Brake booster swap?....

Got a 96 classic with a bad booster.
Few local guys have brake boosters out of 97+. Will those work? I know there are different masters but are the boosters interchangable????
Thanks guys

Edit: Misread your post at first..

I think the '97 booster changed a bit. I know the '95/96 master/booster are desirable to those of us with '94 and older XJs since they are direct swaps into our rigs. IIRC anything later than '96 is more difficult to swap in.. so I would think that a '97 booster would be harder for you to put in as well.

Yep, pretty sure Scott is right here. The 97 up boosters mount at a different angle or something.

I'd just swap another 95/96 booster in. 96 was the most-produced year of the whole line (and 95 was pretty common too), so they shouldn't be too too difficult to find in the yards.

EDIT: oh just saw your other thread, good luck :thumbup:

Ya the yards by me are picked clean and I can get the 97+ for $10. So I figured I could make it work. Grinder and welder right?!

Don't forget the duct tape, BFH, and jb weld...

kastein said:

Don't forget the duct tape, BFH, and jb weld...

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This is not from my personal experience, I think I read it somewhere, but the biggest issue mounting the 97+ with its angle may be how the rod from the pedal works. Seems I read that it will cause premature failure and leaking of the MC.

Maybe a work around, if the above is true, would be fitting a 97+ pedal assembly.

Ya, the rod on the '97+ is slightly longer than on the '96. I have a few pictures comparing the lengths between a Bendix ABS system rod, a '95 booster rod, and a '99 booster rod at home, but I'm at work right now.

As far as fitting the '97+ pedal, when I did the '95 booster in my '91, the booster rod no longer lined up with the boss on the pedal, but sure enough the pedal out of my old '99 fit it perfectly.

Since this was the case, I'm going to want to say that the '97+ pedal and '97+ booster wouldn't work together?

A good upgrade would be a WJ booster. Takes a lil work, but from what I understand.. totally worth it.

Begster said:

Ya, the rod on the '97+ is slightly longer than on the '96. I have a few pictures comparing the lengths between a Bendix ABS system rod, a '95 booster rod, and a '99 booster rod at home, but I'm at work right now.

As far as fitting the '97+ pedal, when I did the '95 booster in my '91, the booster rod no longer lined up with the boss on the pedal, but sure enough the pedal out of my old '99 fit it perfectly.

Since this was the case, I'm going to want to say that the '97+ pedal and '97+ booster wouldn't work together?

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Strange. The booster out of a '96 lined up perfectly (didn't even require adjustment of the brake light switch) in my '93. Edit: Or maybe I just confused myself when I read your message... I'm not sure :gee:

Johnnie Walker said:

A good upgrade would be a WJ booster. Takes a lil work, but from what I understand.. totally worth it.

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Is the WJ booster really that much better than the '96? Both are dual diaphragm...

I ask because before I found/purchased the '96 XJ booster I had pulled/purchased one from a WJ and still have it laying around. Before installing the '96 XJ booster I compared the stock ('93) booster to the WJ and '96 XJ boosters. The only difference I found in shaft length was that the WJ shaft was a SLIGHT bit shorter than the XJ one (I expected it to be longer since most people have to use spacers). The WJ booster did have an aluminum spacer on the back of it so I pulled that off. After removing the spacer the WJ shaft was essentially the same length as the XJ ones (after removing the spacer it was maybe 1/8" longer).

Anyway, the WJ and '96 XJ boosters looked identical other than the shaft length. If the WJ booster is that much stronger than a '96 XJ booster I might install that eventually since I just have it sitting around now. Either that or just sell it :dunno:

Johnnie Walker said:

A good upgrade would be a WJ booster. Takes a lil work, but from what I understand.. totally worth it.

Click to expand...

From what I understand, the WJ booster is the same as the '96 in terms of performance, they just vary in terms of mounting.

themangeraaad said:

Strange. The booster out of a '96 lined up perfectly (didn't even require adjustment of the brake light switch). Edit: Or maybe I just confused myself when I read your message... I'm not sure :gee:

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When I put the new booster in, the rod came out higher than the pin on the '91 pedal. The length was fine, its just that I couldn't bend the rod down enough to meet up with the pin, and if I did, then it would have probably caused damage to the booster being at that angle.

I removed the pedal after marking where the rod naturally went to, and was originally going to just drill a new hole, press the pin out and then back into the new hole, but I then compared the '91 pedal to the '99 pedal, and the pin was in the exact place I marked on the '91.

Edit: I never had to touch my brake light switch either.

Johnnie Walker said:

A good upgrade would be a WJ booster. Takes a lil work, but from what I understand.. totally worth it.

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Definitely. Running one in the MJ, it's great.

Begster said:

From what I understand, the WJ booster is the same as the '96 in terms of performance, they just vary in terms of mounting.


When I put the new booster in, the rod came out higher than the pin on the '91 pedal. The length was fine, its just that I couldn't bend the rod down enough to meet up with the pin, and if I did, then it would have probably caused damage to the booster being at that angle.

I removed the pedal after marking where the rod naturally went to, and was originally going to just drill a new hole, press the pin out and then back into the new hole, but I then compared the '91 pedal to the '99 pedal, and the pin was in the exact place I marked on the '91.

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I think it might be a *little* stronger than the XJ one but I am really not sure. I had the same angle concerns but ended up just saying screw it and bolting it up. Hasn't failed yet.

As for the pedal differences, RENIX years have a different setup from 91 to 94, then 95 and 96 are the same, then 97 up are all yet another design. RENIX years use a bolt instead of that stud and a retention clip. Clear as mud?

Begster said:

When I put the new booster in, the rod came out higher than the pin on the '91 pedal. The length was fine, its just that I couldn't bend the rod down enough to meet up with the pin, and if I did, then it would have probably caused damage to the booster being at that angle.

I removed the pedal after marking where the rod naturally went to, and was originally going to just drill a new hole, press the pin out and then back into the new hole, but I then compared the '91 pedal to the '99 pedal, and the pin was in the exact place I marked on the '91.

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Still strange. As Ken mentioned I thought the 91-94 all used the same setup, and the 95/96 used the same setup (except with a DD booster). When I put the '96 booster in my XJ I pushed it in for a test fit to see how much I was going to have to adjust the pedal/pin/rod. When I climbed under the dash to start marking the pedal/etc I found the rod was already sitting on the pin. It lined itself up for me :thumbup: I just bolted it down, bled it out, and called it a day.

kastein said:

Definitely. Running one in the MJ, it's great.


I think it might be a *little* stronger than the XJ one but I am really not sure. I had the same angle concerns but ended up just saying screw it and bolting it up. Hasn't failed yet.

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When/if it does fail let me know. I got a replacement for ya sitting in the back of the XJ right now

The I think I read that the WJ boosters may have a little more power than the XJ boosters, but the main appeal of them for older Renix era XJ's like mine, is that they are thiner and do not require re-mounting of the washer bottle or anything else in that area.

I installed a WJ booster a few months ago in mine and it works great.

Old


New

Yeah - I got my WJ booster and washer fluid bottle to coexist peacefully also. I really need to splice the brake fluid reservoir float switch into the circuit at some point just for completeness.

TMXONR said:

The I think I read that the WJ boosters may have a little more power than the XJ boosters, but the main appeal of them for older Renix era XJ's like mine, is that they are thiner and do not require re-mounting of the washer bottle or anything else in that area.

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I have my washer bottle in the stock location with the '95 booster on my '91. Granted it is only attached with 1 out of the 2 screws, but it is in there securely, and fits just fine. (I know its secure because it didn't go anywhere when I crashed the Jeep last weekend :gee

I had to move my washer bottle in my 91 forward 1" and drill 2 new holes to get it to coexist with the 95 booster... I'm still scarred.