Eagle

I am not certain, but I strongly suspect that the rear brakes for the AMC 20 axle are the same as the parts for the Dana 44 with 10" x 2-1/2" drums. I overlooked the part of your post about documenting the brakes. All you need is a parts listing -- the brakes for an 88 or 89 4.0L are the exact same brake parts as for an 86 2.5L and 2.8L. More than likely Brent (BLHTAZ) could provide you with a factory parts manual exploded view of the front brakes with the accompanying part numbers, which would show that both years and all engines used the same brakes from 86 thru 89.

Factory spec is 13 psi (minimum) at warm idle, and 35 to 75 above 1600 RPM. If you don't drop below 20 psi, you're in good shape. Highway cruise should be between 40 and 55 psi, but if it's only 35 I wouldn't fall on a sword because of it.

Yes. When cold, the bottle should be half full. At operating temperature, the coolant expands, which is what creates the pressure. At operating temperature there should be almost no air space in the surge bottle.

The '90 front brakes are actually worse than the '86. 1990 was the first year for the new, composite rotors. They provide no better stopping power, but they are MUCH more likely to warp, and those were the rotors that were the object of a massive recall because the sheet metal "hat" portion was rusting away and leaving Jeeps with no front brakes. In addition, all the related parts are different due to offset dimensions. I've posted the parts compatibility list several times. To change to 1990 brakes on an '86 you have to either eplace the entire front axle, or replace the knuckles, hubs, calipers and rotors. That's a lot of work to go through in exchange for inferior brakes.

Oh, I understand the implications of funding. That's how I ended up running 3.73 gears with 31x10.50 tires. The gears had been bought for use in an XJ with 30x9.50s, then the MJ came along and followed me home. 31" tires with 3.07 gears were predictably sucky and I had the gears, so I had 'em installed in the MJ. It was a decent combination on pavement, but it didn't turn it into a rocket ship. And off-road, the crawl ratio was deficient.

Correct. The bigger the better. Off-road tires with sizes like 31x10.50-15 or 33x12.50-15 are called "flotation" tires for a reason -- they were intended to be large, oversized tires that would "float" over sand. As Pete said -- air down. You want to spread the load out over as large a contact patch as possible. Locked is good, both axles locked is better. The last thing you want/need in loose sand is one wheel digging a hole while one or more another wheels just stand around and watch. Also, speed is good. Stopping is your enemy. A few years ago I went to Chile at the invitation of NAXJA member "Mike in Chile" to see what kind of trouble I could get into with his "Total Traccion" 4WD club. Near the coast of Chile they have a HUGE area of pure sand dunes, about 12 miles wide and 20 or 25 miles long. That's where we went. Two of the guys on street tires got hopelessly stuck right at the entrance. Mike's (wife's) XJ did pretty well, but eventually we got to one very high, very steep dune that everyone wanted to climb, and nobody good. Roberto, driving a very well-prepped older Toyota Land Crusher could only make it halfway up -- and he was our rescue vehicle. And then we heard in the distance the sound of an ENGINE. I don't mean just any engine -- this sounded like a NASCAR stocker with open pipes. (As it turns out, the engine was basically a NASCAR engine.) "Ah," said Mike, "here comes El Gachito. Now you'll see how to drive the dunes." And then over another dune comes this ... thing. It began life as a Camaro, but it had been stripped, fully caged, had axles on it that must have been three feet wider than the tub, and about the biggest, widest tires I have ever seen. And, of course, the afore-mentioned NASCAR engine. He pulled up, watched for a few minutes as the other guys made more futile attempts to crest this monster dune, then headed toward his beast. "El Gachito" didn't speak English, but through Mike he asked if I'd like to ride shotgun. "Go for it," said Mike, so I accepted. So El G fired up the beast, backed off about 100 yards, and took a run at the dune. He started rolling slowly, and just before the base of the dune he planted his foot and in the passenger seat it felt like I was in an F-15 hitting afterburners on a short runway. The thing took off -- and we made it about 2/3 of the way up. Farther than anyone else had gotten, and we weren't dug in down to the axles and needing to get dug out like everyone else, but we didn't top it. El G muttered something in Spanish that I remembered from 7th grade Spanish class as indicative of bovine excrement, backed down to the starting point, moved a wad of rags on the floor between the seats and reached down with a wrench through a hole in the floor pan. I pointed and shrugged, asking "WTF?" "Quatro por quatro," he said. Yeah -- this dude runs the dunes 90% of the time in 2WD, relying on the flotation of the huge tires and pure speed to keep him from sinking in. He gets very unhappy if he actually has to use 4WD -- but in this case he had to. So he gets it into 4WD, stuffs the rags back in the hole, and takes another run. This time he hit the loud peddle a little earlier, too -- and we crested the dune doing probably 40 MPH, like it wasn't even there. Speed and flotation are your friends in sand. And there endeth the reading for today.

:agree: that is why i replace them with 3.55 after the d35 gear got chewed up a bit Not much of an improvement. Running 3.73 gears and 31x10.50 tires only gets you back to the equivalent of a stock 3.55 ratio on stock tires. 3.73 is a good ratio for 30" tires (which was the plan when I bought the gears), but for anything larger you need at least 4.10s or maybe even 4.56.

Asking for "cheap" in a long-arm suspension conversion is asking for disaster. I like Clayton's, in large measure because I have wheeled with him and I know that the suspension was designed to stand up to the way he abuses it. http://www.claytonoffroad.com/index.asp ... herokee!XJ

I feel left out ... I don't see a logo OR a little box with an 'X' in it.

It might help to post a photo of what the kit includes.

You didn't say if it's a 2.5L or a 4.0L. Keep in mind that the TJ front axle is a low-pinion D30, so it's okay for street and light (dirt road) 4x4 use, it's nowhere near as strong as the high-pinion D30s used in the MJs and pre-Y2K XJs. If you're looking at a lift in the future, the low pinion means you'll start encountering pinion angle problems with less lift than if the axle had a high pinion.

I use Purolator filters. The Mobil-1 oil filters are also supposed to be excellent. JUST DON'T USE FRAM!

Are you by any chance running a FRAM oil filter? If so, there's your problem ...

It's called "headlight sentinal" and it was an option at least as far back as 1988. My XJ has it. I believe it's just a small module that snaps in between the headlight switch and the under-dash wiring harness. In fact, a lot of XJs and MJs had it. You may have it and not know it. It doesn't work like the auto-off feature on a lot of foreign cars, where you can just leave your headlights switched on 24/7 and they'll always turn off after 'X' minutes. The headlight sentinal requires you to turn the lights off manually, or they'll stay on until the battery is dead. If you switch the lights off before turning off the ignition, you'll never know the option is there ... the lights just turn off. However, if you switch off the ignition first, THEN turn off the headlights ... they stay on for one minute.

It's no different ... and the XJ/MJ fuel pump is known for burning out if the tank is allowed to run too low. The pump needs the liquid around it for cooling. That's the way it was designed.

Pretty simple if you don't have trouble getting the brake drum off -- about a 1.67-beer job. If the drum is frozen on, it becomes a 12-beer, 5-pound sledge hammer job.

Yes, I noticed. This site is a sort of MJ family/community/reference resource. So you think it's a good idea to ask a question, get all the feedback you can, reject most of it because it doesn't match your preconceptions ... and then erase your tracks. That's not how responsible members of an on-line community act. That type of behavior is usually indicative of a T-R-O-L-L.

Not all strokers have the tabs removed, and not all need them removed. The ONLY reason for having to tinker with the distributor indexing is if an aftermarket camshaft doesn't have the distributor drive gear properly indexed to the cam lobes. If the camshaft is in spec, there's no reason to cut off the locating tabs.

If you are referring to a clutch master cylinder -- do NOT buy it off the Internet. Aftermarket clutch hydraulics typically last about 6 months, maximum. Don't know why, but it seems that only genuine Jeep parts work for this application. It'll cost you a few $$$ more, but get the real deal.

If by DOT 5 you mean silicone -- that's what I've been running in brakes and clutch for years. IMHO it makes even more sense for the clutch, because in the event of a leak the silicone won't trash the fuse panel. (It'll be slippery and wet and messy, but it won't be trashed.)

Unfortunately, you're a couple of years too late. I already donated one MJ to a company who said they needed one for prototyping rear bumpers. There's a line of people still waiting to see the bumpers, and the guy, the company, and my truck have disappeared. I ain't giving any more away.

Nope. Pete and Summerinmaine are correct. The distributor has locating ears on it. The position is fixed and timing is not adjustable. Timing is manipulated by the ECU based on inputs from the CPS and the cam position sensor in the distributor. Let's keep in mind that this is an '87 MJ, with stock gearing and running oversized tires. The Renix 4.0Ls engines were torque engines, not drag race engines, so the owner's expectations may not be realistic for the way these engines work. Automatic won't be as horrible as a 5-speed, but putting larger tires on a Renix MJ without re-gearing does make a very noticeable difference in (lack of) acceleration. And the '87 was rated a few horsepower and foot-pounds lower than the 88-90 versions. If it won't shift going up a hill, the downshift cable probably needs to be adjusted.

Ahah! You have actually done this? I have always maintained that it's possible, but the shop foreman at my dealership swears it can't be done so I never pursued it. Thank you, thank you! How hard a job was it to accomplish?

All you have proven is that you have a temperature signal from the sensor to the diagnostic plug under the hood. Unless you're leaving something out, you haven't verified that the signal is actually reaching the ECU. The switch from open to closed loop IS based on operating temperature. If the signal is reaching the ECU, then you may indeed have a flakey ECU.

Yes. If the ZJ is a V8, they'll probably give you more lift than advertised. XJ Up Country (factory +1") springs are the same part number as ZJ V8 springs.