Eagle

I have never seen a factory hidden winch in the U.S. -- ever. When I visit my wife's family in Santiago, Chile -- they're everywhere. Mostly on Cherokees, but I did see one Comanche a couple of years ago that had the winch.

Gotta love them dealers. I used to own (in addition to my Jeep at the time) a 1993 Honda Accord LX -- the mid-level model of the Accord. Mine didn't have a rear sway bar, but the pricier EX did. So I went to the dealership to buy the pieces to add a rear sway bar. The parts drones told me it couldn't be done. I questioned it, and they called the parts manager over and he said the same thing. I asked why. He didn't know -- he just knew it couldn't be done. So I went to the general manager, and complained that the parts department was refusing to sell me probably $300 worth of parts because they didn't think I could do what I damned well knew I could do. He said he'd look into it. Several days later, he called back to say that he had confirmed that the parts guys were right, the EX rear sway bar could not be fitted to the LX model. I asked why not. "Because the EX has dual exhaust, and yours has a single exhaust," was the answer. Sounded reasonable -- except that I knew better. My ex-wife had an EX one year older than mine, and my brother at that time managed a Speedy muffler shop. Both models had exactly the same exhaust, except that the EX muffler (which was mounted at the very back of the system) had two chrome outlets where the LX had a single chrome outlet (and the DX had a single non-chrome outlet). I wrote the owner of the dealership a letter explaining exactly why his parts guys and his general manager were idiots, and I never went back to that dealership for anything.

Synthetic oil isn't thinner than conventional. "Thinness" is viscosity, and synthetic oil actually maintains its viscosity better than conventional oil. The "problem" is that synthetic oils have more and better detergents than conventional oils, so they tend to clean out gunk and deposits that the dinsaur oils leave behind. In the case of old seals, removing the deposits removes the stuff that's been doing the sealing. Once the gunk is gone, it'll take a long while before it builds up enough to close the gap again -- if it ever does. I think you need to bite the bullet and just replace the rear main seal. It's long overdue anyway.

Those rims will move each tire outboard by 1-3/4". Combined with the fact that 30s are a tad wider than the largest stock tire size (225/75-15) it is virtually guaranteed that your tires will be clobbering the flares whenever the suspension compresses. Unless you plan to remove the flares and trim a lot of sheet metal, especially in the front, it is best to stick with stock rims up through 31x10.50 tires. With an MJ, anything larger than that on stock rimes will be rubbing the rear springs and the inside of the rear fenders so you'll then have to use rims with less backspacing, but at larger than 31" tires you would probably want to trim anyway.

Be sure to replace the line/hose that connects them. Otherwise one fine day you'll find that you have no clutch. Ask me how I know ...

If this is the truck's first New England winter, I would strongly advise getting the underside power washed and having the chassis and underside of the box rustproofed.

The original poster doesn't have a '91. In the Renix models, the ECU is not involved in controlling the aux fan. The temp sensor in the radiator is an off-on switch that controls a relay, which in turn controls the fan. Since the original temp sensor from the radiator tank won't fit the smaller hole in the t-stat housing, you had to have used a different sensor. If you used the one for a '91 and newer XJ/MJ, it's NOT a switch, and it will not turn your fan on. This is just one of the reasons why I don't advocate doing the open system "upgrade." NAXJA members spent years looking for a sensor that would do the job. One guy said he found it in an older Honda. Three other people showed why he was wrong. Then someone said a Corvette temp sensor was the answer. IIRC that, too, proved to be a false lead. I'd suggest getting the one for an '88 MJ that has idiot lights. That's an on-off switch. If the temp gets hot enough that it would trigger the warning light -- that's when you want the fan to come on. Of course, I'd rather have it come on a tad sooner, but that's better than nothing. You can also wire a toggle switch in parallel with the sensor so if you see the temp rising you can switch on the fan manually.

Welcome, Belto. If you have technical questions that you can't express in English, send them to me in Spanish. My Spanish is terrible, but my wife is from Chile and she may be able to translate. If not, I met her through a Jeep friend in Chile who speaks English pretty well, so we'll be able to get you some kind of answer. www.quadratec.com has a lot of stuff for the Cherokee, and many Cherokee parts also fit the Comanche.

I doubt it. I think the quality of the service manuals is inversely proportional to the size. The by-pass was pretty well covered in the old AMC shop manuals, which is how I know about it. It is mentioned in the '88 FSM for the 4.0L engine. In the '94 FSM, which covers both the XJ and the YJ (Wrangler), they don't show it or mention it under the 4.0L engine but they do show it under the 2.5L engine. I don't think they would eliminate it from one but not the other. I guess I have to dig out a 2000 FSM and see if they discuss it in that. AFAIK oil filters have always had an internal by-pass.

The illustration I have from the '88 FSM shows it in the block, behind where the oil filter adapter mounts to the block. That's where I remember it being from the old AMC days. Problem is, they show it in detail for the 4.2L engine, but that engine has the filter mounted directly to the block the way the old AMC engines were set up. I am left to assume (which is always dangerous) that the same parts are in the block behind where the 4.0L oil filter adapter bolts on. It's basically a spring and a plunger. I really wish I had a functional scanner ... but I don't.

JC Whitney used to sell them. I haven't paid much attention to JCW for a few years so I don't know if they still have them. I found their web site impossible to use (which is why I've been staying away from them), so you might need to call and ask a live person.

If the engine is getting oil, then the pump is pumping. There is a by-pass for when the filter gets plugged, so perhaps your by-pass is malfunctioning. The one-piece gasket is a factory item. They started using it in model year 1994, I think. If not '94 then '95. Should also be available from aftermarket brands such as Fel-Pro. Yes, it fits.

:cheers: Today was a rainy, shut-in kind of day so Grandma took pity and gave the kid the Sims game today instead of waiting for her birthday. Success. It runs on Grandma's computer, and she's a happy camper (for at least 24 hours, probably). Thanks, folks. I appreciate all the advice.

Rock magnets, is what they are. The '88 MJ had them on when I bought it. I wheeled it for a couple of years with the brackets, a 4" lift, and 31s. Then I took off the lift, removed the brackets, and running 30s I can go anywhere I could go before -- with less scraping up front. They are for street trucks that want to run big tires.

Anybody else got a picture of their TCU, or remember looking at the numbers? I see two number boxes on that one, and the right-hand box says '88.' With the cruise box being an AMC unit, why do I get the feeling that '88' refers to the year of the vehicle? Does this "96" XJ have an air bag in the steering wheel? Chrysler began using driver's side air bags in the 1995 model year for the XJ. If your donor is a '96 it should have an air bag. It should also have an electronic speedo. Does the speedo have a cable?

I wandered into Wally World today and wasted some time looking at computer games. They have the Sims2 game, and the system requirements greatly exceed anything I have in the house -- desktop or notebook. In fact, pretty much everything they have needs piles more horsepower than any computer I have -- even the cheapie $10 game CDs. I finally found a couple of $10 discs that may run, and I found the last surviving copy of the original Sims game, which only requires a Pentium III 400 and 128 MB of RAM. That we have, so I grabbed that, and it'll just have to keep her happy until she gets back to Chile and can exchange pirateware with her uncle Sebastian -- on his computer, not mine. (I think I now I know why half the time when my wife is in Chile she has to use an Internet cafe for e-mail because Sebastian's computer isn't working right.) Considering that my home computer is orders of magnitude better than what I use at work, this game thing is making it clear that something is seriously wrong. When a 12-year old child needs mega-times more computer than we use to operate a damned TOWN ... that's just plan wrong. Good summary on the thread, by the way. I guess at this point I should append Eagle: :nuts: :dunno: :hateputers:

Just before Christmas I was in bad shape with a back injury, the weather here was terrible, and I was slated for a road trip of about 600 miles each way. And my front axle u-joints were toast. So I broke the cardinal rule and paid a shop to replace them. Today as I was driving home I noticed (as I have several times over the last few days) that I could see my door handles in my left side mirror. And again it occurred to me that I should not be able to see the door handles, because the side view mirror is for ... well ... seeing the SIDE view. So this time I stopped, and checked, and I found that indeed the "side" view was largely an overlap of the rear view. I reset the side mirror, and the glass felt sort of wobbly. And then I remembered that when I picked up the XJ from the shop the guy mentioned that he had road tested it. Which means that this idiot readjusted my side view mirror, probably breaking the gimbel inside because it hasn't been moved in twenty years (yes, Old Faithful is 20 years old this week), just to drive a couple of miles on a 2-lane state road for a road test. However many synonyms you can think of for PISSED OFF! ... that's me right about now.

Yeah, her birthday is coming next week so I think I'm going to just buy a new copy. I tried to read (not load) the CD in my computer using Windows explorere and all I got was a "Drive Not Ready" error message. I guess that's what we might call a "clue." Thanks, gents. False alarm. (I hope.)

That's the problem with big lifts. You want the pinion to point up for your u-joint angles to stay within reason, but caster is supposed to be around 8 degrees POSITIVE for proper steering, handling, and avoiding death wobble. So you have to find a "happy medium" -- which often isn't really "happy" for either the u-joints or the steering, but it's the best you can get. Somewhere around 5 to 6 degrees positive is probably where you'll end up. The right way to do it, of course, is the pop the welds on your axle ears and reweld so the knuckles are at a different angle to the center section. This site may help: http://gojeep.willyshotrod.com/HowtoAlignment.htm

If he's advertising a '98 ZJ with a "Dana 44" rear axle that hasn't imploded yet, he's right -- those would be very rare.

This is on an MJ? Both axles are solid axles. The rear has no camber. In the front, the camber is fixed with the steering knuckles are attached to the axles, and the only way to change/adjust it is to use special, offset balljoints. What I'm saying is, lifting an MJ does NOT change the camber.

AMC used 10" drums. Chrysler used 9" drums. '89 was the last year for the 10" and 90 was the first year for the 9". The 10x1.75 brakes are significantly better than the Mopar 9" brakes, and easier to work on as well. And, of course, the 10" x 2.5" D44 brakes are the best of all.

You're just showing your age. Now we know that (like me!) you are old enough to remember radios with mechanical tuners. Radio Shack did, indeed, sell "tuner cleaner." I doubt you can find it today, though.

Having just posted that I don't know what the game is ... I think I do know, if I understood her correctly. I *think* she said it's "The Sims 2" (deluxe). Is that a game anyone has ever heard of? Anyone know what it requires to run? Thanks again.

The problem is, I don't know. It's a piracted copy she brought with her from Chile, so there's nothing on the CD that means anything to me. When I put it in my notebook computer all we got was a blank screen (grey, not even a blue screen of death), and in my desktop it froze the machine -- so I don't even get to a splash screen that I can identify. And she speaks Spanish and I don't, so she can't explain to me what the game is about. She's a "young" 12-year old girl, so it ain't Mortal Combat or any of those military sniper games ... but I don't have a clue what it is.