Motorcharge

I wouldn't swap in a D35 if it was free. Especially one with a locker in it. For the work involved anything but an 8.8 is kinda pointless unless you want to run tons or find a bolt in D44.

Out in general but it really depends on the tire and color of the vehicle. I wish my MT/Rs had white lettering.

Champion or NGK copper. 4.0 is pretty picky about spark plugs.

Doubt there's anyone out there that makes reverse gears. Really no point given the number of front axle options out there.

Aircraft stripper works but can damage the chrome. Clothing steamer with a wand will make removing it easy without causing damage. Also works well on window tint, stickers, decals, molding, ect. You can pick them up for $20-30 at Walmart, Target, ect.

5150s on 4.5" They're as nice as OME's and not nearly as pricey.

There's no need to regear on 33s unless you're doing a lot of highway miles, but even then it's a waste of money to regear a D35. Both my MJ and XJ are on 33s and 3.55s and they just feel like driving a 4 cyl instead of 6. Definitely not worth spending $1000+ to regear on an axle you're going to get rid of anyway. Around here I can find an 8.8 with 4.10 gears for around $100 no problem and spend another $100 or so on the swap. Much better off spending a couple hundred on an 8.8 and matching the front for another $500 or so. Same. I'll see if I can't find the part numbers. I only spent like $30 for both sides at Napa and they're significantly longer.

I wouldn't even bother with anything but an 8.8 or an MJ D44. Same amount of work as an 8.25 for an 8.8 and they're significantly stronger. In hindsight I'd have done that with an SOA swap rather than drop $500 on the HC 4.5" leaf springs. Flatter springs will ride and flex better and it's significantly cheaper than the HC springs are. Get some 5" coils for the front, adjustable control arms, some Bilstein 5100s and you've got a pretty cheap 5" lift. Spend the money on building the axles and upgrade the steering. At a minimum for 5" you're going to need coils, shocks, brake lines, control arms (you want adjustable, much better for fixing caster angle), and leaf springs or shackles. Suspension and steering are the same on Cherokees and Comanches in the front. Cherokee shackles will work in the rear, but whatever size they say they are they'll be an inch to an inch and a half less on a Comanche.

14 deep socket with an extension on the passenger side and a 14 ratcheting wrench on the driver's work just fine with minimal effort. Sure, that tool might be nice if you're replacing shocks daily, but I'm not gonna go digging for that thing the few times I need it when basic hand tools are more than enough.

That's actually not her.

Easiest thing for anything like that including stickers, body side molding, and window tint is handheld clothing steamer. You can pick them up for $20-30 and they'll remove the decal and the glue without leaving residue for dirt to stick to. Like others have said you'll notice because the rest of your paint is faded from the sun while the paint under the vinyl isn't. Good buff job can usually blend it pretty well though.

Had a 98, it's my cousins now but I still drive it sometimes. It's a pig compared to the XJ and MJ. Feels a lot more sluggish and it gets worse gas mileage, but it's very comfortable and rides great. Yeah, the trannys aren't as good and are more prone to issues, but nothing all that major and they're pretty easy to work on. It's not like they're piles of $#!&.

96+ are your only real options for that drivetrain. 96 is the only way you're going to get the old style interior because it was the only pre-97 year to use OBDII. Like richasco said, the dash from a 96 will bolt directly in more or less and work with a 97 drivetrain while keeping the older style looks. On the other hand you're going to have to mod the firewall quite a bit to get the 4.0 in anyway so you might as well swap the interior while you're at it.

Call a Jeep dealer and see if you can't still get them. They might be discontinued but the dealer by me still has a lot of older parts in stock. Hell, they even had shackle bolts still when I needed to replace them on my XJ a couple years ago. At that point Jeep hadn't built anything with leaf springs in over a decade. If that doesn't work you can always go to a local pick n pull and just get some off an XJ.

I don't find it does much of anything myself. Mines been disconnected since I put the lift on and I can't even tell the difference.

Prices vary significantly by location. I found mine on here and towed it home from NC and got a hell of a deal on it compared to around here. All I ever see on Craigslist around here is rotted out 4 banger RWDs and people want $2500+ for them. I'm a LOT less picky about MJ prices than I am XJ prices because there's so few left.

The width of the mounts is the biggest problem. They're not even close to being the same distance apart as XJ mounts. On the plus side, you can easily cut those mounts off and weld on MJ mounts. Nate's 4x4 sells just the brackets, iirc they're $50. I wouldn't bother though unless you're getting a good deal. Looks like it's just a 2x5 with some face mount clevis mounts welded on. You could build the same thing for pretty cheap. I built basically the same thing for my XJ, but just using the stock mounts on an XJ is pretty stupid if you're going to tow or recover from it. Better off cutting out the frame rail ends and running the mounts inside the frame rails and bolting through. Not that that matters for your MJ.

194s fit everything but the HVAC controls, the B pillar lights, and the lights where the 4x4 indicator, CEL, Parking Brake, ect lights are. HVAC controls are 74s as are the 4x4/CEL/ect but you really don't want LEDs in the 4x4/CEL/ect area because they get bad hotspots due to how they're backlit. I want to say the dash is 8-10 lights, one for the shifter, one for tc shifter, two underneath the dash if you have the footwell lights, and one in the glovebox. HVAC controls take one or two, can't recall offhand though. You can do all the interior lights for like $20 and it's a huge difference. Stupid easy too. You can do everything in 15-20 minutes.

If they're gone you're better off replacing them with 2x6 steel. Looks pretty close to factory but significantly stronger, cheaper, and easier to weld in than new sheet metal. There's only two companies I've found that make MJ sliders (for the swb anyway, Rusty's makes them for the lwb) and they're both overpriced imo.

CR Lawrence still makes the slider glass for MJs. $160 iirc. My middle pane broke a couple weeks back and I looked at them and just replaced the slider with lexan instead. Cost me $9. :D

Some did. My 92 XJ only has one and my 90 only had one, but both my 88 and 89s had two and my MJ has two. It's a single wire because the bracket acts as the ground. I wasn't aware there were two different tones though.

If you need small quantities stockcarsteel.com has very reasonable prices and shipping though obviously I wouldn't go ordering whole sticks of DOM or anything. Most steel yards will deliver a pretty decent distance away if you order enough. The one I use will go up to 100 miles if you order $100 worth of material or more. If you can't find a local steel yard start calling local fab shops and asking them where they get their supply from.

You can blame government emissions standards for that. No reason to offer a manual anymore since modern autos can shift more efficiently than a person behind an auto now. They're pretty much reserved for sportier cars now. Personally I'd hate a manual where I live though I do enjoy driving them in general. Only thing I'd care for a manual in anymore is old trucks and fast cars. I could care less about ever having one in a Jeep again.

Eww. Should have picked up a Taurus SHO. :drool: