Eagle

Last year this event drew something like 650 Jeeps. I can almost guarantee that there will be more than one Comanche there. Wish I could promise that mine will be there, but at the moment the cab floor is open and I'm trying to get the transfer case linkage back to some semblance of stock, so I'll probablyy be in the Cherokee. CJLongshot will probably have his there.

so, 89/90 is 21 then? The AX-15 was a running change, introduced mid-year in the 1989 production run. Most likely the change from 21-spline to 23-spline was made at the same time, but ... it's a Jeep. You can't be certain of anything.

I dunno, guys ... it looks okay to me. Note that in that photo the charcoal cannister isn't bolted to the frame rail, so it's closer to the oil filter than it should be. The oil pressure sender seems to be right over the filter, which is normal. Those of you who have seen only 91 and newer 4.0L engines may not know that the 87-90 version used a metric thread filter that mounted pointing up and out like that, rather than the horizontal position Chrysler adopted in 91.

I've seen that done. It works ... not quite as rigid as the factory installation and tends to collect a lot of gunk where you may not want a lot of gunk, but okay for wheeling. However, the original question specified "including the mounting brackets" so I felt I should clarify that they are sold separately from the flares. The inner liners are also separate.

the xj only has one prop valve. go with a newer one 97+ and they work great. i had a write up on this somewhere. :hmm: Alex The MJ only has one proportioning valve, too ... the one in the rear. What is the proportioning valve in the XJ is nothing but the brake system warning light switch in the MJ. There is no proportioning going on in that front juntion block.

Heh, heh ... That's just the price for two flares. Each flare needs three (3) retainer plates with the studs. A set of three will set you back more than the cost of the flare. The studs are 5mm -- good luck finding 5mm flange nuts to put on 'em. Unless you're looking to restore the truck, IMHO you're better off using Wrangler flares, or buying some of that universal stuff that JC Whitney sells in rolls.

They are not the same. The Comanche flare is both longer and higher. http://comancheclub.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=1427 Search is your friend.

Gotta love that Never-Seez stuff. I think it should be a Federal law that the manufacturers have to use it on any part that even might ever need to be taken apart at any time before a vehicle disintiegrates into a small pile of rust flakes.

It's fastest and least expensive to use stock lengths from Auto Zone or Advance Auto. As noted, be sure to get a length that's just slightly longer than the piece to be replaced, if you can't match the length exactly.

10:1 you popped the steel line feeding the rear brakes. Check your master cylinder and I'll bet the chamber for the rear brakes (the small chamber) is either low or completely empty. The most common place for a rupture is along the frame rail where the lines pass over the fuel tank. Next most likely place would be one of the lines on the rar axle itself, from the junction block to one of the wheels. Drop me a PM with your phone number. We can check it out on Monday if you don't have plans.

www.quadratech.com All Jeep, all the time.

Makes perfect sense ... Except that the owner of that shop doesn't have a clue. The newer FSMs give the specs in degrees, which is more accurate because it isn't affected by tire size. However, since I own mostly older ones, I have the '88 FSM here for reference. Spec is:

??????? 1/4" toed out is 1/4" toed out. The factory spec is zero to 1/16" toe-in, so there's no way that 1/4" toed out is 1/2" out of spec. And the only problem it'll cause is rapid tire wear, and some "twitchy" steering response. It won't cause death wobble. Been there, done that. When I took the lift out of the '88 MJ I was finishing up just before a trail ride up the road in MA. I completely forgot that changing the vehicle height 4" would affect the toe-in. Drove it up there and immediately noticed the twitchiness, plus I could hear the tires squeaking on corners. Once at the campground one of the other guys had a tape rule and we measured it. It was considerably toed out. Worse, the sleeve was so rusted that we couldn't make it turn, so I had to drive it home like that. Total of a few hundred miles. Visible tire wear, funky steering ... but no death wobble.

No, the "west coast" trucker style (tow package) mirrors do not use the same holes.

If it's a trail vehicle that sees limited highway miles, DIY. If it's your daily driver and gets a lot of miles, have a shop do it and you'll save the cost in tire wear. BTW -- 1/4" out of spec on toe-in won't cause DW. Insufficient caster might, though.

Is your truck a 5-speed? If so, there are a few connectors (including at least one 3-terminal one) that relate to the auto trans and aren't used on the 5-speed trucks.

No.

The XJ proportioning valve will directly replace the MJ valve. If you decide to go with the MJ valve, be VERY careful, and refer back to my old post with the photo of the dissected MJ valve. On the XJ, the "nose" of the proportioning valve is a rubber cover over the stem of the proportioning plunger, and the line to the rear brakes come out the front bottom outlet of the valve body. On the MJ, the line out the nose of the valve body (actually, in an MJ it's just a junction block, it doesn't function as a proportioning valve) is the line to the rear proportioning valve, and the line out the forward bottom outlet (corresponding to the XJ rear line) is the bypass line that gets actuated only when you lose pressure to the front brakes. If you retain the rear line out of the nose of the MJ combo valve, you're okay. Block off the outlet at the front bottom of the unit. However, because the XJ valve feeds the rear brakes from the outlet on the underside of the valve body, it's a natural tendency to think that's the outlet to use with an MJ combo valve. Bad guess. The outlet on the bottom is the safety override, and it allows fluid passage only if you lose the front brakes. Worse, if you look at the photo of the valve I cut open, you'll see that it wasn't manugactured correctly and would NEVER allow fluid to flow to the rears. I suspect the one in my '88 has the same defect, because since the rear proportioning valve blew out and I capped that line I have had NO rear brakes. (Of course, I haven't lost the fronts since then ... thank God ... so there really shouldn't be any fluid flowing in that line.) If you keep the MJ combo valve, connect your rear brakes to the outlet in the NOSE of the valve body. Here endeth the daily lesson. http://comancheclub.com/forums/viewtopi ... portioning

You heard wrong. This is proof positive that you can't believe everything you hear (read) on the Internet. Death wobble is a complex phenomenon involving a harmonic imbalance that transfers from one front wheel to the other at a mutually-reinforcing frequency of oscillation. There is no way on God's green earth that a loose or worn track bar can "cause" death wobble. I drove my '88 XJ for probably 10,000 miles with a severely worn track bar and extreme wander in the steering (yeah, I know ... but back then 10,000 miles was only 4 months and life conspired to not allow time to replace it) and never encountered even a hint of death wobble. I just needed to start turning the steering wheel awhile before I got to the curve. Death wobble is "caused" by a number of interrelated factors. In fact (or, more accurately, IMHO), the most prevalent contributing factor is tire balance, not track bar wear. However, worn components such as tie rod ends and ball joints, as well as hub/bearing units, can also play a role. The second most common contributing factor is tossing in a lift that reduces the front end caster angle. The worst instance of death wobble I ever experienced (and the ONLY one, until earlier this year) was in a totally stock, brand new 1999 Grand Cherokee WJ that had never been taken off road or abused. The DW kicked in on a state highway in New Hampshire. There was no warning whatsoever. I was 200 miles into the trip. The vehicle had never exhibited DW before, and it never did it again after. Bottom line: there is no simple cure if you have DW, but I will state with 100% certainty that a track bar cannot "cause" it. I agree with Longshot -- have your caster checked. The 2" lift reduced the caster angle. Those shims in the frame pockets for the LCAs adjust caster. Add enough shims to get the caster back where it was and I think your DW will disappear.

Nope. Depending on year, those will be 22 or 24 pound. They'll run, but your gas mileage will go down the toilet because the ECU can't shut 'em down enough when conditions don't need a lot of fuel.

What makes you think just changing to leaf spring will prevent death wobble? Hint: It won't. Death wobble can be caused (or "induced") by a number of factors, but the one thing certain about it is that it affects solid axle trucks and doesn't happen with IFS. The reason it doesn't affect IFS is that it is fundamentally the result of a harmonic, allowing oscillations in one front wheel to be transmitted to the other. If the frequency is right (meaning "wrong"), the oscillations hit a harmonic of the suspension and become mutually reinforcing. This can happen with either coil springs or leaf springs. If the primary purpose of going to leaves is to avoid death wobble ... forget it. You're on the wrong tack.

Is that for real? Did you take the photo? 'Cause it sure looks Photoshopped to me ...

You mean the header assembly that the grille and headlight surrounds live in? It ain't metal, it's fiberglass. I would strongly (as in STRONGLY) recommend removing it, because one slip trying to hoist the engine over it and it's history. It's basically attached with screws on the outer corners, beneath the headlight bezels.

A stock '86 4-banger (unless it was a 4-speed manual tranny) probably has either 3.73 or 4.10 gears. Those are okay for 31" tires with a 4-litre engine, but a 4-cyl will be working pretty hard to run those tires, even with those gears. 4.56 would be better but was never a factory option, so you would have to buy gears. As already noted, the 4.0L swap in an '86 is difficult. It can be done and it has been done, but it's a lot more work than the same swap in an '87 or newer chassis. The rear-wheel drive GM 3.4L V6 is the same block as the Jeep 2.8L, which Jeep bought from GM. Your best, most cost-effective upgrade would be to swap in a 3.4L V6. Since the 86 MJ was available with the 2.8 from the factory, it's basically a bolt-in conversion. You will have to rebalance the flywheel, because the 2.8L was externally balanced and the 3.4L was internally balanced. Perhaps a more interesting upgrade would be to swap out the throttle body injection for the newer Chrysler multi-port injection that came on-line for the 2.5L beginning in 1991. You would need to swap out basically the entire fuel and ignition system including the ECU, but the last versions of the 2.5L put out more horsepower and torque than the 2.8L V6. You could also drop in a factory stage 2 or stage 3 cam.

The first thing to check is the blinker module itself. The 86 MJ uses two -- the 4-way hazard flasher is separate from the turn signal flasher. Both are mounted in the fuse panel, which is inside the cab on the firewall, above the driver's left foot. If the 4-ways function, the simple test is to swap the two flashers. They interchange, physically, so this will serve as a test. However, the 4-way flasher is a heavy-duty, non-load sensing type. Unless you have a factory tow package, the turn signal flasher is probably a regular duty, load sensing type, which won't work correctly in the 4-way position. (It'll work, but not correctly.) I use the heavy duty models for everything. The only down-side is that they don't change flash rate if a bulb burns out, so you need to inspect your lights periodically. If you have neither turn signals nor 4-ways, then it's time to start checking bulbs, then fuses, then wiring.