Eagle

You don't need a torch. You don't have to remove the rivet. Take out the bolts through the top of the clamps, and there's enough room to fit an additional leaf into the pack. If you have to, you can take a rat-tail file and elongate the holes in the vertical legs of the clamps just a bit. Oops -- just looked closer at your photo. My springs are different from yours. What I would do is un-bend the tops of those clamps so the sides are just vertical. Built the AAL into the pack, then drill through the tops of the clamps and run a through bolt from one side to the other.

You don't want to use an AAL that's so short it fits between the stck leaf clamps. It will have to be VERY stiff, and it's going to concentrate a lot of stress in the other leaves right at the tips of the AAL. It's a VERY poor solution. I don't mind doing AALs, but the only way to go is full-length AAL (IMHO) BTW, this sounds tech-ish, so I'm moving it to Tech

Check your state laws/MV regulations before doing a turn-down. In Connecticut, I don't think they are legal (although that may not apply to pickups, I don't remember for certain).

Freeze plugs are fine...I'm opening up the block drains to drian the coolant so I can change the head gasket. That's what I thought. Some of the previous responses seemed to be talking about freeze plugs. I've pulled the block drains with the engine in the vehicle. Never tried to pull the temp sender in the block. I think the FSM meant to remove the sender in the head. Just be careful it doesn't snap off ... although since you'll have the head off anyway, you would have access to drilling out the stub.

He'll fit right in in Noo Yawk.

That's why I like the J.C. Whitney stuff. You can buy a 25-foot roll for a lot less than a set of Bushwhackers, and have plenty left over for replacements if you trash one offroad. It won't look quite as nice as the Bushwhackers (now THERE's an understatement!), but "functional" and "cheap" are the twin mantras of all true Jeepers.

HOLD ON! What, exactly, are you looking to remove? Are you removing the freeze plugs, or the threaded block drains that you're supposed to open when draining and refilling the coolant?

I have a roll of the standard width stuff, but I took off the 31x10.50 tires so I don't need to install it. I goofed -- I bought the style that needs a flat lip inside the wheel arch, and the kid who sold me the MJ cut rear wheel openings back so far there is no metal there I could fold back to make a lip. I should have bought the style for surface mounting. It's good, heavy rubber. I don't know how long it would stay flexible once exposed to U.V. in the sun, but it's pretty solid stuff.

It wouldn't be necessary for making the engine run, but the 2.5L has a 1-piece rear main seal, which means you have to pull the tranny and flywheel to replace it. If you're pulling the tranny to replace the flywheel, it would probably be a good idea to pull a preemptive strike and do the seal while you have access to it.

May not be "better" but a lot cheaper is those rolls of rubber fender extender stuff that J. C. Whitney sells. http://www.jcwhitney.com/EASY-TO-TRIM-R ... _10101.jcw It's cheap, and it's flexible. What's not to like? If you have wide tires that stick out, get the heavy-duty, 3" type.

Also try truck stops. I think I know what you have in mind -- sort of like "The Club" but with a rod that goes down to lock into/onto the peddles.

Dude ruined her whole evening. She probably didn't even stay to see the second half. You just have to hope they aren't weren't living together ...

This place is like NAXJA was "in the beginning." In a way, it's probably a blessing there are so few MJs, because that means it's not likely we'll ever see the inundation of smart mouths that has ruined NAXJA in recent years. Perhaps masochism (as in shared devotion to a dinosaur vehicle that was never more than an afterthought anyway) is a powerful common bond ... Anyhoo, I second CWs thoughts and I join in hoping we can always keep it this way. And I also (again) thank Pete for making this place possible.

Nope -- sorry. The RMS can be replaced on the 4.0L by just dropping the pan, because it's a 2-piece seal. For some inexlicable reason, they used a 1-piece seal on the 2.5L. You have to pull the tranny and flywheel to change it.

Another vote for Pete's idea. I've done it in the past. It only failed once.

Backspacing is even more of a problem in the back than it is in the front. In the front, you can use WJ lower control arms, and shim the steering stops. In the rear ... ... in the rear, on stock 15x7 rims a 31x10.50 will rub the inner sidewall against the inside surface of the fender/box if there's any off-camber articulation in the axle at all -- plus the sidewalls run perilously close to the spring packs, which can have some comparatively sharp corners that don't play nicely with sidewalls. I would say a 10.50 is the absolute widest tire you can put on the rear with rims that use the factory 5-1/4" backspacing. BTW -- this seems sort of like a tech-ish question, so I think I'll move it over to "Tech."

You mean the 2-door Bushwhackers? Yeah, they might work, because they are intended to go on an XJ after you open up the stock wheel opening. On an MJ I guess you would need to trial mount them first and mark where they extend to, and then see how much material you can actually trim. It will be less than on an XJ. It's an expensive experiment if they don't fit, though. I would want to see some photos and maybe some measurements before I plunked down my hard-earned cash on a set, but if they will work they'd probably look pretty nice.

You may have been led to believe that, but you would have been misled. The STOCK flares for all XJs are the same. The 2-door and 4-door are identical. When you get into Bushwhackers, they make a different one for the 4-door because a section of it has to mount on the rear door due to the larger size. The rear MJ flares are not the same as rear XJ flares. They are approximately 2" longer and 2" higher than the XJ flares. It may be possible to use 2-door XJ flares on an MJ, but I am not certain.

Did I miss something? I didn't see any mention of replacing the '88 CPS (that's the sensor in the bell housing) with a 91+ CPS. Or the flywheel. You have a problem. The '87 thru '90 flywheel and CPS operate on a completely different principal than the '91 and newer. The Chrysler ignition/injection system can't read and interpret the signal from the older CPS. And you can't just replace the CPS, because the 91+ uses a different tooth pattern on the flywheel (or flex plate) to trigger the CPS.

I used 94 or 95 YJ Wrangler front hoses. The hard line at the caliper end had to be rebent slightly but otherwise it's a bolt-on.

Wade - Congratulations on the promotion. Hopefully it'll mean a bit more $$$ to put into the Jeeps :)

For those of you fortunate enough to have an intact backer board, you can buy the headliner material in Pep Boys along with a can of adhesive for about 20 bucks. If the fabric chain JoAnne Fabrics is in your area, they also sell headliner material. JoAnne Fabrics has a better choice of colors and their material is heavier than Pep Boys.

Correct. I'm not certain, but I'm pretty sure that's the case in Connecticut. Otherwise it wouldn't be legal to run a CJ or Willys with the windshield folded down.

What does Renix have to do with it? You have a 20 year old engine, probably with the original rear mail seal, so it's all dried out and cracked, and then you disabled the crankcase ventilation system. None of that has anything to do with "Renix." The Renix system was ignition and injection. Rear main seal and crankcase pressure is fundamental power mechanics.

About zero. Sorry. It can happen even with a functional vent. I rebuilt a 4.0L XJ for my ex-GF a couple of years ago. Engine had 165,000 miles on it, but ran well after the previous owner's disasters had been straightened out. Once I had everything straightened out, I had to deliver it to her ... in Montana. I made it halfway across PA on I-80 before the rear main seal packed it in. Started spewing oil out. By the time I got to a Wal-Mart about an hour from the Ohio border the oil was down about 3 quarts and the chassis was never going to rust again. I bought a case of house-brand oil and kept going. It was the proverbial "Check the gas and fill up the oil" from there on. Once I got it to Montana, we had her mechanic replace the seal and it was good to go from then on. The good news is that on a 4.0L you can replace the seal without pulling the tranny.