mvusse

Maybe I beat on mine harder than some, but with a locked HP30 on 35s I go through quite a few unit bearings and u joints. The TJ Rubicon 44 uses the same u joints and unit bearings. Don't know about the JK ones, though.

???? What switches? :huh???:

If it's really as badly hacked up as it sounds I would start with replacing the entire engine bay and dash harnesses. They are easy to find in a junkyard as Cherokees used the same ones. Also, the fuel pump grounds by the driver side (or was it passenger?) tail light. Check that out.

Hmmm let's see. I took it off road, lost a tail light but had fun until the front axle locked up. Turned out the tension pin holding the center shaft in the front diff had somehow fallen out, allowing the shaft to slide out far enough to come into contact with the pinion gear. Center shaft is now broken and pinion gear looks like a dog chewed on it. Pulled both axle shafts to remove the entire carrier, and reinstalled axle shafts. FORGOT TO TIGHTEN THE LUG NUTS! Went to limp it home and lost a tire after 3 miles. Of course this had to happen on a downhill; the tire just kept on rolling down the road alongside the guard rail. I finally fount it about a tenth of a mile down the road...

I changed my Geo over from R12 to R134a and it cooled just as well after the change as it did before.

Replaced front axle tube and pinion seals, new brake pads and new front driveshaft. Also swapped driver side door panels between the purple people eater and Wilbur,after modifying them for a speaker. Oh and I installed a new speaker in Wilbur's driver side door, and put my play tires back on.

Optimas are garbage. Expensive garbage, but still garbage.

Bummer. Good luck with the eggs in the incubator.

The WJ rotors would need to be redrilled as they are 5 on 5" bolt pattern whereas XJs (and our MJs) are 5 on 4.5".

I know a on a 2.5 with an AX4/AX5 the front driveshaft is a lot shorter than any 4.0 combination. Can't remember the exact difference, but think it might be something like 5 or 6 inches. Don't know about a 2.5/auto combination.

Some 87s have the adjustment on the tach as well. At least the one I swapped into the Purple People Eater did. It came out of an 87 XJ Wagoneer, has the blue letters and everything.

87 and older is different from 89 and newer. Don't know which one of the two 88 uses. Trying to see the picture well enough and going from memory, the above part number is for the 87 (88?) and older ones. The OP never stated what year his truck was.

Raush Creek is off by a day. The 5th annual worldwide Jeep go topless day is May 19th this year.

As nice as the rear tires sitting even with the front will look thats a bad reason to do it. Rear wheels that are inset havr an advantage over non due to the rear wheels not following the same complete line as the front. My 89 ramcharger would go twice as far in a 4 ft mud put with near bald tires as my buddies who did just what u were saying. I also went threw snow better that way since my drive wheels werent completely hitting the packed surface my front tires made BUT: The Comanche front axle is the same width as the rear axle, so stock they DO follow the same complete line. They are inset because the body is wider in the back than it is in the front. So the wheel spacers make them sit out more, which according to your logic makes it better.

Plus it is optional to make the fuel pump a little quieter. My 87 never had one. If it is bad, just bypass it.

Not necessarily. The nose of the 8.25" is about an inch longer than the D35, meaning your driveshaft may need to be shortened a bit. If you crawl under your truck ad look where the driveshaft goes into the transfer case, you should be able to see (from the rust) how much of it never goes into the transfer case. If there's an inch or more you'll be fine.

There is no interlock. If the transfer case shift handle won't move, either something is jamming it, it rusted in place, or something is broke. To allow shifting from 2 high to 4 high on the fly while moving is handled by a syncro inside the transfer case.

Without a steering box brace, my box (locked front axle, 33" tires at the time) cracked the frame right between the two sway bar bolts, caused by the box attempting to (and pretty much succeeding in) pulling one if it's bolts through the frame. IIRC, the crack started just above the front most lower bolt, continued through the bolt hole to the bottom of the frame and along the bottom halfway to the inside before I caught it. I ended up plating my frame inside and out with 3/16 plate from the front back almost to the track bar mount and it's been fine since. The only truck with an aftermarket brace I have first hand experience with is the parts XJ. It doesn't have any cracks in the front part of the frame, but I also have no clue how long it's been on there.. Might have just been installed recently.

Interstate doesn't make batteries, they just sell them. Interstate, MOPAR, Optime and twenty or so other brands are all made by Johnson Controls including Varta, LTH and Heliar. Which reminds me, I need to exchange Wilbur's battery. Winching out of a river ran it pretty much completely dry (to the point where the AW4 started slipping) 4 times where I had to pause and let the alternator recharge it. Still tests good, but not nearly as good as new anymore. Almost three years old including spending a year in a trailer to run lights and water pump (it was just a spare battery sitting around at the time). I've never used Optima, and heard their quality has gone down in recent years. Heard good things about Interstate, but some people think they are overpriced. I have bought batteries from Walmart, the more expensive/longer warranty one (once because it was relatively cheap, once because I needed a battery to get home when stuck with a bad alternator and bad battery 3 hours from home late Sunday night; they were the only place that was open), mid line from Advance and a Duralast Gold. Can't remember what's in my camper, just that both the cranking battery and deep cycle are both the same brand, both replaced at the same time by my parents last summer. I also have an Autocraft Platinum in Sparkles and an Autocraft Silver in the Purple People Eater, both 5 years old, both installed two owners ago, both still doing fine. The Walmart and Advance ones were about equal in performance and longevity. The Duralast Gold impressed me most.

I believe (but don't quote me on this) 60.5" But about 2 or 3" wider would look better.

In an AX15 1st is geared a little higher, but not much, 2nd is identical, 3rd is so close it might as well be and 4th is identical. 5th is the problem. AX5 - 0.85:1 AX15 - 0.79:1 With 4.10 gears it should be usable, but I'm running 3.55. The bigger problem is to find a 2.5 Dakota stick shift (which will be an AX15) in a junk yard, as that's the only bellhousing to mate an AX15 to a 2.5.

My trail rig is running a stock front pipe going into a glass pack and that's it. No problem with backfiring.

A lot of people put gear oil in, but current gear oils have a lot of sulphur that eat away at the brass syncros. It seems 10W30 is the current preferred oil. I run 10W3 Mobil 1 synthetic in mine, and the two remaining syncros are holding up well. Still need to find time to pull it and combine it with the AX4 one to make one good one. Got an AX4 with a shot 4th gear synchro an an AX5 that has no suncros left for 1st, 2nd or 3rd. Yes, all the damage was done before I got them. Wouldn't mind finding a Dakota bellhousing for an AX15 (along with an AX15) and installing some higher ratio gears to make up for the deeper OD. The one I had behind my 4.0 withstood all he abuse I could throw at it, it should be bomb proof behind a 2.5.

What oil are you running in the AX5?