Eagle

They're not intended to provide any lift -- but they're for an XJ, which has a lot of glass over the rear axle, so the weight distribution is different. The only real downside to using them is the loss of rear braking power when loaded.

^^^ This. To fit them to a Comanche, you would have to knock out the bar pins in the top bushings. But -- Several years ago I tried that with a pair of conventional shocks out of an XJ. I tried to put them into the rear of a stock-height MJ. Fully extended, the shocks were about an inch too short. Here's a chart of some Monroe shocks that will work in MJs. Never mind the cross-references -- look at the lengths for the OEM MJ shocks. The Load-Levelers for the Cherokee are Monroe number 58594. The specs are Compressed = 12.75 Extended = 20 Travel = 7.25 Based on the Monroe specs, it looks like those shock would go in, but they'll be nearly at full extension when the truck is unloaded. Remember that Monroe does not sell the Load-Levelers for the MJ. The reason is that the overload springs keep the height up under load, which means the height sensing valve for the rear brakes gets fooled. You load up the bed, but the valve doesn't see much change in height so it doesn't adjust to give you more rear brakes.

Bad ignition switch? Sends power to the ignition module when they key is in the start position but not in the run position?

Running with no sway bar is a very big mistake. Some years ago, one of the original members of NAXJA rolled and totaled his XJ driving a couple of blocks from home one evening, because he was running without a sway bar and had to make a sudden evasive swerve and the Jeep just tipped over -- into a ditch, so it kept rolling. He posted a warning to everyone else that he blamed it entirely on not having a sway bar. Never mind the laws -- it's not safe. Don't do it.

Time out. The shocks AND the coils are for a TJ? TJ coils are shorter than XJ/MJ coils. Coils that are rated to give a 4-1/2" lift in a TJ will probably only generate 3 to 3-1/2" in an MJ. IMHO, you need to do an initial, temporary install of the coils up front so you can measure the actual amount of lift they provide before you start ordering any other parts.

Huh? Pay no attention to Hornbrod when he stays up past his bed time.

To check the tranny, the FSM instructs us to remove the TCU fuse and shift manually. When driven that way you lose one of the two low gears when in the "Lo" position -- second gear, IIRC -- but otherwise you should be able to drive it by shifting manually. This is to diagnose whether the problem is a transmission problem or a TCU problem. You also want to be sure the shift linkage is properly adjusted. That's why I asked if it runs in the "Lo" position.

Does it have a bench seat with the "mini" console, or does it have bucket seats and a full, XJ-style center console? If it has buckets, compare them to photos on this site and of XJs to try to figure out if they are factory buckets or something that got swapped in.

No necessarily, I have an FEY bumper mounted with OEM MJ Brackets on my Dads 89 ;) Did you weld it on? Doesn't look to me like the factory brackets will mate up with the Few bumper. (I have three of them.) That said, there were two different patterns for the factory rear bumper brackets, and I've only seen one of them.

Does it run if you shift manually to "Lo"?

You can't just move your old speedo quill to the "new" transfer case?

Knowing the year would help, as well as the trim level (model). If it has a console shift, my guess would be that it's an Eliminator, which was a top trim level -- except that I don't recall that the Eliminator ever came in a LWB version. Please see if you can get more information, and post some photos. Crawl underneath and get a photo of the rear differential while you're snapping pics.

It's a Westin (Fey) universal, as previously noted. Remember that it also needs the Westin (Fey) mounting brackets.

Yes it can. Many years ago, when my '88 Cherokee (which I bought new) was in need of an exhaust system, my brother was managing a Speedy Muffler shop. As a birthday present, he replaced the exhaust system for me. Without asking me (although I probably would have jumped at it anyway), he went 2-1/2" all the way to the end. It sounded ... meh. But ... I could feel the loss of low-end torque (it's a 5-speed), and I lost 2 MPG in fuel economy. As I'm sure I have posted before, that was the only time in my life when I actually looked forward to having to replace an exhaust system. When the time came, I went back to stock diameter with an OEM-replacement muffler, and I've never regretted it.

My rule of thumb has long been 3.73s for 30's and smaller, 4.10s for 31s and 32s, and 4.56 for anything larger. That said, either one will do you okay. IIRC, the torque peak for the '88 Renix 4.0L engine was 2200 RPM. With 4.10s, at 70 MPH in overdrive your engine would be spinning at 2282 RPM. With 4.56s, it would be turning 2538 RPM. The 4.10s theoretically would put you right on the torque peak for highway cruising, but the 4.56s would be better for towing -- and since you shouldn't be towing at 70 MPH, the 4.56s would get you at the torque peak down to about 60 MPH, for better towing and better fuel economy when towing. Plus, obviously, the 4.56s give you a better crawl ratio off-road. IMHO 4.56s are the better choice, but if you can do the 4.10s for a lot less money, it wouldn't be a horrible choice.

You are worrying about the wrong line. That small, plastic line from the grommet at the rear of the valve cover (the CCV line) is the suction side. It's supposed to go to the intake manifold, to pull oily vapors out of the crankcase. The larger tube, toward the front of the valve cover, is the one through which clean, filtered air is supposed to go into the crankcase. What happens is that the small CCV line gets clogged and can't suck as much out of the crankcase, and/or the engine gets old and develops more blow-by than the CCV system can handle. When it gets to that point, the crankcase gets pressurized. The pressure can't escape through the small CCV line, where it's supposed to go, so it back-feeds through the intake and drips oil onto the air filter. Obviously, a catch can is a band-aid, but if you're going to do it -- put it on the larger line.

Almost every wiring circuit in the vehicle goes through that fuse panel. To relocate it will involve a LOT of work. And then you'll have a large hole in the firewall that you'll have to find a way to close up and make watertight. And, lastly, that fuse panel isn't designed for exposure to water. If you move it out into the engine bay, it's going to get soaked every time it rains. You would probably want to scrap the factory fuse panel in that case, and use something that fits in a weathertight enclosure under the hood.

If the aftermarket mounting plate won't work, you're probably going to have to either pull the engine, or at least put an engine hoist on it and lift it up enough to make space for a drill. Sears has sets of left-hand twist drill bits that are good for removing broken bolt shanks.

Your links don't take me to a tank. Which one of their tanks are you looking at, and where/how are you looking at mounting it?

A lowered MJ is a street vehicle, so any decent brand and model of shock will be fine. IMHO that leaves out KYB. I had a set of the Gas-A-Justs in my '88 XJ for awhile. I couldn't get rid of them quick enough. They had little control over large bumps, and were extremely harsh over small bumps and pavement cracks. The '01 XJ I bought for my daughter came with KYBs in the front, and they were just as bad as I remembered them being. I'd go with Gabriel or Monroe. There are more expensive shocks, but those will do the job. Link to the Monroe length specification charts: http://www.monroe.com/assets/downloads/english/MonroeMountingLengthSpecifications.pdf

Must have been removed. Either that, or for some reason a previous owner swapped in a heater control panel from a vehicle that had a/c/ The panels for non-a/c vehicles was different, and didn't have a position for a/c.

Where? And they are stainless. Just above the quantity box in the center of the page, there's a hot link that says "See compatible vehicles". The newest vehicle listed in that link is a 1958 Willys Jeep. From the compatibility page, there's a search function. Search on 1988 Jeep Cherokee and you get no matches. You're right, the info does say they are stainless, but polished -- which the XJ/MJ trim rings were not. And the info in the link says they are for 4.5" and 5" rims, so they probably aren't deep enough to look right on an MJ 6" rim (which is what those rings were used on).

If you use the site's search feature, it says those trim rings are not compatible with a 1988 Cherokee Pioneer. The rings in that link are for late 40s and 50s vintage Willys Jeeps. My guess is that they are chrome, not brushed stainless like the ones for the XJ and MJ.

This is completely incorrect. I've been running D.O.T. 5 silicone brake fluid in both the brakes and the clutch of my '88 Cherokee for more than ten years -- closer to twenty years for the brakes. No swelling of the seals, and no problems. I ran it in my AMXs for years before I got the Cherokee.

Older Base models had idiot lights. Pioneers got gauges, but the tach was still optional in the Pioneer. Did the '91 and '92 Base models still have idiot lights?