Eagle

I should also have mentioned that, IF you can find the custom pistons to use with the 4.0L rods (the pin height has to be relocated in the pistol to account for the "too long" rods), they will be forged, not cast hypereutectic. Forged pistons are strong, but they have a different expansion rate than cast hypereutectic pistons and so the engine will be noisier than an engine using stock pistons, especially when starting up cold. The stroker engines involve a lot of compromises. It is NOT just a bigger displacement stock engine. They are great if you want/need the power and are willing to live with the necessary compromises. I have considered it carefully, and decided that I don't need the power and I am not willing to live with the compromises.

Guys, just remember if you think you want to do a budget stroker -- you're looking at an engine that will absolutely need high octane gas, and even then you'll probably have pre-ignition problems. The 4.2L crank is the same length as the 4.0L crank and has the same journal diameters, so it drops right into the block. BUT ... due to minor differences in piston design and deck height between the 4.2 and the 4.0, you have a problem. The budget route is to use the 4.2L rods with 4.0L pistons, but that puts the pistons a fraction closer to the head than they should be. VERY high compression. You need to deal with this. Some people have sought out the heaviest, THICKEST pistons they could find so they can dish out the top of the piston to reduce compression. Others do an aggressive cleanup of the combustion chambers in the head, enlarging them in pursuit of less compression. A stock cam won't work -- you have to use a cam with more overlap to bleed off some compression pressure. A couple of people have even tried running two head gaskets. The other, and better, choice used to be to use the 4.0L rods, which are beefier than the 4.2L rods. The problem is, they are also longer, so to use them in a stroker you need custom pistons. The companies who make the stroker engines may or may not sell you a set of their pistons. The company I knew of in Baltimore that sold the pistons went out of business a couple of years ago. I have sort of dropped back from the strokers forum so I don't know what the current "hot" solution is. Carnuck might -- he was very active in that group. But you have to do something, you cannot ignore the fact that the basic geoemtry will result in excessively high compression. That's the biggest reason why I advise NOT trying to do a stroker unless you really REALLY need the extra power. The "budget" stroker looks enticing at first glance, but it really isn't going to be as easy as it first sounds.

It has to have at least an extended cab or it won't sell. The only reason I bought a Cherokee new in 1988 instead of a Comanche was the lack of ANY interior storage space. Today, I think any PU has to offer the options of extended cab and crew cab to even think about entering the market. Look around on the streets, and you actually see very few "standard" cab pickups.

World Series?????? That would be, ummm ... no, wait, lemme think ... errr ... no, no, hold on a sec ... ah, BASEBALL! Right? Seriously, I'm a Sox fan now. I have been ever since the Dodgers bailed out of Brooklyn and went to the left coast (which was probably long before any of you were born). I'm happy the Sox won, but George must be having a cerebral hemmorage about now. (Couldn't happen to a nicer guy.)

Thanks, guys. Armed with this info I took my wife to Wal-Mart to see what these critters look like. She;s recovering from sticker shock. My wife is from Chile, and she says she's sure they cost a lot less down there. She'll be going there for a visit in a couple of weeks, so I guess we wait until she can do some inter-continental comparison shopping.

JeepCo nailed it. It's NOT a SPDT toggle switch, which is what most switches with three terminals are. It's a SPST (single pole, single throw, i.e. ON-OFF) switch, but because it's internally illuminated it requires a gound to complete the circuit for the light. If the switch you wired in is a SPDT, you can make it work but it won't be illuminated. I don't remember which terminal is which, but one is power in (feeds both the light and the "hot" side of the circuit), one is power out, and the third is the ground for the light. BTW -- the above info is correct, it is better for the tranny to keep it in POWER mode.

I think you're better off with thr 3.55s for fuel mileage, unless you drive insanely fast on the highway. With 3.08s and stock tires. I turn about 1600 RPM at 60 MPH. That's below the engine's torque peak. For optimum economy, you want your cruise RPM to be somewhere near the torque peak.

http://autocarpetoriginals.com/jeep_index.htm http://www.auto-interior.com/jeep4.htm

Agreed. 4.10s are okay for 31" tires, 4.56 for 32s and maybe 33s, 4.88 for 33s and maybe 34s. Beyond 34 (or with 34 if you actually go off-road and want a half-decent crawl ratio) you really need to get into the 5s, and that means no more Dana 30 in the front because 4.88 is as deep as you can get for the D30. That's one advantage to the Wrangler Rubicon bastardized Dana 44 front axle -- it may only have the same knuckles dna axles as the D30, but you can get deeper gears. And yes, I do have a spreadsheet with tire sizes, gear ratios, and engine RPMs for a variety of tires sizes and all gear ratios available for the D30. If you want it, shoot me a PM with your e-mail address.

Wiring-wise, you're fine. The lights themselves are still running off the relay. Legally, you may not be so fine. I don't know what the law is in Canada. In the U.S. it is law that "driving" lights may ONLY illuminate when the high beams are on, and they MUST go off when you dip the headlights to low beam. Fog lights are just the opposite.

DRLs should activate only the headlights, at reduced voltage. Anything else is a hack, even though it may appear to be a well-done hack.

The width of the perches, or the center-to-center spacing of the perches on the axle?

Those rims are 15x7. The rule of thumb is that the tire should not be more than 4 inches wider than the rim, which would indicate that anything up to 11 inches wide would be fine. In reality, a little more won't hurt, although your tread life might be compromised due to not being able to keep the full tread in contact with the pavement without running a pressure that's too low to be safe. So the 11.50s will be fine. The real issue is what gears you have. My simplistic view is that 4.10s are good with 31s, 4.56 is good with 32s, and 4.88s are okay with 33s. Any bigger tires than that and gearing becomes a compromise.

Okay, guys, be gentle with me. Most of you know I'm officially a senior citizen, so I'm excused for not knowing this stuff. Looks like we'll have my wife's 12 year old granddaughter (from Chile!) with us for Christmas. And said granddaughter has informed my wife that she would like an iPod for Christmas. What the heck IS an iPod? Yeah, I've seen the name and I know it's "hot," but since I'm not interested in much besides Cherokees, Comanches, and Colt .45s it all just bounced off. Does this infernal device use a proprietary media format? (I'm sure the answer is yes.) Is it a "what you see is what you get" device, or are there different models and option levels? (It is an Apple product, right? So available only through Apple?) Best place(s) to buy? Bail me out, please. The young lady had a very rough year, between her great-grandmother dying and her mother having a nervous breakdown. We want to be as sure as we can that her time here for the holidays is a relief from life. TIA

Do you want a quick-and-dirty rebuild, or a decent rebuild? Are you doing the reassembly after having the block cleaned and machined, or are you paying a shop to do it? The last engine I rebuilt on a budget was 25 years ago and it ran me about $600 with me doing the reassembly. That was for an AMC V8 that was NOT rebored, so I reused the original pistons. Today I reckon it would have to be at least double that figure.

Sometimes you're just helpless. At the start of the article I was thinking it would be another example of why everyone should get a concealed carry permit and travel armed, but in this case the victim was sucker punched and even carrying a howitzer on his hip wouldn't have helped. I hope a piece of excrement who hit him gets a similarly quick termination to his miserable excuse for a "life."

Go for the reman. I really like the concept of the stroker, and I have a friend who has stroked two 4.0Ls (one XJ and one MJ). You can get gobs of power out of them, but you will NOT match the fuel economy possible with a stock Renix-era 4.0L. When my '88 XJ was new, with a 5-speed I routinely got mid-20s highway mileage and on one trip (with a girlfriend and two young children plus paraphernalia for a long weekend aboard) I notched 28 MPG on a 300 mile trip. Plus, there are numerous compromises you have to evaluate in doing a stroker. Unless you NEED the additional power and torque, going stock is probably the wiser choice.

x2 -- Axle shaft u-joint

I guess I must be getting old faster than I thought, and perhaps senility is catching up with me. I missed something here: If the O2 sensor tests bad (or doesn't test good), WHY would you "assume" that it's good? It was manufactured by humans, right? Ever hear of a defective product before?

"Real" DRL use the headlight high beams, and they do drop the voltage when the lights are in DRL mode. For a show truck (I didn't know that's what you were aiming for), getting the factory module is very much the best way to go. I spent my morning drive to work thinking about how to cobble up a home-brew system that would sort of replicate the function, and by the time you account for voltage-dropping resistors AND enough relays to power the lights up with the ignition, yet NOT backfeed the dash lights and also revert to normal operation with the headlights -- you would have a lot of spaghetti under the hood. If you can't score a factory DRL module, than I would second the above suggestion: use auxiliary lights, and power them through a relay that is activated by some circuit that's switched with the ignition. But I would not use "driving" lights -- those are too bright, and too narrow of a beam. I would use fog lights. In fact, I have an XJ wired up that way, but something went bad and at the moment the lights ... don't.

I'd be interested if it comes with the diesel. But it's not really a "truck," it's a return to the CJ Scrambler concept. Don't count on the "Big C" doing anything, though. Remember, Chrysler killed the Comanche to eliminate competition for the Dodge Dakota, long before Daimler entered the picture.

We live in a VERY sick world. My condolences as well.

The original Trak-Lok in my 88 XJ with a Dana 35 lasted a bit more than 150,000 miles. Change the gear oil in the rear diff, add a new bottle of friction modifier (use the official Mopar stuff, do NOT buy it from an aftermarket source), and drive it 'til it dies.

DRL were used in the Cherokees in Canada but I don't recall how early. It is done with a plug-in module. Should be easy to pull if you have access to a junkyard in Canada, or probably coupld be bought from a Jeep dealer's parts department. DRL use the high beams, not the low beams, and they are voltage reduced. I don't know if it drops as far as 7 volts, though. It might be more like 9 -- in which case a ballast resistor like the one for the fuel pump might do the job. I think I would use the low beams anyway -- I find the DRLs on most GM vehicles to be rather annoying due to the fact they use the high beams. If you need some help working up a circuit that'll do the job, let me know. But I would recommend trying to get the factory module. Just be aware that most folks who have the DRLs find them to be trouble-prone and if not legally required, remove the module rather than replace it.

It's not "more of a limited slip," it IS a limited slip. It's made by Dana-Spicer and it is called a Trac-Lok. It uses a stack of steel shims interleaved with clutch plates under spring tension. The way it works is that normally the spring tension on the clutch plates creates enough friction to keep the two axles "locked." However, in rounding turns on dry pavement, where the outer tire travels farther (and therefore faster) than the inside tire, the unequal rotational speeds generate enough torque to make the clutches slip, allowing the differential to function as a differential. This type of limited slip requires the use of a special additive to keep the clutches happy. Since most owners never serviced the rear axle, the clutches usually wear out after 75,000 to 100,000 miles. After that, it functions like a conventiona, open diff. Rebuild kits are available for around $75. It's a very good option for street use and light wheeling, but it ain't a locker.