mvusse

Please tell you the hitch will be bolted to the frame as well? Even though the bed is body on frame, it is still a unibody style frame made from layers of sheetmetal stacked on top of each other. If you just weld the hitch to the frame, it will just rip the outermost layer off. It needs to be bolted, preferably with a nut strip inside the frame, to distribute the load. There is a reason our track bar brackets are bolted on, unlike the Wranglers where they (I believe) are welded on.

None of mine (two 87 MJs, two 96 XJs including the parts one (RIP) had either a stud plate (#14) or the reinforcement bracket (#13). Never looked that closely at my 94 XJ when I had it. They all used very factory looking metric flange bolts.

Don't shy away from the 8.25". The 97 and newer ones have 29 spline axles and are pretty much equal in strength to a D44. The 8.8 is a good axle also, but you will need to adapt the pinion to a 1310 u joint and have ti run wheel spacers. It may only be 1 inch narrower than an MJ/XJ/ZJ/YJ/TJ axle, but with the wide @$$ of a Comanche, that 1" will cause problems with the inner walls of the fenders. If you are looking to regear, gears ($200), master install kit ($100), labor ($300) per axle, a carrier ($70) is only a drop in the bucket. Also with 4.88 gears in the front axle the pinion is so freakishly small it will be very weak due to minimal teeth engagement. There is a reason Spicer doesn't make 4.88 gears for a Dana 30. I would not go lower than 4.56 on a Dana 30. 4.56 gears with a 33" tire still gives you a better final drive ration than your stock 3.55 gears with the stock tires which are most likely 205/75R15 or 27", but possibly 225/75R15 or 28" even though it will currently most likely have 235/75R15 or 29" tires. The MJ Dana 44 is not like a unicorn, it IS a unicorn. And because of that when you do find one you will be paying a premium price for it, more than it's strength alone justifies when a 29 spline 8.25" can be had for $100. Edit: I have been called a number of things over the years, but with 5,965 posts on here, bashful was never one of them.

X3 on 3.55 gears due to 4 cylinder/4 speed stick shift (AX4) Throw the transfer case drop kit in the garbage. With as long as the drive shaft is in an MJ it is not needed, it will put more strain on your engine mounts causing them to fail sooner and it will make the front drive shaft angles worse. It could also induce driveline vibration due to incorrect u joint angles.

I would find a different place to rebuild it, or buy a new one.

A guy local to me wheels a TJ with a supercharged 4.0. Don't know how much boost he runs, but it's still in one piece. When he gets into the skinny pedal you can hear the whine about a quarter mile away.

Sorry you had a bad experience…..almost all alternators on all vehicles have replaceable brushes. Most jeeps are around the $8- $12 range http://www.autopartsnetwork.com/jeep-comanche-rx-103-alternator-brush-set/bvbF_WdgtFqlUp Here is a general guideline (this is a newer Cherokee but the basic steps are the same) This covers a complete rebuild but if you do not have bearing issues then just look at the parts related to brush removal and replacement. Once the alternator is out it is just 4 bolts to remove the back cover and 3 screw to remove the brush holder (YOU DO NOT HAVE TO DO ANY MORE BEYOND THAT IF YOU ARE JUST REPLACING THE BRUSHES) http://www.jeepforum.com/forum/f11/rebuilding-nippon-denso-alternator-00-01-56041822aa-835511/ . :MJ 1: . Maybe on Nippo Denso alternators used on HO engines. My Renix uses an AC Delco unit, and it is not a simple "remove three screws and the back cover comes off". The brushes are still in the back, but the only way to get to them is from the front by distmantling the entire unit.

Sounds like your alternator is mostly fried.

It took 11 months to get a truck painted?! That's almost as bad as the guy on another board that is still waiting on his custom axles from Dynatrac two and a half years after he paid them the money for them.

Didn't the '91-'92 MJs have a 8.25 as an option? The 8.25 started appearing under Cherokees some time in 1991 with the D44 no longer available, but the Comanche used either a D35 or a D44 right through the end in 1992. No 8.25 ever came under a Comanche from the factory.

If it is an early (mid 1996 and older) 8.25 it will have 27 spline axle shafts that are almost as thin as Dana 35 shafts. If it is mid 1996 and newer it will have 29 spline axle shafts. They are identical on the outside. The 29 spline axle shafts are almost as strong as a D44, the 8.25" 3" diameter axle tubes are actually stronger than a Dana 44. The 8.25" does have a slightly smaller ring gear, but not enough to make much of a difference. Overall strength they are pretty much equal.

Yeah, technically the quadra-link 4 link front suspension is a 5 link.

All three of my Jeeps have a 4 linked front. Oh, wait, our STOCK front suspension is a 4 link.....

Should work. HO doesn't use a knock sensor, though, so leave the Renix knock sensor in to keep the hole blocked off. Also, being a 96, that 8.25 could be either 27 spline (early 96, like my Sparkled originally had) or the stronger 29 spline (late 96, like in the parts truck I had). Depending on early or late it also could have OBD II piggybacked onto the OBD I harness, or use the 97 and up harness. Come to think of it, I think the flex plate is different between Renix and HO (the teeth for the crank position sensor), so you would have to use the HO flex plate. I don't know offhand if an HO flex plate is balanced correctly for a Renix crankshaft.

Stock: Recentered:

Stock 7" backspacing center cut out and new centers welded in for 3.25" backspacing. 7" would have put the rear tires too close to the frame rail, and the front would have interfered with the tie rod ends.

On my daily driver I run stock wheels and almost stock sized tires. 15x6 steel wheels in the summer with almost bald mix and match all seasons, and 15x7 aluminum ten spokes in the winter with Wintermark snow tires, both sets in 235/75R15. My play rig has recentered Hummer double beadlocks wrapped with 37x12.50R16.5 military BFGs. My (daughter's) Cherokee has a bit of lift and runs 265/75R16 (32x10.50) on 16x7 Liberty rims and fit completely inside the fenders, although just barely. The KJ Liberty uses the same 5 on 4.5" bolt pattern our trucks use, but the newer KK ones are 5 on 5. There are also a few 16" factory rims that came on select ZJ Grand Cherokees, but these are few and far between. Some TJ Wranglers came from the factory with 15x8 wheels that fit our trucks.

I think the kit might be for one side, so one upper and one lower. Don't know what all changed between our D30 and a JK D30, but JK owners are finding the OEM (Can I assume that would be Spicer?) ball joints are garbage and are replacing them with the Synergy ones.

I think the reason for no interest might be one of trailer size. If you were towing a 36' deckover, I'm pretty sure you'd have 2 southern MJ carcasses on it...

Most likely they will give you a Cherokee one as their computers say they interchange. It will be mirror image from what you need, and will only fit in a 84-86 or aftermarket non fuel injection tank as the pan/baffles in the FI tanks will interfere.

Have a dealership reflash the ECM to correct for the tire size difference.

I had to get the winch out when I was stuck with the unlocked tire tight up against the side of a deep rut. No room for my hand to get to the hub....

I did run most of the weekend with one hub unlocked. But getting out to lock it in when needed, climbing back in and repeating again to unlock it gets real old in a hurry.

You're contradicting yourself here. First you say it's locked all the time, next you say you will never know it's there. Tust me, when you're on pavement trying to make a turn you'd know if if the front was locked. I ran an Aussie (Torw Masters) locker in my front axle for 3 or 4 years. Torq Masters now makes the Aussie in the USA, back when I bought mine they were made for Torq Masters by a company in Australia. The original Australian made one is still available under the name Lokka. Bill Cole, who designed the Aussie Locker and owns Torq Masters was also co-founder of the company that designed the lock-right (Vehicular Technologies, which later became or was bought by Powertrax which in turn was bought by Richmond Gear) and was one of the designers of the lock-right. The way an automatic locker works, both wheels are driven when going in a straight line. When turning with enough traction, the inside wheel becomes the drive wheel and the outside one is allowed to overrun; at no time is a wheel allowed to turn slower than the pinion. The more torque is applied to the pinion gear, the tighter is locks and the harder it is for the outside wheel to overrun the inside. In the front of a Comanche it will increase traction offroad tremendously. When flexed out in the rocks with one wheel hanging in the air, the wheel with traction will allows have full torque available to it. Now in 2wd, when there is no power applied to the pinion, it is invisible. With an automatic locker in the front, do not use 4wd in snow in the winter. The snow will not provide enough traction for the outside wheel to unlock, and steering at road speeds get very interesting in a hurry. Two years after I locked the front axle I also locked the rear. With the little amount of weight on the rear axle I did not notice any improved traction off road, but I hated the road manners of the locked rear axle. I currently run a welded Dana 60 in the front, on the road I can unlock the hubs, but off road I found I now need hydraulic assist. With the Aussie in my D30 I never did as the stock power steering did just fine. My Sterling 10.25 rear axle is unlocked.

Mine is still in there.