87MJJeep

i've been sidetracked from the truck the last week. We had a rain a few nights ago, and I did remember to look inside. I have a leak towards the front. Then I had one of those embarrassing "duh" moments. Yep, I remembered one of the previous owners had left caulk residue on the windshield trim on the lower passenger side corner. What is the correct way to pull the windshield trim without damaging it? I imagine I will get that off then squirt water directly in that area and see if it is a direct leak. I might as well inspect it all the way around, too.

Thanks for the replies. Michelin LTXs are very good. I hate to admit it, but the set from my '93 ZJ that are now on the truck are going on 10 years old. :shake: For their age alone, they should have gone in the dumpster years ago. Since the MJ gets driven a lot less, I will try to keep the price down, but I'll look at BFG for my next tire purchase for the '04 WJ. I HATE the stock Goodyears on it. Slippery When Wet - even when they were brand new. :( I have a contact at Firestone. I will ask him if he can get a set of Coopers.

Thanks! I actually looked for a thumbnail tag. I wasn't sure if any users were on dial-up, so I didn't want so many pics to load at once!

After I pulled my carpet and padding and reinstalled the bench seat, I took it for a spin. I had driven only 3 miles with the new cluster, so I got out on the highway to see what the highway revs are. I am not sure what rear axle it has, but it ran at 2,000 rpm at 60 mph. That seems comparable to most A4 overdrives I've driven. Anyone that is contemplating a gauge cluster swap, do it! I wish I'd gotten off my butt and done it sooner with an XJ donor. Thanks again for the help in this thread!

Thanks for the replies, especially Eagle's. I had wondered what the purpose of that cap was. I'll scan Ebay for the "take-offs." The heads up on the correct bevel angle is very appreciated, too!

Thanks for the help! I had read a reference to baby powder in the other thread, and I wondered what that was about. Hate is such a strong word. :D I hope you get your floors fixed with relative ease. Had I pulled the carpet back to find that, I think I'd puked. :(

When I swapped my MJ and ZJ wheels and tires a few months ago, I had a mess of a time thanks to mismatched and stripped lugnuts. Can anyone recommend the best lugnuts (with locks would be a plus) for both my MJ/XJ 10-spoke wheels and stock '93 Grand Cherokee wheels? The GC's factory lugnuts are the kind that have that thin sleeve(?) that fits around the nut. It's worn down on several, and was part of my issue. I'd like to put new lugnuts on all the way around for both before I either swap tires and wheels back and/or get new tires for the truck.

So, these are a beast to swap heater cores? That's a joy to look forward to. :doh: There is no smell of coolant, and I am quite familiar with that smell thanks to my other cars. :( If it is the windshield leaking, is it a matter of pulling the trim and putting some sealer all the way around? Is the cowl leak spot fairly easy to get to and fix? I have another question. Is it safe to reuse seatbelt bolts? Is any special care required while reinstalling them? And before I forget... I LOVE MY COMANCHE. Even during these "bad times." :D

Surface rust. It doesn't look too bad - I think. I am curious what the MJ gurus think. I imagine the best course of action is to figure out where the leak is and fix that before putting the carpet back in. Has anyone put carpet in without padding? I wonder how loud it is? I will let the padding air out. I figure I can re-use it if I want. The passenger foot well was the wetest, but there was a little in each of the rear corners and a little on the driver side near the door jamb. Is there an all-around approach to attack all potential leaks? There is some rust forming in the lower corners of the aftermarket rear window. With the shape of the floorboard, I imagine the footwell wetness is from a cowl/windshield leak. Many thanks to those tips in the "What is the most important tip you'd share with MJ owners?" thread. :bowdown: I'd never looked had it not been for that. As much water as there was in the padding, I can't get over how I never smelled anything or felt the dampness I'd expect. Here are a few photos I took.

I need a new set of tires, and I prefer some Made in the USA. I was wondering what those here have and like. I am after a street tread and good wet traction. I am after stock size, too. Any advice would be appreciated.

http://widetrackdrive.com/temp/mj/tach-pot.jpg It's the plastic thing with J103C on it. You can see the dab of paint(?) that had it "locked" to the OEM position. I gently turned it with a screwdriver and that paint popped. I will try to install it today. I'll post another shot of the final adjustment. I ran into a problem. My column-shift MJ has the gear indicator in the left-hand large pod previously occupied by the fuel gauge. I will have to carefully cut a hole in the face plate of the donor tach. Grrrr. :( http://widetrackdrive.com/temp/mj/indicator-hole.jpg EDIT: I just test fired it, and everything works, and the tach was dead-on at the default painted-mark setting. My OEM '87 cluster had a sticker that said, "AMC P/N..." The donor from an '87 had "Chrysler P/N..." so I suspect it had been an upgrade to this 4cyl MJ donor truck. Now to cut the hole in the tack face plate and cut a hole in the blue housing for the shifter indicator cable to fall through, and I'll be set.

Is that a common upgrade? OEM parts? What does it do? Just helps with the pedal effort? If you get a booster from a 95-96 XJ it will bolt right in. You just have to grind down the end a little. If you can, get the brake pedal and brakelight switch too. If you keep your brake pedal you just have to do a little modifying to get the brake light switch to work viewtopic.php?t=4968&highlight=prop+valve If you scroll thru this one it shows the 95-96 how to: http://www.madxj.com/MADXJ/technical/te ... pgrade.htm Thanks for the explanation and links. I may try that.

Is that a common upgrade? OEM parts? What does it do? Just helps with the pedal effort?

For any others reading, beware, it is much safer to brush POR-15 on and not spray it. Some folks spray POR-15, and it requires respirators, etc. The isocyanates in it is what is nasty stuff when airborne and breathed.

Yep, that's them! The AZ I went to had some, but not the right size. I'll check out NAPA!

What is the correct term for those stamped(?) steel nuts that are on the backside of the front bumpers that the bolt screws into? When I swapped the original bumper back onto my Comanche (and gave the winch bumper back to a previous owner), I could not find those nuts anywhere. The original ones that were still with the bumper were broken. I will need some (or an alternative) when I put my junkyard bumper pads on. I may have to remove the bumper to get the foglight brackets on there, too. The way I put the bumper on with regular bolts, nuts, and washers was a royal PITA. If I knew the correct name for those OEM fasteners and a store that carries them, I'd have an easier time swapping my "new" parts on. Any help or tips is appreciated!

Nice choice of smiley. ;) I think the other switch in the mount with the Trans switch was a "Cargo light." Maybe it was grabbed for that the same as the other one was grabbed for foglights only...

WHOAH! THANK YOU! That link was a wealth of knowledge!!! I now know I need to change out the oil and temp sensors, too.

After seeing the tach, board, and POT in good light at work, I could tell that the wire "tab" is not a tab. I thought it went to and stopped at the dial on the pot. It bends back. The white stuff was sealing the pot dial to the corner where that metal bends. Hopefully in a night or two, I'll get it install and calibrated. I'll see if I can swap the current odometer/speedo into the new cluster. If I can do that and get it working, I'll see about taking apart the donor ODO to reset it to my truck's mileage. It would be nice to have the tripometer the donor offers.

That's what I was looking for. ;) Is that pedal bushing on the inside or outside of the cab? This noise clearly comes from outside and underneath the truck in the firewall area. Hopefully it's not the booster, but I guess a new one wouldn't be too bad for peace of mind.

Thanks! You described it!

For a few months, when I apply the brakes, something under the truck squeaks. It's clearly related to the brake pedal/linkage. Is there something failing in the linkage, or will grease of some kind take care of it? Is there anything in particular to be on the lookout for when I crawl under there with some grease? Thanks!

I got a few parts yesterday in addition to the instrument panel. (tailgate, L/R front bumper pads, and OEM-ish foglights!) I noticed some oddities, or what I thought were. One, the instrument cluster has white and red markings. If I didn't know any better, I'd assume this was out of a '88+ model. I guess I am so used to the OLD plain panel I have now where everything is white or black. Did Comanches ever come with rear defog? This truck had a 2-switch panel (left of steering wheel) that had the foglight switch and a rear defog switch. The first thing I did was take a look at the rear sliding window expecting a solid piece of glass with the heat elements! The other oddity? On the other side of the steering wheel, it had the 2-switch panel where one is the Transmission Power/Comfort setting. Wasn't that an automatic only feature? This truck had a factory manual! Or did manuals come with that switch and the shift indicator light would come on at higher RPM? I wonder if the interior cluster/switches had been modified. Edit: I just remembered, there is a paper decal on the back of the cluster that says "Chrysler PN: 56 002 824." Did Chrysler provide these in the AMC days? Or is it more likely this donor truck had a newer than '87 cluster? I took the tach out of the cluster. I assume the potentiometer is the thing with a plastic face with a Philips screwdriver keyway. It looks like at the 6 o'clock postion, a piece of metal comes up from the circuit board and sticks to the plastic part that turns. It looks like white paint sticks the metal to the plastic. I turned the plastic and that metal tab broke (kinda sheared). I don't know if I just "adjusted" it, or if it's now broken... I have an electrical whiz at work that can look at it for me. It doesn't make sense for it to be adjustable if that piece of metal had the plastic locked in place. The metal tab does solder to the circuit board trace on the underside as if it is part of the circuit. My last question on this junkyard find is if there is a way to roll back the odometer. This one has 129K more miles than my truck! Also, is there a correct way to get the speedo cable off the back of the odometer? I broke the tab of the donor truck trying to get it out. Thank you for the help!

Thanks for the quick reply. I need the tailgate, so I'll see about getting the cluster, too.

My friend spotted a '87 Sport Truck 4cyl in a salvage yard yesterday. He said the instrument panel had gauges. My '87 6 cyl has idiot lights. Would this cluster be a direct swap? My passive quest for bucket seats continue. This one has the same burgundy bench seat that I already have! Thanks!