Eagle

I thought those were gone in 97? Even if it does have it, wouldn't it start up for a few seconds, then die? That's what my first XJ(88) did when the resistor went out. Ya know, I have two 2000 XJs (one for me, one for my wife) and I never even looked at/for the ballast resistor. I just assumed they would have it.

I think the '01 still uses a ballast resistor, too, and that probably got broken in the crash.

Check the ground.

They are coming out of a YJ. I don't believe the YJ was ever offered with a 4-speed.

Got a photo of your engine? Can you read the build code off the passenger side? It shouldn't have a vertical oil filter, but it may be a replacement engine, or it may be a replacement oil filter adapter.

Actually, what my in-state neighbor means is DON'T lock the steering wheel. Get the truck so the road wheels are as straight ahead as possible. Turn off the engine but DO NOT engage the steering wheel lock. This way, as you make the adjustment at the drag link the steering wheel will move. If you have the steering wheel locked, adjusting the drag link will turn the road wheels and you won't really know if you've gone far enough, too far, or in the wrong direction until you drive it again.

Unless you NEED a major lift for running VERY large tires in extreme off-road conditions, I would strongly advise against doing the spring-over conversion in the rear. As noted, that has to generate at least 5 inches of lift, and usually more. Adding that much lift to the front creates all sorts of suspension issues, which translate into mega $$$ and chronic driveability issues on pavement. Considering that you can run 31x10.50 tires with NO lift, a simple 2" budget boost (coil spacers) in the front and a Rancho add-a-leaf in the rear should be all you need to keep you happy while not breaking the bank.

Right you are. The '88 oil filter is a metric thread, and the filter mounts upside down (threaded opening toward the ground). Chrysler changed to an SAE thread on the filter in 1991, and at the same time changed the filter adapter so the filter sits horizontal (threaded opening facing forward). The filters are NOT interchangeable. If you have the horizontal mount, you probably need a filter for a 1991 thru 2001 Cherokee.

Cute. If you had some way of shielding it with inert gas it would last longer. When I was too young to know better, I used to cut open dead D-cell batteries (the standard ones, not alkalines -- which hadn't been invented back then anyway) and hook two of the center electrodes (which were nothing but carbon rods) to the two leads of a lamp cord. Plug it in, ALMOST touch the ends of the two rods together, and it made a carbon arc lamp. It's a miracle I didn't burn the house down and/or electrocute myself.

There is no pump. The vacuum reservoir is either a round ball (about softball size) if you don't have cruise control, or an elongated shape like a very fat sausage if you do have cruise, that should be mounted inside the front bumper on the passenger side. The vacuum lines to it are routed under the battery tray area. Then they go back to the firewall, where there's a sort of junction block, and then there's a line that goes to the transfer case to a vacuum switch that controls the axle disconnect.

It's part of the slave cylinder assembly. I doubt that it's sold as a separate part, although I've never checked. I just know when you buy a new slave assembly the input and bleeder lines are already on it.

Is the oil filter on your engine upside down, or horzontal?

No. But Canada does ...

MUCH better. (I can see it.) Thanks.

Don't take this personally, but you HAVE to change your color scheme. Red on black (or charcoal grey) does NOT work. I can't read your headings. In fact, I can hardly even SEE your headings. I'm not funnin' with you. If you don't believe me, fire up Google and search on "red green weak color vision"

:agree: :agree: To amplify a bit on the above -- the flappers in the dashboard that direct the airflow are controlled by vacuum. In the event of low (or no) vacuum, the default position is to direct the air to the defroster outlets on top of the dash. The most common cause is that the vacuum tubes disintegrate somewhere in the area of the battery tray, but a cracked vacuum reservoir (sometimes referred to as the "softball" or the "blimp" behind the front bumper would also result in low vacuum.

I have no idea what you ran on your muscle car, but if it was a clutch-type LSD I'll guarantee you it didn't last the life of the car ... unless the life of the car was less than two years. The original Trac-Lok on my '88 Cherokee (which I bought new) lasted a bit over 100,000 miles. The thing is, you can't tell it's worn out. There are no grinding noises or anything. It just stops being a LSD and operates like a normal, open differential. I knew mine was bad when I couldn't get up a snowy hill in 4WD. My friend the former AMC service manager added some shims to it, and that got me another 25,000 miles or so. But by then I was active in NAXJA and doing more wheeling. I finally replaced it at somewhere around 175,000 miles. Since Paragon closed and Connecticut is cracking down on wheeling in the state forests, I'm not getting off-road much so the new one is still holding up ... but it's probably not as aggressive as it was when it was first installed. Back when I was racing Javelins and AMXs, the stock LSD couldn't stand up to wide tires and big V8s. Everyone who was at all serious about performance took it out and installed a Detroit Locker. By contrast, the True Trac in the '88 Comanche is still just as positive as it was the day it was installed. And I've probably wheeled that harder than I ever wheeled the XJ. Yes, you can. But you have to be aware that, just like a front wheel drive car, if you run with a locker in 4WD the front is going to tend to "push" in a straight line rather than turn corners in slippery conditions. If you normally drive "aggressively" ... don't do it. If you're willing to slow down and pay attention to the road and your vehicle in "iffy" conditions, running a front locker with full-time 4WD should be no big deal.

No. The viscous fan clutch generates drag. (Some)

Somebody could give you the center-to-center spacing (I think Pete M has posted a photo with that information), but you also have to match the location on the circumference of the axle tube to get the same pinion angle relative to the spring perch. I've never seen anyone post that data. Most people pull the original axle, set it up next to the XJ D44, and just make everything the same.

What's "Sry"? To echo Hornbrod, we're not texting here.

Is that discussing a locking differential in the front, or automatic locking HUBS on the front axle? The Jeep 242 transfer case uses a mechanical differential for the full-time mode, not a viscous coupling. And it certainly is designed to act as a differential. On pavement, whether the front axle is locked or not, around corners the front wheels swing a wider radius and travel farther than the rear wheels. They put the differential in the transfer case specifically to allow for that. Viscous couplings, for those cases that use them, are for the same purpose. Locking the front axle does not "force" the transfer case to split 50/50 if it has a differential or a viscous coupling.

Clutch types, whether it's the Auburn cone-shaped clutch or the Trac-Lok flat type clutch, wear out. If used for serious wheeling, "lasting for years" might be two years. Trac-Locs (Dana-Spicer) can be rebuilt. There is no rebuild for the Auburn, except to ship it back to the factory and pay them to refurbish it. I don't know anything about the Eaton. The Detroit True Trac never wears out. It doesn't require any friction modifiers to the gear lube. I don't understand your concern about steel sliding against steel -- what do you think the ring gear and pinion gear are doing? I have Trac-Lok in all my XJs and a True Trac in the '88 MJ. The True Trac is smooth on pavement, but much more positive in engagement when needed. You're not supposed to use it with anything larger than 32" tires, but 33s might be okay. Larger tires are also very tough on clutch-type LSDs.

Unplug the main harness on the engine compartment side of the firewall wiring block. You'll see a single bolt in the center. That holds the engine compartment side to the passenger compartment side. Remove that bolt and the connector will pull apart.

MJ's actually have a larger rear wheelwell than the XJ so the flare is not a direct swap. Yeah, the MJ opening is about 2" higher overall and about 2" longer front-to-back. The only way to use XJ flares would be to graft on the ENTIRE wheel arch section from a 2-door XJ, and that would leave a lot of unsupported metal on the wheel side of the seam where the inner fender liner meets the outer quarter panel. I've looked at it closely, because the previous owner of my '88 burned off the flanges with the flare mounts, right back to the seam (and in some cases beyond the seam), so I need some way to mount flares where there presently isn't any metal. I may yet try this idea, but I don't hold out a lot of promise for its success.

Both should have a hose. The two hoses meet in a tee fitting, and then go forward to the charcoal cannister. It is part of the emissions control -- whether or not it would generate a FAIL on an emissions test I don't know.