Eagle

If you mean for the brakes, the MJ does not have a combination valve. The thingie in the front is a distribution block and brake failure warning switch only -- proportioning is done by the height sensing valve in the rear.

I don't know what to tell you. You have steel lines with bad flares, and they have damaged the seats in your valve bodies. Keep using those lines and you'll just destroy more proportioning valves. You need to replace those flares. If you don't want to run new lines full length, then cut the ends of and splice in new sections with proper flares. https://www.amazon.com/s?k=copper+nickel+brake+line+3%2F16&crid=W5G2CN1KRWGA&sprefix=copper+nickel+brake+line%2Caps%2C194&ref=nb_sb_ss_i_1_24

Yes, of course.

Bubble flare is not the answer. Those flares in the photos are bad -- that's the problem. Let's take it from the top. un fortunately, our forum software makes it difficult to quote parts on a post, but I'll try to work around that. "They leave indents like the line isn’t sitting centered. " Yeah, the raised seat in the valve body has obviously been gouged. The gouge is deep enough that I don't know if it can be made to seat without leaking. This one is damaged to the point that I think it can't be saved. This flare wasn't pressed hard enough on the second pass with the flare tool: The width of the "face" at the end of the flare is too wide, so the width of the inverted taper is too narrow. In addition ... The flare is off-center to the tube. You can see that the flare extends farther toward the top of the photo than the portion extending below the tube toward the bottom. My suggestion: Go on Amazon and buy a coil of copper-nickel (cunifer) brake line. It's more resistant to corrosion, which is always good. Plus, it's softer than steel, so it's easier to bend, it's easier to get good flares, and it might be soft enough to compress the flare and seal those damaged seats.

Yes, that is an XJ (or ZJ) proportioning valve. If it's weeping around where one of the fitting goes into the valve body, you have a bad flare, not a bad valve.

The XJ rear lights are all fed from the left side wiring bundle. The difference between the usual XJ setup, which has separate brakes and hazards, and the XJ Wagineer (which works like the MJ, with the brake lights and hazards sharing the same bulbs), is all at the rear of the vehicle. I thought I had posted scans of both XJ wiring diagrams here awhile ago, but I don't remember where or when.

If you are in New England, definitely follow Pete's advice. It sounds like a daunting task but, in reality, once you dive in and get started, replacing all the brake lines isn't all that much work, and it's definitely worth the effort in terms of the peace of mind you'll gain. I'm in New England, so I speak from experience. I've tried patching the steel brake lines. What a joke. On my '88 Cherokee -- a number of years ago -- I replaced the rear line from about the driver's seat back to the rear axle. Got it all buttoned up, my buddy came over to help me bleed it -- and it popped the same line, a foot forward from where I had spliced it, while we were bleeding it. Don't get steel. New England states now have a love affair with the liquid auto eater salt compound, and that stuff is death to brake lines. Get cunifer (copper/nickel/steel). You can get a 25-foot coil from Amazon, with new fittings, for a decent price. And the cunifer is much easier to work with than the steel lines you get at the parts houses. https://www.amazon.com/s?k=Cunifer+brake+line&ref=nb_sb_noss_2

How thick can JB Weld be built up in one lift/pass? I have a cylindrical thingie that I need to fill with something metallic(ish). Length about 1-1/4", diameter -- well, okay it's not exactly a cylinder -- about 1/2" x 3/4". Can I just mix up the goop and ladle it in, or does JB Weld need thin layers to cure properly? The instructions don't seem to address that.

There's a link to the 1988 electrical manual in this thread: https://comancheclub.com/topic/62775-no-communication-with-tcm-won’t-shift/page/2/#comments

It turns over -- your problem obviously can't be the starter. Your problem is that you are not getting electrical power to the ignition, or to the fuel pump -- or maybe to both. The thing you stick the key into on the steering column is not the ignition switch. It's just a key. The actual switch is located on the steering column -- where that bundle of wires comes from. (See previous posts.) You need to do some troubleshooting to find out if power for the fuel pump and ignition circuits is coming out of that switch. If so, then trace the circuits until you find the break. The 1988 electrical manual is available somewhere on this site as a download. Your truck may not be an '88, but the ignition circuit should work about the same for all of them.

Well done, Sir! Well done, indeed!

Ah, so. Gotcha.

This is very unclear. It doesn't turn over -- or it doesn't start? "Turning over" is when the starter is engaged and the engine is rotating. "Firing" is when the engine starts to run on its own. So what is it doing, and what is it not doing? If it's not turning over, "flooding the fuel line" (however you do that) wouldn't make any difference.

Not Chrysler, AMC. I bought my 1988 Cherokee new. It was delivered, IIRC, in January of 1988. All the paperwork says American Motors. Two or three months later, when I took it back for a warranty issue, the warranty was handled through Chrysler. An 86/87 vehicle was defintely AMC.

Oh. I thought you were looking for a lap belt for the center position on the MJ bench. My original XJ didn't have shoulder belts for the rear and I've never sat in the back of the 2000 XJ, so rear shoulder belts never entered what's left of my mind. Sorry.

Are you asking about the lap belt for the center position? I don't know what you heard, but the center belt in a Comanche is exactly the same as a center belt from the rear of a Cherokee.

Fronts are the same. Rear Comanche wheel wells are much larger than Cherokee wheel wells, both in length and height. The only way to use Cherokee rear flares on an MJ is to get multiples for each side, cut 'em apart, and splice 'em together.

They have both already been updated to Windows 10. And I know they aren't worth much, so I will probably donate them. They work, so it goes against the grain to just toss them in the trash. I'll probably do what I have done in the past -- go through the pastor at my church and let him find some family that needs a computer and can't afford one. With schools looking more and more at remote learning, there are sure to be some families that can use them. I know how to prep them for donation. I erase my data, then run a DoD wipe utility to ensure that my deleted files can't be recovered. My concern is salvaging my license for Office 2013.

I have a couple of old notebook computers that are surplus. I've been hanging onto them mostly for sentimental reasons (one was my late wife's last computer, s it's one more tie to her memory -- not that I need one). I may be relocating, so it's time (actually well past time) to start cleaning out unneeded and unused "stuff." The oldest of these notebooks has a licensed copy of Microsoft Office Pro 2013 on it. I'm not going to let that go -- I'd like to transfer it to one of the newer notebooks or the Surface tablet. How do I do that? I believe Office 2013 was the first version where Microsoft hides the application key so key finder software doesn't work. I'll sell or donate the computer with Libre Office on it, so there will be a full office suite -- just not my MS Office license. Without an activation key, how do I install the program on a different computer? Related question: I'm pretty much a recluse and I don't like having strangers come to my house. In the past, when I have sold notebook computers I've met the buyer at a mutually convenient McDonald's where the buyer could fire it up and use McD's free WiFi to try out the computer. Thanks to COVID-19, we can't do that. Is it worth trying to find some other way to sell these things, or should I just give them away? Both are Toshiba Satellites. The oldest dates to the end of XP -- it has a sticker on it that says Windows Vista, but it shipped with XP installed from Toshiba. The other is also a Toshiba Satellite, and I think that one dates to around the end of Vista/start of Windows 7. Both have been upgraded to Windows 10 and have had additional RAM installed.

Just saw this. Congratulations on your retirement, and good call. You are 100% correct -- it's just getting too crazy out there, and too may politicians don't support the good cops, but they don't do anything about the bad cops that create the problems. For the officers, it's a no-win situation. The two guys who run the gun shop a few miles from home are both retired LEOs. Great guys, and both are very happy to be out of that line of work. Same with my friend in Washington state.

I don't know what you're reading but it's not the link I gave you. I quoted Goodrich directly: You can safely put 235s on your 6-inch rims. Addressing Pete's comment about exceeding the recommendations: Yes, we do often exceed them. It's not a good idea. When you put a wide tire on a narrow rim, the rim pulls the sidewalls in. That pulls the tread shoulders up, so instead of being flat to the road it's curved, with good pavement contact only toward the center of the tread. This hurts tread life (the center of the tread wears out long before the shoulders), and it reduces traction because you're not effectively using the full width of the tread. So we compromise by lowering the tire pressure to get the shoulders back on the pavement. Once you exceed the safe rim range, to do this you have to drop the pressure too low, which results in the tires overheating at high speed or in hot weather. That's exactly what happened with the Ford Explorers a few years ago when their tires were exploding. Ford blamed it in Firestone's tires but the reality is Ford reduced the tire pressure below what Firestone said was safe, because Ford wanted a softer ride. The result was tires overheating on the highway with disastrous results. Bottom line: You can go to 235s and be within the safe range. A 235 is about the same diameter as a 30x9.50. Personally, I think that's too much for a 2.5L 4-speed. I don't think you'll enjoy driving it. I think you'll be happier with a 215 or maybe a 225 if you really want the tire to fill the opening a bit more. Going to a more squared-off, blockier tread will do a lot to make it look more like a Jeep and less like a passenger vehicle. I would get the LT-rated tires rather than P-rated. The tread will be tougher, and the sidewalls will be stronger.

That's a rare situation. When it happens, all that's needed to make it lock up is a light touch on the brakes.

I have to disagree. I own three Cherokees with the factory TracLok (clutch type) limited slip, and I owned several pony cars with clutch type limited slips before the Cherokees. I put a TrueTrac in my '88 MJ and there's no comparison. The TrueTrac is quieter, and engages much more securely and firmly.

That's what I thought. And that limits your options on tire sizes pretty significantly. We can get away with running up to 31x10.50-15 tires on the 7-inch factory rims, but it's actually pushing the envelope a bit. The 6-inch rims won't safely take tires that big. Check out specs from BF Goodrich, for example (scroll down, then click on a tire size for detailed specs): https://www.bfgoodrichtires.com/tires/all-terrain/all-terrain-t-a-ko2.html The recommended rim with for a 31x10.50-15 is 8.50". The safe rim width range is 7.00" to 9.00". Your wheels are wide enough. The recommended rim with for a 30x9.50-15 is 7.50". The safe rim width range is 6.50" to 8.50". Getting closer, but not there yet. Drop down to a 235/75-15 and the recommended rim width is 6.50" with a safe rim width range of 6.00" to 7.00". So that's the largest tire you should put on your wheels. A 215/75-15 has a recommended rim width of 6.00" and an acceptable rim width range of 5.50" to 7.00". That's a better fit for a 4-cylinder 4-speed because it will fit the power band of that engine and transmission better. The All-Terrain T/A KO2 has a pretty aggressive tread with wide shoulders, so I think it will look right at home on your truck, and you won't take as big a hit on performance (or on your wallet).

Between the 2.5-liter 4-speed and the lack of power steering, IMHO it would be an unhappy experience to jump into large tires and a lift. Keep it simple. You can fit up to 31x10.50-15 tires on the stock rims and not have interference with the fenders or flares, but the tires will rub the lower control arms on tight turns. Even 30x9.50-15s are likely to rub the LCAs, but not as badly. So the largest you can go without sacrificing something is 235/75-15. But that's still three sizes larger than what you're on now. There WILL be a power loss (or, more accurately, a performance loss because you're effectively losing final drive ratio). My recommendation would be to look at 225/75-15 tires and find one that has an off-road-ish tread -- probably an all-terrain tire, rather than an all-season passenger car tire. Which wheels do you have? My guess is that a 2.5L 4-speed with manual steering is going to have the 6-inch steel wheels, and that's another reason not to get into larger tires.