mvusse

Or swap in a US gauge cluster from the junk yard. Cherokees are everywhere....

That will be the best donor you can find. Use everything from the Cherokee except the rear driveshaft. Have your current 2wd rear driveshaft shortened to fit with the transfer case. Park them side by side, take something off the Cherokee, put it on the Comanche. You will have to remove the seats and carpet to get to the bolt holes holding the shifter linkage bracket to the inside driver side of the tunnel.

Poly is stiffer, which would transmit engine vibration through the body (remember, we're unibody). Weather elements shouldn't matter as they should be under the hood, on top of the frame rail. Actually, my OEM motor mounts lasted 21 years, the stock replacements have been fine since. I have never seen the need to pay upwards of $80 for an unneeded upgrade.

IF I wanted to do it, it would be a Chevy 5.3. But I don't.

Grade 10.9. It's metric. Also, why is there a washer under a regular bolt there? Supposed to be a washer head bolt.

Very popular in the Unix world. Or at least the Linux part of it.

I just went to Autozone for an oil pan gasket and RMS. Don't know the brand anymore, but the oil pan one was one piece. For the RMS they asked me if I wanted single or double lip, but they only had the double lip one in stock. So far it has held up, but I only drove it for maybe 30 miles and is now parked for a front axle swap that is taking major surgery.

Definitely go with a 4.0 which was available starting in 87. If you get a stick shift, got a late 89 or newer because the Puegeot trans is garbage.

Angle should be such that the bottom drive shaft u joint is perfectly straight at ride height.

Small air filter on there will do the needed job just fine.

It has the 4.0, so the 5 speed AX15. The shift knob is wrong. As far as the hole in the frame, that is pretty much exactly where they like to fold in half.

If just the rears locked up he should have still been able to steer to keep out of the oncoming lane. I'm guessing just the front locked up and would take the front diff cover off to see what's going on in there.

I must be one of the few that didn't lock the cad over. I chose to do a single piece shaft conversion instead.

On both my daughter's 96 XJ and the 96 parts XJ the top two bolt were Torx. Actually, IIRC they were inverse Torx. I seem to remember E10, but I could be wrong on that too. Memory is getting a bit fuzzy.

As stated above, get an 87-90 Cherokee with a 4.0/automatic/4x4 and swap everything over. Use the Cherokee axles as your current 3.07 gear ratio will suck with an automatic transmission. Front axle will be bolt-in, rear axle will need the spring perches and shock mounts cut off and new perches welded on. This will cost an angle grinder ($20), spring perches ($10 or so) and $20 for someone to weld them on, so not a big issue. This way you will have all the odds and ends and little parts you will need. Then have your current rear driveshaft cut down and rebalanced (~$100) by a drivetrain shop and you're in business. With a place to work large enough to park both vehicles side by side (preferably indoors with a concrete floor) and a good set of tools it could probably be easily completed over 3 weekends. I'm in NE Ohio also, but in the southwest corner of it (20 minutes south of Canton).

A 4wd speedo cable would work also, it is just a little longer. To fit an 88 correctly I believe it would have to come from 88-90.

Yes, for an 87 the firewall has already been modified to fit a 4.0. Never compared them closely, but I imagine the engine mounts would need to be changed. I also imagine that part is a bolt in affair. Most of the work would be the front: radiator, radiator support, and all the little pieces that go with it. If you get an 87-90 XJ, you will have everything you need and it should bolt in. This includes the computer, TCM if automatic, and engine bay wiring harness. You will also need to pull the fuel pump assembly from the tank and swap out the 2.5 fuel pump on it for the larger 4.0 one. Don't forget to put a new sock on it at the same time. I would suggest getting an entire XJ. Just like a 4x4 swap this will ensure you will have all the little parts you'd probably forget about otherwise.

The pop is most likely the track bar. The track bar itself may be fine, but it is not unusual for either the hole in the frame side bracket or the one in the axle side bracket or both to become elongated allowing the track bar to move when enough force is applied. Funny thing is (trying to track down the same problem in the past) is that the loud pop that can be heard and felt inside the cab is almost not audible when outside laying under the truck with someone else reproducing the sound.

I'm with Jeepco. I built my daughter's XJ to be pretty capable offroad while still being a good dd. It has ~4 or 4.5" lift on 32" tires and that's as high as it's going.

I got a longbed topper free to whoever comes pick it up. Don't know if it's MJ specific or not, but it fit pretty durned nice.

Your transfer case linkage might need adjusting. Maybe in the 2wd setting you're right up against 4wd.

The switch for the shift light is open in the top gear and reverse, closed in all other gears (1-3 in AX4, 1-4 in AX5). When closed the computer will illuminate the shift light based on throttle sensor and rpm. Not hooking it up (like when swapping in a transmission without the switch) will disable the shift light. The light is worthless anyhow. Used to tell me to upshift when full throttle in the gear I was in was barely able to maintain current speed.

Looks like a nice truck. Not $6k nice, but still nice.