txjeeptx

Looks like a good idea. Thanks for the increase in exposure for my truck's sale. Here's to hoping your site takes off. Just for Jeeps, right? I'm sick enough of C-list spammers and scammers, and sick of those who post non-descriptive ads with no contact info or pictures, or don't proofread their ad before posting. Also, I got three prank phone calls fifteen minutes after my ad went up on the List. Funny pranksters, though - they swore that I had placed an order for something stupid like six dozen donuts, and that my order was ready. After denying placing any donut order, I asked them to provide a name for the order, and they just giggled, not knowing what to say. I could hear laughter in the background, and it was around lunchtime for most high schools. Back when I was in high school, we didn't have cell phones(well, some kids did, but they were bricks you couldn't sneak around with) - and I didn't waste my lunch break makin prank calls - I had a girlfriend.

Nice buy. Looks like someone freshly cleaned the valvecover - not a trace of oil weeping. Good luck with the alternator replacement. You'll find some neat stuff to do to your truck on here. What are your plans for it? I see some Internationals hiding in the background of your pictures. Cool.

If you're interested in complicating your swap a bit, I forgot to mention that you can upgrade your transmission to an AX-15 behind your 3.4L 60-degree V6 by using the bellhousing from a 1996-1998 2.5L 4-cyl Dodge Dakota. Its external slave, and has the correct bolt pattern for the 3.4L 60-degree V6, and shares the AX-15/NV3500/ToyotaR150f transmission-to-bellhousing bolt pattern. The clutch disk would have to be figured out to match the Jeep AX-15 input. I know an 80's 4-cyl Camaro clutch disk will work for this swap behind an AMC 2.5L 4banger, but I'm not sure what disk you'd use behind a 3.4LV6. Just wanted to let you know the possibilities. You could even go over to a Toyota truck transmission/drivetrain of you wanted. Marlin Crawler in a Jeep, anyone? It could be done.

There is another manual transmission option for the AMC 2.5L - the AX-15/NV3500 5-speed from a six-cylinder Jeep XJ or YJ/TJ can be used behind the AMC 2.5L four cylinder if you locate a 1996-1998 Dodge Dakota 2.5L four cylinder bellhousing. That year-range Dakotas had an AX-15 style transmission(not sure if it was an actual AX-15 or something else, but it has the AX-15 bell-to-trans pattern) behind the four cylinder they acquired from AMC/Jeep(which is what your Jeep has). It is an external slave cylinder bellhousing, has the correct GM 60-degree V6 bolt pattern that the AMC 2.5L four has, and shares all the same clutch related parts as the Jeep, except for the clutch disk, which has to be sourced from an 80's four cylinder Camaro application to mate to the Jeep AX-15 input shaft. Its a strange conglomeration of parts, but it is feasible. The AX-15 is a much heavier-duty transmission than the AX4/AX5. Those out there with the GM 2.8L V6 can also use the '96-'98 Dakota 2.5L bellhousing to put an AX-15 behind your stock 2.8L or for 3.4L conversion/upgrades.

I had a persistent squeak that finally went away when I replaced the harmonic balancer. Following an accident, I had another belt issue that turned out to be the PS pump pulley had been pushed further onto the shaft, putting it out of alignment with the rest of the system. In this case, I couldn't keep the truck from chewing up the belt after all the necessary repairs to the body & radiator support were done. Re-aligned PS pulley, and the problem was solved.

Bitchin job! I remember when mine was fresh from the paint shop. TX sun roasted the paint last summer, though, so its peeling, now. Paint shop changed names, but still has the same weasel of a manager, they won't honor the warranty from their previous name, so I got boned. How long was your truck in the paint shop? Mine was in for over 2 months, and got a crappy paint job for what I paid for it. Nice reproduction graphics on yours.

The aluminum valvecover has tightening limiters cast into it around the inside of each bolt hole. You will have to use the '94 valvecover bolts, since the ones for the plastic cover won't fit in the aluminum cover's holes. I don't use a gasket for the 4banger valvecovers - just a very healthy bead of RTV silicone. The AL valvecover came with a bead of silicone rubber already on it from the factory(I have bought one from the stealership before), so there is no separate gasket for it, although there are gaskets available from Fel-Pro for the AL cover, so you could source one and still use some RTV on both sides of the gasket. Its much easier to just use a fat bead of RTV and make sure to not leave any gaps where oil could leak. I put some RTV on the head after cleaning the head's gasket surface, then the fat bead of RTV on the valvecover, then bolt it on to where some RTV squishes out from every edge(just past hand-tight with a socket wrench, tighten in a sequence starting at the middle and working a spiral outward, some cleanup required before RTV sets up), then let it set up, then do a final torque of the valvecover bolts the next day. For the PCV, I removed the baffle from inside the AL valvecover and drilled a hole for the PCV grommet with a properly sized hole saw, then reinstalled the baffle(3 small screws inside the cover - use locktite blue on them). I put a small pipe plug in the CCV port that goes into the baffle where you install the PCV valve into. Get a new PCV grommet and fresh 710 cap to prevent oil from weeping out of an old cap gasket. I recall having to swap out the rear fresh air inlet grommet with one that fits the stock TBI fresh air inlet breather filter plastic can. All this was on my 2.5L YJ, which might have different breather setup than what was on the XJ/MJ valvecovers, which might be CCV not PCV, so you might not have to do the baffle-pull-holesaw-drill for a PCV grommet.

Got my MJ in 'o5 non-runnin with 220kmi on it, has 260K on it now. Took a while to weed out the bad on mine, too. Just when I got it good enough to be a daily driver, wife tells me our son can no longer ride with us on the bench seat I swapped in for him to ride with us. So we signed for a F150 Supercrew FX4, which I love, but it aint my MJ, and we OWE so much on it. All I've ever done for vehicles before this has been cash. The dealer is lucky I didn't take insult and leave when he offered me $700 for trade-in on my MJ. I'm glad I kept it, and have had time to do some other great mods to it, but I do have it for sale, since I need fewer project vehicles around. I know it'll take its next owner another 250kmi on its return trip from the moon, since its already driven there.

I've had success removing the nut by holding the pinion yoke with a properly placed floor jack snugged up against it to keep it from spinnin. I still used an impact to remove it, and I install em with the impact, too, but its a sort of "feel for it" kind of thing making sure to not overtighten and kill the crush sleeve.

I've had a similar problem with big chain stores offshore rebuilt starters not working right. The starter might have had its mounting surface ground on by a sweatshop worker, and now it mounts too close to the ring gear on the flywheel, and the teeth on the starter bottom out in the teeth on the ring gear, making your "hairball" sound. I've shimmed a Motorcraft style starter I used on my 2.5L YJ because of noisy engegement, but I don't think there are any shims made for Chrysler starters. That sweatshop rebuild might also even have an incorrectly sized gear installed on it, so you might compare it with the one you pulled from the Jeep, if you haven't already cashed in the core charge on it. Did you take a look at the condition of the ring gear? They get chewed up over the years of use, and could be a cause of noisy operation, too. When you get your starter rebuilt, make sure to take a look at the ring gear, even though there's not much you can do about it if it looks beat up, since you'd have to pull the trans to replace it. Hope it looks decent, with just minor rounding of the teeth on the leading edge where the starter throws in.

:drool: Bitchin. To each their own. I'd never build one like that, but its breathtakingly done right from the few pictures they show of it. Wonder what the interior and suspension are like? Interesting how they moved the wiper motor and installed one from some other application to make way for that huge engine's intake.

If a repaint of the truck is in its future, you could do some salvage yard scouting and find a 90's square-body Dakota and cut out the tail light mounting portion of the bed and graft it to the MJ bed corners in place of the originals. That would give you replaceability of the tail light housings with ones available for the Dakota. There might even be some aftermarket "cool custom" ones available for those trucks, since they were popular with the low-riding mini truck crowd, but I can't find anything but stodk replacements available. If I were building an MJ and had in the works a repaint, I would do this swap. I wish I had done it back in 2006 when I had my MJ painted. Instead I paid way too much for a decent pair of stock tail lights, and they still don't look that great. A similar grafting job with the sheet metal corners from an early 90's boxy-body S-10 would definitely get you into aftermarket custom light mounting territory.

Ha, my MJ has always been like that, too. I'll look into the ground, I was just in that area a little while ago to fix the brakelight switch after my WJ brake booster swap. I understand it as the computer controls the alternator(at least it does for HO 4.os) - it decides when and how much the alternator puts out. So, it could be a reason for low system voltage at times. Rather than hijack the thread, I'll post a new question about alternator upgrades after doing some searching. Corrected the misinformation. Couldn't remember, so I was guessin. The Renix-era alternators are internally regulated. Got it straight, now. There is some info out there about upgrading the Renix alternator to a bigger CS144 unit, but it involves replacing the charging lead with a larger wire(lower gauge number wire), and some modification of the mounting brackets, and possible belt length changes. Didin't see in any other posts, but you might want to check the grounds to the tail light wiring and parking lamp wiring. The tail light wiring ground is behind one(or both?) of the tail lights.

Forgot to mention in my previous post that I had 1200# of rock loaded in the bed at one time. I was loading the truck with my mom's lil Cub Cadet tractor loader, and still had room in the bed, so I kept on dumping the rubble in. I rode the bumpstops all the way to the dump, and it took a long time to get it all shoveled out. Had to replace the rear springs after that because they never recovered their arch. So don't do that - keep loading just because the tractor makes it easy to do so. I know that lil story has nothing to do with the OP's question, but its something to think about and maybe learn from.

Ha, so that's what those are for. I always used them to anchor ratchet straps to cover a load of dirt with a tarp. Well, I learned somethin today, may I be excused, now?

I towed an AMC Eagle SX/4 with my '89MJ 4.o/AX-15/2wd/d44rear/3.07gears/245-75r16 tires in the summer a year or so ago. The car was on a uhaul dolly(I hate those things). The truck could pull it decent enough, given that the Eagle nearly equals the MJ in weight. The engine ran hot due to working it hard, but I just kept an eye on the temperature, and avoided accelerating hard, cruising gently home from Dallas to San Antone. The real killer was the inadequate factory brakes. I've since done the WJ dual diaphragm booster upgrade, so I think towing would be a lot easier, now, but I'll never use a dolly to tow again, ever. Your race car should be much lighter than that pig of an Eagle I towed. As long as the combined trailer and car weigh less than the MJ, you should be ok, so long as you have a good frame hitch setup. Never try it with a bumper mounted ball. Also, I have a friend who has wrinkled the bed on his MJ trying to tow a 16ft flatbed trailer full of junk to the salvage yard, but he had clearly overloaded the Jeep. The rear subframe can be overloaded, even with a good receiver hitch, so make sure you know how much your towed stuff weighs. If the trailer you plan to use has electric brakes, then do yourself a favor and install a brake controller. Also do the dual diaphragm booster upgrade, whether you tow with the Jeep or not. You'll be amazed how much of a difference it makes.

You'll see the condition of the plugs when you do the leakdown test, but it sounds like you might have "seafoamed" carbon from the valves into fouling a plug or two. Also, too much seafoam in the tank could be a problem, if that's what you did. I can't believe it, the picture from the manual. Trash it. How'd that go to print?

Ok, so you're pretty sure the manifold is sealed to the head. My 4banger TBI experience comes from owning my '89 YJ for 15 years, but it all applies to the XJ/MJ 2.5 TBI system. The 4banger TBI has a Idle Speed Actuator, which externally alters the throttle blade position for idle, not an Idle Air Control valve like the 4.oL. The ISA motor serves as an output device and as a sensor for closed throttle position, and they wear out and can get corrosion inside on the closed throttle switch. Its the 4-wire Wrather-Pack connected device in front of the TB. Could try checking its connection or even replacing it. Be gentle with the idle adjustment bolt(which touches an arm that moves the throttle shaft) - you can damage the stepper motor by trying to adjust it if the bolt is bound or corroded. Also have had o-rings on the fuel injector in the TB fail(forgot to mention this one, it was a problem a long time ago on my 2.5L TBI), causing rough/no idle condition. Be careful not to drop anything down the TB when pulling the injector, and get replacement o-rings before checking them - they usually discintigrate due to old age and Ethanol in our fuel. The injector is somewhat expensive, or at least it was back when I had issues around it. If the hose to the MAP sensor on the firewall is old or leaks, the engine won't idle right, either. Finally, if the EGR valve is stuck open, you would have trouble trying to idle. You should be able to move the diaphragm with your fingers reaching around and under the "UFO" shaped diaphragm. I have had a sticky EGR valve before. I could hear it squeak as the diaphragm moved while driving, a weird sort of chirping sound. It is controlled by a vacuum solenoid valve with a hose leading to it, one leading away from it, and a small plastic filter that allows it to purge vacuum to atmosphere when necessary. That tiny filter fitting can get clogged. Also have had the solenoid quit working, so I replaced it. All things EGR related for mine were long ago. Gah, one other thing - make sure the brake booster isn't rusted underneath. A pinhole of rust can make for a large vacuum leak. You'd know if it was leaking, though, because all you'd have is manual brakes - little to no stopping power. If it is rusted/no good, consider the WJ or '95-up XJ dual-diaphragm booster/master cylinder upgrade/swap - its incredible how much it increases braking performance, and is the first upgrade I'd do to any older XJ/MJ I'll ever own.

Without getting into politics, this is exactly what's wrong with the banking industry, and we haven't changed a thing about how they operate/gamble.

Likely vacuum leak. Check intake to block bolt tightness, then look for bad hoses. There's one that forms a tight 90degree behind the throttle body on Renix TBI 2.5s. I replace it with a longer hose(like 6 inches compared to 2.5), and run it up in a loop, so the hose doesn't clamp closed in the tight bend that would be required to replace the original with a similar length of hose, and it lasts longer. The original is a molded rubber elbow, and its always gone bad on every one I've ever seen.

Good luck with the swap, man. You've probably already searched various Jeep/XJ forums for info on the swap, but if you haven't, there's a bunch of info out there.

Hope yer right and its just noise in the t-case. 242 swap would be similar to doing one in any other Jeep - you'll need the shifter for the different gate positions from the 249 shifter. You'll need one for a ZJ, though, which could be harder to locate. If you find one to pull the 242 from, get its shifter. I doubt there's any other Jeep model that used the same shifter.

Knew there were differences. Guess I was thinkin about Toyota transmissions when I mentioned the possibility of different input shaft lengths. Edited that out. Just different pilot sizes.

Lived it. :D Took a year to find a good MJ, and I still had to trailer that one home. Same with my AMC Eagles. Now I'm the guy who's got vehicles for sale that everyone knows someone who knows someone who can email me, but no one can get ahold of me directly. Enjoy not talking to me. You'll get there eventually.

There were two different input shaft pilot bearing sizes. Don't ask me what they are or when they were produced, but there are two different designs, likely related to the internal vs external slave setup.