89 MJ

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.

I think he’s asking about 5k more than it’s really worth on a good day. $12k seems like about top dollar in my opinion. I also don’t think it’s really a unicorn. It’s a 4 door auto with cloth interior, just like most XJs.

They’re great engines. My parents had one in a 94 S10. I’ve driven a full-size truck with them too and it does well. Plus they’re just a small block short a couple cylinders, so parts are plentiful and V8 swaps aren’t too hard in the future.

Exactly why my brain went 4.3 as well. A Buick V6 was available in a lot of early CJ5s IIRC, so I would think that the 4.3 should fit and just be a better choice.

I would be skeptical of used gears. They are a wear item after all and if you do not get the pattern set up the same, it will likely make noise. If it were my money, I'd do a TrueTrac in the rear with new Yukon on Spicer gears. The TrueTrac is expensive, but seems to be a great option for a strong limited slip that does not wear out and is still daily drivable.

That would be us. I think Pete is right. It is probably about removing the heater core without pulling the dash. This is the thread, but it looks like the video us unavailable. Pulling the dash isn't too hard though. I tried checking Cruiser's site for the video too and could not get the site to load.

This looks like a very cool project. If I were in you shoes, I would be choosing between a Renix 2.5L and a GM 4.3L V6 with TBI for an engine. I'm looking forward to seeing updates.

I have probably 140k miles on my MJ, so a decent amount less than you. My truck has blow by. No leaks, but the engine is always just a little dirty from the blow by. In a 3,000 mile oil change, it burns a negligible amount of oil. I do get seepage around the CCV grommet, but I also have not done Cruiser's valve cover mod. Similarly, my Eagle engine has an estimated 85k miles on it by now, I went through and resealed it, but did not touch the rings or the bearings because the bearings look brand new. If you pull the PCV, the thing looks like a freight train when its up to temp. Its bad enough that it has a home made road draft tube made for it so it isn't creating puddles of oil on top of the engine. The thing drinks about a quart of oil every 150 miles and at a hot idle, you can see a cloud of oil smoke. My Eagles previous 110k mile 258 was no better. Based on that, I would say your engine is about right for the mileage. Do you have any oil consumption issues? A quart between oil changes should be about right for these engines, in my opinion. A good portion of this also depends on how well the engine was taken care of by previous owners. That said, keep oil in it and it will run forever. These engines were designed in a time when vehicles were pretty much worn out by 100k miles. At this point, anything else you're getting out of it is a bonus. I think its also worth mentioning that these engines were from an old engine family even when they were new. The AMC I6 family that the 4.0 is apart of goes back to the 60s. Other than the cylinder head design and the fuel injection, a 4.0 is an engine from the 60s when odometers only had 5 digits because most cars didn't live past that. Sure, GM did the same thing with the small block, but those engines got a ton of updates to them throughout the years, including getting roller cams and one piece rear main seals, which do a ton to modernize an engine, but the 4.0 never got such. You don't see it too much with the Jeep stuff, but in the AMC community, you see a lot of people swapping their 6s between 100 and 150k miles because they're just plain worn out. Everybody says that these engines cannot be killed, and for the most part, I agree. With that said, what those people fail to mention is that while these 4.0s will not die, you do need to treat them like an engine from the 60s if it is a vehicle you care about. And by that I mean you either need to check the oil at least once a week and expect blow by or you need to pull it out and redo it. I think its also worth saying that quality control was not as good when these trucks were new. Sure, the quality of materials were better, but even super nice original vehicles had their problems with panel fitment and paint, so I'm sure that there were plenty of mechanical issues too. This was all automakers too, not just AMC. I'm not saying this to hate on AMC because none of the other manufacturers were any better at the time. AMC did really well with what they had and did great things for the automotive industry as a whole. I'm also not trying to sound condescending here. I'm telling you this explanation the same way I had to hear it and piece it together myself. It is a very frustrating lesson to learn, or at least it was for me. It really isn't always very much fun throwing time and money at an engine that is worn out, but that's about all either of us can do right now. The light is at the end of the tunnel though and more money and hopefully more time are right around the corner.