Eagle

I'm sure it is negative ground, but how do you reckon that the battery can't work in it unless it's positive ground? Most all of the yard tractors today (MTD, Craftsman, ___ and ___) all stick the battery under the seat and the cables are long enough to reach the battery terminals regardless of whether they're "right handed" or "left handed." I use the "wrong" battery in my Craftsman because that way it matches a larger Wheelhorse tractor and I can swap the batteries back and forth at random.

Yup ... buy a new flywheel. The factory service manual states very clearly that the flywheel should NOT be resurfaced.

Hold on - Are you saying the studs for the front hubs are different than the studs for the rear?

#1 - Yes. But the year is important. The speedo cable for 1984 - 1986 (maybe 87-1/2) is different from the cable for 1987 (maybe late) to 1990. 1991 and newer use an electric speedometer. 2 - Yes if the cluster includes a tachometer, but the 1988 and newer style have a potentiometer that can be adjusted for 4-cylinder or 6-cylinder. #3 - Happy hunting.

Why change anything inside the cab? Jeep/Mopar used to sell an MPFI conversion for the old carbureted 4.2L Wrangler. The conversion was essentially the engine room harness from a 4.0L Wrangler, with an adapter to mount the CPS on the front of the engine rather than the bell housing. Why not just use the engine room portion of the harness and leave the cab wiring intact?

AFAIK the only difference is the length of the pushrod that runs from the shift lever to the transfer case. The main linkage attaches to the floor of the cab, so that stays the same.

First test the gauge. It's held into the cluster panel with two screws and it has two terminals, which should be marked. Disconnect the vehicle battery to be sure you don't get zapped (although you shouldn't if the ignition is off). Take a pair of 9-volt transistor batteries, wire them in series to put out 18 volts, and touch the output leads to the terminals on the back of the voltmeter to see if the needle moves. If not, you need a new gauge. If so, check for continuity where the screws connect the gauge to the printed circuit.

That's it.

I took the 0.72:1 directly from the AMC/Jeep BA 10/5 FSM that I bought when I bought my '88 XJ. The spreadsheet is based on tire manufacturers' actual revolutions-per-mile specs for tire sizes, not on theoretical calculations that don't account for sidewall "squat." And 2400 RPM at 70 MPH is not at all "way above" ideal for the 4.0L engine. In fact, it is about as close to ideal as you can get. It's just barely above the torque peak. The engine as originally designed by AMC in the 1960s (in its 199, 232 and later 258 c.i.d. forms) was typically geared to run 24 MPH per 1000 RPM. That resulted in cruising RPMs of 2500 RPM at 60 MPH and 3000 RPM to run 72 MPH. My brother's 1970 Gremlin X went over 300,000 miles with that setup. However, if you insist on correcting for the actual OD ratio (not a bad idea), you take the 2292 RPM, divide by .75 and multiply by .72. That gives you 2200 RPM -- almost dead nuts on the torque peak. The 3.07 gearing Jeep used with the 5-speed XJs and MJs was a horrible choice that kept the engine running far below the torque peak (which is the most efficient range in which to operate). My '88 XJ gets equal or better gas mileage in 4th gear as in 5th gear up to about 65 MPH, which is proof that 5th gear is too high and not helping anything.

Oxygen sensor, not catalytic converter.

Loosen the three bolts on the top hinge and two of the three on the bottom, then push the top of the door inward, then retighten.

5th gear ratio for the BA 10/5 is actually 0.72:1. In the original version of the spreadsheet I can enter the correct overdrive ratio. For the version I posted, I used 0.75:1 because that's what the AW4 uses and what most owners seem to have. The difference is very minor.

Be aware that changing from 3.07 to 4.10 will overshoot big time with 33" tires. 36" would be closer. Speedo will be off, 1st gear will be very short and cruising rpm doing 70 on the highway will be higher (but not unacceptably so). 3.73 may be a better fit, although possibly more difficult to find. Gotta disagree. My '88 MJ had 31" tires and 3.73 gears. The overall final drive ratio (speed vs. RPM) was exactly the same as my wife's stock 2000 XJ with automatic and stock tires. The 3.73 gears were originally purchased to go with 30" tires in the '88 XJ, but the MJ came along before the gears got installed, so they went into the MJ 'cause I had 'em. 4.10s are actually an ideal ratio with 31" tires, and okay for 33" tires. 70 MPH with stock tires and 3.07 gears is 1961 RPM in 5th gear. 70 MPH with stock tires and 3.54 gears is 2261 RPM in overdrive. 70 MPH with 31" tires and 4.10 gears is 2440 RPM in 5th gear. 70 MPH with 33" tires and 4.10 gears is 2292 RPM in 5th gear -- that's so close to a stock vehicle with automatic that you'd never see or feel the difference when driving.

Correct. The MJ front "thingie" is a distribution block and it also has the slider to actuate the brake warning light. It is NOT a proportioning valve. Plug the outlet on the front bottom. That was the emergency bypass for the rear height sensing valve. The outlet from the "nose" is the normal feed to the rear brakes. Run a line from that to your new proportioning valve, then from the new proportioning valve directly to the flex hose at the rear axle.

How did you make your flares?

Pete has a photo of how to fix that ...

As noted, you do NOT need an XJ proportioning valve if you have the Jegs. Which port of the MJ distribution block did you plug? The one you need to plug is the large one toward the front on the BOTTOM of the metering block. The one you retain is the port in the "nose" of the metering block.

First -- the FSM states that the flywheel canNOT be resurfaced. If it needs to be resurfaced, you need to buy a new one. Clutch chatter often results when a driver slips the clutch too much and burns hard spots into the surface. Then, when a new clutch is installed, the surface is uneven in both contact patch and hardness, which causes the chatter. The only fix is a new flywheel.

You can also buy a vacuum (suction) bleeder. JC Whitney sells them, and I think I've seen them more recently in Auto Zone. IIRC the name is MityMite or something like that. Yeah - http://www.mityvac.com/pages/products_hvpo.asp

Nothing is beyond hope. I have a friend from the early days of NAXJA-NAC who started off with an '86 XJ with the 2.8L V6. He wanted to convert to a 4.0L and was deterred by the firewall issue. The lads at the local (to him) used Jeep emporium found an '88 or '89 4.0L donor vehicle, sliced both vehicles in half somewhere just behind the A pillar, then welded the entire 4.0L front "clip" onto the original back half. You can't tell where it was cut and welded.

Driving lights are different from fog lights, and both are different from "auxiliary" (or "off-road") lights. Fog lights legally canNOT operate with the high beams. Driving lights by law MUST operate ONLY with the high beams. And off-road lights aren't supposed to be used on the streets at all -- my state and several others require them to be covered when driving on public roads, but it's rarely enforced.

Those are what you want, and IMHO that's a great price. I think I paid $60 each for a pair (NIB) several years ago.

I believe that's also illegal under Federal law. I know NO new vehicles with factory fogs are wired with the fogs on when the high beams are on. And it's so easy to wire them the legal way I don't know why people do it any other way.

I explained why in the second post in this thread. You have to trip the shuttle valve in order to open the port to the bypass line to the rear wheels. Just plug it. The thread is 1/2" SAE (fine). The shortest bolt I could find with that thread was 1" -- I cut it down until the head almost contacted the valve body when the bolt bottomed out, then I put an O-ring on it, added a "dollop" of RTV to ensure a good seal, let the RTV set up and screwed it in.

No, they did not all come with the wiring. Back when my '88 XJ was new I inquired and "in the day" the wiring harness for the fog lights was available through the dealer as a separate part -- for an obscene price.