I want to eliminate the 90* oil filter adapter on my 4.0L 91 XJ and need to know what you guys are using for an oil filter that will clear the frame rail and the motor mount bracket?? Is there a small dia. filter that will work, or ???

Thnaks
Dennis

 

If you eliminate that adapter. you are stuck with a dinky oil filter. Not a good plan.

 

X2

 

i will see what filter is on my 90. i didn't remove the adapter myself, it was removed by the previous owner. i've owned it now for about 18 years.
the only problem i ever had was i hit the butt end of a large diameter log on the trail about 15 years ago, tweaked everything, and the filter got pierced by a sharp corner part of a factory weld on frame mount. i can't remember off the top of my head.
i did however grind down that sharp edge, and haven't had a problem since.
it is a larger oil filter if i recall. i will check later but can't get a pic. my phone is on life support, and i don't have another camera. but i should be able to at least get a part number off the filter for ya.

 

You're probably going to have more people that are going to criticize you for your decision rather than actually answer your question. I don't honestly know why this is because I genuinely like almost everyone on this forum and they are very nice unless people ask controversial questions, I guess they're just very opinionated. Your best bet is to get real measurements of the distances between the frame and the location where the oil filter will screw in. Even though there won't be a huge difference from car to car there definitely will be some difference because things settle differently sometimes and then wear into where they have settled. just eyeballing mine I have a feeling this filter will fit but it is going to be really tight.
https://www.rockauto.com/en/moreinfo...80268&jsn=1467

Now for the sake of everyone on here responding and shutting down your thread I'm going to give you some actual logical reasons to not do this instead of ARGH DONT DO THIS ITS BAD. Especially because there are a lot of people on this planet that literally do things just because someone told them it was bad but gave no good reason.

If your reasoning behind eliminating the bend is because at some point it will leak then your reasoning is logical. But the thing is the type of leaking that occurs on these bends is never catastrophic unless you don't carry extra oil in your car which everyone with a vehicle should and you just ignore proper procedures such as checking your oil occasionally between changes when you know you have a leak. So when people go well I am trying to make the motor more reliably leak-free my response is what you're actually doing is being lazy XD because no one wants to take the bend off with the motor in the Jeep once they've done it once... Lastly, with or without the bend the oil filter is in a bad place that is vulnerable if the motor mounts are bad. But it is especially vulnerable IF THE FILTER IS HAIRS LENGTH AWAY FROM THE FRAME XD. If you want to prevent leaks buy good mopar gaskets or felpro when you are reinstalling the bend and put a big ol filter like a FL1A on that puppy and smile knowing your oil pressure is going to be perfect throughout your entire 5000-mile oil filter change interval and this also especially goes for people who don't change their filter every oil change. Whatever you do your boy Griffy has your back

 

Just replace the original O-rings in the adapter. The large one that seals against the block is cheap, nasty Nitrile that is plasticy and has flat edges, which is why it eventually leaks. Replacement sets include the nice, rounded type made from Viton which will perform much better. The XJ wasn't designed to fit the 4.0, it was designed for the YJ which has a wider gap between the frame rails, so clearance was never a problem. Any filter that is small enough to fit that clearance and not get smashed against the rail without the adapter is going to be smaller than recommended and will have a decreased filtering media surface area.