Eagle

Was it making the same ticking noise before you changed the clutch?

Short answer: No. Long answer: No. Especially not if "road" includes rain or snow or ice.

Correct. No, NOT correct. As we have documented many times, in many different discussion threads, the lower front outlet on the MJ distribution block/valve is NOT the primary outlet. It is ONLY an emergency bypass circuit, and it sees brake fluid pressure/flow ONLY if the front brake circuit fails. To run a single line to the rear brakes, you connect the "nose" outlet to the rear flex hose. Look again at the photo in post #33 of this thread.

It doesn't have any connection to the speedometer, either. It can't -- the speedometers on the Renix MJs are mechanical, driven by a cable. It is literally a timer. It starts running when the ignition is turned on, and it stops when the ignition is turned off. It doesn't count to exactly 80,000 miles -- the factory made a bunch of assumptions about probable average usage, and built the timer to count down to when an average owner would hit 80,000 (or so) miles based on engine run hours.

140,000 miles? Barely getting broken in. The Jeep 4.0L engines are usually good for 250,000 to 300,000 with just routine oil changes and maintenance. Wish I had taken pictures of the MJ when I dug it out of a Muskydime bush where it had been sitting for the past 5or6 years. The guys son had worked on the fuel injection and put 3 wrong injectors from something in it and didn't replace the orings on the fittings and the original owner just parked it after his son fixed it because it wouldn't run and it was leaking gas everywhere out of regulator side...Now she purrs like a kitty cat I love it when kids "fix" things. Back in my Hudson collector days, the guy who owned the 5 & 10 cent store down the road (that should give you a hint how old I am) GAVE me his old Hudson, which was a twin to the one my grandfather once had, because his son had "fixed" the head gasket and it wouldn't run after that. Of course, his son had never heard of gasket compound, or a torque wrench. The guy obviously expected that I was going to have the car towed away. I wish I had a photo of his (and his son's) face when I pulled the head (very easy on a flathead six), gooped up the same gasket sonny had used, put it all back together, fired it up, and drove it home.

140,000 miles? Barely getting broken in. The Jeep 4.0L engines are usually good for 250,000 to 300,000 with just routine oil changes and maintenance.

A desperation marriage made in hell. :rotfl2: You only tell yourself that because you can't admit that you secretly envy those of us with Renix MJs.

The timer does not reset itself. The factory says they cannot be reset. Some people have figured out how to open them up and reset them, but most of us ignore it. The O2 sensor is supposed to be replaced every 80,000 miles. I just do it at multiples of 75,000 because that's easy to remember.

No, because using a used heater core would be a huge mistake. The newest XJ core you can find will be 16 years old. I've seen heater cores fail in less than 16 years, so you'd be doing all the work to install a part that could fail next week. Buy a new one.

"Renix": The ignition & injection system in the '86 through '90 Cherokee and Comanche was a product of a joint venture between Renault and Bendix. Thus ... RENault + bendIX.

You "reset" the ECM? The Renix ECU doesn't need to be "reset" -- it resets itself every time you turn off the ignition. I think you have a radiator problem.

You still have the smooth shank where the shock mounts. I'm not a welder, but I think a good welder could weld a new threaded portion onto what's left and you'd be good to go.

Probably 3.73 if it was a 2.8L, maybe even 4.56 if it was a 4-cylinder.

Comanche rear flares are NOT the same as 2-door Cherokee rear flares. The Comanche wheel arch is longer and higher. Cherokee rear flares WILL NOT fit a Comanche. This thread is not about aftermarket flares, it's about OEM replacements. OEM Cherokee flares are one piece, regardless of whether it's a 2-door or a 4-door.

My 87-90 parts manual shows P/N T300 1235 for the MJ. And I don't see any listing for the MJ in the 91-93 parts manual.

^^^ What he said. It is, after all, a load (or height) sensing device. Load pushes the body/chassis closer to the axle, and the valve adjusts to provide more braking. Move the body/chassis away from the axle, and you should expect less braking.

From where? From the overflow bottle? To suck it requires a vacuum -- you can't have a vacuum with the radiator cap off. And it doesn't suck coolant from the bottle into the radiator when you increase the RPM. The radiator is supposed to be full. Coolant expands when it gets hot, so as it heats up some coolant is forced out the filler neck and into the overflow bottle. After you shut the engine off, as the system cools off, the coolant contracts and pulls the overflow back from the catch bottle into the radiator.

All XJs have the same wheel base, so I'm sure the 2-door and 4-door "frame" members are pretty much the same. Somebody did a really neat job getting the floor pans off that shell. They must have spent a week just drilling out spot welds

I pulled that much weight behind a shortbed MJ -- that's why I don't recommend it. The biggest issue IMHO (beyond the brakes, but I assume a trailer for that kind of weight will have trailer brakes) is that the MJ is much lighter in the back than an XJ, so there's much more likelihood of the tail wagging the dog.

It's a tempting idea. The '97 and newer XJ hatches are steel, so a couple of those might be suitable for making a new rear hatch at the back seat, and a second one for the tailgate. But it leaves very little space for actually carrying anything. The only 4-door MJ conversion I've seen photos of is a long bed, and it's like an ocean liner. I think done with a short bed box it would be a nice conversion, and pretty close to what I'd like to own. Unfortunately, I don't have the fab skills to undertake it, nor do I have a shop to play in.

Tongue weight? 3,000 pounds is getting close to the curb weight of an unloaded MJ. 5 miles on local roads should be no problem. 30 miles, especially if on highways, less recommended.

That looks pretty ratty, Don. Aren't you going to have it chrome plated before you install it?

Yes, the shuttle valve is two pieces. In the photo, just to the right of the plunger for the brake warning light switch there's a shoulder, and the last O-ring is just to the right of the shoulder. The basic body ends at that shoulder, and the slider portion is the part to the left, incorporating the recess that the switch plunger rides in. If the front circuit fails, the pressure in the rear circuit pushes the sliding plunger to the right. This pushes up the switch plunger, activating the brake warning light, and it also moves the left-most O-ring to the right to open up the by-pass circuit for full pressure to the rear brakes. Since you have a ZJ proportioning valve, I'd say try it. If you're not getting enough force to the rear brakes, open it up, remove the rubber cup washer and spring inside, and slide the internal plunger all the way toward the nose, then reassemble. Before you install it, open up the big fitting at the nose, and clean out the interior very well. Be sure the rubber cup washer is soft and pliable, and that the plunger can plunge. The XJs have a known issue of eventually losing rear brakes because the proportioning valve clogs up and stops allowing any fluid pressure to the rear. The accepted "fix" in the early days of NAXJA was to remove the cup washer and spring, slide the plunger fully forward, and reassemble. What that did was to eliminate the proportioning function and let the rear brakes have 100% force at all times.

What he said.

Don, you can't use the lower forward outlet from the distribution block. That port doesn't get any brake pressure unless the front brakes fail and the shuttle valve moves to open the inlet to that circuit. That lower port is strictly an emergency bypass. That's why in our back-channel communication I told you you might have to buy a longer flex hose. You have to feed the rear brakes from the "snout" outlet. The other option would be to use an XJ or ZJ proportioning valve, which doesn't have a "snout" outlet and will connect the regular line to the rear to the lower front outlet. MJ Distribution block: