schardein

I'm not surprised at the license plate light. I've dealt with that before. Probably a burnt bulb, fortunately it's an easy fix. The transmission gear indicator seems like a reach to me. I don't know about the Renix years, but for the 6 cylinder 4.0 in the HO years (91+), EVERY factory manifold cracks. The best replacement is the cheapest aftermarket one you can find that has the bellows in each outside pipe. I've pulled that style from junkyard engines, cleaned them up, and have run them for years.

Yeah, I find it way overboard to fail a "safety" inspection for a missing radio. I've lived in several states that required a safety inspection (Virginia, North Carolina, Missouri, Hawaii) and I don't think any of them would have failed a vehicle for a missing radio.

Nice find. I'm digging that factory Cordovan leather wrapped steering wheel!

Thanks, yes that's to far. I am looking for a place that does that kind of wheel restoration. I have several sets I want done.

Do you have contact info for the wheel restoration company?

Looks great

I'll offer some friendly advice. The first thing I would do if that was my truck, would be to replace those garbage clamp type battery terminals. Get some "military style" "heavy duty" battery terminals. Then inspect the battery cables. You might be able to get away with crimping new eyelets on them, and then sealing them with adhesive lined heat shrink tubing. But replacing them would probably be the best route. Making new cables is within the ability of an experienced do-it-yourselfer, but if you don't have the experience or tools, then buying new cables is the other option. You can pretty up the wires under the hood all you want, but if your main battery cable connections are questionable, which they absolutely are with those clamp on terminals, it won't matter. Last photo shows how corrosion can creep under the insulation when the connection at the terminals isn't sealed.

If you end up having to look at the Underbody Tail Lamp Connector, these images may help. Unfortunately, I must offer the disclaimer that this is just my interpretation of the '88 electrical manual, and I haven't (and can't) confirm this on a vehicle. My '91 uses a different connector.

I know this is a somewhat old conversation, but I just saw it. I went to the PnP in Springfield MO about 7 years ago to look at an XJ. The photo in Row52 showed a good XJ. When I got there it was crushed just like that. I went to the desk and asked what the heck was going on. The guy at the desk said they had to crush all vehicles of that model, before it could go on the yard, but couldn't say why. When I said there were other XJs on the yard right now and not crushed, he just shrugged his shoulders. Very strange. I never did figure it out. There's got to be a reason though, whether it is legit or a misunderstanding, because he did say they did it on purpose. Haven't seen a crushed one since, and I'm there every month.

I picked up this Husqvarna 232R at an estate auction about 5 years ago for about $30. It has a steel blade rather than trimmer string. It powers through smaller stuff up to about 1". I've been really happy with it, until this past summer it's started to get hard to start. I had sticker shock when I priced a new one. But if you have property to maintain, it really is a workhorse/time saver.

One trick way to do it, would be to copy how the XJs got constant 12v power to the back for the heavy duty trailer option. There is a plug in for the fuse box, once plugged in, you install a circuit breaker and now you have a 12v lead. From there you would have to figure a switch out, but a tailgate switch like ghetdjc320 mentioned would be an elegant solution.

Sounds like a good plan. I travel quite a bit in my Silverado, towing the CJ. I have a fold up hard cover on the bed, and it’s usually full of stuff. So like you mentioned, the under rail lighting really comes in to play there.

Yes, it’s surprising (maybe not so surprising) how cheaply made they are. Not that it really pertains to this topic, but my opinion is, if you feel you need a cargo light, and you have some kind of roll bar, I would mount a separate light to the roll bar for that purpose, rather than drill holes in the cab to mount the cheaply made original. I’d also consider some kind of lights under the bed rail, mounted with tape or magnets. My Silverado has them and they are super handy.

I've only ever seen one cig lighter delete in all my years working on XJs and MJs.

I'm sure I've posted this picture before, but it bears repeating. This is a battery cable. I put the eyelet in the vise and then peeled the insulation. That little bit of gap between the insulation and where the eyelet is crimped on gave a path for the corrosion to begin. It is a good idea to seal that gap with adhesive lined heat shrink tubing when making new cables, or even when using a local parts store replacement. The cable was causing an intermittent no-start before it was diagnosed.

Glad to see my pictures may be helping out others! Interesting note on the factory lamp, because of its design, the left bulb is grounded through the left screw, and the right bulb through the right screw, with power in the middle. Remove one screw, and the light on that side goes out, the other will stay on. I have a cargo light on hand, if pictures/measurements of the base are needed. Or, I could loan it out if needed for design work.

in 2005, when I was on the Marine Corps Shooting Team, we participated in a competition in Australia, with the British Royal Marine Commandos Team in attendance as well. The Brits initiated a prank war by securing our running shoes to the ceiling of our barracks with 3" drywall screws (using a cordless screw gun), which we had to remove with hand tools. We retaliated by putting "U.S. Marine Shooting Team" stickers on their barracks windows. They removed the stickers, broke into the Base General's office in the middle of the night, and put a sticker on his computer monitor. The Australians weren't happy about it and we had a heck of a time explaining. Then the Brits broke into our rooms (again) and put open cans of sardines and tuna under the furniture. We complained about the smell for several days before figuring it out. As you can probably see, the Brits were experts at the game. There was a whole lot more of back and forth, until... One night, we came back from the bars at about 2am, caught a kangaroo, and threw it into one of their barracks rooms. It turned out to be their CO and SgtMajs room. That ended the shenanigans. 10 years later, it was still being talked about, and had become the stuff of legend. Despite the games, The British Royal Marines and the US Marine Shooting Team have deep respect for each other.

I believe that's right, but I haven't researched it myself. I think you also have to change the front bearing retainer.

$500 would be the top end for me, just the transmission, and it would have to be the 4x4 and external slave. Not even interested in a 2wd or internal slave, regardless of price. But that's just me, everyone is gonna have different needs/wants/price range.

You can get a brand new one from Novak conversions, "on sale" for $1790. If I saw one locally for around $500 that looked clean, I'd probably pick it up just to have on hand.

Mine was. It had a shaft type Sony stereo in it when I bought it. I think it was dealer installed. What tipped me off, it did not have the rubber tunnels between the cab and doors to run the wires to the speakers- they had just poked holes in the plastic covers to run the speaker wires. Also, they cut the door panels to install the speakers. But at least it was in the factory location. I've since added the rubber tunnels, a different stereo, and some nice original uncut door panels with the speakers mounted the correct way.

Man that looks great! Are you selling these?

That is interesting. I looked at a 96 FSM and it does show a 30a. I looked at 87-91 FSMs and they show a 25a. Made me wonder if Jeep changed the specs on the blower motor. A look at the 91 parts manual shows a different part number from a 94-96 parts manual. But a quick look on Rockauto shows the same part fitting 1988-96. I wonder why Jeep decided to change to a 30a.

Yes, attached to the rear carpet panel, that I added from a different MJ. My 1991 didn't originally come with the carpeted panel, and the same sticker was on the rear cab wall. I peeled the sticker off the carpet to make this scan because it was mostly peeled off anyway. Here is the original one on my cab wall (behind the carpet panel now).

Not the greatest original to work from. I scanned this and printed a copy, laminated it, and stuck it behind the jack when I added a rear carpet panel to my MJ, covering the original on the rear cab wall. Definitely not a restoration level effort to be sure, but it's there if needed. 866029440_ComancheJackInstructions.pdf