Eagle

IMHO, yes.

You forgot to mention that a lift -- 2", 3", 4" or whatever, doesn't do anything to eliminate the front tires rubbing on the lower control arms. The only thing that addresses that is wheels with less backspacing (which brings other problems), or WJ Grand Cherokee LCAs with the bend in them.

In the front, stock measurement from center of hub to bottom edge of flare should be 17-1/2". In the rear, it should be about 21" to 21-1/2" (or maybe an inch less if it's a 2WD).

You mean '86 thru '89. I'm sure someone will take issue with me, but I'd say "Yes." However, keep in mind that there were two versions of the 10" brakes. The standard rear brakes were 10" x 1-3/4". These were found on most XJs and MJs with the Dana 35 rear axle. These shoes and drums are narrower that the 9" x 2-1/2" Chrysler brakes, but putting the shoes farther out increases their stopping capability. I rate these about equal to the 9" Mopar brakes. The vehicles with the AMC 20 and Dana 44 rear axles, and reportedly a few with the Dana 35, got rear brakes with 10" x 2-1/2" drums. The braking with this setup is far superior to the dinky Chrysler brakes. And whether you're doing the narrow 10" brakes or the wide ones -- they are easier to work on than the Chysler brakes.

You don't calculate it -- you measure it. Ideally, with the spring off the vehicle, but since that's not practical, jack the chassis up to unload the springs ... but not so far that you're picking up the wheels and axles. Stretch a string between the forward and rear bushings, and measure from the string to the top of the main leaf where it's bolted to the axle.

Have you pulled a spark plug after cranking it, to see if it looks wet or if you can smell gas? Just because the fuel pump is generating pressure doesn't prove the fuel is getting from the rail into the cylinders. When in doubt, try old fashioned stuff. Like -- dump some raw gas down the throttle body and try to start it. It should fire. It won't run for more than a couple of seconds, of course, but it will let you know if it's at least capable of firing the fuel. How many miles are on it? There's another thread running about a 2.5L and a timing chain. Don't forget, the 2.5L uses a timing chain tensioner. If that gets worn out, it can jump timing. That can get very difficult ti diagnose.

Well, we knew that from your avatar photo. Which is you, the big, fat slob, or the sawed-off little dork? :cheers:

I agree to a point. But I am not a happy camper when somebody says, "I know this has been covered a thousand times but I don't want to search, so ...?" And then ten of US use the search to answer the question because someone was too lazy to use the search him/herself. As the Buddha taught, it's all about finding the balance ...

Ideally, you remove one line and cap the outlet at the front metering block. It has been written up several times.

All the 9" drums are the same. They are 9" x 2-1/2". Chrysler started that in (I think) 1990. The AMC rear drums were mostly 10" x 1-3/4", except for the heavy duty axles with 10" x 2-1/2" drums.

No, they are not universal. That doesn't mean that an AAL for a specific application won't work in another vehicle, it just might be less than optimal. How wide are the Rodeo springs? You might be able to use scrap XJ or MJ (or Dakota or S-10) leaves. Are the Rodeo prings SOA or SUA?

POR-15 is expensive, first -- and it requires a top coat. The Line-X stuff (or whatever DupliColor calls theirs) is a one-shot application. Stir it up, paint it on, and you're done.

Yeah, I'm just an endearing kind of guy. It sort of goes along with the olde pharte schtick. Charter member of Curmudgeons-R-Us, ya know ... Decent highway mileage with larger tires isn't impossible. "Great" is unlikely, but decent is possible. When my '88 was lifted I ran it on 31x10.50s with 3.73 gears. The gear choice was actually an accident -- I had bought the gears for the '88 XJ with the intention of running them with 30x9.50s, then I bought the MJ so I threw the gears in that. My brother handed down a half-used set of 31s, so that took care of the tire size selection. The end result was that the final drive was exactly the same as stock tires and 3.54 gears. I ran those tires on steel rims, so they were a bunch heavier than stock tires on alloy rims. The XJ typically gets 21 - 23 MPG highway. (Best ever was 28, but that was a LONG time ago, when it was new.) The MJ with the 31s typically got 19 -21 MPG highway -- with the tailgate up, and that alone could account for one or two miles per gallon difference. 33" tires and 4.10 or 4.56 gearing wouldn't be that far off stock gearing as to overall final drive ratio. I don't think the weight of the tire makes a huge difference in highway cruising. The additional mass takes more to get rolling, but once it's rolling it has momentum. It doesn't take a lot of power to keep it rolling at 65 MPH. Don't diss the 20-year old technology. The Renix system has a knock sensor, so it optimizes spark advance. The HO system does not have a knock sensor, so the only way it avoids ping is to never allow optimum spark advance. That hurts mileage. I've never heard of an HO Cherokee getting as good fuel mileage as the Renix models routinely turn in. My '88 still gets better mileage, with 270,000 miles on it, than my wife's 2000 XJ gets with only 60,000 on the clock.

If you have (or have access to) a MIG welder, by all means weld in new metal. But be careful -- be sure to protect everything with weldinf blankets, betcause weld spatter will make a real mess out of vinyl and plastic interior (and dashboard) parts. If those are the only holes and the rest of the floor seems solid enough to support your feet, I would skip the welding. I would not use duct tape, though. I would use the stainless steel body repair tape. It comes in 2" or 3" wide rolls and the steel is strong enough that it will actually provide some stiffness to the floor. You'll need to grind off all the rust (which may make the holes larger) so there's clean metal for the tape to bond to. I would then follow up with a few pop rivets or small sheet metal screws to anchor the ends of the patch in place. I would not use POR-15 -- I'd use RhinoLiner (or the DupliColor equivalent). It's tough, it's tenaciously adhesive, it's waterproof -- and it doesn't require any top coat.

Chico, the first question is -- are your mileage figures accurate? The difference between stock tires and 31s is approximately 11% to 12% (depending on which "stock" size you use for the base). If you mentioned that you corrected your speedometer gear, I missed it. Of course, if you add 10% to 14, you're way up there to around 15.4 -- whoopee. However, for a vehicle driven short distances at lower speeds, that's right in the ball park.

Getting an eyelash burned off would be a small problem. You should not run the engine like that. It is NOT a joke -- it's a timing and/or lean burn problem, and it can cause the engine to catch fire. When you are testing it, be sure you have a large, fully-charged fire extinguisher right next to you. And do NOT treat it as a joke. You could lose the vehicle, and you and/or your friends could be seriously injured.

Ah, so. No, the 2.5L flywheel is smaller, and balanced differently. Yes, you need a Renix 4.0L flywheel.

The terminology hasn't changed, it's just that people don't use the correct terminology. "Turn over" still means turn over -- the starter makes the engine go 'round. "Fire" still means make spark and try to ignite fuel/air mix. I agree, it would help tremendously if people would keep those terms straight when asking for help with a no-start problem. "It doesn't start" could be caused by innumerably things. Just knowing if the problem is that the starter won't crank ("turn over") the engine narrows it down a LOT.

The vents have upside-down 'U'-shaped slots that fit over nylon retainers in the body. Just put a block of wood under the bottom edge of the vent and tap upwatd gently -- they'll pop right off.

This is going into your '87? If so, why would you buy a flywheel? There is only one flywheel that'll work with your Renix system, and that's the one that's already in the truck. What are you thinking you have to buy? You can't put in an HO flywheel and then use an HO CPS, because the Renix system won't recognize the signal from the CPS. You *MUST* use a renix flywheel and a Renix CPS -- unless, of course, you want to completely replace the entire ignition/injection system with the HO system. Just bolt the new tranny to your block. Toss the HO CPS and use your Renix CPS -- the slot in the bellhousing is in the same location.

ohhhhhh... I hadn't thought of that... Thats a fantastic idea. What would I do about hinges though? Hinges are not the problem. The doors bolt to the hinges. The problem is that the 97+ doors have the striker mounted at a different height. You have to do some customizing to make the latches ... latch.

BLHTAZ could probably confirm, but as far as I know there are only two flywheels for the 4.0L -- one is Renix, the other is Chrysler. You need the flywheel that matches your ignition/injection/ECU system. The tranny doesn't care. What may change is what clutch you have to use. I'm not sure about that. I've never had a Renix clutch laid out next to an HO clutch to see if there are any differences.

The big ground wire could not cause the problem. Weak grounds are a problem with the XJ and MJ. One of the guys on NAXJA is a strong and vocal proponant of adding a welding cable to the system as a ground. Sounds like that's what was done to your vehicle. Extremely rapic corrosion at the terminals, IIRC, may be caused by excessive off-gassing of the battery. First, check the level of the electrolyte in the battery. Be sure it's properly filled. (If it needs water, use distilled water. It costs 69 cents a gallon at Wal-Mart.) Then check your alternator output. If the alternator is over-charging, you'll get more off-gassing and faster corrosion. You could also get some of those impregnated felt pads that fit under the cables, around the posts. They help -- some. I also use anti-sieze on the cable connections, as well as on the cable bolts. It seems to help. And be sure you tighten the cable bolts. If the cables aren't tight to the posts, there's more room for corrosion to take place.

Yep. Actually, the spark occurs when the leading tip of the rotor get close enough to the tower for a spark to jump the gap. In an old-style system, the rotor could be many degrees ahead of the tower and still be set to fire at TDC. However, the engines don't fire at TDC, they fire before TDC. The amount of advance is controlled by the ECU, based on input from both the CPS and the camshaft position sensor (in the distributor). The ECU is what tells the system when to fire, not the position of the rotor. As long as the rotor is within the range that the spark can jump to the tower, nothing needs to be changed. I assume this is related to your other post about flames shooting out of the throttle body. Yeah, that problem could be timing related -- but timing in the sense that the timing chain may well have jumped a tooth (or several teeth). That would result in the distributor and the camshaft (meaning the valves) all being out of synch with the engine. You can't solve that problem by just turning the distributor. You need to open up the timing cover and verify whether or not the cam sprocket is still in the correct relationship to the crankshaft sprocket.

The flywheel is specific to the CPS. The Renix CPS won't work with a Chrysler electical system, and the Chrysler CPS won't work in a Renix system. The trigger notches on the flywheels are different between the two types of CPS. The transmission has no way of knowing what flywheel is on the engine. My '88 is set up with a YJ AX-15 (done by the previous owner -- poorly). Jeep didn't start using that setup in the YJ until '91.