89 MJ

You have to do them both at the same time

A coin op car wash would work instead of a pressure washer

You do need to remove the mechanical fan. The mount for it is symmetrical, so no need to worry there. Correct on the pulley as well. I would not flush the system if the coolant appears to be in good shape. Before you start this, I strongly recommend spraying the engine with degreaser and pressure washing, being careful of electronics.

Please do yourself a favor and think about this a lot and drive a few. I have a 2014 that is my vehicle for going to school. It gets decent mileage, I'll give it that. The throttle response is pretty poor, the seats are uncomfortable, it is not a good handling vehicle, has a lot of road noise, the AC is not cut out for commuting around town, and it rides like a lumber wagon. I grew up riding in full size half ton and three quarter ton GM pickups and Jeeps for the most part. Most of my driving miles have been a 2000 three quarter ton GM 4x4 truck, my MJ, my Eagle, and this CRV. The CRV is the roughest riding and worst handling one of the bunch and its the lowest mileage, so its not worn out and my grandmother bought it new. My family and friends that have all either ridden or driven it have all come to the same conclusion. It is not a pleasant vehicle to be in. With the amount of time I spend driving this year with work and school, I have shipped my Eagle to me to be my daily driver instead.

I even reread the post before I commented. Whoops

You’ve got the bug now too That looks great, thank you! It being tucked up higher makes a huge difference.

Is the spare tire moving around? Lug nuts all torqued?

I think you're on the right track with a 2 post as long as you have enough slab for it. In my opinion, these are primarily for steering, suspension, and brake work. All three of those require either the wheels off or weight off of the suspension a lot of times. A 4 post would be much better for storage. The downside to the 2 post is when you walk into one of the arms or hit your head on the suspension, it hurts a ton. It's always right in the back of the head too. I'm not sure what brand lift my Dad has, but he's had it longer than I've been alive and its never had an issue. If I remember, I'll get the brand next week. I can tell you that it is 14 feet tall and I wouldn't get one much shorter than that. With the cables going over the top, it means you can only lift the top of an MJ to 12 feet or so. That sounds like a lot, but I need to duck a lot when working under it and I'm 6'ish. Make sure you get one that the cables go over the top of the vehicle, not along the ground. I've seen it where you can't hardly push a vehicle over the plate covering the cables when they are across the ground.

When my MJ comes down here, I might have to PM you to get the locations of these trails or put a little trail ride together. This looks like a blast!

Good to know, thank you. I really liked the end link brackets that he used. I kept the stock sway bar brackets on my 8.8 and the TJ ones look very similar, so with a little luck, I should be able to reuse them after slotting the holes if necessary.

I've been doing research on sway bars both for the front and rear of the MJ. I would like to upgrade the front too, but at the very least, I am wanting to run a rear sway bar. My truck is lifted, but that is irrelevant. The truck is lifted and it is staying that way, I'm not afraid of modifying sway bar end links if I have to. My truck is a SWB, so the bar must go behind the rear axle. I am also not willing to give up my 31" spare mounted in the factory location. Here's the other kicker: my truck has an 8.8 in the rear which does not have a centered pumpkin. I drive this truck pretty hard through corners and now that I have buckets that hold me in the seat nicely, its time to address the next handling shortfalls, shocks and sway bars. I know it is a solid axle Jeep and will never be a sports car, however this truck is mostly a pavement princess and it hauls stuff fairly regularly. The sway bars become a safety feature at that point. I know that some XJs came with a 28mm (~1.125" for those of us who despise the metric system) front sway bar. This is the route I will go if there is not something better out there for the front, but finding a used one in good shape might be tricky. The only aftermarket one I saw was the Addco 516 1.125" bar, but it looks like its possibly out of stock. Has anyone found any other 1.125"-1.250" bars that work that are either aftermarket or from a different vehicle? Now for the rear bar. I have found a few options here. There is the Addco 468. This seems to be out of stock and I do not like that it attaches to the shock mounts. That would be a lot of force on the shock mounts. Would it be fine? Probably, but I just don't like it. It is 7/8", which is the size I want for a rear bar. Next is the WJ rear sway bar, done in this thread. I really like that this is a run of the mill part that is not some aftermarket piece, but there are aftermarket upgrades. I also really like the mounting and might copy that depending on the route I go. I do not like the potential for interference with the leaf springs, nor the fact that a stock one is only 9/16". The third option is the 95-05 Blazer rear bar. This is probably my favorite so far. Its a GM part, so there is plenty of aftermarket support for it. Its also big. I believe it is 0.875", like the Addco. Next week, I am hoping to be checking out a 98 Explorer rear sway bar. I believe it is a 9/16" bar, but there seem to be some aftermarket options for upgrades. I also like that the mounting to the axle should be simple since it is a sway bar for an 8.8 going onto an 8.8. Has anyone done any of these rear sway bars or anything else worth considering?

I think its worth more than that. A nice 4.0 truck is worth 15-20k. This is a lot more truck than that. That said, I can't say what its really worth.

I have some thoughts on this. Thanks a lot! Now you have me wanting to add a rear sway bar and a bigger front sway bar to my truck I am going to be looking at a 98ish Explorer rear sway bar next week for my truck. I will report back if I have a chance to do that.

Looks like a good truck. Seems mostly straight and solid, so you've got a good starting point.

Looks like a nice truck! Welcome to the forum! Check out this thread, there are quite a few original owners around here. Also, please drop your truck in the registry. https://comancheclub.com/forum/28-comanche-registry-vin-decoding/

I saw one like this except with stop, drop, and roll instead of free drugs

Just thinking out loud here, but I would think that the rear axle still should be alright at least for moderate driving. But what about a KJ rear? Yes, its spending more money, but you already have the right front end gears and the rear axle is wider, plus its an 8.25.

That 2.5L overflow is really good. I think it’s the best option for these trucks.

If you go with the SM420, I would look at running an NP205 if you can.

If you look in the wheel opening, it looks like it was red originally. Plus it has a 2.8. Hope this helps.

That interior is excellent.

I know both The Pub and Tech have this feature. Here's a screenshot from The Pub.

There is! You'd have to create a new topic with a poll.

Its only worth 12k if it doesn't need anything. If I were in your shoes, I wouldn't pay over $8500 for it. Its just an XJ, nothing special. If it were dialed in and had new tires on it, only then would would I think its worth anywhere near 12k I just jumped on Bring A Trailer for some price comps because that's where all of the high priced ones seem to sell. These ones have all sold within the last 2 months and there are plenty more examples on BAT. 44k mile 2001. Sold for $18k, but is not as clean underneath. Repainted 2001 with 59k miles. $11.5k 123k mile 2001. $8800 97k mile 2 DOOR. $15k 65k mile 2001. $14.7k I'm sorry, but there is no way that that XJ is worth 17k. Based on what I just linked, I don't even know that its really worth $12k. The prices for these are not as crazy as they were just a year or so ago.

Another thought. If it was a barn find, it will probably need a lot of work. Probably needs tires and all of the other rubber components unless they were done already.