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If I may ask, what was your goal in swapping to rear disks? A ZJ prop valve offer almost even pressure front and rear. It’s the brake pad surface area, sweep and piston size that provides the bias in a setup like this. If the hydraulics are all good, I’d focus attention on the pad material. What pads are you using and have you broken them in? That can have a massive effect on braking performance.

Sounds good. Feel free to send them to me via PM if you like

That sounds good. Any pictures of what you have?

IIRC Disney OK had some 2wd prerunner type stuff in some areas. Rush springs in Jane MO is also a great park and has a little bit of everything. Project is looking good

Do you have the spring and lock ring reinstalled on the shaft? Part #8 in this diagram: https://www.steeringcolumnservices.com/gmtilt.php Edit: just saw the video. Looks like the spring is missing. It compresses that joint to keep it stable.

Ultimately, the optics are what make the difference and tend to be a “get what you pay for” equation. Halogen bulbs (with proper power) can look great if you get the right optics. IMO, nothing beats a quality true projector. Once you try it, there’s no going back.

You could always just pull the engine

The general spring setup uses fairly thick leaves and are stiff “truck springs”. They work great if that’s what you need them for. You only need about .75” of lift to get you almost level with front 3” springs with just a tiny rake. Use a full length add a leaf and drill the center pin to MJ specs. Works well and gives you a really nice spring rate. You can see how my project sits with that combo in my build thread below.

I’ve never changed an RMS with the engine in the vehicle. I’ve always installed everything with the engine out (typically during a rebuild) and never had one leak. I can see how it would be extra tricky trying to do this with the engine still mounted.

I believe you’re referring to the windshield? If so, the small retaining metal “pins” on the windshield frame can be left in place or removed. The rubber will fit either way. You could also just reinstall your old trim if you wanted. The rubber is not a seal, just a trim piece. The seal itself is made by the urethane.

That’s correct but there are two types of joints, one for driveshafts and one for steering axles. Both have the same cap diameters. The driveshaft ones are spicer/dana part number 5153X. They are all the same for all driveshaft joints

This looks mighty familiar . As for the gas tank, could you take a few more pics of how that mounted up for you? Interested in doing something similar if I decide to 4 link down the road

Once I switched to a true projector housing I’ll never go back. On my last MJ I used a custom built 5x7 Black Flame Customs unit with Apollo 2.0 projectors and H1 bulbs. The cutoff is super crisp and there were no dead spots in the light output. That was my 4th set of true projector headlights in Jeeps. I install them in anything we get if it doesn’t have them already. Can’t emphasize enough how good they are. You can go LED, HID or Halogen with the bulbs, it’s that quality glass projector that counts.

Not sure why you aren’t finding the pre 97 cams. Here is an older list but still a good one that shows many of the different cam specs and part numbers for the 4.0. https://www.angelfire.com/my/fan/Jeep4.0Camshafts.htm I believe the cam retaining design didn’t change until 99+. As with any cam swap with flat tappets, you’ll need to use plenty of zinc in the oil to prevent cam wear along with assembly lube to prevent wiping the lobes on startup. Comp is not inherently better or worse than any of the others. People’s experiences with them often are a result of not following proper break-in procedures. Most all the aftermarket manufacturers will have narrower cam lobes than original but that really isn’t a problem. Mopar performance cams have full width lobes. Keep the seat and open pressure mild for these cams and they will live a good long life. And I can’t emphasize enough the need to keep zinc in the oil on these engines with fresh cams. My go to has been VR1 racing oil or Rotella diesel oil for the 4.0. I have run 10’s of thousands of miles on comp cams in the 4.0 series of engines with zero issues. Only company I’ve had bad experiences with and poor quality is 505 performance. Hopefully this helps

Sooo… any updates? I’ve been researching this as well. For me, it’s a possible 4link and weight distribution I’m going for. Really not a fan of the stock location either.

Also will need to run the higher pressure fuel pressure for obd2. The regulator is in the tank for 97+ XJ/TJ’s. It’s a return less style system. Psi requirements are somewhere in the 50’s iirc. On an MJ, you can use an external adjustable style regulator

Those look like the shifter tower bushing and socket. The larger should have a chamfered ID that contours to the shifter base to allow it to pivot. And the smaller one fits over the top of the shifter ball in the shift rail.

Aside from the reasons for why your mechanic wants to do this, I am also quite curious about how he will accomplish it and if he is aware of the rather large changes required aside from an ecu and harness swap. It’s one thing when you have a donor XJ sitting around to swap everything over from. Quite another to take a running renix and convert it while retaining renix era parts.

I think we’d all be interested to see how he does it. 96 was an interesting year for the XJ as it got an obd2 conversion but had to retain much of the obd1 system including gauges. 97 was much more of an update and went to the canbus system. When converting to obd2, there is an adapter that was made for the stock obd1 harness (not renix) that works with the 96 ecu (pictured below). The renix flywheel tone ring is not compatible with obd1/2 though. Gather some of the specifics on what exactly will be done in the swap. If he goes 97+ than a cluster swap may be in order for at least the tach signal.

It may be. It doesn’t wash out and is quite sticky. Doesn’t melt easily either. When I was rebuilding hvac control panels, that was one of the greases I was using.

Not sure what oil pan you’re running but it may have only been designed for the stock style gasket and not the perma-dry gaskets. I love those perma-dry gaskets but occasionally they can be a bit problematic. Sometimes the old cork style ones work the best

This was my experience as well. Wasn’t there someone on here that posted some sort of carbon paper trick with rear main seals? Seems like maybe a few years ago?? It was a nifty trick for installation.

I used lithium grease on the first set I repaired. Use “green grease” which is a marine grease on the second set. Both worked well but the green grease lasted longer