1989 Jeep Cherokee 1 ton swap

[RunningProblem]

Dodge Ram 2500 with the 96+ dual diaphragm booster swap.

 

[RunningProblem]

This seems better. Just added 1 gallon of coolant.

 

[RunningProblem]

Functional tail light with blinker and reverse. I made a housing you’d expect to come from a house smelling like acetone and MAPP gas because a long time ago (last year) I smashed the stock one. I didn’t want to buy the $350 fabricated ones.


Edit: the turn signal indicator does NOT flash. It is static. Perhaps unwired it incorrectly, or perhaps the light is designed this way. It is an orange color even if the picture doesn’t appear to be.

 

[Mike Honcho]

The led doesn't have enough resistance for the flashers to work properly. Long story short, easiest way to do it is to leave the stock bulbs in place (zip tie em out of the way) and wire the LEDs parallel. Some say the LED compatable flasher relay work well but they didn't work for my renix.

 

[RunningProblem]

Thanks. I’ll look into this. I typically don’t use my turn signals so as long as the green arrows on the dash go away I’ll be happy. Leaving it inline would work until the bulb breaks.

 

[RunningProblem]

Someone told me to make things removable so you can fix them. I decided to use disconnects so when I smash this into a rock it’s easier to fix. Maybe this means I won’t smash it up.

 

[Will Scarlet]

You could also use a load resistor to fix the issue instead of using a bulb:

 

[RunningProblem]

Will Scarlet im pretty sure I need those same things for my daily driver to slow down the fast blinker speed. It would probably work best. If I don’t ever use blinkers in this thing I won’t have to worry about anything besides both blinker lights being on in the dash when I turn the lights on.

 

[RunningProblem]

I didn’t ground my new tail light after wrapping things up enough to drive it. I turned the lights on and blew a fuse. I soldered all the connections, and now it just keeps blowing fuses. The brake light works, but as soon as I turn on the running lights it blows a fuse. Up to 30 amps because it’s what I had. I don’t know what the fuck I did but I did something good. Oh and when I soldered everything back together I didn’t have the housing on so I have to untuck this mess AND figure out what I broke to cause me to blow every fuse I put in there.

EDIT: One idea I have is I possibly wired 12 volts straight to ground. I think this might explain blowing every single fuse. Perhaps I didn't pay enough attention to the wires. |

WIRING DIAGRAMS :: 1984 - 1991 :: Jeep Cherokee (XJ) :: Jeep Cherokee :: Online Manual Jeep

jeep-manual.ru

I think the dark blue/black wire is ground according to this wiring diagram.

Orange would be driving
Light Blue would be brakes/stop
Gray or Brown would be turn signals maybe.
Brown-T (white stripe?) would be reverse/back up lights


black brown is ground for turn signals AND black blue is ground for everything else?

 

[RunningProblem]

Since I hate electrical so much I chopped up a 90 amp flux core welder and made this. It uses 6 gauge battery cables, a 50 amp anderson plug (probably wrong) and a PWM connector. Since I haven't used it yet and I hate electrical I have convinced my self the 50 amp connector is wrong, and I should have gone with 4 awg and a 175 amp connector.

Edit: I need to go over the wiring. I think the bare wires I twisted together are causing a short I can’t see. I blew out two pwm controllers, and tested a third straight to the battery. It works connected straight to the battery, and the wiring seems to match the diagram. All I can think of is the bare wires are touching something as soon as I pull the trigger.

I also tried to check the wiring on the brake light. Unsoldered everything and tested voltage with my last 30 amp fuse. It blew the fuse with no brake light connected. I’m at a total loss right now.


Thick white is (-) from batteries
Thic blue is (+) from batteries
Red and blue coming in from the top are the torch trigger wires.

It feeds wire the correct direction when connected.

 

[RunningProblem]

Taped the wires up. It worked for about an inch of welding. I dialed the speed down and the PWM blew up at the next spark.


Also, blew a 30 amp fuse on the brake lights trying to test for voltage. I removed the light to check, and it had a few moments of working then eventually blew up so I shorted something somewhere.

 

[RunningProblem]

Got this thing all buttoned up. Should be about time for installing the doubler than going wheeling. Looking forward to it.

 

[Chkn]

Find your shorted wiring? You can always install a head light bulb in the place of the fuse to find the short. That way you don't keep blowing fuses.

 

[RunningProblem]

Find your shorted wiring? You can always install a head light bulb in the place of the fuse to find the short. That way you don't keep blowing fuses.

I connected a (+) directly to a (-) on the hatch. It must have been disconnected, and must be something from the factory a previous owner removed. It was melted and pretty obvious.
I could post photos, but I took off the rear inner driver side panels and kept disconnecting things all the way to the fuse panel, made a test light from a light bulb, and then randomly looked at the black (-) and dark blue (+) connected in the tailgate.

Now my reverse lights don’t get a (+) signal when I shift to reverse. Maybe I messed up the Neutral Safety switch.

 

[RunningProblem]

I even removed the switch thinking it was possible destroyed by what I did.

Soldered the connections and hid my soldering job as best I could.