70 Jp jpmagazine.com NOVEMBER 2019
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St., El Segundo, CA 90245, or email it to
[email protected].YOUR JEEP
Fly Like an Eagle
I have an unusual 4x4. It’s a 1983 AMC
Eagle Wagon. Factory tire size is 195/75-
R15, with 215 /6 5 - R15 as an option, both
on 15x6 aluminum wheels. There were
205/75-R15s on the car when I got it but
they were jus t slightly too t all and rubb ed
on occasion. I am currently running
215/70-R15 all-season tires without issues.
What would you recommend for a tire
and tire size that is something a little more
aggressive than the typical all-season tire?
Rich Comer
Via email
Cool c ar! It looks like it ’s in fantastic
shape; I know several AMC fanatics that
would love to take that off your hands,
myself included. Unfortunately, the news
is not good on a more aggre s sive tire for
your Eagle. I wasn’t able to find any kind
of all-terrain or mud-terrain tire in either
of the sizes that you’ve run on the car, and
in fact, the difference in those sizes is very
small. A 20 5/75 - R15 should be 27.1 inc he s
tall and 8.1 inches wide, while a 215/70-R15
is 26.9 inches tall and 8.5 inches wide. If
anything I would guess that the wider tire
would create the clearance issues, but
the exact opposite is the case. With such
a minor difference, it’s possible that the
clearance issues you had with the 205s
were simply the re sult of going from one
tire brand to another. Tires rarely measure
the exact same dimensions printed on the
sidewall, so two tires from two different
manufacturers with the same size printed
on the sidewall most likely will not be
exactly the same height and width when
you physically measure them.
Shifty Linkage
I have a 1998 Jeep Wrangler with a 4.0L,
automatic, and an NP231 transfer case.
I went four-wheeling last weekend and I
must have hit something because when I
went to shift it out of Low Range, nothing
happened! It’s like the lever isn’t connected
to anything anymore and the Jeep is now
stuck in Low Range. The Jeep has a mild lift
but other than that it’s stock. How do I get it
back into two-wheel drive? Help!
Rodney B.
Via emailMore than likely one of the rods popped
off in the linkage assembly between the
shift lever on the transfer case and the
lever on the floor. The transfer case shift
linkage on a TJ isn’t the best design in
the world. There’s a pivoting shaft that’s
mounted to the underside of the body at
one end and the transmission at the other,
so even small changes in the position of
the transmission caused by a worn tranny
mount or a hit to the bellypan can throw
the whole linkage assembly out of whack.
The situation is further aggravated if
there’s a drop kit installed in the bellypan
to alleviate driveline angles, and your
Jeep probably has one considering that it
has a lif t kit. Most transfer c ase drop kits
come with a bracket to correct the angle of
the shift linkage, but it’s kind of a pain to
install, so it of ten gets lef t out or is installed
incorrectly. If this is the case, it usually only
takes one good four-wheeling trip for the
linkage to come apart.
Chock the tires on your Jeep and crawl
underneath. If you look up above the front
driveshaft, you should be able to see most
of the transfer case shift linkage. Look
to see if one of the relatively thin metal
linkage rods has popped loose. If you find
one just hanging on one end, it should be
pretty easy to tell where it ’s supposed to be
hooked up. There are also supposed to be
rubber grommets on eac h end of the rods
where they attac h to the re st of the linkage,
and if any of those grommets are missing
or damaged, the linkage will fall right
bac k apar t. If your Jeep is equipped with
a transfer case drop kit (spacers between
the bottom of the frame and the bellypan),
check to make sure there’s a bracket in
place that corrects the position of the pivot-
ing shaft that runs between the tranny and
the body. If that shaft is not fairly level with
the Jeep on flat ground, then the necessary
bracket is missing or installed incorrectly,
or it’s possible that you bent the bellypan
up on your four-wheeling trip. Address this
as nec e s sary, or better yet, use this as an
excuse to upgrade to a slip-yoke elimina-
tor kit and ditch the drop kit entirely. Make
sure you keep the tires chocked and the
e-brake on at all times while messing with
the linkage, as you could accidently pop the
transfer case into Neutral.Four-Cylinder Love
Let me start off by saying I have owned
just about every Jeep Wrangler and CJ
except the JK, which I didn’t like. I seewhere everyone wants to engine swap,
add more power, but for what? I was at an
off-road event recently over a three-day
weekend. One of the Jeeps there was a
’95 Rio Grande with the original 2.5L.
Throughout the weekend I saw broken
axles, suspension, and engine problems,
but not the little YJ. It had a small lift with
3 3 s. I know they don’t have much power
but it performed great all weekend. So
have you guys done an ar ticle on four-
bangers and the upgrades needed to
make them the best they can be for mild
off-roading? I would be interested in that.
I’m actually looking at getting a Rio to see
what I can do with it.
Anthony B.
Via emailLightweight and low power is a proven
formula for a capable off-roader, and we’ve
done quite a few articles and builds on
Jeeps with four cylinders. You can see
several articles covering four-cylinder
Jeeps on our supersite, fourwheeler.
com. Aside from Jeeps, the lightweight/
low-power formula is the reason
Samurais, Sidekicks, and Trackers are
popular 4x4 platforms.
As for upgrades on the 2.5L, there’s
really not a whole lot available because
there’s honestly just not a whole lot to work
with. The engine is reliable and durable
as long as it is properly maintained, and
we’ve beat on quite a few of them merci-
lessly without being able to blow one
up. That being said, they’re pretty much
maxed out in the performance depart-
ment in factory form, so you’re not going
to find muc h in the way of performanc e
modifications. We’ve toyed with the idea
of adding a turbo to one, and we’re told
that the engine was designed with forced
induction in mind, but we’ve never done
it. At one time there was a supercharger
kit available, but that company closed its
doors quite a few years ago.
We’d encourage you to pick up a cheap
four-banger Jeep and start tinkering. They
don’t really make enough power to hurt
anything, and as long as you keep the tire
size reasonable, you’ll likely find there’s
enough power to get the job done. Just
don’t expect to win any races, and keeping
up with freeway traffic can sometimes be
a challenge. Still, there’s a lot of fun to be
had wheelin’ an underdog.Your choices are to do some fender
trimming or c ome up with some kind of
lift kit in order to make room for a slightly
larger tire size that is available in a more
aggre s sive tread, suc h as a 23 5/75 - R15. As
you can imagine, lift kits for Eagles aren’t
exactly a hot commodity, and there isn’t
anything off the shelf available to raise
yours in order to clear larger tires. Further,
the IFS suspension doesn’t respond well to
increased ride height; at most, you might
be able to go up an inc h or two. As for
trimming, you might be able to create some
additional clearance with some fender
modifications, but I hesitate to suggest
anything drastic with such a prime example
of early-’80s AMC technology. If I were you I
would simply enjoy the cool factor of cruis-
ing around in a unique vehicle. Plus, there
are bound to be plenty of other things to
tinker with on a mid-’80s AMC product just
to keep it in good running order.