Eagle

Shifting is controlled by solenoids. If it shifts manually, the transmission isn't the problem. I don't know how to check out the solenoids, but that's where I would look next.

You can't run a 91 ECU in a Renix (87-90) MJ. They are totally incompatible.

Don't. My '88 had one when I bought the truck. I don't know the brand, but the support slats/hoops look a lot like the ones in Limeyjeeper's photo. It was useless. The snaps didn't hold it because the Naugahyde cover had shrunk. Any time I drive more than 40 MPH the thing would start to peel off. I gave up on it. If I were going to get a cover for one of mine, I'd go for one of the hard covers.

And this is why I said there's no consensus on what actually causes death wobble. I've driven for periods of six months or more with a VERY loose, sloppy track bar when it was too cold and snowy to think about changing it. Sloppy steering, but not a hint of death wobble. No matter how much I think about it, I keep coming back to the fact that a rolling tire is a gyroscope. There's simple no way that loose steering components can cause death wobble. My belief is that it's usually tire balance that causes it. Ultimately, you have to check everything and just keep eliminating possible causes until you hit the one that works.

That's death wobble. There is no consensus as to what causes it, unfortunately, so you'll have to do some sleuthing. Is this a new phenomenon? How long have you had the truck and how many miles have you driven it? What has changed? New tires? Different alignment? Lift? ???

I have a suggestion that would be considerably less expensive than having a new set of springs shipped to Mexico from the U.S. If you have looked through any of the many discussions about springs and lifts, you must have encountered the term "bastard pack." That refers to keeping the original main leaf in the vehicle and installing other leaves from another vehicle (or other vehicles) to make up the rest of the spring pack. You can buy a decent, full-length add-a-leaf (AAL) from Rancho for around $75 U.S. dollars. Rancho says it provides 2-1/2" of lift for both the XJ and the MJ, but that's impossible. A long time ago I called Rancho and spoke with one of their engineers, who checked with another engineer, and then came back on the phone with me to say that in an MJ it should provide maybe 1-1/2 inches 37-38mm) of lift. So that's one solution. The solution I'm waiting to try out on the '88 2WD 4-cylinder I picked up awhile back involves doing an odd bastard pack. If you use additional leaves from the same vehicle type, you get lift. For example, a common "budget boost" for the XJ is to get another set of XJ springs, take them apart, cut the eyes off the main leaves, and use those as AALs. This generally gives you 1-1/2" of lift. The same thing will happen if you add in extra leaves from another MJ. But -- what if you want to add capacity without adding lift? Then you want to add a leaf that has some arch to it, but that in it's free state is arched basically the same as the springs in your vehicle when it's unloaded. So -- there must be a lot of junked Cherokees in Mexico -- I know when my wife and I used to visit her family in Chile we saw XJs everywhere. The XJ springs have less arch than MJ springs, because they are set up for spring over axle. So my idea is to take a pair of old XJ springs, pull out the main leaves, cut off the eyes, and use those as full-length AALs in the MJ pack. (I believe you also have to drill out the center hole to the next larger size.) If it works the way I think it will, you'll get a 25% to 33% increase in capacity with little or no lift.

The track bar is the FIRST thing I look at if the steering gets loosey-goosey.

Maybe at one time there was an aftermarket tachometer?

Yes, the side markers blink alternately from the turn signals. All bulbs light, including the side markers. The odd part is that the 2000 XJ doesn't have the old-style flasher units we're accustomed to with the MJs. It uses a combination electronic flasher that does turns and hazards all in one -- and costs $25 or more (the last time I bought one for my late wife's XJ, which was several years ago). I didn't think those were load sensitive. The other XJ has a trailer package, but there doesn't appear to be a separate part number for the flasher module with trailer tow.

I'm usually pretty good with electrical (not "electronic") issues, but I've encountered something that has me stumped. My beautiful, low-miles 2000 Cherokee 5-speed was in an accident awhile back. Collision damage was repaired properly, but the insurance didn't cover fixing the ruptured brake lines that actually caused the accident. I finally got around to doing that, using copper-nickel (cunifer) line and silicone brake fluid, so I hope not to have a repeat performance. Now that it's back on the road, there's an anomaly. Right turn signals blink at the normal rate. Left turn signals blink at the normal rate when the headlights are off, but when the headlights are on, they blink faster. No bulbs burned out. Any ideas?

What do you mean by "improve the front end performance"? Do you want tighter, stronger, more precise, more/less steering wheel effort? There are lots of ways to change the steering, but some of them may not accomplish whatever it is you're looking for.

Be advised that if you have the rear height-sensing proportioning valve, there are two brake lines to the rear. One is an emergency bypass line, it is NOT a "brake return line" (which you will see it called if you look long enough). There is a special, non-typical procedure for bleeding the rear brakes when you have that rear height-sensing valve. It has been posted here, several times.

Pete, thanks for locking this. Just to add - The discussion forum areas, regardless of whether it's The Pub, Modifications and Repairs, Epic Journeys, or DIY Write-Ups, are not for use for selling parts (or anything). That's why we have a Classifieds area. And we have the rule about a minimum number of posts before people can use the classifieds for a reason. If you look through the classifieds, there are a lot of "PM Sent" posts. Use the Classified threads to advertise your stuff, and to ask questions if a description isn't clear. Negotiations (offers to buy, counter-offers, etc) should be done back-channel, via PM (Private Message). We don't want/need a bidding war in every For sale thread. Comanche Club isn't an auction site, so let's not go there.

Omega gave us data for the 4.0L. He asked for comparable data for the 2.5L. I gave him a head start.

1984-85 ... XJ: 105 hp at 5,000 RPM, 132 ft-lb at 2800 RPM 1986 ...... XJ/MJ: 117 hp at 5,000 RPM, 135 ft-lb at 3,500 RPM 1987-90 ... XJ/MJ: 121 HP at 5,250 RPM, 141 ft-lb at 3,250 RPM 1991-2000 XJ/MJ: 130 hp at 5,250 RPM, 150 ft-lb at 3,250 RPM.

That's all it was. Keep in mind that the winches were, by serious off-roader standards, "wimpy" at best -- 4,500, 5,000, and 6,000 pounds. The rock crawlers in NAXJA wouldn't even think about a winch less than 8,000 pounds. This option was from the AMC days, before Chrysler bought out AMC/Jeep. The XJ wasn't considered by AMC to be a heavy-duty truck platform, it was basically introduced as a light to medium duty SUV with 4-wheel drive capability. But the 4WD was intended primarily for "driving," not for dedicated off-roading. It was so you could take a vacation trip to New Mexico, for example, and be able to explore that fire road you found leading off the highway, or so your family could make it home from Grandma's house if there was a snow storm on Christmas Eve. A lot of people have also complained that the factory tow hook mounts aren't strong enough to stand up to a side pull. And that's true - they don't, as more than one person has found out. But -- they weren't intended for that. I doubt very much that the engineers who designed the XJ back in 1982-83 ever thought for even a nanosecond that people would take an XJ mudding, and get it mired down to the door handles in primeval ooze.

Don't trust the Internet for this. The adjustment procedure used to be in old FSMs, but I guess they've stopped explaining it. There are two adjustments. The one we're interested in is the "over-center lash" adjustment. On the top of the box there's an access cover, held on by four screws. In the middle of those three screws, there;s a recessed hex-head set screw -- that's the adjustment. First, be sure that's the problem. Park the truck with the steering straight ahead (IMPORTANT!)and the engine off, but with the ignition on so the steering wheel isn't locked. Stand outside, reach through the driver's window, and move the wheel back and forth. There should be very little play (or "lash") at the steering wheel before you can see the tire start to move. You can also feel when you start to pick up resistance. It helps tremendously to do this with two people. One turns the steering wheel back and forth, just to the point on each side where the tires start to move, but don't actually move. The goal is to load the joints in the steering mechanism so they can be checked for looseness and play. Check each tie rod end, check both ends of the track bar, and check both ends of the drag link. I like to check both visually and by holding the joint with my hand -- sometimes you can feel a small amount of slop before you can see it. If (and only if) all those joints are tight, then you move on to adjusting the steering box. The reason you do it carefully is that if you overtighten it, you'll trash it. It's an old-school, recirculating ball steering box, it isn't rack-and-pinion and it WILL NEVER BE as tight as rack-and-pinion. To access the adjusting screw, I believe you have to remove the auxiliary fan. I know I did on my 2000 XJ -- don't remember for certain on the '88 MJ I did. The adjusting screw is secured with a locknut. IIRC, that's a 15mm, and it's probably quite tight. I remember tapping the wrench with a ball peen hammer to get it loose. I also had to cut down an Allen (hex) key to be able to get it into the set screw. Again, do this with the steering set straight ahead. If you adjust it off-center, it'll be too tight over center and it'll either bind up or wear prematurely. IMHO the only way to know when the adjustment is right is to be wiggling the steering wheel or shaft while you s-l-o-w-l-y turn the set screw in. If you have a helper, let him do the set screw while you move the steering wheel back and forth across the center. As he tightens the screw, you'll feel the slop go away. Don't try to take it all out -- that's too tight. Just look to get most of it out. You can always tighten it more next month, but if you overtighten it and damage the box -- you're done. That's what happened with my '88 MJ. It was very sloppy when I bought it. When I tried to adjust it -- the screw was already completely bottomed out. I bought a replacement box from a friend in NAXJA. Once you get the adjustment where you think it should be, use the Allen key to hold that position while you tighten the lock nut.

That much play in the steering is NOT normal. Check the track bar first, then check the tie rod ends. If those are all good, you may need to adjust the steering box. If you go for adjusting the box, be sure to read up on how to do it, because if you do it wrong you can trash it. I've adjusted several steering boxes with no ill effects, but the shop foreman at my dealership has told me they won't touch them. "Too much liability," he said.

That's not the one I know, but looking through that PDF Hornbrob linked, it appears there were a couple of different factory kits. The PDF also mentions 4,500-pound, 5,000-pound, and 6,000-pound winches, so I wonder if they used different mounts for different winches. I also noticed that the PDF says it's for up through 1996, which fits my observation that the 2000 tow hook brackets don't have provision for a forward mounting position for the bumper. But ... My late wife was from Chile, and I actually met her when I went that to meet up with a cyber-friend from NAXJA who owned a 2000 XJ. It seems in Chile you get some sort of significant break on taxes or registration fees if your vehicle is a "work" vehicle, and having a winch qualifies it. So I saw a LOT of XJs and MJs around Santiago with the hidden winch option. Miguel had one on his 2000 XJ, but I do remember him saying it had been custom fabricated.

The offset between the standard mounting holes and the "forward" mounting holes is 3 inches. I also discovered that the tow hook brackets on the 2000 XJ don't have the extended mounting holes.

No, it doesn't bolt only to the bumper. It requires the use of the factory tow hook brackets, which have two sets of mounting holes. One set keeps the bumper in the standard location, for use only with hooks. The other set of holes moves the bumper forward by 'X' inches (4"? 6"? -- I'll have to measure) to create a space between the bumper and the lower radiator cross member for the winch to mount. The winch was "clocked" 90 degrees, so the mounting surface was vertical rather than horizontal, and they were small-ish winches -- I believe they were 5,000 pound. Krusty, basically that mounting pan needs to be sized to fit between the extended tow hook brackets for length, with height sized to accept the largest winch you might want to use. I thought I had a drawing somewhere, but it's probably the same as the PDF Hornbrod linked to. The mounting pan is very heavy-gauge steel. NOTHING attaches to the bumper except the fairlead. It attaches to the tow hook brackets, which are bolted to the frame ears. I'll be under the XJs today, so I'll measure the offset between the mounting hole locations.

I have seen photos, but I don't have any.

My stupid camera auto-rotated most of the pics. Sorry, folks. It's a camera that's still fairly new to me and I'm still learning all its little tricks. I have now turned off that "feature." If I want a photo to be oriented vertical, I can turn the camera.

AutoZone is, as usual, screwed up. They tell me that this part fots an 87 Comanche 4.0L, and they tell me it fits a 91 Comanche 4.0L. Since Chrysler reversed the polarity AND changed the resistance levels and range when they went from Renix to HO, it's impossible for the same unit to fit both years. It's probably an HO unit. It's possible that a gauge out of an HO cluster would fix it. But ... they might have used the same gauge and changed the polarity by using a different printed circuit board on the cluster. As a last resort, you could cut the traces on the circuit board and use wires to connect the gauge, but once you cut the printed circuit there's no going back. One other way would be to pull the main connector off the back of the cluster. Identify the two wires that feed the fuel gauge, pull them out of connector, and reverse their positions.

I believe the arm for the float swings to the opposite side for the Comanche and the Cherokee.