gogmorgo

Well she went home to the city last night, guess we’ll see if it went in to the dealer.

It’s an automotive column. Pretty tough to make it relevant to anything at all, beyond talking about new product launches and the generic reviews every other auto journo is putting out. It’s low hanging fruit for sure, but it’s still an automotive tie-in to something that has been a pretty big deal in the media lately. As far as using indigenous names to honour the people, it’s not really up to anyone but the people themselves to decide whether it’s a legitimate honour or not. There’s a fine line between honouring a memory, and appropriating cultural elements into ultimately meaningless marketing and branding schemes. I doubt too many of us would be impressed if someone else slapped our names or identities onto some creation of theirs that we’ve got nothing to do with or much support for, either. That fact was made pretty obvious in discussions surrounding the Renegade-based Comanche concept a few years back. The idea of the chopped Renegade itself wasn’t really an issue, people who weren’t happy about it mostly just didn’t like the Comanche nameplate being slapped onto an urban Cute-Ute. That said, Mohave is still a bit of a stretch to complain about. It’s pretty clearly derived from the place name. Cherokee on the other hand, could easily be replaced with some other nameplate on the WK2 with no real consequence, and the chunk of Jeep enthusiasts who care about names would probably be happier with it not being put on the KL.

Definitely a burn mark. The fabric is melted together around the edges. My concern on the warranty is if I start poking around and there is a burnt wire, the burnt wire might get blamed on the guy who was poking around instead of whatever the problem was. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ I haven’t figured out yet how to peak under a modern headliner without stretching some of the plastics just enough so they don’t quite fit correctly any more. I mean they’re probably going to end up replacing the headliner anyhow but she wants to take it in to the dealer so I figure I’ll let them do the poking and prodding. As to hot sun, it is sun baked Alberta, not the BC rain coast, and afternoon sun can be brutal. I did ask about something reflective (and she is from the city so buildings are a possibility) but she said she’s never put anything on the rear shelf. That was my second guess, I figure if she was parked facing north for a full day, she’d have the afternoon sun run the course, and even a plastic blister pack might be able to focus the sunlight enough to make a big burnt streak like that as the sun moved, maybe with a pole that got in the way to explain the break in the line. I really do want to take a peak under the headliner now, but the car was gone when I got up this morning, not sure where she went.

This, and their other albums but mostly this one, has been the soundtrack for my home physio sessions. Be nice to your back.

Has anyone seen anything like this before? Hard to get a picture of it with the windows there, but it’s a big burnt streak in my roommate’s headliner, not far off the rear window. Looks almost like a cigarette burn, but like, longer. Two feet long. And she doesn’t smoke, doesn’t smell like anyone else has smoked in there either. It’s a newer Altima, couple years old at most. She had a passenger ask about it today, but hasn’t noticed it before. My guess was a burnt wire above the headliner but everything we could think of back there is working, no burnt fuses either, and you’d think if a wire got that hot you’d have other issues. The car’s new enough I don’t want to screw with warranty by tearing into stuff so I haven’t done much more than poke it. It’s cold, like it seems like it happened a while back or something. But I really have nothing.

Cause I had easy access, here’s some comparison shots. These came out of a ‘92 XJ and ‘93 ZJ. The ZJ lever is the same length as the XJ, just a little chunkier. Pretty well the same size, the two look like they would even bolt in each other’s place. The big difference is the ZJ handle attaches to a cable that runs under and through to the equalizer bar, instead of being riveted to a rod that pulls on it directly. I imagine that would give it a more flexible mounting position to be reused in another vehicle.

It’s a thing people do. Usually it’s called a ‘97+ swap. It’s not a requirement but the 97+ header doesn’t quite match the earlier fenders and bumper, so you likely will want to swap those as well.

Booster test info was for the OP. Lots of talk about replacing it, not much talk about actual diagnosis. Obviously there will always be room for improvement in any braking system. My experience so far however is that 30-year-old vehicles are frequently neglected, and thus it’s often difficult to establish a proper baseline for comparison. And yes, if your metric for comparison is a newer, more modern vehicle, then even an MJ in factory original condition may seem less competent, especially if you’re making the brakes work harder with bigger, heavier tires like most of us do. And yes, parts do wear out, and if there’s room for an upgrade that takes a similar amount of work and doesn’t cost much more than repairing the problem, by all means do so. I don’t really want to seem like I’m advocating not for modifying anything. The point I was trying to make was that the brake system, in its original configuration, does in fact work quite well. If it’s not doing that, there’s a problem. Throwing new upgrades at certain areas without knowing what the problem was only fixes the problem if you’re lucky and inadvertently solve the problem. If you don’t get lucky, the upgrade might help a little, but mostly it just means you did a lot of work for not much result.

Yeah, so the hat piece is held on with a chunk of hose. That’s it that’s all. Two hose barbs, one is the throttle body and the other on the hat, parked tip to tip, with the short piece of hose attaching the two and sealing them, with a hose clamp on either end of the bit of hose. I only pulled off the one end of the hose cause I thought it was obvious, but I can see that might not have been super clear in the photos. All you need to reproduce is some form of hard piping roughly the same OD as the throttle body inlet to make your own “hat”, and a short piece of hose that slides over both.

I’ve also done it on small race cars. It seems to do its job, but it’s a pain in the @$$ to get it wrapped nicely and secured in a way that looks good, and yeah, it hangs onto everything that will soak into it. Water is bad because rust, and yes any pipe I’ve unwrapped looks like a piece of junk, but if you’ve got oil leaks, it’ll turn itself into an oil lamp on you pretty quick. On one of our cars we had a bit of a tuning issue that lead to super high exhaust temps, and it burnt through aluminum components around any tiny gap in the wrap. After that incident we switched to the ceramic coating, and it lead to much better results.

I realize it’s an HO, not a Renix, but this is how the K&N “cold” air intake that came with my ZJ attaches: It looks like just a chunk of ~2.75” rad hose, possibly boost hose, held on with a hose clamp. Nothing fancy about it. It’s short enough that even if there were some crazy filter restriction, it doesn’t have much room between the throttle body and intake... hat... thing... to collapse into. Any parts store should be able to get you a chunk of hose in the correct size, although it might help if they deal in heavy truck parts. But if they can’t get rad hose in the size, a silicone joiner bit for a turbo setup would effectively be the same. Then just hard piping and elbows to get you to the edge of the fender, pvc, exhaust pipe, whatever. You’ll probably want another similar flexible connection at the fender to allow for engine movement and also to make it easier to pull the chunk of pipe off to get at stuff underneath it, or whatever. Then hard piping through the fender and up over to wherever your snorkel is going. An air cleaner like this: https://stores.allskidsteers.com/air-cleaner-filter-assembly-with-filters-deutz-engines-for-bobcat-skid-steers-863-864-873-883-a220-a300-s220-t200-kit-replaces-oem-6674837/ is pretty common for industrial equipment that breaths a ton of dust, and wouldn’t be super difficult to incorporate into a snorkel. There’s a ton of different styles out there, that’s just the first one that came up for an “skid steer air cleaner” search.

Did you check the ground side of the circuit? The factory fuel pump ground point is the sheet metal screw behind the driver’s taillight, which is a known trouble spot. If you’ve got it hooked up to power, kicking the bottom of the tank might knock it loose and get it spinning. But if that does make it work, the pump is on borrowed time anyhow.

I’m also pretty firmly on the side of the factory brakes being more than adequate, but only if you maintain them. I’ve successfully panic stopped an unbraked 3500lb trailer from 50mph behind my long bed with no drama. Incidentally that was also when I discovered uhaul dollies don’t have brakes. When I got my little MJ, the brakes were pretty mediocre. I flipped the brake proportioning linkage back the way it’s supposed to go (still not sure how it can overcentre on its own as I’ve had it at full droop and it didn’t come close), then bled the brakes properly, and now I’ve got no issues. FYI the brake prop valve bar is supposed to be horizontal, and the rod to the axle should be vertical. The test of a booster is to pump the brakes a few times with the engine off to relieve any residual vacuum, then push the pedal gently – as if you were just holding it in place at a light – and then start the engine. You should feel the pedal sink under your foot as vacuum builds just after starting the engine. If the pedal does not sink, make sure the booster is connected to vacuum before changing the booster. Make sure the hose runs from booster to intake, make sure all connections are tight, if the hose looks cracked, change it.

I think I only ever got the one casual “would you want to sell it”, way back a couple years after I got my long bed. The answer was “not really”. I do get comments every few times here and there at the gas station, if someone knows what they’re looking at. I get more inquiries about the Lada Niva that’s parked in the yard, although they lose interest in a hurry when they find out it’ll need an out-of-province inspection to register it. But in general I’ve found I interact less with Canadians at gas stations than I have Americans. This was especially the case with the Niva (understandable when there’s little reason to know what it is) which was honestly pretty obnoxious given it was pretty much every other stop, not just gas stations, and I’d get the same five questions, and almost invariably no one would actually bother listening to my answers. It was also noticeable with the Jimmy, given the umm... unconventional paint job. Canadians would stare, and law enforcement often would stop and reverse to see the plate, then start typing furiously into their computer. It was honestly funny sometimes, because I’m parked a block from the RCMP detachment, so I could always tell when there was a new officer from out of town because they’d stomp the brakes driving past and pull in behind it for a few minutes. But I digress... At any rate it was probably every fifth gas station down in the States someone would see the “Jesus” on the side and ignore literally every other word on it, and start going off about whatever local cash-grabbing megachurch I needed to visit... The Comanche in contrast seemed to slip pretty far under the radar for the most part.

Did you dictate that comment?

I actually work for a highway maintenance dept, which is why I’m curious. We don’t have any concrete highways out here, though. I have this feeling they wouldn’t hold up too well to the freeze-thaw cycles and road salt.

Would dust, sand, etc., getting into expansion joints contribute?

I’ve seen lake ice do it, and I’ve seen similar results with frost heaves in winter, but never on a concrete slab highway. That’s gnarly.

Yeah. It’s a source of frustration to me. Everything comes in a package. On the one hand I can appreciate how much it speeds up the assembly line knowing that each vehicle needs a certain set of components vs having to continually double check each component against the order sheet at every stop, but on the other hand, when the parts are clearly available to build it the way you want. In the case of the JT, it’s especially frustrating because you can get the base with the max tow axles with an automatic, and you can get the same axles with the manual in the Rubi, so you know they won’t need to custom make a driveshaft for the handful of people who’d want it in the base, but nope, no 4.10 manual trans base model.

Until the torque converter locks up at low speeds it’ll still be behind in my book. For bumping along slow trails in low range you still can’t beat a stick. I think it’s less that the transmission won’t hold up to the work and more that it’s hard on the clutch. I’ve had 5500lbs behind my AX15 ZJ, hauled it up and down a few long 10% grades over and along the continental divide, no issues, didn’t seem like there was any excess heat out of it, but getting the whole thing rolling with the nose pointed uphill was a different story entirely. Part of the SAE tow rating is repeatability of hill starts within a given time frame, and you’ll either be cooking the clutch or shock loading the drivetrain (it not both) just to do it once, let alone over and over again. HD diesels get away with this with a granny gear low enough to be useless without a heavy load, and tuning that rolls into boost more slowly so you don’t roast the clutch so bad, but you don’t really get that with a gas engine and without a separate towing transmission which is a big ask for what’s already a less popular option. The base JT with a manual is good for 4000lbs, and the Rubicon with a stick is only good for 4500. I’m guessing that’s more down to the gear ratio than anything else, given the base with an automatic and the standard 3.73 axle is also only good for 4500 while the rubicon/max tow axles are 4.10’s. The tow rating number may be brought back down by the rubicon weighing a few hundred pounds more, but I doubt it. Lower gears just make for better hill starts.

I’ve always kinda liked the Great Falls area, although I’ve never really stopped and spent time, just driven through on the way to elsewhere. You’re out on the edge of the foothills, definitely cowboy country. Mountains on the horizon, wide open spaces, not many people, very middle of nowhere sort of feel. Long distances between places, especially compared to the Eastern US. But I can for sure see how it might seem gloomy. I’ve lived in and around more than my fair share of small prairie cities and they almost all share a bit of that run-down sort of vibe of a place that used to be somewhere but hasn’t been for a long while.

Canoe rack mods. Just getting onto this. The weight of the canoe had been slowly pushing the one arm down. The rack was off the truck with the canoe on it over the winter, and it’s now warped down far enough that when I put the rack back on the truck this week, it’s touching the cab roof. I’m replacing the 2x4 rails with a longer 2x6, hanging some off the back end of the truck because I wasn’t happy with the main rail just ending at the rear upright. I still like the aesthetic of the brown pressure treated, but really starting to hate working with the organic cellulosic foam... almost none of the pieces of the rack are quite the same shape they were last fall when the rack came off.

The idea for flat towing comes from using what I already have at hand. There are commercial “toad” brake systems out there that look pretty slick. All they do is clamp to the brake pedal and push themselves back against the driver’s seat. The trouble is by the time you’ve got them parked on your floor pan, you’re halfway to paying for a used trailer, which is just a better solution all around. There are less expensive things out there, but then you’re looking at drilling holes to install, running cables around, plumbing into hydraulic brakes... “invasive” things I don’t really want to do for something I’m planning on never actually needing, just having in my back pocket. The ZJ is rated for 2000lbs unbraked. So yes, I know that’s a big chunk less than the MJ weighs, but I also know that I’ve successfully panic-stopped similar unbraked weight with my other MJ, which didn’t have fully functional rear brakes at the time. The ZJ also has more weight sitting on the rear axle than an MJ does which might minimize getting pushed around somewhat, and the wheelbase is a touch longer than a KJ’s, which could help as well. That doesn’t mean I’m trying to defend going without brakes, as I know exceeding manufacturer’s specs is a bad idea and I’m not trying to say I won’t (literally) be pushing the ZJ’s brakes, but again outside of a short test drive, I don’t actually plan on using the setup outside of an emergency evacuation. And even then it would only be the least distance necessary to get it to somewhere safe, and drop it off and proceed to wherever I go myself. The brake concerns may also be entirely moot, if I can find someone to drive out the MJ. Because in that case I’ll be looking at dragging the Lada out instead, which does actually weigh less than 2000lbs.

I know some of you have and do flat-tow your MJ from time to time. I’m just wondering what your setups look like. So my town has a fairly elevated wildfire risk. Rain shadow, dense forest of standing dead beetle-killed pine trees, propensity for strong winds... the wildfire techs are telling us it’s a matter of when, not if, and that in the unlikely worst-case scenario (literally a perfect storm) we’re looking at 10 minutes to evacuate. Although we’re expecting a comparatively generous warning time from the more likely ignition points. I’ve got my evac bag packed, we’re working on firesmarting the yard, and I’m thinking about vehicles now. Specifically flat-towing the little MJ behind the ZJ. I’ve had this kicking around for a while now. It’s an Automatic Equipment tow-bar mounting point off an XJ. Looks like it has safety chain points as well as the A-frame attachment points. Seems to bolt on to the bumper bolts with provisions for bolts on the bottom of the frame horn as well. I’ll be looking to get a professional welder to either replace or reinforce the twisted A-frame mounts to work with the Reese tow bar I just picked up, as I’m pretty sure this one’s been drilled to shackle size and used in recoveries. My bigger concern though is brakes, specifically in the unlikely event of a detachment. The ZJ’s brakes are good, very effective, and I trust them to stop the combination, but they can’t if the two come apart, obviously. It looks like the local provincial regulations don’t require brakes in this sort of combination, and any of the aftermarket systems I’ve seen are both expensive and invasive enough for me not to want to install them. But the laws are vague and seem like they were written specifically for towing behind large RVs, not a medium-sized SUV. I doubt I’d get hassled over it and I’m not overly concerned, given it’s only going to be a 60 mile or so run out of harm’s way and not a massive cross-continent vacation. But if there’s a good braking solution out there I’m open to it. There’s some gnarly hills on two out of the three routes out of town. I’ve also got magnetic tow lights to use. Am I missing anything? Other than the obvious fact I’m overthinking all of it? The better option obviously is to get someone else in need of a ride out of town to drive it out, but it’s getting rare to find someone without a car who knows what to do with a clutch, but even if I can find someone, my focus is just going to shift over to my little Lada, which was already set up by previous owners for dragging behind an RV – and also weighs so little that it falls under the maximum weight for an unbraked trailer. I don’t want to be deliberately jeopardizing my life or anyone else’s with this. If it comes down to it I’m getting people out, only saving a second vehicle if I’ve got the luxury of time to do so. But I also want to know if I do hook something up in a relative hurry it’s going to be safe to do so.