Eagle

:doh:

I've been told that if you bought tow hooks as a factory option, the brackets were welded together. Mine were added later, using Jeep parts room brackets.

Chrysler stopped using the disconnect around 1991. All XJs built since then, as well as the last few years of the MJ and all years of the ZJ, had a solid axle shaft on the right side and no disconnect. That's not what's causing your popping. It sounds like the previous owner may have FUBARed the front locker by driving in 4WD on pavement. If the transfer case is in 2WD, there's no power to the front wheels and a front locker should be free-wheeling, not locked. I'm guessing yours isn't unlocking.

XJ skid plates are TOTALLY different from MJ skid plates. Not even close. [EDIT]Clarification: I'm thinking gas tank skid. Which one do you mean, steering, transfer case, or fuel tank?

Fixed it for you. Lordie, I have a pretty severe fear of heights. There is NO way you'd get me out on that walkway. Especially knowing that concrete without rebar has next to zero strength. I couldn't believe the way the guy just stepped right next to holes ... like, didn't he realize that's where someone else fell through?

I vote black, to match the XJ. But ... as the owner of a black XJ (my wife's ride), I agree it's difficult to keep looking nice.

There is an accessory mounting kit that attaches to the frame where the bumper brackets go, and then the bumper brackets attach to that. Last I knew, both Rusty's and Custom 4x4 both offered essentially the identical kit. Not certain, but it vaguely think I might recall that I may have seen it in a Keystone catalog, too ... but as individual parts rather than as a complete kit. Here ya go: http://www.custom4x4fabrication.com/rec ... l#brackets

I only know one guy (from the NAXJA North Atlantic Chapter) who has converted a D30 to locking hubs. He used the Warn conversion, but I think Milemarker makes a similar one. Personally, I think that's the way the XJ and the MJ should have been equipped from the factory (at least as an option from the factory), but marketing looked at how many people would NOT want to get there toes wet locking the hubs and decided against it. I guess if I had a lot of money I might convert a truck or two just to say I've done it, but in practical terms I don't really think it's worth the cost and effort.

A 205/70R15 is 8.1" wide and has a diameter of 26.3". The "static radius" (which is the height the center of the axle actually sits on a loaded tire) is 12.0" A 205/75R15 is 8.1" wide and has a diameter of 27.1". The static radius is 12.3". Not as bad as I thought, but smaller nonetheless. Even a 195/75 is 26.5" in diameter. They'll work, but they wouldn't be my first choice for a winter tire.

That's what's in the XJ rear license light. Don't know what's in the stock MJ license lights, mine all have aftermarket bumpres and no lights.

You can use it, but the easiest way would be to put your old head on it.

Don't forget that you will need a radiator and a fan to blow cool air through it.

The 2.5L got fuel injection in 1986, one year before the introduction of the 4.0L. Both were Renix-based systems, but the 2.5L had throttle body injection rather than multi-port. Chrysler redesigned the entire ignition/injection system for the 1991 model year, on both the 2.5L and the 4.0L. 1991 and newer 2.5L engines will have multi-port injection, they use a totally different computer and wiring setup, a different flywheel and CPS, and a different fuel pump (I think). The multi-port 2.5 engines put out quite a bit more power than the TBI versions and if you're up to doing all the work to make the upgrade, IMHO it's worthwhile. But it'll be a LOT more work than finding a 90 or earlier 2.5L and dropping it in. Oh -- he wants to keep the manifolds? Not good. I know the ports were raised in 1991 on the 4.0L and the shape of the ports was modified. I never checked, but I suspect the same is true for the 2.5L -- which would mean that you cannot bolt your manifolds on and go.

Definitely AAL. Get a used pair of XJ rear springs, take the main leaves and cut the eyes off, and use them as AALs. You'll need new center pins and a few rebound clips, available from www.huskyspring.com . That should give you about 1-1/2 inches. If you want a bit more, Rancho's full-length AAL for the XJ gives you 2 to 2-1/2 inches. Personally, I prefer to use the XJ main leaves because the arch matches the rest of the spring pack, so you don't have the AAL fighting the rest of the pack.

Yeah ... like about 2,000 RPM higher. IIRC the Renix torque peak was 2,250 RPM. The HO torque eak was 4,000 RPM. Further proving that Chrysler Corporation had zero understanding of what a Jeep really is when they bought Jeep from AMC.

Your close-up photo is so close-up I can't see what the problem is. You asked about bumper brackets. Are you now saying that the frame "ear" is bent? That's an integral part of the chassis. A good body shop could cut one off a wreck and weld it into yours -- for about five times what the truck is worth. Moe than likely, what you need is a come-along, a couple of bottle jacks, a torch to heat up the metal, and a BFH.

Hmmm... the book (for choosing light bulbs) at both the local NAPA and the Advance Auto both indicate that 1157 and 1156 can be used interchangeably in our vehicles. I don't think the book says they can be used interchangeably. The 1157 is a 2-filament bulb, used for taillights/brakelights in the MJ and for taillights/turn signals in the XJ. The 1156 only has one filament (and one contact on the base) and is used, as noted, for backup lights.

Personally, I'd buy a new bracket from QuadtaTec or Keystone. Only costs like $10 IIRC. Oops. Wrong again. $6.99. Not worth getting dirty for what you might save at a JY http://www.quadratec.com/products/55018_850.htm

In the eastern U.S., Pep Boys carries some rather cheap headliner fabric, and the adhesive. Also, we have a chain of sewing stors called JoAnne Fabrics. They carry good headliner material, and although I haven't seen it in the store my wife goes to, they claim they also have the adhesive. I don't know if JoAnne Fabrics has stores in Canada. Check it out.

Does it start right up again?

Oil pressure and temperature sensor, yes. Dunno about others.

Oh, yeah, most people call it a proportioning valve, or a combination valve, because it looks like the XJ proportioning/combination valve. But in the MJ it doesn't serve any proportioning function, and in so it isn't a proportioning valve and it isn't a combination valve. Most Internet "experts" also call the second brake line to the rear in an MJ a "return" line ... but it isn't. It's an emergency by-pass line. Don't believe everything you read. As a guy I used to work for often said, "Everything you read is true ... unless you have first-hand knowledge of the facts."

geometry pete. mvusse is correct...with the pinion angled up, if you were to lift the transfercase, it will actually change the angles more dramatically. by lowering it so the output is lowered multiple degrees, and raising the pinion a couple degrees, you keep a stock operating angle. I'd just not go this way about things, and I would buy rear springs for a 4.5" lift, and not drop the transfercase. I beat the crap out of my tranny x-member and I'm at 6.5" of lift, going over some fairly mild things too. Well, not exactly. Raising the pinion decreases the u-joint angle at the axle, but doesn't have much effect at the transfer case end. The result is unequal operating angles, and that's what causes vibrations. Lowering the transfer case decreases the u-joint angle at the transfer case end without having much effect on the axle end. The result (hopefully) is that the two u-joints will be back to more or less equal operating angles ... but the angle won't be the same as the stock angle.

I'm not seeing how a larger CCV line could possibly result in less oil being sucked up. Intuitively, it seems to me that would allow more oil to get pulled out of the valve area.

I agree the thing in question is the rear proportioning valve, but it is incorrect to suggest that there are two in an MJ. The front metering block in the MJ provides NO proportioning, all it does is send brake fluid out through the different hard lines. That's why I refer to it as a "metering block" rather than as a "combination valve." The one in an XJ (Cherokee) does include a proportioning function, and is therefore called a "combination valve." The one in the MJ is completely different, even though the shape of the aluminum chunk looks the same on the outside. If you have one that's just hanging, that means the actuating rod isn't connected to the differential, and that means the proportioning valve isn't adjusting for the height of the bed. It also means you have no idea if the proportioning valve is allowing full braking to the rear wheels, or NO braking to the rear wheels, or somewhere in between. It's in situations like this (or, as in mine, when the thing blows out) that I advocate just removing it and running a single line to the rear axle from the front. The plus to that is you always know you have full rear brakes. The negative is that full rear brakes may cause the rears to lock prematurely in a panic situation, so if you go that route -- try the brakes out in some hard stops, and if the rear end gets too squirrely for your comfort level, either replace the rear wheel cylinders with smaller diameter cylinders, or put a Wilwood adjustable proportioning valve into the line to the rear.