mvusse

Plans may change as always, but the current plan for the driver side bracket: Outside side of the bracket welded to axle tube up against the cast, possibly welded to cast as well. Inside side of the bracket cut to snugly fit on cast and around edge of leaf spring perch, welded the whole way except on inside to leaf spring perch. Drill and tap two holes in leaf spring perch. Add a 1/4" plate in between inside and outside bracket, welded to both, bolted to leaf spring perch, possibly welded to it as well. I don't see any reason why that would not be strong enough. If anything it might be over-engineered. I'm a woodworker, not a metal worker. I can cut and grind steel, but don't have any welding skills to speak of. Both a professional welder (in his 60s) with a 460V stick welder and a friend of mine who is a certified welder with a 180A MIG say welding to the cast iron on this part of the axle is a non-issue. After I get these brackets on I will look into the possibility of adding a partial truss tied into that bracket, over top of the pumpkin and to the tube on the other side to mount my upper control arm to if I decide to stick with a 4 link.

With three exception I bought all my vehicles locally. Booger (94 rust bucket 4.0/AX15/231 2 door XJ) was an hour away. When I traded it for the Purple People Eater I drove 90 minutes as did the previous owner so we met in the middle, and my Suburban came from TX. I paid $500 to have it transported to Ohio, the seller paid the rest (about $1700). But I drove 700 miles round trip to pick up a pop up camper. Then a year and a half I made the same trip to pick up a camper van. Drove the Purple People Eater there, drove the van back with the MJ on a dolly behind it. Including Canadian plates, gas, dolly rental and a letter from GM stating this Canadian van met US EPA and safety standards (over $100 for a frigging form letter!!!) this free van cost me about $500 to get home. Cheapest part was the import papers at the border, as they were free. Then when I got home I needed to have a vin search done before I could get an Ohio title for it.

I might be mistaken as I do not work in the oil industry, but I always though multi viscosity oils were made from stock with a viscosity of the first number, using friction modifiers to act as the second number at 100 degrees Celsius (about 210 Fahrenheit). So a 10W30 is made from 10 weight oil with viscosity modifiers to make thin out only as much as 30 weight when hot. Multi viscosity oils still thin out as they get hot, and still do so as a logarythmic function of temperature, but with a flatter curve than a single weight oil.

I'm using the same coils and shocks I already have. The coils have worked well for me, the shocks are lifetime warranty. I will net an additional one inch height off these brackets, though. Keeping the same coil spacing on the axle will put the coils in the same place the Ford leaf springs used to sit. But the driver side leaf spring perch is cast as part of the pumpkin. Coilover shocks can be angled out so they attach to the axle tube between the pumpkin and the inner C.

Sparkles is a 96 XJ. The 2wd version uses the same unit bearings as the 4wd one, but with dummy shafts inside them to hold them together. The dummy shaft looks like an outer axle shaft, but instead of a yoke for a u joint it has a flat plate and a machined hole for an Allen wrench. Don't know for sure when they went to that style, but I want to say 91.

I scrapped the one from Sparkles, but not until after I removed the steering knuckles, brakes, dummy shafts and unit bearings.

If I can get a partial truss working, definitely a 4 link. If not, I might go 3 link, or still keep it 4 link. One step at a time, start with the brackets I have now, figure out the rest when I get there. Same for the track bar mount: I'll figure it out when I get there. I need to do the steering first, then figure out where and how high to mount the track bar to match the drag link angle.

OK.

What he said.

I got those brackets in the mail last week, should work just fine for me. After I get the pinion angle/caster angle figured out I'll weld them on and then go see what should work for the rest of the brackets (upper control arms and track bar. I will probably ditch my sway bar. My axle tubes are 3.125", and those brackets are available for 3 and 3.25 (and 3.5?). Ballistic tried to sell me the ones for a 3.25" tube and told me to fill in the gap with weld. I insisted on the 3" ones and after 10 minutes total with a drum sander all four fit the axle tubes perfectly now. The driver side bracket, the outside part will be welded to the tube, up against the leaf spring perch, the inside bracket I will have to cut to go onto the cast part (my welder says welding to the cast iron should not be an issue), and I will need to notch the spring pad a bit because of interference with the pumpkin. I saw a TJ with a D60 under it the other day and the springs ran in an S shape from the axle brackets being too far on the outside. I insist on having my springs run straight up and down, decided against cutting off 2-7/8" of the casting from the axle tube and don't want to mess with a truss that would probably cause more issue than it would solve for me. I may go with a partial truss that ties into the inner side of the bracket if I can make it work with the spring mount, but I'll see about that when I get there. I looked into coil overs, but to much $$$ for me. I also looked into air shocks, but it would be trial and error to get them set up right which means I would have to lease a tank of high pressure nitrogen and buy a $450 regulator to put on it. Not gonna happen. If I had the money I would probably go one of those routes, though. Either of those I have no issues running them on an angle.

From your user name I assume your 4.0 is an 88? The Renix 4.0s don't have a rev limiter.

Mobil 1 high mileage, it is about the only readily available oil that is still SL. Everything else is SN and contains no ZDDP anymore. Only other alternative would be 4 stroke motor cycle oil as most of those are SJ. As far as weight, 10W30. Purolater Pur-One filters.

Fast forward 4 years: Even those are out of date now. I cut the bed skins off a few months ago. It is parked for winter and when it gets back out it should be sporting full width axles, 37" tires, custom bed and a bobbed frame.

Jim, despite what you seem to think, standing in front of the commode with your peter in your hand draining your bladder is NOT called "having sex".

Slightly on topic, another way to do it: My camper van has two batteries: the starter battery under the hood, as well as a deep cycle battery under the kitchen floor to run lights, tv, dvd player, water pump etc. When the van is off, the batteries are isolated from each other, when the ignition is in the "on" or the "accessory" position, a relay (powered from an accessory feed from the fuse panel, through an in-line 5 amp fuse) connects the batteries together. This allows the alternator to charge both batteries when the engine is running. It also allows to built-in float charger to maintain BOTH batteries when plugged into an outlet by leaving the key in the accessory position instead of off. In case of a dead charger battery (happened last summer when I forgot about that battery powering the door operated dome light, DUH!) I can use a test lead to connect deep cycle battery power from the relay "output" to the relay trigger to keep it closed, both because the starter battery couldn't provide enough current to power the relay and because the accessory circuits are disconnected when the key is in the "start" position. This kept the batteries connected no matter where the key was and allowed me to start off the deep cycle battery. A side effect of the test lead (since it powers the accessory circuit through the 5 amp fuse) is that the dash clock will light up, and the radio will also work, even without a key in the ignition. The cigarette lighter will blow the 5 amp fuse, though. No oil pressure switch, no push button momentary switch, and it should work as well as the above circuits. It works for my van and I see no reason why it wouldn't work for a Jeep.

I need one as well, also in Ohio.

I'll try to remember to look this weekend.

Whatever disposable shaver I have at the moment. Usually Dollar General double blade ones.

As in prevent them from rusting through? I have never seen an exhaust manifold fail on any vehicle, but I've heard of them cracking. I don't think any sort of paint or coating will prevent that.

I had the same problem with the passenger side. Did the driver side in 10 min, including removing and reinstalling air filter housing. Passenger wanted to be a PIA and took half an hour.

I though those tow hook brackets got discontinued?

I thought it started in 85. Didn't 84 Wagoneers just have a 21 slot grill or something?

Or a tailgate badge that reads "Selec-Trac".

And if it does miss the radiator, the 2.5 has some kind of engine mount that looks like a miniature shock over in that corner.