My build sheet for my '90

[Pete M]

Anything else I'm missing for my sweet new daily driver?

 

1990 MJ with lots o' rust and no fear of parking lot dings :D

 

-4.0L (tired, but still kicking hard for having 210k miles)

 

-External slave added to the old AX-15

 

-NP-242 for all wheel drive

 

-31" all-terrain tires on cheap steelies (seen in the photo)

 

-Extra main leaf added under the current main to help control spring wrap

 

-1" spacer to balance out that extra leaf

 

-'98 XJ Dana 30 with 297 joints and 3.55 gears

 

-95 XJ dual-diaphram booster, MC, and prop valve

 

-Dual exhaust (post-muffler, not "true" dual)

 

-And I'm still debating this one because I have an extra 3.55 MJ Dana 44 that would just bolt in, but: '99 Explorer 8.8 with disks, open diff, maybe the anti-sway bar and a single 2" wheel spacer put on one side before the pads are welded on.

 

Coming soon to a garage near me. :banana: I have all the main componants, it just needs to get in line behind my other projects.

 

 

As she sits right now:

[DirtyComanche]

'99 Explorer 8.8 with disks, open diff, maybe the anti-sway bar and a single 2" wheel spacer put on one side before the pads are welded on.

 

 

Am I drunk or do you want to run a spacer on one side and offset the spring perches to make up for it? A little unorthadox. I have 1.25" on each side and the track doesn't match the front. And why an anti-sawy bar? Gonna be rally racing?

[Pete M]

The sway bar is still attached to the axle, links and all, so it was just a thought. It is a daily driver after all, and I've been known to take my corners a little fast. :D

As to the spacer, the Ford axle is off by like an inch and a half, so the thought is that if I add a spacer to the passenger side and then center tha axle and burn the perches, the axle would be the exact right width and the pinion would be a little more centered (not that I'm at all worried about that particular aspect).

[Oizarod115]

sorry to threadjack for a second pete but it seemed mucho pointless to make a new post for this tiny question.

how easy is it to modify leaf packs and add an extra main leaf like that?

 

btw i LOVE the way that mj looks

[DirtyComanche]

Easy. Get a new centering pin. Cut the old one. Cut down a donor main leaf. Stick back together, crank down new centering pin.

 

Oh, cut the clips off too.

[feerocknok]

And do the exhaust! I see it laying in the bed. Hack that up and put a real muff on!

[Pete M]

That's my dual exhaust I bought from another MJ owner. :D Forgot to add that to the list.

[CWLONGSHOT]

The offsett center section on the 8.8 is nothing to be conserned about. ESP when you considder the legnth of the MJ drive shaft. If you want to gain width and just want to try it, its up to you, but just so you know, it will not make any difference, if the drive shaft is slightly toward the right rear wheel.

 

I have a 8.8 in my TJ and that has a super short drive shaft. That offsett pumpkin, dosen't hurt anything. The longer the shaft the more any possible angle problem is negated.

 

As far as the 1.25" shorter legnth, you mention you will be getting steel rims, why not just let the 4" of BS work for you and not worry about it? the fact that the front and rear track are different won't hurt anything either. Have you driven behind any chevys or ford vans lately? They are wider in the front on purpose!!

 

CW

[Pete M]

Yup, the width difference is a common design element for larger trucks, done for handling purposes they say. My 88 has about an inch of width difference in the 78 Ford axles. But the rear end of an MJ is wider than the front, and this leads to the tires sticking out up front and hiding under the flares in the rear. I have no desire to exagerate that if I can help it. I'll be using the stock steelies and 31s you see on it right now. Even with the stock offset rims, there shouldn't be any rubbing without the spacer, so I guess you could say that the spacer would be purely an experiment.

[pingpong]

Pete,

 

I went with the spacers on my rig out the gate, even when I had my D35 to help with rear flex. It gives you a lil more before your wheels will start touching your inner fenders of the bed. As for putting just one spacer :eek: I don't know about that :dunno: It just seems pointless to buy a pair of spacers just to use one :deal: I know of several rigs running the 8.8 and so far none have had issues with the slight off set of the diff, and as a matter of fact, I am the only one running spacers of any kind :smart:

[jeepaholic]

hey hey..quit buyin all the MJ's up..Ive been looking for 2months str8 and havent found one yet. Its like i owned the only one in Georgia. I was 2days late on one i found in ohio..dayyyum

[Pete M]

Don't worry, every MJ I've purchased practically had one foot in the junkyard already and the next one might literally come from the 'yards. Unless you're in the habit of seeking out run-down rusted-out hulks here in Michigan, I think we'll get along just fine. :D

 

 

Again, I don't care about the offset pinion!! I'd be adding the spacer purely for asthetic reasons to push the rear tires back out to their current location. If I could do that with a pair of 1"ers I would, but spacers are 1.5-2" thick. It has yet to be proven that I can buy a single spacer (though I don't see why not), but since I just happen to have 2 other 8.8s that I'm selling, maybe one of their future owners will split a pair up with me. :brows:

[Oizarod115]

hey hey..quit buyin all the MJ's up..Ive been looking for 2months str8 and havent found one yet. Its like i owned the only one in Georgia. I was 2days late on one i found in ohio..dayyyum

 

i live in gwinnette co. ga, but it aint for sale. i just bought it :P

[Eagle]

I ran 31x10.50s on stock 7" steel rims, and I can still see the marks where tyey rubbed the insides of the rear wheel wells. A 10.5" tire on the stock rims is also VERY close to the leaf springs, so if you convert to an 8.8 you WILL need to use spacers. Whether you use them equally on each side or put it all on one side is up to you, but there's no way in the workd you can run those tires on stock rims with an axle narrower than the stock MJ rear axle.

 

As to the AAL, unless you feel you must get lift and want to use the extra MJ main leaves for that reason, I think using XJ main leaves as AALs is a better solution. You'll gain additional capacity with minimal lift. I'll know just how much in the near future, because I plan to do it on an '89 MJ as soon as my leg injury heals (I dropped an axle on it).

[Pete M]

Ouch! :eek:

I'm not looking for lift, nor am I looking for no lift. I merely want to help support the main and reduce spring-wrap and whatever happens, happens. Let us know how your swap goes. Finding XJ leafs can be a heck of a lot easier than tracking down a decent set of MJ leafs.