Eagle

Derek is basically correct. I confess that I have reused axle u-bolts, but never on a modified vehicle that could see high stress. New u-bolts from a decent spring shop are cheap. I get them made up at a local shop for $6.00 each. Cherokee u-bolts are 12mm, which is a shade smaller than 1/2", MJ u-bolts are 14mm, which is a slightly bigger shade larger than 1/2". The shop only deals in SAE sizes, so I standardized on 1/2" and that way I can use them on either an XJ or an MJ. I would much rather put my faith in a brand new, commercial truck grade 1/2" u-bolt than an old, rusty, threads-are-half-gone 14mm u-bolt that may or may not have been apart and retorqued before I got to it.

There's bad info here, all right, and it's all in your post. I have a pair of flares ON the rear quarter panels that I cut off a 2-door XJ. They are exactly the same size and profile as the flares on my 4-door XJ. And they are smaller in both height and length than the flares on an MJ. Those measurements I linked to were taken from one of MY MJs, and from the set of 2-door XJ quarter panels I have. I don't know where you got your information, but this is one time when I KNOW you're wrong. If it'll paste in, the following is directly from the factory parts book: Notice that none of the MJ part numbers match any of the MJ part numbers. Notice also that there is only ONE inner liner listed for the XJ, and it isn't the same number as the one for the MJ.

I don't consider the '89 FSM to be any better than the '88 manuals I have (I have '88 for both the XJ and the MJ). The vehicles are pretty much the same, so get whichever one you can find, or get the better deal on. Keep in mind that there is no single "1988 Comanche Factory Service Manual." It's the 1986 MJ FSM along with several supplemental books to cover the stuff newer than 1986, such as the 4.0L engine, the Renix fuel injection, the 231 transfer case, and the Dana 44 rear axle. As noted, in 1991 Chrysler changed the electrical system and the injection/ignition system, so a '91 or newer FSM would be largely useless to you. They are not backwards-compatible, they are year-specific. If you want multi-year, buy Chilton or Haynes.

The standard FSM diagnostic for the AW-4 tranny is to pull the fuse for the TCU and run it by shifting manually. You lose either first or second gear (don't recall which), but all other positions should function. I don't think you can get any sense of what it's doing when it's up in the air on jack stands. You need to get it on the ground so there's some resistance. Speaking of fuses -- if the MJ didn't have a TCU in it, and you installed a TCU from the parts XJ ... did you check to verify that you're getting power to the TCU? Whoever yanked the TCU might have also yanked the fuse ...

Start by checking the gauge itself. Pull the cluster, and run test leads from a battery (or a battery charger or any small transformer that puts out 12 to 13 volts direct to the terminals on the gauge. (Don't recall for certain, but I believe they're marked for positive and negative. If not, a quick touch with reverse polarity won't kill it.)

You can make anything work if you try hard enough. But they are not the same, and they don't fit. The rear flares on the MJs are both longer and higher than XJ flares. All XJ rear flares are the same, the 2-door and the 4-door don't use different flares.

The glass may be discontinued from the factory, but I'd be very surprised if none of the aftermarket suppliers can come up with it. If not, though, it's flat so you can have a glass shop cut one for you. Many years ago I had th replace all the side glass in a 1939 Hudson coupe because the laminate layer had gotten all yellowed and crazed. Naturally, nobody had stock glass for a 30-year old Hudson, but the local glass shop made 'em up on the spot. The laminated glass they can cut -- tempered they can't. I suppose the rear windows today are tempered, but I don't see a big problem with using laminated.

The tach should read correctly if the donor vehicle had the same engine (4-cyl or 6-cyl) as yours. Idle speed of around 700 to 750 is correct.

I have put them side-by-side. Not even close. There was another thread a couple of three weeks back where I posted actual measurements, but the MJ flares are something like 2" or 3" longer (front to back) and about 2" higher than rear XJ flares. The only way to make XJ flares work would be to graft in a section of the quarter panel from a 2-door XJ, to get the smaller arch opening. Here it is. Scroll down almost to the end for the measurements. http://comancheclub.com/forums/viewtopi ... s&start=15

I can see that I'm going to have to put an XJ bucket and an MJ bucket side-by-side and take a photo. And then flip them over and see what's different that affects the height. In theory, knowing that AMC typically never wasted an opportunity to consolidate parts across model lines, it seems that the seats should be the same seats, so if the XJ seat is too high in an MJ, it's gotta be in the brackets or the pedestals somehow.

The best deal I know of for spring perches is the set in the Mopar Performance Catalog. They are beefier than the stock ones, and the price is ridiculous -- like $15 a pair. I went into my dealer awhile ago to order them. The parts guy (the manager, that day) looked 'em up and kind of scratched his head. "Do these things come one in a box, or as a pair?" he asked. "How should I know, you're the parts manager. Why?" "Because the price is so low. Your price is going to be only ___." Well, the price he quoted me was SO low that I knew there must only be one in a box, even though the picture in the catalog showed two. So I ordered two. The next Saturday I went in to pick up my parts, we opened up the first box ... and out fell two of the biggest, meanest, toughest looking spring perches you'll ever see. The aftermarket places get between $30 and $40 for a pair of perches, and I know they aren't as good as these Mopar units.

Not exactly. Although they look the same from 10 feet away, Chrysler revised the grille in either 90 or 91 to use fewer parts. On my '88s the trim strip across the header, above the grille, is a separate part, and there are two short sections that go above the headlights that are also separate parts. The newer version incorporates those trim strips into the grille and the headlight bezels. And the header panel itself is also different, to accomodate the different grille. You can certainly use the early parts on a 90s XJ or MJ, or the 90s stuff on the early ones, but to do so you have to get ALL the parts from the same generation. You can't mix and match.

Back to the original problem (thereby neatly sidestepping the myriad reminders of my brain pharte) -- a full-length AAL is much less injurious to the springs than the shorties.

Frames can be welded, but it ain't cheap. My brother's '93 or '94 Nissan PU literally broke just at the junction of the bed to the cap. It didn't snap in half, but it was definitely sway-backed. He found a local shop that specializes in that type of repair and hed it welded up -- the repair cost him $1800 IIRC. (Good thing the truck is otherwise pretty nice, and runs well.)

I need to make this repair on two MJs and my daily driver '88 XJ. The factory only lists a complete regulator assembly for the early XJ/MJ with manual windows, for about $150 IIRC. :mad: However -- they list just the replacement cable for the power windows. The parts guy at my dealership thinks the cables are actually the same, so I bought one to try making the swap. I'm hoping to get to it this week, so I'll be sure to post whatever I find out.

Measure from the center of the hubcap straight up to the bottom edge of the flare. The dimension should be about 20-1/2". If you're within a half inch of that either way, your springs are okay. [EDIT]Where's that dunce smiley again? I just realized this is a lifted truck, so the 20-1/2" dimension doesn't apply. You wrote AAL but I was thinking of the factory overload leaf. Yeah a gap like that is pretty common when you use a short AAL to bend the spring into an unnatural shape. I would strongly advise you to find some way to get rid of the short AAL, it isn't helping your springs at all.

You heard wrong. 86 fenders and tailgate will fit. In fact, at this very moment my '88 SWB is wearing a tailgate from an '86 LWB. As to the steering wheel, I assume you have the all-black, two-spoke "station wagon" wheel. The three-spoke sport wheel was available all the way back to the original '84 XJ and will fit your truck. The ugly black one was used in the base models at least as late as 1989 or maybe '90.

I ran mine for a couple of years with 31s and 3.73 gears. That gear and tire combination isn't a problem as long as you use the throttle gently and drive with finesse rather than brute force.

Or an early 90s Cherokee. Chrysler dropped the rocking chair along about 1990 or 1991. But they didn't change the lower seat pedestals until 95 or 96.

The GM 3.4L came with a TH400? Are you sure you're not thinking of a 4.3L?

Actually ... it was his son's. After his son commits suicide, he gives the Comanche to Halle Berry.

Yes, the 2.8L and early 2.5L used an external slave cylinder, and yes a tranny from a 2.8L will bolt directly to a 2.5L block. The 2.5L engine was designed to accept the same bell housing as the 2.8L V6.

As noted, the 242 was never offered from the factory mated to any manual transmission, so if you want that, you'll have to buy it separate from the tranny. But it will work with no front axle. It offers 2WD, 4WD Hi (part-time), 4WD Hi (full-time, which WON'T work with no front axle), Neutral, and 4WD Lo (part-time).

I've measured a bunch of them and it should be around 21-1/2". I keep hearing that the 2WD should sit an inch lower, but I don't know if that comes from any official cource. That would put a 2WD truck almost on the bump stops with no load.

Nope -- it isn't. Aside from stiffness, you're probably already about maxed out. Take a look at the shackle for your rear leaves. With a stock suspension and no load, it should be about vertical. Then when the suspension compresses that spring can flatten out (pushing the shackle to the rear) and when the suspension extends the shackle swings forward, allowing the spring to arch more. The AAL uses up the "extend" part of your suspension travel to obtain the lift. Most likely your shackle is already pointing pretty far forward and adding another leaf (or in any way putting more arch into the springs) will only make it worse -- unless you've already swung it as far as it can go. There are limits to how much lift you can effectively get from an AAL. Once you go beyond that, you either need new springs with longer main leaves, or you need to go spring-over.