Eagle

Put an adjustable proportioning valve up front, near the master cylinder and the distribution block, and then at least you can manually dial in more rear brakes if you should ever find yourself hauling some load. Question: Do you have the original distribution block/warning light sensor, as shown in my photo above? If not, I would strongly advise you to get one and install it while you are re-doing the brake system. If you can't find one for an MJ, get one from a junkyard XJ. Remove that plug from the nose, throw away the spring and the O-ring from the plunger, push the plunger all the way into the "nose nut" (for want of a better term), and you'll have a brake warning light with no proportioning function.

In the MJ, that block up front (which it would appear drcomanche doesn't have) is NOT a proportioning valve. It offers NO proportioning function whatsoever -- it's a distribution block, plus the device that triggers the brake failure warning light on the dashboard. Pickups especially need some sort of proportioning valve because when the bed is empty it's VERY easy for the rear brakes to lock up before the fronts, causing a spinout. But -- when the bed is fully loaded, you need all the braking you can get on the rear. This is why the XJ has the proportioning function built into the front distribution block, but the MJ uses a rear proportioning valve that responds to how heavily the bed is loaded by increasing the braking to the rear wheels under load. The first question is: does the truck still have the original rear height/load sensing valve (mounted to the rear frame, above the rear axle on the left side)? If so, is it functional? Note -- if it's there and working, there would be TWO brake lines from the front to the rear of the truck.

The answer is a qualified yes ... maybe. Front, rear, or both? For the front, the hub/bearing unit from a 1999-200? Grand Cherokee WJ will have the 5x5 bolt pattern. BUT ... it's not as simple as just swapping the hub/bearing unit. Even within the XJ and MJ years, there were multiple combinations of hub, caliper, steering knuckle, and rotor. Mix and match, and something would be offset from something else and the combination wouldn't work. So, to do the front axle swap, you would need to swap everything from the axle housing itself out -- steering knuckle, hub/bearing unit, rotor, and caliper. And then you would need to keep track of the part numbers and be sure than anyone who works on that axle knows what parts you swapped in. Spacer/adapters would be cheaper and easier. For the rear, there may or may not be a factory Jeep axle of the same type as yours (i.e. Dana 35, Dana 44, or Chrysler 8.25) with the 5x5 wheel mounting flange and the correct axle shaft length. You might luck out, or you might have to have custom axles made. Again, spacers would likely be cheaper and far easier.

I may be the only person on here old enough to remember when Junior was racing. That was back in the days when stock cars were still more or less cars, rather than custom, tube-framed racing chassis with the same fiberglass body on all of them and a "grille" painted on to look [sort of] like whatever make it's pretending to be. R.I.P., Junior. https://www.newser.com/article/53c013ccfa09aa8451a9324c01ef7b15/junior-johnson-the-last-american-hero-dies-at-88.html?utm_source=part&utm_medium=uol&utm_campaign=rss_sports_img_b

Andy, Mike Giannone (Mike from NJ on NAXJA) had that interlock on his red XJ. I think it came in around '91 or '92

Have you put a timing light on it to check the timing?

Back in my racing days I created the same problem by accident. I had an AMC Javelin that I autocrossed. After being state runner-up in class two years in a row and then winning the class the next year, I wanted to try some real road racing, and I settled on the New England hillclimb circuit. I pulled out the back seat and installed a roll bar, then I decided if I was going to be at risk of falling off a mountain that a kill switch might be a good idea. I had the wiring diagrams. I cut into a circuit somewhere, wired in my switch, fired it up and then hit the kill switch to test it. All that happened was the headlights got brighter. I wish I could remember the details, because it might help you. Basically, I hadn't killed the ignition, all I had done was to take the battery out of the circuit so the car was running on direct alternator. So I undid whatever I had done, and came up with an alternate arrangement for the kill switch. Is the wiring in your MJ all original, or had it been "improved" by some previous owner?

His tranny is from a '93. His truck is an '88

Yes, the 2WD AW4 can be converted to 4WD. But it's probably cheaper to just buy a 4WD tranny from a junkyard.

True. 'Tis possible.

I don't know if caster is the problem without knowing what the angle was before you lifted the rear. We do know that caster angle can be a contributing factor. It's not difficult to adjust, but it is difficult (let's just say impossible) to measure at home, in your garage or driveway. Take it to a front ed shop and have it aligned.

Caster angle. The longer shackles changed it.

Go on Youtube and search for "Ron Pratt" or "Plaza Towing" or "Pepe's Towing"

The factory cutout is rectangular, about 2-1/2" wide, with the lower corners rounded. It's larger than the opening shown in the photos Schardein found.

Whyever would you say that? I haven't changed the bushings or the leaf packs in any of my MJs or XJs, and I have no intention of doing so (with the possible exception that I might add a leaf to the rear of the 2WD MJ to bring it up to 4WD ride height). "And stop calling me Shirley."

But poly bushings aren't OEM spring bushings, they're aftermarket. As far as I'm concerned, all bets are off with aftermarket.

So have I. Unfortunately, they were on my Javelin ...

Good point. The MJ spring plates had a hat-shaped reinforcement bracket underneath it to help address that issue. A lot of people leave that off when they work on the rear suspension. (And, I think I remember someone saying that Jeep stopped using that for 1991 or '92.)

I am not convinced that the rear axle U-bolts are torque to yield. The head bolts are, and even those can be re-used once. The FSM for the 2000 XJ calls for a torque on the rear spring U-bolts of 52 ft-lbs. Those are 12mm U-bolts, with is pretty close to 1/2". And the torque on the 1/2" wheel studs is around 100 ft-lbs, and those aren't considered torque to yield. The MJ U-bolts were 14mm. I reused them when I removed the rear AAL from the red '88, and I'm sure the previous owner reused them when he installed the AAL. I haven't experienced any problems and I don't expect to. I also reused the factory U-bolts on the 2001 XJ when I rebuilt the rear springs when one of them broke a leaf.

Promising yourself to always use common sense doesn't make an illegal setup legal, although it may reduce your chances of being caught and ticketed. I understand what you're saying about wanting more light in rural locations, but I don't think fog lights are the answer for that. Fog lights don't project very far ahead, they throw most of their light low and wide, to the sides of the road. In my younger days, when I did a fair amount of night driving when the Interstates weren't as heavily traveled as they are today, I ran driving lights on my cars, and they made a huge difference. Back then, there weren't any laws governing how/when driving lights could operate, so I just controlled them with a toggle switch to the relay. Now the law for driving lights is just the opposite of fog lights: fog lights have to go OFF when the high beams come on; driving lights can ONLY operate when the high beams are on. For maximum flexibility and visibility, I would want a pair of each, wired properly.

Also opening the door with the key still in the ignition.

Oiling should help. To do it right, you need to oil both ends -- the shaft behind the squirrel cage, and also the closed end. To do the closed end, drill a small hole (maybe 1/8" or so), put a couple of drops of oil in and be sure it circulates to where it's needed, then clean the housing and seal up the hole with a dab of RTV.

I think that buzzer does double duty, acting as the alert for a couple or three different functions. I disable the seat belt alert by unlugging the connector under the seat and jumping the terminals on the chassis harness side. That leaves the buzzer active for whatever else it needs to do.

Properly speaking, the Pioneer "package" was a trim level. It included a number of options, but most or all of those options could also be ordered separately and individually. If you wanted most or all of the options included in the package, it was cheaper to buy the package than to order all the options separately, and the package included exterior graphics to identify the vehicle as a Pioneer.