Eagle

Depends on what it's in. If you have a good received hitch, that should work. If your receiver is just a box bolted to the bumper, you'll probably wreck the bumper.

It's the "without tweaking my frame" part that's the problem. The front "frame" horns are basically sheet metal. It won't take much of a pull to tweak one of them. That's whay the factory tow hitch kit includes reinforcing brackets, and even then they're not very strong for anything except a straight ahead pull.

There are several potentially confusing typographical errors in the above. More important, it completely omits the part about resetting the shuttle and then bleeding the rear brakes a second time to bleed any residual air out of the normal side of the rear brake circuit.

That's the way the system is intended to work. If the front brakes fail, the shuttle moves to allow the system to bypass the rear proportioning valve. If the rear brakes fail, all the shuttle does is turn on the brake system warning light. Tripping the shuttle is necessary in order to bleed the bypass circuit in the rear brakes. If you don't trip the shuttle, bleeding only bleeds the normal (proportioned) part of the rear brake system, which may leave air in the bypass circuit. That would not be a good thing.

Nice truck. I see tow hooks under the front bumper. Does it have skid plates under the front steering linkage, under the transfer case, and under the gas tank? How many leaves in the rear leaf springs? Please post a photo of the rear differential cover. You may have the off-road option package.

2000 for the NV3550

Wives should be happy we're wRenching instead of wenching ...

Yeah - reliability. When my '88 XJ hit 250,000 miles I was so concerned that it might become unreliable that I bought a new 1999 Grand Cherokee. I think I owned it seven months -- might have been eight. Out of the time I owned it, it spent at least a full month and a half in the shop (once for three straight weeks) while they tried (unsuccessfully) to repair various problems. The first time in my life I experienced death wobble was in that new Grand Cherokee. It had never been farther off road than my gravel driveway and was completely stock. Then, at about 7,000 miles, it just ... quit ... in the middle of the road. I had it towed to the dealership. They had good news and they had bad news. The good news was that they had diagnosed why it quit. The bad news was that the part needed to repair it wasn't available in the parts system yet. A told them to keep it. Dimestore-Chrysler bought it back from me to prevent me from invoking the lemon law. The '88 Cherokee now has 287,000 miles on it. It'll still run, but my daily driver is now a 2000 XJ that I bought (new) several months after dumping the Grand Cherokee.

Answer to part one: "Why?" Answer to part two: "What makes anything under 5 years old reliable? They are far more dependent on electronics than the Jeeps." Taxes on the Jeeps are WAY lower than on a new vehicle. Insurance is probably a lot cheaper (not liability insurance, of course, but comprehensive and collision insurance). You know how to work on the Jeeps, and you have a ready-made support team. With a new vehicle, you'll be at the dealer's mercy. They're not spying on you.

If I may ask -- what does she use for a primary camera and microphone? I doubt she's shooting all that with a Go Pro.

Like your others, this video was spectacular. Whoever does the editing and post-production (Heather?) is doing a great job. Your videos are as good as anything on the Internet.

Another great video. I jumped over to UToob to leave a like.

With damage and a salvage title, it's not worth anywhere near $13,000. More like $1,300 ...

One of the early members of NAXJA, Ed Stevens, came up with some data on Ranco shocks. It's for the XJ, not the MJ, but the fronts are the same. Here's some data from Bilstein:

No. It isn't purely 2WD vs. 4WD. And it may be different for XJs vs. MJs. My first Jeep in this type was an '88 XJ Pioneer. I special ordered it, with 4WD and a "heavy duty" suspension, but no off-road package. Ride height, even with the stiffer springs, is the standard XJ height, not the +1 inch that in later years became known as the "Up Country" package. In the MJ, however, I think it may be correct that 4WD models ride higher than 2WD models. Unfortunately, I have never bought a new MJ, so I don't really have any valid frame of reference other than the technical bulletin I cited and which was quoted above.

Yes.

Maybe it's just me, but if any spring company offers a spring that's supposed to "replace" a factory spring, with the SRI number, and the new springs result in any lift at all over factory ride height -- it is NOT a "replacement" spring, it doesn't match what I ordered, and I would be very unhappy. I want my MJs to ride at factory ride height, I do NOT want lift springs.

NICE!

The left rear door is locked, and will not unlock either electrically or manually. The other three doors respond normally to either unlocking from the driver's door panel. or manually flipping the rocker at the inside door handle. On the left rear, the rocker won't rock. Something seems to be jammed.

My late wife's Jeep was a 2000 XJ Classic, so it has all power windows and locks. Something has gone wrong with the lock on the left rear door -- it won't unlock with the other doors using the electric equipment, and I also can't unlock it manually using the rocker in the inside door handle. I would really lick to get this door functional again. I have the 2000 XJ FSM and I don't see any useful diagrams of how the lock connects to the electric motor, or to the manual rocker. Does anyone have a door from a junked late-model XJ they could check out the mechanism on? In a worst case I guess I'll have to open up the passenger side door to see what the mechanism looks like, but I would prefer not to disturb the water dam liner if I don't have to. Can I use a Slim Jim to unlock the rear door?

Pete, what does the final version look like?

Topper

It actually IS like a fusible link. In fact, it's more often referred to as a "thermal limiter" than as a "fuse." It's purpose isn't to respond to over-current, it's to protect against over-temperature.

Another great video. I'll say again how much I appreciate your taking us along on your treks. And it warms my heart to see your MJ being used for real-life explorations, just like a Jeep should be used. They way you have it set up is just about perfect. I went over to YouTube and left a "Like."

Blower motor works on high speed. Not a problem. I just need a new resistor pack, which is on the way. When the thermal fuses arrive from Amazon, since I couldn't match the 149 degree rating, I have to choose between slightly under and slightly over. I'm thinking I'll try 142 degrees first. Is that likely to cause a rapid failure (absent another mouse nest, of course)? Any reason why I should go directly to a 157 degree thermal fuse?