Eagle

As Jeep Driver said -- cable. Before you buy a new one: First, make sure there are no sharp bends in the cable routing. Obviously, it comes off the tranny or transfer case, makes a 90-degree bend to go forward and then about a 180-degree bend back to and through the firewall. Make sure those are as large radius sweeps as you can get it. If the outer sheath hasn't been damaged, you should be able to disconnect at the ends, pull the inner core out, and lubricate it. After 20+ years it's probably bone dry, which doesn't help the cable to rotate smoothly.

Keep looking. The newest 4-cylinder XJ is now 20 years old.

They're out there. 91-2000 XJ or MJ, 91-20?? Wrangler.

Yep. Clutch.

The MJ factory service manual I have is for 1986. Trim package is the 8th character in the VIN. 7 - X 8 - XL 9 - XLS F - Custom (Metric Ton Pkg.) G - X (Metric Ton Pkg.) H - XL (Metric Ton Pkg.) J - XLS (Metric Ton Pkg) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - From the 1988-1990 Parts manual: 1 - Comanche Base 5 - Comanche Eliminator P - Comanche Pioneer S - Comanche Chief T - Comanche Laredo F - Comanche Base (MT/BT) F - Comanche Custom (MT) R - Comanche Pioneer (MT/BT) U - Comanche Laredo (MT/BT) MT = Metric Ton BT = Big Ton - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - From the 1991-1993 Parts manual: Line and Series are now the 5th and 6th characters in the VIN 1991: 5th Character: . . J - Comanche 4WD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . T - Comanche 2WD 6th Character: . . . 1 - "S" . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 - Base . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 - Pioneer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 - Sahara . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 - Renegade/Grand . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 - Sport . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 - Limited 1992 & 1993 5th Character: ... J - Comanche 4WD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . T - Comanche 2WD 6th Character: . . . 1 - "S" . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 - Base . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 - Pioneer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 - Sahara . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 - Laredo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 - Renegade . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 - Briarwood/Limited . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 - Sport

The '89 used a GM CS-130 alternator. Those came in two or three different physical case sizes. I found out the hard way when I had my alternator rebuilt for my '87. I wanted to upgrade from an 85-amp to a higher output, and the guy found that the higher output requires a larger case. I was committed at that point, so I went ahead. If I had it to do over, I would go to AutoZone and get one of their new-manufacture Gold alternators and have a lifetime warranty on it. You should have no problem going from a 100-amp to a 120-amp. I don't think you can go higher than that due to space limitations. Keep in mind that in 1989 the 100-amp was the high-output option. If yours can't handle the heater and the turn signals, either your alternator is failing or you have other electrical problems.

If you put it in first and drive completely across something like an empty Walmart parking lot, does it shudder and shake the whole way, or only when you are first starting up?

Model designations changed depending on the year.

$113 ?!?!?!?! I'm in the wrong profession ...

That looks pretty neat. I'm downloading it. It may make a good companion for AutoCAD.

What a shame. Those parts aren't quite irreplaceable, but they certainly are (were) rare. Storage is a real problem. Many, many years ago, long before the MJ even hit the drawing board at AMC, my brother, a friend, and I were very active in the Hudson-Essex-Terraplane Club. We had a friend of the family whose late father had run a sand and gravel business. The business ended when he died, but there was a 3-bay garage on the land where the old gravel pit was located, and it was dry. She allowed us to park some of our vehicles in there. My bother and our friend put early 50s Hudson sedans in there. Sandwiched between them I had a 1947 Hudson pickup. We went down one day to check on them, to find that some kids from the area had been using the sand pit as a backstop for shooting with a .22. They got tired of shooting sand, and cut loose on the structure. There were literally hundreds of bullet holes in both cars. Miraculously, because by sheer luck of the drar my truck was between two pretty solid cars, my truck was almost completely unscathed. I moved the truck out of there post-haste. I hate vandals with a blinding purple passion.

I don't recommend even trying to bend the original hard lines. There's a good chance you'll break at least one of them. Just use a longer flex hose. I think the ones I used for a 4" lift were from a '95 YJ Wrangler.

I don't know what it was made of but from my years working as a roofing consultant/inspector, I'd say it seems very similar to what the roofers call modified bitumen roofing membrane. It's roll roofing, basically, but the "roll roofing" you buy at Lowe's or Home Despot uses conventional asphalt. The MBR uses chemically-modified asphalt to make it more rubbery and more durable. If you have any commercial roofers near you, or doing a job near you, you might be able to score a couple of cut-off ends of rolls and try making one from that.

What's the wheelbase? Shortbed is 113 inches, longbed is 119.9 (call it 120) inches. Should be easy to check that way.

The bench seat works with the manual transmissions and the mini console. The XJ floor shifter is no different in how much space it occupies -- it fits the same mini console.

For the '87, I believe the fuel gauge sender has the same resistance range as the other gauge senders, 0 -88 ohms. 0 ohms indicates empty and 88 ohms equals full. A short circuit would result in zero (or nearly zero) ohms and would indicate empty. A broken wire would indicate full. You probably have a broken wire or a bad ground.

But an XJ donor vehicle will have all the cables and parts you need. Get a column shift steering column out of an S-10, and you get the other parts for an S-10 with a GM engine and tranny, not for a Jeep MJ. The manual tranny steering column has the steering wheel lock built into the column. It doesn't need any connection to the transmission or to the floor shifter. Just don't use the Park interlock. Possibly, but I don't think so.

The steering column is the same -- GM Saginaw -- but the cable connection to the transmission might be different. And you won't have the instrument cluster with the PRNDL window. Don (Hornbrod) had his set up with an aftermarket PRNDL in a tombstone mounted directly onto the steering column, so there are ways to do it. My opinion only -- it's a LOT less work to just get an XJ floor shirter and use that. No need to change the steering column, no cables to run, no PRNDL to worry about.

Well, actually that's exactly what I did say ... You have an '89. That's in the series we call "Renix." You should look for an 87 - 90 XJ Cherokee.

All.

AW4 You will need the transmission computer (TCU), wiring harness, kickdown cable, and possibly one or two other things I'm drawing a blank on at the moment. Oh -- and you'll need a shifter. The MJ would have had a column shifter. IMHO, it's much easier to get the floor shifter out of a Cherokee.

Sounds too easy, but I tried it and it seems to work. Thanks, Gents.

As a newbie to MJs, you may not know what Jeep Driver is referring to. In the Renix years (1986-1990 for the MJ, 1984-1990 for the XJ), there's a bank of three or four relays on the passenger side of the engine bay, near the shock tower and directly behind the battery. That's supposed to have a sort of oval(-ish) or kidney-shaped cover over it, which is retained by two plastic twist retainers. Over the years, those covers get lost or discarded. If you find any in a boneyard -- GRAB IT, with the retainers if possible.

The brake warning light switch goes in the front distribution block, not the proportioning valve. What did you buy? Are you referring to the plastic-bodied switch that fits into the top of the brake distribution block, near the master cylinder? Did you buy an MJ distribution block, or did you buy an XJ/ZJ proportioning valve? [Edit to add] That switch shouldn't leak, because there should never be brake fluid at that switch. If brake fluid is leaking out at the system warning switch, the proportioning valve or distribution block is faulty, not the switch.

If you get back to that (or those) scrap yard(s), please make note of the VIN numbers and report them.