gogmorgo

The other thing about running water in a cheap air-line quick connect is that they don't seem particularly resistant to rust, which can seize up the slidey bit. Especially with mineral- (or turtle poop)-heavy water, even a microscopic drop could lead to rust.

Big ship would be my guess, if it's an actual turbocharger. Part of me isn't convinced it's not someyhing else that only looks like a turbo.

When you say later, I'm assuming you're still only refering to the Renix clusters?

Part of this repairability thing is cost of parts vs labour. In most cases a component like a transmission is going to be cheaper to purchase rebuilt or even brand new, vs the cost of labour to have a shop repair it. The shop gets the customer out the door faster and doesn't have to charge them as much. Manufactures know this and it's just anticipated no one is cracking a trans just to replace a couple $30 bearings. There's also less liability on the part of the shop in case something happens, and they don't have the customer upset with them when something completely unrelated that didn't get replaced in the trans $#!&s the bed a few months later. Just more crap from our society that would rather toss stuff and get new than fix things. The other thing is that the vast majority of vehicle owners aren't enthusiasts. To them, it's just a tool that gets them from a to b that they don't even care enough about to not drive it into other things.

I can't speak for the way the Chevy fuel lines work, but generally quick disconnects have a couple o-rings in the connector. Sometimes it's easy to lose them as well.

Well yeah, what's better than 95° approach and departure angles?

^^^ and some sort of speedometer confirmation as well. With stock gears, 35mph should be nowhere close to screaming in third... especially not with larger than stock tires.

Yeah, they're distorted thread nuts, so in theory when you reuse them it stretches the threads out, and they quit grabbing quite so hard. In reality you can use them a few times before it's a serious problem. The other concern is that the worn threads will lead to more preload on the wheel bearing at the same torque. I don't think I've seen a new shaft either that doesn't come with a nut.

I'll play. Just dropped it off at our welder's place on the way to work this morning, we'll be looking at putting some square tube in instead of the, um... air. Don't be fooled... anywhere you see paint is the outer rocker, anywhere there's rust is the inner falling apart. and that's just the rockers... The bedsides are going, I'll probably get some heavy plate welded in there. The floors are still solid enough to pass an inspection... somehow.

This is true... My 2.5L spends a lot of time climbing hills in 3rd.

Axle shafts on both sides and unit bearings. I used the SurTrack CV shafts and Timken bearings, picked them up from rockauto in a close out sale. I'm not 100% on whether or not the earlier knuckle/brake/hub combo is completely the same in setup as my later style... I know the parts aren't interchangeable between them, but I haven't spent much time with Renix-era stuff. The first one I did I got a junkyard shaft, and the yard cut out the knuckle for me, and I used copious heat to undo that one's nut. The nut on my truck I used a cutoff wheel in a grinder and made a slot down the end of the shaft far enough it released enough tension I could get the nut off. If the tip of an uncut shaft looks like a big O from the end, my slot made it look like this: Ø. Fair warning, I did cut out a bit of the shoulder of the hub, where the wheel mounts, trying to get all the way down to the base of the nut, so you might want to minimize that if you do go that route. I also broke several tools trying to undo the axle nut the first time before finally saying @#$% it and cutting it off.

You shouldn't need your foot to the floor to maintain 60mph, so I doubt not having the throttle absolutely wide open is at fault here. Have you pulled the intake tube off yet to look at what the throttle plate is actually doing? 18-19 mpg is what I would consider reasonably normal for an MJ, depending on driving conditions. Some would consider it good, especially with a lift and larger tires. If you're concerned about it or noticed a sudden drop in mpg, regular tune-up items like plugs, wires, cap, & rotor are things to consider. Cleaning up all engine grounds could be helpful as well, but you may be herding cats trying to eek more fuel economy out of it.

Sounds like the brake pedal is released and just the brakes are stuck on? I've usually been able to release stuck drum brakes by smacking the wheel with a hammer. Use a rubber mallet at first if you've got one, or a piece of wood to protect the wheel if you've got to use a bigger hammer. Once they're released, pop the drum off to make sure everything is kosher in there. Sometimes you can free up the brakes and they'll be fine, other times they'll just stick again. Parking brakes are usually not too bad because they tend to get jammed on much harder than a normal brake application while driving, as opposed to sticking on because the brake hardware is a ball of rust... but you never know.

The one issue I have with cab clearance is that one of the 2x4's is bending down towards it. I don't know if it's warping with changes in humidity, or if the canoe strapped down is bending it too much, or if I just chose a crappy piece of wood. I've been debating replacing that side, and I'm thinking about swapping out both top rails either for longer 2x4's or possibly using 2x6's. Since the above photo, I've also added some cross-bracing/gussets. It was fine parked, but the rack got wobbly on the highway after I strapped down the canoe. I also did some proof-of-concepts on paddle racks to attach to the lower side rails, to put the paddles in the largely dead space over the wheelwells, but never really got something I was happy with. The top one is a 1-1/2" hole drilled through a chunk of 2x4 then cut in two, and the lower one is a couple of those screw-in yard tool holders, both with short bungee cords to hold them in place. Either option was okay-ish for holding a single paddle, but I wanted to get more than one paddle in the same spot, and that wasn't really working out. Without the cab to worry about I would make the frame much wider, probably put it right up against the inside of the bed rails. You don't realize how much narrower the roof is than the bed until you run some vertical pieces up it... I didn't want the rack hanging wider than the roof, especially not right above where my head goes as I'm getting in. A buddy of mine has a commercial canoe rack on his X-Trail that has the cross bar just above the rear edge of the back door, and I pegged my forehead on it every time I opened the door last weekend, whether I was getting in or not. Something else that I would do in hindsight... Figure out how many 6" carriage bolts I absolutely need and only buy that many. For whatever reason they cost more than double what a 4" would at our local hardware store, which I didn't figure out until after the fact because they don't have obvious prices on the bulk bins. I just got all 6" for easier counting and ended up paying a ton extra just to cut 2" off most of the bolts...

I can't really get over 11 feet of wheelbase and only a 5' bed. That J6 concept with the 6' bed looks pretty good but it's on the JLU chassis as it sits so won't be anywhere near as capable as the JT in terms of towing/payload. Unfortunately I don't really see them modifying the JT platform to accomplish a less-cab-more-bed version for what they see as a tiny market based on other truck sales... Although if they do release an extended(ish) cab variant to that J6 that would use the JT's 5' bed on the JLU chassis, and then use that cab to accomplish a 6 to 7' bed on the JT chassis, that would build a pretty competent set of off-road and work-truck versions, with the regular crewcab/short bed JT around for bread and butter, and only one extra cab and bed designed and being popped out with no extra chassis redevelopment. Not that they'd actually do that...

I'd be willing to bet that there's a higher percentage of MJs still out on the road than other competitive trucks. Simply due to the availability of the other trucks, if something untoward happens, it's far more likely an s10 or ranger or whatever will get scrapped and replaced with another one off Craigslist etc, even by an enthusiast, but an MJ isn't as easily replaced, and there are many stories here of MJs being pieced back together after having been written off, or the engine getting rebuilt after it craps the bed, whatever. And I doubt there are as many semi-abandonned S10s getting dragged out of someone's yard and getting out back on the road... really, when was the last time you heard of someone going on a 12-hour round trip to pick up a $700 '91 2wgeel-drive 4-banger s10 that doesn't run so well with some rust around the edges? Cause I've literally done that. I see lots of other examples of it as well, although not necessarily with as much driving involved, here and on MJ Facebook groups. Admittedly there's some bias in my observations as I'm not part of any other truck groups, so I can't really say what S10 or whatever enthusiasts are doing... but still. There's also more appeal to the 2wd MJ as well because it's so easily converted to 4x4.

Are both bolts tight? For whatever dumb reason, the starter bolts aren't the same size. One of them is metric, the other isn't. Because of the slight diameter difference if you put them in wrong, one will act like its going in but it won't stay snug, and the other will start in but crossthread. Or at least that was my experience.

https://www.bc4x4.com/tech/2010/jeep-neutral-safety-switch-nss/ There's a chance you pushed some gunk into the NSS and its acting up, although I don't know that would cause shifting issues... usually that turns into a no-start or no reverse lights. Have you tried adjusting the throttle valve cable? https://www.allpar.com/SUVs/jeep/cherokee-transmission.html The other thing to check is if you blew the trans fuse. I think cruiser54.com will have a thing about it?

Some trimming is necessary to make WJ arms fit... Although that looks excessive and sloppy to me, yeah. I also think most people are doing their trimming on the control arms, not the tabs. Sudpension and steering components, at least up front, are identical to XJ components. It might help you find whatever specs you're looking for.

Yeah, that's how it goes. Just slide the shaft out, try to keep it centered in the bore to reduce stress on the seals, especially as you put it back in. It's got a bearing and stuff it floats in, but it's not a huge job to get the CAD splines lined up with where they go. The inner shaft is more work to remove. You'll need a magnetic puller of some kind, and I've seen mentions of c-clips retaining them in the diff, but I didn't encounter that. Just FYI.

I've used the R12a successfully a couple times. It's billed as being a "universal" refrigerant, for any system, and I have used it in both r12 and 134 systems. The SDS lists it as "alkanes", which typically refers to propane but with whatever other herbs and spices got added in. The completely uncited wiki page on "hc12a" talks about isobutane as well. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HC-12a. IIRC the package had directions for proper use, and conversion rates, but without proper equipment (the "kit" that comes with it is just a valve and pressure gauge so there was no way to evacuate the system) it kinda turns into "just shove it in with whatever else is in there until you hit the target pressure". And that method lasted five years in one r12 van we had before the vehicle was scrapped. Not "proper", I know, but it worked. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Some people want the "level" look. Personally I don't get it, because if you throw weight in the rear then it squats like nuts, but to each their own. If all you're concerned about is how it looks, like there's no issues with ride quality or anything, is it worth looking into seeing if dropping the front a bit would help the stance? Maybe there's a small spacer on top of the lift springs that could be removed? If you are looking into replacing the leafs, the slightly stiffer metric ton springs would help to prevent axle wrap, which is more of a concern with a SOA setup. In theory there's no ride height difference between the two, but in practice it's likely you'll see a small height increase in ride height with the metric ton, just because they don't compress quite so much under the weight of the truck. I'm also making a pretty big assumption that you're looking at metric ton vs standard load springs. Metric ton springs have a capacity around 1700lbs, standard are roughly 1300, IIRC. There's also roughly a 1" ride height difference in the springs between 2wd and 4x4 models, which I'd say is possibly a difference you're seeing, not that I've encountered it necessarily when looking at spring specs from a few places, but I don't know what supplier you're looking at. Personally when I get around to changing out my springs, I'm going to have them custom built by a local shop. Leaf packs are heavy and pretty expensive to ship.

Earliest I found in the registry is 7/6/85

It'll sell for more when you pass it on to someone else then.

Just looking at dyno charts is a bit misleading as well. Torque is largely a function of airflow, which is dependent on RPM, throttle position, and engine load. Power pulls on the dyno are always at wide-open throttle and effectively 100% load, which isn't a very solid reflection of engine conditions while doing anything much, except maybe drag racing. Something odd that I noticed after going from the 235/75r15s on my ZJ to the 31x10.5s (effectively a decrease in rpm and increase in load) is that on ~55-60 mph roads when I stick to the speed limit, I'm getting better mpg than before under the same conditions (20-21mpg vs 19-20, but if I'm doing ~70mph it just sucks back the fuel compared to before, 15-16 vs 18-19). Part of that is also going to be the added drag from the larger tires and taller aerodynamic profile, but it's only sitting about an inch higher than before. I want to say there's been an mpg improvement around town as well, but that's also including less idle time now that it's warmed up since winter, and significantly less 4x4 use on the street.