Eagle

You're lucky. Water usually destroys the TPS.

I like it. Just plate the "frame" to stiffen it.

Oops. Missed that part. Sorry.

You do not have to drop the front axle to change the bearings. It does help to jack the vehicle up and let the axle droop, for pan clearance. The PITA part is maneuvering the pan off with the oil pump pickup in place. The other issue is getting the pan loose. The factory pretty much glued it on. It's hard to remove without mangling the flange. Best approach is to loosen the bolts but leave them in the hole. Then get something thin but stiff (like a paint scraper but not flexy like a putty knife), get it started, and then just chase it all the way around until you have it loose. Once it's open look at the main bearings. You'll probably be through the bearing material and showing copper. Unless your crank is fubar, replace with stock size bearings. Keep in mind the factory occasionally used cranks that were ground .010 under, so check the codes on the bock near the distributor to see if you need stock or 10-under bearings. If the rod bearings look bad, replace them too. I would expect that they are probably okay. When you button it up again, get the '95+ one-piece pan gasket. It's much easier to work with, and it provides a better seal. And while the bearing caps are off (for obvious reasons, only do one bearing at a time), it would be a good idea to replace the rear main seal while you have everything accessible.

Doesn't the fuel pressure regulator shut down the pump after the initial prime? As to the crank, the START circuit completely bypasses the ballast resistor and provides full 12-volt power to the fuel pump for starting. Once you release the key to the RUN position, it goes back to the normal circuit and routes power through the ballast resistor.

How many miles are on the engine, and do you have any idea how well (or poorly) the previous owner took care of it? Low oil pressure usually means bearings. I know several people from NAXJA who dropped the oil pan and replaced the bearings to get back their disappearing oil pressure. Try the mechanical gauge first. If it confirms the low pressure, don't panic. It means some work, but it doesn't mean you have to start shopping for a $2500 rebuilt engine. What weight oil do you run? Do a change, and throw in Mobil-1 15W50. See if that helps.

Well, if that's enough to make you happy, I'm glad it seems to be working out. But I reiterate -- I don't think they get to choose to "total" your vehicle. And they are "letting" you keep YOUR vehicle? How bloody generous of them. What the blazes esle could they do? They can't steal your truck or cancel your title. If you don't sign off on the settlement -- there isn't a settlement. Too bad the other driver is a friend ... sort of. That insurance company really needs to be taught some manners.

Roger that. The clutches do wear out, and once they wear out it's just another open diff. The time to rebuild it is when it's already out of the vehicle. Last time I checked the rebuild kit was around $65 ... it's probably closer to $80 by now.

Why not just rethread the rod that's there?

The bad news is -- where the heck do you put it? There's no extra space in there at all.

Funny you should ask. I just spent the morning removing and de-gumming the carburetor on my generator. First off - use Sta-Bil in the gas. RELIGIOUSLY. Don't buy a can of gas for the mower and generator and say "I'll add the Sta-Bil next week" or "Nah - next tank." Add it as soon as you get the gas home from the station. And continue to exercise the generator every couple of months. Actually, I've been told by old timers (yes, even older than I -- my uncle for one, now passed away) that a generator should be run monthly with out fail. And that was before the gasolines were reformulated. The new stuff turns to varnish in a nanosecond.

84 - 86 you pretty much have to find a 4-cyl or 6-cyl tach in order for it to read correctly. The "2nd generation" (87 - 90) cluster has a tach with a potentiometer on it to adjust for 4-cyl or 6-cyl.

Hey, Andy - Long time no talk. How's it going? Say hi to your wife for me. I would not trust that bypass to not be bored through. The one I cut open wasn't, but I cut ONLY one. It is obviously intended to be bored through, otherwise it would not (could not) function as a bypass, and that's what it's for. The annotated version of my photo (kindly produced by jtdesigns) shows how it should work. If you don't plug it, under normal conditions there should never be any pressure or fluid getting to it. But, if you lose the fronts, the slider will more, directing pressure to that bypass, and then it's an open circuit. That means you'll have NO brakes. All you need to plug it is a fine thread bolt. I don't remember if it's a 5/16" or a 3/8" but it's one of those two, I'm pretty certain. (Oh, be safe and buy a 7/16" while you're at the bolt emporium.) It is definitely a fine thread (SAE), though, not coarse (UNC). You could just put a dab of RTV on the end of the bolt and stick it in there. I wanted it to look a bit neater, so I cut it to length to barely kiss the seat with an O-ring on the bolt, then I also added RTV so when I installed it, it seats with the head compressing the O-ring on the valve body and the RTV sealing the actual hole in the valve. That should translate to a double seal. I'm all about redundancy when it comes to my life and things designed to protect it.

No. Not on the old ones. Neutral on the transfer case disengages the transmission from the transfer case, but it locks the front and rear drive shafts. If they try to tow it like that with the front wheels on the arms and the rear wheels on the ground -- it'll get interesting in a hurry. For a short tow leave it in 2WD. For a long tow, have them use a flatbed.

I believe there should be some advance at idle, but I don't recall how much. In the case of the sick beast, if there's suspicion of a slipped tooth on the timing chain I'd be looking for the timing to be right off the scale. Since I have 277,000+ miles on the original chain, I doubt very much that's the problem. I'm more suspicious of the cam position sensor in the distributor, and for that I'd be looking for erratic timing.

Easy enough to check. The timing isn't adjustable, but there's still a timing index on the front cover and a timing mark on the vibration damper. Clean 'em up, hook up ye olde timing light, and see what it shows.

87 thru 90 can also be installed by using an 87 - 90 speedometer cable. The wiring is all compatible, it's the way the cable connects to the speedometer head that's different. Since your MJ seems to have the PRNDL on the steering column, you don't have to worry about retrofitting a PRNDL to a cluster that doesn't have one.

A Sun Supertach has four wires. Two are for the light. Of the two for the tach, one goes to ground and the other goes to the negative terminal of the coil. Pretty straightforward. But for the price of a Sun tach you can probably find a full cluster with the tach and gauges, and buy the two sending units you'll need for the swap.

Basically, that's about it. Not sure if the difference is only 2" though. I thought TJ coils lost more like 3" or 4" compared to their listed height when used in an XJ or MJ. But the spring diameter is the same and they will go into the vehicle.

No, because he already has gauges, not idiot lights. Read question before answering, Grasshopper. Boilermaker is correct -- 91 and newer uses an electronic speedo and the clusters do not interchange with the older models using mechanical speedos. In the original question and the pic he has idiot lights. Its a little confusing because he says gauge instead of cluster. Good point. I thought he said he has gauges, but the upper pic doesn't show clearly what he has. I believe I mis-read the way he wrote the question. My bad -- sorry.

hardware. plumbing section. i forget the thread, but it's like 3/8" pipe thread i believe. I can try and find out for you, but you should be able to simply walk in to the parts store and tell them what you need as well. parts stores DO have plumbing hardline as well, but for some reason I just trust the local hardware store more than advance auto or napa :redX: To blank off the unused port? It isn't a pipe thread, it's a straight thread. It's either a 5/16" or 3/8" fine thread machine bolt. You won't find one short enough, so to do it neat you have to cut it off. I chopped mine and put an o-ring under the head. In reality, it'll probably work if you leave it sticking out and tighten it down so the end of the bolt digs into the old seat and makes it's own seal, but I wanted a neater appearance.

No, because he already has gauges, not idiot lights. Read question before answering, Grasshopper. Boilermaker is correct -- 91 and newer uses an electronic speedo and the clusters do not interchange with the older models using mechanical speedos.

The timing is not adjustable. You can't rotate the distributor because it is locked in place with locating ears. Timing is taken care of by the crank position sensor (CPS) and cam position sensor. There was a very old tech bulletin about cutting off the ears to "index" the distributor, but if it made it to 199,000 miles, it doesn't need it now. The indexing issue usually arises when installing an aftermarket camshaft that doesn't have the drive gear correctly indexed to the cam profile. You might think about the cam position sensor in the distributor.

The YJ did use a high-pinion D30 in front, with a disconnect, so the internals will swap. Obviously, since it was a leaf spring suspension, the externals won't swap without serious work. But ... The YJ never had an NV 3550 tranny. The early ones had the Peugeot, and the later ones had the AX-15 (and all the 4-bangers had the AX-5). If the donor Jeep really has an NV3550, that means it's a TJ and the front axle is a low-pinion.

I agree. But if the next time is a fair fight, our guy could lose. Never bet unless it's a sure thing. Right now, our guy has bragging rights, and if the other kid keeps asking for a rematch he just looks like a whiner. If you GIVE him a rematch, and lose ... you look like a dork.