Eagle

Okay, somebody has to do it, so I will. As heretical as it sounds, I am going to recommend that you NOT lift it. By all means, do the 4WD conversion. But ... a 4WD MJ at stock height is actually a pretty formidable off-road machine. And you can run up to 31x10.50-15 tires with NO lift. So ... why lift it? Once you lift it, everything starts to be affected, and everything that's affected needs money thrown at it or else you have a butcher job. Just take something as simple as the track bar -- that's the bar in the front suspension that keeps the front axle centered under the truck. When you lift the chassis away from the axle, the bar swings down in an arc. That causes the axle to be moved sideways relative to the chassis. A 3-inch lift will shift the front axle toward the driver's side of the vehicle by about 1/2" to 5/8". The cheap way to "fix" that is to drill a new hole in the axle mounting bracket. But ... you only get one chance. Miss, and any additional holes will just make Swiss cheese out of the bracket. The correct way to deal with it is an adjustable track bar. That'll set you back a couple of hundred bucks. Then you should have longer (preferably adjustable) control arms. You should have longer sway bar links, and you may need to drop the sway bar mounts. You need longer front and rear flex hoses for the brake lines. You need to extend the rod for the rear brake proportioning valve, or the rear brakes won't function correctly (or at all, in some cases). You need longer shock absorbers. You can find 3-inch lift kits selling for a few hundred dollars. They aren't complete. You can't do a 3-inch lift right for a few hundred dollars. All those kits leave out some parts that should be included to do the job right. Frankly, at 17 you have other, more important things to spend money on -- like girls. Plus, that truck looks like a really nice truck. Unless you are regularly doing hard-core wheeling that requires the added height -- I just see no point in starting down that road. Make it 4WD, put on a set of good 30-inch tires, maybe toss a locker or TrueTrac limited slip in the rear differential, and enjoy the truck. I bought an '88 MJ that had a 4" lift in it when I bought it. I hated it. If you'll pardon the expression, it rode like a truck. It handled badly. It steered badly. The height was perfect for breaking down the outside corner of the seat every time I got into or out of the truck. I drove it (and wheeled it) that way for a couple of years, then I finally took the lift out and swapped it for some engine parts. Best move I ever made. I like the truck much better at stock height and, since there's no legal wheeling around here and Paragon in PA has been closed, there's just no need for the lift. And at stock height on 30s or 31s, it'll still go virtually anywhere it would go before.

What doesn't work? It doesn't bolt into position, rod connections are different, or ___?

I don't remember which year, but the stock MJ shackle is identical to the shackle used on one of the older (mid-80s???) full-size Chebbie pickups.

The '96 seats are totally different from yours. Not just the height -- the pedestals are different in how the seats attach, and how the pedestals attach to the floor. Probably not the best choice.

So you need a 27-spline Chrysler axle shaft. The XJ used that axle from about 1992 to 1996, I believe.

There's a Harbor Freight store right near you now, on the Berlin Turnpike (okay, just off the Berlin Turnpike) at Route 9. Won't they ship it there and not whack you for freight?

I second what Pete wrote. A roll cage is made from structural grade tubing. Harbor Freight sells a PIPE bender. Incompatible.

Very likely, an engine builder who is accustomed to working on Chevrolet engines where you don't crank the valve keeper nuts down tight but have to adjust them. If the builder left them loose on the Jeep engine, they may have been loose enough to let a rod pop out. On the Jeep engine, the bolts that hold down the rocker arms and bridge should be torqued to 19 foot-pounds.

www.car-part.com

This is basically the info I was looking for. So using extra (cut-off) MJ main leaves as AALs gives about 2" of lift -- that's about what I expected, since doing the same with an XJ yields about 1-1/2". If the Exploder mains don't generate lift, I would expect that using XJ mains in an MJ pack would behave about the same. Thanks

Pete, I believe you've done more than just about anyone in regard to "home brewed" rear springs. A friend of mine has just rejoined the ranks of Comanche owners. The truck he just bought has standard rear springs, and the second leaf on one of them is broken. He plans to use the truck as a truck, so we're looking for ways to beef up the factory springs to about the equivalent of the Metric Ton springs -- on a budget. I'n not sure if he's looking for some lift, or wants to keep it at stock height. I gave him a pair of springs I have that also have one broken second leaf, so between the two we'll be able to rebuild one pair of stock springs. Then we're debating using either cut-off XJ main leaves as add-a-leaves (that's my suggestion, because I think it'll increase the capacity without adding much lift) or the cut-off main leaves from the extra pair of springs I gave him -- which will generate some lift, but we don't know how much. Could you post a capsule summary of the various permutations and combinations you have tried -- and the results vis-a-vis lift? Or, if you have already done so, does anyone have a link to the write-up? Thanks

You have to wonder how that could happen, since the 2.5L is an AMC engine and there is no adjustment on the lifters. You crank 'em down against a shoulder on the stud. I would do some careful checking before running the motor again, or you could do more serious damage.

If you decide to change to an AX-15, remember that not all AX-15s have an external slave, so you might be changing a tranny to put back the same type of slave you have now. They started using the AX-15 in mid-1989 but they didn't move back to the external slave until 1994. I would just buy a factory slave for the tranny you have and install it.

Think of it this way: That brace involved material, engineering, and labor to put there. Those things cost money. AMC/Chrysler/Jeep was in business to make money. If they hadn't though the brace was necessary, they wouldn't have put it there.

An '86? The original radiator, if that's what's in it, is 23 years old. It doesn't owe you anything -- replace it. It was done ten years ago. My '88 Cherokee is on its third radiator right now, and my '88 MJ is on its second.

What year? How old is the crankshaft position sensor (CPS)?

Do you have this bumper????? Is It for the MJ?????? or is it universal with the mounting kit?????? The one Hornbrod linked to is the same one your first two or three links led to. It's the Fey (brand name) universal mini-pickup bumper. All that changes to adapt to each vehicle is the brackets, which is whey they sell them separately. I had to do a bit of grinding on the brackets to get them to clear the rear pan but aside from that they are fine. It's a functional bumper, but moderately ugly. I find myself looking at the more streamlined bumpers on Rangers and Dakotas and wondering how well or how badly one of those would fit on an MJ.

Exhaust manifold leak?

Nice visual there at the end, too. Real classy guys ...

5/8 inch is way overkill. The close SAE equivalent to a 14mm would be 9/16", and my local spring shop doesn't charge much more for those than they do for the 1/2 inch style. I just think it's easier for my limited mentality to deal with one size, so I've standardized on 1/2".

The factory track bar bolt (axle end) is metric. Going from memory, I'd guess it's 10mm. The original hole on the bracket of my '88 MJ was badly egged out. The previous owner had drilled a new hole to offset the track bar when he lifted the truck, but I hated the lift and removed it so I had to use the original location again. A fellow NAXJA member who happens to live 2 miles from me also happens to be a VW tech, and he happened to have a box full of 10mm super hardened, double thick fender (large O.D.) washers left over from installing some VW factory fix kit. He welded one of those to the face of my bracket and it's been fine ever since.

http://www.huskyspring.com/main.taf?cat=127 http://www.huskyspring.com/Category/cus ... af?cat=142

Spring plates are available through Mopar dealers. My friend just ordered a pair.

Yep. The knob for a TJ or a '99/2000 XJ is a direct replacement, and doesn't fall apart in use.

Yes, I know. No, it will not work.