Minuit

I've had the hardest time finding an XJ with tow hooks. In all my time junkyarding I don't think I've seen a single set of the factory hooks.

Nice! '88 Laredos had unique upholstery - that's the only place you'll find grey, plaid fabric. Just FYI. I too had a junkyard adventure today - mostly for some boring GM stuff for other people, but I did happen upon a RHD '95 XJ with an NP242... and a '91 Laredo that hadn't been touched since it left the factory - even down to the factory hose clamps. Got a lot of good little stuff out of that one. I thought about skinning the seats so I have my 3rd set of tear-free spare upholstery for my own '91, but didn't feel like it in the end.

Yeah... that's not good. If you don't fix that, it'll be giving you headaches for years. Are any of the other terminals damaged like this? The terminals are GM Pak-Con terminals. Since the truck is an auto, the fusebox hasn't been melted by clutch fluid, so you should be just fine replacing the individual terminals inside. There are a number of online sellers selling these terminals in the various types used by our fuseboxes.

You should replace the climate controls in your new truck with a second radio

Hmm. Korean made? If not, that's a good score, hacked harness or not. So far, I haven't seen one of the "Jeep" marked AMC radios made by Mitsubishi. If you've found one, that's news to me. I'm also used to those having the 13-pin plug from the factory, so any wiring hackery may be original.

NICE! I'm always a sucker for these unmolested survivors. My '91 MJ was my first car at 15. Still have it, more than 8 years later. It's about the best platform I can imagine to introduce someone into the hobby. It's part old car, part modern car. You'd really be best off finding out what those tow mirrors are and replacing them with the same type IMO. If you replace them with standard door-mounted mirrors, you'll have holes in the doors that would be very difficult to deal with on a truck that nice.

It's the first place I would look. Here's the entire reverse lamp circuit from the '90 FSM, but it should be practically identical on an '89. The relevant part of this is circuit 75. That should be hot any time the trans is in reverse. Two ways to check it at the NSS. Unplug the NSS, and check resistance between pins A and E of the connector with the trans in reverse. If there is high resistance or an open circuit, clean the NSS. Otherwise, look for a wiring break somewhere else. The connector can also be backprobed while still plugged in - in that case, you'd be looking for 12V on pin E while in reverse. You could also go straight to the rear harness and check there. Anything labeled "75" should be hot with the trans in reverse.

What the hell is that doing in a junkyard?

A dirty NSS can cause flaky reverse lights before it gets bad enough to prevent starting.

I would not buy a used one as this is an age-related thing. The rubber decays over time and this is the result. They aren't bad at all to replace. You can do it without removing anything else. For what it's worth, I put a Dorman balancer on my 91 several years ago and it's doing just fine still. The puller tool you rent from the parts store will do just fine to get it off. I would strongly recommend either buying or renting the harmonic balancer installation tool as well - I do not ever suggest using the crank bolt to pull one on, even if it may work 95% of the time. I left the oil slinger in place, and there was no problems. The crank bolt is torqued to 80 ft-lb with lubricant.

Just wondering - did your stalk have a big plastic molded connector? That slowed me down quite a bit. Having a tilt column also makes it a little tougher. Maybe I was just being a drama queen about it, that's always a possibility. If you get a stalk with a small soldered-on connector for the cruise wiring and don't have a tilt column, it won't be too bad. A piece of piano wire or fish tape or something like that can help. I will say that having cruise in the MJ is SUPER worth it - that being said, I did a whole lot less work to achieve it than the Renix guys I think it'd still be worth it with the extra steps involved in adding it to a Renix truck.

Installing cruise control on a HO truck is pretty much "install cruise control stalk, install cruise control actuator" ...but doing it on an 89 is nowhere near as easy. The wiring does not exist in the truck already (you'll need to find the harness), and there are several other components you'll need to find. @eaglescout526 can fill you in on the details. Snaking the wires through the column IS a pain in the @$$, but it may be one of the easier parts of doing it on an older truck. The hardest part would be finding all of the stuff.

A parallel flow condenser will help you eek out a little more performance. APDI makes one that's a direct fit for the MJ. There are also universal fit ones in all ki nds of sizes, but you'd have to figure out brackets and line connections. I've got one of the APDI ones on my 91- I'll get you a number when I get home.

Good work. Hard to say how much improvement you'll see. The fact that your temp switch never cycled the clutch makes me think the system is having a hard time keeping up with the heat. Considering where you live that's not a huge surprise. Do you have any vent temp measurements? Are you running a stock or stock-replacement tube and fin condenser?

Do you have the seat bracket trims in your truck Tim? If so, do they match the seat bracket trim from my '87 seat?

I really had no idea what I was getting myself into when I thought "hmm, a tan interior would be nice in this thing" at the spur of the moment. I'm glad I'm not making any attempt to find a complete set of one shade of parts now. All of the grey interiors more or less match no matter what year your parts come from - guess Jeep couldn't decide on a tan color they liked.

That seat is a rocker style seat from an '87 XJ Laredo 2-door with a tan interior. I will be transplanting it onto an MJ base.

There is an evaporator core available for '87-'90 models that looks much closer to the original design. I wonder if it has the hole for the probe. No such luck for '91 and up. If the probe hole is present on the 87-90 aftermarket evaporator, it could make a much better replacement than the aftermarket ones available for 91+. Will a Renix era evaporator fit in a HO heater box?

There is no low side switch on any 4.0L A/C system I'm familiar with. The only "cutoff" switch is on the high side of the system at the receiver/drier, and its purpose is to prevent the clutch from engaging if there is no refrigerant in the system or there is an excessive high pressure. I do not know what the cutoff points are for the R-12 system, but the R-134a version appears to be closed between roughly 20-450 psi. For this reason I sourced a NOS evaporator for my '91. It was not cheap but I am satisfied with my decision. At low fan speed settings, the clutch will cycle on the temp switch. Increasing the fan speed will keep the compressor running due to the higher volume of airflow. Typical symptoms of a freezing evaporator is a brief period of good (maybe even too good) A/C performance followed by nothing, often accompanied by gradually lower airflow out of the vents as ice collects on the evaporator fins. The system won't cool worth a damn once the evaporator freezes over.

CCW from left: SEM Camel, SEM Palomino, original seat track trim, seat. Light is all natural, no flash was used. I cannot prove 100% that the seat track trim is an original Honey part, but it is dated mid-1986 so it is period correct, and AFAIK that was the only "tan" color being offered at the time. It was attached to the seat in the picture. The back of the original panel is identical in color to the front.

That is a parallel flow evaporator with refrigerant passing through right where the sensor would have to be. I don't see a way to do it and have it end up even close to OEM.

That sensor needs to be there. The probe is a temperature sensor that turns the compressor off at a set point (slightly above freezing) to prevent the evaporator from freezing. In most situations it is the only thing controlling the compressor cycling. Aftermarket junk.

Will do, once I get a chance.

I think Camel is definitely the way to go after comparing to some original examples. Here's a mostly original '87 tan interior in the color I'm going for - video credit to NEO Auto: