Eagle

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 ...

TRE boots are cheap. They're in the HELP! section at Pep Boys and Auto Zone.

Just get a floor shifter assembly from a Cherokee.

You need an '87 or newer 4.0L with automatic. The D35s didn't have tags. You'll have to pull the cover and check the tooth count (which is stamped in the edge of the ring gear) if you want to confirm the ratio before buying.

The problem is, with a frozen engine the best you can hope for is that both valves will be closed on maybe two out of six cylinders. On the others, you'll just be pumping grease into the exhaust manifold or the intake manifold.

The MJ doesn't use dedicated amber turn indicators like the XJ, so the wiring is completely compatible with the 4-wire simple, basic trailer connector. No logic box needed, just a straight splice. I did mine on the left side, near where the wires feed the left side taillight. I don't recall which color goes to which on the trailer connector, but it's not hard to trace.

He just didn't put in any pictures of it in slammed mode. Did you read the description, about pumps and hydraulics and switches? He's not talking about light switches, amigo. This baby's a gen-yoo-wine California low rider that'll sit at a traffic light and make like a Mexican jumping bean. I'll bid $50 and he can keep the wheels and tires.

Correction -- '89 was the transition year. I have an '89 2WD 4.0L MJ that has an AX-15 in it, and since the floor cutout is different from that in an '88 with the Peugeot, I'm 99.9 percent certain it's factory.

The tire size you run will determine what your optimal gearing is, although if you can't use 5th gear at 55 to 65 MPH in level terrain, you must have a very sick engine, because the '87 4.0L has a torque peak that's down around 2000 or 2200 RPM and a 65 MPH cruise in 5th gear is right in the fat part of the torque curve. Nonetheless ... 31" tires with 3.73 gears is exactly the same overall final drive ratio as stock tires with 3.55 gears. I originally bought the 3.73s for use with 30" tires, but ended up running 31s instead. It's quite driveable, but 4.10s would have been better. If you run anywhere near stock tires (i.e. 225/75 or 235/75) 3.73s will be a good compromise between performance and fuel mileage.

What he has in it is what he has in it. It isn't fair to consider only the cost of the parts when looking at work recently done. Suppose you had a vintage, classic Corvette that you sent out and had totally restored from the frame up. That job might cost you $20,000 at a decent restoration shop. Would you say it's only worth $500 because that's what the paint and fiberglass cost? The owner can ask whatever price he wants, and he can justify his asking price any way he wants, or not justify it at all, just say 'That's my price because that's what I'll sell it for." If we don't want to pay that much, we don't buy that truck. End of discussion. Looking at it from the other side, 300,000 kilometers is about 180,000 miles. Not exactly brand new, but far from worn out for a Jeep 4.0L if even reasonable care was taken of it. If the body and running gear are in good shape, it's easily worth $4100. What would a new Ranger with a 6-cylinder engine cost? In general, if the engine starts and it moves under its own power its usually worth at least $500. Factor in a good body and a bunch of recent work and the price goes up quickly.

If the problem is valve float, look up the Mopar Performance Catalog on-line and order up a set of their dual-coil valve springs for the 4.0L. That should solve any valve float problems, and you don't even need to remove the head to change valve springs. To be honest, though, I don't see why you want more RPM. The torque peak is at 2200 RPM or so, and I'm sure the valves don't flaot until over 5,000 RPM. By the time you float the valves, you're so far out of the power curve of the engine you might as well be on Mars.

Before you go replacing sensors, be sure the problem is the sensor rather than the gauge. With the ignition on (engine doesn't need to be running, but it can be), remove the wire from the temp sensor. Look at the gauge. It should be pegged either to full hot or full cold (I don't recall which way it goes at the moment). Now jumper the wire directly to a good ground on the body or engine block. Look at the gauge again. It should have moved all the way to the opposite end of the scale. If it did not, either the gauge itself is bad or there's a break in the wire between the sender and the gauge.

DO NOT even consider going more than .060 over stock bore unless you have the block checked to be absolutely certain there was no "core shift" during casting. Otherwise, you risk breaking through into a water jacket, which would then mean either scrapping the block or sleeving it. Even if you can go to .090 over or 4.00 inches, that doesn't leave much metal for heat transfer and you'll get hot spots and cooling problems. For all practical purposes, .060 over is the maximum for a useful stroker.

The computer will be fine, but I can almost guarantee that you WILL need larger injectors. The injectors in the "new" 4.0L engine are sized for ... a 4.0L engine. You're increasing it to 4.5 liters if you don't bore it, or 4.6 liters if you punch it .030 oversize (which you will probably need to do to get the cylinders round again). And then you're tossing in a cam that flows more volume on top of the displacement increase. I doubt the stock HO injectors can handle all that.

We're getting closer to the start of the academic year, so I'd like to renew my request. The need is becoming more critical, but (unfortunately) the available cash is not increasing commensurately so I really REALLY need to find someone who can buy this program at a student rate. Any full-time students willing to drop an e-mail to Autodesk and ask if they offer student pricing for AutoCAD LT 2007? I'd really appreciate it.

Probably different year. Jeep changed the design in (I believe) 1990 so the trim strip across the top of the grille and headlight doors was integral with those parts (respectively) rather than being three individual chrome(like) parts. The header that works with those parts is different than the header for the separate trim strips.