Eagle

Mean Green? Big $$$. Personally, I'd go with one from Auto Zone or Advanced with a lifetime warranty.

By "not a true neutral," I am referring to the fact that the earlier year 231 and 242 (and I guess the 207, as well) transfer cases have a neutral position that disengages the transfer case from the transmission, but leaves the front and rear outputs locked. The result is that, if flat towed, the engine doesn't turn but the front and rear axles are connected and act like they're in 4WD. https://www.jeepforum.com/forum/f12/true-neutral-plate-1076065/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hHM2DzjLOvg

The resistor pack also has a thermal fuse in it. I've replaced multiples of them, all because the thermal fuse blew. In my case, the problem was always mice building a nest in the air box. The nest material gets wadded and packed around the resistors and fuse, causing the fuse to overheat and do what fuses are supposed to do. One of these days I'll try my hand at soldering in a replacement fuse.

Does the fan run if the control is set to the highest speed position? That position bypasses the resistors. If the fan runs on high speed, the problem is the resistor. If it doesn't run on high speed, the problem is somewhere else. I've never had to troubleshoot the control switch, so I can't help with that.

Did I understand that the truck was running before you did the tune-up? What year is the truck? The ballast resistor wasn't used in 1987 -- it was introduced in the 1988 model run. Also, please clarify the opening post. "Turning over" means the starter is turning the engine, but the engine is not running and won't start. "Firing" means it coughs and sputters while cranking (turning over), but the engine won't actually start. If the engine actually starts and runs for a few seconds, that's yet another condition. We need to know exactly what it's doing before we can be of much help.

The click could be the fuel pump relay, but there's a long circuit between the relay and the pump. When you first turn the key on, you should hear the fuel pump running. If not, you need to check the entire circuit. Cruiser's suggestion on the ballast resistor is a good starting point. Have you checked the fuel pressure in the injector rail?

??? What did you figure out? For the older XJs and MJs, flat towing meant removing the driveshafts because the transfer case doesn't have a true neutral. I don't remember when Jeep finally fixed that, but I think it was after the demise of the MJ.

The packet included a DD-215. I don't even have to request it. Feels weird being awarded a bunch of medals I never even heard of. Who'd a thunk it?

But I should have been. I just discovered that I'm some kind of flippin' war hero or something. Back story: Some time back, I read about somebody having been awarded an Army Good Conduct medal, and after a bit of research I realized that I probably should have received a GCM ... but I didn't. So I wrote to some address I found on-line, and got a reply telling me to submit my inquiry to some other office. So I submitted my inquiry there, and then forgot about it. It felt like a classic bait-and-switch, with each office telling me to talk to someone else. I thought that was going to be the end of it. Fast forward to this evening. I retrieved the mail from the mailbox, and found a thick envelope from the U.S. Army Human Resources Command, Awards and Decorations Branch. It includes a bunch of papers, a DD Form 215 (which corrects my DD 214), and a cover letter. According to the Army, I should have received (and now will receive) the following: Army Commendation Medal Army Good Conduct Medal Vietnam Service Medal with two Bronze service Stars Meritorious Unit Commendation Sharpshooter Badge with Rifle and Carbine Bars Republic of Vietnam Gallantry Cross Unit Citation with Palm Device Republic of Vietnam Civil Actions Honor Medal Unit Citation, First Class All I was expecting was confirmation that I earned a Good Conduct Medal. Instead, I found that I'm due five medals I knew nothing about. (I already received the Army Commendation Medal, but if they want to send me another one, I won't refuse.) It's a good thing I don't have a Class A uniform any more. I'd have to start working out to wear all that salad on my jacket.

Whatever you do, the interior should be one color. I think gray seats with a blue interior would look ... odd. My preference would be to go with an all-gray interior, but it's probably a lot easier to get the seats redone to match everything else.

Keep the good news flowing, Captain. Thank you for updating us.

And they'll probably sell a bunch of them. But ... not to Jeep people, and not to people who were waiting for a pickup truck.

There's one in every crowd. If they had had an Amazon back then, I'm sure he would have collected a bunch on one-star reviews.

Update: I just spoke with Don's USAF Captain daughter. I had misunderstood. Don is NOT out of the ICU, but he is off the mechanical ventilator. They expect him to be moved out of the ICU on Monday. Then, if all goes well for a few more days, he'll be discharged to a rehab facility until after the first of the year, when they expect him to be able to come home. The problem is that Don quit smoking too late. He has emphysema and COPD. He picked up an infection and, on top of the other two problems, that pretty much shut down his breathing -- so this little episode wasn't "little," it was very serious. His daughter said he is feeling somewhat better now -- I'm sure getting off a ventilator and being able to breathe on his own must seem YUUUGE at this point. They're talking about getting him a laptop of some kind so he'll be able to connect with the world (and with us rabble) while he's in the hospital and the rehab center. That's all I know for now. I'll post updates as I receive them.

Earlier this evening Pete contacted me to ask if I knew how to reach Hornbrod. I didn't ... but I do now. Don has been in the hospital for a week. He was in the ICU. If I understand the message I received from his daughter, he's out of the ICU but still not able to come home. Those of you who are the praying type (as opposed to the preying type), please add him to your prayer lists.

I can't help thinking that a potential product for those members who are skilled at making things could be a bolt-on (or weld-in) adapter to facilitate using the late-model XJ doors in the MJs. I'd love to swap to the new style doors, but I decline to make a hack out of changing the latch location, and I don't have the fabrication skills to do the job the way I would want it to be done. May the dung of a thousand camels be dropped on the people at Jeep who decided to move the latch location.

No, very hard to make the operable vents NOT leak. I went through it with the factory rep when my '88 XJ was new. The factory "fix" was to replace the operable vents with the non-operable windows. Scout's honor. They leak, the factory knew they leaked, they charged extra for them (at least in the early years), and there was NO WAY to stop them from leaking. (Except to seal them shut with silicone.)

As Cruiser54 wrote: China

If connecting the fan directly to the battery didn't make it run, the resistor isn't in the circuit so the problem is the fan. Also, when the resistor is bad, the fan should still run when the control is set to high speed, because the high speed setting doesn't use the resistor to reduce the speed. You have power to the plug, and hotwiring the fan doesn't make it run. That sounds to me like a bad fan.

Unplug the blower connection under the hood and jump it directly to the battery. See if the motor spins. It's a heavy draw. Watch out for sparks. If you have an old-fashioned remote starter switch, use that.

So you just need links? See Hornbrod's post about the Ford links, above.

Don't you already have a sway bar?

Other than using separate, amber-colored turns and hazards, as they did with the XJ? (And as virtually every other car and pickup on the planet from that era.)

A SOA will generate a minimum of 5 inches above wherever you sit now (not relative to stock height, relative to YOUR height). It can be more, depending on the thickness of your spring pack. Here's what's involved:

Check your grounds.