Eagle

As for tires, on stock Jeep rims you can run 235/75-15s with no problems. I run 30x9.50s on my '87 with just a tiny bit of rubbing of the tire on the lower control arms when the steering wheel is turned all the way to one side. On my '88 I have run 31x10.50s after I took out the lift. They fit just fine in the back but are a bit much in front. They do fit, but they rub the LCAs when turning and just look "too big" in the wheel opening. IMHO, I think the 30x9.50s are an excellent choice, or 235/75s. If you look at tire specs, there's not a lot of difference between a 235/75 and a 30x9.50. I would not recommend that Exploder rims. The stock Jeep rims allow even 31x10.50s to "stuff" inside the sheet metal when the suspension compresses. The reduced backspacing of the Ford rims means the tires WILL hit the flares and sheet metal.

I went to Wal-Mart and bought an inexpensive, universal dome light for mine. There's an inner channel running along the back of the roof above the rear window, so I just drilled two holes and mounted it there. I was in too much of a rush to think through what I was doing, so I just wired it to a spare toggle switch in the panel to the right of the steering wheel. (I don't think MJs typically had any switches on the right -- I got the panel out of an XJ in a u-pull yard.) I ran one wire from the switch to the light, and now I have plenty of light on demand. But ... if I had been using my head, I would have run a constant hot to the light and then grounded it both through the toggle switch and through the door post switches, so it would come on when I open the doors. I may get to that if the spring thaw ever arrives.

Obviously. :cheers:

Bleeding the XJ (and MJ) clutch is difficult enough that the factory clutch kits for the newer years include a complete (external) slave, master and hydraulic line, all preassembled, filled, and bled. You just install it and drive it. Which suggests that perhaps an idea would be to disconnect both ends of the hydraulic line and force feed it fluid until it's filled, then connect it again. If you could also force feed the slave while the flex hose is disconnected from it, it might help "prime the pump." When the hydraulic line blew on my XJ, I had no problem bleeding the system after replacing the hose. If this thing absolutely can't be bled, I keep thinking the master cylinder isn't working.

Yeah, Jeep used an external from 84 thru 86, then they switched over to the infernal slave. This dual thread thing is getting confusing. I'm going to close this one. Please continue the clutch discussion on gavin8or's other thread.

Mate, your post took me three times longer to read than if you had written it in standard English. This is an Internet forum, not a cell phone with a character limit on text messages. Please do yourself a favour and quit using text message shorthand where it isn't needed or wanted. It makes life SOOOOO much easier. Thank you.

It depends what your definition of "remove" is. "Remove" is not synonymous with "replace." The hydraulic slave cylinder/release bearing assembly bolts to the bell housing. The bell housing comes off the engine with the tranny, so you can say that the slave cylinder is "removed" to replace the clutch. However, that doesn't mean that they then did the logical thing and put in a new slave cylinder while they had things opened up. IMHO it would take a total moron to get it apart and NOT replace the slave cylinder ... but there are a few morons out there, and anything is possible. The other possibility, since as already noted the "works for a few days if you pour in fluid" sounds a lot like a leak, is that the master cylinder is bad and they didn't replace that.

Bleeding these things is a nuisance. I would strongly recommend using a Mighty-Vac, which is a little hand-held vacuum pump that pulls the fluid through from the bottom rather than trying to push it down from the master cylinder. It can be done the conventional way, though. As others have noted, it is critical to not just try to pump the peddle furiously. Press down, have helper underneath close valve, then let up. Put pressure on pedal, helper opens valve peddle goes down, helper closes valve. Let peddle up. Two strokes is about all you get before you have to refill the master ... it doesn't hold much. Let it run dry even once and you introduce a big air bubble and you have to start over.

Yeah, he says they are both 4.0L but he also says both are throttle body injected and one is a 4-speed -- neither of those was was ever available on the 4.0L so something is messed up. I don't think anyone makes a 4-liter, 4-cylinder engine, and I know Jeep never did. The Comanche/Cherokee 4-cylinder is 2.5 liters and that's the ONLY 4-cylinder engine that was ever offered in those models. It is NOT a 4.0L 4-cylinder. Why would you put an old clutch into a vehicle that has a new clutch in it? The problem with the '92 isn't the clutch, it's that the numbwits who did the job didn't know how to bleed the hydraulics. It can be difficult, but it can be done. Take the '92, bleed the clutch, and drive it like you stole it.

We have a similar ordinance. The zoning enforcement officer knows that I used to be chairman of the zoning commission and that I know what else the same regulation prohibits: any outdoor storage of boats, campers and trailers, and any parking at home of commercial trucks (such as a plumber's or electrician's van, for example). And he also knows that if I get a letter, I'll spend the next two weeks cruiding town with a camera. I have a word processor. I can generate a LOT of complaint letters in a short time, making him VERY busy and a lot of residents VERY unhappy. We have a tacit agreement that it's best to let sleeping dogs lie. I keep them as well screened as I can and I try not to irritate my immediate neighbors. So far (knock on wood) it hasn't become a problem.

I'm a manual tranny guy for longer than most of you have been alive, and I wheel both the MJ and the XJ with 5-speeds. With that as background, if I were building a dedicated off-road XJ or MJ, especially if the wheeling might involve any amount of rock crawling, I would definitely go with the automatic. Rock crawling with a 5-speed is VERY hard on everything in the drive train.

Also be sure you get the correct oil filter. The 1990 was the last year they used the filter with the metric thread. The newer filter will go on, but it may leak or it may actually blow off.

Oh, poop. I was under the impression that the Paragon folks actually owned the land. I didn't realize they just lease it. That area seems to be growing, so it's not a surprise the owners would want to go for a bigger/better deal if they can get one. Always remember the second rule of real estate: "If you like the view, buy it." (The first rule, of course, is: "The three most important things in real estate are location, location, and location.")

catalytic converter

The rotor would move because it isn't bolted down to the hub. Why would you need to pull the tire to check for slop? Just curious. Well, I confess I completely forgot that most folks aren't as anal as I am about originality and have probably long since discarded the OEM retainer clips that hold the rotors to the hubs. Sorry. Yes, just wiggling the tire will show if there's movement, but with the tire and rim mounted you can't see if the play is in the unit bearing or the ball joints unless you have a helper. With the wheel and tire out of the way, you can see what's moving and how much.

What, you like pics of rust and dents? I have a guest here this week from Europe, whom I met through the NAXJA forum (he's a Cherokee owner). He asked, so we counted. I'm down to eleven Jeeps in the yard. Of the eleven, four are running. A couple of others are future projects, and the rest are (as long as you promise not to tell the neighbors) ahem ... junk. I'll see what I can do, but don't expect anything earth shattering ...

No, it also "softens" the shifts by allowing the torque converter to slip more. This creates more heat, and heat shortens the life of the converter. Correct.

Ding! I saw the first picture and thought the piston looked like it had sucked in some kind of projectile, then I got to the bottom, saw the bent valve, and said "Yep ... that'll do 'er." The question is, why/how did it suck a valve? Must have had a keeper break.

gas mileage is better in comfort. seems to be alot better, like 2-3mpg better. but power does have a more firm shift. Something is wrong. "Comfort" allows the trans to slip more. Fuel economy should be perceptably better with it set to "Power." The transmission also lasts longer when it's set to Power.

It's not a bolt and it doesn't go into a housing. A tie rod end has a tapered stud that goes into a tapered hole in a bracket. If it won't go in far enough to put the nut on the threaded portion, either there's something blocking the hole, the bracket is damaged, the stud is broken, or somebody sold you a tie rod end with a fatter stud thatn what your vehicle calls for. I'm here, you're there. I can't help much more than that from a distance.

The unit bearing would have to be virtually unusable before it could affect camber. Remove the tire and rim, grab the brake rotor at the top and bottom, and try to rock it in and out. If it moves, there's too much play in the bearing. I'd be looking at ball joints long before I'd consider the hub/bearing. They usually start growling long before they develop excess slop.

A front Lock Rite doesn't lock when you're running in 2WD on pavement. When things get slick and you engage 4WD, it makes the front end want to "push" rather badly in turns when you're on the power.

...that would have to mean that your shock is fully extended at ride height. just sitting on the ground it is fully extended and your axle cannot move another inch down? My question exactly. The right way to approach this would be to not guess, but to remove the existing shocks -- or at least one end of each shock. That'll let the truck sit at whatever ride height the modified springs bring it to. Crawl underneath and measure the distance between the upper and lower studs. That dimension should be as close as possible to the mid-point in the range of movement for the new shocks, equalizing the available up-travel and down-travel. You can find all those dimensions on the Monroe web site. Which doesn't mean you have to buy Monroe shocks (although you could do worse). Once you find a shock with the right end fittings and the right length, you can then look up the shock number to see what vehicle(s) it fits. Once you know the application, you can shop any shocks for that application.

The reality is that in a pickup, running empty, the front brakes do probably 65% to 75% of the work. That's WHY they have a load-sensing proportioning valve in there. Until mine blew out (the arm had been disconnected by a previous owner), the rear brakes on my '88 locked up before the fronts in any kind of quasi-panic situation, or when the pavement was at all wet or slippery. Mind you, I'm an olde pharte who grew up before we had proportioning valves, so it wasn't a big deal to me but for many people it would be ... unnerving. "Upgrading" the brakes (and since my XJs all have 10" rear drums I'm still not conceding that discs in any way represent an upgrade) would only make that problem worse. You'll need a functional and properly adjusted proportioning valve with rear discs much more than you ever did with drums. No matter how you slice it and dice it, you can't fight physics. Most of the weight is on the front wheels. They do most of the work, and the proportion shifts even more to the front in a panic stop scenario. However, that's just one olde pharte's opinion. YMMV.

The problem is the lining material on the shoes taking in moisture and swelling up. This has been a problem with the XJs since they first came out. Best cure that I know of is to replace the rear shoes with semi-metallic or carbon-ceramic shoes, which aren't as prone to taking in moisture.