Eagle

The difference in diameter doesn't put any more stress on the differential than going around a corner. In fact, that's the whole point of a differential -- to allow one wheel on an axle to rotate at a different speed than the opposing wheel. I used to be in the school of thought that preserved the spare so I would only have to buy four tires instead of five. But that was when you could count on the same tire still being available when you bought a new set. Today that's generally not the case. The six-tire rotation I'll be using won't have any tire sit out two rotations. I'm altering the recommended pattern so the left front doesn't go to the spare, it goes to the garage. The one that's in the garage goes to the spare in the vehicle. Well, okay ... I guess you could call that sitting out two rotations but I don't see it as making a major difference. On my wife's 2000 XJ Classic, the factory tires went something like 80,000 miles using a 5-tire rotation. I rotated every 10,000 miles, so without doing any mental gymnastics for precision I'd say each tire probably saw 65,000 or 70,000 miles. If there had been a 6th tire in the rotation pattern, I probably would have gone 100,000 before needing new tires.

You're right. I didn't even pick up on that.

If you were trying to live on social security and put a daughter through college you might believe. Now ... I didn't ask about tire age, I asked if anyone had any thoughts about the 6-tire rotation. Please address the question and leave the extraneous comments for the peanut gallery.

These two "spare spares" don't seem to have ever been exposed to sunlight. Sidewalls and treads show zero cracking of any kind. I keep them in the garage, and spray them occasionally with Tire Foam, which leaves a light film of silicone on the surface. I trust them for daily driving. I don't think I would want them for a cross-country trip in the middle of summer and a full payload.

For a great many years I always did 4-tire rotations, preferring to keep my spare new so when it was time to buy new tires I only had to buy four. In recent years, though, tires last longer, and the manufacturers drop tire models. For example, the Goodyear tires that came on my 2000 XJ Sport were Wrangler RT/S (I think). Whatever tire it was -- it's no longer available. So on the new XJs I have been doing 5-tire rotations. However, through a combination of blunders (some on my part, some on the part of the local Walmart auto shop) I recently came into possession of a set of five additional, matching alloy wheels and two more of the same tire -- both previously only used as spares, never been on the road. These tires are now twenty years old, but in good (perfect) shape. Most local tire shops won't even touch a tire that's more than ten years old, for liability reasons. Since I can't match them, there's no point in trying to keep the two "new" spares unused, so I'm thinking of going into a 6-tire rotation rather than 5. The 5-tire rotation pattern is as shown here; [/img] Since the XJ is a rear-wheel /4-wheel drive, I have been using the rearward cross pattern, on the right. My proposed new plan is to bring one of the spare spares into the rotation (the other is on a steel rim, so that will remain out of the pattern) by moving it into the spare, then following the diagram except that the left front will go to the garage rather than to the spare in the vehicle. That will allow me to clean up that tire and wheel at my leisure before the next rotation. Has anyone else ever used a 6-tire rotation pattern? Make sense?

I want this one: If Halle Berry is included. (Monster's Ball)

I was thinking the same thing.

And less lift ... and a different nose clip ... and if it didn't have that fugly show bar. It could cost 5 or 10 grand to get that thing back to looking like a self-respecting Comanche.

Must be that the extra two letters are too burdensome to type ... or something. I agree with you.

Find an '87 thru '90 Cherokee 4.0L with a 5-speed. Use the steering column, transmission, bellhousing, and transfer case from that. The driveshaft won't be right, because the Cherokee wheelbase is shorter than either a longbed or shortbed Comanche. You'll have to have a driveshaft made, or modified. You'll also need the interior boots for the shifter (there are two, an upper and a lower).

He asked about rear shocks. The XJ used bar pins on the upper end of the rear shocks, the MJ didn't. And his custom lower mounts don't. No bar pin eliminators needed.

It has been said that "Necessity is the mother of invention." Good improv use of materials at hand. "Adapt, improvise, overcome." Ooh rah. I'd be very interested in seeing a couple of closer/better photos.

Why not just buy shocks that are the right length for your suspension? That's why they make shocks in different lengths. You put the shock mounts where they are for a reason.

Go for not more than 2 inches, and add a rear sway bar such as Hornbrod had on his. Find a front sway bar for a ZJ V8.

Good call on the bastard packs. Dearching is a crap shoot -- no matter what a shop tells you, you'll end up with either too much drop, or not enough. The do-it-yourself route allows you to mix and match to get where you want to be. Which brings up the question of where you want to be. I'm going to recommend that you do the front first, and I'm also going to suggest that you crawl underneath and examine very carefully the relationship between the oil pan and the front axle. One of my friends in NAXJA NAC, from Pennsylvania, lowered either an XJ or an MJ many years ago, and I distinctly remember his telling me that he was limited in how low he could take it by the problem of the oil pan hitting the front axle. Don't forget to allow for suspension movement. The closer you get the oil pan to the axle, the less suspension compression you can allow. You'll have to pay careful attention to bump stops.

XJ and MJ bump stops are interchangeable, but the factory offered four different heights. Depending on model and options, an MJ could have any of the four: 5200 2382 ==> 74mm 5200 2381 ==> 90mm 5200 2393 ==> 104mm 5200 2078 ==> 117mm The XJ only used the 74mm or the 104mm

I haven't tried it, but I have considered it and I think it's certainly worth a try. It's the old clearcoat that goes bad, not the paint underneath, so I don't see any reason why it shouldn't work.

I did all my own tire balancing with the J.C. Whitney unit for many years and I was usually more satisfied with my own work than I was with what tire shops and car dealers did with their machines. I think the reason I stopped using it was alloy wheels. Back then, the only wheel weights I could buy easily (this was decades before the Internet, and Amazon or eBay) were for steel rims. The clips for steel rims are no good for alloy wheels, so as I got into vehicles with alloy rims I gradually gave up on doing my own balancing. I really wish I could find that little machine.

Has anyone used the Harbor Freight wheel balancer? https://www.harborfreight.com/portable-wheel-balancer-39741.html I used to have a small tire balancer I got from J.C. Whitney about 50+ years ago, but it seems to have disappeared in my last move. I know a simple bubble balancer isn't a match for a computer balancing machine (IF the guy running the computer machine knows what he's doing, which too often isn't the case), but a bubble balancer could be useful in helping isolate which tire is causing a shimmy (just as one example). Basically the same machine as the Harbor Freight unit is available from a number of vendors on Amazon. Reviews are all over the map. I'd be very interested in knowing if anyone here has had first-hand experience with this thing.

Each state is different, of course. While in Connecticut I can get Early American (I think they recently changed it to Classic Vehicle) tags for all years of MJ and still use my regular insurance company, it's not correct that "one really has nothing to do with the other." I can put regular insurance on a vehicle with classic or early American tags, but I can't buy classic car insurance if I don't have classic or early American tags. Florida nicks you extra for personalized tags every time you renew? In Connecticut it's a one-time charge, when the tags are issued. Renewal is at the same rate as everyone else.

Good news! Congrats.

The corrosion is a problem only because the aluminum "relaxes" under pressure and allows enough space for the corrosion to take place. I lived for ten years in a house with aluminum wiring. I know too well exactly what the problem is. Plus, as an architect and building inspector, I deal with a lot of electricians.

Small fasteners that you're worried about backing out is what Loctite is made for. Only Blue or Purple, though. Red is high hold and requires heat to remove.

It will tell him the correct engine type, transmission, trim level, and whether it's 2WD or 4WD. [Edit} Sorry -- the VIN will tell us that. The door tag will give the paint codes. There should be another tag under the hood that also has the paint codes.

VIN decode from the FSM: 1JFT66L7KL574339 The VIN should have 17 characters. Yours only has 16. I can't make it match up with anything.