Eagle

From U-Haul? Don't bet the ranch. The last time I needed a dolly I called around to three different U-Hauls before I found one that said they had a dolly I could rent on Saturday. So I showed up a 09:30, which is the time I was scheduled to pick it up, and the guy tells me my Comanche is too small to pull a car trailer. I said, "Yeah, that's why I rented a dolly." Well, he said I rented a trailer, and they didn't have a dolly. All they had for me was a trailer. "What about that one out front, chained to the column?" Oh, that one wasn't for rent. Screw U-Haul. I went 15 miles down the road and rented one from a local place that doesn't play games.

Two companies make them. One is (IIRC) named Flaming River. The other company is located in Norfolk, Connecticut, they advertise in the back of many of the 4WD magazines ... and I'm drawing a total blank on their name.

XJs are set up to be flat towed. Tranny in Park, transfer case in neutral. Personally, for a trip of 3-1/2+ hours I would pull both driveshafts to be sure. If you drive easy, the stock front bumper is okay if you attach the drawbar right next to the support brackets. I've done it; a friend and I hauled an MJ from New Bedford, MA, to my house in CT. All but a few miles at each end of the trip was Interstate highway and fairly level going. But be sure you take it easy, or you'll rip the front bumper right off. They aren't very strong. Don't forget to unlock the steering column in the XJ!

There is no significant difference between/among a 1054, 1157 and 2057. In fact, I think there's yet another that will fit the same socket and provide two filaments of contrasting brightness. There's a small wattage difference from one number to the other, but they'll all work. 1157s are usually easier to find than 2057s.

It did leave the factory. That was a take-out from an MJ ... the owner replaced it with an XJ combo valve. No, I haven't sliced another to see if it has the same problem. I only have one more, and I'm not willing to cut it apart. I suppose I should just probe and see how deep the hole goes. I recently posted the text from the FSM on bleeding the MJ brakes. The second line is a by-pass line that is active only if the front brake circuit loses pressure. In that case, the slider in the top of the front combo valve moves and allows fluid to flow through the by-pass circuit (which, of course, was blocked in the MJ front combo valve I sliced in half). Bleeding requires opening a bleed screw on a front caliper to simulate a front brake failure, allowing the by-pass circuit to be bled. Then you close the bleeder and bleed all four wheels normally.

All it does is lower the shift point, which is harder on both the engine and the tranny. It was supposed to help fuel economy. When they dropped it in 1991, they just hard-wired the tranny for the "pwer" setting. Don't waste any time looking for one, you don't need it.

If anyone wants an XJ shell to make into a trailer, let me know. I have one that's already stripped and soon to be cut up to haul to the transfer station in small pieces. That one would have to be a shorty, though, or else you'd have to patch the roof because it had a sunroof that I cut out to give a friend in NAXJA who rolled his XJ at Paragon a couple of years ago and smashed his sunroof. The other one is waiting for me to pull the engine and drive train and has a solid roof. Both are 4-doors. Both were hit in the front and are fairly straight in the back. (The second one has a bent driver's side A pillar, I think, but would be fine if built like the one in the Australian photos.)

Call my dealer on Monday. (860) 274-8834 Press '3' for Parts, and ask to speak with Todd. Todd is THE Jeep parts guru. If he can't steer you straight, it probably can't be done.

The simplest solution is a 2-bbl carburetor off a pre-smog engine. Holly and AutoLite used to make a wide variety of "lay-down style" (low, like a 4-bbl form factor, rather than upright that won't fit under the hood) 2-bbls, and you should be able to pick up rebuilts or even new aftermarket clones reasonably. Just pick one for approximately the same size engine. Don't get one from a much larger engine or it'll be jetted too rich.

The problem is, then they won't fit. In many applications (such as the control arms) you'll be building in clunks that you'll never be able to get rid of. The preferred solution (IMHO) is to use the correct bolt, and use it with anti-sieze. If you anti-sieze both the threads and the shanks, you should never snap anout bolt or bit.

Don't blame Jeep for what a previous owner broke, or failed to maintain. My '88 XJ I bought new in early 1988. It has just over 266,000 miles on it now. The original clutch lasted 204,000 miles, and was replaced only because the release bearing got noisy. The original Trac-Lok lasted 150,000 miles. The valve cover has never been off. I'm just about to put in the second replacement radiator, but the original lasted something like 185,000 miles (in New England). I've replaced one front hub/bearing unit -- the other is still the original. All driveshaft u-joints are original. There's nothing wrong with your Jeep. Fault whoever didn't take care of it before you got it.

You just have to love Harry's (if that's where you went). How many XJs and MJs did they have?

CPS (Crankshaft Position Sensor)

All my info is second-hand on this. Some reports say the swap required mild reshaping with a body hammer. Other reports say a section of firewall had to be cut out. And one guy said there was no problem. I have two scrap heaps in the yard that I hope to cut up into small pieces. The plan is to save both firewalls and compare them. One's an 86 and the other's an 87.

Oh, I know the hard way that they are metric. It's just that at my advanced age, remembering what I ate for breakfast is hard enough. Remembering what size bolt I pulled out of a control arm last year is a miracle. Rough equivalents: 3/8" is actually 9.x mm 1/2" is 12.7 mm. XJ rear spring u-bolts are 12 mm. Thinking they were 1/2", I once tried to use a reversed lug nut to replace a lost nut in a u-bolt. It would appear to thread on okay, but when it came time to tighten it, obviously it just spun. 14 mm is 9/16". The same XJ from which the guy lost the axle u-bolt nuts, he also lost the 14mm bolts that go through the shackle and the spring bushing. I couldn't find anything close in 14 mm but I found the right length in a 9/16" grade 8. I had to polish the bolt shank and tap it through with a hammer, but they worked.

Now how did he know that? I don't think there's a cure. Wear thick socks and turn up the stereo.

You are correct. Almost. It counts ignition pulses, but not limited to one cylinder. It does make a difference if it's a 4-cylinder or 6-cylinder engine. These are 4-stroke engines, so for one revolution a 4-banger has 2 pulses, and a 6-cylinder has three. Lets say the tach counts 600 pulses. If it's a four cylinder tach, it's going to report that as 300 RPM. If it's a six-cylinder tach, it'll report it as 200 RPM.

So what am I, chopped liver? I still have five MJs in the fleet, even after passing three of them on to other people.

The '88 uses a white nylon push connector to hold the speedo cable into the speedo. The older ones used a metal connector with a retaining screw. Either all 87s used the old style, or 87 was a swing year and the change was made mid-year. You'll have to verify which type of speedo connection is in the cluster you want to use. I can't remember if it's possible to swap the speedos between the two cluster types.

Keep in mind there are 3 generations of cluster. 1 = 84 - 87 2 = 88 - 90 3 = 91 - 96 The first two both use a mechanical speedo and can be monkeyed around to interchange, but it's best to get one from the same year range as your vehicle. The electronic speedo version obviously won't work with a mechanical speedo drive, plus Chrysler reversed the polarity on the gauges so that's completely out of consideration as an interchange. For the 84 - 87 tachometer, you MUST get one from the same engine as your vehicle, there is no adjustment for 4 or 6 cylinder. For the 88 - 90, there is a potentiometer on the back of the tach that you can use to set it for 4-cyl or 6-cyl.

UCA bolts are 10mm, lowers I thought were 12mm. But 12mm would be slightly smaller than 1/2" not slightly larger. The holes in the frame at the upper control arm mounts should not be 1/2". If you put 10mm or 3/8" bolts in a 1/2" hole there's no way you will be able to stop the bolt (and arm) from shifting and clunking.

Whose lower control arms do you have in? At stock height I had a clunk in the '87 MJ, and replacing the driver's side LCA cured it. Rusty's adjustable control arms are notorious for clunking.

No title? Well, then ... I'm not interested.

Weber. Rusty's sells it (or used to).

They are both 5-speeds and 5th gear is an overdrive. The ratios aren't spot-on the same, but pretty close. I can look them up if you really need the exact numbers, but I don't have them handy.