Replaced this weekend. Order the 54-73154 from Advance Auto Friday for an early morning pick-up Saturday. It arrived on time, I paid for it and left. The removal of the failed one was slow. Removed the driver's seat and had to bend a bracket straddling the entrance of the booster opening to access one of the 14mm nuts between the bracket and steering knuckle. The master cylinder was another story. The ijit who torqued it on originally (factory) used so much force I had to cut the nuts off with a die grinder. They were not corroded. There were simply woefully over-torqued.

Note: I did not compare the failed booster to the new one, nor did I notice that the part number I paid for was one digit off at the time of purchase. Trust can be a **** sometimes.

After refinishing the new booster and getting it in place with one nut securing it in position, I noted that the brake pedal had to be moved over half it's normal travel to engage the booster eyebolt. No bueno. It was then I pulled the receipt and noticed the part number was 54-73151 and not 54-73154. So, off it came, re-boxed and brought back to Advance together with a piece of my mind. Turned out that their site listed the 54-73154 I ordered but they could not supply it. Asking why they sold me the wrong one only got blank stares. I left with the cost refunded.

O'Relly's, also in town, showed one so I went to see it with the core. It was nearly identical but the eyebolt still looked the slightest bit shorter than the original. Otherwise, everything else was identical.

Note: These so-called re-manufactured replacement parts never come painted. Both the 54-73151 & 54-73154 had been stripped of their black factory finishes (glass bead blasted) and reassembled with new parts. No exterior finish to prevent (immediate) rusting was applied. So, I painted the thing with a gloss black paint formulated for brake calipers and let it dry.

After all was assembled (new hardware) and the braking system operating normally, I noticed the brake lights remaining on. The new booster's slightly shorter eyebolt did not return the brake arm back to its normal position to make the brake light switch. It was about 3/8-inch short of contacting the switch. And, neither the switch nor its mounting bracket are adjustable (fixed position only). I remedied the problem by taking a 3-inch length of 7/16-inch heater hose, slitting it length-wise and sliding it around the brake arm between the arm and the brake switch. Then I tie-wrapped it. I'll get a couple heater hose clamps on it to make it permanent this week.

My question: Why is the eyebolt shorter on the so-called re-manufactured direct OEM replacement booster? Per my checking around, all stores list the 54-73154 as the only booster for the 1998 XJ.

 

Any chance yours has the wrong m/c on it and the rod needs to be adjusted...I think they come pre-adj then I cold be wrong and may not be adjustable at all?