Eagle

In case you misunderstood ... he's not joking. Your grille IS upside down.

It's as much or as little an upgrade for the XJ as it is for the MJ. I've just never found the braking of any of my early (pre-HO) XJs or MJs to be so horrible that it was worth going through the aggravation of doing this purported "upgrade."

What engine? I assumed it's a 2.8L V6, but it could be a 2.5L I4 (That's "eye-four," not "fourteen")

Also, you would have to change the transmission, and the bellhusing, and very possibly the transfer case. Tip: For an '86, the better swap is to a GM 3.4L V6 out of a rear-wheel drive car like a Camaro or Firebird. It's the same basic block as the 2.8L that Jeep used in 1986, but it's a much more refined and improved version of the engine. It'll produce more power, run smoother, and isn't likely to punch a connecting rod through the side of the block if you look at it corss-eyed. The good thing about the 3.4L swap is that you get to keep your existing transmission, drive train, and accessories. You will need to add an external, electric fuel pump, but that's a worthwhile upgrade anyway. If you use the flywheel off the 2.8L, it has an eccentric weight because the 2.8L is externally balanced. The 3.4L doesn't need that eccentric weight, so you either use the 3.4L flywheel, or you have the 2.8L flywheel neutral balanced at an automotive machine shop.

You could measure the shocks and compare the mid-travel length with the mid-travel length for stock. That's a clue, but I wouldn't consider it conclusive. You can run 31x10.50 tires on factory wheels on an XJ with no lift at all. Same on an MJ. My '88 XJ is in the drveway with 31s on zero lift right now. Why? You "should" do it only if you can enumerate some specific benefit you'll achieve by going through that rather than just fixing the stock brakes. Bleed the clutch hydraulics. Pretty much the same.

Okay, I'm a bad person. No, make that I'm an evil person. Whatever. That there is funny!

To expand on this: The black wire you have is the only wire you need. The circuit is powered up, but has no ground for the relay. The horn button closes the ground circuit, actuating the horn relay.

Why does the speedometer read 20 MPH in this photo but it read zero in your first photo? Answer: Because you pulled the needle off and screwed it up. Why did you pull the needle? YYou DON'T need to pull the needle to "clock" the odometer.

You can't find a 5-speed Cherokee 4.0L in 4WD anywhere?

Yeah ... a.k.a. "Plug ... and play around"

Car covers work well. The best are the ones with a silverized outer coating -- that reflects the sun and the UV radiation, keeping the vehicle underneath cooler and preserving the paint.

Stock. As the saying goes, "They don't make 'em like that any more." I don't understand people who seek out pristine examples of rare vehicles and then modify them in ways that can't be undone. I'm all for trail rigs, but start with a basket case for that -- don't destroy one of the few remaining solid examples of a stock vehicle. A similar thing applied during my AMC racing days. My brother and I, and a couple of good friends, all drove and raced AMC pony cars. My brother and friends #1 and #2 both drove and autocrossed AMXs. I had a Javelin and an AMX for daily driver duty, but I decided early on that I wasn't going to risk a daily driver in competition so I bought a base model Javelin (used) and built that up for competition. Then we moved on from autocross to time trials at places like Lime Rock Speedway and Thompson Motor Speedway. And, again, my brother and friends #1 and #2 put their AMXs (even more rare than Comanches, BTW) at risk while I had my "who cares, it's only a Javelin" to race. From time trials, my brother and I and friend #2 progressed to the New England hillclimb circuit. My brother continued to run his pristine AMX, and I continued to run my Javelin. Friend #2 bought a race-prepped Javelin rolling chassis from a defunct pro racing team for his hillclimb ride. Sure enough, in I think the third year of our hillclimb activities my brother overcooked it going into a turn and rolled his AMX down the side of Okemo mountain in Vermont. He came out uninjured, but the car was a complete loss. By the time this happened (mid- or late 1970s) 2-seat AMXs had already been discontinued (1970 was the last year) and nice ones like my brother's were already worth twice what they had cost new, and were increasing in value monthly. Why anyone would risk trashing something like that I could never understand. The experience would have been the same (and the consequences far less painful) if he had started with a $500 Javelin like I did, and made that into his race car. Side note: the following year, friend #2 rolled his Javelin down the same mountain (don't remember if it was on the same turn). It didn't bother him nearly as much as my brother. He hauled into a shop, cut the roof off and welded on a new one, and spent a winter rebuilding it. It wasn't going to win any concours prizes for condition, but he could still race it. If we go off-road, we have to understand that bad things may happen. In the early days on NAXJA-NAC, several of us were at paragon for a work weekend and to scout trails prior to our annual NACFest. We were on a "Moderate" rated trail that had an off-camber turn around a tree. One of the guys took a bad line in an XJ with a 6" lift, and rolled it as he came off the tree. Those things happen. It's part of the game. I just don't understand risking that end to a pristine vehicle of which there are very few left in the world. End of sermon.

On the base models (or SporTruck, in some years) the standard was a single "flag" style mirror on the driver's door.

As Jeep Driver said -- zero. I came to Jeep from AMC. On the late 60's AMC V8s, the timing gear set used nylon teeth on the cam sprocket, and they had a tendency to jump time between 150,000 and 200,000 miles. Thinking that the 4.0L used the same setup, when my original '88 XJ reached 150,000 I started thinking I was living on borrowed time, so I bought a new timing set. Hmmm ... it wasn't a flat chain, like in the V8s, it was a roller (or "roller-like") chain, and the cam sprocket was all steel. But I had to be sure, so I opened up the timing chain cover. Sure enough, the factory sprocket was steel and the chain was the roller-type chain. And it wasn't stretched even a little bit. I had it open at that point so the new parts went in, but it was actually watsed time and money. It didn't need to be replaced.

Fiatslug has pretty well covered the camper question. As to weight ... a lot would depend on where it's located, both as to where in the box, and how high the center of gravity is. And then you get to what the aftermarket springs are rated for. If a factory height shortbed is rated for a maximum load of 1,400 or 1,500 (somehow, 1,475 sticks in my head), that's the absolute maximum you should carry at stock height. With a 6" lift, I would de-rate that by quite a bit if you're on the road and traveling at highway speeds. Around the farm, crawling in low gear, is a different story.

You wrote that you read 3 volts on "all the terminals." I don't mean to bust on you, but we're all willing to help as much as we can. Remote diagnosis is difficult enough with accurate information. When you say you tested "all the terminals," we have to proceed on the belief that you tested ALL the terminals. You don't help yourself by extrapolating and generalizing. Thus endeth the sermon for today.

Looks like something that belongs on Ron Pratt's or Plaza Towing's Youtube channel.

The Metric Ton MJ is rated to carry 2,200 pounds -- but there was never a Metric Ton shortbed, only a heavy duty axle option. Your truck is not rated to carry 2,200 pounds. I believe the load rating for the standard MJs (which means all shortbeds) is somewhere around 1,400 to 1,500 pounds. I think you would be making a serious mistake putting a heavy camper like that in an MJ with a 6-inch lift (or any lift). The center of gravity on those campers is pretty high anyway, and putting it into a lifted truck is going to result in potentially severe instability.

The radio and cigarette lighter are fed from the fuse panel. How are you getting 12 volts at the radio and cigarette lighter if all the terminals on the fuse panel only show 3 volts?

Correct. The early transfer cases have a Neutral position that disconnects the engine from the driveline, but it leaves the front and rear axles locked together and not disconnected from the transfer case. Jeep didn't change that to a true Neutral until some time in the mid- to late 90s. If you want to tow it, drop both driveshafts.

Also check CPS -- could be failing in heat soak.

Bendix brakes have been around for a long time, and that's what AMC used back into the 1960s, and probably the 1950s. For the MJ and XJ rear brakes, the only options were for 10" x 1-3/4" (Dana 35) and 10" x 2-1/2" (Dana 44 or AMC Model 20). The counter guy should have asked you which size you needed.

Hot-spotted clutch.

In fact, the Renix 2.5L is so much different from the Renix 4.0L that you should start a separate thread to discuss your issue.

Buy it for parts -- $300, tops. In reality, they should pay you to take it away.