DirtyComanche

Yeah, you will need them. You can drop the bracket in the front a bit, but not that much.

Do you have the crossmember in the correct location, since the wrong set of holes would have been there? If you don't, it might not be a big deal, but you might not be able to adjust the axle to the right location...

Going European? 3 on the tree is hard enough...

No idea what you're trying to do here... On an unrelated product that uses a GM column, when I auto to manual swapped it I just took the shift lever off and wired the linkage on the other side of the firewall so it wouldn't move. It was ghetto. That truck is what I use to plow my driveway, so it's totally reasonable for it. Don't do that unless you're okay with ghetto. I'd go to the boneyard and find the correct column. They aren't too expensive at this point given that there's millions of early XJs out there.

It's a good match to the rest of the vehicle... If your floor rusted out to begin with, then you probably want to use it.

Or you could just buy cold rolled. It's less money. Works fine too. Just not my first choice.

It's sheetmetal that has a passified/annealed light surface galvanization. It's what's typically used by OEMs to stamp body parts out of, although they may process it after stamping. It still welds well, as it is not a thick zinc coating, and minimal (and I mean minimal, wipe it with a solvent basically) prep is required for welding. It is much more corrosion resistant than standard bare sheetmetal, which normally will be oiled or it will be rusted by the time you purchase it. It also takes paint extremely well providing you use a decent primer. Lastly it's easier to form than typical cold rolled, as it has been annealed, which is very helpful if you're planning to do a bunch of hammer forming. It just doesn't make any sense to pay a junkyard for a part to cut metal off of, when you can go to a real steel yard and they will sell you a virgin sheet for very little money.

Seriously, good clean satin coat is not expensive. And you don't have existing paint/rust/dents on it to deal with. I might have recycled steel a few times because I ran out at a bad time, but I would never do it if I wasn't in a bind.

Now there's some quality MSPaint work. Random fact, you can do a bolt in SOA using the rear axle from a 70s-80s GM K-truck. Other than being the wrong width, lug pattern, and various other things that is.

Yes, center to center. Perch (and potentially spring) width varies some, so center to center is the standard for measuring them.

Do it right and buy some satin coat. Unless the floors are in bad shape, then buy the whole replacement pans from Rockauto or somewhere.

42". An XJ is 43.5" for comparison.

The earlier 4 cylinders were all V-belt too, so 86 for the MJ, 84-86 for the XJ, and then there's YJ parts. I'm still baffled as to what could be wrong with your P/S system. It should be able to run at 1400psi and not have a hiccup.

You could still install the kit, it would just be more work. IMHO anything is possible, but attaching stuff to the uniframe is always a pain in the butt.

This is a concern. The transmission mounting changed, and I don't know for sure if the pre-87 chassis actually had the second set of mount holes which are needed to properly locate the LA crossmember. If you have an 87 or later and a Peugeot tranny you can make it work, but you have to mod up the tranny mount as the crossmember goes too far back for it.

I dunno what that set is for. YJ? If you click the applications thing it makes almost zero sense. :rotf: I found a 92? latch at the wrecker today, no key, but the guy knows me so he just let me take it. It's different, uses the Chrysler bisexual key rather than the GM/AMC style keys, but it functions and fits the same otherwise. I'm going to take it to the locksmith tomorrow hopefully, but I might phone the big truck wrecker and the import wrecker first. They both tend to have an XJ or two in their yard (the big truck wrecker has a nice MJ that I've debated trying to save), but normally they're pretty useless if you call them. It's this style of latch, which is listed as fitting a 94, and only a 94, but the Jeep I took it from I really don't think was a 94. https://www.summitracing.com/int/parts/cwa-4746293/overview/ They don't sell it with a key either, and I don't have a key of that style (other than for another Jeep), so it's kinda useless for me to buy that one anyways. I guess it comes with the cap to crimp it back together, so that's something.

Seems really odd still. Where were they measuring the pressure? Most pumps are set to >1000psi.

There isn't a lot of options in this part of the world... But yeah, I'm probably just going to be paying whatever it is and so be it. Or it looks like you can just rekey it yourself, the cover is a crimped on retainer for the guts of the lock. I can get the covers, just it will be cross border shipping. Doesn't fix the problem that I don't have a cylinder that isn't broken (the arm on the back of them breaks off if you're a numpty).

Uhhh, I just broke the 'good' one that I had, durr... I'm waiting to see if anyone else local comes forward, or I will go back to the junkyard and pull one without keys. I really didn't expect this to be a problem.

Not MJ tech, so I put it here... Anyone know where I could buy a hatch lock cylinder and key for a 89 XJ? I can't find a used one with the key, and can't find a listing for a new one. Oldest I'm finding is 94, and it doesn't look the same. Worst case I will take a couple of my broken ones to a locksmith, but that will probably be more money than buying one, if I can find one...

They aren't supposed to come out when the cylinder is turned. However, at this point most of them will do it... Chances are if jiggling a random key in it gets it to turn, it means you can probably just do it with a screwdriver and some jiggling... The cylinder is totally worn out at that point and needs to be replaced. If you buy the Omix-Ada one it probably comes with the incorrect keys though. I bought an Omix cylinder for my J10 and it came with GM marked keys. :doh:

I would assume cost too, I'm guessing the limited numbers they needed to produce no longer justified building the axles in house. Rule of scale. By that point I don't think they were using the model 20 in anything else as they had already gone away from it in the SJs and there was no option for a HD rear axle in the YJ, nor had they been offering a HD axle in the XJ prior to the 87 model year. They might have just been using up old stock to assemble the axles for the 86 model year MJ? Somebody on here posted a truck with an 86 truck with an abnormal but factory D44 didn't they, or maybe I'm crazy?

And a bigger ring gear, carrier, pinion, etc. Basically it's the axle that should have been used in all MJ rear applications, but that would have been too much to ask.

Is there a rule reason that makes this engine attractive? Because otherwise I see zero attraction to it. Yes, it's lighter and makes more power, but it's pretty much a complicated pile with an extremely unfriendly management system, and really not that robust.

It shouldn't be a big deal. Is something not straight, or not seating correctly, and do the bolt threads properly match the hub threads?