Eagle

Those 10-spoke "turbine" rims are 15x7. They're good for 10.50" inch wide tires. The usual rule of thumb is that tire width should not exceed rim width + 4". However, as you get into very large tires, with lots of sidewall height to allow for transitions, you can go wider. However, do NOT run tires wider than 10.50 on those rims on an MJ. Even 10.50s will rub the lower control arms (in fact, even 30x9.50s will rub the lower control arms), but a worse problem is how close the sidewalls on the rear will be to the springs and the inner fenders. Running 31x10.50s on those rims, I had black rubber marks all over the inner wheel wells in the abck after every trip, and there's just a tiny bit of clearance to the leaf springs. An 11.50" tire will be another half inch closer to the fender, and will be probably making contact with the rear leaf springs. If you need tires wider than 10.50 you're better off using aftermarket rims with less backspacing.

I knew a guy in NAXJA who did a 2.5L to 4.0L conversion, including all the wiring, in a 72-hour marathon. That was working by himself, for 72 hours straight. I would figure if you haven't done one before you should plan on about twice that number of hours, and preferably not straight through.

Pull the wire off and see where the needle goes. Then ground the wire directly to the block and see where the needle goes. I can never remember which is which -- one should zero the gauge, the other should peg it beyond 80. If that works, the gauge is okay. If the connecter looks good, then replace the sending unit.

Randy, are you referring to the cam position sensor in the distributor? I would check that, too. I would also check the wiring leading to the ignition module to see if you're getting any flow in. If there's no 12-volts arriving at the coil/ignition module, then there's nothing for the coil to bump up to 70,000 volts or whatever the coil sends to the plugs.

My wife had one. Not bad. It ain't a Jeep but it isn't bad. Rode decent, drove okay. I don't recall what year hers was. It was the last year thay they had a low range transfer case. The next year it got slightly longer and heavier, and they eliminated the low range. I lost interest in it as a budget alternative to a Cherokee after that.

Take the oil filter AND the mount off the block. You probably need new o-rings in there anyway, so it's a good excuse to do the job.

The 242 is not AWD -- it still offers a 2WD selection. It also offers 4-Hi with differential (AWD), 4-Hi locked (same as the 231 Part-time), and 4-Lo locked (same as the 231 low range). It's a great tranny for a multi-purpose vehicle that sees street use in slippery weather but also gets used off-road on occasion. The Hummer version is stronger, and I have seen conflicting information as to whether or not you can swap in some Hummer parts to beef up the Jeep 242.

They do screw in, and I'm 90% certain they are an SAE thread. I believe the manifold end is a coarse thread and the "working" end is a fine thread, but I may be recalling the way the old AMC engines were set up.

What RPMs do you turn at 65 MPH, about 1200? I think if you get better than about 12 MPG it's a modern miracle.

Even the short wheelbase Commanche has a longer wheelbase than the Cherokee. I don't think an XJ tailpipe will work in any MJ.

Nope. Actually, they coincide at -40

Or lack of coordination, or something like that. I didn't know Pete was heading off to meet Mickey, and I promised my wife I'd take her on a sightseeing trip this weekend. (In a freakin' blizzard, naturally.) We'll be leaving Friday morning and won't be back until Sunday evening, and I won't have access to the Internet while we're away. Which means all of you boys and girls are on your own for the weekend, so be sure you behave yourselves or Pete will have to give you time out when he gets back. If you find any spam or such, send me a PM and I'll "launder" it when I get back.

A chronic problem with the older XJs and MJs is that the gauges become inaccurate. I think it's due to a poor ground between the gauge cluster and the dashboard/chassis. In my '88 XJ, ALL the gauges read low. My voltmeter shows barely out of the red, yet if I check with a V.O.M. at the battery with the engine running, I'm right where I should be. Temp gauge runs at the first tick between the COLD and 210 marks, yet I have good heat. Oil pressure reads 40 psi on the highway running 5W50 Castrol Syntec. And when I fill the tank to the point of spilling out the filler neck, the gauge only reads 7/8 full. Except on very cold, damp mornings ... when everything reads normal until the engine gets up to operating temperature, then the gauges gradually slide down to being wrong. Moral -- do not use the factory gauges for diagnostics. Just know where they usually run, and pay attention when they read different from normal.

That is very true for "short" (half-length) AALs, and very much less true for full-length AALs. However, very few "full-length" AALs are really full length. For example, the Rancho "full-length" AAL is almost full-length for an XJ, but MJ springs are 5" longer than XJ springs, so it obviously isn't full-length under an MJ. But it also isn't trying to massively over-power the original spring pack and create a monster lift with one leaf, so it works pretty will. The ideal AAL (for a moderate lift) is the main leaves of another set of MJ springs, with the eyes cut off. The arch matches, and they are a true full length. MJ spring packs are hard to find, but older S-10 and early Dakota packs are similar in length and easy to find in junk yards. Once the weather warms up, I'm looking at putting an XJ main leaf into an MJ pack, with the goal of increasing the spring rate (carrying capacity) without gaining much lift. should be interesting.

If you read and understood the fine print about PayPal, you would never use PayPal. They can reach right into YOUR bank account and take money out. All it takes is for a buyer to claim you didn't advertise something accurately, or didn't ship the item(s). Thanks, but no thanks. I won't use them for a variety of reasons. If I were to have a moment of temporary insanity and sign up, the first thing I would do is open a separate account at a bank I have never done any business with, put the bare minimum $50 or $100 in the account, and use that for the PayPal account.

Rancho has an AAL kit that fits both the XJ and the MJ. It's listed as a "full-length," but for an MJ it's really more like about a 3/4-length. The Rancho catalog lists it as yielding 2-1/2" in both the XJ and the MJ. That's impossible, of course. I called Rancho and pestered a nice young lady in the engineering depaertment until she checked with one of the older dudes. The answer was that I was right and the catalog was wrong. 2-1/2" in the XJ and 1-1/2" in the MJ. Costs about $50. I can probably dredge up the Rancho part number if you can't find a listing.

x2 - Crank Position Sensor (CPS)

Those may be old prices. Anyhoo ... try NAPA, if you have them in Canada. The replacement CCV hoses/tubes for the '88 vintage XJs and MJs cost literally half at NAPA what they would cost me at a dealership, and I get shop pricing.

Last I knew (a couple of years ago) there were still lots of those hinge repair kits in the parts system. The same repair also applied to XJs, especially the 2-doors with the wider, heavier doors. But the XJ has been out of production for several years, so who knows? Check your dealership parts gurus to see if they can still order the kits. If not, there are otjer ways to reinforce the door post and reattached the hinge, but it requires a good body man/welder to do it right.

Pete, you'll never get anywhere in this life. You're too honest and too trusting. If the guy was healthy enough to acknowledge receipt of payment, he should be healthy enough to stick a part in a box and get it to the post office or UPS Store. E-mail certainly can be unreliable, but isn't it coincidental when somebody's e-mail works 100% right up until they have your money -- and then suddenly it "doesn't work"? That dawg don't hunt.

I agree. Neither of you may be ready to drop the hammer on the public forum, but it would be a good idea to determine if it's the same guy. Heck, it might even be the same part(s). If there's one guy who is brushing both of you off and "forgetting," I respectfully suggest it's time for the gloves to come off.

I am a charter member of NAXJA, former president of the North Atlantic Chapter (which was the first of NAXJA's regional chapters), and I served a term on the national board of directors. I've been with NAXJA since before it was NAXJA. I don't even look at it any more. Don't know how long it has been since I have even logged onto their site. As someone expressed it, the signal-to-noise ratio seemed to have declined to negative numbers as the membership increased. It went from being a haven for Jeep Cherokee and Comanche lovers to a hang-out for Ford and Chevy guys who accidently found themselves in a Jeep and couldn't wait to tell the Jeep guys how much they knew, and how crappy Jeeps are. On top of that, NAXJA had posting guidelines that had served us well for several years. Then a vocal crew of rednecks got onto the board and decided that the rules didn't apply to them. I was a moderator while I was a director -- for awhile. Then I had the temerity to moderate a post by one of the "chosen." The next day I logged on in the morning and all was normal. I logged on in the afternoon, and I was no longer a moderator. No notice, no discussion on the Board of Directors forum area, just ... shut out. The president deleted my moderator status unilaterally because I had moderated his pal. Didn't matter that the post was a blatant violation that wouldn't have been tolerated from any of the "ordinary" members. And things went downhill from there, so I lost interest after Pete set up this forum. This is a much nicer place to play. NAXJA should have a new board of directors in place since I was last there, so perhaps they have cleaned up their act. I don't know. I'm a life member but I don't use it. This place is better. Thankfully, there are a lot fewer MJs than XJs, so we probably don't have to worry about getting as big as NAXJA, and that may be a salvation.

According to my local locksmith, the AMC ignitions did NOT use GM keys. They look similar, but if you look at good lock and key listings, you'll see references (perhaps in fire-print footnotes) to "AMC keyway" and "GM keyway." I don't know what the difference is, but I have been assured that there is a difference.

I used to buy all my gears and lockers from a company called Drive Train Direct. Haven't had any contact with them for a few years but, if they're still around, I always felt they treated me right. $530 for a Tru-Trac sounds awfully high ... unless that's installed, in which case it's a good price.

I'll let Pete post for himself whether or not he may choose to intervene, but IMHO there is no reason why he should do so. We've been going through this regarding a group buy on another forum. Even though the forum owner/admin clearly stated from the outset that the guy coordinating the group buy (the "seller," in other words) had no affiliation with the forum other than as an ordinary member and that the forum was not involved in and would not be responsible for the group buy -- when the "seller" collected over $15,000 and didn't even order the merchandise people started bugging the forum owner about how he "should" do something. WRONG! If you respond to an ad in the newspaper classifieds and the deal goes bad, do you call the editor and expect him to "do something"? This forum is a place for people to post ads. Pete can't personally vouch for every member's honesty and integrity. These are business transactions, they are covered by various laws (Federal, if the buyer and seller are in different states), and there are avenues available through which to approach dealing with a deadbeat seller. Personally, I think it's very unfair to Pete to even suggest that he get involved (other than perhaps to ban the deadbeat).