james750

If you get the 29 spline version, it is a big upgrade from the 35; the 27 spline on the other hand, not so much. All that you need to do to make this axle work is relocate the spring perches and cut the XJ shock mounts off. Make sure that your front and rear gear ratio's match of course to avoid catastrophic failure.

A blown head gasket does not necessarily put coolant in the combustion chamber. The only way to identify a head gasket leak for sure would be a leak down test. If you lose pressure in the cylinder, then check the coolant bottle for bubbles.

Rusty's are known for bad quality and customer service. Also, be warned, I have heard horror stories of Rusty's track bar failures.

What it could be if you head or head gasket is broken or not sealing properly, is that exhaust gases from you combustion chamber could be getting into your coolant on the exhaust stroke, and the exhaust gases would escape through the expansion bottle because that is the highest point in the system. I have seen this before on a 2.5L TJ.

Subscribed. I'm currently in Salt Lake City for school. If your out at the flats again anytime while I'm here, I'd love to come check out the MJ.

Steering wheel is original, and the dash trim is not 97, 97's had a completely different interior and dash. The dash trim piece had to come from a pre 97 XJ, and IIRC (don't quote me on this) the Briarwood and the Wagoneer XJ's had the wood dash trim. The pedal covers do not appear original either, but who cares about those anyway. EDIT: BTW, that is a really clean truck you have there. :drool: thanks for the fix now i know :banana: Yet another correction. That Wood dash came on XJ's with the "Country package". Rob L. Did they also come on Briarwood/Wagoneer XJ's or are they exclusive that that trim package?

Steering wheel is original, and the dash trim is not 97, 97's had a completely different interior and dash. The dash trim piece had to come from a pre 97 XJ, and IIRC (don't quote me on this) the Briarwood and the Wagoneer XJ's had the wood dash trim. The pedal covers do not appear original either, but who cares about those anyway. EDIT: BTW, that is a really clean truck you have there. :drool:

I had this same problem about a year ago, and it was a ground in the front headlight harness that was bad. I tried replacing sockets to no avail, and found out it is easier to just replace the entire headlight harness than to replace a socket. Its just one connector on the drivers side by the airbox, then the whole harness is can be pulled with the header panel, and then you just plug the new harness into the old bulbs and sockets. If you have a known good new or used harness, it will rule out that problem quite quickly and pain free.

Same here...

Ive been running Monroe 31000 series shocks in the rear of my truck just like Mjeff ever since my SOA almost 2 years ago. I've loaded the truck with just under a ton in the bed with no problems and have no problems with the shocks limiting my uptravel or downtravel when flexing offroad. http://www.greatlakesxj.com/tech/MJRearShock.htm This page helped me I.D the shocks I needed when I went SOA.

I don't see how the locker would have any problems, it is still engaged to an axle shaft on both sides, one side just doesn't have a load. I know that there would be some torque steer though. I know guys with detroit's front and rear that just unlock the hub on one side when in the snow. wouldn't it basically be the same thing to unlock the CAD?

It was open at the time, I was planning on putting an Aussie in the front and rear, and just turning off the CAD when on the street in snowy weather. A few months after installing it the carrier bearings in my diff gave out and I upgraded to 99 XJ axles with 4.10's. My setup was based on that Jeepforum writeup, with a few minor changes to guarantee that the fork returned to unlocked when I released the cable. I ran the cable through the fork, and then back through the other side with a cable clamp on both sides so that the cable would both pull and push the fork. I also put a spring on the cable against the housing and the fork to push the fork back.

I ran this setup while I had a front CAD, works well, easy to make work, and fairly cheap too. If you want to run a non selectable front locker and still be able to drive it in the winter, you need a selectable CAD.

there is three positions that the cable/gear assembly can be clocked in at the transfer case. Try changing the position from the way the gear is clocked now to one of the other positions and try that, if it still doesn't work try the third gear position. This page is ALL about speedo gears, the bottom half shows how to change the gear and clock the gear in the housing correctly: http://gojeep.willyshotrod.com/HowtoSpeedoGears.htm

Didn't know that, thanks for the insight Hornbrod!

All years are the same.

The WJ booster is a dual diaphram booster that is more than twice as powerful than a 1st gen XJ/MJ single diaphram booster. The WJ booster's are easier to make work in an MJ/1st gen XJ as it doesn't sit as far forward (no need to remove washer bottle)as the 2nd gen XJ dual diaphram booster, and the stock brake pedal height is retained with the WJ booster (2nd gen XJ dual diaphram booster moves the pedal way higher than stock). Also the WJ booster is a bit more powerful than the XJ dual diaphram booster.

1990 Jeep Comanche Base As it sits now, pic taken last weekend: 4.0L, AX-15, NP231, Dana 30/C 8.25 29sp, 4.10's, LWB Build Date: 8/89 Location: Conifer, CO Still on the road as a weekend warrior/wheeler, no longer a Daily Driver When I bought it, it was in fair condition with MT springs and a D35, my build sheet states it has this because of the upcountry package. I also have the towing package, and the offroad package. The truck also came with a topper. The floorboards have NO RUST, I give the rubber floor credit for that. This MJ has a bench seat As it sits now, I have swapped the D35 and disco 30 out with 99 XJ axles and 4.10's. I have 6.5" of lift with 4.5'' RE springs and a spring over rear. Rear aussie locker is installed and JCR offroad sliders and prerunner front bumper. WJ booster swap was done over the winter

1) WJ brake booster 2) Aussie rear locker in 8.25 w/4.10s 3) JCR sliders

Checking for play back and forth in the wheel is with ball joints. To check axle ujoints, jack the wheel up that you want to test, put the tcase or trans in neutral and spin the wheel listen for where the noise is coming from. Place your hand on the cap and spin the tire one way to the other and see if you can feel play. If you can't pinpoint it this way, remove the front driveshaft and go for a drive, is the noise gone, or is it still there? If its still there its one of the two axle ujoints, and if the noise is gone it could be one of the three ujoints in the front driveshaft. ALSO: VERY IMPORTANT CHECK, if the noise is gone with the driveshaft out, check for play in the splined portion of the driveshaft, if you can move the transfer case side and the axle side seperately any tiny amount AT ALL, the shaft needs to be replaced. I had this noise on my truck about a year ago and it was caused by play in the splines in the front shaft, i replaced all the joints in the driveshaft and then found that the play in those splines was causing my noise. spline noise sounds exactly the same as a ujoint noise.

I hear you on the bumper dragging, I used to have that issue all the time, with SOA its a rare occurrence.

I would not recommend a Ranger, I had a 2000 that I bought new with a 4.0L V6. Block cracked at 128k and I cut my losses and moved on.

you do not want a long bed for off road, harder to maneuver tight trails, and poor approach due to the bumper dragging when going up a steep incline. my long bed is a daily driver, and i love having that extra bed space. people around here do wheel the long beds, not that you can't. and mvusse does one sweet job of stuffing that long bed all over the place. :yes: I love my long bed. For me its best because I use the truck for both offroad and work use. I've been on two trail runs in the past month and have loaded the bed completely full with over a ton twice this week. Yes, sometimes when wheeling a shortbed would be nice, only because of the better breakover angle. On the other hand, I love how a LWB can climb the steepest of the steep obstacles with open axles and amazing stability when a rubicon TJ can't.

First, I am going to try using the trans cooler in my radiator. It should keep the fluid cool enough, and if it doesn't, I'll look into an auxiliary cooler. All the other techs at my shop think it should work as well as a few Jeep techs I have talked to about it. We'll see.... :D

Thanks Pat!