Pete M

Jeep on! --Pete

2.5L + 4 speed stick = 3.55 gears and the trans is an AX-4 or the rarer T-4 2.5L + 5 speed stick = 4.10 gears and the trans is an AX-5 or the rarer T-5 2.5L + 4speed auto = 4.56 gears and the trans is an AW-4 2.5L + 3speed auto = ??? gears and the trans is a 999 or 904 or something like that. It only happened in 86 MJ and 84-86 XJs. There is no such thing as 3.73 gears in an MJ unless someone can prove me wrong. If you want 31s, then I would seek out 4.10 geared axles.

Brakelines are finished and bled! :D The big projects left are the floor and figuring out why the lights don't work right. (when I bought the truck the brake lights came on with the headlights and not with the brake pedal. Now I lost my turn indicators and brake lights altogether. All the grounds and sockets check out ok, but the fuse panel looks suspect. It's not in the greatest condition. :( ) Jeep on! --Pete

x2 :D

I prefer an open rear for wintertime street driving. Less chance of swapping ends as the non-spinning tire acts like a rudder when you're on the gas.

Hold on a sec. So what are we classifying the 89 and 90 manuals as? Chrysler or AMC?

I went out and remeasured and got ~5.25" for my 44 and ~5.5" for my 8.8 Maybe the TJ one measures a bit lower since I imagine it's rotated up more than an MJ would? Dunno. :dunno: If I was sticking with 4.10s, then the 8.8 is hard for me to pass up. I can get one for $125 (complete and with good disk brakes) but 300 is a more common cost across the country, $100 or whatever it is for spacers, and $300 for a luchbox locker (or get the factory posi). Total cost for me would be under $250 (if I went factory posi), but figuring the axle costs more and the locker is desired, that totals $700. But since you're dead set against the 8.8, then my vote is still for building a Dana 44.

Worse comes to worst, you can just install Brett's shifter and power through the gear manually. :D IIRC = If I Recall Correctly

Personally, I would do the Dana 44 and finds a Dana 30 with 4.10 gears in them. By the way, the 8.8 doesn't hang down any lower than a Dana 44, but it's a bit wider at the base.

Trust me, EVERYONE will hear about it waaaaay ahead of time if I get to go to Tellico. (and you'll be hearing about it for months and months after the fact too. :D )

Well, you'll be in my trucks' neck of the woods anyways. I'm at WSU for pretty much all of Mondays. I hate Mondays. :(

Well, your name is spelled Rokhound if it matters. :teehee: I gave you a temp password of "comanche" so lemme know if it still doesn't work for you.

They had some great young pitchers, but inexperience trumped raw skill this time. Plus there were simply too many errors. Oh well. But it beats a 100+ loss season, that's for sure. :D

I can't wait to get my laptop back. My old home computer won't play the vid successfully. :( It tries, but fails miserably. I still hold out hope that I'll be making a trip down to Tellico in January. :D

From what I remember, the big leak on mine was the driveshaft seal, but would only apply to 2wds.

Are we talking about autos or manuals here? You can swap out the electric speedo thing in the t-case for the mechanical one. You might have to swap the little shafts inside them though.

Yes, yes I can believe that. But only because I've done similar. Heck, on that last trip the trans was literally dry (after it blew a hole through its side) and it still got me home. :D It was noisy enough to hurt your ears and the last few mile I was stuck in 3rd, :roll: but still...

After the 90 is up and running, one of my first projects will be seeing if I can get an Explorer rear bar to fit. I've got several of them left over from 8.8 sales, so I figure I might as well. :D

Drums suck. That's all you really need to know. I bought new cylinders and installed them. What a pain in the butt. And this was the easiest work I've ever done on drums. After the initial bleeder issue, nothing gave me any hassle. Nothing was rusted stuck and nothing snapped off and flew across the room. It was a straight forward install... and I still hated it. Stupid drums. :headpop:

Are you talking about that suspiciously cheap 5" ebay kit? I'll say the same thing I always say about that one, I highly recommend staying away from any kit over 3" that doesn't address the lower control arms. It tells me that that they don't know what they're doing.

I buy only used tires these days. :D

Do you have a need for overdrive? :D

Oh the joys of working on old trucks. :roll: So is this easier to drill/dig it out from the outside while the axle is on the truck? or is it easier to remove the axleshaft and everything so I can pull off the backing plate and then drill it out? Or is it screwed into a part that's easily replacable? The factory shop manual mentions nothing about this for the Dana 44.

That ProComp sale is perpetual. It's been going on for months now and even if they did stop it soon, they'll restart it again in a little bit. ProComp is 4wheelparts' own brand and they push them as much as possible since they make the most money on them. :D

Good news! (for my trans that is.) I found a few quarts of semi-synthetic 10-30 in the garage! :D Don't know how old it is though. I found it at the back of a shelf.