Pete M

the drivetrain can be the cheapest part of a v8 swap. and cooling a v8 is always a concern. our Jeeps don't have much available radiator space.

and your CAD lines should be thrown in the trash anyway, so you're good to go. :thumbsup:

the 5.0 should make for a great MJ engine. lightweight, but with good power. what about parts from an Explorer? they had 5.0s and a drivers side t-case.

hate to burst your bubble, but I make plenty of mistakes. :thumbsup: mostly due to my sometimes insane level of forgetfulness (from an illness). the secret to my success is that I try to search everything and confirm it before typing. clearly I didn't look that particular one up. lol. :D

more proof that a post count means nothing. :D my brain seems to be on a steady bean diet lately. :ack: way too many brain farts.

really?! have I had that screwed up in my head this entire time? :doh: d'oh! :dunce:

swapping gear sets generally costs around 3-500 bucks when the pros do it (per axle!). it's not as simple as just bolting the parts in. the gear pattern must be set and that involves assembling the whole thing with an educated guess on how much shim to use, then checking the gear pattern where they mesh together, then you decide what changes must be made, then disassemble the whole thing, move shims, then reassemble all over again to check the pattern. it'll likely take a bunch of tries and if you do it wrong the gears will be too sloppy and make noise, or be too tight and burn up, etc. the general consensus is that it's a chore better left to the pros (or avoided all together by buying axles with better gears in them already). Partly because of the voodoo involved, partly because of the insane amount of effort to check if you did it right (you won't hear any noise until it's under your truck), and partly because the costs incurred if it's not right (destroying your gears or bearings). as to the Dana 35, it gets a bad rep only because it can fail from you looking at it wrong. I blew one up with 30" tires and street driving. but there are LOTS of them out there and some guys wheel on them pretty hard. keep the tires reasonable or keep it open and you should be fine. :thumbsup: but always prepare for the worst.

that's a ton of work compared to a 4wd conversion (which is essentially bolt-in). all depends on how long you want this to take (and how much money you want to spend).

the second one is your MAP sensor

a quick and dirty way to check gearing: -jack up one rear tire -put trans in neutral -rotate that tire around exactly twice -while doing that, count the number of times the driveshaft rotates. that number will be your ratio. 3 and a half times is 3.55, just over 4 times is 4.10, 4 and a half times is 4.56, etc. there's a chance that both your truck and that XJ (being 2.5l/autos) will have 4.56 gearing, and if that's the case, the XJ is a GREAT buy because that ratio is hard to find. worry about the t-case later. :thumbsup:

what gear ratio do you have in your truck's axle now? do you want to keep the automatic trans?

check the ratios in those axles. if the XJ front matches your MJ rear, there's no need to swap the MJ axle out. :thumbsup:

I like the idea of a dolly that slaps into the receiver :thumbsup: .

I take pretty much everything with me, but leave it in the van (some items like the floor jack are in the van 24/7 anyways); including the cordless drill and sawzall, full set of wrenches and sockets, my regular toolbag, crowbars, big hammer, etc. Essentially I triple the value of my van. For walking in the yard I grab my leatherman, #2 phillips, med flat head, torx multitool, and small adj crescent. I can get at most small things with that stuff and head back to the van if it's something bigger.

yes, they swap. and you'll gain a rad cap in the process. :thumbsup: you can also swap to the entire open system if you want.

New ball joints are good because bad ones are, well, bad. You don't want one of those failing on you. but professional alignments on our truck tend to be overrated. There's really only one adjustment; toe (and aligning the steering wheel). camber isn't adjustable, caster isn't adjustable (except with the shims at the back of the LCAs, and I doubt most alignment shops will touch those). and the adjustment that is possible, can be done by the owner with a tape measure and a flat piece of pavement. It's been done to great success by shade tree mechanics for ages. :thumbsup:

what oil filter do you have? I assume you checked the oil level?

just so you know, switching to an open system is not a cure-all. if something else is wrong (clogged rad, bad pump, ect) it'll still overheat.

holy gigantic photos batman!!

I'm going through this right now. the cruise switch works backwards of what you'll need. BUT I'm told the later model XJs have a brake switch that fits in the cruise switch spot. that's my plan, I just haven't gotten to a junkyard yet. :thumbsup:

got a multimeter?

do you get 12 volts down to the starter?

junkyard + a DIY carwash. it'll be some work, but ya can't get any cheaper. :thumbsup:

wow! all I got was a pair of running shoes for half off. :doh:

the shakiness could be just about anything up front. the only way to know is to have someone turn the wheel back and forth and check for slop in the steering. then jack up one tire at a time and shake it left-right and up-down to check the balljoints and wheelbearings. could also be bad bushings in the control arms, bad track bar, or even a plain ol' crappy lift job.