bigalpha

So the pushrod from my 88 is the same length as one from a 95-96?

Unfortunately, I'm stuck with some breaker bars and wrenches, lol. I'm not worried about breaking the bolts, as I can just replace them. Thanks for the heads up.

Alright, if the bumper is still there, I'll give the 15mm a shot. It hardly moved at all. I was pounding the wrench with a hammer and it barely moved.

I've read on here that they usually stop working over time. I know the lights should come on when the doors open, since I just picked up some kick panel lights and they light up with open doors. Until yesterday (I found an owner's manual at the jy), I had no idea that you could push the lens and it would click into place for 'always on' or 'only with door'. I was so excited I ran outside to try it .... but it didn't work. Why? Has anyone figured out why these lights go ka-put? It's in good shape, and all the contacts are solid.

Alright, sounds easy enough. What size are those bolts anyways? Seems like the wrench I was using was a tad too big and the next smaller size was a tad too small.

Went to junkyard, found an MJ with a bumper to replace my FUBAR. Couldn't get the stupid thing off. I was trying to unbolt the 4 bolts that hold the bumper to the bumper-supports. For the life of me, I couldn't get those bolts to unscrew. Is there some trick, or do I just need to man-up on it?

I second bad master. If you swap out the master+booster, make sure you get the pushrod (the rod that connects booster to brake pedal) swapped out too, else you'll be scratching your balls with the brake pedal. Ask me how I know.

sounds like some hase a baby face :laughin: :help:

If you mean was a full 6-gauge cluster ever manufactured that has the built-in shift indicator, the answer is no for any year. The column shift XJ's were retained uo to 96 on the police packages, and some 91-92 MJ also had column shift indicators; I have one. But none w. the cluster shift indicator were full gauge clusters. There are several work-around mods to retain the OEM shift indicator or add an aftermarket indicator that the guys have posted links for. There's an MJ in Nashville Pull a Part that has a column shift and I would swear it had the 6 gauge cluster. Anyone in the Nashville area can check it out.

So shameful. There's some people out here that wish they could grow a beard like that. :rant:

The MJ guy is 'elcoyote' on expeditionportal.

So the lights get wired to come on with the parking lights, and go off with the headlights?

No, I don't think so. CPS issues cause a no-start condition.

Hmmm. Is there such a thing as a self-sealing vacuum leak? Mine just drops down to ~600 and stays constant.

Take off the intake hose (from the airbox to TB). Cover up the IACV hole and see if the engine dies. If it does NOT die, you have a fairly large vacuum leak. Mine doesn't die (runs nicely at 600RPM) so I'm thinking my intake/exhaust manifold gasket is toasted.

I kept the MJ brake pedal assy, but only swapped over the booster and master. On the 99 booster, we drilled the hole out a tad larger, and ground a flat spot on the end to keep the 88 switch. My pedal is stupidly high. I can take a picture if you want. I definitely plan on getting the rods switched over because having the pedal so high is a safety concern for me. Just not sure where to go locally to get it done.

Are the speedo connections different between your stock speedo and the one you are swapping in? IF not, just replace the whole speedo module

I just pulled a new booster from a 99 and put into my 88 without swapping the push rods. You'll want to swap the push rods to make this whole process easier in the end. Plus, your brake pedal won't be 2" higher than normal. :hijack: What kind of places can swap the push rods out?

I was swapping an 89 into my 88 and just swapped over the odometer itself so I didn't have to reset anything.

What do you mean get the lights and harness? In my 88, it should have the wiring all the way up to the connector, right? I just need the light and pigtail that comes off the light?

Yeah, I haven't found very much rust at all, just a few minor spots on the body. The brake MC was bad, so swapped it out with a booster and MC from a 99. The push rod is hella long, so the pedal is freaking high. I will get the rod swapped out later.

Considering that the XJ was introduced in 1983 as a 1984 model and the MJ didn't come out until 1985 as a 1986 model, it's a bit counter-intuitive to refer to the XJ combination valve as "newer." With that: True, the XJ valve has the rear brake outlet on the bottom, which on the MJ is the emergency bypass outlet. There is no "nose" outlet on the XJ block. But if you're replacing both old lines to the rear with one new one, I don't see any advantage to having the outlet on the bottom, where it's harder to see and access, rather than on the front. The XJ combination valve does provide a proportioning function. I have slit one and examined it (same as the photo of the MJ valve above in this thread), and I still can't figure out how it works. Based on the position of the spring and O-rings, it looks like what it does is prevent any braking from getting to the rear except in very hard braking. IMHO that is exactly contrary to what a proportioning valve is supposed to do, which is to prevent premature rear wheel lock-up under heavy braking. Also, the XJ valve is susceptible to gumming up, so that you don't have ANY rear brakes. I have posted elesewhere that in my '88 XJ, if I stomp on the brakes in a snowy parking lot, the front brakes lock up and rear wheels keep turning. Cool -- I'll never spin out, but I'll also never stop. If I were going to install an XJ combination valve in an MJ, I would open it up and gut it. Which, of course, eliminates the primary reason for swapping it in the first place, which would be to get some proportioning. Which, in turn, explains why I have a box with five or six XJ combination valves in it that will probably never be used. I assumed that by 1999, Jeep would have changed the design of the front PV through the years to tweak it so it works perfect. Apparently, they didn't do that. Looks like I won't need to swap that over in the end. Thanks for everyone's help. I have a buddy coming over today to help me tackle this project. I'll post back if something catches on fire.

Is there an advantage to using the newer style distribution blocks from an XJ over the older style in the MJ? I would assume that it would work the same, but eliminate the need for custom bent hard lines from MC to the distro block?

Mine did not come with the owner's manual.

How much towing can the D35 handle? I don't expect to tow a lot with it ... my XJ will be used mostly, but I want to know just in case.