Eagle

HUH????? The Metric Ton version, with a Dana 44 axle and heavier springs but using the same chassis, is rated to carry 2,200 pounds of payload. Not sure what the rating was oin the standard version, and I'm not at home to check my literature, but I'm sure it's a LOT more than 750 pounds including driver. Heck, I've carried over a ton of roofing materials in my shortbed.

It is a bit tough on the springs, but if you add another leaf plus retain the overload leaves to control spring wrap, you should be okay with shackles. Rancho lists a full-length AAL for the XJ and MJ. It is just about full length in an XJ, which means it's "almost" full length in an MJ. The catalog says 2 to 2.5" but that's for XJs. In an MJ it's good for about 1.5". With longer shackles, that'll get you the 3" you want.

They goofed. Gear oil has extreme pressure additives. Mineral oil does not.

Ummm, not to rain on your parade, but RV cams don't produce more torque in the higher RPM range, they produce more torque at low RPM. I was mistakenly sold an RV cam for what was supposed to be a race engine, and it wouldn't run higher than 4800 RPM ... and power started falling off over about 3500. Am RV cam is a great choice for a Jeep, IMHO, but not if you want RPM out of the engine. RV cams are for low speed "grunt" pulling power.

I am slightly biased because I know the man behind the kit and I have seen them being fabricated, but IMHO the only way to go long arm is Clayton's kit. The crossmember is massive, and the end supports get welded to the heaviest section of the two uniframe "rails." Clayton designed his setup not to sell, but to run on his own rig and not break. Knowing how he wheels, that means for most people it is massively over-designed.

That's the disturbing finding. The circuit that has the outlet at the "nose" of the junction block is always active, and that's the line that feeds through the rear load-sensing proportioning valve. My concern was that when in override/bypass mode this circuit might be blocked. That is not the case, it will send pressure to the rear even when the front brakes fail. So from that perspective, my dissection was valuable. But notice the vertical bore from the rear circuit on the bottom of the junction block. This is supposed to be the bypass circuit that sends full pressure to the rear if the front brakes fail, rather than proportioned pressure. When the front brakes fail, that sliding piston on the top moves to the right, opening up the bypass circuit. Except ... the hole isn't bored all the way through to the piston bore. That's not an optical illusion ... the hole stops about 3/32" short of making a connection. If the front brakes fail, this valve would always allow proportioned ear brakes, but would never have gone into bypass mode. Now I want to get a few more of these blocks, to see if this one was the odd man out or if they were all defective. Pete -- thanks for putting the picture up.

It's about 5/8" longer. I doubt that a 2" AAL would make that much difference.

Crawl under the front of your MJ and look at either front wheel from in front of the axle. Going into the back side of the steering knuckle you'll see what appears to be a bolt that isn't screwed in all the way, with a lock nut on it where it enters the knuckle. That's the stop -- if you visualize how it moves as you turn the steering, you'll quickly see what it contacts to prevent turning too far. The lock nut is tack welded to the bolt shank, so you can't just back it out and re-tighten the lock nut. So you remove it completely and put one or two flat washers under it, then tighten it down again. Living in Connecticut where they use pure salt on the roads in winter, mine are rusty and I admit to being afraid I'll snap one off trying to get it out. I was running 31x10.50s and I found that after a short time I automatically stopped turning just before they rubbed. I ran A/Ts, though -- if I were running big, knobby mud tires that could REALLY catch on the control arm I would have made the effort to shim the stops.

Ranger rims have different backspacing than Jeep rims, and a smaller center hole. Not a good choice for a Cherokee or a Comanche. You can run 31x10.50s on stock rims. I did it on my MJ for about 4 years. The tires will rub slightly on the lower control arms when the steering wheel is cranked all the way to either side. You can either shim the steering stop bolts, or just live with it. I lived with it.

I carried a 31 under mine. The stock spare tire carrier is a winch. Look in the back, above the license plate, and you'll see a hole in the splash apron. Behind that is a tube that runs to the winch. Stick your stock jack handle in there (I hope you have it -- look behind the driver's seat) and crank. OWL = Outline White Letter

The rims in the big pic are 15x7 from an older full-size Grand Wagoneer. They have a 6-bolt lug pattern. The wheel in the smaller pic is a steel 15x7 but wasn't what came stock on the Pioneer. The stock Pioneer rim was the 15x6 rim with 9 rectangular slots. On the Pioneer it came with SS trim rings. But that was with the base tires. If the original buyer got the OWL tire option, they were larger and came on the 15x7 rims like the one in the smaller picture.

Taking that as my cue, here's what I found: The front "combination" valve, on an MJ is NOT a combination valve. There is no proportioning function at all. All proportioning is handled by the load-sensing valve in the rear. The normal flow to the rear brakes is through the outlet in the "nose" of the combo valve. That path is always available. From the description in the FSM I had conjured up an idea that under loss of the front brakes that circuit was disabled, but such is not the case. The outlet on the bottom of the front combo valve (the one we have often referred to -- incorrectly -- as a "return" line) is normally blocked off by the plunger in the top of the valve that actuates the brake warning light. If pressure to the front brake circuit is lost, the pluger slides to the rear of the combo valve and opens that port, allowing pressure to flow and bypass the rear combo valve. However, this does not disable the "nose" outlet, so if you eliminate the "return" line completely and run a single line from the nose of the combo valve direct to the rear axle flex hose, you will have full braking power to the rear wheels at all times. As noted, under panic conditions and in slippery conditions, this may result in premature rear wheel lockup, especially if running with no load. (This is why swapping in a Cherokee combo valve is a good idea, if you have access to one.) Now, here's the scary part: In the one I dissected, the port that is supposed to be the bypass circuit, to provide full braking to the rear if the front circuit fails, was internally blocked. The hole from the bottom, where the outlet fitting goes, wasn't drilled far enough into the valve body to reach the fluid passages. Now I want to get my hands on a few more to check depth of hole, because I have a nagging concern that if one was made defective, many were probably made defective. This won't affect normal braking, but it means that the intended function of the bypass circuit can never be activated. So if you lose the front brakes, the rear brakes will still be fed only through the proportioning valve. Summary: IMHO, dump the rear proportioning valve. Mine blew up when I made a panic stop. That's not a good omen. IMHO the best solution is to use an XJ combo valve. Next best is to remove the "return" line, plug that bottom outlet, and run the "nose" outlet direct to the rear flex hose. If you find that the rear brakes consistently lock up too soon, get a Wilwood adjustable proportioning valve from Summit Racing and install that in the rear brake circuit.

19" is low. I've measured a lot of them and they average around 20-1/2 to 21, center of hub to bottom lip of flare. Standard springs were 4-leaf. Metric Ton package got 6-leaf springs, IIRC

The 231 will live fine behind V8 power if you don't get crazy. It's a stronger t-case than the 242, and Jeep offered the 242 behind the 5.2L in the ZJs. An AMC 304, 360 or 401 will bolt right up to an AW4. I am certain because a friend of mine just used an XJ AX-15 and mated it to a 390 for a street rod he's building. Same bellhousing to block pattern, same bellhousing depth. The only thing you'll have to do is adapt a 360 flexplate to accept the AW4 torque converter. It'll be a tight fit, but the AMC engines (all those engines are the same basic block) will fit into the MJ engine room.

A clogged CCV system probably won't affect performance much, if at all. It just dumps oil in your air filter. A clogged catalytic converter robs power, more so at higher RPM. If your truck feels "lazy" the cat is a likely suspect.

I can't see anything from your pics, you don't show the entire tranny. Try looking here: http://www.off-road.com/jeep/tech/trans/ba10.html

Depends on where you live. Ariound here, I'd need a scuba tank and an underwater camera. 8 straight days of rain, and we aren't talking about drizzle.

To save you crawling under the Jeep -- since you have already pulled the shifter to fill the tranny, if it was held in with 3 bolts it's a Peugeot, if it uses 4 bolts it's an AX-15

Bedliners are more of a problem. Duraliner made the OEM liners, and they have actually destroyed the mold! I called and spoke with them awhile ago, to inquire about buying one or even having a special run made, and they said it was not possible. But the bed itself is very close to the dimensions of an S-10. I have an MJ shortbed that is currently wearing a commercial topper I bought used from a fleet that was dumping thier old S-10s. I'm not sure what the logic was, maybe the guy thought the toppers didn't add any resalve value, or maybe a few of the trucks had been so thrashed he junked them. Anyway, I paid $50 for the cap, and it's a perfect fit. So it does not surprise me that there are tonneau covers available. Now your problem is to decide which one you like and how much you wish to spend.

Lawsuit? What lawsuit? Did this come out of the recent "unpleasantness" between Ford and Firestone, or are you referring to some other lawsuit?

Are you looking for a basic, old-style tonneau cover that simply snaps on with individual snaps, or are you looking for one of the newer, fancier types with rails that allow you to slide the cover up to the front while leaving it attached to the vehicle?

And despite AMC's and Chrysler's efforts to protect the tradename, they didn't succeed. On the trip to Chile for some four wheeling with Mike from Chile of NAXJA (the trip on which I met my wife, incidently), on the way to the area where we were to meet up with his club he kept telling me that his friend Ivan would be there with his (Mike's) old Jeep. I was expecting a CJ or a flat fender. The place we were wheeling was a spectacular area of pure sand dunes. We were out in the middle of this ocean of sand, and we could hear an engine in the distance before we could see anything. "Here comes my old Jeep," said Mike. Imagine my surprise a few moments later when over the top of a sand dune came ... a Daihatsu Rocky! Seems all over South America, the term "Jeep" doesn't indicate a vehicle manufactured by any particular company, it just means a small-ish 4WD utility vehicle. Samurais, Sidekicks, Trakkers, Kia Sportages -- all "Jeeps" in Chile. And Mike's 2000 Cherokee Classic? It's not a "Jeep" -- it's a Cherokee.

Like DirtyComanche, I often buy used. People with SWB Jeeps often go huge on tires and it's possible to get some hot deals on almost new street-size tires. My best deal so far was a complete set of five 30x9.50/15s with about 60% tread, all mounted on Jeep 5-spoke factory alloys, ready to bolt on and go. Those were my trail tires on the '88 XJ for two seasons (or was it three?), and they are now my street tires on the '87 Comanche. For new, I buy only Cooper. They are made in the USA, and they are usually priced a bit lower than either BFG or Goodyear and deliver much longer tread life. I'm partial to the original Discoverer LT, but the newer Discoverer A/T comes with a 50,000 mile treadwear warranty that might be hard to ignore. FWIW, I have heard and read from multiple independent sources that Pep Boys house brand tires are Coopers.

Greetings, MJ people -- A few of you will have already encountered me on the NAXJA forums. Don't know why it took me so long to find out that this forum existed. I was planning to start up a dedicated MJ forum myself, never had time, so I'm happy someone has saved me the trouble. Lemme see if I can reconstruct how many MJs are currently in the fleet. I just sold an 87 to a fellow NAXJA member, but it was quickly replaced (much to my wife's dismay and displeasure). I think the current roster goes like this: '86 2.5L 5-speed 4WD longbed -- blown tranny '86 2.5L 4-speed 2WD longbed -- runs well, needs TLC '87 4.0L 5-speed 4WD Pioneer shortbed -- the one I plan to restore '88 4.0L 5-speed 4WD Chief shortbed -- some of you have seen this at NAXJA events '88 2.5L 4-speed 2WD SporTruck shortbed -- probably to be restored after converting to 4WD '89 4.0L 5-speed 2WD Pioneer longbed -- rough but runs well, blown tranny, will likely convert to AW4 as a work truck. I think that about sums it up. I'm an MJ fanatic, and until y'all decide you just can't tolerate me any longer I'll be happy to help with any tech info I have to share, in exchange for which you get to hear me bytch about how MJs are so rare that you really shouldn't be chopping them up into trail machines -- there are LOTS of XJs you can use for that purpose. (The exception is if you rescue an MJ out of a scrap yard. Even using it as a trail beater is better than having it crushed. That's how I came to own the '86 2WD 4-speed.) Many thanks to whoever set up this forum.

By way of confirmation, my '88 2.5L 4-speed MJ has 3.54 gears. They used the taller gearing to compensate for the lack of an overdrive 5th gear. And ALL 4.0L automatic XJs came with 3.54 gears -- contrary to popular misconception, in the 4.0L years there was never an optional "tow package" axle ratio. There's a very good chance that the front axle from the XJ already matches the MJ rear axle and no changes will be necessary to make it 4WD.