Duner

Has anyone ever sleeved the stock tie rod to reinforce it. My dad said that they used to do this on their baja bugs and dune buggies and then use a ford 3/4 ton tre. He thinks that we could probably do something similar for the MJ.

Gas mileage? When it was 2wd 3.07 on 26" tires 17 to 18 4wd on 29" 3.07 gear front shaft not in yet 14 to 15 4wd on 29" 3.55 gear front shaft not in 15 to 16 4wd on 33x12.5 3.55 gear shaft in place 14 to 15 If it holds 15 with the 4.10s that will be great but i'm only interested driveability the truck felt good with smaller tires now it feels under powered. By the way my dad's 05 tj with 3.07 gear and 32's gets 13 to 15 with a 6spd manual (Its a jeep thing) and if we need to get gas mileage we take my mom's 05 malibu 36 to 39 on the hwy 4cyl 75mph with a/c. So suck it up or sell it I am an oil company spokesmen.

And of course check all wires coming and going from the batt terminals or any other wiring that may have inadverntly got snagged when the batt was changed and decided to break 3 mos later.

Yea, I don't expect the brute force to last any longer as far as bearing life goes but maybe the solid body will keep it from dumping the driveshaft on the ground. Anyway if your like me there is hardly a week that goes by that I don't roll under the truck and check stuff out. Lately since my last excursion off road the exhaust is squeaking in the rubber mounts and it is precariously close to the driveshaft now (time for that upgrade anyway).

Having seen my dad under the hood of our jag and cussing to high heaven you might just want to go the normal stroker route on the jeep 4.0. If you get your hands on a jag engine for free, sale it quick it should more than pay for performance mods.

Thanks for posting the link, I just downloaded all the pdf's.

National chain auto part stores are like shooting dice in vegas. Best to take in the old parts for comparison and if think you jeeps are a problem my dad used to have a 78 intl. scout II (they're built from whatever could be bought cheaply Dana axles, Ford hubs and brakes, GM and AMC parts as well) Anyway to continue my u-joint saga chunked the precision from oreilly's went to the shop that shortened my shaft to get a spicer brand and ended up with a bruteforce solid body (they were out of spicers) he says I should get at least 2 years out of it and it shouldn't break but then those guys drag race and offroadiing is much harder on parts.

if you have the AX-15 you will probably have to pull your tranny back from the block in order to get the crank to drop down where you can get the upper rear seal into place. Definitely go with the one piece pan gasket.

You definitely are paitent most of us would have gone crazy after changing the seal once. Jus a run down on my 90MJ, first leak fixed was the oil filter and adapter becuase the filter was stuck to the adapter. My dad ended up unbolting the adapter from the block (new o-rings from jeep) and new filter solved that leak. Next was the valve cover the 4.0 is notorius for this but my dad says all inline 6's have similar problem. Finally rear main seal as it was begining to look like an alaskan oil spill in the driveway as well as smoking from the oil on the exhaust pipe. No more oil leaks for a while but it appears the valve cover is starting again. I'm not sure why your leak is still coming from the main - could it be the rear seal on the pan gasket? I remember having to pull the pan down a couple of times because th gasket kept sliding while trying to put the pan back in place. We did opt for Fel-Pro's one piece pan gasket and have had no problems.

Also check your fuse block connections as your MJ and its XJ cousin are prone to windshield leaks that for some reason drip right on the fuse block as well as us 5spd owners who also get the clutch master cyl. leaking on to it as well. My truck had both problems ended up with fuse block and $400 repair bill (even though my uncle used to work there but they are honest) and they did cut back all the wires and put all new connections on them (its nice being able to actually watch them work instead of gettin ripped off - PO took it in for turn signal and tailight repairs and you would not believe what was done could have burned at any moment).

Comments from Duner's Dad: We would have to know all of the circumstances involving each and every failure but I will lay down the basics about synthetic lubricants and a bit of insight that may cause the failures. FYI - US Military uses synthetic lubricants in almost everything they have that rotates or has metal to metal contact. If someone shoots a hole in the engine pan, radiator, trans pan, diff, etc. and all the fluids leak out the military wants that vehicle to continue moving to get the occupants to safety. The reason for synthetics working better than conventional are as follows superior molecular adhesion and film strength this keeps the lubricant on the part and the oil then resists the compression and does not allow the two metal parts to contact each other. (current penzoil commercials are good illustration) the other advantage of synthetics is extreme temperature resistance to break down. sludge is formed in conventional oils when the organic hydrocarbons (dinosaurs and plants)and parafin waxs (substance that makes oil slippery) are cooked out of the oil this is the nasty black crud caked on to every portion of the internal surface of your engine that does not have metal to metal contact. This crud build up will not occur in synthetic lubricated engines. Thats the basics in a nutshell. Now why do our automatic transmissions fail when we switch from conventional to synthetic? Your automatic tranny has a number of friction clutches which wear depositing their fibers into the fluid where we are all hoping that the filter will remove them (high hopes). The only thing that will kill an automatic transmission faster than dirty fluid is lack of fluid flow so the filters let most of the particles circulate. The particulates then hook up with the parafins and organic compounds in your conventional fluid. The plus is that this new thicker homogenized crud fills the increasing tolerances between the friction clutches and your tranny keeps on going although gettin a little more sluggish as time goes on. Failure happens when transmissions are not serviced regularly and we are not talking about mfg's intervals if you do your oil every 3k your trans should be every 9k and 7k if you sit in traffic or idle for long periods. Most owner's manuals spec 30k or 15k for severe duty and towing. So the happy truck owner decides at 90k miles that he will switch over to synthetic lubricants in everything engine, trans, tranfercase and diffs no problem. Diffs and tranfer case and manual trans could careless they are happy as long as they are not filled with sand and water in most cases. Engine begins to really clean itself up like cleaning a barbecue pit with easy-off oven cleaner as long as you change your filter every 1k and synthetic oil again at 3k it generally during the initial switch over it will adapt with no problems. Auto Trans is another animal first and biggest issue is changing the oil all of the oil including the torque converter. This means installing a drain plug in the converter if not factory fitted. I'm not familar enough with this sucking and changing fluid machine that most lube shops use now. Nothing like actually watching it come out and filling it up yourself besides the filter needs changing anyway. This conversion is also expensive as most trans will need 10 to 14 quarts of new synthetic. So new synthetic fluid goes in removes all crud and deposits them into the filter which it then clogs while opening all friction clutch tolerances and pump seals thus creating an expensive rebuild for the vehicle owner. (who then swears synthetics are worthless) (This same problem can occur with convential fluid if it has not been changed or changed regularly when a complete and thorough change is peformed) So if you changed your auto trans fluid more often than the factory suggested you can probably survive the switch problem free. If you have never serviced your trans and your thinking I'm going to drive it to colorado for the jeep jamboree next month don't change the fluid before you go. If you are one of the people who at least did filters with 3 quarts of fluid once in while I would reccomend that you continue to do just that but you can add a quart or two of synthetic or blended synthetic and derive some of the benefits. If you were fortunate enough to have bought your MJ or XJ new and switched it over to synthetic fluids right away you probably don't read the tech column except to muse yourself with our sufferings. I have used Royal Purple long before it showed up on the tv programs or the auto stores started selling it (I do like the quarts compared to the 5 gal jugs I was buying) I switched from Mobil One after I watched it fail in a film strength test. Also most Nascar engines run this oil as opposed to what the large sponsor decal on the car may say. Just remember that no matter which you choose they are all superior to convential oils and fluids this goes for brake and power steering as well. All high end automobiles and all german cars (even vw's) use synthetics from the factory - check out a corvette at the local chevy dealer and read the lubricant recommendations.

The truck spends more time wheeling me to school so the Moto Metal wheels were a street choice thing. My dad wanted to stick with 15" wheels either mickey thomp classic or classic II's or even the black rock crawlers like on his 05 TJ he said the 15" tires were cheaper. Dads are always watching their wallets - he said if I bought the wheels he would buy the tires so there you have it. As for the Rusty's upper and lower control arms they function well, but they are not made out chromemoly steel but they are very thick and heavy steel for the street driving and mild trails they work great with a smooth ride and good articulation even with the sway bar in place. If I were going offroad most of the time I would opt for long arms.

We had to use our M35 cables on the D44 that came out of the XJ donor the XJ cables did not fit the cable pull harness under the MJ's bed.

It has been a long time coming since first joining the comancheclub but I have finally coordinated the digital cam and the laptop to get the photos into Projects. Humble beginings 1990 MJ 4.0 5sp 2wd 18 months later the project is closer to completion much to my father's help and understanding 1st 3.5" skyjacker now 6" SOA D44 and rusty's adjustable uca/lca, 305/70/16 Dick Cepek tires mounted on 16x9 Moto Metal 951's, D30 front axle skyjacker trac bar and steering stabilizer Our first real offroad outing www.generalsams.com for more info Texas Auto Gear performed the spring perch relocation on the D44 rear axle for us. King of the little mountain Got Mud? How about this new Rhino Lining it's cheap and easy to apply! This is the result of not having locking diffs fortunately and older J20 comanche was able to help us get out of the mud hole For those wondering about what stereo speakers will fit in their MJ's 6x9 Sony X-plods in stock 4x6 location angled to fit in sheetmetal opening with 3/4" spacer on panel. one 4 channel amp driving two 6x9 in panels and two 6" in doors This 10" Punch has been replaced with a 10" pioneer slim sub in a box fitted between the seats Now for something totally different Would you belief a 1956 cab over Jeep? You see something different everyday on the trail.

After hauling my uncle's fire proof gun safe down to our ranch my rear load sensing valve decided to pretend it was still loaded leading to incredible brake performance. So my dad just disconnected the rod and pushed it up a bit for now. no problems and that was back in december. In the future we will eliminate completely as this truck is not really intended for hauling 700 lb loads.

In my mj we have 2 6x9 and 2 6in sony Explods and they sound great they are cheap if i blow one it a short trip to walmart and there fixed no problem. There is no drone tones its all sharp sounds. all this with my slim fit sub it perfect.

Went to the EBC brakes web site and found a few answers apparently you can now buy the pads and rotors OTC at O'reilly Auto parts. I will check the price of the 6000 and 7000 series brake pads for 4x4 & Suv's on Sat. They were at least kind enough to note that for normal and mild offroad use (i.e. not running the baja or jeepspeed) normal rotors that are not drilled or slotted would yeild the best results. So don't wast the bucks on the fancy rotors unless your hot lapping your MJ. Simple physics more surface area more agressive pad = more stopping power as long as the rest of the system is working properly.

yea I had the missing 12" strip on the driver door jamb (thanks PO) but I just cruised the pick a part until I found a good one on an xj 4-door cost me $4 i think plus the $2 admission but I always leave with way more stuff than that.

Is the MJ truly a mid-size truck? at the time that it was introduced it fell into a hole it wasn't exactly a small truck and it is not quite a true mid-size either. But lets get back to the jist of this thread I still vote no on the ford seat and the only seat that matters in the MJ is the driver seat because it's the most fun!!!

Yes and No, Your comanche windshield is about 1/4" shorter than the cherokee don't ask me why. I didn't know myself until we watched the glass shop break two windshields in my 90 MJ before someone went and measured the old glass, Then with some careful work they managed to get a cherokee glass in the MJ. So far 2 years (knock on wood) but I think they lost money on my truck.

I bought the stainless set from Rusty's it seems like they are 24 to 26 inches long did not actually measure this. I don't think it really hurts anything as you can usually keep them out of the way and still retain enough slack for axle drop. Besides my lift started with about three inches for the overall plan and 31" tires it currently is about 6.5" on 33" tires so it is just a matter of time before it reaches 8" or 9" lift. Good thing is my friends from school are inheriting their mom's cherokees and they all want them lifted now that they seen what my dad and I have done to the comanche so I have buyers lined up for the earlier skyjacker lift and the various lift spacers lying around the garage.

I'm all for a larger master cylinder as I understand hydraulic systems are about volume and pressure. I'm not sure what benefit the larger booster would have except maybe reducing the human effort in the equation I don't think the booster can actually apply more pressure but maybe I'm wrong. Second I did not really want to change the booster as the current one is only about 10 months old. (new booster, new master, new wheel cylinders and drums for rear, new stainless lines) I'm only lacking what to do about front calipers and rotors. I know I need one rotor now but again looking for a better replacement than stock and don't mind the low cost junkyard parts.

Have not pulled an MJ dash before but I'm sure that it is easier than removing a 95 T-Bird dash with the 500 lbs of wire and computers but if your orignal dash is good why not just change the color - proper paints and dyes cost a lot less than $100.

Don't remember it this topic has been thoroughly covered before. Now that 33x12.50's are mounted is there a swappable large set of front brakes available for the D30 axle? I'm about ready to try the slotted rotors and heavy duty pads. I did gain back some noticeable brake stopping power when I switched to the braided stainless lines but I would like to have more. The rear brakes are the large D44 drums, I think 10x2-3/4" shoes.

My answer is to avoid the ford seats. We have an 05 Ranger edge with that seat and it sucks. The ford seats are very hard and also tall, I think fitting them in the comanche would be quite an undertaking due to the stated difference in tunnel heights. I think we have to accept that we can make xj seats fit with some work but we should really look at full suspension seats if we are going to spend a lot of time wheeling in our trucks.