Auto Electrical Forum

Automotive Electrical Tech Tips and Questions Answered

OK I am 6′2″ and 250 LB so an 80 JC5 was probably a dumb purchase, but hey I love to tinker. My solution? Swap in a pre-air bag, early 90’s XJ/MJ steering column is a real easy swap.
I grabbed a tilt column from a 92′, it will bolt to the upper column mount bracket, the turn wiring is the same as many 70’s and up CJ’s so that may be a plug and play or at least it is easy to rewire. You can grab the control module and use the intermittent wiper on the column and if you find one with cruse control it is a great way to kick on a radiator mister or….what the hell a nos switch! Anyway here is the changes that are needed, cut off the lower mounting flange on the 92 column, cut 1″ off the bottom of the shaft and grind a new groove for the steering joint bolt. If your column has ignition in the column the plugs should be the same depending on the years, however I found that my brake pedal hit my IG switch, easy fix is to shim the column down at the fire wall about 1/8″ or so. Oh you can also move the dimmer switch to the one in the column as well.

1) Old column ignition switch.

2. New column ignition  switch, both are a GM base so they should be interchangeable. A quick check in a wiring diagram will tell you.

4. New column turn switch plug. 99.9999% chance you will have a standard GM plug here, depending on the year of your vehicle of course.

5. Connection for column dimmer switch. Easy to modify your wiring to move the dimmer to the column

6. Difference in shaft original shaft about 1″ shorter

7. How much needs to be cut off.

8. Cut a grove for the steering shaft bolt.

9. I just used a grinder to make the cut, easy could have done all this with a hacksaw and a Dremel. Now in photo #8 you can see the grind marks on the column tube, this the place the mounting flange was. I cheated here because I had my alternator bracket fabricator cut this with a plasma cutter. I am sure it could be done with hand tools or home power tools but on the other hand I would not think a machine shop would charge that much for this to be done.

Now it’s a different ignition switch but only because it is a tilt, for the most part Jeep uses a GM column with one of two ignition switches depending on if it is a tilt or not. The plugs for the most part are universal. So if you go non-tilt to newer non-tilt you may just be a plug and play deal. However that negates the real advantage of this swap, the tilt column. Older switches have less ignition lines (ignition 1, ignition 2 and so on), if you add a lot of accessories you can power them off the additional ignition wire providing you get the wiring plug with the column, just be sure to check the wiring diagram to verify colors.

For the most part your column ignition switch should be interchangeable, keep in mind I am talking about going from late 70’s – mid 80’ to late 80’s – mid 90’s column. I did have a slight clearance problem with the brake pedal hitting the ignition switch but a minor adjustment to the switch fixed this.
The dimmer switch is a cake walk, just plug it in to the dimmer on the column, you will notice a 4th pin on the switch, don’t worry about it you will not need it.
Now the fun part, I used my stock wiper switch to control my aftermarket driving lights, the switch is designed to handle some high current so as long as you are using less than 4 lights or so you should be ok without a relay just be sure to run a new power wire to it and fuse it. Since the switch is a high / low I set it up to run 2 lights on at the low position and all 4 lights on at the high position. You will want to re route the factory wiper motor wire to the column switch. To take full advantage of the column wiper switch you really need a 4 wire wiper motor, they are a bolt in interchange, just need to wire it up. Keep in mind you need the wiper module from the XJ or you need to use relays for the motor, the switch is not designed to handle the amperage of the motor. Simply check the wiring diagram and you will see the wires you need to use.
As you probably notice I am not going into wiring colors here, Jeep did chance them over the years so I thought I would just leave you to look up if you decide to do the swap. However if the diagram makes not since to you just send me a note (Darren@rushps.com) telling me the year of your CJ and the year of the column

old plug

new plug

Intermittent wiper control box

column installed

inside

ignition switch, notice how close the brake is (near the spring)

This is the factory wiring attached to the wiper module, you could just use relays here and it would work just fine. I used the 3 wire motor here and it will work o.k. but it is much better with the 4 wire motor. I wired the 3 motor to test the module during the time I was waiting for the 4 wire to arrive.

Why a CJ? They are cool, that is why!

In the early days of the Buick Park Ave GM had a problem, they needed much more power at low rpm, the answer was to build a CS-130D alternator with a very unique mounting pattern. This was only done for a couple years because it was replaced with a CS-144 which is larger than the CS130D, in fact so large that it would present a mounting problem in the CJ with the factory GM 12SI alternator. It’s more open than the original alternator to allow better cooling but its slip ring and bearings are better protected from dust and moisture. It can be built to 250 amps as well as converted to external regulated as see here, however you will need to convert to a multi-ribbed belt if going over 200 amps, smaller pulley gives you better power at idle when used whit a high amp. Wiring is easy due to an adapter plug, you would need to go with a larger cable from the battery to the alternator battery post, and get rid of your junk fusible link, use a blade fuse.

But there is always a catch, GM phased this unit out, so for the most part you can only get it at custom builders, like say Rush Power Systems for example (Rush Power Systems -Free shipping on high amp alternators and other automotive electrical products) some shops may still have this unit just be careful not to get the CS130, it should not have an external fan, if it does you have the 130 and not 130D

The main advantage here is the fact that you get much better power at an idle and low RPM, for example the stock CS130 alternator is 105 amps and can produce up to 60 amps at an idle, the stock unit produces 60 amps at 4000 engine RPM. More power is better because the lights are brighter, heater blows more air, ignition is more efficient, and it is a must if you are going to run fuel injection.

Installed CS130D 200 amp alternator in 258 Jeep CJ