Incommando

I would kill for a crew cab FC. Much better chance of making your own crew cab j-truck than finding a real one.

There have been a few made by extending the frame and mixing wagoneer and pick-up parts, as well.

I guess I could loosely zip tie the line itself so it was up out of the way but could travel through the loop. To decide where to put the rear line, I had the axle at full droop and then made sure it had slack there. As soon as I decide to go out and get cold I'll post some finished pics.

I take you you have never had Maryland Edelbrock Crab Cakes

My death wobble was a bad track bar. Re-assembled with same tires in the same positions = No D.W. woo hoo.

I got this truck ( and some cash) for a FSJ Cherokee project that had stalled. I had ALMOST bought a similar MJ new in '88. This truck is a 4wd shortbed with the 4.0, AW4, 231, and a tracloc D44 rear that actually still works after 105,000 miles!!! LOL. It is in pretty good shape. I had to patch the driver's floor but, other than the pass. rocker, the body is very solid. the front header panel, grille, and bumper were off when I got it, and the interior, including the gaugles and seat, were out. I had to put that stuff all on... When I got it: I did a couple of things to the truck, and slipped some 265/70/16's on it: I finally put my 4.5" R.C. lift kit on it )as purchased through Hellcreek-great company): 32x11.5's in Gambler rims I will get more finished pics when the sun is up. Image Not Found R.C. failed to include the brake line drop brackets as promised. I did the front line drop by straightening the hard line and attaching it lower. On the rear, I unbolted the factory bracket and ended up attaching it on the old, disconnected rear load sensing valve. This truck has been very reliable and has taken several multi-hundred mile trips. I will update as I add pics...

Cool! Some sources list the '88 4.0 at 150 hp, even the FAQ section, but I always believed the 177 was correct.

well....better late than never?

These tires and rims were just on the KJ for several hundred miles with no issues. They are a set that I keep handy for long road trips to spare my M/T's. It is a practice that I started when I had the horrible horrible first gen MT/R's on the KJ.

Trackbar will be my starting point for sure. just a hunch.

OH NOES! Death Wobble! Well, the larger tires immediately led to death wobble even at moderate speeds. Jamming on the brakes really makes you popular with the people following you.... MJ/XJ specific causes for this to show up without a lift, just bigger tires?

I slipped them on sans spacers. Looks like they will work: Maybe it is due to the half-tread highway tires, but even with my 9 yr old crankng the wheel all of the way it does not hit the LCA ( unflexed):

Thanks. I will try them w/o the spacers and sees hows its goes

i am tired of putting air in the 225/75/15 tires that are not worth fixing. I have decent 32x11'5 on Gambler rims for it, but the 4.5" lift is on hold (even though it is on a shelf in the garage). i have all season 265/70/16's on factory 16x7 KJ rims ( 5.5" bs). They would probably be sold as 31x10.5's although they are supposed to be 30.5 x 10.7 on an 8" rim. So, considering the backspacing on the rims, am i going to have much trouble on a stock 4x4 MJ? I have some Rusty's 1.25" spacers that I could throw on if it would help. I just need a month or two until I get the lift on and the other tires.

i can 100% assure that you will never find a KJ with a rusted frame... :D Jeepskool is really not much closer to me than Badlands, and none of my buddies go there. That makes the trip up/back kind of a bummer. Haspin is closest and I am going there 11/20. I'd like to try Dirty Turtle in KY, too.

I've never been a big fan of A/T's for just the reasons in those pics. Are there some hills and stuff there, or is it mostly paths like in those pics?

Bingo! That is exactly my point! Romanticism aside, the XJ was very dated when it was finally put out to pasture. Heck, it was obsolete by today's product cycles when the MJ was discontinued. The KJ is more advanced because it had to be more advanced. When introduced in 01 as an 02 model, it kicked the butt of its competition (CRv,RAV4,Escape,etc...) off road where a Jeep should excel. It is like the fact that a V6 Accord from today will out run, out brake, and out handle a 72 SS chevelle from the factory: it is just more romantic to talk about what a bad a$$ the Chevelle was... Many of the great jeeps we remember fondly would not cut it today: they did not stop or turn at all and were not great at what we do in modern wheeling. I have owned, modified, and wheeled every thing from a '45 CJ2 to FSJ's to commandos to CJ5's: all were open front/rear when stock with most had very weak axles by today's standards. The 8.25 is light years ahead of the 10 or 19 spline two-piece axle D41/44 rears that jeep used in everything until '70 or so. And for years FSJ's used the tiny and very weak D27 front! Many jeeps used a D30 REAR that made the D35 look stout. But romanticised memory has them viewed through rose colored glasses that overlooks the the crappy 9" drum/drum brakes would not stop under the best of conditions, let alone when you have been in mud and the hideous Ross steering system. Find a vintage but stock 4wd Xj and a similarly equipped KJ: now use it strictly as a DD like almost all of the original owners did. Lay into a 35 mph entrance ramp at 45 and see which vehicle you want to be in. Heck, my lifted KJ on M/T's and the rear sway bar removed will outhandle my stock MJ with all-season tires and new gas shocks. Does it make the XJ a bad vehicle? No, it just makes it something designed for the market as it existed 30 years ago, when a z28 had 140 hp. The XJ excelled then. But in today's market it would not sell at all and would not even be legal for sale. Unless it was so cheap that weirdo jeep nuts like me could buy one new and go mod the crap out if it no one doing back-to-back test drives in one and a modern SUV would buy the XJ. The good old days are like they have always been: probably not nearly as good as we remember them being.

Good point. Just be glad you are not in the rust belt where body and floor pan rust began shortly after their first winter. My 6 yr old KJ has zero zilcj nada rust. Fingers crossed.

The thing is that i am NOT knocking the XJ, as it was revolutionary in '83. I have written numerous times in praise of the XJ. But I can't ignore that it was a design from about 1981 or so. Things changed so drastically from the 83 intro of the XJ to the 01 intro of the KJ. KJ's also had the 242 available, so that is a wash. The 242 is not universally loved. And no one can claim that almost every XJ had a rear equal to the 29 spline 8.25. The XJ D44 was rare, and KJ's also had a very limited number of D44's. The D35 is pretty common under XJ's. The worst ever KJ drivetrain is still better than a 2.8/pukegoat/D35. cherokees weren't the only XJ, were they? An XJ Waggy had whitewalls iirc...The not so hot SR-a's from a KJ were better than anything that I recall the XJ having stock imho. You are on numerous boards including KJ oriented ones, SS, and your not having read of and seen proof of XJ/MJ rust issues is surprising. I have never seen a condor because they are not around here, but I don't deny their existence because of that. Driver's floorboards alone are an issue, ignoring all of the others. I can't dispute what people are claiming to get MPG wise in this thread, i can only point out that mid-20's is very different than what most claim and whine about here regularly. even if the XJ is about 25% lighter than a KJ. To be even, th e XJ would have to get about 28 mpg. The KJ is not the be all/ end all. And neither was the XJ. The KJ is a fitting succesor to the XJ if you consider the target audience of the vehicles. Remember that jeep could not care less about what a later owner buying parts from someone other than jeep will eventually do to a vehicle as it does not make them a dime. If I hated XJ's, I would not love my MJ.

How did it fail? Although the longevity is still being proven, the 3.7L is a more powerful engine HP-wise with the same peak TQ at about the same RPM as the 4.0 & th e 3.7 is much "revier." My KJ came factory with a 241 t-case: what XJ ever came that way? I get 23 mpg highway: stock powertrain XJ's match it? if you got an early 2wd 4cyl KJ, you may have had a D35. But about 98% of KJ's got a 29-spline 8.25 rear. Can't say that for XJ's. KJ's NEVER came with whitewall tires.... :rotf: The turning radius, stopping power, and handling are head and shoulders above the XJ. Did I mention the turning radius? And the handling? off road the KJ can go around things that will have the XJ backing up and trying again. the KJ chassis is much more rigid than the floppy and rust prone XJ. Stock vs stock, the KJ is as capable as any XJ and is better equipped. You can actually get in and out of the rear and be comfortable while in there. The KJ is harder & more expensive to mod, but that usually only occurs with the 2nd or third owner. The KJ WAS the replacement for the XJ. A long long overdue replacement. Again, it is the Cheorkee in Europe, S America, Asia, and Australia. For $150 I can change all of my Liberty badges to factory Cherokee badges. I loved that so many jeep people embraced the Patriot as an XJ replacement when it first appeared...and it is an econobox dodge. As far as its mission for the company...the KJ rocked. Just like the Xj rocked in its mission for the company in 1983. Thankfully no vehicle will be band-aided and expected to last for 20 years anymore.

Thanks. It is a fun jeep. And it it gets 23 mpg on the highway :cheers:

original link fixed

IMHO, the XJ is the best bang for the buck in 4wheeling. They are reasonable to purchase and modify and can be very capable. it takes a few years for a new model to show up on the trails in any numbers. Wranglers are the exception but too many Wrangler owners think there are no other 4x's but Wranglers.

EDIT I am the silver KJ. The camo XJ is a 5spd and has 33's and a 6" long arm lift and is locked front/rear. It is very capabale. The dark green XJ is auto on 32's with 4.5" of lift. The KJ's are both on 31's and 2.5" of lift. I have a 6spd and the bedliined KJ is an auto. The last three have rear lockers. We all went up the stair case, where the dark green XJ is shown coming up and from the side. I am a bit too low and scraped up my rear driveshaft pretty good going up the top part that his front axle had just come up. The height and the angle of the gravel hills is hard to judge from the pics unless you look in the background. Very steep. That gravel made the lockers necessary. It sucked you down and bogged the engine.

The XJ's replacement, the KJ (which is still the Cherokee everywhere but N America, IIRC) is a much safer vehicle that weighs nealry 1,000#'s more than the usually poorly crash rated XJ. The solid build of the KJ is a big improvement, as was handling, braking, & steering response. Considering that Jeep's numbers show that about 8% of original Cherokee owners ever went offroad shows that, market wise, these were great moves. I love my MJ, and like XJ's, but there is no comparison to the KJ for road manners.