Eagle

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.

Photos under the hood of an almost stock '88 4.0L: On the right side, the relay on the inner fender is for fog lights that I installed. Back at the firewall, you can see that the plastic coolant bottle has been replaced with a Moroso aluminum surge tank. That required the overflow catch tank by the air cleaner box, and the overflow bottle required relocating the ballast connector. The C101 connector has been removed.

The 87 4.0L with the AW4 transmission has a separate transmission computer (TCU). Replacing the ECU won't affect the shift points.

http://www.bteventures.com//mj1988electricalmanual.pdf

Chunks of "stuff" shifting around inside the catalytic converter, maybe?

All that really makes me miss my 1947 Hudson pickup. There were, IIRC, only two fuses in the entire wiring harness. I rewired the whole truck in one week, working about 3 hours in the evenings after supper.

Dear God! ...

Personally, I'd cut the belt.

There is NO good fix for if you break off the upper rear shock mount -- so don't do it. If it looks rusty, use a nutbuster to break the nut. It will then come off cleanly and all you have to do is replace the nut. Same for the bottom. Use anti-sieze when you install the new nuts.

No. The adjustment is at the power steering pump. You should never have to remove the alternator or a/c compressor to install a new belt.

One other possibility. If the previous owner got the wrong calipers, they may be hanging up. There were some changes within the MJ years, and you can't mix and match from one year to another without knowing what parts work with what other parts. This is what I came up with for the book I started to write. It's copyrighted, so please do not give out copies of it beyond this forum.

Skinnier drive shaft?

And here's the technical info from the Monroe web site. http://www.monroe.com/downloads/install-instructions-guides/MonroeMountingLengthSpecifications.pdf Once you find a shock with the length you want, you can go to another area on the Monroe web site to look up what vehicle(s) it fits. Once you know that, you can look up other brands and models of shocks for that vehicle.

I pulled the following from the technical data on the Monroe web site. Doesn't cover up to a 4-inch lift but it might get you started:

It's straight and mostly rust-free. Of course it's a fixer upper. As the saying goes, they don't make 'em like that any more.

Another advantage to the barn doors is that sometimes you want/need to carry something long on the roof rack. The overhead hatch bangs into the stuff -- barn doors wouldn't.