Eagle

Keep in mind that the AW-4 behind the 2.5L 4-cylinder was only in the MJ. You won't find that if you go searching junkyards for wrecked XJs.

Pete is correct. Trying to gain lift using longer shackles is an EXCELLENT way to kill your spring pack. It looks cheap in the short term, but it becomes more expensive very quickly when you have to replace or rebuild the whole spring pack because you tried to save a few bucks.

No, the index mark on the OUTSIDE of the holder (the "quill," which is the part in your first photo) lines up with a mark on the outside of the transmission or transfer case (depending on whether you have 2WD or 4WD).

That's quite possible. You said it won't go into reverse. Is that correct, or did you mean that it won't go into reverse with the engine running? If you shut off the engine, can you put it into reverse and then start the engine?

Yes. There's an index mark on it, and the way the index mark gets lined up is depending on how many teeth are on the plastic speedo drive gear.

The same shocks fit both 2WD and 4WD.

:doh: Why didn't I think of that? That could also explain why it happened all of a sudden.

Use the ECU you have -- the one from the '89. The fact that it's for an automatic won't make any significant difference. As noted, the tranny runs off a separate, free-standing harness. Double check the bolts on the exhaust manifold. Yes, you are correct that a lean RUN would call for more fuel, but assuming the system is functioning somewhat, the mixture only gets rich enough to bring the A/F ratio back to the optimum at the O2 sensor. The reason an air leak at the exhaust maifold creates such problems is that it adds air (oxygen) into the exhaust stream after combustion, so it alters the ratio at the O2 sensor so the sensor isn't actually reading what the mix was in the combustion chamber. One other thought: Is it getting up to temperature? The Renix ECU doesn't respond to sensor inputs while it's in open loop (warm-up) mode. It uses a pre-mapped fuel curve, which is necessarily on the rich side because it's intended to make the engine run when the air coming in is cold and dense. If your ECU isn't getting into closed loop mode, it's not even seeing what the O2 sensor is trying to tell it. On the Renix, the temp sensor for the ECU is the one on the driver's side of the block (near the knock sensor). You might check that to ensure that it's operating in-spec.

The flex hose doesn't run to the wheel cylinders, it runs to the axle. Exactly what are you trying to remove? The hard line into the wheel cylinders should be an SAE (English) size, not metric.

Let's start at the beginning. You want to stop your tires from rubbing. You are running 31s. Many people run 31s with NO lift and rubbing isn't a problem. So: 1. What rims are you running, and what is the backspacing? 2. Where are the tires rubbing? 3. Under what conditions are the tires rubbing?

I wonder how many tries it took to make that video. I am simply gobsmacked (to borrow a phrase from my favorite SF author) that he made it through the whole thing with a straight face, and without mangling the terminology.

Yeah, but the question you asked in your first post was: "If I keep the full-width front axle, what should I run in the back?" The answer is obviously the AMC 20 that you already have.

Probably ZJ V8 front coils (or late-model XJ Up Country -- same part number), and shocks such as Monroe Reflex. And maybe a ZJ V8 front sway bar. Does your D44 rear axle have 10x2-1/2" brakes or 10x1-3/4"?

Anything with 2-1/2" wide springs and similar arch. Some years of the Dakota, Explorer, and S-10 are candidates, but I'm afraid I don't remember which years.

You should be good. Under normal conditions there's nothing coming out that port anyway, so no pressure that might force fluid around the threads of a dry plug.

The cat glowing red indicates, if I'm not mistaken, a RICH mix, not lean. If you're running too lean, there's nothing in the exhaust to burn up in the cat. If you're running way rich, you're dumping unburned fuel down the pipe and it burns up in the cat. Are the manifolds tight? If there are any leaks, air can get in and fool the O2 sensor into "seeing" a lean condition where there really isn't one at the engine. That tells the ECU to richen up the mix, and much hilarity ensues. On one of our NAXJA NAC trail rides a couple or three years ago one of the guys busted a manifold. His O2 sensor was sending so much gas to the engine that there were flames shooting out the tailpipe when he let off the gas. He limped off the trail and put it on a trailer to get it home.

Which would create a shortbed MJ with non-OEM springs and rear axle, not a Metric Ton Comanche. The Metric Ton package was offered only on the longbeds. My '87 Pioneer shortbed has a Dana 44 axle, Trac-Lok, and front tow hooks. I've never counted the leaves in the rear springs, but regardless of how many leaves I find, it isn't a Metric Ton.

Simple. It's a shortbed. Therefore, it is NOT a metric ton. That option was offered only on the long beds.

The sadder thing is that "someone" is probably us ... through the National Endowment for the Arts. The best I can figure out, the NEA is a government venue for siphoning money away from productive citizens and giving it to "artists" whose work is so bad and/or so non-art that they could never hope to sustain themselves by the fruits of their "labor" if forced to actually sell their "art" to earn a living. The entire NEA program should be scrapped.

I don't see any seatbelts. It isn't safe without seatbelts.

I'm not at all convinced that your method would work. If it did, it would make a mess of the engine compartment and strip off paint anywhere you spilled brake fluid. I'd just follow the FSM procedure. (In the interest of full disclosure, I actually would NOT follow the FSM procedure. I would actually eliminate the height sensing valve and run a single line directly to the rear flex hose. IF I were to keep the height sensing valve, I would follow the FSM procedure.)

My '88 MJ had a MUCH worse floor. In fact, on the driver's side I didn't have ANY floor. That can be fixed. Rocker panels can be replaced -- they are available. Dash parts are the same as Cherokee, so that's as easy as a trip to a self-serve junk yard. I don't think your truck is nearly as bad as you think. The important thing is to crawl underneath and inspect the frame under the bed.

What would this accomplish? There is nothing flowing in that by-pass line unless the front brakes fail. Here's the link. Scroll down about four posts to where I copied the FSM procedure. http://comancheclub.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=4917

It looks like they sell the same Daystar kit for both the XJ and MJ. But MJ shackles are longer than XJ, so I wouldn't expect any (certainly not much) lift out of that kit at the rear of an MJ. I'm with Pete. A full-length AAL is definitely the way to address sagging rear springs.

There is a rather complicated procedure for bleeding the MJ brakes if you still have the rear height-sensing valve. I transcribed it from the FSM and posted it here a year or so ago. A bit of searching should turn it up.