Eagle

The D44 is longer than the D35. It is the same as a Chryco 8.25. Your drive shaft will be just fine.

Yeah, you have an '88. The plastic coolant bottle on your firewall is part of the pressurized system. It is NOT an overflow catch tank. If the cap doesn't seal (or wasn't put on tight), or the bottle cracks -- your system can't hold pressure and you'll gradually boil off coolant until it gets low enough to let you know something is amiss.

It does line up differently, but there's a work-around. On the older fenders, where they transition from vertical to horizontal there's a sort of hard bevel. The new style ('97+) has a rounded contour at that point. If you mount a new style header panel against old style fenders, that rounded upper/outer corner stick out beyond the bevel. The work-around is to fill in behind that rounded corner on the header before you install it. Fill it with bondo and chopped fiberglass, or something like that. Be sure to fill it solid, with no voids. Once you mount the new header, you just take a body file to the outer corner and contour it to match the bevel on the fenders. It doesn't require much, and once it's finished 99.7% of people who see it will never pick up on what you did.

A noid light is the tester for checking the wiring to injectors. Basically you take the connector off the injector, plug it onto the noid light, have a helper crank the engine over, and see if the light flashes.

Next check to see if the injector is receiving an electrical signal. You can buy the tester for about $15 at any of the parts houses, it's called a "Noid Light." They don't list it for the Jeep, but one of the other makes fits. Don't remember now, I think it was listed for a GM.

How old is your CPS (Crankshaft Position Sensor)?

Hi, Andy. Where ya been hiding? The doors will bolt right on, but the position of the latch in the door post is different. I don't recall if the newer ones are higher or lower than the old style, but they are different. I believe Kejtar has a write-up on doing this swap over on the NAXJA forum, although I think the way he did it was rather redneck. I wouldn't do it the way he did.

Your '86 has throttle body injection. I hope the problem isn't the injector, because that's a $200+ replacement. What about the fuel pump? Have you verified that it's delivering enough fuel and enough pressure to the injector? That's where I would start. PLus you have a fuel filter in the line from the tank to the engine. It's mounted to the inside of the driver's side frame rail, near the fuel tank. That could be clogged. Perhaps you should start by changing that, since it's probably long overdue anyway.

Round, or oval? If it's oval, similar to the Chrysler 8.25 axles in later year Cherokees, it's a Dana 35. If it is perfectly round, it's the afore-mentioned AMC model 20 and a VERY desireable axle. What size are the rear brakes? If they are 10" x 1.75" the axle is probably a D35. If they are 10" x 2.5" it is probably a Model 20.

The 228 and the 229 are essentially the same transfer case, but the 229 had a viscous coupling and the 228 has a mechanical differntial. It's a VERY heavy-duty t-case. It was used in some years in the full-size Cherokee/Wagoneers and J trucks. It's also a very HEAVY t-case. The biggest downfall is that there is no locked 4WD high range. This is basically an all-wheel-drive case. There's no 2WD mode, and the transfer case does not lock the front and rear driveshafts in 4WD high range. It was probably not original to your MJ. As far as I know, the 228 was the optional Selec-Trac case for the '86 XJ, but I don't think Selec-Trac was an option in the MJ.

In the AMC years, the 2.5L had different ratios for 4-speeds, 5-speeds and automatics. Once Chrysler took over, they eliminated the 4-speeds and settled on using 4.10 gearing for all the 2.5L XJs.

Nope and Nope.

I don't think the fluid is all out. Almost half the total volume of fluid is in the torque converter. I know I'm a stick shift guy and autmatics aren't really "my thing," but my understanding is that the only way to get that out is to drop the tranny and pull off the torque converter. Otherwise, even dropping the tranny pan only dumps what's in the pan, not what's in the converter.

The Ford 8.8 is stronger, but you are correct that the Chryco 8.25 offers several advantages. It's the right width, and the diff is centered on the axle. Nothing about the 8.8 is insurmountable, but I think the 8.25 (in the 29-spline version) is a good choice. They're both c-clip axles, so the Ford doesn't offer any major advantage there. Go for it.

Sucking the fluid out through the filler still only gets about half of it out, because it doesn't drain the torque converter. Doing it that way is no better than just using the drain plug. The filter is not easily changed like an oil filter on the engine. To replace the tranny filter screen you have to drop the pan. The lower part of the filler tube is welded to the pan, so that has to come too. The upper part of the fill tube is pressed on with an o-ring between the two halves. Usually, in an older vehicle that o-ring is so hard that you need dynamite to get the two halves of the tube apart, and you'll most likely trash the upper end. A good Jeep dealer keeps them in stock, because they don't bother trying to save the old one, they assume it's trash and replace it with the filter. I did one that had 165,000 miles on it. It was an '88 XJ and I worked on it in 2003. The old filter would have been fine. I'd suggest not worrying about it unless you're having a problem. As to synthetic tranny juice ... girsmj86 is the first and ONLY person I have ever heard of who has used synthetic in an AW-4 and not experienced problems. I think you're better off saving your money and using conventional tranny fluid.

What upgrades do you need, and who told you you need them? I've been making inquiries to AT&T (which is, I believe, the only option available to me where I live). So far I have had responses from three different people, and that means I have three different opinions (actually four, as one of them waffled when I asked a question about the initial message) regarding whether or not DSL will work with my computer. Meanwhile, my IT friends all tell me it will work, and my computer at work is less powerful than what I have at home and that chugs along just fine on an AT&T DSL connection, so it's obvious that their techies in India or Pakistan or wherever they hide out don't really have a clue.

In dealing with and talking about building contractors, we have a saying: "Nobody has time to do it right the first time, but everybody seems to have time to come back and do it over." It's actually amazing just how universal this is. It's a mindset and a business model that I can't get my limited mentality to embrace. It might take a whole extra 30 seconds or a minute to align a valve correctly when you install it, but to have to send a man with a truck and the equipemt back to remove the valve and re-install it probably wastes anywhere from 2 to 4 hours. Do the guys who messed it up the first time ever get FIRED for not doing it right? Rarely. I can't understand why not. The same is true of auto techs, too, of course. That's why I buy shop manuals and do every single job I possibly can myself. I can trust my work, and if I have to do something makeshift, at least I know where it is, how it was done, and WHY it was done. That way I can correct it at the next opportunity. Too many shops cut corners and do things that make their job simpler this time, but make subsequent repairs much more difficult. I have no use for techs who do that kind of stuff.

I think he has ice in the line.

It can easily be engaged manually. Just pop the cover off the disconnect housing and engage the sliding collar. It can be shimmed in place using large washers, or even a hose clamp. Close up the housing and just pretend you have a one-piece right side shaft. Be sure to plug your vacuum tubes, though.

BTW -- have you plugged these lines (or the ports) yet? If not, you created a vacuum leak. I don't think it's the only problem, but it isn't helping any if you're trying to diagnose a no-start condition when you have a built-in, known vacuum leak.

Correction, DryGas won't do ANYTHING if the line is already frozen. DryGas isn't even fuel system anti-freeze. All it is, basically, is alcohol. It most certainly isn't fuel system defroster.

We're not psychic. It would have helped if you had bothered to explain what you were doing. How are we supposed to "realize" what you're doing if you don't tell us?

Nah. YJs are HP. They gayed over the TJ axles. But he doesn't want the housing, jsut the shafts. I hope. Unless he likes leaf springs! I thought he wanted the entire axle, so he wouldn't have to set up a different ratio in his front differential.

x2 what he said ^^ The same light warns that the parking brake is on and that there is a pressure imbalance between the front and the rear. First step, as noted above, is to make certain that the parking brake isn't on, not even a little bit. Assuming that's okay, if the light is on either the front brakes or the rear brakes have air in the lines, or have a leak.

XJ springs are 5 inches shorter than MJ.