mjeff87

If you want to go YJ, check with Chuck (cmcolfax) on here. He's got a full set of stock YJ springs in his garage. Jeff

TJ, YJ, MJ, XJ, ZJ....all the same D30 axle. YJ D30 is leaf spring, but all the others are coiled. ZJ D30 may be low pinion, and may have CV joints instead of u-joints. Late model ('01-'02) XJ D30 is low pinion also. Front driveshaft lengths do vary by transmission/engine combo :cry: I do know that the AX5/2.5 combo has the shortest DS, but it's possible that a 4.0/AW4 and 4.0L/AX15 are the same size (or close enough to be interchangeable). Maybe some 4.0 guys here can speak to that. Jeff

You oughta catch a job somewhere over here in VA. I got plenty of crap lying around that would keep ya busy ;) Jeff

Valve float is typical of higher revving engines. Because the valves are opening/closing so rapidly, the valve springs (weak) cannot fully close the valve on the seat inbetween bumps from the cam, which causes compression loss in the cylinders. Unless your valve springs are completely hosed, they wouldn't float the valves @ such low RPM's. I'd suspect that the loss of oil pressure is causing the lifters to partially collapse, and the clacking you're hearing is from the slack in the valvetrain (pushrod to rocker clearance). I'd do what Pete suggests....clean everything, run fresh dino oil, and a good quality filter and see if it clears up. Jeff

So, it is your clutch master that's loosing fluid, not the brake right? Any leak is not good. If it's leaking @ the back, check the line that runs to the slave where it connects to the master....it should be regular steel line with a flarenut fitting that screws into the back/top of the cylinder. Make sure it's tight (use a good flarenut wrench on it so you don't round it off). Also, follow that line down to the tranny and check that it's still all intact and not leaking. There's a stock rubber piece of hose that splices into the steel line, and it runs very close to the exhaust, back along the firewall. Make sure it hasn't abraded or melted and isn't leaking fluid. Jeff

That fill up device is the master cylinder for the clutch (it's hydraulic, not cable or rod activated). The system takes DOT3 brake fluid, the same as what you put in the brake master, but they are two seperate systems. They do not share fluid. Where do you see the leakage at?

Are you talking about the brake fluid in the brake master cylinder or the clutch master cylinder? If you're loosing fluid out of the clutch master, it's either leaking out of the slave cylinder (check the bottom of the bellhousing for fluid) or else out of the back of the clutch master itself. Look up under the dash above the fuse panel, and see if there's fluid pushing out the back...if it is, clean it off the fuse block ASAP. It will destroy it, and the fuses in it, and you'll end up with an electrical nightmare. HTH, Jeff

My brother does the same thing as you. I now know why he drinks so much, and twitches all the time.......

If I were close I'd help ya ;) but I've already got an engine-pull lined up. My MOPAR nut neighbor just bought a 60's something Barracuda (total rustbucket) that he needs to get the 360 out of. We just pulled the 383 out of his Duster last week.... Have fun! Jeff

I got all new junk ;) . The install tech (my wife didn't trust that I could do it myself :nuts: ) spent about 5 hours here yesterday, poor guy. I helped him run all new line from the outside box to the router, and we ran a new line to the wall jack by the PC (upstairs).

The wife and I have officially stepped into the 21st century.....got a cable modem rigged up yesterday 100 Mbps is da bomb! Jeff

I'm actually planning on using the blowby to my advanage, when I get my OBA rigged up. I figure why use an inline oiler when I can just reroute the airbox line to the suction side of the compressor :D It oughta oil it just fine..... Jeff

Don't worry about the pic. Now that I think about it some more, I do remember seeing an 89 in the junkyard once with a 4 speed...guess they used them longer than I thought. FWIW, an AX5 is the same gearbox as the AX4, it just has the extra 5th gear (OD) You can swap one in straight up. Both cases have a 21 spline flush output. Pat, where are you finding $100 adjustabel TB's????? I need me one of those.... :D Jeff

Yeah, that's the indicator light switch. It will function w/o it just fine, but if you want the dashlight to work, you gotta fix it. For the housing, shim over the fork with some washers/hoseclamps or whatever else you can find. I tried the old flip-the-housing trick on Chuck's YJ but things just didn't line up well enough (might have been because the CAD motor on his axle actually worked in the first place). There are three circlips that hold the shift fork and shaft inside the housing that you have to pop off, then the shaft will slide out of the housing. It's a little frustrating until you figure out exactly how many washers you need to get the fork to line up, where to put them, and remembering how to orient the shaft when you put the circlips back on, but you'll figure it out. Just be patient..... ;) Jeff

There ain't no someday about it.....it marks it's territory now. No seals or gaskets that are leaking, but I have so much blowby that it actually pushes oil back out of the fill cap in the VC (and into the airbox as well, like any other good Jeep :D ) It runs down the VC and block behind the alternator, then back along the oil pan lip and drips off at the back of the engine. It does a real good impersonation of a leaking RMS..... Jeff

You're probably right, but I didn't think the AX4 was offered after '87. CET, is your tranny auto or manual? If it's manual, does it have the factory shift knob on it (with a 4 spd pattern), or something else? Could be that it's a 5 spd...just noone ever tried to put it in 5th and didn't know it was there (don't laugh, I've seen it happen before.....) I'd say if you have an auto (AW4), then you've got 4.56's. If it's an AX4 (manual 4 spd) then you have either 3.55 or 3.73 because of no OD, and if it's an AX5 (5 spd manual) you probably have 4.10's. Jeff

Boy, did I pick a project for the weekend :nuts: Decided to finally redo my aging driveway....my wife ran into the timbers on her (left) side one too many times, and the MJ has been doing it's own version of the Exxon Valdez for the last couple years on my side :mad: The next time anyone hears me say the words, "Hey, I think I'll redo the driveway this weekend" hit me in the head. Very hard. So hard that you knock me out and I don't wake up until three days later, and I have to eat through a straw for 2 months.......This little project took me ALL weekend. Replaced the landscape timbers on the left side (16 of them), powerwashed everything, troweled in 3 buckets of cold patch, sealed all the cracks and perimeter with 2 buckets of crack sealer, put three (yes...three) coats of stain/sealer on the landscape timbers, and used 3 buckets of driveway sealer. Totals were about $120 in materials, $25 in beer, and a $5 bottle of Aleve. Now I gotta put some kind of drip pan under the Jeep, or else park it on the side street. Jeff Image Not Found

Keep spinning the ring gear around, and you'll see a set of two numbers all by themselves. That'll be the tooth count. You might have to wipe off the gear face to find them, but they're there. 4.10's are the deepest gears you'll find stock, unless you come across the rare 87-89 XJ/MJ with 2.5 and AW4, which came with 4.56. Curious, what tranny is in yours now? If it's an AW4, then that rear axle *should* be 4.56. Jeff

I know, I know.....but I've had that one plus another one on for going on 2+ years and haven't had a problem. Both of them are getting 86'ed as soon as I hang the '44 under it. New lines from the prop valve back are on the list. On a side note....I actually made a panic stop the other day in of all places a grocery store parking lot. Some hoopty decided to cut across the parking lanes, as I was making my way down one. I actually left 4 nice, even black skid marks ;) about 2 ft long, off of each wheel. Jeff

if all else fails and you can't get it out, you can still fill the box via the shifter housing (remove shifter and pour it in). I usually refill my AX that way (but the shifter pops out very easily, unlike the BA10 :cry: ) and leave the fill plug out.....stop adding when it starts to dribble out the fill hole. You would just need to put in a measured amount since the plug would still be installed. Jeff

I would just replace the wheel cylinder (and the other side as well). Same thing happened on my axle, and I ended up fubaring the brake line when I tried to pull it off to work on it on the bench. I just got a short piece of flared line and spliced it in with a compression fitting, and left the rest of the intact hard line on the axle alone. Jeff

It's an 8mm (or 5/16") square plug. You can file down a sacrificial 3/8" extension to fit, or file two sides off an 8mm allen wrench to fit, or if you can find a small piece of square stock in either size you can use that and turn it with a wrench. HTH, Jeff

Dang...another 87+ 2.5 with auto (somewhat of a rarity). FYI, check the axle ratio on that there MJ. If it hasn't been swapped out by a PO, it should be a 4.56 :chillin: Jeff

There *may* be a tag on the rear axle with the ratio, but don't count on it. The surest way to confirm the r&p is to pop the cover and look on the ring gear for the tooth count stamped into it (or count teeth, but if you spin the ring gear around, you will see the two count numbers stamped into it). By far, the most common ratio in XJ/MJ's that have a 4.0 and AW4 is 3.55, so look for that combo as a starting point. You can use a disco front axle for your project (that's what I have in mine, BTW). You have several options for dealing with the CAD, depending on what you want to do: *install all the factory vaccuum crap and operate as normal (PITA) *rig up your own vaccuum with a selectable vac switch in cab *install a posi-lok (either purchased $$$ or homebrew) *pull the CAD and shim over the shift fork and reinstall it (what I did) *replace the 2 pc shaft with a non-disco single shaft (have to add a seal) Jeff

If the tranny is manual, I would replace the clutch components (especially the slave if it's internal). You could also replace the CPS and keep the old one as a spare, since you'll have easy access to it. If the engine is a 2.5L, you might think about replacing the RMS....it only costs about $5. Unlike the 4.0, you HAVE to pull the tranny/flywheel to replace it...no better time than now. Also, there is an expansion plug in the rear of the block, below the head, that you might want to check the condition of and replace if it looks bad. Here's a pic of it, it's a bit past 12 o'clock, partially covered by the flywheel. HTH, Jeff Image Not Found