Eagle

Agreed -- one of each is the way to go (unless you can swing three of each). The SWB is better for wheeling and daily driver duty, but the LWB is definitely more "utilitarian." At the moment I have three SWB and two LWB here. Eventually I need to "thin the herd" and I hope to end up with one restored SWB and one half decent LWB. Although the '88 SWB 4-banger is sort of a sentimental favorite and I may talk myself into keeping that one, as well.

Dude, $2,500 is about the down payment on fixing that. Your pickup box got shoved forward far & hard enough to dent the cab.

A 4-cyl 5-speed would have had 4.10 gears. A 4-cyl 4-speed would have had 3.55 gears. Either way, the 4-cyl transmission would not bolt up to the 6-cylinder engine, so either you misunderstood him, or he isn't giving you the straight story. Also, the 2000 XJ used a totally different computer and injection/ignition system, and converting an older XJ or MJ to work with the newer system is ... complex. You would need to find out exactly (and I mean (EXACTLY) what in the vehicle is original 87, and what is from the 2000 ... and what he did to make them interface. The '87 short bed was available with a Dana 44 ... I own one. Mine came from the factory with a Dana Trak-Loc limited slip. You can easily upgrade to the equivalent of a Metric Tonne suspension with new springs, or by adding an extra leaf to the old springs (but not a typical add-a-leaf, which would generate excessive lift). But ... why would you want to do that? The stock MJ is rated to carry 1400+ pounds. That's a 3/4 ton truck ... are you really going to carry more than 1400 pounds on a regular basis? That truck, except for the Dana 44 (if it has one) sounds like a good one to stay away from. I foresee nothing but problems.

Buckets, by a wide margin.

I dunno. I thought they were a full differential, but I was never seriously interested in one so I never pursued the specifications.

Or that you have your foot on or off the throttle. Shift on the fly going INTO 4WD only works if the front and rear wheels are turning at the same speed. If the front wheels are rolling along at 30 MPH but the rear wheels are on slippery stuff and spinning at 45 MPH ... what do you THINK is likely to happen if all of a sudden the transfer case tries to lock both drive shafts together? The name of the game is "neutral throttle" -- ideally you should be on fairly level ground so you can "feather" the throttle so you are neither accelerating nor compression braking. That ensures that the rear wheels won't be spinning faster or slower than the front, allowing for a smooth shift into 4WD. And I agree -- if the conditions call for 4WD, one definitely should not be going 70 MPH, or anywhere near 70 MPH.

I agree ... and I disagree. A front locker generally provides no advantage on pavement, because you're usually in 2WD on pavement. But a locker also does not affect turning when running in 2WD because there's no power going to the front axle, so the locker never locks. If it does ... it ain't workin'. Aussie is good, but it's a real carrier locker. The best bang for the buck is a lunchbox locker in the front. A lot of people also like the True Trac, which is a gear driven limited slip that is tiotally transparent in the front on pavement.

Have you changed the fluid and cleaned or replaced the filter screen?

What wide track version? Was there a wide track version in the MJ? Nobody ever tells me nuthin'!

The simple answer is that Pep Boys sells replacement ignition lock cylinders for around $12 (maybe up to $15 by now, I haven't bought one for a couple of years). Replace the original lock cylinder and you don't have to do any rewiring.

I also agree with Jeepco. It's one thing to REPLACE the stock ignition with a toggle switch and push button because you want it that way. It's a very different matter to throw in a booty-fab switch because some idiot wrecked your steering column. You have no idea what broke inside that column, so you now have no idea if/when the steering may decide to lock up on you when driving. Disabling something in a known and controlled manner is different from breaking it. IMHO your friend owes you a steering column.

Are you running the factory overload leaves? It's hard to imagine spring wrap with those installed.

Gotcha. That's okay. However, the brakes must still override the 4-ways or it's not street legal.

JUST stopping the brake lights from overriding the 4-ways is potentially dangerous, and probably illegal. The Cherokee doesn't "override" anything. The Cherokee has a set of dedicated, amber lights for turn signals and 4-ways in the rear. The MJ does not. If you want to do something to ensure that you always have 4-ways, IMHO you'd need to add another pair of bulbs (one on each side) or take one bulb on each side out of the normal circuit and dedicate it as a 4-way. Personally, I plan to add lights front and rear and control them with a toggle switch.

The fuel gauge inaccuracy is due to the difference in the resistance value of the fuel gauge sender potentiometer. This can be corrected by adding a resistor in series in the output to add resistance, or adding resistance in parallel across the pot to lower the resistance. I posted the two pot values some time ago here, but can't seem to find them now. :eek: There isn't a huge difference in the resistance. The Renix sender has a range of 0 to 88 ohms. The HO sender has a range of 105 to 0 ohms. The gross difference is 17 ohms, but if you add a resistor of that value to correct the high end of the scale, the other end will be off by 17 ohms. If I were doing it, I think I'd use about an 8-ohm resister, with the hope of getting better accuracy through the mid-range of the scale and accepting some inaccuracy on both ends. Or maybe find a potentiometer in that range so you can dial it in so the gauge works accurately in the range where you most need it to be accurate. For me, that would be from about half down to one-quarter. Full is full, but when it gets down to a half I start thinking about needing to fill up. That's where I'm most concerned about whether or not may gauge is correct.

The MJ taillights are unique. From a distance, they look almost identical to Dodge pickups of around the same vintage, and on the NAXJA forum someone once reported "reliably" that the Dodge taillights fit the MJ. They don't. The general style and shape is similar, but the size and proportions are different.

The firewall may or may not need to be modified. Most people who do a 4.0L swap into an 86 or earlier XJ or MJ do have to modify the firewall, some don't. Jeepco is correct about the front end -- the entire radiator and support structure is different for the 4.0L. The easiest 6-cylinder swap is a GM 3.4L from a rear wheel drive Camaro. It's the same block as the 2.8L that Jeep used in 84 thru 86, so all the brackets and "stuff" you'll need are available without custom fabrication.

4.10s won't be enough gear for 33s or 35s with a 5-speed, not even with a 4.0L. My rule of thumb is 3.73 for 30" tires, 4.10 for 31" tires, 4.56 for 33" tires, and 4.88 for anything larger. And it never hurts to go one gear beyond those, but backing off one ratio (taller) is probably a mistake. IMHO, simply forget about running anything larger than 30" tires with the 4-cylinder.

It¿s a GM Delco alternator, but the space in which it fits is tight. It's my understanding (I have not tried to test this) that a higher output alternator has a deeper housing, and it won't fit the space available.

The wiring is NOT the same. Cherokees (except for the 84 thru 86 XJ Wagoneers) have dedicated amber turn signals. The MJs share the same bulbs and filaments for both brake lights, 4-ways, and turn signals. In a Cherokee, you can turn on the 4-ways and the brake lights will work and not lock up the 4-ways. In a Comanche, if you step on the brake while the 4-ways are on ... the brakes lock up the 4-way and they stop flashing. Not to mention that an XJ housing is a completely different size and shape than an MJ housing.

My wife and I just ushered in the new year with a glass of her favorite Chilean wine. Happy New Year to all of you.

And I believe 1990 was the year Chrysler began using the c-clips. Hint -- the designation "Dana 35C" does NOT indicate that the axle is a c-clip axle.

If you do the bolt through the floor, be sure to use an over-sized fender washer under the floor. You don't want the bolt head to pull through the floor in the event of a sudden stop ...

I ran 30s on my XJ with 3.07 gears. It was drivable on the street, but rather "doggy." Not good off-road -- the crawl ratio even in low range was terrible. The 3.73s I put in the MJ were originally bought for use in the XJ with 30" tires, and I still think 3.73 is the optimum all-around ratio for 30" tires. But that wasn't a factory ratio. If you're shopping for complete axles in a junkyard, I would favor 3.55 if it's a daily driver, and 4.10s if you do much off-roading.

Unless he got a kit with a drop track bar bracket and pitman arm. But unless your kit is a 6"+ lift there is no need to mess with the pitman arm. BTW... What lift are you installing? Doesn't matter what lift he's getting, the pitman arm is indexed and he can't "straighten" the steering by trying to "clock" the pitman arm on the steering box output shaft. If he did manage to do that, all it would do is put the pitman out of alignment with the steering box, which will cause further problems in the future. Just use a pickle fork to bust the drag link loose from the pitman arm.