A-man930

I hesitate... Sometimes I feel all that gunk is holding mine together :roll:

AhHA! Here we go... Again, this is in an XJ, but I like the design. I would go the simpler route and secure it from under the rails (as opposed to the sides as he has it), and the box would be smaller (shorter?) and recieve the transmission mount the same as stock. This shows basically the skid I want as well, skinned of course. However, I think it would be unwise to design a skid without having the doubler actually there to measure... (shown here is this guy's 231/231 "box4rocks" combo) As above, I would use shallower box tubing, and have a shortened tranny mount bolt through the middle of the x-member, stock-style... How big do you guess this box is? Pics of someting like this in an MJ is what I'm looking for. Or if anyone has any different ideas/designs feel free.

Quite well! I did have to sand quite a bit of the poly away on the front portion (I'm still finding red chunks in my eyes...) but other than that it went great! I love the way it drives now :D Pete: How many bolts are holding it to the truck? what thickness is the C-channel? Did the whole drivetrain get shifted up? (if that's a stock mount I see there) Still no luck on the pictures, but I'll try and describe what I'm thinking: Boxed tubing (maybe, 2"x10" .25" wall...) mounted by the extended lower "layer" of the tubing, bolted from underneath to the rails. Probably hard to picture, I may be able to draw something up if all else fails. I may just add the extended skidplate later, just a stock-ish one would suffice for now.

As I was installing my poly transmission mount last night I had the opportunity to get up close and personal with the stock crossmember, it worries me... Now I don't personally have much experience with fabrication, but I do have acess to the necessary materials/equipment, and I think a crossmember/skidplate project would be a fairly easy first effort (with lots of help of course.) However, I'm having trouble finding examples to look at. I've seen plenty of XJ pieces, but since the similarities to our trucks basically ends behind the cab, only the furthest-forward portion works, and I want a skidplate that extends almost to the gas tank (this is in a short-bed btw.) I would ideally want one that is flush with the rails, but I also want to keep the design fairly simple, and it doesn't seem those two go together... so one that merely offers improved clearance is fine by me. I'll post up pics of what I've seen that I like when I get my picoodle account to work :hateputers: Until then, post up pics and/or whatever. :chillin: Oh, and I eventually will be running a 321/242 box4rocks doubler, so I want protection for the t-case that will eventually be there... thinkin' ahead :dunce:

I was thinking the same thing... does anybody make 33x11.5 R15 mud terrains? (these would be my off-road tire, with some street time) From what I'm gathering, seems like it would be a good compromise.

Well I guess no EGR will be nice. Ok, what about that canister-looking thing behind the bumper on the passenger side? I broke it open and taped it up, but I would really like to move it/ditch it. Anyone got a diagram? I'm looking at the ones in my Chilton manual and they aren't very detailed... I need a FSM :wall:

Turns out I had the same issue, it looked too big untill I crawled under and looked at the factory one... it's right. I'll go for the install Sat.

Why is the MOPAR gasket better?

Cool. Lucky for me cheap-ish becomes cheap when you get a NAPA employee discount :D

I've got the opportunity to do a bunch of gasket/seal replacements on my new engine while its still out of the truck... Do rear main seals go bad commonly?

Update: I got my pass. side engine mount on no problem, I was able to take off the filter boss and it went nice and smoooothe :brows: Thanks guys. Also, I got my daystar mount last night, and it looks HUGE! I'm gonna take a closer look at it tonight, I think it may be the wrong one... Carl'sMJ, you mentioned two different sizes Quadratec offered; well 4wd Hardware didn't offer anything but this size... any reason they would offer one that was over-sized?

I was under the impression that the renix-era MJs had more vacuum accesories and such... more stuff to go wrong. If both Renix and HO equipped MJs had the same vacuum stuff, my question still remains... I realize I could fix it, but I'm asking what I can get rid of when I put in my HO motor. (I'll be using the HO manifolds and picking up the appropriate wiring harness/computer if that matters)

I've always heard that the Renix is notorious for vaccumm problems, I'm experiencing a couple right now and it sucks! :headpop: Since I've all but determined that I'll be doing a full HO swap when it comes time, I'd like to get rid of as much of the vacuum stuff as possible to make the install simpler and the whole operation less problem-prone. There are a lot of vaccum lines and such in my engine bay... which ones are necessary and which ones can i ditch? Thanks!

I've tried pictures also, but with drums it's not really that helpfull considering how many things are on top of eachother... other things sure. And yea, thumbs up on getting your parts from NAPA... (coming from the NAPA guy 8) )

And another suggestion... NEVER have both sides apart at the same time! I don't care how many times you've done drums, it's always good to have the other side as a reference.

Ok so the center pins are bolts? When I had my axle out I tried tightening the driver's side one and it wouldn't budge... I figured they were just rivets and it had streched. Am I going to run into troubles? and with the brackets that hold the pack together... I don't have mine bolted down because of the aal. Is it ok?

So this DTEC is would be a better option than the JET things? I'm not even sure what features they offer, but I do know I like the multiple settings you can select with this DTEC thing... But it seems like the general consensus is that the stock computer could handle everything fine. That's good to hear. Now what's this I hear about re-degreing the stock HO cam? Does it require a new timing set? Is it known to produce gains? why?

Here's one place that re-flashes our ('92 and up) pcms: http://www.bgperformancepcm.com/ But it's way more than I want to spend, especially considering the level of modifications I'm talking about here... What about these JET chips and such? Would it be worth the $$ with an intake, manifold-back 2.5" exhaust, injectors, and say, rockers? Evidently re-degreeing the stock HO cam is worth doing? And what exactly is DTEC?

They're making a cam & tune kit? I'll be sure to get in contact with them. From what I was able to find, to get the ecm re-flashed runs about $300 or so alone. That's ridiculous if you ask me, to get the pcm in my LT1 re-flased was about $110...

I'm thinking of putting a cam kit in the HO waiting to go in the truck. What I want is a kit that includes a tune. I've seen them before but not for the 4.0, does anyone make one?

I put 1" chevy drop shackles on mine, they do stick out quite a bit, but they do the job if you want a quick lift.

^^ uh, didn't have such luck with the one on the HO in my garage... maybe just because it was wedged all funky-like halfway out of the bay.

on a related note, has anyone used one of those indestructable console upgrades for XJs? I've seen ones with mounts for your headunit and CB inside (these were probably for a wrangler) and thought that it might be a good idea if I ever decide to take my doors off. Problem is, the only XJ upgrades I've seen have provisions for the center-mounted parking brake...

So here's another question. Is it advisable to upgrade the tranny mount to poly without also doing the engine mounts? (if it helps, the engine mounts will be fresh, so they won't be brittle) :???:

yes, you can swap parts from an AMG (hummer) 242. I have a pdf file of pictures, but no write-up yet (can't seem to find it). Gimmie your email and I'll send you what I have.