DirtyComanche

Not sure where you were going with this statement but heat, a hammer, and about 6 cans of pb blaster removes rear spring bolts on rust belt XJs. The front leaf spring bolt goes into a captive nut that's mostly inside the frame rail. They spin the captive nut. Then you can either fix it the right way or the wrong way, most guys do it the wrong way because it's a lot easier than doing it the right way. All XJs have the same wheel base, so I'm sure the 2-door and 4-door "frame" members are pretty much the same. Somebody did a really neat job getting the floor pans off that shell. They must have spent a week just drilling out spot welds They're the same. To the T. Yes, very different. Totally different shape past the splice just behind the tranny crossmember. Plus they put a hat piece on the floor to increase the height of the frame member. And added some other bracing. If you want to do it right to cut an XJ up and turn it into a quasi-MJ, it will be a lot of work. I'd probably cut way more of it apart than recommended and splice it at the tranny crossmember point or even at the LCA bracket area.

If they had the 242 tcase they were not CAD. I have an early non-CAD axle in my truck. What is the bigger picture on this? You want stock width, stock bolt pattern, bolt in a housing (no changing brackets on the axle itself), with really big brakes? Why? What are you doing with it? I've mentioned it before, but I really regret not just getting a set of JK axles and using them. There is bolt on big brake kits for them, and the brakes they come with are massive compared with the MJ/XJ stuff anyways. Plus you already get crossover steering. And, I've realized I'm rubbing the frame in the rear, so the width would have been nice. Oh, and IMHO those cartridge TREs are a great money grab. No thanks. Why not run the generic '1-ton' stuff? The advantage of it is it's available. Anywhere. Plus their generally isn't strength or longevity issues with it providing you buy decent TREs.

The topper is off a S10. I believe late 80s to mid 90s. It fits fairly decent but isn't quite right. It's held on with 4 aluminum canopy clamps (they're like a C clamp).

It was uh, 65ish today, if I did my cencible units to farchaic conversion right, sunny. I enjoyed adult beverages outside. Thought about hitting up one of the lakes... Maybe tomorrow.

:waving:

Doesn't seem like a bad price. Rockauto sells them too (Bishko is the brand), but they're more money than that. I'd assume these are exactly the same.

I just use a ratchet strap to the trans crossmember or to the tow hooks, depending which way it needs to go.

Guys have made flat plate adapters out of a piece of 1/2" aluminum and some correct metric countersunk machine screws. Nothing fancy, hole saw for the bore, drill bits, a countersink, and a tap to drill and thread the holes.

Wheel it and see what falls off?

Yay, it's the new Jeep Wrangler Sport-Trac.

That. Lots of guys swear by the pressurized bleeders too... I wish I had one for all the times I've screwed around trying to bleed a clutch. And you definitely don't have a leak anywhere still? Because you didn't replace the clutch line... They can crack, rust, chafe, rot, so make sure it's in good shape.

Looks really nice so far. Are you planning to put fender flares on it?

It's normal for these engines to have a little blowby, or to vent some oil onto the filter like that. They're not exactly a high-zoot ultramodern engine. Cruiser54 has a tech tip on his site about modifying the breather towers in the valve cover to cut down on it. Another option is to install a catch can of some sort.

Or you might find the original mirrors. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk I dislike them. If they were maybe 50% bigger they would be liveable. If I swap to the later style doors I will probably use the later style mirrors. I don't know if you could bolt them to the fender and still have a decent viewing angle out of them. :dunno: If anything they should be mounted back a little farther, but I choose to pick up on two existing holes rather than drilling all new holes. I looked for some generics like the OEM tow mirrors but didn't find anything that wasn't junk. Grote probably makes something like them but I forgot to check their catalog. All in all I'm happy enough with them for now. They might look a slight bit more natural if I made shims so they bolt on a bit straighter, since the YJ/TJ doors are flat and straight up and down, while the MJ door is angled in a bit where I put them.

Thanks. Yeah, there's more info in the build thread. Assuming photobucket still works, there's pictures of the brackets and calipers mounted. Edit - Currently it does not seem either of my photobucket accounts are working. If I have some time I will try to find all the pictures and upload them to Imgur. Photobucket has been nothing but downhill for the last couple years. Painting the topper is on the list. I was going to pull it off for summer (which would be a good time to paint it) but its been proving too useful for the time being. I am torn on if the truck will stay Krylon or not long term. I think I know where a better box is, and I have been eying up 97+ XJs for a front clip/doors swap. Or I might just keep touching it up and leave it.

Looking good! I'm assuming you're going to add flanges to the tranny crossmember if/when you need to remove it?

Well, that's garbage. Hope you find something else soon.

Which line of SMP? They make one line that is "Absolutely the cheapest option that will work long enough for you to sell the vehicle, or maybe to get you to the liquor store and back" and another that is "Not the greatest, but at least it isn't BWD." T-Series is what they call the terrible stuff, and the P/Ns are the same as the better stuff but with a T on the end. IE the automatic TPS is a TH67 for the better one, and a TH67T for the junk one. I didn't know that. Times change -- back in my pony car days, Standard was the go-to brand for points, condensers, caps and rotors. A lot of their better line of stuff is pretty good, but like everyone else they are victim of globalization and the race to the bottom. I don't think there is any aftermarket source of parts that can be completely trusted anymore.

Which line of SMP? They make one line that is "Absolutely the cheapest option that will work long enough for you to sell the vehicle, or maybe to get you to the liquor store and back" and another that is "Not the greatest, but at least it isn't BWD." T-Series is what they call the terrible stuff, and the P/Ns are the same as the better stuff but with a T on the end. IE the automatic TPS is a TH67 for the better one, and a TH67T for the junk one.

Very nice! :bowdown: And I think your car looks way better with those wheels on it. Less grandpa, to say the least. :yes:

Gauge error? Is it actually running hot, or has the gauge or sender started to fail? I changed the tstat in my truck because it was running cold, I naturally figured somebody had put the wrong tstat in it to try to mask an overheating problem. The temperature was the same afterwards. So, obviously it was the gauge or sender at that point. Turns out the temp sender was no good, I threw it in a cup of boiling water to check it and the gauge, then did the same with a known good sender. If it isn't an indicating problem, then your cats plugging would be a reasonable thing to check.

Do you have cruise control? Either way, the speedo cable, or one that will work, should be available. However, it looks like the worm gear that drives the odometer has rounded off...

I don't know about those manuals. If it is the same as this manual: http://www.rockauto.com/en/moreinfo.php?pk=3565545&cc=1181674&jsn=368then yes, it would be worth it. I doubt it is, as I don't think they would legally be able to sell the FSM for that little money since FCA still owns the copywrite for it and is not willing to give it away. For reference, the official reprint off Rockauto is $140 Canadian ($100~ US). They offer a licensed CD version of the official for about $22~ US here: http://www.rockauto.com/en/moreinfo.php?pk=3755688&cc=1181674&jsn=369 I'd probably spend the money on the CD version since I know it is real. You can find originals of the paper ones on eBay or the classifieds here fairly often, if you prefer a paper manual. I do feel the paper FSM is worth its weight in gold and would probably just buy the reprint off Rockauto if push came to shove, luckily the original owner of my first truck included them. Or you can download one of the pirated, er, I mean distributed in a manner strictly not for profit, copies from Cruiser54's website. 1990 one is pretty much bang on for a later production 89. http://cruiser54.com/?page_id=365 I doubt an original of that hose is available anywhere. It is a generic product though. The aviation term is scat hose, but I'm not sure what it's called in the rest of the world. Somebody else will know probably...

It's a NP242. Sorry we've absolutely mangled this thread with random sidetracks and off-topics

Found a tan wagoner an 86 tow package D-44s in a yard. Think it got crushed dam shame. I didn't need them but thought someone would grab them. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk XJ? Because I don't think any 86 XJ came with a D44. Now, that said, that's AMC days, and just about anything could have happened because AMC. IIRC, somebody on here posted up an 86 MJ with a D44 rear at one point, which the BOM did not match to anything that made any sense, nor was it the same as an 87-92 MJ D44, but it was the correct width and bolt pattern and definitely a truck D44, leaving one to assume it must have been one of those All Makes Combined moments.