mjeff87

going down today after work to run the numbers. If they can throw a new set of 31's on it for me, I'm gonna get it. Pics to follow.....hopefully :D Jeff

Been car shopping all morning, and came across an 01 TJ for the right money. 2.5L/AX5/30-35/231, with a set of decent 31's on aluminum outlaws, A/C and 80K on it. Dealership is dead on the KBB price, too (although they started $1600 higher :brows: ) Gonna take the missus down to show her when she gets home from work today. Wasn't planning on buying anything near this expensive, becuase I haven't had a car note since 1999 and I kinda like it that way. But, it keeps calling my name..... Jeff

Twisty.......you suck....... :D I just dropped 2 bills on RE adjustable uppers! Jeff

just SOA'd the MJ with 1" longer fixed LCA's but stock UCA's (about 5.5-6" lift total) and have 10 degrees neg caster :oops: No vibes, and good return to center, but had to pull the front DS because of the bad pinion angle. Got a new set of RE adjustable UCA's going in next weekend to fix it all, and am shooting for 5-7 degrees when I do. Jeff

do remember.....you are driving the aerodynamic equivalent of a toaster with a small swimming pool attached to it :D I'm driving a rental car now (Dodge Charger) that's a 4 cylinder that'll absolutely get me into big trouble if I don't watch the speedo. The driveline is so tight and the road noise is so minimal that you don't realize you're taching upwards of 3500-4000 rpm in "normal" driving situations. I drive my MJ by sound, not speed..........I know how fast I'm going by what all is rattling and sounding like it's going to explode, I don't need to look at the speedo ;) For the OP light, I'd recommend an oil change with a new filter (not a Fram). See if that fixes things. Jeff :cheers:

I've got a K&N flat filter on my 2.5....can't tell the difference FWIW (but someone gave it to me for free so there's no money lost) If your '88 is factory original, you have an AW4 tranny, and 4.56 gears stock in your rearend (a fairly rare combination, congratulations :D ) You could probably improve your highway mileage a bit with a larger tire, like a 30" one. I've got 4.56's under mine with 31" AT's, which is just about perfect for me....still has enough oompfh to get out of it's own way, and I can still use OD on the interstate (flat) and keep up with traffic at 65-70 mph at about 2500 rpm. 4LO and the thing is a tank. It's just about the same as it was when 2WD with 4.10's and 28" stock tires. Jeff

cutting torch.......

Damn Pat...that's nicer than you made it sound ;) Like I said, when you start stripping parts off it . . . . . . . . . ....I'll be waiting :D Jeff

Johnstown, PA here, up until '99 when we moved south :chillin: My wife and I get up to Philly every so often....I went up to Harry's in Hazelton last time we were up. Frankdm83...I'll give a holler mext time I'm up home. Can-o-tuna is about an hour or so, maybe we can meet up for a beer or twenty :cheers: Jeff

....and the entire driverside floorboard, too :roll: Welcome to the club :cheers: It only gets worse from here.... Jeff

I just bought the $40 HF one....it works well on u-joints, I can say that. I'm going to attempt to use it on the axle end UCA bushings here someday soon (maybe when I put my new uppers in), so we'll see how it holds up. I've got the receipt, just in case. I've gone thru about 4 HF bench vises so far in the last two years....cheap things keep cracking. But I just take them back and they give me a new one, and the last one I didn't even have the receipt :D Just keep all the original packaging and take the broken stuff back the same way it came. Jeff

yes, the 4L TC fits inside the bell, but the difference is in the front snout that rides inside the flexplate. The 4L one is just a hair longer, and it doesn't seat correctly inside the flexplate. Maybe you could swap flexplates and run one (?), but IIRC the 2.5 BH has a slightly different length, to accomodate the slight difference in size. And I'm sure the stall speed would be different as well (never thought of that, but it makes sense).

dang...there's tons of them in the junkyards down here.

where is it leaking from, the ends of the axletubes or from the rear of the center section (pinion)? Either is not good, but depending on what's leaking will determine how we can tell ya to fix it. Jeff

It was $150 and some change....but I'm not upset by that. It's pure sexy. It would have been alot cheaper if I had a longer shaft that could have been cut down vs. retubing the stock one. Also, when they pulled the yokes off it was discovered one had a crack in one of the ears that I didn't notice, and the pinion end inner flange had been hacksawed about 3/4 of the way thru by someone before me :eek: . So I had to pay for two new ends, the cost of the 3" tube, and labor to cut/weld and paint. If you can find a longer one and have it cut, go that route to save some $$$ all but 2 of the brave soldiers made it :D

yup, exactly what those guys said. Keep the perches parallel to the SUA ones, change the UJ's and check for clearance, especially the top one at the back of the TC. I switched back to the standard XJ/MJ yoke when I had the new driveshaft built, and now I think I'm gonna have to pull it back out and swap the YJ one back in....It doesn't bind at full droop, but it's too close for comfort for me. Jeff (figuring this SOA thing out, one step at a time....:D)

only came in 87-89 XJ/MJ's....

The bellhousing is seperate, and there is no physical difference between the gearboxes other than that. The 2.5L does require a different torque converter as well. Check with Jerry (tjbliliey)....his MJ is 2.5/AW4 equipped. We helped him convert it to 4WD awhile back, and I remember that much about the trannies. He may have more specific information for you. He reused the 2WD AW4 bellhousing and mated it to a 4WD AW4 from behind a 4.0L. I know he had to order the TC from a place up in Pittsburgh, PA. If you know anyone up near Harry's U-pull in Hazelton, PA, there was a 2.5/AW4 XJ sitting in there.....dunno if it's still there or what's still left on it. I saw it about 1.5 months ago when the wife and I were up in Philly. I didn't have the means to take any parts off it, let alone get them back to VA :( FYI, they come with 4.56's in the axles, stock. Jeff Jeff

State Farm..."like a good neighbor". Full coverage ;)

remind me to never visit the upper midwest..... :D I'vw not ever been any farther west than Columbus, and I don't think that's gonna change LOL

New home PC, just setting a cookie..... Jeff

If you define driveable as "it moves under it's own power", then yes :D Actually, I'm quite impressed with how it stood up.....that was a direct t-bone and she was going about 35 mph. The driverside damage happened when I spun around and clamped the BMW sitting at the intersection :oops: Other than the body damage, one of the belts on the engine is squealing (I'm afraid to open the hood for fear it won't close again), and it's not leaking a drop of anything. The only major issue is the driverside rear wheel.....the spindle mount got bent up, and it's off camber (but it still rolls LOL) I don't think the local boys-in-blue would like to see me driving it down the road, though. Jeff p.s....Pete, 90,000 comedians in this country, and you can't find a job?:D:D:D

was it the new piece that failed again, or a different part of the original line? From experience, I can tell you that just splicing in a small piece of new line to fix it will lead to other blowouts. You should replace the entire line from the prop valve back to make sure it's all good. Not the cheapest/fastest fix, but it's the safest. Jeff

ridenlow, PM me.....I need a cheap econobox DD...... here's a couple pics of the Kia (R.I.P. :cry: ) I got T-boned dead center on the passenger side, which spun me around into another car sitting at the intersection waiting to make a turn. Image Not Found Image Not Found The sad part of it all is that I was on the way home from the driveshaft shop with a brand new DS for the MJ (lengthened 3/4", new yokes, and 3" tube). I had to crawl under the MJ this morning and put it in so I'd have something to drive.. Image Not Found

Not in the MJ, but in my DD (Kia Spectra). I'm a bit banged up, but the car is totaled.......I'll post some pics a bit later on this morning after the camera battery recharges. Worst part about it was I was on my way home from the grocery store where I just bought a case of beer, and had it sitting upright on the passenger seat. When I got hit, that case became airborne (stopped it with my head) and split open, beer cans went everywhere and a couple exploded showering the whole interior, and me, with beer. I had to do a field sobriety test right on the shoulder of the road with about 3000 rubberneckers, and had to submit to a BAC test after I passed all of them because the cop didn't believe I wasn't drinking And I got a ticket for "failure to yeild". Not sure what the other driver got charged with, if anything :roll: Jeff