Eagle

The XJ and the MJ were mechanically identical.

"Nothing ventured ... nothing gained." You are starting off on what is going to be a lengthy process. You ARE going to need parts that are specific to the MJ -- or at least to the MJ and XJ. Paying the admission price is a worthwhile investment just so you can scope out the place and see what's there so you'll know where to look in the future.

Someone may be able to get you another Comanche emblem. The 4x4 should be the same as Jeep used on the Cherokees of the same vintage, so that's not going to be difficult to find. You still have a CommandTrac transfer case. Jeep still called it CommandTrac after they discontinued the CAD front axle. The XLS was not positioned near the engine emblem.

No, no, no. They don't make this stuff any more. We don't throw away anything for an MJ. There are paints that are very close to chrome. Look in the spray paint aisles at Wal-Mart, Lowe's, and Home Depot.

For 1986 the only body available was the long bed. The short bed was introduced with the 1987 model year.

You're looking for the mini-console? I may have one in one of the clunkers. Dunno what the weather will be this weekend, but I'll try to take a look.

The bracket difference could be the difference between a long bed and a short bed.

For the brake lines, the SAE set is the one you need. But elsewhere ... the XJ and MJ came out during the period when AMC was merged with Renault, which is a French company. Also, that was right at the time when the U.S. automobile industry was on a push toward metrication. You're going to find that most of the nuts and bolkts on the engine are SAE, but most of the nuts and bolts on the body and chassis are metric. For regular wrenches and sockets, you're going to need both metric and SAE.

Doesn't matter -- they're pretty much all the same.

There are kits available for repairing cracked vinyl. They're "okay," but the one time I tried one I wasn't especially pleased with the results. I probably should have done a couple of practice repairs before I went to work on the arm rest I needed to fix. You can always try -- if it doesn't work, the option of buying another glove box door is always open to you. https://www.walmart.com/ip/Master-Manufacturing-Leather-Vinyl-Repair-Kit/13432580

Not sure, but I think someone once mentioned that the long beds have more room underneath for the spare. I don't currently have any long beds, so I can't compare. I used to carry a 31x10.50 under the '88 short bed, and it seemed to me that was a pretty tight fit. MAYBE I could have gotten a 32 in there ... I'm sure I couldn't have gotten a 33 in.

Many of us would go through the effort, just for the "cool" factor. Plus, it was a rare, factory option (on the XJ). It would be a crime to let a known example go to the crusher. "They don't make 'em like that any more."

Long bed or short bed?

I have to disagree. The factory had so many problem with the donut spares and limited slip differentials that they long ago stopped using the donuts in vehicles with a limited slip. The limited slip vehicles always came with a full-size spare. The size difference causes rapid wear on the clutches. This would not be a problem with a TrueTrac, gear-type limited slip, but I don't know how that type would react to different size tires. Probably one tire size difference wouldn't be an issue, but a 33 with a 31 or a 30? I would be cautious about trying that.

Do you happen to have a pic of the fluid sentinel. Never heard of it and wondering what it would look like Here ya go: It was actually called "System Sentry," not fluid sentinel.

Once you lock the CAD (Central Axle Disconnect) in the engaged position, you no longer need the vacuum harness down at the axle. Trace it back up to the point shown in your upper photo, unplug it, and plug the lines it connected to. That should allow your vacuum switch to function, and the light should work.

You don't really have much choice about keeping the left side panel -- it's an integral part of the dash cluster. See photo in the first post of this thread: http://comancheclub.com/topic/51819-tach-not-working/

Everything about Hornbrod's MJ is either shiny or black. He's like that -- a thoroughly despicable person. :thumbsup:

1) Be sure to put lots of old rags under the master cylinder before you start removing those lines. Brake fluid will drip out, and brake fluid eats through automotive paint in a nanosecond. You do NOT want to let any brake fluid touch your paint -- not even in the engine compartment, under the hood. 2) The master cylinder is held to the booster by two nuts. If you are replacing both the master and the booster, you don't even need to remove those. You can remove the booster and the master cylinder together. 3) The brake booster is attached to the firewall with four nuts. There is a pushrod from the booster through the firewall that attaches to the brake peddle. That pushrod should be fixed into the piston in the master cylinder, so you'll need to disconnect it from the peddle so it can go out through the hole in the firewall when you remove the booster. 4) It's easy to round off those nuts attaching the steel brake lines to the master cylinder. Do you have a set of brake line wrenches? If not, this would be a good time to invest in them. Your truck is 30 years old -- you'll be doing more brake work before you're finished. They look like this. You can get them at Sears or NAPA, and I guess at the other auto parts chains. Harbor Freight also has them, but I wouldn't trust them.

No. Jeep stopped using the axle disconnect in the early 90s. Locking the disconnect in the connected position just means the front driveshaft will turn (free wheeling) when the vehicle is moving, but the front driveshaft will NOT be connected to the transmission and engine unless you shift the transfer case into 4WD.

Looks like you have Command-Trac, which is the basic 4WD system. That would be an NP207 transfer case. In 1986, both the Command-Trac and Selec-Trac systems used a vacuum disconnect on the front axle, to disengage the front drive shaft from the wheels in 2WD. There's a vacuum harness that activates the shift motor, which is on the passenger side axle tube. If that vacuum harness has a vacuum leak, (1) you won't get 4WD even with the shift lever in 4WD, and (2) the light won't come on because the switch is operated by vacuum.

No. Go to the D.I.Y. area of the forum and you'll find an article on how to remove it. It's not as simple as it seems, because it involves the total removal of one of the two brake lines from the front to the rear -- and many people remove the wrong one before they figure out the mistake. If you remove it, you will always have FULL brake power to the rear wheels. That might sound like a good thing, but the back of a pickup is pretty light when there's no load, so on snow or ice, or in a panic stop, or even in the rain, the rear wheels will lock up before the fronts. That causes spin-outs. That's why the factory put that thing in there. You would be better advised to fix up a rod and connect it so it functions properly.

That right there is grounds for a lifetime ban from the Comanche Club. :laughin: :banana: :yes:

Flip down the driver's side sun visor. There should be a sticker on the top that tells you which transfer case you have. If not, post a photo of your center console, showing the shifters. If you don't mind getting dirty, there should be a round tag on the transfer case itself. It'll have a model number on it. You're looking for NP207, NP228, or NP 229.

Did you click the link I provided? That tire in the photo is not the driver's side tire, it's the spare.