Eagle

Not urban legend. Bad ju-ju.

Those Comanches weren't Comanches, anyway. I used to spend time in Arizona, where the Navajo reservation is located. Many of John Wayne's early oaters were filmed in and around Monument Valley, which is mostly in northern Arizona. The "Comanches" were played by Navajos. At least they were really Native Americans, but it was amusing to hear "Comanches" speaking Navajo ... which is a totally unrelated linguistic group.

Got a part number? My parts guys are usually on top of things, but they told me the paper edition was discontinued and it was only available on-line. If there is a 2007 paper edition, I want to get it before they really DO stop printing it.

Not roller lifters. They had roller rocker arms.

The adjustment is the same as the power steering box. There's an over-center lash adjustment screw. Look down at the top of the steering box and you'll see a cover/access plate. There should be three bolts holding it in place (if it's like the power box -- might be four on the manual), and then a different screw with a locknut in the approximate center of the cover plate. That's the adjustment screw. First, be absolutely sure the steering is aimed straight ahead. There needs to be more lash off center, so if you adjust it while off-center, it may bind and/or damage the box when turned across the center. Loosen the locknut. Using a screwdriver of Allen wrench (whichever your adjusting screw requires), use your right hand to gently rotate the steering shaft back and forth while you gradually take up the slack in the box. If you get it too tight you'll damage the box, so don't go nuts. Try to take out "most" of the free play, but don't try to take it all out. Once you have it adjusted, hold the adjusting screw while you tighten the locknut. Be aware that the manual steering ratio is something like 24:1, which is unbearably slow. Even a fully adjusted box is going to feel sloppy, simply because it takes a lot of steering wheel motion to make anything happen at the tires. The stock power steering ratio is 14:1.

Somebody misconstrued something. There should not have been any splicing involved. There was a TSB regarding signal strength, and the factory still sells a kit that includes a CPS and a two-wire replacement harness that completely bypasses the main wiring harness and goes through the firewall directly to the ECU. It is installed by removing two wires from the ECU connector and plugging the two wires from the new harness into those terminals on the connector. The new harness has a weatherpack on the engine compartment end. If your harness has been spliced, somebody was doing a bit of shadetree mechanic work. I would strongly suggest that you get the factory kit and do the job correctly. Splicing doesn't improve on the original installation. The problem is that the original harness is either too long or too small in gauge, and doesn't transmit the signal efficiently. The kit with the replacement harness corrects this. Just splicing to bypass the weatherpack connector doesn't do this.

Your concern is valid. Some years ago, when the original exhaust went in my '88 XJ, I took it to my brother who at the time was managing a Speedy muffler shop. He talked me into upgrading to a 2-1/2" system with a turbo muffler. I was always sorry, and couldn't wait for it to rust out so I could justify getting rid of it. It sounded great, I admit ... but I lost torque, I had to downshift more for hills (5-speed), and I dropped about 2 MPG. When it did finally rust out I replaced with OEM-replacement muffler and 2-1/4" pipes, and got my torque and gas mileage back. No more aftermarket exhausts for me.

That's fairly typical. To do the splice properly (and legally) you will need a DOUBLE flaring tool. If you only make a single flare, the tube is likely to crack at the edge, and leak. Either spend a few extra $$$ and get a good double flaring tool, or rent/borrow one from the store. The cheap ones don't hold the line tight enough to make a flare.

Yes, the valves are in the head. As long as you don't remove the valve keys ("keepers"), when you remove the head everything stays together.

There are two sets of holes in the unibody ("frame") rails for the cross member. One set should be 10" back from the LCA mounts, the other set is 14" back. Whichever set was NOT used by your original engine/tranny combination probably is just a hole, with no threads. You can use thread inserts to create a thread that will hold up the cross member. The "frame" isn't thick enough to try threading that and expecting it to hold any weight.

This is a difficult question to answer, because you didn't tell us exactly how long your MJ cranks before it fires. Most people think the early (1987 through 1990) 4.0L XJs and MJs crank "too long" before starting. The fact is, they require a long crank period because the computer doesn't "remember" anything and it requires a few revolutions of the engine for the ECU to register sensor input and calibrate itself. Since what it is calibrating is primarily (I believe) CPS (crankshaft position sensor) input, and since CPS signal strength degrades over time (until the CPS fails), a very long crank time may be a warning of approaching CPS failure rather than a signal of fuel system problems.

The 2.5L with 4-speeds had 3.54 gears, but the 2.5L with 5-speed didn't. They generally (and in later years always) had 4.10s. 2.5L with automatic often had 3.73s in the early years. Chrysler standardized on 4.10s for all 2.5L XJs, but by then the MJ was history, and there were no more 4-speed manual tranny XJs being produced.

Before you go track down the O-ring, double check exactly where the gas is leaking out. I'll bet it isn't the O-ring. I've never yet seen an O-ring leak on an XJ or an MJ. What does leak on the MJs is the seal where the two hard lines go into the tank through the flange plate that the O-ring seals to the tank. I don't know if those tubes are welded or soldered in place, but the joint seems to vibrate and crack. I've been told that a thorough cleaning and packing it with JB Weld does a good job of sealing it up. I need to find out, because I have the same problem -- which I discovered when I filled the tank AFTER installing a new tank. :headpop:

Nope. I was in the Army during the period that piece of excrement was being used. It wasn't a Jeep and wasn't referred to as a Jeep. It was a Mutt.

Jeep didn't make or design the Mutt -- Ford did. The old IFS Jeeps weren't short-wheelbase (CJ type) Jeeps, they were versions of the Wagoneer. And they were rather horrible vehicles, which is why so few were built and sold, and why so many fewer survive today.

3 to 4 inches is NOT a huge lift for a Cherokee, and 3" is generally considered about right for 31" tires. To run 34s you should be looking at the 6" to 8" lift range -- which gets you into long arm territory, or drop brackets for the front at the very least.

Before you buy a new sender, pull the old one out of the tank and cycle it through the range of motion with the ignition on and have someone watch the gauge. If the gauge responds normally, the problem isn't the rheostat. More likely it's that the float doesn't float. I don't know if replacement floats are available. You might be able to fit a Cherokee float to an MJ sender unit, but I don't think the XJ sender is a direct replacement because the depth and shape of the tanks are different.

They are on the linkage, inside the cowel behind the hood. You have to first remove the cowel, then remove the wiper motor and it comes out through the cowel opening. On it you'll see three white nylon bushings. Those are the culprits. The replacements are readily available in the HELP! line of goodies at all the parts stores, but they aren't listed correctly. Ignore everything they say about year and makes and models. You need HELP! part number 49445. The kit will include six bushings, three each of two types. You need the smaller white ones. The larger milky-colored ones? God only knows what they fit. Squirt a bit of white lithium grease into each bushing before you press it onto the ball stud on the linkage -- they'll last longer.

RATZ! I just noticed this: That won't work for me. Never mind. Thanks, folks. Gotta look for a Plan 'B.'

I would be amazed if Autodesk doesn't have a student sales program, but I have no idea how to tap into finding out about such a critter. I won't do black market, though. Grey market I can live with, both because the stuff at list price is obscenely over-priced and because Autodesk has screwed me multiple times, but I won't lower myself to the level of software piracy. Hmmm ... $138 at http://www.studentdiscounts.com/ If anyone is willing to work with me to buy a copy and reship it to me, please drop me a PM

One of the three or four relays in the bank of relays on the passenger fender is an O2 sensor heater relay, I believe.

Did you read the part of my post where I wrote that the guy is a "friend"? That's "friend" as in, I have known him for fifty years, my brother and I both crewed on his stock car when he was actively racing, we all belong to the same collectors' club, my brother and I have breakfast with him almost every Saturday and then spend half the day shooting the bull in his (home) garage. He's been retired from the dealership since 1988 -- he's not trying to sell me any parts. Trust him? He's one of maybe four people in this world whom I absolutely trust ... period. Plus, he didn't say used parts are junk. Nobody did. I said that with used parts you have no idea how long they may last. That's a fact. You can dispute it all you want, but that's why used parts cost less than new parts. Hard parts, it doesn't make much difference. Electrical parts, especially those that are known to fail unpredictably anyway, are a real crap shoot when you buy them from a junkyard.

That link takes me to a post about a guy parting out a Nissan ricer-ride. Are you asking about ricer parts on a Comanche forum? If so, your post doesn't belong in our Tech section, it should be in "Other." Tech is for Comanche tech.

I wouldn't count on a junkyard ballast resistor. It could fail tomorrow. I was advised years ago by a friend who was a Jeep service manager that the ballast resistor is a highly unreliable part. Chrysler used to use them in their ignition systems and Mopar mechanics always carried a spare in the gove box. I always carry a spare in my Jeeps. (Although it is possible to bypass it by just jumpering the wires.)

Are these both Renix-era MJs? Follow your throttle actuator rod downward from the throttle body and you'll see a pivit linkage about 8" to 10" down, a bit hard to see but visible if you look for it. You want to squirt that with a good penetrating lubricant. In a pinch, you can use PB Blaster, but I don't think that has much lasting lubricity. Pep Boys has a better product that sort of foams up and clings as you spray it, rather than dripping right off. Don't recall just what it's called, but I think it has "Pro" in the name somehow. Also spray a little on the shaft of the throttle body where it goes through the body itself. But be careful NOT to spray any on the sensors.