mjeff87

You might need different frame horns. I know for a fact that the 2.5 and 4.0 horns are different (cause I swapped in a 4.0 in place of my 2.5 in the '87 that I had). The actual motor mounts were different too, although they looked the same. I probably still have my OEM 87 2.5 frame horns down in my shed.....I could send them to you, or at least pull them out and measure them to see if there's any actual difference between them and the '86 version you're working with.

not my cup 'o tea either, but....it does look like a clean build (from what can be seen in the pics). I'd be curious to peek into some unseen places to see some stuff, though.

Yup, 1/4" or 6.5mm bolt. It is captured so it won't come the whole way out but you need to unscrew it to separate the inner and outer halves of that connector. A deep well socket is best, or a regular sized socket with a tiny extension.....there's not alot of room to work in there.

I just want to throat punch that guy for his lack of pronunciation of the word tonneau.

Good writeup Eagle. I used to use anti-sieze on wheel studs back when I lived up in PA, due to the winter weather conditions (read: rust), but I've gotten away from it since moving south. My general rule of thumb on lugnuts has been and still is 90 lb/ft for steel wheels and 100-105 for aluminum/alloy. You wanna really get a serious conversation going about anti-seize and torque values (and not in a good way.....) head on over to Garage Journal and post up that you use it on torqued fasteners. I think the only more contentious subjects over there is using PVC for shop air lines, LOL. Or saying that Snap On tools are overpriced pieces of crap.

Your best bet would probably be to install the new packs and then measure before buying anything for the front. If you do end up with a rake, I'd be inclined to leave it if it's a small one. If you do use your MJ to haul anything it would probably level out nicely with a load in the bed. Depending on the height difference (if any) there's a couple different ways to make it up in the front....small spacers, new OE springs, ACOS, ZJ V8 coils (to an extent). I'd bet, if anything, you could manage with a small coil spacer. Get the new springpacks and hardware installed in the rear and go from there. I would opt for the 4/1 packs....no sense in paying for a military wrap if you're not wheeling it.

No problem, trying to help. I just realized, when I took that pic (long ago) that my MJ was pretty much dead center in my driveway. I didn't plan it that way, that's just the way I parked it that day. If you look at the relief cut in the concrete below the center section of the axle in the pic, it's pretty much dead center and perfectly aligned with the rear output of the TC (and the true centerline of the axle housing). Compare that line to the actual driveshaft, and you can see how the front yoke on the axle is offset (the driveshaft is not parallel).

The center section of a D44 is not perfectly centered, it's offset by a small amount. When installed correctly, the driveshaft will not be parallel to the frame rails, it'll be angled toward the passenger side a tiny, negligible amount (the u-joints compensate for it). Is your rear axle original to the truck, or did someone swap it in? If it was swapped in, whoever installed it might have welded the leaf perches differently to make up for the difference. If it's the stock/original axle, though, I would wager your rear spring bushings (at least) are toast. Here's a shot of my old MJ. It's hard to see, but the driveshaft is not parallel.

Lol, that's about what I paid for mine too, bought it from a coworker. I got it to fix up and give to a family member who's in a rough patch right now and needs a vehicle, but after spending a couple weeks on it fixing up all the little crap wrong with it, I've kind of gotten fond of it. It just flat out runs, and gets as good mileage as my wife's '18 Subaru. I don't really want to give it away.

Nice score Pete There was a 2.5 Dakota down here in one of the yards a few years ago, first one I've ever actually seen live. I should have spent the time to drop the trans and grab the BH, but I was too pressed for time and didn't have all my tools with me. I've not seen another one since.

Small little tidbit to add to this, but it's the tiny little things on a project like this that end up driving you nuts......if you do swap an auto in, in addition to everything that Paradise lists out so well, you're going to need new (shorter) flexplate bolts to bolt the plate to the back of the crank. Flywheel bolts are longer than flexplate bolts and won't work. I'd hate to see you (or anyone) go through all the work and finally get ready to bolt everything up and find out you need different hardware. Which always seems to happen to me at 0200 on a Sunday morning, when nothing is open. LOL.

Oil pressure switch.

Air hammer or otherwise the broken bolt remnants and the captured nut up inside the frame out of the way. You might be able to fish them out of that cutout mentioned in the floor rail....if not don't sweat it. Install a nutsert into the frame along with a new bolt and done. I wouldn't sweat driving it as is for now. If it was an XJ that doesn't have the 2 extra fasteners per side, that would be a different story.

I can't complain about it overall....it hums right along and I'm getting about 32 mpg in it, which is about double the mileage my KJ gets It us an economy car though, with all the lack of creature comforts/quiet ride that comes at that price point. I'm only the second owner, it came from Georgia. Most everything I've been replacing on it so far has been original parts (except for the fuel filter I put on last weekend, it was an aftermarket part). I'm pretty confident that the exhaust was OEM too....it was all a single piece from the front flange back. The only way to install it that way has to be from the factory, before the rear suspension was hung. Not too shabby for 214K miles. I don't think there's any places like that around me, sadly.

And here's a shot of the old versus new stuff (see how I had to cut the old out in pieces. Tecnically, I could have just cut the muffler out ala saws all and cobbled a new one in with some connectors and a bunch of clamps, but that whole new exhaust I got off of Advance Auto for about $65 and free shipping. I had a few speed perks rewards $$$ to use up

Yeah, I have lots of cardboard plus old carpet scraps I use, but it's still a hard azz concrete floor lol. The biggest PITA of the job is/was splicing in the new stuff to the old stuff at the rear end (the front is flanged, rusted up old bolts/nuts were no match for the air impact and snapped off just like I expected them to...and were replaced with new hardware). The piping runs up/over the rear suspension and connects to a square resonator the size of a small microwave, then exits under the bumper. I had to cut the old stuff out in three different pieces so I could get it all out, then figure out how to cut the new stuff and the forward inlet pipe on the resonator to duplicate the exact length so all the hangers lined up and the resonator and tailpipe didn't hit the body. That took a few different attempts until I got it just right. Here's a pic of the splice which really doesn't show just how crammed and inaccessible it was in that area. And that's the only area of piping that's straight enough to add in a coupler, every other part of the piping is curved or has an exhaust hanger welded on. Its done, it's quiet, I'm happy, and am not eager to ever make this repair again without a floor lift. Lol.

Lol, no. I was going to use ramps but they were buried in the shed and I didn't feel like digging them out (hindsight says I should have). I used 2 trolley jacks, a bottle Jack and 3 jack stands......I basically had the whole driver side off the ground. I wish I had or knew someone with a 2 or 4 post lift. The whole job would've probably only taken an hour or so with the whole thing up in the air. I'm paying for it today though, both of my shoulders, my traps, the back of my head and the sides of both hips are reminding me that I'm 49 years old now.

Just about done fixing crap on this thing....today I swapped another driver side sway bar link to get rid of the annoying thunk going over bumps and tried to get rid of the dash rattle on the passenger side that's been driving me crazy. Success on the first, fail on the second. I also replaced most of the exhaust, from the rear flange on the cat back. Planned on about 2 hours for the job, ended up taking 6. But there's no more annoying rattle coming from the inside of the muffler anymore, so I'm happy about that. If Ida been working on it on a 2or 4 post lift it probably would have been done in an hour, lol. Let's just say I hate doing exhaust work, especially on the garage floor on a car that's about 2 inches off the ground, but the shop quoted me about $600 to do it and I pulled it all off for about $80 in parts.

Tube bender, on your bridal registry. That is so much a WIN Looking forward to updates.

I dunno, probably. I can cut in corners, walls, trim etc. pretty good but I have to be right about at eye level and perpendicular.

There's a couple little "oopsies" I made, but no ones really going to see them, except for one. I'll fix it tomorrow. I figured out I could never be a pro painter, my OCD is just too much. I kept finding little flaws and fixing them to the point of craziness. I just had to finally stop and put the brushes down (except for that one thing I have to fix tomorrow )

I also got the new pendulum light hung, what a colossal PITA that was. The builders just started jamming screws into the fixture cover plate everywhere until something grabbed. I took out 9 screws until it came loose. And of course the new light plate was half the size and didn't cover up the booger holes, so I had to fill them all in, sand and paint them. All on the top step of my rickety contraption. I also etched/frosted the top pane of the window (fixed, so I couldn't take it out and do it on the bench). The morning sun blows thru that pane right into our dining room while we're trying to eat breakfast. Problem finally solved.

Well, despite everyone's warnings of doom, I got it all done. And didn't die, lol.

My birthday was this week (yesterday), and I decided to take the week off for a staycation to get a bunch of crap done around the house. The big project was to finally paint our split staircase and upstairs hallway. June will officially be 10 years since we built/bought the house and we (mostly I, lol) have painted everything except these last two spots. The hallway isn't so hard other than the fact it has six doorways that have to be cut in but the stairwell is a giant PITA....it's a split staircase with 2 landings and 18 foot ceilings and walls (hence the reason it hasn't been painted yet). We got a quote from a pro painter of $1000 to paint it and the hall, but my cheap side wasn't gonna let that happen. I'm now 3 days and about 2 cases of beer into it, but only because I decided to paint all the trim work first before the walks and ceilings. I've got everything done but cutting in the tops of the walls to the ceiling which I'll do tomorrow along with finally hanging a new light to replace the POS builder grade fixture that came with the house. I bought it like 5 years ago and it's been sitting in the box in the garage ever since I came up with an ingenious, if not completely redneck way to reach the upper walls and ceiling. I built a platform out of an old pallet and some scrap lumber/OSB I had to level out the landings on the staircase so I could plant a ladder on them safely, plus grabbed a 2x10 and a couple 2x4's to make a janky scaffolding. Combined that with every ladder I own and am able to somewhat safely reach everything. I do have my cellphone on my hip in case it all goes to hell and I end up falling and breaking my neck So far, I'm into this project for $127, which includes paint and the lumber from Lowes.

Richmond here