jpnjim

Thanks alot, now I'll never be satisfied with my plain jane 'puke & wipe' full vinyl door panels again. The cloth insert panels really make that interior look good & compliment the seats. :cheers:

Just wondering, thanks.

Incommando, how many XJ's have you owned?

Reading whatever the center caps say would be a start too. ;) I'm thinking Alcoa's have steel lug nut inserts, I know the ARE's I had did not have any inserts.

:yes: officially all MJ M20's were 4.10 geared, available with, or without trac-lock. Is it a good axle? The shafts are 29 spline, and one piece (unlike the AMC automotive & CJ axles). They are slightly bigger than the 29spline shafts in a Mopar 8.25" axle. The ring gear is just smaller than a Ford 9", and the same size as a 12 bolt Chevy (8.875"). The only bad part is they spec'd it out to use just 8 bolts to hold the ring gear to the carrier (most axles this size have either 10, or 12 bolts). The pinion gear is bigger than a D44's, and the same size as a D60's pinion. It uses a crush spacer to set the pinion bearing preload. Easier, and more cost effective when they originally made them, but the crush spacer can be replaced with shims if needed for heavy duty applications. This is the same ring & pinion set used in Military Hummers & Civi H1's. Even tho Hummers don't get our cool 'pith helmet' diff cover, it's the same center section under the cover. Typical M20 tubes are on the thin side, and the center castings are usually as well, but I've never seen an MJ M20 cut up to know if that's true for our version too. The wheel bearings are tapered, preload type, that require setting up with shims behind one wheel bearing flange, and a special crosspin to be used in the differential. AMC guys have set these up in 10 second race cars, but most people switch to something else for reliability when they start putting serious power to the ground. I think it's a good axle. :thumbsup:

Thanks, that's got to be a easy dozen, or more from members here w/o seals. Weird, every non-c-clip axle I've had has had inner seals (till now). I like the idea of not worrying about wrecking the seals when you pull the shafts, so it looks like I'll go with the flow, and not run any. Thanks for that too, I like it better all painted and purty too ;)

Thanks for all the replies :cheers: I cleaned the axle up, hit it with some POR-15: and picked up some goodies for it: but wait.... one of these things doesn't belong: somehow a MASSIVE 10 lug rotor ended up the box that should've held a10"x2.5" drum Box was marked correctly, but in stead held this 50lb hunk of cast iron, it's hard to tell scale in the pic, but here's a quarter sitting on it: Rock Auto's gonna send me out the right drum, and let me know if they want the dump truck rotor back :D

They look really similar to the deep backspacing ARE Baja's (15x8's with 5.25" backspacing) I had 'upgraded' to different center caps, these are the ones they originally came with (now on my buddy's Jeep): They look the same to me anyway :dunno: Image Not Found edit, looks like I paid $72.25 each for them 8 years ago lol http://www.jeepsunlimited.com/forums/sh ... p?t=106022

Wow, OK, that's good enough for me, seems pretty conclusive that XJ D44's did not use inner axle seals, and lubed the wheel bearings with gear oil, much like C-clip axles. I'm going to follow a little more of the paper trail, like do they list a rear wheel bearing repacking schedule (like "repack rear wheel bearings every 30k miles"), or do the later parts books show an inner axle seal part number. Thanks again for the help guys, I didn't think I'd this many responses this quickly. :thumbsup:

Thanks Don, good to know I'm not completely losing my mind ;) :thumbsup: :thumbsup: Excellent! this was what I was hoping to hear (rather that having to worry that the axle was modified/butchered by a previous owner). Anyone else's confirmations on D44 seals, yes, or no would still be helpful, but I think the next step would be to figure out if if the bearings are happier in gear oil, or grease, & then either install, or ignore the seals. (seals are only like $3 each, and the axle shafts have the seal surface, so it's not a cost issue) :cheers:

Interesting, as with the MJ 44, I figured TJ & Rubi 44's had inner & outer seals.

are you going to try to go from 2.8L --> 4.0L before Christmas? I have not done this swap, but, beyond the engine/trans, it's going to include swapping: front radiator support & radiator (4.0L had a short/wide radiator, 2.8L should have the sqare early style radiator) hacking your existing wiring harness, or swapping in most, or all of the donor wiring harness swapping in the 4.0L gauge set 4.0L electric fuel pump, and or whole gas tank (I'm unsure if the tank itself changed with the installation of the intank pump). Since you said you were going to use a 98+ donor, using the late model electronics will further complicate it by having to swap the entire wiring harness + dash + a million other things that are incompatible from 1986 to 1997, and need adapting (might as well do 'all' the upgrades at the same time, like late model master cylinder, steering column, power options, etc etc.) I've done a bunch of engine swaps, and even removed every inch of wiring harness from a 2001 XJ in anticipation of a similar swap (that never happened), and NO WAY would I try to get something like this rapped up before the holidays. Good luck if you're still gonna give it a shot, but I would think about moving it to it's new home with the current 2.8L engine.

Wasn't there some talk of one of the decal experts here possibly producing these? If anyone's listening, 4.0l decals designed after the old 401 badges (discussed in a previous thread here somewhere) would be nice too. :yes: :thumbsup: something like:

Who has pulled the axle shafts on an 87' MJ/XJ D44 rear? Stupid question, but were there any inner axle seals in there? Reason I'm asking I'm pulling apart an 87' MJ D44 right now, and it does NOT have inner axle seals. The axle tubes don't look like they ever had seals installed, and the shiny seal mating surface on the axle shafts don't look like they've ever had seals riding on them either. Furthermore, there wasn't any bearing grease on the wheel bearings, tho they appeared to be adequately lubed in diff fluid. I was under the impression that this axle would have the wheel bearings packed with wheel bearing grease, and have axle seals on both sides of the bearings (inner & outer axle seals). research The Factory Jeep 1986-1987 XJ/MJ parts manual DOES NOT show, or list inner axle seals for the D44 rear axle (same book DOES show seals for both generations of non-C-clip D35's, and the MJ Model 20). The 1989 & 1990 FSM's DO show inner axle seals on their D44 exploded diagrams, and describes the inner seal, and using axle grease on the wheel bearings when installing replacement axles. As it relates to D35's I know early & late year non-c-clip D35's both had inner axle seals, because I've replaced them in the past. I thought later C-clip D35's did not have inner axle seals, and used diff fluid to lube the outer wheel bearings, but the 1990 FSM describes inner axle seals & lubing the bearings on the 1990 C-clip D35. :dunno: I had a 1992 C-clip D35, and am almost positive there were no inner seals. :dunno: Anyone know this stuff, should my 87' 44 rear have inner axle seals? (in which case I'd assume the seals were removed by a former owner) or did the factory 'try' to run the MJ/XJ 44's seal-less at first, lubing the bearings with the gear oil, only to revise the design later, and as a running change, go back to conventional inner/outer seals + bearing grease?

They also changed 4wd output shaft size (21sp for early/23 spline for late), and overdrive ratio in 1991. (officially all 91's got the 23sp shaft, and new OD ratio, but it may, or may not have actually happened right at the beginning of the 1991 M.Y.). I believe the trans computer was separate from the ECU till the OBDII version in 1996, but I'm not sure, so I'll let someone else chime in on that. :smart:

One more thing, hopefully they'll rethink the JK's ridiculously low tow rating. I don't expect them to rate it to tow 10,000lbs, but 5k would be nice.

I'd love for this to be true, tho my guess is if they do finally do it, it'll be as an upscale JK, loaded with options. As much as I'd like to have a full on Rubi JK Pickup, there would a probably be better chance of me pulling the trigger on a cheaper stripped version (especially if there's still no V8 option by then).

double :agree: :agree: now that the problem mysteriously vanished. :yes: It's weird tho, that I had 4 different XJ/MJ's that saw regular trail use, and only one had an issue with the cap regularly taking in water, and running rough/stalling. Crappy old, dried out plug wires can also cause problems when they get wet, so even if the cap is dry, it's still probably water + ignition related.

There's no mechanical fuel pump boss on 4.0L engines, so even if you remove all the electronics, and go carb, you still have to deal with a potentially unreliable aftermarket electric fuel pump (the stock 4.0L in tank electric fuel pump has way too much fuel pressure for a carb'd engine, and aftermarket external mount electric fuel pumps don't expel heat well, so they have a higher failure rate than intank style pumps) . You'll also have to retrofit a distributor that is not integrated with the 4.0L's ECU, since all 4.0L distributors are part of the Fuel Injection system. If you really want to go carb, get a YJ 258, and bolt a 4.0L head on it, with an aftermarket carburated intake. YJ 258's are the last of the 258 blocks, and they readily accept 4.0L heads (they use 1/2" head bolts, and the deck fits a 4.0L's water passages, without mods). They also have the mechanical fuel pump boss. Personally, I'd use the 91-95 style HO engine & computer, and carry a spare set of sensors if I was worried about failure.

Did you do any water crossings? One of my MJ's would get water in the distributor cap if I even went close to water, magically water would collect on the underside of the hood directly over the distributor, and drip-drip-drip, followed by rough running & stalling. I had to squirt WD40 into the cap after every water crossing, till I got one of those Ford 5.0L rubber distributor wrap around covers. Other's have successfully sealed the cap, and extended the breather for the same result, but I like the 5.0L style cover.

My buddy had a TJ, and the stock tires on it were 205/75R15, which are 27" tires. After they went bald he moved up to 235/75R15 which is 29"/ These are stock 30"x9.50"x15 TJ tires & wheels, directly off a TJ with the "30 inch tire and wheel package". I pointed out the size, so anyone looking at the pic could better judge the lift (or lack of). Rusty's does not make their own coil springs, they are made for them by another manufacturer. Despite all the bad experiences I;ve heard of, this is the first one I've heard about problems with their coil springs. Lots of guys were having problems with Rusty's 3" coils around this time (2002), http://www.jeepsunlimited.com/forums/sh ... p?t=105367 The competition's 3" coils (RE) typically gave 3.50"-4.00", which probably added to Rusty's complaints. I initially got 2.75", then after 4 months & 4 total days of wheeling, they were in tough shape, bent & badly sagged. At first I added 2" spacers (total lift of 4.25" with full 2" spacers), then finally replaced them with RE coils. They sat on the bench since then, and now they're perfect, soft, leveling coils for my stock 2wd MJ. That's a Jeep thing. You might know what parts are "supposed" to be on it, but even from the factory, you can never be sure unless you check for yourself. I got the whole drivetrain out of a 25k mile 1992 YJ Renagade (4.0L/999/231) <-- engine is in my 88' MJ now. Since the drivetrain was complete, it's mileage so low, and the t-case tagged & date stamped correctly, I had no reason to believe the T-case was anything but a 1992 NP231 (23spline input). I also had a complete 1989 YJ (recovered stolen Jeep) in my backyard with a broken case 21 spline NP231 (also complete & tagged correctly). 1989 & 1992 inputs should have been interchangeable, according to what little info was available back then (1998). I put the 89' 21sp input into the 92' t-case, and wow the noise was loud, constant, and never ending. :( I did other drivetrain mods at the same time (cut a 2wd Peugeot's output shaft down to let the 231 bolt up to it), so it took a lot of noisy daily driving to finally figure out exactly where the horrible noise was coming from, and fix the problem. Just hoping to save someone else from pulling their hair out :wall:

These are my 3" Rusty's coils up front (on stock TJ 30" tires): Gained just under 2" compared to the stock, 2wd ft coils, and leveled the front with the stock rear 2wd leafs. I bought the coils new 8-9 years ago, but only ran them for a few months, and 4 trail runs before they sagged and bent. They've been tucked away since then, now they make perfect 'leveling springs' for this 2wd MJ. :dunno: As for the original post, newp, rear XJ leafs won't work, the rear sway bar doesn't bolt on either. You can use the XJ rear axle if you flip/move the perches, and cut off the shock mounts. The 3" RC coils aren't bad, if you need to, make a bastard leaf pack with junkyard leafs mingled with your stock MJ's, and/or longer shackles to get the rear ride height you want. Be careful swapping a used 21sp input into a used 23sp t-case (if that's what you intend to do), at some point they changed the cut of input gears, if you use different generations of gears/planetaries/sun gear you WILL get a horrible 'rocks in your transfer case' sound. I'd tell you that "XX year, and XX year interchange", but I had a problem with a mismatch 10-12 years ago, and the years of parts I was using were supposed to be of the same generation, and were not. :(

Looks great Don. Now the bad part, I find they're a pain in the a$$ to clean, 10 spokes, 3 side each... I never had a problem keeping them clean :dunno:

Nice work on the frame :thumbsup: I used the POR inside my frame rails under the cab and I had planned on using it to paint my new floor pans inside the cab and underneath as well as the exterior of the frame. I just wanted to get some opinions from others who had used both products before I dove into the project... By the way, have you alwys used the Marine Clean and Metal Ready during prep? I did not always use marine clean, and metal prep, but they are actually both pretty good products, and the paint is so expensive, it doesn't make sense to skimp on prep. I really like the marine clean, and use it for other stuff, best thing I ever used for cleaning grungy plastics, like underhood coolant and washer fluid bottles. It smells like it's ammonia based, but I never actually found out what's in it, but it does clean really well. The metal prep also does what it claims to, I've soaked old tools that had been left outside, and you would not mistake them for brand new, but it did do a nice job cleaning the rust off. I really need lay under that Jeep, and do the front section of the 'frame', but I'm picturing a hundred little tiny, semi-permanent Por-15 'sprinkles' all over my face when I'm done. :doh:

I like POR-15, tho I never tried the other one. POR-15 can be funny tho, I've had it fail to adhere, and come off in sheets (like when powdercoating fails, only the POR-15 is more flexable than powder coating as it comes off). Once time it even failed on clean, slightly rusty, bare metal (pretty much exactly what they recommend to paint over). It lifted in one spot, I pulled, and it peeled right off. I had prepped the metal with their 'Marine Clean', and 'Metal Prep'. I peeled off what I could, hit the rest with a grinder, and it stayed stuck after a second application. Other than that, and once, or twice it failed when I had poorly prepped the job, I've had good luck with it over the last 20 years, or so. And I really like the smooth-clean finish to it: from this to this: