Slo-Sho said:
What year did the CCD bus start in the XJ's?
96 will have the CCD bus too, so this writeup will apply to installing this consol in the 96 as well.
The CCD bus was first used in the late 80s, so I suspect that all non renix Jeeps have a CCD bus, even if they are not OBDII.
To that end it may be possible to rig this console to work in the 95- cherokees.
I suspect that the information for things like the gas tank level is not availbile on the CCD bus on a 95 cherokee.
However if you look at the pinout diagrams for the 93-95ZJ you will see that they have connectors for the CCD bus(for engine rpm, vehicle speed etc) and analogue inputs for things like the headlight dimmer, gas tank level etc.
The difference between that and the 96-98 Zj is that the 96+ ZJ has a BCM which incorporates those signals, and broadcasts them as data on the CCD bus.
To that end I think it would be possible to either take a 93-95ZJ console, provide it with CCD bus connections, as well as the other connections it requires(such as fuel level and dimmer control) and wire it in, I think the minivan console would also work to this effect as I think the minivan consoles use the same trip computer(but don't quote me on this).
The other way to do this would be to use the 96+ ZJ BCM as I pictured above, the 96+ ZJ console, and wire in all those other inputs to the ZJ BCM, the ZJ BCM will then broadcast that information on the CCD bus, and the overhead console will then pull that information to do its mileage calculations.
However I should note that on my 00 XJ I tried supplying the ZJ BCM with the dimmer intensity signal from my headlight switch without success, in the course of my experimentation I found that by leaving the right grounds disconnected from the ZJ BCM that I was able to resolve the issue. The issue had been that with all the grounds connecting there was a conflicting data packet about the dimmer intensity, this caused the overhead console to flash between the correct dim setting, and the full intensity, needless to say this would be unacceptable at night and annoying during the day.
so if you try to go the ZJ BCM route with the newer ZJ overhead console, you may run into that same issue. either way I think something could be done to install the console and be fully functional for you 95 and older guys.