Trading my XJ for a MJ...need help

[717jeepin]

Hey guys I'm about to trade my 1997 XJ for a 1987 MJ short bed, 4.0, 5 speed, 4wd. I've got a few questions about it. 

1: Are there any major issues with a 87 MJ? Besides the usual small things for a 30 year old truck?

2: Are there any places prone to rust? 

3: The seller said he things it has a dana 35. I'll be running 33s and a locker. I know that dana 35s are known for being weak. Should I swap for a 8.25 from a 1999 XJ that I have laying around?

4: In the trade, I get to keep my wheels and tires and front bunper. My tires are 33x12.5r15s. It has a 3" lift. Do you think I'd be able to drive it home with them or will it rub severely? 

5: Is there a reason why more people don't do SOA more often? It seems like a pretty easy way to add some lift for cheap and keep the stock ride quality in the rear. Everybody that I know who has a MJ keeps it SUA. 

6: This will be my first manual vehicle. How is the transmission in the 1987 MJs? Is it easy to learn on and easy to control offroad? 

 

Thanks guys. I'm going to check it out this evening and trade in a few days if everything looks good. 

[89 MJ]

34 minutes ago, 717jeepin said:

Hey guys I'm about to trade my 1997 XJ for a 1987 MJ short bed, 4.0, 5 speed, 4wd. I've got a few questions about it. 

1: Are there any major issues with a 87 MJ? Besides the usual small things for a 30 year old truck?

2: Are there any places prone to rust? 

3: The seller said he things it has a dana 35. I'll be running 33s and a locker. I know that dana 35s are known for being weak. Should I swap for a 8.25 from a 1999 XJ that I have laying around?

4: In the trade, I get to keep my wheels and tires and front bunper. My tires are 33x12.5r15s. It has a 3" lift. Do you think I'd be able to drive it home with them or will it rub severely? 

5: Is there a reason why more people don't do SOA more often? It seems like a pretty easy way to add some lift for cheap and keep the stock ride quality in the rear. Everybody that I know who has a MJ keeps it SUA. 

6: This will be my first manual vehicle. How is the transmission in the 1987 MJs? Is it easy to learn on and easy to control offroad? 

 

Thanks guys. I'm going to check it out this evening and trade in a few days if everything looks good. 

It has the Peugeot BA10/5. These are known for being weak

 

Floors rust, bedsides rust, frame rusts where to front of the leaf spring mounts, sometimes rockers and cab corners rust. 

 

Swap in the 8.25 unless it has a D44 (you say it doesn’t)

 

I can’t say whether or not you will rub, I clear 31s with about 2.5 inches of front lift without rub. Rubbing will depend on the wheel backspacing. 

 

Can’t say about SOA either. 

 

How easy it will be to learn manual on depends on the axle gearing. My guess is you have 3.07s, so it won’t be super easy. 

 

All that being said, you should get it as long as it is not SUPER rusty. Odds are it will have rusty floors and maybe bedsides. Also, rust can be fixed relatively easily if you can weld. 

[eaglescout526]

Why do we keep bad mouthing the D35? If AMC had known it was gonna be a bad axle, they would have never used it on any of their vehicles. The D35 will last anyone a long time as long as you give it care and maintenance and don’t put giant tires on it. If Chrysler knew it was a bad axle they wouldn’t have used it when they acquired AMC.  Sure they changed it up after what? Five years or so years when they ran the XJ. 

 

If you don’t want to dump money or time into an axle swap that is meant for putting larger than stock tires and rims on it then don’t swap. The D35 will last you a life time until it tells you it wants to be a boat anchor. 

[Pete M]

um, because one random day driving to work my 35 started spitting out ring gear teeth?  Although they aren't made of cardboard, they get that "weak" reputation for a reason.  

 

The 87 4.0 manual trans is the dreaded Peugeot.  If it works fine now, I'd keep it.  But I'd also start hunting for an AX-15 for later down the road.   There are a ton of threads on transmission swapping in the link in my signature.

 

SOA gives around 6" of lift and that can be quite expensive to match up front which might be why some people choose a smaller lift amount.

[thecodemonk]

 

2 hours ago, 717jeepin said:

Hey guys I'm about to trade my 1997 XJ for a 1987 MJ short bed, 4.0, 5 speed, 4wd. I've got a few questions about it. 

1: Are there any major issues with a 87 MJ? Besides the usual small things for a 30 year old truck?

2: Are there any places prone to rust? 

3: The seller said he things it has a dana 35. I'll be running 33s and a locker. I know that dana 35s are known for being weak. Should I swap for a 8.25 from a 1999 XJ that I have laying around?

4: In the trade, I get to keep my wheels and tires and front bunper. My tires are 33x12.5r15s. It has a 3" lift. Do you think I'd be able to drive it home with them or will it rub severely? 

5: Is there a reason why more people don't do SOA more often? It seems like a pretty easy way to add some lift for cheap and keep the stock ride quality in the rear. Everybody that I know who has a MJ keeps it SUA. 

6: This will be my first manual vehicle. How is the transmission in the 1987 MJs? Is it easy to learn on and easy to control offroad? 

 

Thanks guys. I'm going to check it out this evening and trade in a few days if everything looks good. 

 

Welcome to the MJ club!  These trucks really are uncommon gems and are a blast!

 

1: Cruisers's tips for checking grounds and wiring...check floorpans for rust (something I *still* haven't done on mine...doh!).  I don't know if there's anything special about that year to check, but it sounds like maybe nothing huge.  Check the stickies in the forum...they're full of truly useful information.

 

2: Like was said above...floorpans are the biggest thing.  89 MJ's post covers the rest it looks like.

 

3: If you get a picture of the rear pumpkin, it'll be easy to identify the axle.  The dana 35 will last fine on stock tires, as the AMC engineers planned it for...but you mentioned thinking about 33's, which will strain that d35 under any significant load.  You *might* make it last longer if you tend to have a light foot, but that's a tough assumption to make.

 

4: I suspect that the 33's will rub, even at 3 inches of lift.  Specifically, in the front unless you do some trimming to the front air dam (even then, be careful going over bumps).  My 33's fit on a SOA  (which is 5-6" of lift) but still required trimming that front fender (and it will still occasionally rub a little on the wheel wells when turning and hitting a good size bump at the same time).  If it's not far, you can probably make it home by driving like a granny and expecting not to have your full turning radius (depending on backspacing and what arms are on there)

 

5: SOA is cheap on the rear (though I think it technically increases the possibility of leaf spring wrap), but not cheap on the front.  Getting 5+ inches of lift on the front is beyond the droop capability of most short arms without drop brackets.  The alternative to drop brackets is long arms.  That much lift usually means a new track bar as well...and while you're in there, probably get some upgraded steering arms...and on and on.  I tried the short arm route but there are a lot of drop brackets that don't fit well, and that ended up being a waste and I just ended up with a long arm setup and now I have a bunch of RuffStuff short arm stuff sitting in my garage, having never been used.

 

6: Like Pete M said...Peugot will work fine until it decides not to anymore.  If it works, drive it while searching for the AX15 (best option for stock manual trans).  It's not going to be a sports car, so the clutch won't be ultra sensitive.  With the 4.0L having plenty of torque, it should be perfectly fine for learning on.  You'll stall it a few times at a light...don't worry about it, we all have.  Just start it up and get going again.  As for offroad, being in low range is what makes a manual easy to do offroad.  Learning to offroad with a manual though, without overrevving all the time, will make you a better manual driver as a whole.  You'll really learn exactly where your clutch grabs.  Otherwise, I'm of the opinion that an automatic is the easiest transmission to use offroad.

[eaglescout526]

22 minutes ago, Pete M said:

um, because one random day driving to work my 35 started spitting out ring gear teeth?  Although they aren't made of cardboard, they get that "weak" reputation for a reason.

Hmm. I feel the weak thing comes from running larger than 235 tires. We’re you running stock set up at the time it broke?

[Pete M]

40 minutes ago, eaglescout526 said:

Hmm. I feel the weak thing comes from running larger than 235 tires. We’re you running stock set up at the time it broke?

 

stock 2wd running monstrous 30" tires.   in its defense, it lasted like 5 owners and 180k miles before it blew up.   But it still blew up on me one morning on my way to work.     

 

My personal rule of thumb with a 35 is leave it alone for stock tires, but upgrade it before getting larger tires or a desired regear. 

 

 

[eaglescout526]

On 10/9/2019 at 9:14 AM, Pete M said:

stock 2wd running monstrous 30" tires.   in its defense, it lasted like 5 owners and 180k miles before it blew up.   But it still blew up on me one morning on my way to work

Huh, fair enough.

[omega_rugal]

On 10/9/2019 at 8:57 AM, eaglescout526 said:

Why do we keep bad mouthing the D35?

 

because it´s a bad choice for a vehicle that is 99.99% likely to be abused with big tires and heavy off roading...

 

as for the OP question, try swaping a later 88-91 renix ECU, some say the have a better fuel curve that will give a few more horses...

[Wallace Krempa]

On 10/9/2019 at 9:10 AM, 717jeepin said:

 

4: In the trade, I get to keep my wheels and tires and front bunper. My tires are 33x12.5r15s. It has a 3" lift. Do you think I'd be able to drive it home with them or will it rub severely? 

 

I run a AX-15 through a DANA 44 more money up front, but will last. I also have 33x12.5 on a 9 inch lift, every now and then when taking a hard corner i will still rub. For the most part i don't. i have a freind who was running 33X12.5 on a 3 inch lift, and everywhere he went he rubbed, he eventually broke down and put a 9 inch on.