Eagle

The engine and the gears. My XJs and MJs all have AM/FM/CD heads in them, but they almost never get turned on.

They are the same as any XJ/MJ bumper cap, except they are painted Platinum.

FWIW, a few days ago a female professor at University of Alabama Huntsville killed three of her colleagues and wounded three more. She had an entitlement attitude, too. She felt she was "entitled" to tenure even though her students (and apparently a number of her colleagues) thought she was a lousy teacher. Brilliant scientist, perhaps, but a lousy teacher. Doctor Amy Bishop didn't deal well with rejection (especially from an inferior school -- after all, she went to Hahvahd), so her response was to start shooting. Welcome to the real world. In the real world, there are fire codes that dictate things like lockers in school corridors should remain closed because those same corridors just might be filled with students in the event of a fire. Is it really worth potentially seeing several of your classmates trampled because you don't think you should even have to close your locker? Reality check -- how difficult IS that, anyway?

I had a '78 with the 360 V8 and QuadraTrac as my plow vehicle for several years. My brother had one, as well. I always had the feeling they were essentially unstoppable. The weakness (for here in the rust belt) was/is that the frames are prone to rusting out.

Measure from the center of the wheel/axle to the UNDERSIDE of the flare -- the edge of the wheel opening. For a stock vehicle, the front should measure 17-1/2" and the rear should measure about 21-1/2"

I would do the bearings. They aren't that expensive, and it's a LOT easier to do them with the engine out of the vehicle and turned upside down on an engine stand.

My 1987 SWB Pioneer has the chrome "Pioneer" on the front fenders below the "Comanche," exactly the same as my '88 Cherokee Pioneer. And the 87 has NO stripes. I bought it from the original owner's daughter, so I'm 99.37% certain it's original.

Good point. Electrical current seeks a ground. If you interrupt the ground kindly provided by the factory, it'll seek out a ground path anywhere it can. It's just the nature of the beast.

Is anybody besides me old enough to remember when Steve Garvey (he of the gorgeous, blonde wife) played first base for the Dodgers? Steve-a-rino was interviewed by somebody and made a big deal out of talking up the fact that professional ball players are role models for kids, and how they should remember their fans, and not always be in the game just for the money. It was a great speech ... I loved it! One or two years later he dumped the Dodgers for a higher offer from wherever he went next. Then came the news about the extra-marital affairs and the kids he fathered with multiple women other than his wife. That was the end of the line for me. When I was growing up, the players were identified by the team they played for, not by the size of their paycheck. Can you imagine Joe DiMaggio or Mickey Mantle not being Yankees? Ted Williams or Carl Yastremski not being Red Sox? Sandy Koufax and Don Drysdale not being Dodgers? Let 'em rot.

Check the fuse panel. The headlights use the built-in circuit breaker in the switch, but IIRC the parking lights are fused on the panel. If the fuses look good, get a test light or multimeter, turn the light switch to parking lights, connect the negative probe to a known good ground and check to verify that you have power to the socket (or not).

If you have front parking lights and headlights, the switch is not the problem. Have you replaced the bulbs? Parking lights and taillights are the same thing, using the lower brightness filament in each bulb. It's possible that new bulbs might cure it.

Tiger who?

ALERT: THE FOLLOWING POST CONTAINS GROSS OVER-SIMPLIFICATIONS. People were different back then. For WW1 and again for WW2 there were people lying about their age to get INTO the army (or Navy, or whatever) to serve. Fast forward to the Vietnam era, and people were doing just about anything they could think of to avoid entering the military and serving their country. My late grandfather didn't make it to nearly 109 years of age, but he was in some respects like this gentleman. My grandfather was American, but the family heritage (especially on his side) was English and Scottish. My grandfather had just finished college when WW1 broke out. The United States would not enter the war for another two years. My grandfather felt so strongly about it that he went to Scotland and enlisted in the Black Watch. Like Mr. Babcock, my grandfather didn't see combat. Although he was accepted and officially enrolled, he was subsequently discharged for medical reasons as being unsuitable for combat. He was always disappointed that he didn't get to serve, but he was nonetheless proud to be able to say that he had been a member of Scotland's famed Black Watch. In WW2, my father and both of his brothers served, my mother's brother served, and the husband of my mother's sister served. In my generation, only one male cousin and I went in. I had a first cousin once removed (my mother's first cousin) who served in three wars: he was a pilot in WW2, Korea, and Vietnam. The world might be a better place today if more people today might be less interested in taking and more interested in serving. R.I.P. Mr. Babcock. He represents the end of an era.

What size tires will you be using? For general street use with stock size tires, I think the 2.5L works well with the 4.10 geas that the factory used behind the 5-speeds. The early 4-cylinder 4-speeds came with 3.55 gears. That's not bad with no overdrive, but 5th gear would be pretty useless with that ratio behind a 2.5L.

UNTRUE! HERESY! LIES! Kill it with fire!

And, of course, the rim width is critical in getting an accurate measurement of the wheelbase ... :banana: :banana:

1/8" would be excessive. The 1988 MJ factory service manual shows toe-in of zero preferred, with the acceptable range for EACH wheel -1/32 to +1/32 -- which means a gross measurement of +/- 1/16". In practical terms, what you're aiming for is zero to 1/32" toe-IN when the wheels are rolling down the road. Setting for zero when the wheels are not moving doesn't make allowance for slop in worn tie rod ends, which may allow the wheels to toe out slightly as the rolling resistance builds up. A small amount of static toe-in compensates for this.

How do you expect it to run if you don't have the engine control sensors connected?

Does it have stickers/decals that say it's a Metric Ton, or does the VIN indicate that? I have a 1987 Pioneer that has tow hooks and a Dana 44 rear axle, but it isn't a Metric Ton. If possible, post a photo of one of the rear springs ... from the side, so we can see the leaf layout.

We already have two entire sub-forums dedicated to such posts. One is the "MJ Projects" area, the other is the "DIY Projects" area.

What other half? It died, it started. What else?

Wrong. You'll need two wrench sizes to remove the two wires from the starter (IIRC), and the two bolts holding the starter to the engine are not the same size. The good news is that everything is pretty easily accessible.

NGK (standard, not platinum) or Champion truck plugs.

The dimmer for the instrument lights is a rheostat built into the headlight switch. It's a contact that slides along a coil of resistance wire. With age, the wire develops dead spots. Probably turning on the headlights also rotates the stem slightly, causing the slider to rest on a dead or dying spot in the resistance coil. Try rotating the headlight switch and see if the lights come back.

Bad CPS.