almost no braking

my brakes dont kick in until about an inch left in pedal travel. the fluid was very low in the large half of the master cylinder i filled it back up but what else could be causing this, i really hafta lay into the brakes to get the thing to stop, btw its an 89 cherokee limited i just bought

You need first to figure out why the fluid was low. Did it leak out, and if so where? The fluid will go down some as the pads wear, but it shouldn't go that low. If there was a leak that was fixed, or the fluid went low enough, you will most likely have to bleed the brakes to get the air out.

Once again, Matthew beat me to the keyboard.

Just filling the master cylinder won't affect the peddle. If there is any air in the system, you'll need to bleed the brakes to get it out. I suggest you do that, then monitor the level to see if it goes down again.

The large chamber feeds the front brakes, so if only the large chamber was low you can probably bleed just the fronts and see if that makes a difference. If not, then bleed the rears.

also do a leak test. have a friend stomp on the pedal and see if you can hear/see anything leaking. Usually you can hear a hiss and a see a spray of fluid if there's a leak.

I had a similar problem, couldn't find a leak anywhere. Ripped id apart and found the the rear M/C seal had blown and was filling up the booster with fluid.

If it is the Bendix ABS, there could be more than one cause for your problems. The "power" for the power brakes is an electric driven hydraulic system that uses the brake fluid from the master cylinder. If you have a leak and the fluid is low it will starve the "power" brake system. The Bendix ABS system is a nightmare and an accident waiting to happen. If you have it, the best and safest thing to do is replace it with a standard brake system. This has been talked about many times, do a search on Bendix ABS.

well i got myself on a lift today and took everything apart to check it out, the front needs calipers, rotors, pads, and hoses. the backs are worse. the passenger side is all rusted over and doesnt look like anything has moved in a year and the driver side has a leaking cylinder, i know how to do the fronts, but where do i start on these rears. what will i need to buy at the zone or wherever to redo the back, and why would one side be rusted up?

For the rears, assuming everything is in a mess, I'd go ahead and buy new shoes, springs and adjusters - the whole kit doesn't really add up to that much. Usually the springs come as one kit and the adjusters as another. Make sure one or the other kit has the little cables for the adjusters, which can also be gotten separately. And then I'd buy two new wheel cylinders, which cost only a couple bucks more than the rebuild kit anyway and guarantee good bleeders. You'll have to judge the drums for yourself. REmember if you haven't done this before to take only one side apart so that you can use the other for reference. There are a lot of "which way around does that spring go" kind of issues here. I'm usually a cheapskate on drums, but of course if you want to do it really right, you might want to pop for those too, or at least have them turned, and have brand-new brakes all the way. The more you replace now the less likely you will be to have to write a new copy of the familiar "My left rear brake grabs when it's wet" post. From there, it's a matter of whether the lines are good and whether you can get them disconnected. Basically on a rusty XJ you need first to see if you can disconnect the axle lines from the wheel cylinders. If so, then you're fine. If not, you may need to replace them, and then it comes to whether you can get them off the tee on the axle. If so you're fine unless the hose is shot. If not....etc. etc. all the way up to the front. It's more nuisance than money for this stuff. It's hard to find the exact right lengths, but you can do it adequately with stock tubing. The more you replace the better the system will be when you're done, and if you've got a lift, now is a really good time. And if you haven't already, go out and buy a GOOD (not Walmart, not even Sears, but Snapon or K-D) flare nut wrench for those fittings. 7/16 and 3/8. You will not regret it.