AZJeff

I normally buy stuff like the receiver/drier from a reputable place like Rock Auto. At least that way, you get some decent brand name stuff. The O-rings can be had at virtually any auto parts store, as can the oil. The later Sanden compressors use PA100 oil. I don't know what the older ones use, but lacking any other suggestions from the forum, I would assume the PAG100 would be acceptable.

The conversion to R134a should not be very expensive, especially if all the existing system parts are in good working order. In fact, I would say it would CHEAPER to convert than to stay with R12. Having done several conversions, here is my advice: If your existing hoses are all in good condition, with no cracks or dry rot, they can be used as is. However, ALL of the o-rings that join those hoses to the various parts of the system will need to be replaced. The old o-rings will be dried out and are likely to leak with the smaller molecules that are present in R134a. The condenser and evaporator can be reused. If you want optimum performance, it would be beneficial to flush those two items with a refrigerant flushing agent, and blow them out with compressed air while they are disconnected getting new o-rings installed. The idea behind flushing them is to try to drive out as much of the old R12 compatible refrigerant oil as possible. It's not harmful to leave it in the system, but the old oil will reduce system capacity and function to some degree. I would recommend taking the compressor off and draining as much of the old oil out of it as possible for the same reasons you want to flush the condenser and evaporator. Installing a new receiver/drier (accumulator) is a must. This item has a dessicant in it that is probably long since used up, and since you have the system apart, it has probably sucked up some more moisture during that process. When you fill the system with new R134a compatible oil, you should fill various parts of the system based on this ratio: 1. the accumulator gets 50% of the total oil for the system 2. the condenser gets 12% of the total oil for the system 3. the evaporator gets 25% of the total oil for the system 4. the compressor gets the remaining oil I don't have the numbers for how much oil your model year takes, unfortunately. As far as how much R134a refrigerant to use, the rule of thumb is to fill the system with 80% of whatever amount was supposed to be used when the system was charged with R12.

Unless parts of your existing system are damaged, worn, or missing, there is no reason you have to replace all of the pieces when converting to R134a. The heat exchangers in the system (evaporator and condenser) would probably benefit from a flush. The existing lines will probably be oil soaked with R12 oil, so they will provide enough of a barrier to prevent R134a molecules from leaking through the old "non-barrier" style hoses. Changing the accumulator (receiver/drier) is HIGHLY recommended, of course. You will also need new R134a compatible oil for the system.

A stethoscope will help you isolate the location of the noise in the engine. Some of the conditions you describe sound like pistol slap might be the source. Since the 4.0 engine uses pretty short skirts on the pistons, and this can contribute to creating slap. That said, slap, while annoying, can exist for many thousands of miles without any significant issues. A compression test can help to determine if the piston to bore clearance is just enough to create slap, or bad enough to lead to oil consumption issues, etc.

OME shocks are excellent items, assuming you can find ones that fit the MJ correctly. (The fronts are the same as an XJ, so that won't be a problem. The backs, which are unique to the MJ, are the challenge.)

Very nice adaptation👍

If the plastic rods cannot handle the steady strain on the, some all-thread rod would CERTAINLY be up to the task.

If you lived in AZ, I would be glad to help. NC is a bit far away for a quick road trip.

Punctuation would make this easier to read/understand. Let's start with what the manifold leaks can do: 1. leaks on the intake ports will confuse the MAP sensor, and that will mess up mixture. 2. leaks on the exhaust ports will cause the cat. converter to get erroneous combustion mixture, and send erroneous information to the PCM. The manifold gasket design on the 4.0 is prone to leakage. I recommend you spend the money on a "Remflex" gasket, as it compensates for the issues the OEM design fails to do. There are three bolts that are used on the 4.0 that hold ONLY the exhaust manifold. There is one at each end of the head, and one in the center at the top near the throttle body. ALL the other bolts due a shared job of holding both the intake and the exhaust manifold onto the head, using special conical washers. This means you can remove all of those bolts and take off the intake by itself, and then focus on removing the three exh. manifold bolts separately. This is important because the frontmost and rearmost of the manifold bolts can be tough to get out. (They are actually nuts on studs, BTW.) To address these, you will want toSOAK those two nuts with a bunch of penetrating oil before you try to remove them. PRO TIP: I find trying to line up the bolts with the conical washers on them when reinstalling the intake manifold to be a HUGE exercise in frustration. I replaced all those bolts with studs and nuts (and reused the conical washers.) A helper to align the manifold when installing them make the job easier, so offer your buddies some pizza when it comes time to put it back together.

You say you have spark. How as that verified? Did you test every plug and every plug wire? What does the rotor/cap look like? And may I suggest you borrow a vacuum gauge from somewhere and test your idling vacuum.

I doubt that spring was ever available as a replacement part unto itself. You can probably create a functional replacement from some stock spring purchased at a decent hardware store. You might have to cut it to length and bend the ends to make the appropriate "tails" on the spring.

The FSM vacuum diagram should work out OK. One thing you can do is to blow into one end of a given vacuum hose, and have a helper see if the other end sees an output. Of course, one needs to know the names/locations of the various items connected via vacuum to verify that some previous owner didn't make mistakes reconnecting stuff. That might be worth a check.

Carbon fouling is an indicator poor combustion. With the misfires you are seeing, that might be a contributor. However, it takes more than just good plugs to make a good ignition. When you say "I have a plug tester so that's all good", does that mean that the light in the plug tester shows consistent spark on each plug? Rough idle is caused by inconsistent combustion, and that can be caused by a bunch of stuff, but ignition is the first place I always look. I also talked about vacuum leaks in my other message. Do you have a vacuum gauge?

The fact that the skldding issue returned after being gone immediately after installing new wheel cylinders makes me wonder if the drums were adjusted correctly once the new wheel cylinders were installed. In addition, are the self-adjusting mechanisms properly installed and functioning as expected? (A lot of guy crab about the self adjusters being a POS, but we old guys lived with those devices for decades, and learned to keep them clean. Also, the self adjuster only really works when the brakes are applied going BACKWARDS.)

Now that you have removed the faulting fuel injectors from the equation, the only other possible reasons for rough running would be something like a large vacuum leak or (more likely) something amiss in the ignition system. The ignition system should be pretty easy to diagnose. Here is what I would do: 1. pull all the spark plugs and examine for proper gap and no cracking of the insulator anywhere on the plug. Regap/replace as needed. 2. pull the distr. cap and inspect rotor and inside of cap for carbon tracking that will cause misfires. Replace as needed. 3. reinstall plug wires onto cap and do a "nighttime spark arc" test. This is done by placing the vehicle in a location where it is DARK (nighttime works well for this.) With the engine running, observe closely all the spark plug wires for any arcing between the wires and any grounds (or adjacent wires). The will be easy to see in a pitch black environment 4. A more definitive test than the nighttime spark arc test is to get a spark plug tester in the link below to observe spark when running for each cylinder. https://www.amazon.com/Ram-Pro-Engine-Ignition-Tester-Fool-Proof/dp/B01HU2L1NU/ref=asc_df_B01HU2L1NU?tag=bngsmtphsnus-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=80882941400092&hvnetw=s&hvqmt=e&hvbmt=be&hvdev=c&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=&hvtargid=pla-4584482468120795&psc=1

Instantaneous loss of almost all power boost on the steering is usually traced to either low fluid, or an obstruction in the hydraulic lines. It is EXTREMELY rare to have the steering gear proper go from providing normal boost to no boost in very short order. Is the fluid CLEAN? Maybe you can start by trying to flush the system.

Virtually all the bolts that go into the engine block of the 2.5 or 4.0 are going to be SAE thread, because the engine was designed LONG before the push to metric hardware that started in the 1980's. That's a good little tip to remember when you start searching for wrenches or replacement bolts.

The sway bar proper supposed to have it's end (where the round hole for the sway bar link is located) positioned so it is parallel to the ground when the Jeep is at normal ride height. As one begins putting lift on the vehicle, and increases the ride height, it begins to pull the end of the sway bar downwards. The fix for that, of course, are extended sway bar links. HOWEVER....as the lift above normal ride height becomes more significant (and 4 inches is pretty significant), just adding longer links won't keep the sway bar from interfering with the spring. The fix for that is to reposition the sway bar mount where it attaches to the chassis further down and further FORWARD. Your Jeep has brackets that reposition the bar further down on the chassis, but they need to have an offset to reposition the bar mounting locations so the bar is moved forward slightly as well. One last thing you might want to check before you dive into relocating the sway bar on the chassis and/or putting on longer sway bar end links: Is your caster set up correctly, and is your wheelbase correct per factory specifications? I ask this because the photos show you having adjustable control arms on the vehicle, and all of that can be fiddled with to create the proper caster and wheelbase when they are installed. And likewise, if they are not adjusted properly when they are installed, they can create all sorts of incorrect dimensions an angles that can make getting the sway bar to line up and function correctly almost impossible. I say all of this because I went through your pain on my MJ a few years back trying to straighten out what a previous owner had done (or not done.)

The standard test for a vacuum operated brake booster to verify functionality is this: 1. with engine OFF, pump brake pedal repeatedly until the pedal feels solid 2. while HOLDING pedal down, start the engine. 3. as the engine begins to run and generate vacuum, the brake pedal should "sink" further with existing foot pressure If it does NOT do this, the booster is defective (assuming the hose from the booster to the manifold is connected and not cracked).

If the pulley on the compressor is moving, it is probably due to a worn out bearing in the compressor clutch hub. This can be confirmed by removing the belt, and turning the compressor pulley by hand. It should spring smoothly/freely, with no noise. If it is determined to be bad, a replacement bearing can be had from Rock Auto pretty reasonably.

That looks like one of those fancy Iridium or Platinum tipped plugs. The 4.0 doesn't benefit from them in the slightest, and may actually run worse, since they lack the extremely high voltages needed to jump that type of gap reliably. Put in some good old fashioned conventional plugs (Champions were OEM.)

No, it’s not supposed to touch. I don’t have the routing diagram so I can post it from my iPad, but someone can chime in with it, I am sure. if you do not have AC, do you have the AC delete pulley installed?

Who is your helper, there, Cruiser? And did she find the issue using that stethoscope?

It’s hard to tell from your photo, but I think I see cracks in the rubber. That would suggest a new balancer is in order

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