Eagle

The "quill" is the housing at the transfer case end that the plastic speedo gear fits into. No, the gears are the same for all years of the MJ, but the tooth count changes depending on the tire size and gear ratio. As far as I know, all years used a rounded 'Y' shaped yoke to hold the quill into the transfer case.

BEFORE you remove it, clean the area well and take careful note of how it is oriented. The "quill" rotates to adjust for the number of teeth on the speedo drive gear, and if you don't put it back in the same orientation, either the speedo won't work or you'll wear out the plastic gear very quickly.

What year? 86 (and I think part of 87) there's a retaining screw that has to be removed. 88-90 (and at least the last half of 87, if not all of 87) has a white nylon quick disconnect. Pinch the outer ring and it releases the cable from the speedo head.

Eagle,do you think that that valve might be a contributing factor to the all around crap rear brakes from the get go? Becaues mine's still there,and if it'll get me better rear brakes I'll junk it asap. Absolutely. You do know what that rear valve does, right? The theory is that pickups are light in the rear when empty, so without some "outside assistance" the rear brakes would tend to lock up prematurely under heavy braking (panic stops, and maybe even less than full panic mode). But -- when you're loaded, you need all the braking you can get. So, they put in this doohickie that reduces the amount of braking to the rear wheels when the truck is empty, and allows progressively more pressure to the rear as added weight lowers the bed closer to the axle. In fact, the default (unloaded) setting is essentially zero rear brakes, which is why Comanche rear brakes never seem to wear out. I can't tell you how many Comanches I've looked under that had the push rod for the valve disconnected, missing, or installed in a way that clearly would render it unusable. Then there's the fact that the second line to the rear requires a special bleeding procedure that most independent shops probably aren't aware of and thus don't do. My best guess is that 2/3 of the MJs on the road, even if the doohickie is in the truck, don't have a functional rear proportioning valve. So what's the point of keeping it if it can't be serviced, can't be replaced, and nobody has the tools to adjust it? It MUST be adjusted if you lift (or lower) the truck, or it can't function as designed. How many people do that, as opposed to just unhooking the rod and zip tying the lever in a more-or-less horizontal position (thereby forever locking in zero rear brakes)? Get rid of it. If you aren't comfortable with a vehicle that might lock up the rear brakes in a panic stop, go to Summit Racing, buy a Wilwood adjustable proportioning valve, and plumb that into the line leading to your rear wheels.

Reasons to remove the rear proportioning valve: 1) It's an extra steel line running the full length of the chassis. In other words, twice the possibility of a rear brake failure due to corrosion. I patched a rusted section of the primary line, and then had the secndary line burst while bleeding. 2) The rear proportioning valve is now +/- 20 years old, and it has a diaphragm in it. The one in my '88 exploded when I made a panic stop to avoid a doofus octagenarian who cut me off. You can't buy new ones, and I wasn't about to install a 20-year old junkyard part to replace a 20-year old part that had just exploded, so I bypassed it. 3) If you chase down my photo of a cut-open front metering block, you'll see that the one I sliced and diced would NEVER have provided the by-pass, emergency function it is supposed to provide. I have no way of knowing what percentage of them out there may be similarly defective, but any that are would leave you with virtually no rear brakes if you lost the fronts. That's three potentially serious problems. Too many risks for me. I can handle too much brakes in the rear a lot better than I can handle none. When I bit the bullet and replaced the hard line all the way from the front to the rear, I plugged the by-pass port in the metering block, removed the (exploded) proportioning valve, removed BOTH rusted out steel lines and ran a single hard line from the metering block directly to the rear flex hose. I now have decent rear brakes for the first time since I put the truck on the road about 5 or 6 years ago.

Agreed. And eliminate the rear height-sensing proportioning valve while you're doing it. Getting rid of that means about three things less to fail.

Was this the line on the axle, or the line from the front distribution block back to the rear of the chassis?

Have you adjusted the downshift cable?

If you don't have the cluster yet, yeah -- get the cable with the cluster and it should work. Just take the core out of the "new" cable and lube it before you put it in your truck. And be sure to route it so you avoid sharp bends.

No. There are significant differences in hubs, knuckles, rotors and calipers from one "generation" to the next. I've posted the specifics a number of times. I'm sure a search will bring up one of those posts.

So you're not asking about wires, you're asking about the speedometer cable? Auto or 5-speed isn't the difference. There are two issues: First, the 84 thru 86 (and possibly part of the 87 model year, I'm not certain) used a speedo cable with a metal end at the speedo head and a metal retaining clip that screws to the back of the cluster. The 88 thru 90 (and either all of 87 or possibly just the last half of the 87 model year) used a white nylon pinch connector to retain the cable on the speedo head. Second, at least for the 87-1/2 thru 90 types, the speedo cable w/o cruise control is one piece, but with cruise control there is a short cable about a foot long off the speedo head, which then mates to a longer cable that runs to the transfer case and also feeds the cruise control data. The short answer is that you can use an 88 - 90 speedo in your truck if you replace your speedo cable with one from the same year vehicle as the cluster. I think that's what you wanted to know.

Exactly. When you replace the clutch parts, use silicone brake fluid. It's pricey, but the system doesn't hold much and the silicone isn't nearly as destructive if it gets loose.

Auto? I think the 4-cyl YJ came with a 3-speed auto. I wouldn't expect more than about 15 MPG.

On your 5-speed? Your signature says it's an '86. That should have a mechanical speedometer -- there isn't any wire.

It's the nature of the beast that the parking brake holds better headed downhill than it does uphill. The brakes are designed that way. The rear drum system is what used to be called a "servo-assisted" design. All this means is that the geometry of the shoes, pins, etec is such that when you apply the brakes while going forward, the natural forward rotation of the shows when they contact the drum tends to jam them tighter against the drum, increasing the braking force without needing as much peddle pressure. This inherent "boost" only works in the forward direction. I've been driving and wrenching for just about 50 years now, and I have never EVER found a drum brake parking brake that will reliably hold in the backwards direction without either leaving the manual tranny in gear, or putting an automatic in Park. The only way to do it is to adjust the brakes so tight they drag all the time ... and that's obviously a non-starter as a long-term "solution."

Forget the clip. It's a piece of junk, and all it does is mount your 20-year old rear hose lower down rather than actually addressing the problem. The real solution is to buy a longer rear hose to run from the chassis to the axle. I think the one I used was for a '94 Wrangler, and others on this forum have posted (I think) that a Durango hose works. (Don't recall what year - sorry.)

Rancho also offers a long AAL for the XJ and MJ. Their catalog says it's good for 2-1/2" in both, which is impossible. I called Rancho and spoke with a product engineer, who went and talked to another product engineer, and then the two of them talked to yet a third product engineer. The consensus was that it's good for 2-1/2" in the XJ and 1-1/2" in an MJ. That kit sells for about $65 (maybe up to $75 by now). Check your local junkyards for YJ Wranglers. Front and rear leaf springs, and the unloaded arch isn't that far off from an MJ spring. You could cut the eyes off a pair of YJ main leaves, plus toss in the next longest leaf as a second AAL on each side, and probably get right about where you want to be.

I don't have any idea what he is talking about. I am old enough to have owned cars that actually had kingpins, so I know what they are, and I know for an absolute certainty that an XJ/MJ/ZJ/TJ Dana 30 front axle does not have kingpins. And if it did -- it wouldn't in any way relate to leaking seals. Those front axle nuts get torqued to something like 175 foot-pounds, IIRC, so it's not surprisng he's having a hard time getting them off. It just needs a LONG, heavy-duty breaker bar (or a cheater bar).

My wife uses Skype. How's your Spanish?

Any idea how much you were towing? Yeah, actually. The trailer weighs just about 1,000 pounds. The listed curb weight for an '86 Cherokee 4WD was 3,024 pounds, but the one I picked up had been stripped of a lot of the interior. I'd guess the XJ weighed not more than 2,200 to 2,500 pounds, so I was pulling not more than 3,500 pounds and that trailer was pushing the MJ all over the road. And I wasn't driving even at the speed limit.

You can't count on mixing calipers from one application with rotors from another application. Heck, you can't mix parts from different years of XJ/MJ front axles, and you want to start mixing from different vehicles? Not gonna happen.

That sounds like the characteristic behavior of a front turn signal socket that has a bad ground. I'd forget the cluster and replace your front signal light sockets. They're cheap, and I'd pretty sure that'll solve the problem. However, one other random thought: When the headlights are on and the indicator is lit, are the headlights on high beam? What happens when the headlights are on low beam? Is there any chance the high beam and right turn indicators are crossed?

Not really. MMO is still available. For me, that was a "recent" replacement for when Pyroil disappeared from the market. Pyroil was a far superior product ... which undoubtedly explains why it didn't survive.

ZJ WJ used a different bolt circle, so you'd have mismatched wheels. Libertine also used a 5 on 4-1/2" bolt pattern, I think. Did they offer rear disks?

I fully subscribe to the theory that voting for the "lesser of two evils" is still voting for evil, which I prefer not to do. I went through several elections not voting, as my way of registering a protest. Then I realized that they (meaning the major parties) had no idea why I wasn't voting, so I wasn't really "registering" any protest at all. Since then I have always voted for the person I think would do the best job as President -- myself. Yes, write-ins are still allowed, so I vote for myself. If anyone else is against both candidates and doesn't like the "official" alternatives, send me a PM and I'll give you my real name to write in. As to whether or not to allow political discussions here -- it's entirely Pete's decision. I was honored to be asked to help as a moderator, but this is Pete's forum, all the way.