joester1908

I had 30s on my stock XJ and they rubbed when flexing...although, suspension was pretty warn out

point being, it seems to me a 4x4 swap would be much easier. I have a column shift steering column you can have if you pay shipping, but it requires some assembly. Personally, id go for the 4wd swap. 4wd AW4s are everywhere, cheap too :thumbsup:

my bad, hahah. I guess you're just doing the opposite. You have to swap the computer, and gonna have a hole in the firewall.

I did a manual swap on my 90. Wiring wise, all you have to do is ground the NSS wiring. You can use the automatic computer with the manual. There is a transmission computer that plugs in, and is located on the lower dash panel on the passenger side. It can be pulled out completely. Then, you will have a white and a black plug on the firewall where the NSS and the transmission harness plug in to the main harness. You need to bridge 2 of the pins on the NSS harness. A simple butt connector will do. You won't have reverse lights if you go this route. They could be wired in easily. In fact, I believe the manuals have a harness that plugs in there that you can just plug and play, but don't quote me on that. The only cutting you have to do is the 3 holes for the slave cyl master. There are 3 dimples next to the brake booster. The top 2 holes line up with the bracket, then you have to get a hole saw and drill out a larger size hole. Also, the T case linkage is a little crooked if you don't drill a new hole for the linkage. It can be easily done. You need: transmission transfer case (if you have a 21 spline aw4, AX15 is 23) cross member (optional) steering column (optional, the manual steering column has the push button lock) drivelines (front and rear) Shift boots (one screws to the floor and one goes in the column) cover for the floor hump (The one for the manual is just a hole with a shift boot over it) brake and clutch pedal clutch flywheel slave cylinder and master w/bracket. throwout bearing A manual swap is a big job, but all plug and play.

:eek: looking great!

I'd do an add a leaf again. Was sort of a stiff ride, but flexed fine

Thanks, I'm really happy with how it turned out! It does pretty well off road, in fact I just got back from Liberty, WA with it. Really impressed. Once I'm caught up with my build thread I'll post a couple photos.

no, there were 2 fans installed, and this was power for both.

I had an add a leaf in my Comanche when I got it. The ride wasn't too bad, but when I went to an SOA there was a difference. Just like anything, you get what you pay for. Cheap shocks don't last.

Got tired of the old style steering wheel pretty quick, so I swapped my old one on the new column. The horn buttons worked a little different, but swapped over easily.

TIme to swap to the console e brake Not the prettiest, and its not hooked up under the Jeep, but that will come...

next, time to work on the interior. I got the idea from my dad, but I put winch controls in where the transmission switches used to be, and then cut out the vent for the fans, ARBs, and compressor. I also swapped the steering column over. The manuals have the key lock switch, and the column shifter would be useless. Here's everything installed. I ended up cleaning up the wiring, putting back together the dash, and putting the shift boots on. Here's the finished product.

Here's the old D35 I set the D44 under the leafs with the add a leaf. Hard to tell, but it was too tall. I knew it would be. pulled the tires off, gonna put stock leafs in Already looked like it was gonna be better... Not perfectly level, but good enough for me. Then we welded the perches after setting the pinion angle, and welded the shock mounts. Here's the rear axle all in place

Ok, remember how I told you my dad bought a TJ? He ended up deciding to put the XJ back to stock. Hes going to sell me the Dana 44 (XJ Dana 44 rear, TJ Dana 44 front) ARBs, chromoly axle shafts, 4.56 gears, and the 5.5 inch Rubicon Express lift. He has the stock 8.25, so hes putting that in the rear and a Dana 30. Also, Ive decided to go with the Rough Country long arm upgrade, and I'm doing a manual swap. I bought an 88 Cherokee that someone swapped an external slave AX15 in to. I'm gonna use that transmission and transfer case. Here goes! I started by rebuilding the transfer case. New bearings, seals, and chain. thepreparing the axles. The local 4x4 shop put the carrier in my D44, and reshimmed the front D44. A friend and I put them together. Here's the Jeep before Then I took out my front axle. I picked up oil, a filter, disks, calipers, rotors, shoes, wheel cylinders, and a few other misc things. The first part of the swap I did was drill the holes for the master. There are dimples where to drill. Pretty easy actually. Especially since I pulled the motor out. I had to get a hole saw bit from Home Depot for the middle hole. Wasn't near as bad as i expected. You also have to unbolt the brake booster to get the hydraulic line behind it. I decided to install the clutch and smaller brake pedal while I was under there. My dad decided we should mount the transmission to the engine while it was out. Glad we did. Install was super quick. I used my dad's steering box because he had a drop pitman arm. We all know those are a pain to get off :doh: Before I put the drive train in, I wanted to get the plate for the manual transmission bolted in. Then I went crazy with the interior. Completely stripped it down for the cluster without the PRNDL piece. Then the motor went in I used a TJ shift boot because I couldn't find an XJ one in the junk yard that wasnt ripped! Now that the motor was bolted in, it was time to work on the axle and long arms. Problem solved... The front was done enough to sit on the wheels... time to work on the rear.

I ended up swapping my header panel on the XJ, got it running and sold it. But my dad bought a 98 TJ. It had 33s on it, but my dad swapped his wheels and tires. He told me if I mounted my 31s on the TJ's wheels and give him the 31s, I can have the 33s :thumbsup: Also, for my birthday, I wanted to go wheeling with friends and family. We ended up having a nice sized group The Jeep did take some damage, however. The sketchy sway bar drop mount broke Hit the exhaust pipe 33s rub on the fender, which dented it Also smashed my pristine rocker panels. Oops! Overall it was an awesome day and everyone had a great time A few months went by. I ditched the sway bar drop brackets. My brother in law was in town and we decided to take him 4 wheeling. I even let him drive the MJ a little bit... We did a trail that I can't figure out the name of. it is pretty gnarly and I got some damage There was a lot of spinning tires We decided to have lunch in the upper rock quarry after doing Humps and Bumps. There was even a little snow Here's the damage We all ate lunch off my tailgate. Aren't pickups great?? After we ate and headed back down the mountain, we aired up with my dad's compressor on his Wrangler.

I bought an 89 XJ Wagoneer. Not running. You can guess what I did next...

So I popped the fuse for the cooling fans. Found some scary wiring for the fans. I ripped it all out and re did it. So my dad swapped to a D44 on his Cherokee, and he gave me his non vacuum disconnect HP30. At this point I realized the steering was pretty warn out. Its no wonder why the old owner put a new steering stabilizer on it. I road tripped my Jeep over I-90 to Liberty, Washington where we hit some more trails. RPMs were higher than I liked, and it definitely needs steering upgrade...however the bed works great for all the camping stuff And i used it as a tent! It was a great trip

I popped the fuse for my cooling fans. Then i look at the wiring for the relay and this is what I found. This black wire was the power to the relays...

Picked up this sticker off eBay :thumbsup:

As for the wiring for the lights....I decided to wire 2 lights on one switch, the other 2 on another switch. Each set on their own relay. The black wire is a grounding switch installed by the PO for the cooling fans. That got ripped out... My dad found this distribution block on eBay. Ended up working perfect So to mount the rocker switches we got, I took a factory switch panel and cut it, then screwed some metal on it and drilled holes. I also hit the trails at Walker Valley again. There is a "rock gate" meant to keep the cars out. It showed me i definitely needed to upgrade the suspension. My friend Alicia was there and took some great photos. Past the gate, it was smooth sailing. We had to cut some trees out of the way of the trail One of the rare pictures I have of me with my truck haha I was able to stuff the tires in this small ditch

Then I found an XJ Dana 44 for a good deal. dilema was that I was going to have to grind off the perches and re weld them on to use it in my MJ. But the MJ is spring under. So do i convert to spring over? Everyone told me it would give me 5-6 inches of lift with a stock spring, and I had an add a leaf. I knew I wanted to do a long arm too....decisions, decisions

I found some red lights at Radio Shack for cheap. I put them in the center console. Pretty happy with it.

So i decided to paint my rear bumper while I was painting my roll bar. I stripped all the wires out of the roll bar, pulled the lights off and painted the roll bar

I'd start with checking what you messed with

Did you adjust the TPS after reinstalling it? (assuming you took it out because you cleaned it..?)