mjeff87

Hold the phone. Belay my last. I'm almost too embarrassed to say this, but the switch isn't my problem. I had the hood up on her this morning checking fluids, and happened to notice that the wiring connector on the vacuum servo looked a little off kilter. I pushed it up a bit and it snapped into place, and I now have CC again, lol.

Thats about what I see on ebay. I appreciate it it, but thats pretty hashed. If you did grab it for me, ill take it though. PM me for my address and ill get some saw bucks headed your way.

I've only seen them on Limited models, not the Sports. The whole interior trim package is that silver color (both cruise buttons on the wheel, the radio/HVAC bezel, shifter bezel, and the little door switch bezels. And I've learned I need a switch from either an 02 or 03 (mine's an 02). 04+ switches look the same but don't work for whatever reason. To get to the switch, there are two 8mm bolts holding the airbag in, remove from the back of the steering wheel. Then one phillips screw holding the switch in, and unplug the little 2-wire connector. Takes about a minute, lol. Thanks all! ETA: and it has to be from a gasser KJ, not a diesel. Oil burners have a different CC system.

Might be a longshot, but I'm looking for an 02-03 KJ cruise control switch that has the silver trim. Part # 56010359AB. I tried Googling for it, can't find any except a couple ratted out ones on eBay and 57 other websites that are written in every other language but English (WTF?). I know a couple of you guys have access to dealership inventory, maybe you can find one somewhere (?) TIA, Jeff

Make sure your new calipers are on the right sides. The bleeders have to be at the top, not the bottom.

My 02 only has 145K on it...I don't drive it much anymore. It will be around for quite awhile, lol. That pic I posted was from a couple years ago, when I accidentally snapped off the #6 plug in the head. I ended up having to pull the head to get the remnants removed and the hole retapped at a machine shop, then put it all back together. I knew it was going to be off the road for awhile while I worked on it, so I picked up a cheap little Ford Focus to get around in while it was deadlined, with the intention of reselling it (the Focus) once I got the KJ fixed. Well, that never happened....I ended up keeping and driving the Focus as a DD once I got the KJ back on the road. It's a 5-speed, and gets about 32-34 mpg in mixed driving and costs me about nothing to drive. Quite unlike the KJ. I still try to drive it at least once a week, and use it to pull my trailer when needed. If and when it ever snows down here it also pulls inclement weather duty.

In my very short list of complaints about my KJ (I really do like it, but some things bug me) at the very top is my obsession with the cooling system. I'm almost paranoid about it, because I know exactly what a failure will cause. I'm constantly keeping an eye on the temp gauge every time I drive it, and honestly, for any sort of modern-ish vehicle noone should have to do that. Some don't give a crap about it, and they're the ones with blown headgaskets/warped heads/junked 3.7's though. Sucks to be them.

Trust me, BTDT. If you're past the point of the timing cover (more like "entire front end of the engine cover"), you're putting new crap in it. Getting all three timing chains lined up correctly can be a PITA but doable. There's a little plastic wedge tool you can buy to hold the right side chain in place but I fashioned one up out a little wedge of wood and some rope. You actually have to rotate the right side cam about 20 degrees clockwise ( against valve spring pressure) to get the timing gear to line up correctly, before bolting the gear down. ETA: agree 100% with dasbulliwagen. Treat the cooling system and oiling system with utmost care.

I'll give ya tree fiddy Seriously, GLWS.

I ended up selling mine, only because I built it to the point it wasn't practical anymore. Too kitted out to be a DD, and the only legal wheeling around me isn't around me....I used to run with a club that one of the members had a bunch of local-ish rural acreage that we'd all used to have fun on but the club dissolved. So my MJ just ended up being a garage queen for the most part. I do have my regrets, but what really made me comfortable selling it was the guy I sold it to. He lived out in the country, loved to wheel and had the property to do it on, and it didn't hurt that when he showed up to look at it he had a big wad of cash in his front pocket, lol. I figured at least my MJ would get to live on the way I built it to. He was thrilled to get it, and I was happy to sell it to him. Had just about anyone else asked to buy it (to flip it, part it out, etc.) I probably wouldn't have sold it.

Did you reset the valve in the prop block (the thing that the 2-wire connector attaches to on the top)? It's designed to trip if there's a failure in the system and direct all pressure to the front brakes. Is your BRAKE light on in the dash panel? If yes, you probably need to reset the prop valve. Try putting the MC lid back on, then pressing HARD on the brake pedal while sitting behind the wheel, with all the bleeder screws closed. If you hear a little click (and the light goes out), it has reset.

I've pulled many different transmissions in my lifetime (not as much as others, but enough). The AX-15 has to be the most finicky unit I've dealt with to get lined up and seated on the backside of the engine, ever. I wouldn't even think about trying with the TC attached to it.

regardless of which trans you get (I'd suggest the XJ one for clocking reasons), grab that XJ crossmember...you're gonna need it also. As well as all the TC shifter assembly (complete, including the bracket that bolts to the underside of the trans tunnel). All that stuff is AX-15 specific.

Get a goat, or three. Free lunch for them, removal for you. Win-win. Lol.

Either a stuck float or needle valve, as Frank mentions. Might not be a bad idea to pop the fuel bowl off and clean/inspect things.

Like Pete mentions, pour a small amount of fuel into the TB and see if it fires (or a very short blast of starting fluid). Are the plugs wet after cranking like that? Assuming you got all the injector wires hooked back up to the correct injectors. Each plug has a different wire color so you can check. The harness pretty much stays in place once disconnected, but the middle cylinders can get messed up/swapped if you're not careful. #1 - light blue 2 - light green 3 - tan 4 - yellow 5 - white 6 - brown

LOL, sediment is an understatement. I used a shopvac and several different screwdrivers to clean out the insides of the block around the water jackets when I did mine. Of course, the engine was on a stand at that point, made it alot easier. There were CHUNKS of crap stuck inside.

There's an expansion plug on the rear of the head....run your hand around back there and see if it's wet. There's also one in the rear of the block, behind the flywheel/flexplate (unfortunately) that might be leaking.

Sounds like a dragging timing chain to me (if I'm hearing the right sound you're pointing out, there's a couple of them in the clips). Pop your dizzy cap and watch the rotor as you or someone tries to turn the engine with a breaker bar on the HB nut to see how much slop the chain has. And fun fact, you can't pull the lifters on a 4.0 without pulling the head. 2.5's you can, but not 4.0's.

I basically built my MJ in a 20X30 storage unit because I didn't have a garage at the time. Lots of guys had project vehicles stored there and worked on them. A couple years later, the place outlawed ANY working on vehicles in any of the units, probably due to insurance. They do have three dedicated units that are shops but last I checked they were prohibitively expensive to rent.

Had all four of mine yanked back in my 30's....IV sedation I came out of anesthesia when the doc was pulling (actually crushing and yanking out the bits) the last one. He saw my eyes open looking at him and asked, "can you feel this?" and I shook my head affirmative. I could feel it but didn't give a crap, but he gave me a quick local shot and finished up. Sat me up, cleaned me up and put me in a chair while my wife signed me out of the office. She drove me there, and it was in a part of town she wasn't familiar with but I was. She loaded me into the car and said I had to tell her how to get back home, and I nodded "no problem". We exited the parking lot and I remember telling her to take a right at the stop sign and then the next left at the stop light. Next thing I remember was waking up on my couch a few hours later. She told me I was fully coherent the entire trip home, and told her exactly where to turn and what roads to take, about a half hour trip back to the house. And I got out of the car on my own, walked into the house and sat down on the couch. I remember exactly ZERO of any of that happening. LOL.

I passed a DRW pulling a very loooong trailer on the interstate coming in to work today. Driver had about 10 pickup beds indvidually strapped (standing on end) on it, looked like a row of very large dominoes. Thought of you for some reason, Pete.

There's a little ramshackle place up the road from my house that a nice older lady started a cat rescue operation out of (Smitty's Cat Rescue). It would anonymously become the most premier cat shelter operation on the planet courtesy of a random donation. Other than that, Mjeff87 and his wife and four cats would cease to exist anywhere. Anywhere. I'll leave the garage door unlocked....you all can have all the tools in it, and the beer left in the fridge.

axle vent.

Wild watercress can have quite a bite to it...I used to work at a country club as a line cook years ago. There was a crazy old guy who lived up in the hills that grew it. Every once in awhile he'd show up at the back door with a paper grocery bag full of it. Chef would give him $10-$20 for it so he could go buy some wine and we'd use the 'cress for soups and plate garnishes. And it was HOT.