Pete M

ouch! well, at least you stopped it before anything caught fire. a short is always a possibility. what else flows through the switch? dash lights?

yeah, that was my second thought , right after "what the hell is this!?" They don't have to be perfect, as the truck is far from perfect.

was up in the barn digging through boxes to see if I had any MJ switchplates (apparently I never grabbed the plates when I grabbed the cargo lights? ) and found these 2 beauties. with me, every day is a new day full of (re)discoveries. I wonder what other gems await exposure to the sunlight...

I know it's common to go in the other direction, swapping easily-available XJ stuff into either 2.5 or 4.2 YJs, but off the top of my head I can't think of someone that actually went through with a YJ-into-XJ swap. But that doesn't necessarily say much because my brain sucks. So I go to google a lot, and on this particular effort I get TONS of XJ-into-YJ that floods the results. I've not yet found anything useful for ya.

I'd need to see some proof of that. the bellhousing bolt patterns are completely different on both sides of the bellhousing. I don't even know how anyone could adapt one to the other.

Sema builds are just better at hiding the ugly

love it! absolutely can't wait for a video!

seems like an afternoon in a junkyard with an HO XJ would help immensely.

I wonder if you can splice in wiring to make 91+ XJ gauges work?

what about this one? https://www.extremeterrain.com/mammoth-boulder-charcoal-17-9-J100615.html

same as most of those atrocities. attention.

there's a reason why you won't find many YJ/TJ to MJ/XJ swaps. they are way harder because the vehicles share everything, but nothing at the same time. An XJ harness will go a long way towards simplifying your life.

waaaaay back in the day my first MJ did that a lot. 99% or the occurrences were just corrosion in the battery cables. clean the contact surfaces and we're good to go again. Then I got a gel battery and it never happened again.

just a point of clarification, are you looking to rebuild a newer block and reuse your trucks wiring? or are you looking to swap over everything from a newer XJ?

how much backspacing is a standard JK rim? also, be sure to put your truck specs in your signature.

when all is said and done it looks like you will have eliminated all the usual failure points and be driving it for many years to come.

so apparently this is... a thing. how have I never heard of it? and of course, the pickup version?

so what's the plan from here?

well, no I'm not. BUT I happen to have a truck that (so far) only has one name on the title. (later this year we'll be figuring out the paperwork and getting it registered)

so the discussion has popped up on faceybooky about the front 44 controversy and someone has replied with this link from Venezuela full of words I don't understand: http://zona-xj.activoforo.com/t625-dana-44

bummer. is it at least a sealed box?

if you can't get above 55, then something is definitely wrong. What about a 2-prong attack? both fixing the truck, and then also buying a 2nd 2.5L engine and rebuild it for an eventual swap?

those look pretty stock, so that rules out the weak feel of the engine as a result of big tires. next up is to make sure the engine is running at its full potential. new plugs, wires, fuel filter, check sensors, check injector performance, etc. Plus I would run a compression check to make sure it's not just plain wore out. oh, and I would double check the gear ratio in teh axle just to make sure it wasn't swapped out at some point. it's super easy to do, just put the trans in neutral, jack up one of the rear tires, mark the driveshaft in some way and then spin the tire around exactly twice while counting the rotations of the shaft. if it rotates 3 and a half times, then it's 3.55. If it rotates a tick over 4 times, then it's 4.10s. the 2.5L/5spd should have 4.10s but a lot can happen in 30 years so it's good to check. the 2.5L is a great little engine. It clearly isn't a powerhouse, but it's no complete wuss either. plenty of guys are running them still. If you want the 4.0 power, the XJ stuff is almost a bolt-in procedure, but you'll need most everything from an HO 4.0 XJ.