Eagle

You're saying you'll leave the line in place from the "nose" of the combo valve body, disconnect it from the rear proportioning valve, and then connect that end to the hose on the rear axle? Yes, that'll do it. For the plug in the "other" rear outlet at the bottom of the valve body, get the shortest/cheapest 1/2" x 20 bolt you can find. Cut the threaded portion down to 1/4" in length, put an O-ring on it, and you have a plug.

Your chart can't be for 87 and 88, because the Eliminator didn't exist in those years. The first year for the Eliminator was either 90 or 91. The original MJ FSM lists the following for trim levels, indicated by the 8th character of the VIN 7 = X 8 = XL 9 = XLS F = Custom (Metric Ton) G = X (Metric Ton) H = XL (Metric Ton) J = XLS (Metric Ton) Unlike my original XJ FSM, this one is just the original 1985 edition (even though I bought it almost 20 years later). The XK FSM was the '86 book but it included several chapters added to the back of the book to cover some of the 1987 updates (but not all). ---------------- [EDIT]Hmmm ... According to Jp Magazine, the Eliminator debuted in 1989. That's not my recollection, but that's what they say. I found the following link, which I pass along for what it's worth. I don't have enough reference material handy to check it for accuracy. http://www.angelfire.com/ca/TORONTO/VIN/jeep.html

You may have that reversed, I think. Assuming he's still running the fuel pump that bolts to the block and has an arm that rides the camshaft, that's a mechanical fuel pump and there's no way it can or would need to run off the brake booster. However, if the engine produces no vacuum, the brakes wouldn't get much boost. Back in the days of vacuum-operated windshield wipers (probably most of you are at least a generation too young to remember such, but they were still around in 1968), most mechanical fuel pumps had a secondary upper section that was a vacuum pump, for the purpose of pulling vacuum to make the wipers wipe. I suspect he has the brake booster connected to the vacuum pump section of the fuel pump to make the brakes work.

Probably. The MJ does have a reinforcing gusset on the outside of the frame rail at the LCA attachment point, but the brackets still put a lot of stress on that point. A friend of mine had a bracket rip off his XJ in Massachusetts, so the reports are correct, it does happen. Even with the braces, IMHO the drop brackets are not a good solution for a jeep that will actually go off-road. Remember that their whole purpose is to restore stock suspension geometry with a 4" lift. Which means that the trailing ends of the LCAs hang down 4" lower under the frame than stock. Unless your lift is AT LEAST 6" that's a huge problem, because the drop brackets become rock magnets. My '88 shortbed had a Trailmaster lift with drop brackets in when I bought it. I wheeled it like that for a couple of years, and I hated it. Taking it out and putting the truck back to stock was one of my better moves. I think I can go pretty much anywhere without the lift that I could go with the lift, and I can still run 31" tires. IMHO, if you think you need the drop brackets, you probably need a long arm kit.

Correct. That's what I'll be doing on the red wreck.

I paid $500 for one about two years ago. Had to travel about 150 miles (round trip) to get it.

I believe the SporTruck was, indeed, the base model. I have an '88 4-cyl SporTruck. It has the door-mounted, "flag" style sude mirror (driver's door only), black "station wagon" steering wheel, vinyl upholstered bench seat, and rubber floor mat rather than carpet. It's rather ... "basic."

Sway bars? Plural? The MJ only had one sway bar. Are you certain that's what you're talking about?

Back around '88 and '89 I don't know if there was any MJ that was better optioned. The Eliminator didn't come out until 90 or 91, IIRC. The Chief was considered a notch above the Pioneer, although the Chief was oriented to look more off-road(ish) while the Pioneer was oriented more toward "creature comforts". Nonetheless, many of the package items were found in both, such as the gauges and the 3-spoke sport wheel and the carpets.

Pioneer decals? AFAIK my Pioneer is all original, and it doesn't have any decals. I don't think I've ever seen a Pioneer with any decals. Do you have any pictures of what you're looking for?

And you consider a ZJ to be an "upgrade"? To each his own, I suppose. I don't want anything to do with ZJs.

OWL Wrangler tires on 15x7 6-spoke white "wagon wheel" style rims; gauges (tach optional); dual side mirrors; sport (3-spoke) steering wheel; Chief exterior trim; "hockey stick" door armrests; cloth upholstery; carpet instead of rubber floor mat. I think that's about it. What did I forget?

If you plan to tie the canoe only to the rack, then it has to be beefy. That really isn't necessary. I used to carry a 16-foot canoe on the roof of a pony car using just four styrofoam blocks clamped around the gunwales to cushion it on the roof. Lateral and longitudinal stability was from ties running to the bumpers. You can use a very light rack mounted in a hitch, because really all it does is support the weight of the canoe, and canoes don't weight much. You just have to tie the boat off to the chassis to keep it in place. That why a long time ago somebody invented this stuff called "rope." :) :cheers:

My '88 4.0L was a Chief. The previous owner stripped off most of the decals along the rocker panels, but you can see where the paint is more faded around the word Comanche Chief than under the letters. And the black tape on the hood is still there. Can I join? Please, huh, please?

Yes, they interchange both ways. But if the tie rod ends on the MJ linkage are worn out, you'd better replace them when you put the MJ stuff into the wife's ZJ or she will NOT be a happy camperette.

If your truck is really an '88 Pioneer and it had idiot lights, a previous owner has swapped out the gauge cluster because the Pioneer came with full gauges (except that tachometer was optional). If a previous owner got rid of gauges in favor of idiot lights ... one wonders why. Screwy wiring that would be hidden by the presence of idiot lights sounds like as good a theory as any.

Get a set of MJ main leaves, Explorer or old S-10 or Dakota main leaves, or even XJ main leaves, cut the eyes off the ends, and use those. Or go new. Rancho makes an AAL kit. They list the same part number for the XJ and MJ and their catalog says it produces 2-1/2" of lift in both. That's impossible, of course, so I called and spoke to their engineers. After some checking, the slide rule chick told me it's 2-1/2" in the XJ, and 1" to 1-1/2" in the MJ. Runs about $50 for the kit.

The FSM says to remove the lower dash panel. I suspect doing so makes the job a lot easier.

I wouldn't ever go to a Jiffy Lube just because of the way their ads used to pronounce the company name. I mean, really. Would you entrust your cherished vehicle to a shop that pronounces "lube" like LEEYOOOOB?

The 27-spline 8.25 started showing up around 1992, but as already noted it was only on vehicles without ABS. ABS-equipped XJs had the Dana 35. I have no idea of percentages, but I would guess that by 1997 or so "most" (whatever that unscientific term means) XJs probably had ABS, and therefore "most" would have had the Dana 35. I know that my dealer was typically ordering XJs for stock with ABS because most buyers wanted it. I had to special order to get my 2000 w/o ABS. Now that I have remarried and the 2000 XJ Classic has become my wife's "car," I wish I had gotten ABS. I don't like it and I don't think I need it, but she grew up in a land with no snow in the winter ...

Fill the bottle half way. Run the engine with the cap off until the coolant in the bottle starts to bubble. Shut off the engine and stand by. As soon as the bubbling stops, the coolant will start to suck back into the system. Pour more into the bottle, to keep the level about half full. Once it stops sucking in coolant, start the engine and repeat. It'll probably take three to four cycles to fully "burp" the system. Wear heavy rubber gloves and safety glasses when pouring in the coolant -- anything that splashes out WILL be boiling hot (+/- 240 degrees). I don't remove the temp sensor. It's lower than the bottle, so burping air from the head doesn't really purge the system.

There's your problem. There is nothing wrong with an AAL to gain a little height and extra capacity. The problems start when you try to get a BIG lift using an AAL, and become even worse when you try to do it with a half-length AAL. If the AAL doesn't have an arch that's pretty close to the same as the "native" arch of the other leaves in the pack, the new leaf is really working against the old leaves. The new guy is trying to push them up, and the old leaves are trying to push the new guy down. IMHO this is why the best of all AALs is the main leaf from a matching spring pack with the eyes cut uff. The arch matches, so everything works together. You won't gain mega-lift this way, but it also wan't sag out in six months. And the ride doesn't suffer. For example, I did this to restore the sagging rear springs on an '88 XJ I fixed up for an ex-GF. The vehicle started out about 1/2" lower than stock height, and I knew she wanted a Jeep to get into back country for accessing remote trail heads for hiking. So I put on gas tank and transfer case skid plates, and threw in a pair of main leaves from a junked XJ. The gross lift was 1-1/4", which was a net gain of 3/4" even after adding the skid plates. Other guys in NAXJA who have done the same on newer XJs and using newer donor springs (mine came from an '89) typically got 1-1/2" of gross lift. Once the XJ was done I drove it from Connecticut to Montana, and the ride was excellent. Slightly firm, definitely not harsh. Just the way I like it, in fact, and much better than it was before the lift.

YJ D30s are also high pinion, but of course they are set up for leaf springs and would require a lot of fabrication for use in an MJ. Any XJ front axle through early 1999 will be high pinion. I know the 2000 and 2001 XJ are low pinion ... not sure, but I think the change was a running change mid-year in the 1999 model run.

If the drag link and track bar are not parallel you get bump steer. Not an issue on the trail at low speed but very disconcerting (and possibly unsafe) on the street or highway.

No. This is a common misunderstanding. The housing, tubes, ring & pinion, and shaft diameter are exactly the same between the two. The difference is that WHEN a c-clip axle breaks the shaft, there is nothing to retain the hub and the portion of the axle outboard of the break, and they can "walk" out of the axle. The older non-c-clip design has a bearing retainer that keeps the axle in the tube and the wheel under the vehicle. (Can't be driven that way, however.)