Eagle

Even an AAL that has the same arch as the other leaves gives some lift. For example, a popular home-brewed AAL for the XJ is to cut the eyes off a second pair of XJ main leaves and use them as AALs. In a newer vehicle with newer "donor" main leaves, this generally results in about 1-1/2" of lift ... 1-1/4" plus a quarter for the thickness of the extra leaf. And the new leaf has the exact same arch as the original main leaf. I did the same thing on an older XJ (an '88), using main leaves out of a wrecked 89 or 90. The rear had sagged about half an inch below the accepted norm of 17" from axle centerline to bottom of flare. After the AAL, it sat at 17-3/4", so the AAL grossed 1-1/4" of lift and after correcting the sag left me with a net lift of 3/4". This XJ was for an ex-GF to use as a daily driver in Montana so that was all that was needed. I just wanted to get it back up where it should be, and reinforce the tired springs a bit.

Probably. Ask Bob Salemi, the guy who owns that record-setting MJ drag truck. He has a stroker in his daily driver MJ. I think he had it dynoed to get the correct injector size. His is an 89 IIRC. I'm pretty certain it's a Renix.

Lift increases toe-in. Ideally, it should be approximately 1/16" with standard size tires. (The older FSMs listed it in inches, the newer ones give degrees, which is more accurate and isn't affected by larger tires.)

Please write in English on the forum, don't use TXT MSG shorthand. Us olde phartes can't read that junk. There is no practical limit on post size and you don't get charged by the character here, so there is no reason not to use the common language - English.

One word: WOW! I wonder how much a crate 4.7L costs? I know what I'd like to drop into the '88 MJ 4-banger sitting out front ...

I have posted this before, but I guess it's time to repeat. As before, this is taken from a book I am writing and it IS copyrighted. In posting it here, I am NOT granting permission to reproduce it anywhere besides here. Please respect my copyright:

:agree: The 4.3 is, as noted, just a shortened small-block V8. It's a 90-degree engine that's really too wide to fit easily into an XJ or MJ engine compartment. You will need all the adapters and such you would need to do a V8 conversion, but you lose two cylinders. A MUCH better swap is the 3.4L V8 from rear wheel drive GM cars like the Camaro and Firebird. It's a 60-degree engine, so it's a lot narrower. Also, it happens to be physically the same block as the 2.8L that was used in the early XJs and MJs, so mounts, manifolds and brackets don't have to be custom fabricated.

This is (I think) the first time you have actually mentioned that. I have been continually baffled by all the references to fabbing when you should already have everything you need. Now I understand. (Gotta love previous owners -- NOT.) I don't think that aftermarket thing is actually what you need. The caption refers to it as a "slider insert" for the spring plate. Also, the way they did that is @$$-backward. The spring plate should go on TOP of the spring when doing a SOA conversion, and the U-bolts are all you'd see under the axle. What they did was leave the original perches under the axle, use flat plates on top of the springs, and keep the original spring plates under the axle, on the original perches. It would have been MUCH easier to just swap the stock plates side-for-side, mount them on top of the axle (where they belong) with standard U-bolts, and then the shock length wouldn't have to be changed. Plus, of course, you wouldn't NEED "slider inserts" for the spring plates under the axle.

.060 over only brings you to 4.6 or 4.7 liters with a stock 258 crank, so to get from there to 5.0 liters is one helluva offset.

This is for a Renix-era vehicle, so the newest engine that could be a direct replacement would be out of a 1990 XJ or MJ. There was no ZJ back then, and the Wranglers thru 1990 didn't get the 4.0L engine. Chances of finding a low mileage engine in a 1990 or older vehicle are rather remote. I think it makes much more sense to do a preemptive strike on the engine that's in the truck. The pan has to come off to do the rear main seal, and getting the pan off is a PITA. So it only makes sense to throw bearings in while it's open.

I'm going to guess that those rims have about 4" backspacing. They will definitely NOT work on an MJ with no lift. I don't even think they'd work on an MJ with 3" of lift, without some serious trimming.

Fabbing what? The shock mount studs on the MJ are not on the axle, they are on the spring plates that the U-bolts go through. Other than mounting perches in the correct location, there is NO fabbing necessary unless you choose to create an unorthodox shock mount system. If your MJ has a rear axle, you already have everything you need. The spring perches can be cut off the 8.25 axle and re-used in the new location. Either cut off the XJ shock mounts or leave them -- you won't be using them. Buy new U-bolts, because the 8.25 has 3" tubes and the old ones won't fit, plus you should use new ones anyway. That's all there is to it. It sounds like you are making this a lot more complicated than it really is.

The two best brands of SLR (single lens reflex) camera for 35mm film are Canon and Nikon. Both have loyal and zealous advocates, and it's unlikely to find a member of either camp saying much good about the other. There used to be thousands of professional photographers using each brand, but probably more using Nikon. I prefer Canon, because the controls seem to fit my hands and the way I think. I have used a few Nikons and I always found them to be awkward and counter-intuitive. But both companies make excellent lenses, and that's the heart of a 35mm film camera. For film, Olympus had some decent ones. too. For digital, IMHO Canon is the only way to go. Never EVER buy the newest generation of digital SLR. Both Nikon and Canon are pushing the envelope too hard, and for both companies the professionals are finding that the newest generation image processor screen has tried to squeeze so many pixels into the same size screen that the pixels "bleed," creating artifacts in the images. Many have dumped their newest camera and gone back one generation for better images.

Where did you get the transfer case? If it came out of a YJ Wrangler, the linkage is totally different and the YJ t-case has an arm on it that fits just the opposite of the way the corresponding arm fits on an XJ or MJ. Post a photo of what you have, please.

:hijack: What would be really cool is if CWLongshot could install new, more accurate oil/volt/temp gauges yet still allow the old ones to work so the truck was kept original. Then he posts the "how-to" on the forum. :brows: Temperature would be more difficult, since the sender has to be in the coolant, but on a Renix it would be easy enough to change over to an HO thermostat housing with the port for a temp sender. Leave the one in the head for the stock gauges, and use a new sender in the t-stat housing for the supplemental gauge. CAVEAT: They won't be measuring at the same part of the system, so 100% correlation should not be expected. I keep thinking about adding a supplemental idiot light for oil pressure, and that's easy. Remove the sender, install a tee, then reinstall the original sender in one port and add a sender for the idiot lights in the other side of the tee. Wire the idiot light sender to a big red light somewhere on your dashboard where you'll see it if it lights up, and you have a redundant system. You check the gauge to see what the system is actually doing, but if there should be a sudden, catastrophic loss of pressure the light would tell you immediately.

With your shotgun, or with your MJ?

ahh. nice thank you. so if i get the HO intake and exhaust manifolds it should just be a bolt on deal. thanks for the knowledge! Not quite. The throttle bodies are different. The Renix throttle body will not bolt right onto the HO intake manifold.

:agree: High flow refers to volume, not pressure. With new bearings, there is no reason to spend extra money for a high flow oil pump.

Ain't technology wonderful. There's nothing like asking someone to call you, then fixin' your phone so his call can't come in. And you're waggin' a finger at HIM? Shame on you for wasting his time.

Oh, so you're a back-shooter, eh? Seriously, congrats.

5.0 liters is virtually guaranteed to break through the cylinder walls. Even if it doesn't, there won't be enough metal left to dissipate heat. The only way to do a 5.0 liter stroker is to completely hog it out and then sleeve it. For all practical purposes, .060 over is the limit. Once you hit .090 over you start to worry about core shift and thin walls/heat transfer.

From 1987 on, ALL 4.0L XJs came with 3.07 gears behind the 5-speed manual tranny, and 3.55 gears behind the automatic. That's what will be in the Country Edition XJ you found. I believe the Country Edition was only available with automatic, so the axle will be geared with 3.55s. The Trac-Lok is a decent, clutch-type limited slip. Those Ford Explorer axles that have a traction device also used a limited slip. Might even be the same one; if not, it's very similar.

You'll like the manual steering a LOT less. The steering ratio on almost all MJs is 14:1. If I remember correctly, the ratio on the XJ/MJ manual steering box was 28:1. However, if you want to do it, you'll need the manual box and a pitman arm to fit it. I have no idea if the manual box takes the same pitman arm as the power boxes. I have a fuzzy recollection that back in AMC days they were different.

Excellent. Another CC member who supports the right to arm bears.

The siren song on the mythical "budget stroker" is OOOOOHHHH so tempting. I followed the maiden for several years, doing research, doing more research, talking to people who had built strokers, talking to people who had BOUGHT strokers, and then doing more research, then crunching the numbers ... The "budget stroker" is a myth. IMHO it involves too many compromises to be a cost-effective substitute for a good rebuild. You either have too much compression, or you don't have enough. One of the solutions for the compression issue is to buy a non-stock cam with a lot of overlap, to bleed off excess compression pressure. I finally saw the light -- unless you're prepared to buy special, custom pistons to get the compression ratio correct, I think you're better off to build the engine stock, with a .030 overbore and new pistons, and then put a mild RV cam in it for more torque. Or buy a 4.2L engine, rebuild that, and throw the 4.0L head and injection on it.