CaptainPatchy

I wanted to pair my larger front bar with a rear sway bar as well. Searching around the forums had led me down a few different path's and I'd actually picked up a late 90's S10 chassis bar, but that looked like it was going to be a chore so I'd kind of shelved it. I was reading around and came across some info that Addco had actually made a SWB bar back in the day and it had a part # attached, so after some searching I was actually able to find out that they still make them to order even thought it's no longer listed on their website so I reached out and a week or so later... Mounting it like their instructions called for, I wasn't too impressed with the body-side mounting solution they'd engineered. It was supposed to use the upper shock mount nut to attach an angle bracket to catch the link. First issue with that for me was my shocks were not going to allow that bracket to sit there flush. I tried inverting the shock and while it was closer, it still looked like it would have rubbed and possibly caused issues so I got to laying under there with the links and trying to see what was close and what I could make work. I realized that if I rotated the bar to the back of the axle instead of underneath as they called for, it actually pushed the links back far enough that with my lowered ride height I was really close to the X-Brace in the frame and with the bar level at ride height. The little angle kickbacks on the bar even pushed the upper end back almost like it was designed to go there After some thinking, I decided to go for it. I put both links with brackets attached up on the lip of the x brace and found where the bar was centered. Vice-gripped the angle to the X brace, took the shocks out for clearance and drilled a couple of holes to hold the bracket to the side of the brace. With the bar level, the brackets just sit nicely on that lower lip and I was able to get some 1/2" Grade 8 hardware to bolt through. There's even two holes in the factory brace on the bottom I could stick a combo wrench through to hold the nut! Then it was a pretty simple task of bolting on the end links and snugging everything up, and whoila! A rear bar all my own. Pretty happy with the way it turned out, by a stroke of luck it all worked out and I'm much happier with the solid frame mounted side vs. the shock bracket mount they advised. With the front, that now gives me a 1-1/8" front and 7/8" rear bars.

Mid-Winter update. Finally got my toolbox and tools organized and ran a gas line for my 30K btu unit heater so I can work in somewhat comfortable conditions regardless of what the weather had decided to do that week. I had ordered a larger 1-1/8" Front swaybar to put on the truck at some point, so I took a break from the oily bits and got that installed. Wasn't happy with the extreme endlink angle so I took the ones that were on there, cut them down and welded them back up. Quick coat of paint, and some energy suspension poly bushing and that's done. Next was the rear bar...

Wow, small world! This is actually one of several parts I've ordered from you guys over the last few years for both of my Jeeps, and I've yet to have a problem with any of them! Thanks again for what you all do over there! I filled out a request for info on their website and Lew at Alcan reached out to me the next day. I was able to talk with him over the course of a few days via email and a phone call and get them ordered based on the weights I provided and the height/capacity I was looking for. They're really pretty cool people, maybe give them a call and see what they can do for you? Feel free to mention that you saw my truck and they should be able to look up the info they used for me. If you're trying to match front ZJ coils with no other mods, might want to go for a 2" or 1.5" drop instead of the 3" I went for, if you just want to bolt them on and have it match the front perfect.

Got them in and they're pretty sweet, here's an update: Finished the year sort of late, since we had such unseasonably nice weather here in Ne. Started tearing into the rear suspension Still ever surprised at how completely rust free this truck is, a rarity for vehicles around here Leaves came out easily, didn't even have to use impact tools to get them unbolted which was shocking This is a rear leaf bolt, probably untouched in 31 years, and came apart with hand tools. I've never dealt with one of these where they didn't snap and fight the whole way out. New drop leaves compared to factory rate New leaves bolted up and the vehicle resting on the axles. Might be a bit TOO low but I can probably do some work in the front to get it down to match. Got the AW4 out pretty easily, again with no rust everything just sort of....unbolts. It's nuts Looks like it's had a rear main leak for a while, should probably replace that while I've got access Picked up an engine hoist bar to hold up the rear so I can drop the pan Cleaned up underneath, much better. I've since been working on getting my separated combustion shop heater installed in the garage since it's not super comfortable working in there right now, but I've been acquiring parts to change the rear main, oil pan and oil filter gaskets as well as all the little parts to swap the manual in. I've got many little projects at the moment but I've still got several months of cold weather so I'm not too worried. I went with 3" below factory for the rear springs and honestly they might be an inch or two lower than I intended but they are a custom rate between the factory normal and "HD" rate and they seem STIFF as hell so should be pretty nice. I've got that front axle to build that'll hopefully allow me to bring the front down another inch or so to hopefully match the back.

reading the thread, consensus is these will fit MJ's 87-92 correct? If it will fit my 91', put me down for one!

That looks like a ton of fun! Which Caltracs bars did you get? Do they offer a Jeep specific kit or are they universal?

Been out of town/busy the last few weeks but when I got back into town, I was able to go pick up my newly refreshed trans from the shop. He said mostly everything looked good minus the nasty fluid, but went ahead and did a syncro and seal kit as well as added a newer 5th gear that had been an updated part. While they had it, I went ahead and had them throw on the external slave bearing retainer to seal it all back up. I've noticed even with the automatic, sharp throttle inputs produce some weird rear end shakes that I think is related to axle wrap. Going to the manual I believe will only make this worse, since you won't have the slushbox to absorb some of that power transfer. While I was looking for a way to keep the rear end lower, without using the blocks it had come with, I stumbled across a company in Colorado called Alcan Spring that advertised as being able to custom make any spring rate and arch height, so I reached out to them to inquire about custom 3" drop leaves. He seemed pretty confident that they'd be able to come up with something, and asked if I could get the truck weighed so he'd know F/R bias and if possible side to side. I was able to find a guy locally who let me borrow his corner scales for some beer money. 3236, with a half tank of gas and without me in it. Seems a little heavier than I thought it'd be. Kind of cool to see exactly what and where that weight is though. Finally, after a quick bath I again took the truck to the yearly all-jeep show. For a THIRD time, it is the now undisputed, welterweight champion of the "Unique Jeep" class! With the weather starting to change, I might only get to take it out a few more times this year before it gets parked for the last time as an auto! (finger's crossed)

In the process of trying to find an oem shifter the majority of people said that the Core short throw kit was the bee's knees. It's only money right? It certainly is a nice piece of kit anyways! Also was able to source the inspection cover, again from dead jeep. Really appreciate what they do for us old jeep lovers. Still need to decide on what master/slave combo to use. I did stumble upon a thread where a guy had used a wilwood clutch master and that was intriguing. If anyone sees this and knows of a quality master/slave combo I'm all ears!

Man, this really makes me wanna swap mine at some point! You caught that Mustang driver snoozing that light!

Decided to have the transmission gone through by a local shop before I went through all the work of swapping it in this winter. Went to mount up the shifter and tower I was told were from an Ax15, and was surprised to find they didn't fit! I had a brief moment of panic considering if I'd been given the wrong tranny then decided to ask some folks in the cherokee forum group. One seemed convince it came from an AX5 After sealing the hole back up I brought it to the only local shop I could find that would take manual transmission work, and he thankfully knew immediately that it was in fact an ax15 and that he could get right into it. So now I'm waiting for that to come back and still slowly acquiring the last of the pieces I'll need to tear into the swap over this winter. (In my nice, now heated and insulated, garage!)

I also run a 275/40 ZR17 on mine that the truck came with when I bought it. I've been running them around 30ish psi as that always seemed to work well on my cherokee before and I didn't really have any other numbers to go off. I haven't noticed any weird wear patterns as of yet so we'll see how that turns out.

They came with the truck when I bought it, and I was told they are 03' Cobra rims. So far what I have found says that they are 17x9 square set with a +26mm offset. I do know that I added the spacers on the rear to bring them closer to the fenders in the rear. Edit: forgot to add, these are factory 5x4.5 bolt pattern so they fit without any adapters.

With spring finally coming, I spent some more time working on the truck. First an oil change for the new year... Then, after warming it up and a quick ride around town I got started on my next phase of garage reno. Hanging 1/2 plywood on my newly framed and insulated walls, which should be strong enough to hold up anything I'd really want to wall hang. As a not-carpenter, cutting for outlets is a major pain in the rear. Especially considering it'd be a nearly ~$50 mistake if I messed up a sheet. Made enough progress for the day and decided to put the rest off until this coming weekend. The truck drove great after its long winter slumber though, so that was awesome. I forgot how much attention it gets just driving around. Hopefully this rain works it way out soon so I can get back to driving it more regularly.

Been a long, cold winter here in the midwest. Spent some time framing and insulating my garage with some Rock-wool and it took the bite off the cold, but I'm going to need to get a heater of some kind for future prolonged work. With the nice weather this last weekend, I took a trip to the local junkyard with my dad to walk around and spend time together. I didn't intend to find anything I would need, but stumbled upon a 2001 XJ with a 2wd front axle! Figured I could use this to build for brakes and clearance for the oil pan without taking away my limited driving months. I swear, at some point the "parts accumulation" phase is going to transition into the "actually getting stuff done" phase but we'll see what happens!

That's awesome! I hope you still plan to have some provision for mounting a "bed" even if just for looks

I just saw this today, but I'm SO glad someone did this since I'm working on swapping an AX15 in my auto truck! So the whole point of this is just to remove that little white detent in those pictures? That's all that stops you from being able to remove the key? That and the rods that make it work?

I was able to find a reseller called "deadjeep.com" that had a few. I looked up the part number and it appears to be the same for any AX15 behind a 4.0L in most applications. Oem # was 53008157.

Just putting this here for posterity: Found and ordered the external slave bellhousing and external slave bearing retainer. Still need to get a flywheel, clutch/pressure plate and throwout bearing along with master/slave combo and various small pieces for the trans like the shift fork and retainer clips. Might replace the little plastic ball piece for the fork as well while I'm getting in there. Not sure if the new bearing retainer comes with the seal or not, so might need that as well. Finally I haven't looked to be sure, but I think I'm going to need to source a 2wd manual MJ rear driveshaft as I doubt the AW4 one will fit. Need to verify the bolts mounting the trans to the engine are the same between the AW4 and AX15, as well as the bolts holding the bearing retainer on for internal vs. external slave. Then I need to figure out which electronics on my ax15 are for what so I know where I'll need to route them once I start the install.

I had read (possibly incorrectly) that the computers for the obd1 systems would have either lower or higher idle issues and that a computer swap would correct this, but maybe it was just for the renix years. Either way, a guy had done a obd2 swap in his cherokee and gave me the computer for not much more than shipping costs so I'm not too worried about it. When i get to the point where I actually swap the trans, I'll do a test of both computers and see if there's any change for the community!

I think I can source that pretty easily from ebay or deadjeep, but we'll see! I was able to source another part of the puzzle earlier this week, a computer from a 91' XJ that came factory with a 4.0 and a manual. That should just swap in I believe and correct any issues as far as pcm/tcm go.

When I bought the truck, the previous owner had been planning to manual swap it at some point, and had begun to round up some parts. The truck came with an AX15 and manual pedal set. I've done some digging and found that the trans should be a 94-96 model, however when searching that number I come up with links to a 97 model. More interesting still, it's an internal slave bellhousing, so idk what's going on there. So I've had those pieces, but recently I started working on gathering more of the swap parts. Was able to find a guy parting out a cherokee with the stepped crossmember and ax15 mount plate. And then since the trans didn't come with a shifter at all, I found a different person selling a complete shifter assembly including the manual floor pan cover and all the accessories. Making good progress, still need to come up with a manual pcm for my year, although I think any from 91-95 mj or xj should work. Then I need to source an external slave bearing retainer, bellhousing and all the related clutch/flywheel parts to convert it. Finally I need to get the pre-bled master and slave assembly and I think that should be most of the hard parts I'll need.

Makes sense, thank you!

Thanks Pete, I meant to put this in my build thread initially, not my VIN thread Correct. If you can, measure your crank just in case. If your engine ever got swapped, you could have a different crank. I think that's another reason to not rush this swap and maybe do it over the winter. There's NO telling what this truck has seen in its life!

Okay, so then I would need part # PB-7501357 if I'm reading correctly?

I realize now that the picture is terribly small when uploaded, but I'm pretty sure it's right at 3/4". I didn't think to check for in/out play at all but good to hear that the up/down and side to side play isn't anything to be worried about. Being that my truck is a 91, I'm probably going to need to swap for the later pilot bushing if I'm understanding the years correctly.