was an Up Country model, too. Since the OP didn't specify, I'm wondering if the axle might be a replacement, and possible the spring perches weren't placed at the correct angle. We need more information.

That steel is quarter inch thick. By the time you buy it, cut it to shape, and make the bends needed for it to work -- it'll be cheaper (and better) to just buy the set from Custom 4x4

At the least, I would put on a 90- or 45-degree elbow to direct the exhaust away from the gas tank.

Stock vehicle, or lifted? If lifted, how are your u-joint angles?

Great find. Lots of low speed use, though. Check the timing chain. The 2.5L has a tensioner that likes to wear and leave the chain sloppy.