Eagle

Actually, between 1984 and 1990 there are six (6) possible instrument clusters you might have. From 84 thru 86 (and I think part-way into the 87 model year but I haven't confirmed that) the speedometer cable was retained on the speedo head by a metal clip, and the speedo itself had small ticks at 1 MPH intervals, larger ticks at 5 MPH intervals, and numbers at 15, 25, 35, etc. From 87 thru 90 the speedo cable is retained by a nylon bayonet fitting. The speedo has small ticks at the 2-1/2 MPH marks, larger ticks at the 5 MPH marks, and large ticks plus numbers at 15, 25, 35, etc. Within each of these groups, you could have a base cluster with a speedo, idiot lights, and a large gas gauge; a cluster with full instruments (not idiot lights) but a large fuel gauge and no tachometer; or a cluster with full gauges and tachometer. You can swap the early style for the late style (and the reverse) if you also swap the speedo cable for the type with the matching retainer. Then there's the issue of cylinder count. Both types could have a tachometer in either a 6-cylinder or 4-cylinder vehicle. The early type cannot be recalibrated from a 4 to a 6 or reverse except by changing a resistor on the printed circuit board. The later style has a potentiometer and can be recalibrated just by turning the adjuster.

It flexes fine, but that's because I am on OEM rims with 5-1/4" of backspacing. NO aftermarket rims have that much, so with aftermarket rims the fat tires won't stuff inside the flares, they hit the flares. That's your problem.

Is this for the truck in your signature? I can run 31x10.50s with NO lift -- even on an XJ. It's even less of a problem in the rear of an MJ. With a 3-1/2" lift you have plenty of clearance for 32s as far as height. The problem is, how wide are the 32s? 31x10.50s on stock rims are VERY close to the springs and inner fender walls in the rear. 11.50 or 12.50 tires on stock rims would be an interference fit for width. Please provide more info about your setup.

Dropping the tank is definitely in order, because "sumthin' ain't raht." I suspect either the filler hose or the vent hose next to the filler, not the two vents on top.

Not at all. I'm running 31x10.50s on my '88 Cherokee with no lift.

why? Because it is under pressure and the result will be just like taking the radiator cap off a conventional radiator when it's hot -- the boiling liquid will spew out in all directions and you'll very likely end up with some serious scalding at least on your hands, and possibly on your face and upper body. But don't take my word for it ... go ahead and try it. i knew that. i thought maybe it had something to do with it being closed system and didn't want air into it. Just the opposite. Since there is nowhere for "excess" coolant to go when it expands due to heat, there HAS to be air in the system to provide for expansion. Air compresses ... liquids do not. If you fill the plastic tank full and bleed all air out of the system, the plastic tank will explode (or rupture).

The tank should never be full enough that expansion in hot weather will cause it to "vent" liquid gasoline. The vent lines to the charcoal cannister are for fumes, not gasoline. If it's pushing gasoline out onto the ground, either there are rust holes below the normal fill level or you're somehow squeezing too much gas into the tank.

why? Because it is under pressure and the result will be just like taking the radiator cap off a conventional radiator when it's hot -- the boiling liquid will spew out in all directions and you'll very likely end up with some serious scalding at least on your hands, and possibly on your face and upper body. But don't take my word for it ... go ahead and try it.

Yes, I'd say putting a top-heavy camper shell on would be a good reason for adding a rear sway bar. For something like that, I'd want the biggest bars I could find ... on both front and rear.

What year is your XJ?

It's the cap on the plastic bottle back by the firewall, on the passenger side. Common misunderstanding. That bottle is not a typical overflow recovery bottle. On the 87 - 90 XJ and MJ 4.0L engines that bottle is part of the pressurized cooling system. Do not EVER try to loosen that cap when the system is hot. Don't fill the bottle to the top. "Full" is to the halfway mark when cold. The air space allows for coolant expansion.

Huh? Racial stereotype? http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.p ... =jerry-rig http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-jur1.htm In fact, the expression has no racial connotations, and has nothing whatsoever to do with those panels of six or twelve people in a courtroom.

When in doubt, resort to old-fashioned (crude) methods. Pull the spark plugs, squirt a small amount of gas into each hole (a half eyedropper in each should do it), reinstall the spark plugs, and try it. It should fire on that much gas. If it does, you'll know your ignition is good and that you have to focus on fuel delivery. How's the pressure in the fuel rail?

So what's happening? It's been 12 hours since the original post, and I don't see any pictures yet. Slacker!

I should add that I also never allow dealerships to touch my wheel lugs. I do almost all work myself. When I have tires mounted or dismounted, I take the rims and tires to the tire shop, off the vehicle. They do their thing, then I bring them home and I put them on the vehicle. Aside from preserving the lug nuts, using a torque wrench helps prevent warping the front brake rotors.

When you checked for timing, did you make certain that the #1 piston was on the compression stroke when the #1 sparkplug fired? Don't forget it's a 4-stroke engine. It's an easy thing to put the distributor in 180-degrees out of phase, so it's trying to fire on the exhaust stroke rather than the compression stroke. I've tried it several times and I haven't gotten one to run like that yet.

What makes you think you need a rear sway bar? And what makes you think you need one more if you change to rear springs with a higher rate (the metric ton springs)? A Cherokee has a lot of weight fairly high up in the rear -- steel roof, and lots of glass. That makes for a high center of gravity. An MJ doesn't have ANY glass back near the rear wheels, and no roof back there. The center of gravity is much lower than on an XJ. The factory didn't use a rear sway bar because they didn't think one was necessary. Depending on how you drive and how you intend to use the truck, a rear sway bar might be a good idea. But be sure you understand what the implications will be. With automotive suspensions, as you stiffen up the suspension at one end of the chassis you induce over or understeer at that end. In other words, if you make the front stiffer (either with a bigger front sway bar or with stiffer springs) you increase understeer -- the tendency for the nose to "plow" off the road in turns. If you make the rear springs stiffer and/or add a rear sway bar, you increase oversteer -- the tendency for the rear end to lose traction and spin out on curves. Going from standard rear springs to metric ton rear springs increases the spring rate approximately 33 percent. That's a big difference, and if you drive anywhere near the limit (meaning the limit of the vehicle's ability to stay on the road, not the speed limit), you will definitely feel the difference. You may not like the difference, because you may get more oversteer than you'll be comfortable with. If you add a rear sway bar on top of that, I'll almost guarantee that you'll have serious enough oversteer that you really won't like it. On the other hand, if you don't drive near the limit, none of this will matter and there is no reason for you to add a rear sway bar. Just toss in the metric ton springs and call it good. Adding a rear sway bar is for tuning a competition-oriented suspension and IMHO should not be done by 98% of the people on the road.

Almost all the aftermarket lug nuts available are chrome plated. They are solid, so you don't have to worry about that thin cap shearing off ... but after they've been hit with an impact wrench a few times, the chrome will be chipped and broken, and they'll start to rust. Also, a great many of the aftermarket lug nuts need a 13/16" socket, where the OEM lug nuts take a 3/4" socket. My '88 XJ, which I bought new, still has most of the original factory lug nuts intact. The reason is that I never use an impact wrench. I remove with a good old-fashioned spanner, and I install using a 6-point socket and a torque wrench. The reason the factory used that thin cap is that it's stainless steel. Those won't rust. The ones I have left (about 17 out of the original 20) look as good now as they did six months after I started driving the vehicle. Pep Boys used to sell the OEM stainless cap type for $3 each. Take your pick. There's a lot to be said for a solid, one-piece lug nut -- but I think they look horrible when the chrome has turned to rust, and I prefer not to deal with it.

Before you rip the engine apart, give the magic rebuild in a bottle a try. http://www.cpillinois.com/yale-automotive.htm Third one down, the EOK engine reconditioning kit. JC Whitney used to sell just the pellets and I have used them on tired engines with good (not "spectacular," but definitely good) results.

My '88 MJ came with the wiring for factory fogs but the kid who had it before me destroyed the actual lights. The relay on mine is on the driver's side, next to the radiator on the back (engine) side of the radiator surround.

I like Cooper tires, and they are made in the U.S. The Discoverer A/T is a great all-season tire with a tread wear warranty on top of its other advantages.

Passenger side could be windshield, cowl leak, or (ugh!) heater core leak.

I have never heard of an 8.25 hd axle. No. See response above. :agree: Between 5 and 5-1/2 inches.

Other arguments aside, I don't like the fact that the computers in new cars also act as "black boxes." They keep a record of how you've been driving, and that can be extracted and used as evidence in an accident. The way I drive that could only help me, but I object on principle. The newest ones are reported to also allow the gummint to track your vehicle. Supposedly OnStar allows them to shut down your vehicle by remote control. Sorry, I'll stick to driving my own car, thank you. Take good care of the XJs and MJs, and replace an engine every 300,000 miles or so. Let somebody else stimulate the economy.

And the Part-time NP231 is "Command-Trac". Rob L. As was the NP207 used from 84 thru 87