Eagle

If the camper is going to live there permanently, Motion's 4-1/2" heavy-duty springs might be the answer, and avoid tinkering with the front. If you're happy with the front, you want to match that height and still be able to carry the camper. Is the front really 4"? The stock height measured from the axle centerline to the flare should be 17-1/2 inches in the front.

Oh my gawd! 3 inch coils with 3 inch spacers? YIKES! That's not a lift kit, that's an accident waiting to happen. Run away!

Then you won't have problems after 4WD -- at least, none that a transfer case drop would fix. The drop only lowers the transfer case, not the motor mounts. A drop helps the rear driveshaft angle, but at the expense of making the front u-joint angle worse by a similar angle. If it ain't broke ... don't fix it.

I guess some people get away with resurfacing, but the FSM specifically says not to. I remember some people from NAXJA who were having clutch problems. Turned out thei had had shops replace the clutch, and the shops had resurfaced the flywheel. Once they replaced the flywheel, their problems disappeared. You might get lucky, but I wouldn't bet the farm. I also wouldn't buy a "reconditioned" flywheel from a parts house. The shop manual specifically says the flywheel has a contour. I don't know what it is, but I suspect it's a very shallow taper rather than a perfectly flat surface. Unless it is reconditioned to replicate that contour, it's no different from taking your own flywheel and running it through a surface grinder.

Unplug the power to the black box under the dash. Write down your mileage, and change the O2 sensor after 75,000 miles.

Long bed or short bed? It makes a difference.

Lift springs are designed for lift, not capacity. To carry a moderately heavy load on a full-time basis, you need a spring with capacity, not arch. Rusty's springs are known to be soft from the git-go, so having his spring re-arched will be a very short-term solution, at best. Let's get to basics: you need capacity, but do you NEED lift? Or would stock height springs that don't sag do the job for you, perhaps even better than lift? I don't think you have the equivalent of a Metric Tonne suspension, because the MT wasn't a lift -- it was more and thicker leaves, for a stock ride height with extra carrying capacity. My plan for creating a faux Metric Tonne is going to use two cut-off XJ main leaves as AALs. I'm going to go with the XJ leaves specifically because they have less built-in arch, and for that reason I hope they won't add much lift, but they'll settle in close to the stock ride height and add capacity. It sounds to me like Motion's heavy-duty 3-1/2" springs would be a good choice for you.

Don't forget the hubs are different, too.

Various methods have been posted here. The simplest seems to be to remove the E-clip from the sfat, slide the shaft over to the engaged position, then reinstall the E-clip on the other side of the fork. Why don't you just do it at home, before you leave for Baja? That way you won't ever have to worry about it.

The factory block heater goes into either the front or the #2 freeze plug hole on the left (driver's side) of the block. Did you buy yours from Jeep? I retrofitted an '88 XJ 4.0L with a new one from the dealer and it went right in with no problems.

I would say to just ask the owner if it turns over or not, but I've become aware in recent years that there are a LOT of people out there who don't even understand what that means. To far too many people, "does not start" is the same as "does not turn over."

With smaller lifts, you definitely want to stay with Jeep factory rims in 15x6 or 15x7 because they have enough backspacing to allow the tires to "stuff" inside the fenders. There are (to the best of my knowledge, information and belief) NO aftermarket rims offering 5-1/4" or even 5" backspacing. Put anything larger than about a 205/75R15 on an aftermarket rim, and the tires hit the flares and/or sheet metal when the suspension compresses. With factory rims, the issue is tire contact with the lower control arms. The largest tire that usually fits with no rubbing at all is a 235/75R15. I have run 30x9.50s on both an '87 MJ and '88 XJ and get some very slight rubbing. I also ran 31x10.50R15s on my '88 MJ. They rubbed the control arms on sharp turns. In stock trim, the steering range is about 3-1/2 turns of the steering wheel, lock-to-lock. With the 31s, I lost between 1/4 and 1/2 turn at each extreme. What that means is, quite simply, a larger minimum turning radius. It's not a major problem, and even with the "impaired" turning circle the MJ still turned in a smaller circle than my brother's 4x4 Nissan "hardbody." With a 1" or 2" budget boost, IMHO the optimum tire size is either a 235/75R15 or a 30x9.50R15. The diameter is almost the same -- the 30x are a little bit wider.

Agreed. They ain't makin' MJ beds any more. Once you cut it -- it's DONE.

I'm happy to hear that you got it fixed, but it would be nice if you'd share with the others of us having the same problem what you fixed ...

If you don't set it up with a flexy, long-travel suspension first, trying to drive it like that will leave you with a pile of broken metal right quick.

The side marker light blinks? Who else has a '90? I don't think the side markers are supposed to blink, but there is a wiring mod circulating on the Errornet (actually, a couple of different ones) to make them blink, and I wonder if a previous owner of your truck might have tried to accomplish one of those modifications. If so, it's anyone's guess what he might have messed up. I would start by tracing wiring back from the side markers and the front turn signals to see if you can find anything to suggest that the wiring has been "improved."

10-4. One of my friends in NAXJA bought a diesel Suburban for that exact purpose. It's a really nice tow vehicle, and it has plenty of room inside for a family of four (or, probably, even a family of six).

That could have been a surface charge. The only right way to test a battery is under load. For example, although it's not smart to make a practice of it, turning on the headlights and then hitting the starter gives you some idea of how much reserve capacity the battery has. If the lights dim out and the starter won't turn over the engine -- the battery isn't charged, regardless of what the voltmeter shows. The correct way to charge a battery is with a trickle or taper-charge battery charger ... and it takes several hours to fully recharge a dead battery. The industrial-strength fast chargers that shops use still require between 30 minutes and an hour to charge a battery -- and they are VERY hard on the battery in the process. It sounds like you just hooked the battery up to another vehicle for a few minutes and then started it. That's not enough to charge the battery.

Very high. Check with a known-accurate mechanical guage to verify the readings. And dump the Fram filter. So you had a $3.00 filter on the shelf. Is it worth blowing a $2,500 engine to save $3.00 on an oil filter? Yes, Fram filters are THAT bad. Factory spec for a warm engine is 13 psi minimum at idle, and 37 to 73 psi above 1600 RPM. Most 4.0L engines in good condition tend to run about 50 psi (+/- 5) at highway cruise. My '88 XJ with 279,000 on the clock still runs at about 45 psi using Castrol 5W50 synthetic.

It gets really confusing because there IS a Jeep model with those letters -- reversed. The Jeep YJ was the original, leaf spring, solid axle Wrangler. The newer Wranglers with coil springs and solid axles were the TJ models. And now there's the newest series, and I don't pay attention to it because it doesn't offer a 4.0L engine.

Lastly, remember that the 2000 and 2001 Cherokees and ALL ZJ Grand Cherokees have the low-pinion D30 front axle. So you're really looking for an XJ axle between 1995 and 1999.

I wondered the same thing. Even if you used the modified track rather than the factory OEM track, it would require a track wider than most roads to get up to a 4-1/2" lift under that formula. Must be the new math I keep hearing about ...

Ah, I see what you're saying. Yes, the limit for an MJ would be about 3 inches. Of course, in my state NO light truck (or car) can have any lift greater than 4" (body, suspension & tires combined). Somebody forgot to tell all the poseurs who drive their megatrucks to the mall with 12"+ lifts just so they can park on the grass landscape islands and look "cool."

According to that it would be 3" lift for MA.. Their formula says that a 2" lift and 2" larger tires = 4" total lift over stock ... someone needs to educate them a little on that. A 2" lift & 2" larger tire would = 3" total lift over stock... You're not looking at the formula, you're looking at an example. The formula is wheelbase x track / 2200. The example says it might be possible under that formula to qualify a 4" lift of which 2" comes from the body/suspension lift and 2" comes from larger tires.

According to that it would be 3" lift for MA.. Their formula says that a 2" lift and 2" larger tires = 4" total lift over stock ... someone needs to educate them a little on that. A 2" lift & 2" larger tire would = 3" total lift over stock... You're not looking at the formula, you're looking at an example. The formula is wheelbase x track / 2200. The example says it might be possible under that formula to qualify a 4" lift of which 2" comes from the body/suspension lift and 2" comes from larger tires.