gogmorgo

Usually I try to scrape back the oxidization and that usually gets it solderable, although it's difficult to on multi-strand wire without sacrificing some strands. The uninsulated crimp butt joints do work pretty well, especially when you can't stretch the wires out long enough for some facsimile of the western union splice and it's going to be problematic to add a length of wire, like if you've got a tightly packed loom. I do sometimes avoid soldering them though just because if I'm using one I typically don't have a ton of real estate to get my heat shrink tube far enough away from the splice to avoid prematurely shrinking it with the heat of the solder.

Short of the places that part out everything and sell bits online, I don't know how much junkyards don't know so much as they don't really care about rarity. Most have the attitude that everything ends up there in the end, and usually don't have real estate to hang onto "rare" items until they can sell them for higher dollars. Better to set prices at fixed points, generally based on whatever they're worth as scrap vs how much someone would be willing to pay, and not worrying about how it affects your turnover rate. It's good for us if we get there at the right time, but less great in how much stuff gets recycled. It goes both ways, one man's treasure is another man's trash.

Go on? I’ve used those cheap butt splices for mock-up and testing, but only when I knew I was just going to tear the thing apart and eventually add a connector or something, never for a permanent install. One other thing to be said about heat shrink tubing is it provides some strain relief for your splice, in addition to making clean and compact weather-proofed connections. Probably the biggest argument against those butt connectors next to lack of environmental protection is that you’re creating a stress riser that will lead to a broken wire if you don’t provide some form of strain relief. Most connector pins do this by also crimping to the insulation further up on the wire to help prevent unwanted movement around the electrical crimp, but those butt connectors have nothing.

The jack stands I use at home ratchet but have locking pins that will prevent the stands from dropping if the ratchet somehow fails. But yeah, for extra height the higher rated jack stands are a better bet anyhow, it’s more likely for things to go south when the jack stands are pushing their limit of travel… I’ve knocked things over more times than I care to admit.

No sense replacing it just cause, they’re not cheap. Sitting fully charged isn’t usually much of an issue. You can have it load tested if you want, most parts stores should be able to do that for you. That said, five years seems to be typical life expectancy on a battery that is in regular use and not being left discharged on the regular, but I’ve also seen them last over ten.

A leak is usually obvious in that it'll eventually hit the ground if you run the pump long enough, and a good pump will be pushing a decent volume of fluid through. You should be able to hear the pump running when you hit the squirter if it's working, whether there's fluid present or not. It's also very possible for the lines to clog, especially if it's been sitting a while or the washer system doesn't get used.

What year truck are we dealing with? The closed system used from '87-'90 does indeed rely on the coolant reservoir to hold pressure, but the '91+ open cooling system doesn't pressurize the overflow reservoir, and won't care if the top of the jug is cracked. It's also very common for people to upgrade to the newer open system. The open pressure system is more "tolerant" but arguably closed cooling systems are more effective at cooling. Something else people struggle with is getting the system properly bled of air. Slowly losing coolant over time could create air pockets that may not refill completely when it's topped up. Overheating could also loosen up some crud inside the engine block and transport it around and plug up the radiator. My strategy here would be to replace the tank if it's a closed system, and while you've got the system open, pop the hoses off the radiator and give it a good flush.

These are decent connectors, used everywhere on modern cars and very available. Specifically these are the AMP Superseal 1.5 series. Our tiny little parts store in the middle of nowhere usually even has some in stock. You can also get re-pin kits from a variety of manufacturers for people who prefer a cleaner install, not to mention a proper crimp is going to be more reliable than trying to get solder to stick to old oxidized corroded wires. That said, solder and heat shrink is definitely my preferred splicing method, and the extra length of wire added is usually helpful as well.

I'm curious how you guys are counting "cranks". If you're talking about the rise and fall in starter motor speed with each compression stroke, 6 of those is two full engine rotations (for a 4.0, 3 for a 2.5) which is not a lot and very different from holding the key for six ten-second cranking sessions with cool-down time in between. My 2.5 loses its fuel pump prime while it sits, resulting in some very extended cranking times, especially first thing in the morning. I usually cycle the key a bunch before starting it which helps prime the system but doesn't completely cure long cranks. I haven't bothered doing anything about it because it's been this way the whole time I had the truck, and it always starts and I'm lazy, but it does sometimes turn heads in public because it takes longer to start. By long cranks I mean holding the key in the start position for 5-8 seconds.

It doesn't look like a particularly heavy car or trailer either.

I haven’t actually looked myself since pre-pandemic, although there was a post in early fall in one of the Alberta Jeep groups where someone looking for the early glass was able to get the ‘97+. But it was the fall of 2019 already when I couldn’t track down the early glass. The wholesaler we use at work said they didn’t have any in stock, not that it had been discontinued, but none of the glass shops I called could get me one.

I can’t speak as to availability in Australia, but the ‘96- windshield, with the metal trim, is NLA at most of the places I’ve checked here in Canada. The rubber-trimmed ‘97+ XJ glass is still available here and will fit. Shipping windshields overseas can be problematic. My Lada parts supplier quit doing it because they couldn’t figure out a way to package them individually that guaranteed they’d show up unbroken. You basically need a crate that holds the glass upright and both cushions any shock loads and prevents the glass from moving around or flexing too much, and that won’t get crushed in shipment. Unless you’re wedging it into a shipping container that won’t get opened until it’s destination, the number of times the crate gets handled and moved between warehouses and vehicles, or ends up tipped onto its side because that’s the easiest way to handle a large flat crate seems to invite accidents to happen.

https://www.crownautomotive.net/Comanche-Tailpipes.html Looks like longbed only. A search for the part number shows some supposed availability online, pictures make it look similar in quality to the Walker, crinkle bends and all.

That only works if you don’t live in a tiny mountain town where driving over a snowy mountain pass is the only option because there is no local muffler shop to do a custom job. The nearest place is 200 miles away in any direction and will always involve snowy mountain passes.

If you’ve got a trans jack, dropping them together is IMO the way to go. If not, it’s a lot of off-kilter weight to bench press back into place.

I suspect they haven’t made a run for quite a while, and now we’re depleting the few sitting in the backs of warehouses. It likely just depends on if you find somewhere connected to the correct warehouse, and are willing to wait for it to come in. Which is something surprising to me. It’s totally normal for me at least for something to come from a parts store and be pushing a business week to show up, but not everyone is willing to wait that long, and it wouldn’t surprise me if some chain stores simply won’t bother shipping parts across the country because of that. I know Napa locally usually needs a pretty hefty push to order stuff from further east than Winnipeg, and it’s often an unpredictable time frame before they get it in. Napa also is showing zero inventory on tailpipes at least in Canada, FYI.

So this is the two next to each other. The long bed one is in the back. The section that goes over the axle is basically the same and the overall shape is the same. You might get away with not trimming the section behind the axle depending on your bumper setup because it’s only a couple inches in the difference there, but you’d need to lose some length ahead of the axle unless more pipe works better with whatever exhaust system you’re running, and also both of the hangers would need moved closer to the axle. So no, not just the one cut, but not necessarily the biggest project either for someone proficient with a welder. But I still think you’d be better off with better quality (thicker) pipe custom bent without the crinkle bends if you’re going to the trouble of modifying it anyhow. But if anyone in BC or near the couple locations in Alberta is looking, Lordco still showed one of the 47605’s in stock as of a couple days ago. Honestly not a huge deal because the chances of actually getting hit are pretty slim. But like when you see the rockfall warning signs, just don’t stop in the zone, and anticipate debris on the road. Wind transport and snow accumulation increase the chances of something coming down though, and in poor visibility it can be a heck of a thing to run into when it’s the same colour as the road and air. The friction from tumbling down the mountain warms it up and smashes all the crystals around so it sets up like concrete within a few minutes of stopping, kinda like the rows of snow the plows leave behind across your driveway.

https://www.cherokeeforum.com/f2/fan-bearing-hub-57536/index2/#post3335651 Maybe not the forum you were expecting but my google-fu found this pretty quickly.

One more to add, what's the traffic like? Just before Christmas I saw a guy in dark clothing with no lights standing beside the road trying to flag down traffic, at night. I had straps, etc, and likely could've got his minivan out, but there was still moderate traffic on a major highway, and he was only in the ditch due to freezing rain so that road was a curling rink. We were down in a bit of a depression and I wasn't sure how visible I'd be, and I've got no emergency lights or anything. I called him a tow truck. As much as I wanted to help him, I didn't need to get hit, and I didn't need to ruin anyone else's day having them run into me either, because I made a poor call.

I saw this going around facebook but only as a screen shot of some thumbnails. In most cases everyone seemed to be assuming the kinetic rope had cut through the strap and done the damage, or they'd used a shackle between the two that went flying, but is that the strap sitting in the bed after it punched under the tailgate? I'll also add that a kinetic rope designed for recovering an 80,000lb truck isn't going to stretch and absorb much impact if you only hit it with a 5000lb truck. You'll only get so much pull out of a light vehicle, and the kinetic rope needs to stretch to work its magic, regardless of what's at the other end of it. It's tough to say, but that does look to me like a heavier rope.

You guys experience winter, snow covered roads, and road grit either covering or grinding the painted lines off the road, no? Gravel roads? Lane keep assist doesn't work so well when it can't see the lines... I'm sure a lot of lives have been saved by some of the modern tech, and there's no denying modern cars are much safer to be in when you do crash, but it doesn't really seem to take much to cause the systems to fail, (and most fail "safe" by shutting off at any detected malfunction) or to go from a situation that stability control can resolve to one it absolutely cannot. And when you're used to leaning on the safety systems but now you're on your own and yeah, it's concerning to know that a lot of drivers can't handle it. Even I've had close calls due to ABS not recognizing a blown brake line and that it couldn't just send all braking power to the rear and me not realizing what was happening. But also there are tons of drivers who don't drive with said systems who you'd think would be able to deal but can't anyhow, because no one is actually trained in vehicle operation. And we shouldn't even exclude ourselves from that category. In my case I just have more experience doing dumb stuff with crap cars than some people, and sometimes it's helpful, and other times maybe not.

Yeah, could be. I agree though, something like that should be accessible through the standard cruise… um… controls. Just like in every vehicle, traction control has an off button, because sometimes it causes more harm than good. Most of the time I’ve encountered issues with other drivers using it, it’s been in rental cars. I’m in a resort town in the middle of nowhere so they’re pretty common. I figured it was mostly down to people being unfamiliar with their vehicles, but I had no idea it was such a pain to deal with in some vehicles until ending up in my own rental. But then it’s far from the worst thing tourists in rentals do, but that’s a different rant that doesn’t need to further derail this thread.

No. Not just one cut, at least. It’s longer ahead and behind the axle, and the hangers are in the wrong spot. I’m sure it could be done fairly easily but when I saw there was a shortbed pipe in stock still plus I do need the longbed pipe for my other MJ anyhow I figured it wasn’t worth the effort. If you can get an exhaust shop to make you one you’ll likely end up with a better product anyhow. It’s the typical Walker stuff so not the worst quality in the world, but it’s pretty thin steel and like, “crunch” bent with rippled sections, instead of mandrel bends. I do actually have both in hand now, and can get pictures in the morning. The weather was much better for the drive out and back although it did bring to light another road conditions concern that we don’t think about much. Couple small avalanches. That last one got cleaned up before my return leg, but it was halfway across the driving lane on my way out. And that’s not even half of it, my phone was slow to take the picture.

Because cruise control isn’t autopilot. It’s there to maintain a constant speed, not do anything else. Having it do other things just invites the driver to not pay attention to driving, to the detriment of other road users.