DirtyComanche

If the engine is an 88 then it's actually out of a Chevy. Jeep only used the GM 2.8L in 86 in Comanches, and 84-86 in Cherokees. GM used it for longer than that, and there was some minor differences, but I'm certainly no expert on the subject. I want to say your trans will be a T4. But umm, I might be forgetting things. I would spend some time evaluating the condition of that engine before doing much else with it. It looks like everything you have body and chassis wise is in good enough shape to fix easily, or it's stuff that can be sourced from an XJ Cherokee, so that's good news.

There's a sticky at the top of the page on opening the hood if the release breaks.

That cable might be the same, it's listed as such but I believe 84-86 is not the same as 87-90. Or you could just buy a new one for $20, which I can guarantee you fits and is plenty long. http://www.rockauto.com/en/moreinfo.php?pk=2950014&cc=1179929&jsn=377

Some people like the smoker windows. Personally I don't. But if you're at the point you've cut two vehicles in half and welded them together, swapping to your preferred window setup is pretty minor in the grand scheme of things.

In my build thread I have pictures of making my own transfer case linkage with parts that could be sourced from any decent hardware store. I would recommend doing that over making the stock linkage work, as it is a terribly flawed design. Do you have a speedo cable for it right now? Not sure what you want to know about how it hooks up, but if you have all '89 parts (which you probably don't) it will thread into the tailhousing of the tcase, then it runs up the inside of the driver's framerail, then up the firewall and through it to the back of the cluster where it connects with a quick connect type fitting (pushes on, pull the collar back to release). Most likely you have a newer tcase and it does not have the correct drive setup in it for a cable drive speedo, clean off the round tag on the back of tcase to find what year it is and snap some pictures of it.

Replace anything that's worn out or even slightly suspect in the front axle/suspension/steering before or while installing it. My 4wd swap was started 3 owners back, so it was literally thrown together with thrashed parts, which wound up costing me a ton of time, money, and pain in the end. I did the V8 ZJ tie rod, flipped the tie rod end, and the newer style XJ drag link to upgrade the earlier junk (which was also completely worn out). I also did the ball joints and unit bearings. My brakes were okay, other than the hoses were rotten and shorter than ideal. I bought YJ hoses for the front and a Dakota hose for the rear. The only worn out parts I ultimately left were the upper control arm bushings as I wanted to replace the UCAs completely (this is actually still on the to-do list and I might do it shortly since I'm waiting for clutch parts, another thing one of the POs did improperly). I would have saved a lot of money and headache had I realized everything was thrashed, as I would have either done a large Rockauto order for every wear part, or just bought a low mile JK axle or newer XJ axle from the wrecker along with some nicer aftermarket parts. Actually I really regret not going the JK axle route, but that's a different topic entirely. Also if you're anywhere that's rusty, start putting some penetrating oil on the bolts and nuts now. I'd also suggest having all new hardware from the control arms, track bar, leaf springs, and shocks on hand.

I believe if it has a Quadratrac it will have a TH-400 even if it's a 258.

Wasn't available for an automatic :( 91 4.0 Manual 2X4 Shortbed with 225k St. Louis MO That's too bad, I knew you could get one but didn't realize it was only with the 6spd. I don't understand why they won't offer the lockers or the low range tcase as separate options for any configuration.

Hmm, makes me curious to check my collection of Moab wheels.

If the threads are hoopajuped I would buy the correct helicoil kit and not look back. You will need some access to do this properly, not sure how far apart the truck is now but be prepared to strip the header panel off and the rad out.

Looking clean so far.

I'd measure everything and not take anyone's word on what will work ideally for you. If you're running larger tires and stock fenders, you're going to want to add length to the bumpstops, and thus a longer shock may work out better than what is normally considered to be 'correct' as you're going to be limiting up travel and using the down travel. Or, if you're not going for the maximum tire size you may be bumpstopping a lot less; I actually run the stock stops, and then a shorter shock is better as it will allow for more up travel. My lower mounts are relocated slightly (I'm SOA) but I'm actually using stock length shocks.

Neither is a Comanche body with a Chevy engine in it. So all the 2.8L Comanches are fakes?

No rear locker?

It sounds like you need very few MJ specific parts. Hit the junkyard. You will have most of what you need without even trying.

Amsoil MTG. What?

Rockauto.com is selling reprints of the actual factory service manuals for many years of Jeep vehicles. They aren't cheap, but they're worth 10x what they cost... Or look on ebay or use the ones linked off cruiser54's website.

It's won't be a speed demon. But it will be way better than stock... I've debated throwing a 4l in my 76 because the 258 is seeming less than healthy.

I made mine out of an AW4 mount because I didn't have an AX-15 handy... If you're stuck, it is a fairly easy piece to make. To do it over I would make a different mount for the exhaust anyways, because the previously mentioned 'sad face' one isn't the best for what I'm normally doing.

HF tools (or PA here) can't do what a lot of the higher end stuff does. I can not physically fit most of the import tools into places on the stuff I work on. To tear an engine down I might be removing several hundred bolts with 7mm 12 point heads, and many of them are in places you can't get a conventional socket or wrench on them. So you're using a swivel socket, or dropped box ends, or long flat box ends, etc, and the only stuff that will actually fit and not round off is the high end stuff. Plus you need a plethora of line wrenches to get at all the inconveniently located B nuts. I still have a bunch of stuff that's been bent, ground, or milled, but there is no avoiding that. Working on a truck, meh, lots of the stuff isn't gonna matter, just have a backup for when it breaks. I won't go back to cheap ratchets though. Or screwdrivers. And I'll admit I have some Snap-On impact sockets at home because I got them cheap.

Not many people know about it, and like I said, no idea if the part is available anymore. It was a steel shim with rubber bonded to both sides, so they only lasted so long before the rubber fell apart. As they say, there really is no new ideas, just retakes on old ideas. :laughin:

I'd like to see how you installed them (plural?) on an inverted T steering system. Got pics? It's installed the same way, where the drag link meets the tie rod. I have hydro-assist and it removes a lot of the load from the actual drag link, so it stiffens it enough that it stops the drag link from wanting to roll the tie rod as bad. I also sucked the tie rod ends in more than you normally would since I had to modify the steering knuckles/arms, so the tie rod won't roll as much to begin with, but it did make a noticeable difference in road handling having The Cure in there. I ordered it on a whim, prior to deciding how the steering would work anyways, and if I really intended to street drive it all the time I would probably order two of them and put them under the TREs, or get the actual FSJ part that does the same thing (elastomeric puck that goes between the TRE and the steering arm). That's assuming the FSJ part is actually still available. Steering looks like this: Image Not Found Which doesn't show much. :rotf:

Well, I ordered that Luk clutch kit and flywheel. I will see what's going on when I pull the old one out... I went snow wheeling and the clutch wound up slipping in at least one instance, when I got back the disengagement issue was worse and the clutch was making noise. The more I read it looks like there's about a 100% failure rate with machined flywheels, however some of them take longer to show up than others. I think snow wheeling (loading it heavy constantly) probably accelerated the problem on mine, as it most likely was only a couple thousand kilometers since the clutch was changed. That said, I still don't know what parts the PO used or what condition they were in.

They work. Helped a lot with my XJ that uses inverted T steering.

There's some good pictures of the differences in some other threads on here.