Eagle

The nose outlet is the one that runs the rear brakes. The one he used is actuated only if the front brakes fail. He needs to reroute the hard line to the "nose" of the metering block. Just like in Pete's photo. (Great minds think .... and work ... alike.)

Banjo? The rear lines don't have any banjos. Both ends have conventional flare fittings. The inboard end screws into the junction block on the axle, the outboard end screws into the wheel cylinder. There are two companies that advertise in the off-road magazines that sell pre-bent tube sets. One is (from memory) Classic Tubing. I don't recall the name of the other one. The claim to have patterns for just about anything, but I ordered two sets of rear axle tubes (brake lines, not axle tubes) for an MJ D44 from one of them (I don't recall which). They assured me they had the pattern ... and what arrived several days later wasn't even close. I suspect it might have been for a full-size J20 pickup. In any event, I had to ship those back, along with my rusty lines off the D44 so they could match them up. They did pretty well on the second try.

Personally, I'd regear the D44 to 4.10s, put semi-metallic linings in, remove the rear proportioning valve, and have more rear brakes than I could possibly need. I absolutely do not understand why anyone thinks putting disc brakes on the rear of an MJ is a "must have" modification. Those 10 x 2-1/2 drums will stop a bus, fer Gawd's sake.

I think we're having a discussion at cross purposes here. 21-spline vs. 23-spline refers to the interface between the transfer case and the transmission, not to the transmission output shaft. The issue requiring a different drive shaft is length, not spline count.

So you now have a single brake line from the rear flex hose direct to the front metering block below the master cylinder? Are you using the MJ metering block, or an XJ or ZJ proportioning valve? If you're using the MJ metering block, which port did you run the rear line from? "Nose," or bottom?

Fastcast -- Where are you located? I have a wrecked '86 with the 2.8L automatic. It may have your transfer case under it -- I don't know because the guy from whom I got it had already stripped the interior so there were no parts to identify from up topsides if it was Command Trac or SelecTrac. If you're anywhere near CT and interested, let me know and I'll take a look.

I wonder how often they have to replace those payloaders ...

Not sure how you got the info that it's an 87 V6. As noted, if it's a V6, it ain't a 1987, and if it's a 1987 it ain't a V6. But ... Assuming that it really is an 87 with a 4.0L engine -- don't spend a lot of money for that radiator. Unless it has been replaced, it's 22 years old and probably won't last very long, and very likely won't cool very effective. You can get NEW MJ radiators for between $100 and $150. Radiators are one thing where buying from a junkyard probably doesn't make a lot of sense for a 20+ year old vehicle.

Dissenting opinion here. I tried KYB Gas-A-Justs on my '88 Cherokee because my brother assured me they were great. I hated them. Very harsh over small bumps and pavement cracks. I took them off and replaced them with Monroes, which I have been extremely happy with. Another vote for Monroe SensaTracks.

ALL modern vehicles use them. Jeep was not the first. They are a nuisance to change, but they usually last about 100,000 miles (give or take 75,000 :D ), so easy access wasn't at the top of the list of priorities when designing where to put it.

I hate the things. Truth be known, I'd rather have a conventional distributor with points and a condensor that you replace every 10,000 miles. The parts are cheap, and it's easy to do a points job. My issue with the CPS is that a Jeep is supposed to be a "go anywhere" vehicle. I just don't like the idea of a safari vehicle that you may have out in the boonies, miles and miles from anything remotely resembling civilization or a paved road, and the CPS may decide to die on you out there. Most Jeep owners won't even know what a CPS is, and if they do they probably don't carry a spare. Ever try to swap a CPS in a swamp? (No, I haven't, either. But I have swapped on in a snow-packed driveway on a 25-degree day.) I don't really care for fuel injection for the same reason. If it fails when you're beyond "out there," you're stuck. I've driven an old pickup with a carburetor by hanging a coffee can half filled with gasoline from a strut under the hood and running a drip tube to the carburetor float bowl inlet. Try that with EFI.

You don't switch the colored wire, that stays on the pot slider and goes to the gauge. You only switch the the black ground wire from one leg of the pot to the other unused leg. The pump will still grounded by the black wire. Wish I had a sender to do a bench test, but I'm certain it will work. Ah, so. Muy interesante. I wish you had a sender to bench test, too. I never noticed an unused connector tab.

Slow down, Matey. You don't have to drop the transmission to position the CPS -- unless you didn't put the bellhousing back on properly. There should have been two hollow locating sleeves, on on each side of the block, that the bellhousing fitted onto for location, and then the lower bolts go through those hollow sleeves. You DID have the two sleeves in the block, I hope. Did you remove the CPS before you removed the tranny and bellhousing? If not (and I'm going to guess that you didn't), how much banging around did you do getting the tranny out, and then getting it back in place? My guess is that the CPS took a hit and is physically damaged. Also -- are you using the original flywheel? If not, did you buy a flywheel? If you got a flywheel from the wrong year, it may not work with the CPS for your vehicle.

I'm thinking water in the gas.

If you did the clutch, you had the bellhousing off. The CPS (Crankshaft Position Sensor) is on/in the bellhousing. Did you reinstall it correctly? The bolts have a shoulder to locate the sensor accurately. If you lost those and use full-threaded bolts, the CPS may not be positioned right. Also, if you left the CPS on the bellhousing, it's possible it got dameged from handling. The vast majority of no-starts with the XJ and MJ eventually come down to the CPS. Does the fuel pump run for a few seconds when you first turn on the key? Have you verified fuel pressure at the injector rail?

As already noted, the Renix sender has a range of 0 to 88 ohms. The HO sender has a range of 105 to 5 ohms. The difference isn't the same on both ends of the scale, but adding a 5-ohm resistor to the Renix-era sender would get it closer to the HO values. The range would then be 5 to 93 ohms. Combined with a bit of bending on the float arm, that might result in a gauge whose readings are at least usable, since factory gas gauges aren't especially accurate anyway. (Side note: My brother used to be service manager at a BMW dealership. One day he got an irate phone call from a woman whose new BMW had run out of gas. Her model had a fuel and mileage computer as well as a gauge. L'il bro asked her if she had checked the computer before she ran out of gas. "Yes I did!" she replied angrily. "It said I had 1.3 miles to go before it was empty.") Keep in mind that the fuel pump is also grounded by the one black wire going into the tank. Switching the black and colored wire for the sensor might result in some odd behavior on the part of the pump. I suppose it might be possible to add a fourth wire as a dedicated ground for the sender - I'd have to pull a fuel pump/sender assembly out of a tank to see if that's really feasible, or if it's just another pie-in-the-sky idea that sounds great in theory but won't work in practice.

Dunno, Pete ... but it should work in daylight, with no accessories operating. When it stops charging, it isn't permanently dead. If he recharges the battery, the next time he drives the truck it shows charging (normal operation) for awhile, and then it'll suddenly decide it's had enough for one day and quit.

Engines can be rebuilt, or bought out of a junkyard. For me, anyway, a solid body is a LOT more important. I'm lousy at body work, and when you send it out ... it's expensive, and they do a lousy job anyway. Check it out, by all means.

My brother has a problem. 1997 Nissan pickup, 4-cylinder engine (I think that's all they offered that year, not sure). He has a plow on it, and it's winter here in New England. He discovered the first or second storm he plowed that when he puts any load on the electrical system (like: lights + plow hoist + blinker lights required by law) the alternator stops charging. He has replaced the alternator three times now, with no difference. In fact, he said the problem (whatever it is) seems to be getting worse. Used to be, during the day with no lights on the alternator would charge and maintain the battery, but at night the headlights would make it trip out after about 10 or 15 minutes. He drove the truck to meet a friend for breakfast this morning, and he said after about ten miles (NO lights) the alternator stopped charging. Anybody got any tips or insider info on what might be going on?

Thanks for the write-up Eagle. That must have been painful, to re-live all those memories. Heh ... If I stopped to reconstruct the full history, what I gave you was just the tip of the iceberg. How about an "auto disengage" feature for the cruise control? Pretty neat, huh? It was especially appealing in heavy traffic with a semi on my bumper. Or the panic alarm. It had a "random self-test" feature built in. It would go off whenever it felt like it. They didn't believe me at the dealership. Finally, after the shop foreman had taken a test drive to evaluate one of the other problems, we were standing outside the shop (me, the foreman, the service writer, and a tech or three) and the alarm went off. "There," I said, "that's what I'm talking about." "You did it," said the service writer. "Yeah? Mike [the foreman] is still holding the keys." "Oh." Oh, yeah. If at all possible, DO NOT get one with the optional Sentry Key (or whatever they call it). That's the key with the sensor or transmitter or whatever built in, so the engine won't start unless THAT key is in the ignition. Home Depot or locksmith copies won't work. You'll want to be sitting down if you ever ask the price for a replacement key. And they can't make 'em at the dealership -- they have to special order them from Chrysler.

1999 was the first year for the WJ. DO NOT buy a 1999 WJ. Learn from my error, and remember the adage that you should never, ever buy a new vehicle in the first year it's available. Mine had the 4.7L V8 and the full QuadraDrive II system. When it worked, QuadraDrive was awesome. Problem is, it didn't work very often. The transfer case kept binding up. The factory kept trying different lube formulations, none of which solved the problem. Meanwhile, in 14,000 miles I went through three brake jobs (under warranty) because the front rotors liked to warp. The rear axle (the infamous aluminum "Dana 44") developed a howl, apparently because the diff housing warped. It wasn't abuse, because I never took it off road. I had my '88 XJ for that. That axle is just trash. In the end, the thing died in the middle of a state highway and had to be towed to the dealership where they gave me the good news and the bad news. The good news was, they knew what the problem was: bad cam sensor. The bad news was: the part to replace it wasn't in the system, so they couldn't fix it. Not today, not tomorrow, not next week or even next month. Fortunately, because Jeep had already wasted so much of my time and money, the factory had agreed to buy it back (to stop me from filing a lemon law case, which gets recorded in some Federal database), and the replacement (a 2000 XJ Classic) showed up abut the time the WJ died. So I just handed them the keys and wished them good luck with it. It drove well and rode very comfortably with the Up Country suspension. The much-touted 4.7 V8 had NO power or torque under 3,000 RPM, but over 3,000 RPM it took off like a rocket. In other words, a passenger car engine rather than a Jeep engine. The Chrysler automatic tranny was also junk. It always made various annoying clunks and bangs that the dealership assured me were "normal" (but which I had never heard any other vehicle make). I would suggest getting a 2001 or 2002. I don't think they had the bugs worked out even in the 2000 production. And, unless your wife really likes to use the power, I would stay FAR away from the V8 and get the 4.0L engine with the old stand-by 242 transfer case. If you get that configuration, there's a possibility you might get a Dana 35 axle. Yeah, yeah, I know. But ... the Dana 35 in my 88 Cherokee has 270,000 miles on it, has been off-roaded somewhat extensively, and is still going strong. The "Dana 44" in my WJ had to be rebuilt under warranty at 10,000 miles, and the rebuild made the problem worse instead of better. The good old Dana 35 is actually better than the POS aluminum "Dana 44."

Not sure I follow your thought on this one Eagle. The 2.5 did come before the 4.0. Or do you mean that a more correct lineage would be the 4.0 based on the 4.2? I just look at them all being in the same family. Damn good engines. Too bad they didn't bother to do more development on the 2.5. I think there is untapped potential there. The 2.5L engine wasn't designed out of thin air. My racing friend was service manager at the dealership our family used back when the Cherokee came out. He said back in 1984 that the 2.5L engine was nothing but a 258 (4.2L) with the middle two cylinders taken out, and that's true. The same I6 "family" dates to 1964, when AMC first introduced it as a 232 c.i.d. (3.8L). Two years later they added a de-stroked version that displaced 199 cubes, and then somewhere in the 70s they increased the stroke and bumped the displacement to 258 cubic inches. That's the same 4.2L engine that was used in the Wrangler right up through 1990, and that's the engine that the 4.0L was derived from. As was the 2.5L. Doesn't matter that the 2.5L came a couple of years before the 4.0L -- that doesn't mean the 4.0L was based on it.

I always figured it should increase the mileage, too, but one of the compromises is the need to run bigger injectors to compensate for the higher compression.

The C4x4 tow hook kit is definitely worth $75. If you could still source the parts through a Jeep dealer, they would total up to probably four times that price. The only criticism I have (and this applies to the factory kit, as well) is that there's no way to keep a strap on the hook with the open side facing down. Spend a couple of extra bucks to get a pair of those little stainless steel spring thingies that snap over the open hook to keep the strap in place when it's slack.

Any frame can be repaired. My brother's early 90s Nissan pickup plow truck had the frame crack just behind the cab. It was sway-backed driving down the road, and if he put the plow down and pushed against anything you could see the "hinge" flexing. He took it to a shop that specializes in frame repair, and they fixed it right up.