mjeff87

I got them off a guy on here awhile ago, and I won't tell ya how much I paid for them....but ummmm...it wasn't anywhere close to that :D Let's just say I'm a savvy shopper. I've got the old backing plates, which are fairly rusty but could be cleaned up and painted. If you or anyone else needs them, I'll let 'em go for the cost of shipping. Jeff

Here's a plug for your XJ front bumper (pulling out a tree stump in my yard a couple weeks ago). I bought it used, so I can't complain that it doesn't have D rings. The only thing I'd recommend is that you make the framerail tie in plates longer, to grab the rear bolt that the factory tow hook brackets use. Right now I've got the bumper plates sandwiched inbetween the framerails and the hook brackets, until I can make new full length plates. Jeff Image Not Found

You need the 2 piece speedo cable versus the non-cruise one piece one. The 2 pc one has a short cable out of the back of the cluster and the end of it has a transducer that the cruise wiring plugs into. It then connects to the longer second cable that attaches to the transfer case/speedo gear. Look at a cruise equipped XJ/MJ in the junkyard, and you'll see what I'm talking about. Jeff edit: looking in your pic, you do have the short cable piece...it's inside the ziplock bag. Plug that into your cluster, plug the cruise wiring into the connector on the bottom end of it, and attach it to your existing speedo cable. It might be too long, though, which is what JeepcoMJ is talking about.

Not yet. Still have to buy them, along with U-bolts and new center pins. Hopefully I can get them this week sometime. Picked up the new drums last night, tho ;) Jeff

FWIW, I was at the local U-pull on Saturday, and there were three AX-15's in there....just in case anyone is local and interested. $89.95 plus a $25 core charge. Jeff

Spent the weekend working on the axle. Picked it up from the shop Saturday afternoon :D One of the locking collars on the axleshaft snapped while pressing it on, and thankfully Jerry had a press to use to install a new one. Got it on, got the shafts in along with the new brakes, and threw a couple coats of gloss on it. Hopefully I can finish it up next weekend, then get it hung under the MJ. I still need to run new brakelines, install new perches, and get new U bolts. Ooooops! Image Not Found 4.56’s with Powertrax, installed Image Not Found Painted Image Not Found

Hmmm...that'd be worth a roadtrip just to see :brows: You still have those wheels? Maybe I can take a weekend and ride over and pick them up, and go see the holy land. Jeff

From the 87-89 FSM, the paint code is listed on the plate. Looks like yours is "CC" for Dover Gray Mettalic Clearcoat. Jeff Image Not Found

yeah, we've got State Farm on our side. Cable company was out yesterday for a few hours and replaced all their stuff. Two years ago the same tree got hit and it fried the cable line underground from the box on the street to the house (had to run and bury a new line). We're supposed to be getting another batch of storms later this afternoon, hopefully after we get home from work. We normally unplug everything before a storm, but we weren't home for this one. Lesson learned. Jeff

Wife and I went up to Philly for the weekend, and we had some hellacious storms here while we were away. Came home Sunday afternoon to find the same tree in the backyard that got hit two years ago got hit again. This time much, much worse. My next door neighbor said when it got hit, sparks flew out of every outlet in HIS house (I can only imagine what happened inside mine :eek: ). Fried up one GFCI outlet in my kitchen, a DVD player, a surround sound system that we just got :mad: , a TV, both cable modems, the cable telephone box, my PC, and both digital cable boxes. Also melted a cable splitter on the side of the house and killed a poor squirrel under my deck that made the unwise decision to sit on top of the cable line (actually blew it's face off.....). Coulda been worse, but it still sucks. I won't be doing much with the Jeep for a little bit, I've got to get the tree taken down. In my uneducated opinion, it looks like about a $1000 job, at least. Jeff Image Not Found Image Not Found Image Not Found

You can put an AW4 behind a 2.5......you just have to locate the uber-rare bellhousing, and you need the correct torque converter. Jeff

Beender, donedat. Bought a cheap right angle drill from harbor freight, drilled the broken ones out and thru the other side of the framerail, and ran a through-bolt with a nut on it. Not fun.... Jeff

Pop the c-clips off the shaft on the CAD motor inside the housing. Slide the shift fork over and shim it with a stack of washers, and reinstall the clips. It takes a bit of fiddling until you get the right amount of washers. Jeff Image Not Found

Factory hooks on factory brackets: Image Not Found Image Not Found L-braces that tie the brackets into the lower radiator support and installed brackets: Image Not Found Image Not Found Image Not Found

The rabbit comes up out of the hole, around the tree, and back down the hole......that's how I still remember it, and I'm 37 years old :D Jeff

actually...you might want to sit down for this.....I'm planning on blacking out the chrome grille and winshileld trim. It'd be more trouble than it's worth to try to pull it off and replace it with non-chromed pieces, plus I think I'd end up fubaring the winshield trim at least trying to get it off. Just gonna rough it up with a scotchbrite pad and shoot it with some rattlecan semi-gloss (same stuff I respray the grill with annually LOL). Like the drip pans, eh? They are commercial foodservice sheet pans (remember, I was a professional chef for a number of years....I still have some "leftover" equipment so to speak). I just resealed the driveway not too long ago, and am trying to keep the wife placated. You can definately tell which side of the driveway I park my junk on ;)

Just spit my beer out on that one :D Jeff

Why didn't I see that coming........ :razz: Jeff

I just put 95 YJ lines up front on my MJ after lifting about 4". They're a good 3" longer than stock MJ/XJ lines. I'm going SOA in a couple weeks, and grabbed a late model Dakota rear line. It'll go in when the axle goes under. Jeff

Recovery points front and rear. Welcome to the club! Jeff

4.56's, which I already am running. I've got a D35 in back at the moment, but am regearing/locking a D44 currently. Once it's done, it goes in SOA. Jeff

Lifted the front of the MJ yesterday. If my mind wasn’t made up on going SOA or not before, it sure is now. I will be going spring over when I get my axle back from regearing. I used a set of V8 ZJ coils and a set of ACOS, along with the factory isolator, set the ACOS to about 1.5” and ended up with about 4”. Now the front is about 1” higher than the rear (it has settled about 1” since the new springs), which looks really stupid, but I can live with it for a couple weeks. Once I SOA, all I have to do is unload the springs and crank the ACOS down to match. I also used a new set of YJ brake lines, which took me FIVE different parts stores to find in stock. Added a set of Ranchos and called it good, for now. Jeff Lifted: Image Not Found Image Not Found ACOS: Image Not Found New (to me) shocks: Image Not Found

remember, to compare apples to apples, tire diameter changes require speedo gear changes. I've currently got the correct factory gear installed for 4.56's with the factory 205's. It ran almost true with 235's on it, but is now registering about 5 mph slower with 31"s on it. Not that it matters much to me, since I drive like a geezer according to my wife (who has several speeding tickets to my zero :D ). I just get in the slow lane and keep up with the majority of the traffic. There's enough vibrations/sounds/protests from my driveline that I know when I'm going 65, that I don't have to reference the speedo to know where I'm at LOL. I get there when I get there, eventually :chillin: Jeff

A steering wheel puller kit is less than $10 guys :D However, you can most times get the wheel off the shaft with a small hammer....tap the shaft quickly and lightly directly in the center, and it will impart vibrations that will walk the wheel up the splines on the shaft. The big problem with that method is being too ham-handed with the hammer, and you end up mushrooming the end of the shaft, or fubaring the threads. Jeff

Proud to claim I was a Life Scout (got in too late to make Eagle before I turned 18 :headpop: ) and also in OA. My scout experience was limited to the local western PA scout camp (Roaring Run) and was o.k., but the OA is where it got "extreme". Loved it beyond words. I've been thinking, I really ought to get back involved with the BSA somehow. Kinda of a pay-it-back sort of thing, I suppose. I'm getting old..... :chillin: Jeff edit: but I refuse to sell doughnuts outside the local WalMart as a fundraiser!