Garvin

You will have to do considerable floor pan modifications to fit a chevy trans in there if you choose to go manual. A common swap for them is the 700R4. Then again, the Chevy transfer case is setup for a passenger side drop, which is the opposite of what Comanche's having. That creates, again, major modifications to the floor pan. What I'm doing is I got Novak adapters for the motor mounts and adapter to use an AX-15. This way, everything beyond the bellhousing will fit correctly with the 350. I had the AX-15 and NP231 laying around, plus found the adapter, bellhousing and all the brackets used so that kinda sealed the deal for me. My buddies boss has a ton of headers laying around so I grabbed a set of long tube headers from him (driver side is Chevelle, think the pass is Firebird). I'm in the process of putting in a new floor so everything has been yanked back out so I have no good test fitment pictures, unfortinately (new floor goes in this weekend, assuming the weather permits). I have heard that a Ford 302 will bolt into the Comanche with minor modification and you can use a Ford 5 speed manual and transfer case. The longer transmission will limit the amount of modifications you need to do to the floor pan, but you will need to make up a mount for the trans (you can just make a top plate for the bolt holes on the trans then bolt it to your existing motor mount). I haven't tried this or really looked into this too much though, so I'm not sure how easy or hard it is.

The other way (and be smart about this, no blaming me if you hit something!) is if you drive down the roadand turn the wheel to the weight on one corner. If the noise is louder when the weight is put on it, it's most likely a u-joint, if the noise is louder wehn the weight is taken off of it then it's most likely the wheel hub. It'll be about the same amount of tear down since when you remove the hub, the axle shaft just pulls out.

It all matters what you plan on doing with it. You can find a '91+ Cherokee to get the 23 spline transfer case and trans out of it, grab the front axle and front driveshaft (front axle is non-disco :thumbsup: ), then you will need to find a Comanche for the rear driveshaft. That trans will set you up with an AX5 5 speed manual, but will need to have a 4cyl engine in it. You will need to find someone parting one out or one in a junkyard that is the same wheelbase (short bed or long bed) and 4x4 to get the rear driveshaft to fit.

You can run lines with fuses in it, the only diff is you can use them all the time instead of just when the key is on. I ended up doing that on my old Sable when I added power windows and locks to it. To make it simpler, you can get the switches from a 2dr Cherokee then just run the lines from there. It'll help if you can find a wiring schematic since the lines need to go from one door to the other.

The 4.0L will not fit into the '86 Comanches without making firewall modifications. When they swapped from the 2.8L to the 4.0L, the whole engine bay was redesigned to fit the longer 4.0L. It all matters how much cash you want to throw at this for the engine swap. The 3.4L is a nice swap if you want to retain all your stock components. I decided to go a bit larger on mine and am in the middle of swapping in a Chevy 350. You will need to get motor mounts, and I chose to get an adapter to use a Jeep AX15 and NP231 as the Chevy 5 speed manuals will require a great deal of fabrication to get them to fit (the Chevy trans is no where near as long as the AX5 that you have in there right now).

Are the seat belts in good condition? What color are they? Does this have the brackets in the b-pillar for speakers?

That's the new Cherokee (97-01), aren't they supposed to be safer?... I got into a head on accident with an F350 in my old Cherokee (was lifted 8" on 36's), him about 40-50 and me about 20-30. My driver side rail was smashed in a few inches, the pass rail was kinked, the apron and upper rail collapsed, the door got pushed back, the drivers a-pillar became more vertical, the tunnel (where the shifter is, was an auto) became vertical on he pass side, the tunnel (below the rear seat) kinked on the pass side, the b-pillar ripped a little and there was a dent in the roof (where it caved in in the video). The Ford ended up going as far as pushing the tire back to bend the crossmember on my long arm setup and smashing the brake rotor. After all that, I ended up kicking the door open and walked away with only a small gash on my left cheek, a minor concussion and a bruise on my left shoulder from the seatbelt, and I had no airbags!

They might not be exact, but the one I slapped in there is pretty darn close. I only had to fidangle the spring maybe 1/4 of an inch at most to get it to seat on one side.

All I did for the real SOA was cut down the pin sticking out the bottom of the leaf pack so it'd fit into the bracket on the spring perch, slap a Cherokee axle under, reused the u-bolts out of the Cherokee and swapped sides with the leaf plates (forget the exact name for them, it's where the u-bolts go into against the spring). My leaf plates had shock mounts on them, the reason to swap sides was to keep the shocks in the same spot. This is only a tempt axle for my Jeep, though, as I'm going with one tons within the next year.

I had a high flow water pump in my '90 Cherokee and didn't have an issue, don't see that being the problem. Definately change the lower hose and put a spring in it. After a while, the hose starts to degrade and won't hold it's shape when pressure is put on it, causing it to collapse. The other thing to check is make sure the fins in the radiator aren't clogged, I had an issue on the highway that it would run warm because of that. Is the Jeep lifted/running larger tires? If so, then I would suggest a larger radiator due to the fact that you need a higher RPM to spin those tires at highway speed.

The Brute Force ones are junk, I ended up going through atleast one u-joint a month with those things, that's with checking and regreasing after every trip. I only did about two trips a month to the pines then, too! I always ran the TRW ones from Advance (not sure if they carry them anymore, been about a year since my Cherokee got totaled). I would replace maybe two or three a year of them. It seems like the cheaper ones last longer that the, so called, high end ones.

I used to run an OX and ARB in the Dana 44's in my old Cherokee. I prefered the ARB for ease of use as the OX was a pain to adjust correctly, of course I was doing all this install myself and bought it used (bought the whole axle off a guy with a Wrangler). My buddy is running an OX in the Dana 35 his Wrangler and loves it. We were both running Superior axle shafts and could not break them. He's on 34's and I was on 36's.

Thanks for that link. So from the above link and looking at what's out there vs what I need to clear everything, I'm going to go with the TnT Customs setup. Now time to find the green. :wall:

I love TnT's crossmember, the only issue is finding that extra $200. :grrrr:

Sorry, I always mix it up, stuck closed. Recirculating burnt combustion gases into the intake lowers the combustion temperature. The only way I really know is off a hand vacuum pump and mirror. A great video to explain how to do it is: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IIUFw2KR ... r_embedded

They are the same but just curious which side it was. Make sure the EGR isn't stuck open, it sounds like the manifold might be getting too hot and burning the gasket, causing the cracks in the manifold also.

Are you having an issue with the exhaust or intake manifold? Make sure that the manifold is flat on the end bolted to the gasket. Also make sure that there are no sharp ends on the manifold as it could be tearing into the gasket as you tighten it. Check both the intake and exhaust manifolds. If it's the exhaust that's leaking, make sure the exhaust is tight, it could be rattling the exhaust manifold and destroying gaskets like that.

A lot of companies sell alternators for 84-01 XJ's with the same part number but my buddy says they changed the alternator in the mid 90's? I know they went to a tensioner pulley over the power steering pump to tension the belt, not sure exactly what year they went to that and not sure if they actually changed the alternator for it. They all look the same to me though, but until someone else chimes in, I would be safe and grab one from an '87-'90 Renix I-6.

I'm actually running the Novak motor mounts and Novak trans adapter so I can keep the AX15. I prefer to have the long tube headers though, keeps everything a lot cleaner and easier to deal with the exhaust. I plan on making the whole center of the exhaust removable so I can get to the trans and transfer case easier and the long tubes make the flanges in a very easy to access spot. Plus, I got them dirt cheap. :D

I used to run the Rugged Ridge adapters on mine, which were essentially spacers that converted the lug pattern. I didn't have a single issue with them behind 36x13 IROK's. Spidertrax is also good but I only have experience with Rugged Ridge.

What you can do, if you plan on keeping the 242, is find another and steal the input planetary out of it. I did this to a 231, swapped a trans from a '94 into my '90 and stole the input planetary out of the 231 that was matched to it. The other option is to just find the 242 from the newer 23 spline style. The only reason I did mine is that I had a SYE installed in my 231 already.

http://jeep.off-road.com/jeep/news/42l- ... 29337.html That's a great link about the head conversion if you're interested in reading material. I did a little research on google about the intakes and one person says it will fit with minor modifications and the other says it's a direct bolt up. So if you have the skills to install the engine, swapping the intake manifold over won't be an issue.

Sweet looking MJ, I'm going to have to find the pictures of my XJ flexing on a car. :chillin: I'm trying to avoid the whole issue of custom making everything. Trying to get as much stuff off the shelf as I can in case I break something, that's been the hardest part.

A lot of people with the 4.2L will buy the head and intake to convert it to fuel injection. If I remember correctly, the 4.2 and 4.0 are the same minus the crank and rods. I know everything on the outside swaps between them. The budget build 4.5 stroker is just a 4.0 with 4.2 crank and rods.

cool. i never had a jeep with y-links, but just observing jeeps with them has me not liking them. Most y-link setups have extremely stiff springs. When I got the setup for the Cherokee, I choose the softest springs that I could find, which were the Rusty's. I've lost it before going down an on ramp (Super Swampers suck in the rain) and went down it about 200 feet sidewards and barely felt any roll. Not only that but the Jeep drove smoother than it did stock, plus I managed to score a 960 on the RTI ramp (the leaf springs were the limiting factor, the front coil was unseated). My question was aimed a lot more towards someone like you with the full arm setup. You have any complaints on that style? Was it easy to install and you have any issues with it? How big of a lift are you running with it? Are the arms adjustable or solid? I might not be stuck with the y-link setup now that I think of it, think it's just the passenger side that hits and could easily run a 3 link there.