ThatJeepGuy

Tell my why not... whats the national highest speed limit? I believe its 85mph and if thats the case then whats the reason to justify anyone going faster than that?

Not soo easy one.... all newly manufactured vehicles should be governed at 85mph

This is an easy one... The new gladiators should have been called Scramblers

Its been a while... Topper fits nice and the new fuel filler setup hold up to the gas station pump Zero progress on gauges however... Going to try and drive this atleast once a month this year as it has been resting far too much

Does it sputter out or just shutoff like a switch? Try replicating it and catch any consistency if its not purely random? While engine is running open your hood and wiggle the wire harness groups some here and there?

The weather was finally decent enough to get the OJ out for some errands. Re-establishing the list of to do's... theres always something I swear!

Sirkillalot! Was an original favorite of mine back in the day -kinda the judge of the match if I remember it correctly - omnibously hanging out as a house bot in the arena and if you were the unlucky one to be plucked by this monster - you got dropped in to "game over" pit. Competitor wise I liked Ziggo from back in the day. The creator named it after his cat and that machine laid waste to many competitors. Still throw it on here and there from the YouTube for the more recent bouts - its entertaining for sure. Just don't follow it too closely though

I too appreciate the "temperature of the room" here Level headed folks for sure! I'm still a lurker on some of the Facebook groups but there still seems to be that level of "trolling Gotcha" actors out there soo when it comes to finding the legit info I need, i still find myself resorting to forums for the good stuff.

Nice work, ive seen this lurking through some of Facebook lately. Nice to see it here as well!

I worked at a Pella windows and doors about that time. Based in Grand Rapids MI. Knew nothing about windows (still kinda don't) but when some of the contractors brought their removed junk windows in those pella units really looked nice! Btw, that pella seal tape doesnt work well in conjunction with jeep floor pan repairs ;) oh the young and dumb days...

I think id reach out to one of those fellas commonly found on the MJ part out pages on Facebook. They can be pricey but ive come to accept in some circumstances a bolt in replacement is the way to go over re creating the wheel

How dare you share one photo and no context... Looks painfully familiar though, good on you for diving in!

My opinion to offer would only be on who you talk to if your not doing them yourself... sry for my rant as it may be less the helpful you may be looking for... Avoid the big companies with a 1-800 #. Bunch of damm thieves. We had some come in to quote replacing our existing wood frame windows with updated units. "Gee 9 windows - that'd be $18,000". Neither companies even measured the windows. Here we are now 6 years later and they are still calling/emailing spam *Anderson Windows*. We found a local fella through word of mouth and got the 9 windows replaced with some other roof work for a whopping $3800. I forget who told me this years ago but it goes a little something like "hire the fella with a working man's pickup- it'll be roughly 10 years old and have signs that work is getting done! Ladder rack, scratches maybe some dents. Avoid the folks that show up in a sub 3 year old truck that looks like its getting washed more than once a week. One of these guys is charging far too much/not doing the work themselves and it shows."

I'm sry for your loss. I'm sure theres a mass of great memories to reflect on having that much time on this ground, 98 years is pretty incredible!

Seek a local driveshaft shop, if tour current is too long, its not going to cost much to have it shortened and rebalanced. ~$125?

Not likely. YJ's came with the dana 35. Maybe a d44 but definitely never a c8.25. TJs were either a dana 35 or dana 44 again no c8.25. They also have coil mounts and control arm mounts and those axle tubes show absolutely no signs of those multiple brackets removed

That's a Chrysler 8.25 axle. Those 4 dimples are a simple enough give away. Its not from a liberty though. They have disc brakes and the casted nubs we pointed out would be drilled and tapped for the upper Ylink they have. The only dispelling XJ argument is even though those perches and shock mounts look correct for the xj application, it should have opposed shock mounts and not both mounts on the rear of the tube. The XJ application would be driver side rear of tube and passenger side front of tube (US driver/passenger) Unless someone customized the setup, cut and re-welded or replaced and welded the passenger side to the rear for the MJ setup? Unless its kind of an optical illusion the spring perches also look like they are just a tad crooked? Like they did in fact have an XJ axle put in the rear of an MJ but didn't move the leaf spring mounts and ran them as is with a bind.

This was my initial thought, I also have acos on one of my MJs but I didnt install them originally so I wasn't completely sure. In any case I would weld in a new tube in similarily factory place then install the acos over the new post - it would serve the same purpose utilizing the post like a tree trunk as it were

Inside of that bed and those rails look beautiful!

To resolve your coil tower placement you could get a set of acos coil spring mounts. Its rather convenient how they chopped the spring post flush and then re utilized the space for a shock mount.

How rusty overall is this XJ and also what year is it? A rusty and in need of mechanical repair XJ is not hard to come by basically at all. If your tickled more soo by the 96 and older xjs well then there's an argument for just how hard it could potentially be to replace it. The 97+ xjs however are still rather easy to come by though. There's a bit of blanket decisions being handed out here on its behalf to just be done with it... I'd say if the setup is ideal to what youd like out of the XJ, color, options, drivetrain etc then prolly hang onto it but if its the latter then lean away from it. I do though agree with the secondary, third-ary* vehicles in the line-up. I'm currently a 14 Caprice in the summer, 87 MJ in the fall/winter for hunting and 08 JK for winter and summer family adventure/spare vehicle duties. This year I plan to have a 4th in the lineup as an 04 gmc 2500. Registration costs are there for sure but ive been looking at it as reducing the overall mileage across each of them. I can wear a single vehicle out in mileage in a few years or I can spread that wear and tear across mutliple vehicles and gradually improve each one over time.

2 weeks time has not faired well enough... between holiday and sickness ive fallen off the progress wagon as it were... I was itching to get back to it this morning so i got the simple things done. Topped off the trans fluid, cleaned power and grounds, verified fuses are all good. My only sharable progress is the winters gated shifter i installed. Unfortunately I'm stuck on troubleshooting again... back to a crank and sputter but will not fire off - frustrating to say the least! I've had a few people ghost me for troubleshooting and honestly I'm rather tired of dealing with it - this may be the point where this jeep gets pushed off to the side until I can afford a painless harness and go from there. By no means is this the end/sale of the project - just the potential halt of progress unfortunately.

Exhaust is finished but now I'm dealing with a pile of codes... several codes for the egr and a couple codes for the transmission. The trans I'm sure will be resolved once I top off the fluid level - its been as is since I pulled the drivetrain soo I'm sure its more than just a qrt or 2 under. Egr codes heck idk but I'll figure it out. The new yokes are here. Did a similar thing with my other FSJ build and 241 tcase. Turned down some old 205 flange yokes to match the install of this factory front yoke and the aftermarket yoke that came with my sye kit. Last little bit is finally resolving this lower rad hose ordeal. The factory radiator lower hose is routed up - right into the LS steering pump pulley. This makes it challenging to find or fit a hose with a gentle bend to then go towards the passenger side - its awkward! My solution is going to be chopping the tube off and clocking it 90° in to the flow towards the passenger side. Simple enough deal, it will still clear the steering gear and eliminate the need of an awkward bend. More to come!

This is a nice change of pace for a build to keep an eye on. I've recently been project daydreaming for excuses to buy another jeep and a rather raw 2wd LS swapped longbed could be fun! For me itll never happen, but its nice to see others doing the thing! Keep us posted!

^^ i agree, interesting find regardless but more the Nissan Toyota Mazda vibe