DirtyComanche

There's a Dakota bumper on mine. Do not recommend.

Yes, that's a good bang for the buck axle. The earlier Isuzu 12 Bolt is actually a good axle too, deep gears, disk brakes, stronger than a D44, but it has the same issue as the Waggy rear D44 in that it's 58.5" wide (and it doesn't have much aftermarket support).

Another thing to keep in mind is that axles from different generations are not equal despite carrying the same nomenclature. XJ/MJ D30 =/= JK D30 Waggy D44 (front or rear) =/= JK D44\ Both of the newer axles use a different gear cut, slightly different sized gears, larger/better bearings, etc, and are considerably stronger than the older generation. Likewise some oddball axles like the Ford D50 actually has a very strong gearset, probably stronger than an old D60, despite using a fairly small 9" ring gear, as the bearings are considerably larger/better in it vs the old style D60. The Super 60s, as they're often called, being the D60s found in the Ford Superduty trucks are also way stronger than the previous generation D60s, again with larger gears and better bearings (plus better axle shafts, ujoints, knuckles, etc). Axles like the Ford 9" are very strong because of the gear cut/hypoid offset along with the third pinion bearing (likewise with the GM 14 bolt and Eaton HO axles).

I'll start by saying I've done it, so I'm not looking at this from the other side of the curtain or with no practical experience. The axle has some major downsides: -Low pinion, which means reduced strength of the gearset when used in the forwards direction, but more importantly the front driveshaft is now on a much greater operating angle and is exposed to much more potential for damage. As the engine/trans/tcase is mounted at a several degree rake in the chassis, this means the front output on the tcase is actually pointing upwards by several degrees, then add in that the pinion is now some 5" lower and you have a recipe for exceeding the operating angle on the double cardan joint at the tcase. -Width, it's 60.5" wide or so, which seems initially to be rather ideal as that is a very close match to the stock D30 axle. However, in order to fit tires that justify going to such an axle one inevitably needs them to be much farther outside of the wheel well than the factory put them, leading to using wheels with very low backspacing or spacers. This will cause negative consequences in regards to the scrub radius, which does matter, do not think this is some theoretical suspension design pixie dust magic that will not impact you. Having the scrub radius massively incorrect will result in the steering being very hard at low speed, especially with a traction aid, the steering and vehicle itself being less stable at higher speed, and the requirement for the wheels to break traction to a much greater extent than normal in order to be turned at very low speeds or while stopped. Also, use of very low backspacing wheels does cause the same wear issues as on the D30, with wheel bearing life being reduced and the balljoints subject to greater leverage causing increased loading/wear. -Width, again, this time in regards to the rear, the matching width rear axle will not fit well in the MJ due to the rear wheel well design/frame width, at least vs the XJ. So again, you need the low backspacing wheels or spacers here too, especially if you just grab the matching Waggy D44/AMC 20 rear which is only 58.5" wide. -Axle shaft strength, the outer stub shafts are NOT designed for strength, and are only 19 spline and considerably weaker than the D30 stubs. There is solutions to this, but they both cost money, being either aftermarket 4340 outers or 30 spline outers and Yukon/Warn 30 spline drive hubs or a broached drive slug/flange. The downside of sticking with the 19 spline outers is that none of the drive hubs available are very strong, with the OEM Spicer ones actually being the best (which I think are discontinued but some parts are being made in the aftermarket), or you could use the factory drive flanges and lose the advantage of being able to easily disconnect the front axle. Plus, the 19 spline axleshafts, even in 4340, are not super strong, and if you do have one fail there is a reasonable change that it will destroy the spindle with it. Going the 30 spline route is just expensive in general, but is the best option as it allows you to use the Yukon Hardcore Hubs, which are a great product in that they're very strong, low profile, and able to take abuse (no plastic dials, etc). -Ujoint strength, because of the spindle pilot diameter and the ball joint location, the same 760X ujoint as the D30 is used on the Waggy D44, so there is no upgrade here, the only advantage is with selectable hubs you can run the high strength joints that use bushings/plain bearings without wearing them out immediately. -Ball joint strength, recent discussion indicates that the ball joints are not really an upgrade over the D30 due to their minimal vertical separation. The knuckles and Cs are better though. However, you're not gaining as much here as one would hope. -Steering angle, it's considerably less than many other axles, this was because the undersized 760X ujoint was used and limiting the angle would go a long ways to making it live, plus the negative effects of a full time 4wd arrangement are more obvious at greater steering angles (most Wagoneers are Quadratrac and come with drive flanges, the front axle is always connected). This makes a huge difference to how maneuverable the vehicle will be in tight quarters. You can get more angle out of them, but it's still a consideration. Also to consider is that you may find the steering sucks without spending a bunch of money on it. This is a fairly moot point as regardless of what you do you will want to spend money on steering. I would never do it again. The old F-150 D44s that are high pinion and about 64-65"~ wide, yes, I would consider one, but it is still not a cheap swap once you deal with the outer shafts/hubs. I'd probably go with RCVs and Yukon Hardcore Hubs. Those axles are also getting hard to find too. I've said it before, I regret not just getting a set of JK axles for my current MJ, they have their own downsides but they're pretty decent when looking at the above list of issues, really the only big downside to me is that they don't have selectable hubs.

The Waggy D44 is one of the most overrated and counterproductive swaps out there.

It is an SSL LoPro10. It has an integrated 1200 watt amp and a remote gain knob. It sounds decent and is getting better as it get broken in. You won't disturb the neighborhood but it fills the void of base in the cab. I am running a Pioneer AVH-2300NEX head unit. My amp leads and RCAs are from KnuKoncepts. I personally think their wiring is some of the best money can buy. For $123 shipped it is worth the money to have a compact amp/sup that can easily be hidden. Thanks; threw the LoPro8 in my Amazon cart for later. I don't need big sound, so I think it might be the ticket.

Info on that sub? And hows it sound? That tint makes it look even better.

Looks way better with the new shoes.

Also, a quick way to see if the differential is maybe okay or not is to just pull the fill plug out and stick your finger in the oil, then take a look at the oil colour. If it's silver, or has metallic flakes in it, then you're definitely going to be pulling the cover. If it's tar black you might as well pull it and change the oil too. While you're in there look for chunks, metal, loose parts, broken teeth, etc. Personally I'm betting it's an engine issue (or running issue, not necessarily the engine's fault) that's causing the driveline to shudder (as Eagle said) or maybe the exhaust to bounce more than usual and hit stuff, or the engine is popping and farting.

A gas station here put a tanker load of straight ethanol in their 87 octane tank, then proceeded to sell it as 87. I'm not sure how a MJ would really run on straight ethanol, but I'm guessing it would be low power and other side effects like afterfires and stuttering.

That's the first I've heard that they fixed that. It never bothered me too much, but my driveway is not flat so it was less than helpful at time. I know they certainly did do a lot to make them better as time went on, with the redesigned top and less minivan engine being the two big things. That said, I don't anticipate buying another, not because I didn't like it but because it has no niche in my fleet of vehicles.

Without a SYE, the pinion angle does not change when you go SOA. The same kit would work in all cases. With a SYE (specifically with the double cardan driveshaft, that's actually the deciding factor) it matters that the pinion be pointed 2 degrees above or below the output on the tcase (with below being favoured unless you're running an antiwrap bar, basically forget I said above as an option since we're better off not discussing that), and there is still some leeway there (if it's within 0-3 degrees it will probably be fine), which given the generally long driveshafts of the MJ you're probably going to be close enough. That said, I still think the kit would be an abomination, and I almost always recommend a SYE and the double cardan driveshaft to go with a bigger lift like a SOA. That's my opinion, not interested in discussing the SYE or not thing.

Absolutely. I still wouldn't call the 3.6 "peppy." But the 3.8 really is a dog, especially compared with hopping in the Comanche that was 1000lbs+ lighter. My Comanche isn't fast either, but at least it felt like it was trying.

I owned it for 6? years, it's not like I didn't like it, it was just a... Jeep.

Goldilocks says the first one is too few, the last one is too many, but the middle one is just right.

Not sure if it was a good idea or not, but I sold it. Goodbye Pumpkin, or 'Project Ghey-Kay' as I more often referred to you as. I'll miss you, and your random ChryslerFiat electrical oddities, and your under built plastic bits that are critical to systems functioning that break in the cold, and your severe lack of power, and your traction control system that tried to kill me every time it snows, and your top that always leaked...

How do you get at the clutch with that? Or just power it out?

While I don't fully recommend it, many people have put the perches on without welding and then driven to where they could be welded. Personally I'd just do some math and have them welded on ahead of time. If you're going with a big lift you normally need to do an axle upgrade anyways, might as well get two birds stoned at the same time.

The O2 sensor on a Renix has a heating element in it to ensure accurate readings regardless of exhaust temperature. You can test them with a multimeter. Personally I haven't really read the rest of the thread, but you need to verify all sensor functions and that no injectors are stuck/leaking or plugs are bad before doing anything else. Otherwise it's just the typical guessing game as to of what might be going on, if there even is anything wrong.

Not really. Those are heims or rod ends, and aren't really comparable to a typical tie rod end setup. What you have is possibly stronger, but will suffer wear issues much quicker.

I'd just go SOA in the rear, then match the front to whatever that worked out to, then bumpstop as required and/or add springs or spacers to get it to exactly where you want it. However, if you want to do zero cutting or trimming, I'd just about guarantee you will need 6" lift and about 5" worth of bumpstops.

You need to see where the wires actually go. Yes, they may have used it to bypass the starter/ignition relay, which would be absolutely stupid but it wouldn't be a first, since all that stuff would have cost more money and been a big PITA compared with just swapping out the relay. What is still hooked to the starter relay? There should be a green (IIRC) wire from the center pin on it to actuate the starter solenoid, if that's still hooked to the starter solenoid then it's not that... Also could have been a charging or isolation system for a camper or trailer battery... There is a good chance that if it was for some piece of equipment that was removed, that the wires off it are just cut off and taped over somewhere.

Top one appears to be an old style starter solenoid, generic GM/Ford/Chrysler sort of a part, although most of them normally have 4 contacts. If that's the case, it's just missing the "I" contact, which wasn't always used. The other two look like they're self resetting thermal breakers (often referred to as fuses, but they don't fuse). Is there an inverter wired in the truck? Big HAM or VHF radio? Or some sort of device that needs a lot of power? It looks like it is set up to provide a switchable power supply that likely is keyed to the ignition. Of course without actually seeing where the wires go, who knows.

Do you know anyone that lives close to a Mexican border town or visits there regularly? It is the place to get good quality chroming done. Otherwise phone your local heavy equipment dealers and see who they use for cylinders, they may still be dealing with a semi-local shop.