Eagle

Mine are all 89 and older. I haven't seen one yet that had the wiring in place if it didn't come from the factory with fog lights. The harness used to be offered as a kit through the dealer parts departments. Wire is wire, and you can buy relays at any Auto Zone, Pep Boys, Advance/Checker/Shucks, NAPA or Carquest store.

Actually, Pete, I disagree with you. I think 4.10 is the optimum ratio for 31s. I say that having run 31x10.50s with 3.73 gears. The overall final drive ration (as measured in terms of MPH per 1000 RPM) is exactly the same as a stock vehicle with an automatic, 3.55 gears, and 225/75R15 tires. It's quite driveable on the street that way, but not a good crawl ratio for any even semi-serious wheeling. Overall, 4.10s are a better choice. The 3.73s make a good ratio with 30s -- which is how I happened to have them. The 3.73s went into the MJ instead of the XJ simply because the MJ was virtually undriveable with 31s and 3.07 gears. I grew up driving manual transmissions, I prefer manual transmissions -- and I couldn't drive the thing. I would have destroyed the clutch within a month. To put that in perspective, the original clutch on the '88 XJ was replaced at 204,000 miles, because the slave cylinder quit. The clutch disc could have gone another 100,000 miles based on the (lack of) visible wear.

IMHO 10W30 was too light for a new engine. I ran my '88 XJ on 10W40 up to about 175,000 miles, then I switched to synthetic. I wanted a light viscosity for cold winter starts, but enough body for highway cruising and wheeling in hot weather. So I've been running Castrol Syntec 5W50. Good stuff. By the way, be sure to use an oil filter with a good anti-drainback valve. I use only Purolator. Do NOT use a Fram oil filter.

Ummm ... that depends. Were you looking for one to cut the nose off of?

You can run 31x10.50s on factory rims with NO lift. If you have a 5-speed and 3.07 gears you won't be happy with them, and the reason has nothing to do with clearance. It'll just drive like someone hooked a 1,000 pound anchor to the rear bumper when you weren't watching ...

The slave cylinder doesn't hit a plate. I haven't worked on any XJs or MJs with the external slave (yet) but my recollection from the exploded parts views is that there's a pivoting arm that's supposed to connect the slave to the release (throwout) bearing. Is it possible that your mechanic didn't properly position the arm on the release bearing? It's also possible he didn't use the correct release bearing. It's more than a little difficult to know what he did wrong from a distance.

4.0L 5-speed, 1988, 3.73 gears. I got 19 MPG when I had the 31x10.50s on, and I get 19 MPG with 215/75s on.

I can't believe they are allowing people to rebuild out there -- but I can't believe they're rebuilding New Orleans, either. There's a reason barrier islands are called "barrier islands." They are supposed to be a natural barrier between the ocean and the mainland -- you're not supposed to put the dang mainland ON the things. Idjits.

Do it the easy way. Sometimes approaching something directly has advantages. You want bigger doors -- section the body through the door openings, splice in a 9" filler, and put it back together. Or take two MJs (GOD how it pains me to even think this!), section both but at different points so when Nose 'A' is mated to Tail 'B' the result is doors 9" longer. Several years ago a friend of mine had an 86 XJ V6 that he wanted to make into a 4.0L. After a lot of research, he and the shop he had the work done at decided the easiest route was to chop the entire nose off his '86, through the A pillars, cut the front of an 89 at the same place, then graft the 89 nose onto his 86. That's what they did, and he's been wheeling it that way for about ten years now. Hasn't broken yet (at least, not there). I'd leave the bed alone, at least until you see how it all works out. You can always section the frame and bed later if you find the truck is too long with the extended cab -- but it won't be any worse than a LWB Comanche.

The original post also didn't sound like he actually removed the transmission to see the clutch. It said he dropped the back end of the tranny. We really need a lot more information.

Best way to not reduce articulation is to tie it to the diff housing on the vehicle centerline rather than put it on one side (or both sides). I think I recall a fairly detailed discussion of a couple of different designs for this awhile back. I'm not sure just what terms to use, but I'd suggest searching the back posts right in this discussion area. You might have to go back a year or more -- it wasn't yesterday that this was discussed.

His cluster should have the trip odometer. It was the idiot light clusters that didn't.

Idle speed for the 4.0L is 650 RPM. What's this about 3500 RPM "idle"?

You *CAN* drill a new hole in the axle bracket to relocate the track bar. I don't think it's a good idea. You only get one try -- mess up the hole or put it in the wrong place and you're finished. I highly recommend just buying an adjustable track bar.

The two major parts of a clutch are the disc (that's the thin, flat part with the fibrous lining material on it) and the pressure plate. The pressure plate is the larger part with a round metal plate, a housing, a bunch of coil springs, and the fingers to make the plate move in the housing. The release bearing presses the fingers into the pressure plate housing, which pulls the plate away from contact with the disc. We need more info about your truck and exactly what you found, because some years of the Comanche used an external slave (which used an arm to connect to the release bearing) and other years used an internal slave cylinder that is integral with the release bearing.

The '96 XJ would have had an AX-15 if it's a five-speed, and an AW4 if it's an automatic. Those were the only transmissions used that year. The swap is certainly possible. Physically, the 4.0L will drop right into the '90 chassis. You are going from a Renix to a Chrysler injection/ignition system, and from a 4-cylinder to a 6-cylinder, so you will need the complete wiring harness and computer from the XJ.

Did you see Pete's post, above? "Cranking" is turning over -- i.e. the engine revolves when you engage the starter. It sounds like what you're trying to say is that it cranks but doesn't fire. Assuming that's the case, have you tested to see if you have spark?

On the other hand, what's the point of changing a Renix to the newer style filter? The metric filters are readily available everywhere. The two filters are the same size can, so I assume (with no basis for the assumption) that they provide about the same amount of filtration surface area. The only difference is the thread. I can't see any particular reason to make the change.

See if you can find some FRONT TJ coils in the junkyard. The rate will be similar to XJ/MJ springs but they'll ride about 2" lower.

If you can't find a cluster with a factory tach, I used a Sun Super Tach from Auto Zone in my '88 MJ. IIRC it on;y cost $35. I just strapped it to the steering column at about the 10:30 position, so it's easy to see and read and I can still see the big gas gauge behind it. All the ones I found came with a shiny chrome bezel, so before I even installed it I masked out the lens and housing and sprayed the bezel with satin black paint. Looks much better, and isn't blinding when the sub shines from certain angles. Sun also makes a "mini" 2-inch version of the same tach.

Find a cluster from an 87-1/2 thru 90 XJ or MJ, and bolt it in. Replace the temperature sending unit on the back left corner of the head and the oil pressure sending unit with the ones for gauges, and you're done.

Advance adapters makes whatever you need to do a small block conversion in an XJ/MJ. It's a tight fit, and the problem once you get it in there will be cooling. I've seen a few and wheeled with one guy who had one, and overheating was the norm. I guess if you have the engines it might make sense to try using one, but personally I wouldn't do it.

It will cause bump steer, not sure about death wobble though. :agree: Yep -- bump steer. Shouldn't contribute to death wobble. However, with that much lift I would expect the tie rod end on the drag link to wear quickly, and if that's loose it could be a contributing factor. The typical dropped pitman has about 1" of drop -- that's not much compensation for an 11" lift. What's the caster angle?

Most foot-pound torque wrenches aren't accurate in that range. It's worth a few bucks to invest in an inch-pound torque wrench.

IMHO a lot more of the rusted floor syndrome is the result of water leaks accumulating under the carpet than due to corrosion of the floor panel from the outside.