MrSimon

M.O. commonly has items drop-shipped from all over the place to the customer (in your case, Jetcarrier). They advertise things on their site as "Motion Offroad" gear, but it is manufactured by someone else and M.O. doesn't have them in stock. When you order from M.O., they contact the manufacturer and have it sent to you. My lift kit arrived at my house from three or four different places over the period of a few weeks. In the end, M.O. had forgotten one of the pieces, but I called them and they shipped it out. If you are under the assumption that M.O. has everything in stock, and they personally mailed the items to Jetcarrier, you are most likely mistaken. Once you placed your order, they had to place smaller orders and arrange shipping with maybe three or four other vendors. Those vendors were supposed to ship everything directly to Jetcarrier. In a process like this, there is a lot that can go wrong. Again, I think its best if you call Adam or Rebecca and get to the bottom of this in person.

Are you allowed to pull parts out of the cars? Where do the cars go once you kill them?

Yes, its true, Adam at M.O. has a reputation for being shady. There is enough evidence floating around on the web to make a pretty strong case against him. Maybe the reputations is deserved .... maybe it isn't. BUT, that isn't the issue right now. The issue is that you need the parts you paid for. My advice ... call Adam. I talked to him multiple times on the phone when I ordered my lift kit and other items. There were a few hitches, but he was very nice and helpful, and he took care of everything quickly and professionally. So call him. Be nice, don't blame him for anything, and I'm sure he will work with you to get things resolved. A good attitude goes a LONG way. I suppose there is the possibility that he is knowingly trying to screw you out of your money. But there is a much better chance that there is just a mix-up along the way. Get all of your shipping invoices together and give him a call.

This thread is a riot. I bet there are no less than 15 guys thinking, re-thinking, pondering, scheming, and stressing about this truck ...... and the funny thing - almost ALL of these guys already have an MJ, have no place to store such a mess, and don't have the time or money to put it all back together - let alone the resources to actually bring the thing home. What is it about these trucks that is so addicting?!?!?!? Uh, I actually called a local mini-storage to get a price on a climate controlled unit :brows:

Its not too bad. The hard part is getting the axle to droop far enough so that you can get the springs out and in. Start by getting the frame rails up on jack stands and the axle supported with a floor jack. Then start un-bolting things to get the axle to droop. Start with the brake lines and shocks first. Then maybe the front drive-shaft. Then move on to the control arms if needed - lowers first. Also, you can jack up on one side of the axle which will lower the other side. You can also use spring compressors. Some guys don't like them. I think if you are careful and use them properly, they work fine.

Eagle is only sort of right. Everyone has a different definition of "good" and "cheap". And everyone uses their MJ in different ways. If you want to safely lift your truck a few inches for a couple hundred bucks or less .... yes, its entirely possible. Sure, it might ride a little rough and you might not have the prefect suspension/steering geometry ... but if you don't mind that - no problems!!

Do you know why exactly your engine quit? I'm assuming it overheated due to lack of coolant? You might want to check to make sure the overheating didn't cause any other problems .... just to be safe. I'm always afraid of problems like this, so I just replaced my HCV, radiator, and all the hoses this past weekend. I got good deals on stuff and eveything was less than $150 total. Thats pretty cheap to make sure I've got a reliable cooling system .... well, except for that darn pressure bottle.

Its AWESOME. Ignore the advice from these old farts and go have fun with your sweetdaddy BBQ trailer :cheers: :cheers: Leave it for the underclassmen .... they can figure out how to make it better as their project. Oh, and what about a big umbrella on the top of it ... kind of like a street hot dog vendor cart.

Well, you shouldn't have any clearance problems in the rear If you are on a tight budget ... just run what ya got and have fun with it. Don't put money into it right away ... get a feel for it and then make decisions. Oh, and get some tow points like Pete said. They are the most important thing you need for wheeling.

What you say about the LWB is true, but there are some definate advantages to having a longer wheelbase. For example, where I wheel, 75% of the vehicles on the trails are XJs or wranglers .... which means all the ruts and slick spots were created by short wheelbase vehicles. With my longer wheelbase, I'm able to walk through places where everyone else gets stuck in the ruts. Here is a video of my little truck on 31s going right through a hole that a fully locked XJ on 35s got stuck in and ended up breaking a shaft.

PB Blaster and breaker bars will get them loose. When I removed my bumper, I removed the brackets from the frame and took the whole bumper/bracket combo off together. To get those bolts out, it took an impact gun turned way up ... and a few broke off.

Could also be the ignition control module .... its the thing the coil plugs into.

One more thing. The adjustable track bar that comes with the MO kit is designed for lifts up to 3", but NO HIGHER! I bumped up to 4.5" and needed to lengthen the bar by two or three turns to keep my axle centered. On my very next wheeling trip, the threads stripped right out and my track bar fell completely apart on the trail. I lost an entire day of wheeling. Obviously I was outside of the recommended lift range, but since you will be higher than 3" too, be very careful. Better yet, buy a better track bar. Oh, and the lowers that come with that kit are noisy. There is no jam nut on them because they are designed to twist - apparently to give more flex off-road. The twisting will sometimes cause popping in slow turns ... and make sure to keep the threads well greased or they will bind up and ruin the arms. IMO, its kind of a dumb design. The bushing are there for a reason - I don't see a need for the arms themselves to have play in them.

I also had the same lift. Extended brake lines are a very good idea! I used a .75 front spacer to level the lift out and had no problems. You will more than likely need adustable uppers to properly set your caster and pinion angles. Basically this means that your axle with be rotated a little bit towards the back of the truck - picture the new lowers pushing the bottom of the axle forward, and the stock uppers kind of holding the top of the axle back. This causes your pinion angle to be too steep. Its not the end of the world, and you might not even notice a bid difference while driving .... it just puts more strain on the pinion and can weaken the u-joint. Here is a pic of what my pinion looked like with 5" of lift before I properly adjusted the arms. Imagine the lowers contracting and the uppers extending .... the axle would rotate and the pinion would flatten out a bit (meaning the pinion coming out of the back of the diff would be pointing almost straight at the transfer case). However, when you flatten the pinion, you lose caster angle .... you have to play with it until you find a happy median.

Those are some crazy colors! I kind of like it though. Sure looks like a great truck for only $800. Congrats!!!! I agree with everyone else about finding a donar cherokee. If you can find a decent one with a renix (the same non-H.O. motor that is in your Jeep now) you'll even have a complete engine for spare parts. There is a guy on here (andy_in_pa) who did an entire 4WD conversion in one day. Granted, he had help and access to a lift, but it can be done. Good luck and keep us posted!!

Definately sounds like a lower control arm issue. Check to see if the previous owner installed shims in the LCA frame mount box. If there are shims in there, you can remove them to shorten things up. Did you have both control arms sitting next to each other prior to the install to make sure they are the same length? You can also set the two stock arms next to each other to see if one is longer than the other one .... that might tell you something.

That Renix held out for a while .... poor little guy.

I can't fault you for taking advantage of this program, but I sure hope you express your deepest appreciation to the rest of us .... considering its OUR TAX MONEY you just received.

JCR makes a nice rear bumper with a receiver built in.

Well, thats not all bad. Did it at least have the 44? Even if it were a D35, and it ran well and everything .... $200 is still a killer bargain.

Stay tuned to this thread, I just bought another round of parts: New radiator Hater hoses Thermostat Full guage cluster CA drop brackets Ruff stuff diff covers Electrical aux. fan I have a lot to do over the next month or so .... I'll try and post pics as I get things done.

I installed an Aussie locker in the front. I'm thrilled with the added traction! It wasn't a hard instal, but it wasn't super easy either. I had to pull the carrier and detach the ring gear. And, with a CAD D30 you have two choices with what to do with the pass. side C-clip. You can either grind a few teeth down on the ring gear so you can install the locker with the carrier in the housing and keep the C-clip ... or you can just do away with the C-clip and hope the shaft doesn't move around much. I chose option 2 - I wasn't about to grind down the ring gear. Also, if you notice in the last picture a few posts back, the frame end of my track bar is screwed out kind of far. Well, while wheeling, it stripped the threads and came apart. I guess thats what I get for using a 3" track bar with almost 5" of lift. I also decided that I just can't stand the harsh ride resulting from 5" of lift on short arms. Bumps on the road are just too jarring. It was fine off-road, but I'm afraid I'm gonna kill my bushings way too fast this way. I priced long arms and decided drop brackets are the way to go. So I'm on the hunt for a used pair. I also bought a used CO2 tank and a fixed regulator to use as OBA. Here are some pics from my last wheeling trip.

Was there a 4cyl auto option in 95? If so, would it have 4.10s?

If it helps, I paid $550 for an 87 4x4 LWB 4.0 in decent running shape. Show the guy the KBB value and don't pay any more .... unless of course you feel there are other factors that make it worth more .... such as availability and personal interest.

Yes. But if you wheel pretty hard, the stock CAs will bend very easily. When you have the funds, definately get adjustable uppers and lowers. Also, depending on how much lift you end up with, the drop brackets might not bring your caster and pinion angles back in line. At 4.5" of lift, you will be pretty close with the stock arms and drop brackets, but still keep your eye out for adjustables.