New to this mj..

[87Chief]

Hello everyone. I've been visiting this site for awhile to just look at everyones rides. Good news I heard about 2 weeks ago is that I might be getting my uncles/grandfathers 1986 jeep Comanche chief.. In about august after my cousins wedding. Said he will give it to me since I like jeeps (I have a 1998 Tj with 5" lift and 35s getting an 8.8 for the rear soon). I plan on using the mj as my daily driver through college. I know it's a 4cyl 4x4 5speed I don't know much more about it. If I visit down in AL soon I'll look at it. I know that metal fill plug is D44 (hoping it has it) but I'm not sure about the transmission (ax15 or ba10 I think yall call it) wwondering why the ba is so bad.

 

Thanks for reading and hoping to have a great time in the Comanche club as well as wrangler :-)

[WBKrazy]

welcome to the club! beer's in the fridge... got any pics of the mj? and it won't have either of those transmissions, they only come with the 4.0... yours will have an ax-5 transmission in it, which is decent...

[87Chief]

Yeah I was thinking about doing a 4.0L swap to make it my DD.. I might just keep it stock though. And sorry no pics yet might have to dig

[dasbulliwagen]

Metal or rubber fill plugs has nothing to do with what axle you have. I have dana 35's with both styles in them. And a 4cyl truck most likely won't have a dana 44. Sorry. It will probably have 4:10 gearing though!

[STERLING STINGER]

Metal or rubber fill plugs has nothing to do with what axle you have. I have dana 35's with both styles in them. And a 4cyl truck most likely won't have a dana 44. Sorry. It will probably have 4:10 gearing though!

i agree

 

one of my 35s plug is rubber

the other one is metal

[BORDENCOMANCHE]

I saw one once, a D44 in the scrap yard hooked up to a long box 4 banger 2wd manche. Unfortunately I was next to broke and the guy wouldn't allow cutting in his yard because of all the long dry grass so I left it there. Cursing myself, and besides, hauling home a D44 sticking out the back of your grand prix just ain't cool, but I have done worse :popcorn:

[Geonovast]

It wouldn't have a D44 anyway. Metric Tonne packages in 86 came with an AMC 20

[87Chief]

Ok, thanks. Atleast I know what I"m expecting now..

 

What are the years of the XJ's that are bolt in 4.0L engines? What will I need to get also with the engine?

 

Thanks

[Geonovast]

4.0 into an 86? Every year is as "bolt in" as the last.

 

You will need EVERYTHING. Your best bet is to buy an entire donor XJ, gut the MJ, then slowly transfer everything over. You'll need all the wiring(engine bay and dash), as well as everything in the engine bay, engine, transmission. You'll probably want to keep your axles as the 2.8's gearing will most likely be better than the donor's especially if you get a donor with a 5 speed.

 

This swap has been done multiple times by quite a few people, hopefully one of them will chime in and/or link to a thread on this exact swap.

[LEAD_NOT_FOLLOW]

4.0 into an 86? Every year is as "bolt in" as the last.

A '86 model will have clearance issues with a 4.0L. The firewall is a bit different on the '86 model year than the 87+. You will need to "clearance" your firewall a bit to fit the 4.0L in.

[Geonovast]

4.0 into an 86? Every year is as "bolt in" as the last.

A '86 model will have clearance issues with a 4.0L. The firewall is a bit different on the '86 model year than the 87+. You will need to "clearance" your firewall a bit to fit the 4.0L in.

 

Yes I'm aware. He was asking which years of 4.0s would be a direct bolt in swap. It's going to be just as much work regardless of what year donor he has.

[87Chief]

Dang, thanks guys, so the years are about 87-90 4.0L from XJ's? Might buy a donor and just do engine and transmission then part out the rest on craigslist or something. I might have to bring 'em down to my Grandparents to keep as storage and run down there one summer and work on it.

[jimoshel]

Wondering why he would want to swap for anyway. Unless there's a compelling reason to such as a bad motor, going to pull mobile homes etc. why? My '89 2.5 5speed d35 4:10 does everything I could want it to. Good milage 20MPG. Dependable. Starts and gets me to where I'm going and back again and does it at 75-80 MPH. I'm sure a Vette or Firebird will out accellerate it but who cares. And this coming from an original hot rodder.

[Geonovast]

Dang, thanks guys, so the years are about 87-90 4.0L from XJ's? Might buy a donor and just do engine and transmission then part out the rest on craigslist or something. I might have to bring 'em down to my Grandparents to keep as storage and run down there one summer and work on it.

 

You can grab a 4.0 from any year XJ. Since you need the entire wiring and control system anyway, it'll be the same amount of work for any year up to 96, and 97+ conversions can be done too.

 

You can't just swap out the engine and transmission. The 2.5's control system will not support a 4.0. You need to swap everything.

[87Chief]

Ok, I will try and find a donor XJ to do it with.. I'm planning on doing this later on, once the engine has blown or something.

[Geonovast]

Might be awhile unless you intentionally mistreat it. 2.5 may be gutless, but it's about as hard to kill as the 4.0 (being basically the same motor). My 2.5 has something severly wrong with cylinder #1 (compression at 50psi), it runs like crap, spits, sputters, gets crap mileage, eats oil, and has on more than one occasion been run unknowingly on practically no oil. Stupid thing still hasn't quit on me.

[freakjeep93]

ive got a 2.5 L my 2wd 4 speed

i got it stuck in the snow once and my dad revved it up trying to get it out untill he blew the muffler out. it just ran even better with no muffler..... :rotfl2:

[freakjeep93]

the only way he was able to kill one was to drive it 100 kms with no water pump. and he know it to just was so pissed he didnt care :fool: he actually melted the pistons to the cylender walls :shake: