AZJeff

Yeah, I mentioned in my post that I used adjustable upper BJ to fixed my camber issue that was trashing my fairly new tires. Ever since I did the measurements to determine how much of an angle change was needed, and then installed the proper Moog offset BJ's, my steering has been wonderful, and the tires no longer have funky wear on the insides.

clean up the machined surfaces around the outside flange of the upper ball joint with a wire brush or the like to get dirt, rust, crud off. Then a 2" dia. (I think) pipe piece will slide over the surface perfectly.

I think that might be within manufacturing tolerances. the real trick is what is your camber angle on each ball joint. My above post sort of explains how I measured it on my axle. If you need a detailed sketch on my method, I can whip one up in a day for you.

The machined surfaces on the "C" (I call it a "yoke") are the only ones that can provide any reliable measuring surface, as the others are forged (?) surfaces that are not terribly precise. I think @Boilermaker provided a pretty accurate measurement. For the yoke to be bent (on both upper and lower flanges), the axle would have to be subjected to "Dukes of Hazzard" type stuff, with the vehicle being jumped. And even then, I think the whole vertical part of the yoke would show distortion and would be pretty obvious. The axle i installed in my MJ to replace the one screwed up by the poor ball joint replacement technique had camber angles that were out of spec. on the yokes, and that axle came from an XJ of unknown provenance, so it might have been abused a bit. What I did was to remove the upper knuckles, and then make a tubular fixture from a piece of PVC pipe that slid over the outside of the ball joint body, and contacted the machined surface on the upper flange of the yoke. The top and bottom surfaces were exactly parallel, as they had been cut/machined on a lathe. This gave me a flat surface to measure the camber angle using a cheap gauge I bought on Amazon. I then used my carpenter level to figure out how flat the floor between the jack stands holding the axle was, with the aid of some trigonometry, I figured out the difference is between the floor measurement and the ball joint flange was my camber angle. It was out of factory spec., as i had presumed. Offset ball joints from Moog fixed it.

My axle on my MJ was bent on the “kingpin” yoke on one side. It was cause bt some previous owner not using a correct ball joint installation tool on the upper BJ, which cause that flange to pushed up out of parallel with the lower flange. It was off by about 1/4” is that the sort of bend you are worried about?

The conical washers sold by McMaster are “Belleville washers” and are slightly different than what AMC used on the Jeep engines. Belleville washers are actually conical springs and can deflect, whereas the OEM washers are rigid. that said, the Belleville washers should work just fine, if thick enough. If they are too flexible, they can be stacked for more strength.

I hope he still makes them, as the existing one is gonna be removed during painting. Thanks!!

Yeah, I think he might be the source. The MJ in his photo on his forum page has that sand graphic on the door. I sent him a PM. Let’s see if he responds

A years ago, there was a member on this forum who made custom graphics that are intended to be applied to the exterior of the body of an XJ or an MJ. I got some graphics from this person that had the word "Comanche" in a modern style of font like that used on later XJ's and other newer Jeeps. I need a replacement graphic for my driver's door, as it is getting repainted at a body shop. My problem is that I cannot remember who they came from, and if he is still offering those graphics. Can anyone help me out with the name of this person, and some contact information? Thanks.

All the bolts on the old four and six cylinder engines in Jeeps are SAE/imperial sizes and threads. They are also only Grade Five, meaning that any decent hardware store should have replacements. The only tough thing to get are the conical washers for the connections that span between the intake and exhaust ports on the head, but they can be cleaned up with a wire wheel and some files (and painted with header paint to limit further corrosion. for the bolts that hold the exhaust pipe to the header/manifold, I ditch the OEM stuff and use stainless steel bolts and brass nuts. (Stainless washers as needed also helps). This makes removal later on a snap.

All the fasteners on the bottom side of the manifold should be changed to studs and nuts. It is FAR easier to line up a nut on to a stud than it is to try and start a bolt into a blind hole in the head.

The need for chafe protection depends on exactly how the PS hydraulic lines are routed. In some cases, the lower hose can rub on the metal lines near the steering gear. A piece of anti-chafe can be made from the old hose, cut to length and slit to be placed over the new hose in the appropriate area.

When it comes to manifold gaskets, the OEM style are very finicky and marginal to get a good seal, especially with age. Someone on one of the Jeep forums turned me on to the special gaskets made by Remflex. They are the bomb.

I have always wondered if some sort of diversion dam could be made above the fuse box connector area, and attach it with some body seam sealer. Water that ran down the firewall would reach this dam and be diverted to the side, away from the wiring opening in the firewall.

When I did the conversion on my 89 MJ with the D44, I used the Teraflex kit. that kit appears to be combination of parts from ZJ and KJ parts. I had to take the two circular spacers they provided for the backing plate and shave the thickness a bit. I also had to devise a bracket to support the axle end of the flexible caliper hose. Othwise, the kit was pretty much plug and play. I converted my parking brake to the handle/lever type from an XJ, and used cables from a KJ to run between the handle and the actuator lever on the backing plate.

The self-centering function in the steering is controlled by the caster of the vehicles front wheels. The tendency to hold a straight line on a flat road is controlled by the toe-in of the steering linkage. before doing any fiddling with any adjustments, start by making sure both tires in the front are inflated to the same pressure. If that checks out, it’s time to start measuring caster angles (and toe-in, while you are at it.)

As a daily driver with incorporates light off-roading, a D35 is just fine. People break them when they install monster wheels/tires or do stupid stuff like dropping the clutch.

My machine shop told me to run 10w30 Dino oil for the first 500 miles, then change it. Then another 1500 miles with the same oil, and change again. At that point, run what you want. I personally will be running Mobil One 10w30, as the Oil Geek on YouTube says the ZDDP levels on the current blend of that is quite adequate for flat tappet camshafts.

My “2000 MJ” has the SKIM steering column, but I did not activate it. Having the dealer program SKIM keys was too much of an PITA in my opinion. Instead, I installed a fuel pump cut-off switch that is hidden, but very accessible, if one knows where to look. With this switch in the off position, the engine will run for about 5 seconds on residual fuel pressure before the engine becomes immobile. That’s pretty much the same behavior the SKIM does.

If the track bar bolt hole on the axle is "slightly" worn out, you can go a SAE (Imperial) threaded bolt to replace the metric factory one. The SAE type will be slightly larger in diameter and fill up the hole better. If the axle bracket is seriously oversized, welding on thick washers is the way to restore the hole to the proper size. The factory track bar setup at the chassis end is problematic because of the ball stud type of pivot. I would switch the bracket AND the track bar to a more conventional style with rubber bushings on both ends, and built-in adjustability

Tire balance (and tire quality) can have significant impact on DW. You put on new (different) tires, you say. What brand/size/type? New or (slightly) used?

I installed the LED taillights in my MJ even though I had reworked a set of OEM lights using the new KeyParts lenses. My reason for doing so was to increase taillights brightness, as the MJ taillights were never terribly bright, and I want people to notice my brake lights particularly. The LED light are an improvement, although they are not cheap. I give them a thumbs up for construction quality as well.

I don't understand the issue here. The MJ uses multiple filaments in one bulb for brakes and turn signals, the XJ does not, correct?. Just rewire the rear bulb sockets to duplicate the XJ bulb usage pattern. Yeah, the means possibly adding another wire to run to the rear of the vehicle, but that's not a hard thing to accomplish. Is the lack of the XJ dash wiring diagram the hurdle to overcome? If that is the case, I can provide that.

I sometimes suffer from mild vertigo in my left ear, so I know what you are experiencing. Your vertigo issue is probably caused by small crystals that form in the fluid of the inner ear. When you lay down, the crystals move around in the fluid, and contact small hair-like cells inside that part of the inner ear, and it triggers your brain to think you are imbalanced. An ENT doctor might be able to find ways to eliminate those crystals….

The flip side of avoiding the parts cannon, consider that our trucks are all pretty old, and unless they have already had some TLC, the front end parts are pretty beat up. That means virtually all the joints and fittings could benefit from a refresh.