AZJeff

I see them offered on Rock Auto all the time, usually a prices lower than Moog, etc. I would use Mevotech brand stuff if I was on a budget or if I wasn't planning on doing any heavy duty driving in my MJ. Otherwise, stick to the brands known to be leaders in suspension/steering parts, such as Dana, Moog, etc.

There is no reason to pull the dash. The tools suggested by others WILL get that screw out. I have all the tools that were suggested, and have used them sucessfully in similar situations many times. Of all the tools suggested, the needle-nosed Vise-Grips are the ones I would recommend the OP obtain. Aside from solving his immediate problem, he will find them an indispensable addition to his tool collection. After I bought a pair about 15 years ago, I wondered how I had gotten this far in auto repair without them, and I have been working on cars for 50 years.

I totally agree that all MJ/XJ vehicles should have had an electric fan, regardless of whether A/C was present. that said, the OP’s truck is an 89, so his installation won’t be plug and play. He will have to devise a setup like I described, using a temp sensor independent of the one used by the ECU.

I am not familiar with the cooling fan wiring on the older XJ/MJ series. From what I can determine looking at wiring diagrams, the ECU controls power to the electric cooling fan motor via fan clutch relay. I am assuming that the ECU uses the engine temperature sensor (and the heater control switch set to "A/C") to turn the fan relay on/off. If one is going to add in an electric cooling fan option without the A/C, the trick will be to find a way to sense engine temperature and power up the fan outside the normal ECU control method, since I don't think you can tap into that practically. I did this on an old F-150 truck by adding in a temperature switch into the upper radiator hose. When the coolant got hot enough, the switch closed, and that turned on the relay that powered the fan.

THIS is the way to go. I would not trust a junkyard seatbelt on a vehicle that has been possibly sitting in adverse environment.

I see your point about the gear mesh. I never thought of that....

I don’t consider low pinion D30’s to be the kiss of death. My 2000 XJ had one, and my MJ currently has one from a 2001 XJ in it. I don’t do super heavy rock crawling stuff, so the small gain in ground clearance for the high pinion is not a major loss.

I have done conversions from R12 on several vehicles with success, I will attest that all of Minuit’s recommendations are spot on. For special tools, I bought a set of gauges/manifold from the local auto parts store, and a vacuum pump from Harbor Freight. They have served me well for 15 years.

No need, just do the trigonometry for the arc the track bar traverses from normal ride height to the bump stop. Be sure to use a stock track bar and a stock mount at stock ride height. All the crap we do to modifying MJ’s and XJ’s to change ride height and suspension geometry is outside the original design intent of the system.

Sort of. The BODY of the truck will move sideways (relative to the front axle). Now if the MJ is at normal (factory) ride height, the bumpsteer should be virtually zero, so the steering wheel won't really move, even if the body does. Note: the amount of movement sideways, on a Jeep with close to factory ride height, will be EXTREMELY SMALL. I have never bothered to calculate the maximum theoretical movement, but I would guess it's 1 to 2 millimeters

I thought we were talking about the springs on an MJ, which are in the back. Those axles won’t benefit from a pan hard rod the same way a front axle will.

I agree. Engineers have been designing axles mounted on leaf springs for 75 years+, and with a VERY few exceptions, none of them use any auxiliary hardware to control the lateral position of the axle under the chassis. Worn leaf springs won't increase lateral motion of the axle. They will merely cause chassis sag. Worn bushings possibly could cause the axle to move small amounts laterally, but that's an indicator that bushings need to be replaced.

Why bother? What function would it provide that actually NEEDS to be done? Watts linkages or panhard rods are used often with coil spring suspension, for obvious reasons. Leaf springs don't need them for equally obvious reasons.

The leaf springs and the center pins of the springs interfacing with the holes in the spring perches are what centers the axle. Tolerance on the location of the spring mounts from the factory allow the spring mount locations to vary back and forth (side to side) up to 2.25mm during the assembly and welding process of the chassis (based on shop manual information). I don't really know what the tolerance is on the factory welding of the spring perches on the axle, but I would guess it's +/-1mm. As you can see, there is reasonable latitude in the axle centering of the axle under the vehicle. The drive shaft can deal with that, no problem, of course.

Yeah, but I just finished putting new bushings on, and new U-bolts. I just wanted to be lazy and not go through the hassle of taking then off again. Off to find some spring pads on line....

I was wondering if I (1)jacked up the vehicle so the axle hangs at full extension and then (2)hammer a wedge into the juncture between the two leaves to make some space, and then "coerce" the old pad out, and the new pad in. The trick is going to be how to drive in a wedge that I can then get back out. I have an air hammer that I KNOW will drive in a wedge, but getting it out is another story..... Anyone have any ideas?

How hard is it to install new anti-squeak pads between the leaves of a spring when it’s on the vehicle? Any special suggestions for separating the end of the leaves to remove the old pad and install a new one?

^^^THIS^^^ is the way to solve this. I bought some raingutter trim rails for an XJ from Team Cherokee, and then I cut them down and trimmed/bent the rear edge of the rail to wrap around the trailing edge of the body seam. I attached the rails to the body with flexible body adhesive I bought at the local auto paint supply house.

There really isn't anything better than the original equipment type plugs from Champion. The AMC/Chrysler 4.0 is an engine that isn't very picky (nor does it respond to) fancier spark plugs. Synthetic oil is very useful in some environments. For example, down here in PHX, where temperatures regularly reach 110* or more in the summer, a synthetic oil will not break down under heat nearly as readily, and that makes it worthwhile. I am not familiar with enzyme fuel additives, so I won't comment.

These are all REALLY GOOD SUGGESTIONS!!

I have 97+ XJ doors on my MJ. I used replacment mirrors from Rock Auto. Here are my assessments of those mirrors: 1. housing is black plastic, rather than the OEM die cast/painted metal. This isn't an issue in my book, and actually is an improvement, since the die cast ones corroded internally. 2. the new mirrors came with gaskets, but no screws. I reused my old screws. 3. the new mirrors did NOT come with the grommets, but I got some at the hardware store that functioned effectively. My mirrors have been on for about 18 months, and seem fine and still fully functional.

I wouldn't mess around trying to rescutate an old electric motor. Replacement mirror assemblies, complete, are available from several sources new. Rock Auto lists several brands for $75 and up. eBay has new aftermarket units for $50 and up.

Heat (and plenty of it) should do the trick quite nicely. If you want, you can squirt some penetrating oil or acetone/ATF mix and let it sit for a day. Be sure to use a BOX wrench or deepwell socket when turning the fitting, so it distributes the torque force on all six points of the hex.

The fittings are steel, and the manifold is aluminum. Apply heat to the manifold, not the fitting. The manifold will expand faster than the fitting, loosening the grip of the threads.

Belt dressing is NOT recommended for serpentine belts, as it actually makes the belt MORE prone to slippage.