Minuit

The answer here really is "whatever you can get someone to pay for it" Kinda like D35s in that way. Not completely useless, but there are better options out there that aren't hard to find, and if someone is replacing a broken one, they probably won't replace it with another of the same thing.

Put the valve cover in the oven (at a non-melty temperature) and the grommet in the freezer to make thermal expansion work in your favor? Copious use of lube? If motor oil doesn't work, maybe try some silicone grease? Normally some combination of the two works for me.

Have to admit, I had something else in mind when he said "viper truck" too.

Not really. I think I remember it being quite a bit cheaper to rebuild it back a couple of years ago when I was doing this on my 89. Does the new pump come with the pickup tube? For $12 more if it comes with the tube, I'd go for the new one.

I'd say those are good numbers. 195 to 210 is where I like to see the operating temp at the thermostat housing but I'm picky. I'd expect a higher number on the outlet hose, given that the thermostat is presumably open.

Living dangerously with my Diet A&W. Don't look at me like that. Liquid calories add up fast.

I'd at least replace the gears. There's a kit you can buy with the gears and gaskets. Sloppy gear clearances caused the oil pump in my 89 to lose its prime, causing a sudden complete loss of oil pressure. That engine was already garbage so it wasn't the end of the world, but if the engine was good that would've been a real shame.

I think this copypasta about covers it:

I assumed that the OP meant "no air is coming out from anywhere and I can't hear the fan" - but yeah, if you hear the whooshing of the fan and can feel the air coming out of the top of the dash, do this instead. One more thing to check if the fan isn't working, make sure the fan speed switch hasn't melted at the connector. It's plugged into the back of the HVAC panel in the dash. If it melts or shows signs of heat damage, that means the fan is drawing too much current and needs to be replaced anyway. A member on this forum can supply the connector you'll need.

Key point: this temperature is on the cold side of the radiator, after the coolant has already passed through the finned section. The temperature the switch is seeing is essentially the temperature of the cooled coolant entering the engine at the water pump. If the coolant in the cold side of the radiator is at 198 F, I think it's probably time to stop driving. For reference, I have a CSF radiator in my 91 (4.0, automatic with A/C and an auxiliary transmission cooler), and I typically see about 130-140 F in the spot where that temperature switch is located. I run a 195* thermostat and change my coolant every year. The only time my factory temperature gauge (with a NOS Mopar sender - that part's important if you want the number on your gauge to mean anything) has ever approached 210 was climbing a very long hill at 80 MPH on a very hot day. IMO: If your cooling system is healthy, this fan should never come on by itself in any sort of normal driving. If the switch and fan work and your fan is coming on, you're way too close to overheating for comfort. AMC was clearly comfortable with these engines running a lot hotter than I am. But if I'm the one you're asking, if that fan ever comes on by itself on your Renix truck (except for when the A/C is on), you've overheated and that little electric fan isn't going to overcome the problem that led to your overheating.

I didn't count when I took it apart. All I could do is just marvel at the insanity that was before my eyes as I took this thing apart. All of this for a car tape deck. Three planetary gearsets, two motors, several completely separate linkages, a mind boggling number of what look to be sintered parts, four circuit boards, at least 30 screws, and probably 20 tiny e-clips. The fancy RX-135 tape deck is tame compared to this. This thing had to have cost a fortune to put together. And it is an excellent sounding tape deck, but why? None of the mechanical craziness involved in this thing has anything to do with the sound quality. The premium cassette decks in Lincolns and Cadillacs didn't even have this many parts.

Would anyone like to take a guess at how many parts there are in an RX-173 cassette mechanism?

Although I will never understand people's obsession with the black XJ/MJ interior, that is a good price for some very durable seat upholstery. Seriously, that style of fabric is like a burlap sack.

Damn, I just got rid of my Nexus 6 (a phone from 2014 - I bought mine used when I was still in college for $50) and it felt like it was WAY past its best by date at that point. Battery life of about 6 hours (total, not screen time) and a camera that took about 30 seconds to process a picture and failed half of the time anyway. I even tried flashing a lighter OS to it, but the battery was spanked so bad that it couldn't run the processor fast enough even for that. Although I am a lot less of a dinosaur in what I expect from a phone. My main uses for my phone are taking pictures, answering emails, Spotify, and arguing with people on Facebook.

Good advice. Basically the same thing with soldering or crimping and forgetting the heat shrink. You'd think it would be pretty simple: 1) PUT THE THING THAT WILL ONLY FIT ON THE WIRE OR LINE BEFORE YOU MAKE THE CONNECTION ON THE WIRE OR LINE 2) MAKE THE CONNECTION I'm probably well into the tens of thousands of repetitions of this by now and I still forget the heat shrink, flare nut, or whatever it is depressingly often. It sucks twice as much when you do it on a wire harness or multi-conductor cable that needs to have carefully matched lengths of wires.

While on the subject of tools, I like the inline flaring tools. Much less annoying to use than the regular "bar clamp" style ones and not too expensive either. Just about everything on the MJ is 3/16" line with double flares, so nothing fancy is needed for simple replacement work.

Negative. The ones I work on start in about 1982 (although I've recently had a rash of people asking about CJ radios from the 70s) and end in 1996 except for a few special edge cases.

Since I didn't see it mentioned: the "jack stand" in your pic is the factory emergency jack. It's cranked up by turning the round piece that looks like it has a slot for a screwdriver in it. The slot fits a special folding tool that's used to crank it up quickly, or alternatively a flat head screwdriver or lug wrench. The head of it is curved to fit either the front or rear axle; don't use it to jack the truck up anywhere else. It is designed pretty much for emergency roadside tire changes only.

Sooner or later you're going to regret sticking with the closed system. Whether that's when the new plastic pressure bottle you paid for won't seal (or splits open and sprays coolant out), or when it's time to pony up for the $130 aluminum pressure bottle from Mac's, or when you need to bleed air out of the hose spaghetti (or a radiator that's all the way across the engine bay from the fill point) after performing routine maintenance, or when you need to gain access to the blower motor but the damn radiator tank is in the way, you'll regret it at some point. I think the only time someone's regretted an open system conversion on this forum is when they messed up, or got a defective part. It's really not much of an undertaking, and I'm not too sure why your new shop seems to think it is.

I'm usually very unsentimental about packaging and "stuff" in general, but I have to admit I've kept some of the AMC packaging over the years. It's just kinda neat.

Now at Jeremy's Radio Emporium: One radio, now bundled with one free stick figure drawing of yours truly, signed and dated. Starts at $17,995. Don't delay, call today!

Yeah, cunifer/cupro-nickel/whatever you want to call it brake line is VERY easy and pleasant to work with. It comes on a roll for easy storage, but with a little practice you can bend it into an exact match for the OEM lines.

Looks like the right spot for the "ignition off draw" connector. Meant to be unplugged if the vehicle is going to sit for a long time to prevent the battery from going flat. Pretty much everything that's always powered runs through that connector.

Normal.