Eagle

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.

Now that we're up to Labor Day and the start of the academic year, are any other students reading this forum who might be able to get academic pricing on a copy of AutoCAD LT 2008?

The parts for the first four gears are all the same. You can take the AX-4 cluster gear and synchros and use them to replace the bad parts in your AX-5 and you should be good to go.

I saw much the same thing several years ago near the start of one of my cross-country drives. I was heading west on I-80 near the western end of PA when a Dodge crew-cab flew by me towing a camper trailer. It wasn't the largest camper trailer I've ever seen, but it wasn't a pop-top either. The traler was swaying back and forth behind the truck, and I was sort of glad he blew by me as quick as he did because I didn't want that rig beside me. I would estimate he was doing around 75 to 80 MPH. Sure enough, about ten miles up the road I come around a bend, and there's the remains of the trailer, broken into tiny pieces and lying on what used to be the roof, in the grassy area of the media. The truck hadn't flipped, but it was pulled over a couple of hundred yards beyond the remains of the trailer. There's a reason U-Haul puts a 55-MPH speed limit warning on all their trailers.

That would be the 27-spline 8.25, used through 1996. Beginning in 1997 they went to larger, 29-spline shafts in the 8.25, making it nearly as strong as a D44. (But ... still a c-clip axle. And still with puny 9" brakes.)

If you can find a non-disconnect axle at a price that's "right" to you, by all means buy it. But I wouldn't say you have to avoid the disconnect axles at all costs. The kind of use you have in mind won't break one. And it's easy to simply engage it manually, shim it in the engaged position, and replace the shift motor to make it functionally the same as a non-disconnect. Presto, no more worries about vacuum leaks.

You guys crack me up. All he wants is a 2WD daily driver. My '88 Cherokee was bought new, it now has (IIRC) 272,000 miles on the original D35 rear axle, I've run it with tires as large as 31x10.50 and wheeled Maine, Paragon (PA), Rhode Island, a few trails in Connecticut, the Mohawk Trail area in Massachusetts multiple times, and it's been driven cross-country twice. It hasn't broken yet. The D35 will do fine, and it's a LOT less work than any of the other swaps you guys are recommending to him. Even the ChryCo 8.25 -- that has smaller brakes, and if he doesn't do a master cylinder/booster upgrade he'll be rather unhappy. This is one case when (except if he could find an XJ/MJ D44, which he can't) the D35 swap really makes the most sense.

You are correct that the AX-4 is basically an AX-5 without the fifth gear parts, and I have considered doing this exact conversion. When I discussed it with my friend at the dealership (he's the shop foreman, I guess -- he's over all the techs and tells them how to do the stuff they should know but don't ...) his immediate reaction was "Forget it. Sounds great in theory ... ain't gonna happen."

Both

It'll be low pinion, and may have CV joints rather than u-joints. '93 was the first year for the ZJ -- they used CV joints that year.

Your information is a mixed bag of mostly incorrect opinions. *FACT: Some early axles had vacuum disconnects. That would be the axles used with the Command-Trac transfer cases. The option Selec-Trac transfer cases had a full-time 4WD option and never used axles with disconnects. So you can get early non-disconnect axles. *FACT: ALL MJ axles and all XJ axles through 1999 were high pinion -- regardless of whether or not they had a disconnect, and regardless of u-joint size. *FACT: When the larger u-joints were first used (around 1991 or 1992?) they were used only in the vehicles with ABS, while vehicles with standard brakes got the smaller u-joints. It was not based strictly on year. The 242 is slightly less strong than the 231, but it's plenty strong for the wheeling you are describing. I've wheeled with guys in NAXJA who are much more "built" than what you seem to intend, and run much tougher trails than you seem to expect, and they couldn't break a 242. Plus -- you can beef it up with parts from a Dodge truck, or even get the guts from a Hummer 242. (But you don't need them.) No. Yes. No ...