I recently bought a '91 Cherokee 50th Anniversary Edition, it has problems... Here's the story: An elderly man had bought it new, at about 200,000 miles he started having problems with it. I'm not sure what the problem was.

He took it to a local shop and they told him it needed a new engine and swapped in a used engine but were having problems getting it to run correctly. The owner died and the shop pushed it aside. I bought it from the fellow that bought it from the shop, it had been sitting there for 4 years.

When I went and looked at it, it would start but, but was difficult to start, ran rough and wouldn't rev up. the guy I bought it from had checked the fuel pressure and it was low. So he assumed it had a fuel problem. I decided to buy it but when I went back to get it we tried to start it to get it on the trailer and found that the flywheel had broken.

So, I get it home and get the old flywheel out of it. The center is cleanly broken out of it, it looks like you chucked it up in a lathe and cut the center out of it with a lathe. So I get a used flywheel from a junk yard, but it different than the one that came out of it.

The broken flywheel has a 9" bolt pattern where the torque converter bolts go and the ring around the back (not sure what you call this?) has 60 slots cut in it, 3 of which are longer.
The flywheel I got from the junk yard has a 10" bolt pattern for the torque converter bolts and has only 12 small slots in the ring.

So... can anyone give me the hockey on these flywheels? I'm also wondering what year the engine is? it has the serial # 806MX27 stamped on the block near the distributor. I'm wondering if I'm looking at other problems if the swapped in motor came from a different year.

This is a super nice truck inside and out, I got it for a song. I'd really like to get 'er straightened out and running properly.

Any help or insight on these questions would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks, Matt in KY

 

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its a flexplate no fly wheel. but take it to your local auto parts store and have them match it up

 

getting a flexplate from a jy might not be such a great idea. the new ones do not cost an arm and a leg. i understand that money might be tight, but i wouldn't skim on a flexplate. you can damage it while getting the jy tranny and torque conv. out of the way or simply while unbolting it. just my 2 cents.

 

O.K., That makes sense and I can afford a new one. I know it's a flexplate, just used the wrong term. But I still wonder what I'm going to run into if the motor they swapped in isn't a '91 motor? I have no idea what year the motor is, so even if I find an exact match on the flexplate is it going to be the correct one? How can I identify what year the engine is?

 

Any auto parts store worth its salt will be able to tell you what year engine you have by looking up the old flex plate if you bring it in with you. Just make sure you go to a store that has them normally stocked and then stare and compare. If the part has the same bolt pattern, it will work.