Eagle

Your '87 has the Renix injection/ignition system. Direct replacements will be 1987 thru 1990 Cherokee or Comanche. Chrysler changed to their own injection/ignition system in 1991.

The front skid plate and the tow hooks will fit your XJ or your MJ. The gas tank skid for the early XJs with the steel tanks is very different from the skid for your 01 with the plastic tank. No fit. If it has those skids, does it also have the transfer case skid? It's probably worth going back for. You can always sell the gas tank skid on NAXJA.

Finding a D44 from a Comanche will be difficult. If you are fortunate enough to find one from a Cherokee, you will still have to relocate the spring perches. Don't overlook the Chrysler 8-1/4 axles out of Cherokees. The later model ones (1997 thru 2001) are 29-spline axles that are very nearly as strong as a Dana 44, and they are the correct width for a Comanche. With a Ford 8.8, you have to run either aftermarket rims or spacers.

WANT!

They are Command-Trac, not Selec-Trac. NP 231 stands for New Process 231, where New Process is the maker. In some years it's NV, for New Venture Gear. Same company, different name on the door. 231 J is an NP (or NV) 231 case made for a Jeep vehicle. Selec-Trac was a 228/229 for 1986, and a 242 from '87 thru '92.

Yeah, or he was a doofus and only replaced the main bearings. If you run 20W50 oil, does the knock go away when the engine speed is over about 1500 RPM? If the vehicle has gauges, what kind of oil pressure does the gauge think you have, at idle and at 1500 or 2000 RPM?

Why? My '88 XJ has 287,000 miles on the clock and doesn't knock. It is very common to just throw new bearings into a 4.0L engine to resolve oil pressure issues. They rarely need the crank turned, unless the owner waited much too long before deciding to do the bearings.

The best way is not the easiest way, nor is it the least expensive way. There must be a couple of hundred threads on just this forum discussing various ways to lift a Comanche. I suggest you do some reading first, then decide what questions you have that our members haven't already answered, and ask your questions. Be specific. The question you asked is impossible to answer.

Nyuk, nyuk. Reminds me of a story: A businessman was at a conference in another city, and after hours he was hanging out in the hotel bar when he spotted a REALLY hot chick. He went over, bought her a drink, and then he asked her if she would sleep with him for $100,000. "Sure," she replied. "How about for $10?" he asked. The woman became visibly angry. "What do you think I am, a common lady of the night?" she asked. "We've already established that," said the man. "Now we're just negotiating the price." HOW COULD YOU SELL AN MJ?

Clayton's used to offer a kit for mounting the FSJ axles in XJs and MJs. Don't know if he still does, but it was a top drawer product.

If it's an automatic, a cracked flex plate can make a knocking sound that's similar to a bad bearing. The test is to run it at idle. If it knocks in neutral, but it in gear with the brakes on and step on the bas just a little. If the knock disappears, there's a high probability of a cracked flex plate.

Dunno. You're the one in Rhode Island, we should be asking you that question. Rhode Island must be about the only state in the country with that rule. I knew that, once, but I had forgotten.

I've been wrong before, but ... if the AW-4 was the only automatic used behind the 2.5L after 1986, why are they so hard to find? That would suggest that ANY 4-cylinder XJ with an automatic from 1987 right up through 2000 should have an AW-4. But cruise the junkyards. How may are there? They virtually don't exist. I guess they made some ... Jeff tells me he has one ... but they are even more rare than the proverbial XJ Dana 44.

The "full width" axles on the FS Cherokees were actually an option -- it was the "wide wheel" option, available only on the 2-door Cherokees. 4-door Cherokees, Wagoneers, and all Grand Wagoneers got the standard width. The difference isn't all that much. Back in the day, my brother had a '78 with the wide wheel option and I bought a used 4-door that didn't have it. My front fenders were totally history and I found I could get replacements with the flares for the pickup and wide wheel for the same price as the standard fenders, so I did. With 31" tires on, if mine was parked next to my brother's you really had to look to see the difference. It was maybe an inch on each side?

Depending on the backspacing of the wheels, you might need a 2" spacer in the rear to keep the inside sidewall from rubbing on the inner wheelwell. I question the wisdom of running 16" rims at all. With Ford rims, the center hole probably isn't correct for Jeep axles. If it's too small you have to grind it out, and if it's too large you lose the stability and support derived from Jeep's "hub centric" wheel design. Plus, for any comparable size, 16" tires are more expensive and harder to find than 15". Your frames of reference: Stock Jeep rimes are (mostly) 15" with 5-1/4" of backspacing. On those rims, both front and rear will accept 31x10.50-15 tires and require NO trimming of sheet metal or flares. The fronts rub on the lower control arms (slightly) at full steering lock, which is only a minor annoyance. In the rear, the inner sidewalls are very close to both the springs and the inner fenders. When I wheeled my '88 MJ with 31s on factory rims, after every trail ride there were black rubber marks inside the wheel wells where the top shoulders of the tires rubbed the fenders if the axle got "articulated." That's for a 10-1/2" tire. A 12-1/2" tire extends 1" farther out, and 1" farther in. You could NOT run 12-1/2" tires in the rear on stock rims without a spacer at least 1" thick, and preferable 1-1/2 to 2 inches thick. A quality spacer machined from billet (not a cheap casting) would be fine -- but pricey. Wheels with significantly less backspacing would also solve the problem -- in the back. But ... if they are out far enough not to run the inner fenders ... they won't clear the flares and outer sheet metal. But in the front, any tire wider than a 10-1/2" OR on a rim with less backspacing than factory will NOT tuck up inside the sheet metal. So once you either use aftermarket rims or go to tires larger than 10-1/2" wide, you either have to trim, or you need massive lift just to clear the sheet metal at rest. Worse, you also need to severely limit the amount the suspension can compress, because lift by itself doesn't stop the axle from moving up and sending the tire crashing into the fenders. You need to extend the bump stops -- the less you want to trim, the MORE you have to limit the suspension travel. That gets you on the street with sexy-looking big rubber, but it doesn't do squat for you on a trail. Too many people, IMHO, decide that they NEED huge tires without giving any thought to how they plan to use the vehicle or what it takes to actually run those tires. The goal should always be to engineer the vehicle to run the smallest tire and the LEAST amount of lift necessary to accomplish your requirements. The cost of tires increases significantly with size. The cost of lifts increases exponentially with height (in other words, expect a 4" lift to cost four times as much as a 2" budget boost, not twice as much).

No wonder your tranny is trashed. The Peugeot tranny in the 88's is NOT suitable for hot-rodding.

I know it's an SAE (fine) thread, and it's a straight thread, not a pipe (tapered) thread. Going from memory, I think it's either 5/16" or 3/8" and I'm leaning toward 3/8". Bolts are cheap -- buy one of each and you've got it covered.

You're missing the point, Mate. You asked how much lift is needed to run 33" tires. The answer may vary considerably depending on the backspacing of the rims you run, because how far out the tires extend (or don't extend) is going to affect where they rub, and how much they rub. If you don't have wheels, then your question cannot be answered.

Yeah. Hose is made of rubber. Steel tube is made of ... steel. The fact that you can bend the steel line by hand doesn't make it "flexible." It makes it bendable -- once. Bend it in the same place two or three times and it'll break. Despite the fact you can shape it to fit, it is considered to be rigid tubing. That's why you'll generally see it referred to in these posts as "hard line."

It isn't the same. End of discussion. The Model 20 used in the MJ had one-piece axles.

When I played it, there was a link over on the right to another one for a Chrysler Turbo Encabulator

They are? Who? I have searched far and wide and not seen anything. You can buy aftermarket bumpers that will fit on an MJ, but they are not even close to being duplicates of the original. That Fey you posted a link to is a standard, universal replacement bumper. You can buy them at Pep Boys. For anyone looking to restore an MJ, that is NOT a suitable replacement for an OEM bumper.

Specifically -- on what rims, with what backspacing?

It's not a hose. It's a steel tube. Use anti-seize on the threads and on the flare (but not inside the tube) when you put the new line on.

Drop brackets lower the control arms 4 inches. That means with a 4" lift the suspension geometry is the same as stock. At 8" of lift, you would be looking at control arm lengths that otherwise would be appropriate for a 4" lift. Obviously, control arm drop brackets don't in any way affect the driveshaft. They also don't affect the trackbar. Why are you running a dropped pitman arm? Got bump steer?