Eagle

Ah, so, Grasshopper. The proverbial RTFM Error.

I didn't read the linked article. Did it mention the fact that the door strikes don't line up vertically, and that surgery will be required to make the doors latch? It can be done, but this is not a bolt-in swap.

Except that at 15x8 they'll stick out a bit farther than stock MJ rims, which are 15x7. If you run larger than stock tires, this will more than likely result in the tires hitting the flares when the suspension compresses. With stock rims, even a 31x10.50 will tuck inside the fender when stuffed.

Down pipe, catalytic converter and muffler are the same as the XJ (if the XJ has the same engine). The tail pipes are different. Dunno where you live, but it's against Federal law to sell a used catalytic converter, so I don't really think you're going to get an entire system. Given that you're looking at buying the cat new, I would recommend buying new. A Walker stock replacement muffler from Auto Zone costs $25 and has a lifetime warranty -- they replace it free even if you mangle it on rocks. With a deal like that, why fight with rusty, used parts? Stock tailpipes are not that expensive from the chain stores, either.

My '87 MJ Pioneer has full gauges and a tach, and carpeting. My '88 SporTruck has a rubber floor mat, idiot light cluster, and the station wagon steering wheel. I beliece the '86 'X' model had full instrumentation, as well as the Eliminators.

That's the right stuff, but in colder weather with conventional gear oil the second gear synchros are balky. Same is true on the BA10/5 and the AX-15. Synthetic gear oil is supposed to help. Personally, I toss in some Mr. Moly molybdenum disulphide additive and it seems to slick things up fairly nicely.

No! A GM 2.8L threw a rod? Impossible. Say it isn't so. Do yourself a favor. Forget the 2.8L. Frankly, you're better off with a 2.5L Jeep I-4, and it'll bolt up to the same bellhousing.

10" x 1.75" The other one they're showing is 10" x 2.5" -- that's for the Dana 44. Staring in 1990 they were all 9" x 2.5"

What did you put in, and how much?

Pretty simple -- opposite ends of the spectrum. The Eliminator was a top-end model, with bucket seats, center console, alloy wheels, the whole enchilada. The first year of the Eliminator, it was only offered in 2WD. The SporTruck was the base model. I have an '88. Bench seat, idiot lights, the ungly "station wagon" steering wheel. rubber floor mat instead of carpet, only one side mirror and it's a cheapie, screw-to-the-door type, not the XJ style, and base model 15x6 steel rims.

No experience using the Caddy calipers, but if memory serves there is a special procedure for bleeding the rear system with the load-sensing proportioning valve. Those are problemmatic at best, anyway. I had one blow out when I was cut off in traffic and did a panic stop. I think you're on the right track to remove it, but with rear disks I think you willl need some proportioning. My suggestion would be a Wilwood manually adjustable proportioning valve in the rear circuit. You can leave it under the chassis and set it once, or run the line through the cab so you can adjust the proportioning on-the-fly if you change the load in the back.

The license plate lights are a "mini" harness to themselves. About 18" from the lights, they plug into the main body harness with a pair of little bullet connectors. One is ground, the other is power. If either one is corroded, the license lights don't work but the stop/tail/turn lights will continue to function.

You can buy the entire set of CCV hoses from NAPA for what a Jeep dealer gets for one piece of the set.

Your front axle has a disconnect in the shaft on the right side. The axle disconnect "motor" is operated by vacuum. One line pulls the sliding collar to the engaged position, the other line pulls it to the disengaged position. Assuming you were in 2WD when the lines melted, you would be able to shift the transfer case into 4WD but the right front axle would be disengaged, so you would effectively still be running in 2WD all the time.

Check the ground.

That bolt goes into a water jacket and doesn't have threads for the full length of the bolt. The Loctite is to seal it so coolant won't seep up the threads. In the old days they had us use Permatex on that one. The reduced torque is so you won't strip the threads in the block.

Somewhere, most likely in the NAXJA archives but possibly some other Jeep site, there is a writeup on doing exactly this mod. They didn't use XJ hatch struts, IIRC, although I see no reason they wouldn't work. I think the article explained what they used for mounts, and where to locate them for the correct leverage. Unfortunately, I don't have it bookmarked ...

Simpler is to jack up ONE rear wheel with the vehicle in neutral (not park) and the brake off & wheels chocked. Try to turn the rear tire that's off the ground. If it doesn't turn easily (or doesn't turn at all), you have limited slip. If it turns easily, either you don't have limited slip or it's already worn out.

It's gotta be some loose connection under the dash. Maybe something that your foot can kick when you go for the brake peddle? Ahhhhh ... The "real" ignition switch is not where you put the key into the steering column. There's an operating rod down the column from the key cylinder to the actual switch, which is near the base of the steering column. I have heard of those shorting out. See if you can get access to look that over carefully. If there's a loose or partially fried connection, maybe you're sporadically nudging it with your brake foot.

The heavy-gauge wire from the back of the alternator up into the power distribution block. It should be a red 8-gauge wire coming off the alternator, then it goes into a 12-gauge blue fusible link which, IIRC, is a ring terminal that bolts to the stud on the starter relay (just behind the bettery on the passenger side of the engine compartment). What you're checking for, though, isn't a "loose" connection. A fusible link is like a non-replaceable fuse (in fact, it isn't "like" a non-replaceable fuse, that's what it is). If the circuit is overloaded, the short section of thinner-gauge wire gets hot and melts, breaking the circuit. That wire off the back of the alternator is what carries the alternator output into your electrical system. If the fusible link fused, you have no alternator, you're just driving on battery. Many people think an 8-gauge wire is too small to carry a lot of power anyway, so they bypass that with a heavier gauge cable and a real in-line fuse. To test, remove the ring terminal from the back of the alternator to isolate the wire, then use the ohm setting on a VOM (or a test light) to check for continuity from the alternator end up to where it bolts to the starter relay.

Blue smoke = oil = rings &/or valve seals White "smoke" = steam = head gasket Do a compression test. When head gaskets fail, they don't blow out all cylinders. Usually they fail between two adjacent cylinders, which will result in a bunch of good compression readings and two adjacent cylinders with low readings.

The 4.0L is overhead valve, not overhead cam. The cam is in the block so the timing isn't affected by removing the head.

Rob, you really need to know if they are driving lights or fog lights. If they are driving lights, you'll wear out the toggle switch in a week because you'll have to shut them off every time you meet an on-coming vehicle. That's why driving lights are wired to work with the high beams -- dim to low beams and the driving lights go off too. Even most factory fog lights are messed up. I hate living in a yuppie area because every dweeb with an Explorer or a Mustang or a BMW insists on driving with their fog lights on all the time, even though last night was the first fog we've seen in about two years. And the damned things are never aimed right, so they're blinding. I wanna borrow the Enterpsise's photon torpedo launcher for some of these twits ... and I ain't gonna set phasers on stun, either. Do it right or don't do it at all. It's not that much extra work and it may save you a ticket, an accident, or both.

That's what originally came from the factory.

Two things I haven't seen mentioned yet: (1) The 97 and newer heads aren't drilled for the temperature sender that controls the dash gauge. On the OBD-2 systems the gauges receive input from the central data bus, so there's only one temp sender. The Renix has one in the head for the gauge, and one on the block for the ECU. (2) The height of the ports was raised and the shape changed in 91 when the HO engine came out. It is theoretically possible to fit the old Renix manifolds onto the new heads (it has been done), but it's a far cry from "bolt-on," and whatever gains you might otherwise get from the HO head you probably lose because the mismatch between the ports and the manifolds messes up the air flow. It's better to change the manifolds if you change to an HO head -- but then you get into throttle body and linkage issues. BTW -- the cam in the 4.0L is not "upper end" stuff -- it's in the block and would not be touched by a head replacement unless you choose to also replace the cam while the engine is halfway torn down.