Eagle

It was also a proprietary version of the Ramsey 6000-lb winch. Normally, the winch "feet:" mount pointing down and the controls face up. With the hidden winch, the mounting plate is vertical so the feet have to point toward the rear of the vehicle rather than down. Which means the wich base is "clocked" 90 degrees relative to the mechanism and controls. I don't know if a standard 6000 or 8000 pounder can be modified to mount that way. Sure they can... they mount that way inside an ARB bull bar... The line actually feeds out the "bottom" of the winch when its installed that way. Cool. But the way the hidden winch is set up, it would be feeding out the "top." I guess if you can do one, you can do the other.

It was also a proprietary version of the Ramsey 6000-lb winch. Normally, the winch "feet:" mount pointing down and the controls face up. With the hidden winch, the mounting plate is vertical so the feet have to point toward the rear of the vehicle rather than down. Which means the wich base is "clocked" 90 degrees relative to the mechanism and controls. I don't know if a standard 6000 or 8000 pounder can be modified to mount that way.

Kudos to you for being a proactive tech. Not all shops work that way. Nonetheless, I would not trust a system whose mode of failure is to default to no brakes. When my ex-GF was shopping for a Cherokee a few years ago I advised her not to buy an '89 that had ABS ... which then got me involved in buying an '88 Laredo here in Connecticut, replacing a cracked flex plate and doing some other, routine maintenance work, and driving it out to her in Montana. Of course, we don't know if the XJ in question even has ABS, but it is a possibility with an '89 and whoever owns it should be aware of the issue so they can decide what their level of comfort is with that system.

That does NOT include the Grand Cherokee.

The entire system is not covered by that lifetime warranty, only one or two of the components. And, frankly, knowing that when the system fails it will leave me with no brakes tells me the lifetime warranty is a sick joke. It won't help me if I'm dead.

The bumper is the same as all XJ/MJ bumpers. The winch mount plate uses the same factory brackets as the factory tow hooks. The factory brackets (unlike the clones) had two sets of mounting holes. Using the second set moved the brackets forward several inches to create a space for the winch behind the bumper.

A Dana 44 is EXTREMELY unlikely in an '89 Cherokee. If it has ABS, be advised that 1989 was the first year the XJ offered ABS and the system was a disaster. Most XJ fans (including me) recommend removing the ABS entirely and replacing with a standard brake system. The problem is that when the early XJ ABS system fails, it does NOT revert to standard (non-ABS) brakes. It defaults to NO brakes. Brakes = Good. No brakes = Bad.

Another report I read said students described her as "intelligent but awkward." I know I'm going way out on a skinny limb here and extrapolating from other people I have known personally, but I'd venture a guess that she is highly intelligent but so out of touch with common sense and "people skills" that it would have been difficult to notice anything abnormal because her behavior was probably what most of us would consider abnormal anyway. I'll also venture to guess that she really went off the deep end. Apparently she ditched the gun in a ladies room after the shooting and then called her husband to come pick her up -- and didn't even mention the shooting to him. And when the police arrested her, she said "It didn't happen, they are all alive." It's said that there's a very thin line between genius and insanity. She may just have crossed the line.

I'm looking for a photo. I know a friend had one several years ago, but he's in Greece and not on-line at the moment. Meanwhile -- http://www.naxja.org/forum/showthread.p ... light=tach

Minor update: She fired three shots when she killed her brother, but only one hit him: This is an exerpt. I found several longer articles on the topic. It rather appears this woman is a somewhat brilliant nutcase who can't handle having things not go her way.

I'd say there is going to be a lot of question as to just how "accidentally" this was. According to what I read (and, of course, we all know "the media" are infallible) she shot her brother three times. You don't do that by accident. And apparently the police chief called off the investigation and labeled it an accident before his investigators had a chance to even start looking into to it. That chief is now retired and, naturally, denies there was any cover-up. I am extremely sorry for what your daughter is going through. Bad enough to be on that campus, worse to have had that prof, and still "more worser" to have felt close to her. It has to be a shock. I would encourage you to encourage your daughter to keep talking it out with you and your wife. It's going to be difficult for her to integrate.

I'm with Pete. How difficult is it to put the 2-letter state abbreviation in parentheses in the title and body of the post?

You're saying your speedo cable has the white nylon push-on retainer, and does NOT use a metal retainer?

What year MJ did these things come out of?

I know my '87 MJ Pioneer with full gauges + tach has the "old" style lettering and the 1 MPH markings on the speedo, so it would be classified as an "early style" cluster. I have not checked to see which type of connector holds the speedo cable to the speedo head. It has always been my understanding that the old style is a "Type 1" cluster (1 MPH and 100 RPM ticks) and the new style (with the more modern numbers and ticks only at the 2.5 MPH and 250 RPM points) is a "Type 2." I've never heard of a Type 1 cluster that accepts the newer nylon push-on speedo cable. I don't know if the change to the Type 2 cluster was in mid-year 1987 or if it was changed when they brought in the '88 model year. I have believed that it was a 1988 introduction, but I suppose it might have been a mid-1987 running change.

You mean you drilled a new hole? All that does is move the axle slightly toward the passenger side. It doesn't change the alignment.

I agree with Comanche09 -- that's not a 1990 gauge cluster. That's an early cluster and the speedo cable connection is probably different. Only a photo os the back side will tell for certain.

I used to run a Meyers plow on my old full-size Cherokee with the 360 V8. I had the same problem. It's pretty fundamental -- engine cooling requires air flow through the radiator, and putting a solid object in front of the radiator doesn't enhance the air flow. I never found a true solution that would allow me to drive around with the plow on as if it weren't there. The only things that helped were keeping the plow as low to the ground as possible when driving, and driving slower. I sold that rig more than 10 years ago so I'm digging deep into the dustbin of memory, but IIRC the critical speed was around 40 MPH. As long as I kept the speed under 40 MPH the temperature stayed under control. Once I went over 40, it overheated. Period, end of discussion.

What is the caster angle? What is the toe-in?

Then that's the difference.

Did the 98 ZJ still have a distributor? I'm pretty sure the 99 WJ had individual coils on each spark plug. That might be the difference.

White is positive 12v to the light bulb. Black is ground. Red is positive 12v to the tach Green goes to the negative terminal of the ignition coil. (Or to the tach output in the yellow diagnostic connector under the hood.)

A potentiometer isn't a switch. It's a mini-rheostat. Turning it changes the resistance through a range. To calibrate it for a different cylinder count, you have to to have the cluster connected to the wiring harness and also have an idle tachometer attached to the engine (or use an optical sensing tachometer) to tell you the correct reading. Then you turn the potentiometer (or "pot," for short) until it agrees with the reference tach reading.

It has full gauges. The police packages don't have a tachometer because they don't need one. They were all automatics, and police have other things to worry about than how many RPMs the engine is turning.

Just for the record, the temperature sensor on the lower front of the block is for providing data to the ECU and has nothing to do with what reading you get on the gauge. The sender for the gauge is the one of the left rear corner of the head.