87manche

regarding the dodge AX-15: you're looking for the early 90's boxy style dakota, the one that competed in the market with the MJ. might want to drop a line to novak adapters, they've got the know on most any transmission swap.

yes it is, and it's probably the #1 cause of no spark. Check it with a DMM set to Ohms, I think it's supposed to ohm out between 300 and 500 when it's hot. Don't quote me on that one, if it's shorted or open then it's definitely bad.

he has pics in the buildup section, and it's very pretty. Nearly perfect.

2.5L stock street tires. guy was stuck, spinning tires, caught traction, exploded the spider gears.

freaking awesome work on the motor swap. you should see about getting one of thos superchargers GM used on the bonnevilles stuffed somewhere under there :D

well, you're far from factory, hence the disclaimer about the 4.0. But al engines work most effieciently at or near the torque peak, and manifold pressure is still the best way to measure a motor's effieciency at a glance. I'm likely going to install a manifold pressure guage. Not only is it good for gas mileage monitoring, but it will also alert me to any serious damage done to the motor, perhaps before I destroy it completely.

I carry 2 sets for the turdy five, and pray I don't eat up the R&P. If I could find a shaman to sprinkle some stuff on the pumpkin I would.

WD-40 does not conduct electricity, and it has no business being used on connections. Likely what dirty comanche said is true, same thing mine started doing. Random no starts that progressivly got less random and more no start.

the ZJ (grand cherokee) steering is a solid tie rod, and it's an exact replacement for your stock one, it's just beefier. You can order it from the dealership, and it's reasonable, comes with new TRE's

it was a stage II I believe, in a friends 427 camaro. It NEEDED a clutch that aggressive, because of the worked over big block, but I wouln't wish that on anybody that had to use it as a DD. From what I've been told the stage I's are still a PITA everyday driving. I've had 3 friends run stage I's on the street, 2 in 5.0 mustangs and one in a 350 powered f body. They all replaced them in favor of stock clutches, after their left leg started to dwarf the right. what stage centerforce were you running? 1-2-3? just wondering if its the 1 thats this bad, or if you had like a 2 or 3

All the 91 and 92 HO MJ's I've seen (w/o the HD Towing option) had 9" drums, both the 2WD and 4WD. 'Course, I haven't seen them all :D My 91 had 9" drums until I crapcanned them for disks. perhaps that was only during the AMC years. All the MJ's around here have 10" drums, d35 or not, but I know of 2 86's, one 87 and my own in that group. That's what I get for making assumptions, damned chryco.

my truck had a maaco paintjob before I purchased it. there are runs in the fenders and on the door, the glass was painted, parts of the hood werent prepped (the part in the middle, they couldnt get an air sander in there) and its peeling. Like I said a GOOD bodyman that is local is worth his weight in gold, a bad bodyman just costs money.

yeah I should have mentioned that, the number one cause of no crank is battery connections being nasty. but I assumed you had checked those, you know the drill. @$$ U ME

go check on mallcrawlin.com for a good guide on welding to the unibody, that's a grandcherokee site. It's in the faws on the forum. As to the question of it being common, yes, if the truck has seen a hard life. Most people weld up the cracks, then use a unibody stiffener plate. Something you might want to consider is a product like the JCRoffroad unibody tie in plates. They are a plate, and they bolt into the factory bumper brackets, the steering box bolts, and the factory winch mount holes in the frame rails. It greatly stiffend things up, and will give you somthing to build a front bumper off of in the future. http://www.jcroffroad.com/Merchant2/mer ... y_Code=XJB I think they're worth the $60 they're askng.

a local body shop guy thats good is worth his weight in gold. Maaco usually sucks.

starter. The click is the solenoid working properly. Next time it happens, whack the starter with a hammer, if it starts right up the commutator brushes have a dead spot.

I'm taking 3 weeks off of work for this trip and may never come back!! I envy you. I've talked the wife into MOAB 08 for 3 weeks. We'll see how much stuff I can break.

because it's sometimes nice to turn it on so it runs all the time, it not only cools the motor, but the transmissions coolin section is right there as well. and if you've installed a power steering pump cooler it's likely right in front of the electric guy as well. Mine is straight afternarket, a HD hayden unit, it flows way more air than the sotck one, and it's wired to a switch. Didn't even bother with the fact stuff, as it never had one before.

3.73's and 31's with a 5spd and 4.0 net me 22MPG on the way back from flatnasty, with so much weight in the back I had the tires aired up to 45 PSI. Average cruise was over 75, as we did 684 Miles in 9 hours 30 minutes, with 2 fuel stops. it's possible, ou just gotta tune it well. As to the keep the RPMs low, not quite, a 4.0 is most effeicient at it's torque peak, somewhere abouts 2500. I ran between 2500 and 3K RPM the whole way from MO, my foot lightly on the gas, with good manifold vacuum the whole way. manifold vacuum is the best indicator of gas mileage and how hard you're working the motor, not the RPMs it's at.

yes, it was called Track Lok by jeep, if you've got one it will have a note that you should use a limited slip additive, either on the tag on the diff or in the glovebox. If you've got neither and suspect you've got one, pop the cover and look for the clutch packs where the spider gears normally reside.

Speaking as someone that's driven a centerforce clutch on the street: DON'T my god they're annoying. Centerforce clutches are designed for High HP and high performance, not daily drivers. It was grabby, it took 3 people to push and hold the freaking clutch in. I'm not bashing centerforce, it's a great clutch, but look at the designed application. Do yourself a favor and get something closer to stock, like a LUK gold kit or something.

just to add tot he brake dilemma. most MJ's got 10" drums, most XJ's got 9". Cause we're trucks, and they were meant to get groceries :)

Yes most of the OTK kits use a larger tie rod. You'll have to drill and ream the knuckle. Honestly, if I was going through all of that trouble I'd got OTK, with a RHD ZJ draglink, and a ZJ solid tie rod, or one made out of dom. As it is now, the stock sized TRE is probably stronger than the stock tie rod.

yes, you can do that. Be prepared to use an impact or a big @$$ breaker bar on the flange bolts holding the backing plates on, if they're original. I had an axle on the ground, jumping up and down on a 36" breaker bar to break those off. Impact wouldn't even touch them.

my brother's RE kit for his XJ came with extended swaybar disconnects, and I believe it came with brake lines. If it oens't come with brake lines, YJ lines will work.