mnkyboy

I know that they didn't come out till 87 but the first 87s would have been built in 86 so the fire wall could have changed some time during 86. Could be why some have to modify the firewall and some don't. But then I have an 85 xj at the shop that had a 258 swapped into it that doesn't appear to have any mods to the firewall.

I think it depends on the truck, some 86's had the cut out for the 4.0 and some didn't.

I've seen this done with a torch as well, its basically how a lot of manufactures do it to begin with.

Problem is you have to add the diameter of the axle plus the leaf pack and both the old and new perches so no matter how you do it best case you will get 5" of lift from were you started, depending on what axle, perches and leaf pack thickness it could be a little more. So to get 3" you would need to figure out how to lower the truck 2-2.5 inches after the SOA, this is possable but you would be better off just staying SUA.

I had a german shepherd named Bear. He was a great dog.

As far as I know, all 92 and up 4.3ls have balance shafts.only the 86-91s didn't have them.

Unless your into drifting you won't like an auto locker in the rear on ice.

That's coming along real nice.

So your saying your truck sat level stock? If you did 6.5" and 6.3" the rear would sit higher then the front because it sat higher to begin with. For 6.5" to make it sit level the rear would only need to be lifted around 5-5.5"

My measurement doesnt matter since my frame has been altered changing the lift height. My truck sits a lot higher then just an SOA.

Thanks, the guy threw those in when I bought my 17' Grumman. He used them on a VW bug.

I'm currently running a 4.0l open system radiator with dual E fans, I'm also planning to rework the shock towers to allow more air around the V block so hopefully it will stay cool. My 2.5l gets about the same mileage as a 4.0l so it would be cool to almost double power output and retain similar gas mileage.

I will have to see how my swap goes. I'm using a TBI 4.3l so no spider injection and I'm hoping the 4.3l will be easier to keep cool then the 350. It should also get decent fuel mileage and hopefully be less destructive to my light duty axles. I figure worst case once the 4.3l is running in the truck it would be easy to swap for another SBC bolt but I think overall it should be a good engine in the MJ.

Here's SOA rear with stock front. You can't tell me that's 6.5" inches of lift. Here's SOA with 5" front lift. Here's SOA with 6.5" front. It actually sits high in the front. SOA gives about 5" of lift so 5 in the front will sit stockish, our trucks are 1-1.5" taller In the rear stock so it takes 6-6.5" up front to sit level.

Advanced adapters also sells a lot of stuff for the swap too. If you had the cash there is enough conversion parts available to make the swap pretty simple.

Other then the CPI or spider injection years they seem to be pretty reliable. Not sure why a 350 would be any more reliable since other then number of cylinders they are almost identical. I've seen many of them in the 300,000 mile range with very little work if any done to the engine itself.

That's kinda my situation. I have two 4.0ls sitting in the shop but a 4.0l won't fit my engine bay.

I daily drove my truck for a few years on 33s with 3.55s. It actually drove a lot better like that then you would think.

I've done a bit of research on it as I'm just starting a 4.3l swap, basically no part of the swap is bolt in. Unless you really wanted a 4.3l a 4.0l would be a much easier and much less expensive swap.

5" up front with SOA will give you close to a factory rake, but yes to sit level you need 6-6.5". I don't see an issue with 33s and a 2.5l.

There really isn't, that's why I ditched the stock steering on mine. It all adjusted out and drove fine but the angle on that joint always bothered me.

The OX has a cable but I've heard they suck to keep adusted. I have auto lockers in my MJ and your right driving with them in the snow is interesting.

I ran the RRO lift with 33s for a while. As shipped 33s will barely bolt onto your truck, you will have to get adjustable arms and/or control arms drop brackets. You will also need bump stopping if you don't want to cut. Another thing to consider is our trucks are pretty low stock.I currently 6.5"-7" of lift on my truck with 33s and its reall not any taller then a body lifted Toyota on 33s.

The 4.3l is basically a 350 with 2 cyls missing so it uses the SBC bellhousing. Most people swap the engine and trans as a unit but you can get an adapter to adapt it to an AX15.

I would just fix the ARB. For snow a selectable is gonna work the best and your choices are air, electric, and cable operated which all have thier pros and cons.