jage

The AX5 won't go on the 4.0L and the 2wd tranny won't take a Tcase- the slip yoke is part of the tranny, where a 4wd tranny stops with an output for the Tcase. And I don't think your AX5's Tcase will go on the new AX15. Somebody correct me if I'm wrong on that... :) Still I'd say it's worth it unless you're an expert body man who laughs in the face of rust!

I bought a cheap'o jensen several years ago and took it to silverlake, it lasted all of two hours... got it replaced for free and it's lasted until now. It doesn't deal with shock or dirt real well, and just (mostly) on road driving has killed it. So, I have no idea what to buy. I'd like something with an MP3 player plug that plays CDRs, and I don't give a crap about how it looks, I just want it to live through dust, dirt and constant vibration. Any opinions?

I'd build the zero rust MJ.

Yeah I love mud, I just hate having to go through 2 feet of standing water to get to it. Ha! Once mastered! I was down at a farm run in Tennessee going up a slick piece of wet rock. About halfway up I broke traction, all four tires and the XJ started to drift sideways. Now I wasn't going up, or down but slowly sideways spining the tires all the time. After moving over about one full lane the XJ was positioned between two trees, one mere feet from the rear hatch exactly in the center and one in the same position in front. I'm sitting there smoking all four tires slowly, turning right and left for naught and the XJ is just bobbing slowly between those two trees. I figured letting off would send me backwards crashing into the rear tree and slowing down the tires to try to grab traction would send me into the front one- the latter of which I tried, as the front bumper could take it. It was to no avail and I sat there grinding aways the tires stuck between those trees for quite some time. I don't remember how the strap got connected, I think I was spinning the whole time but I got strapped out. I remember discussing what to do out the window while spinning all four tires. Haha. I can't believe we didn't just have a few guys try to push me sideways the other way, but then again, it was a bit stressful for thinkin at the time!

It happens in mud too, which can be an advantage if you're expecting it. I'm in Arizona now and I gotta tell you I already miss the mud sumpin fierce!

We need to start a photo thread about how many people can fit in a comanche. Bonus points for driving stick!

What are you Dan some kind of bean pole? I'm a svelte 6'0 315! Actually I'm down to like 302 but my DL weight sounds better for this thread

Wouldn't a full time locker be as dangerous on snow/ice? My XJ was locked front and rear and when engaged (4wd / front collar locked) would go sideways on the snow or ice as quickly as it would go forward. What happens is the tire not getting power would normally track, even if you're spinning the other, but since both are powered, when you break traction with both, you might as well be on ball bearings. It's similar to locking up the brakes and losing steering. It's fun on a sidehill too- even as much as streets are sloped for rain water and starting out, breaking traction, you can slide more or less sideways. It would probably affect turning with a spool (I think that's what Dirty's saying?) because one wheel would be forced to break traction when turning on ice. I don't know I'm struggling over whether to leave the front of mine open, put in a detroit or do a selectable locker. The selectable was ditched in the back to save some money and I was planning on leaving the front open. I'm not so sure now...

One person at 6'0 can't do more than hurt riding around on a stock bench...

Couldn't you make a drop in center section out of hard foam to go between your manche seats instead of the console? Chunk of hard foam, little trimming, little fabric, you should be good for a sometimes 3rd seat.

We put some spring assisted rear shocks on my dad's XJ because he overloads it to go elk hunting. The problem is they'd probably wind up lifting the truck and you don't want to go that way.

That's almost the same thing I'm doing. I'm going HP D44 in front, Ford 9 in the rear, but I'm going 5.88 gears (it's like 5.83 and 5.87 or something) and planning on 38" tires. Of course I'm running a 2.5L and it will be a trailer queen, so gears are everything to me. And it started out as a 2wd too... funny how many people seem to be doing this lately.

I wonder if you could find 14" rims instead of the stock 15" rims in the right bolt pattern. I wonder if they'd fit... you could be breaking new ground here...

XJ seats will work if you cut the bench mounts off and use those- but they'll be 3-4" higher, and of course there's modification involved as the brackets are welded and rivited on. MJ buckets are your only bolt on option that I know of.

Join the club. If I'd know then what I know now I'd've never bought a 2.8. I did the 3.4L swap and it was well worth it. I paid somebody but that's the same block and the parts (alternator etc) bolt right on. Notwithstanding that, I've read on this board that all MJs have the correct firewall for the 4.0L, something about when they were produced Jeep was already going with the 4.0 in the future and the fw mod was put in the MJs even with the 2.8. As far as my XJ 2.8 the other problem was the tranny mount was like 14 inches different than the 4.0/2.5s from 87 on, so check that out.

My dad loved his MJ bench. He was mad I threw it away, he wanted to put it in one of his XJs. So, what did those red seats come out of?

Nope, my 86 2.8L AX5 has an external slave. The 88 2.5 AX4 had an internal.

Wow and he posts photos right off! That's a nice find. Now just follow my sig and you'll find that needing brakes is a minor issue...

It depends what your definition of "remove" is. "Remove" is not synonymous with "replace." The hydraulic slave cylinder/release bearing assembly bolts to the bell housing. The bell housing comes off the engine with the tranny, so you can say that the slave cylinder is "removed" to replace the clutch. However, that doesn't mean that they then did the logical thing and put in a new slave cylinder while they had things opened up. IMHO it would take a total moron to get it apart and NOT replace the slave cylinder ... but there are a few morons out there, and anything is possible. The other possibility, since as already noted the "works for a few days if you pour in fluid" sounds a lot like a leak, is that the master cylinder is bad and they didn't replace that. Lets keep in mind, since we're doing tandem threads, that I was talking about the external slave which is what my AX5 had. The AX4 I replaced had an internal slave, and it never crossed my mind to specify. Also when my master was leaking for the PO it leaked from the push rod all over the fuse box and rotted the contacts. Just something to check inside the cab.

\ if you mean the method with removing the slave then you have alot to lose... dropping the tranny isnt a 5 minute job my friend. or am i :chillin: and you're talkin bout another method? Or should I have remembered to mention that I'm talking about an EXTERNAL SLAVE? :dunce: Jeez, I totally forgot this might be an internal slave. Sorry, yes there is a huuuge difference- the method I'm describing refers to the external slave. Not sure if it's applicable to the internal, I don't see why it wouldn't work, but you're right you'd have to be at your last last resort to try it with an internal.

Theoretically the method I was using doesn't allow air to return into the bleeder valve- which is why you open and close only while the pedal is travelling. Of course it didn't work, so that's hardly supportive of anything. And it's possible that there is a mechanical problem what with the mismatched parts and the different engine and all. If my buddy who I'm paying can't get it to work I'll be screwed because I really don't want to pay a mechanic to redo all the work I did. But the other method came from a reliable comanche aficiando (he's on this board in fact) with lots of direct experience... but yeah, I never got around to trying it either. What do you have to lose? The clutch is already not working eh?

Rereading this I realized I need to step up getting my truck built so I can stop being a web wheeler. Oh man, I'm a web wheeler. Oh dear...

The last time I bled my AX5 I was told or read or something that you have to both: Start pushing the clutch in before opening the bleeder and Close the bleeder before the clutch petal bottoms out Doing this didn't make any notable improvement on my clutch the first time, and the second time when I tried it to bleed the AX5 after reinstalling (empty hyd. lines) I wound up with a bottle of hyd. fluid on the floor of the garage and still no clutch. It's possible that this conventional method is what all the mechanics are trying, or something less effective even. So, gist is, I don't think that method works. Then I called around to verify a part size, as different AX5 applications come with variations on throw out bearing and the one I removed was too long and the kit I replace with was opened and had other mismatched parts and found a comanche owner who also works the parts department at a Jeep dealer. Here's how he said to do it- Specifically with an AX5...although I never got around to doing this myself yet (my project is shelved due to being 1800 miles away): 1. Remove the slave cylinder 2. Depress the push out rod on the slave keeping it compressed (I was going to bolt a board across the front of the slave, or a strap of metal depending on how far out it was when depressed) 3. Bleed 4. Let the rod go an reinstall slave Hope this helps, I wish I could back the second method up with personal experience.

I've done the metric on the standard thing (I think that's the way it went, an 87 truck with a 93 engine, meaning an 87 oil filter purchased accidently would go that way? or the other way round?) Anyway the filter screwed up and would "pop" off the threads everytime I tried to tighten it the last bit. I was sure I'd stripped something (and the oil filter threads looked fine) until I remembered the engine was years away. I don't know that doing the opposite thing (newer oil filter, older engine) would actually go on. Chances are it's just really gorilla'd on there and you haven't gotten a grip on it yet. Also, buy the right sized metal strap oil filter wrench. I've got rubber straps and some that look like a big C that's meant to open a jar and neither of those work for cr*p.