mjeff87

The wife and I are heading out to Florida, probably leaving Sunday early afternoon and driving halfway then finishing up Monday morning. We've already done this trip once before (straight thru) and it's almost exactly 8 hours and 2 right turns to where we are going (about 1/2 hour northwest of Jacksonville). One turn right to get onto I95 by our house, then another right turn at the very first exit in Flordia off of 95. Can't really get lost, lol. Anybody have any good ideas/interesting things to do along the way we could stop at? Don't want to stray too far off 95 (we have friends in Wilmington NC, but that's a good 1.5 hour side trip). We were thinking about stopping off either in Florence, SC or Savanna GA (but honestly, if we're the whole way down to Savanna we might as well just finish the trip in one shot). Looking for something interesting to go do/see for a couple hours, a nice place to eat dinner, and we'll find a hotel somewhere nearby to overnight in. I'd rather just get up at 0-dark hundred on Monday morning and drive straight thru, but SWMBO would rather leave on Sunday. We'll be there the whole week, driving back to VA next Saturday. The return trip will be a one-shot deal. edit: anybody need anything hauled north from down south? If it can be gotten reasonably close to I95 and will fit in the back of a Subaru Forrester, I can drag whatever at least back up to VA

Hey Pete, If you happen to run across a nice set of "Jeep" letters (chrome plated) on a KJ tailgate, would you mind trying to peel them off for me? I only actually need the J and the p (mine are both peeling). I'm not 100% sure, but I think the hood letters are the same ones too. My local dealership has exactly one set left in their dead stock, but they are really proud of them.....like $58 proud. I refuse to pay that. I ordered a generic set off an Amazon seller for $8, but they are a different font If I can't find a decent (cheap) replacement I might just de-badge the tailgate.....I'm a bit anal about stuff like that LOL. Thanks

I'll X2 a KIA as well. My wife had one, SUV-type, I can't remember the name right now and it was a tank. I ended up getting it after she got her first Sub (the Legacy.....from her grandmother that sadly passed away). I drove the wheels off that thing, then one day I got T-boned at an intersection and totaled it. Surprisingly, it started back up once all the cops got done doing their investigation. They were going to call for a flatbed to drag it away, I ended up driving back to my house. Do you remember that scene in National Lampoon's Vacation where they get the family truckster "fixed" by the hilljacks out in the desert and drove it away with all the wheels bobbling around? Yep, that's exactly what that Kia looked like going up the road.....but it still drove

Was it one of the earlier models? They did have some serious head gasket issues, that can't be denied. But they did fix the issue. If you want ride height tho, a Subbie is not your answer. The Outbacks, which are considered a more "sport" model (due to advertising) actually sits lower than a Forrester. And it's smaller inside as well. The AWD system is incredible, though, on any of them.

Subaru (Forrester, Outback, etc.)? My wife's had 4 of them now, started with a Legacy sedan, then traded on a Forrester (2014), and a Forrester (2017), and a Forrester (2019). I've convinced myself that if I ever don't drive a Jeep, it will be for a Subaru. I'm probably going to trade my KJ in a couple of years (unless something catastrophic happens to it, LOL) on a KL. When the KJ first came out, I was adamant that I would never own one, now I do. I said the same thing when the KL's came out, but now seeing them on the road for the last few years they've kind of grown on me.

Yeah...don't I know it. My wife has an interior decorator she's been working with, who drew up the paint schemes for every wall and ceiling in our house. Darned if she isn't good at what she does though. My only issue (aside from having to paint everything) is that aside from the ceiling color, every other room is a different color. That's not bad for a small room where one gallon would cover the walls, but most of our rooms are "a gallon and a little bit more", so now I have about 6 different partial gallons of paint in the garage, leftover.

To each their own, but........"furious" fuschia?

I don't touch my wife's cars....mostly they are still under some kind of warranty or she bought them with some kind of discounted maintenance package. I mistakenly thought I could do a plug change one day on one of her Sub's (boxer engine). After lifting the hood, studying the situation for a good 10 minutes and then figuring how I could *just* get a socket wrench on one of the plugs, I folded like a cheap tent. Put it all back together, gave the new plugs to my wife and told her to go get them changed somewhere. I wasn't gonna be responsible for snapping a plug off inside the head and then having to figure out how to fix that. But I will say they do make it super easy to do an oil change on. The filter sits right on the top front of the engine, inverted, inside a little catch basin. It's a design that I wish ANY other manufacturer would take notice of (like DMC when they designed the filter location on the front of the 3.7 in my KJ). Plus the drain plug on the pan is very easy to get to and doesn't rain down oil all over the suspension. The Focus I (briefly) owned I could wrench on all day long. Of course, it was a 2003. It did have a chipped key, though

Sooo much this. We just bought my wife a new (2019) Forrester, to replace her 2017 Forrester. I damn near killed us both in it yesterday driving to the supermarket, trying to turn down the radio. There's so many gee-gaws on it, lights flashing and things beeping I'm afraid to drive it. I know it's all safety mandated new crap (adaptive cruise, lane assist, side and rear collision warning, etc. etc.) but holy hell it's confusing. You can disable most of them, but you have to do that each time you start it. All that said, though, it is a really nice vehicle for the price point. Very comfortable, very little cabin noise (even compared to her "old" 2017 model), and it scoots. It's got some kind of gizmo selector "X-mode" thing for when 4WD is engaged, that's supposed to provide different types of traction depending on what you're stuck in/driving through, but we won't get to test that anytime soon, hopefully. Are there a bunch of Subbies running around up North? They seem to be the perfect vehicle here in my part of the US, we get snow but probably not nearly as much as you guys do. Plus the AWD/4WD is completely automatic, which is perfect for my wife. No buttons, levers, etc. to worry about engaging. I've come to realize that if/when I ever stop driving Jeeps, it will be for a Subaru.

Maybe for you up in the Canada....but not for me anywhere around here unless you are looking for tiny little ones for small engine gas lines. I even had parts guys look at me like I had 3 heads as I tried to explain to them what I was looking for. I pull mine from the junkyards when I go for something else. Spring clamps are actually designed to work best with cooling system hoses, or any hose that expands and contracts. As the hose warms up/expands, it actually makes the clamp tighter.

^^^its that Rick's MJ?

I've never met a salmon that I didn't like. Lol. That sounds like dinner this weekend (if it would ever stop raining). Ive been saying it now for about the last five years, I'm gonna have a block party and do a whole hog.....it's gonna happen sometime this summer (picture my wife here right now rolling her eyes.....). Probably going down sometime in late August/September, mark your calendar.

I've never used an insta-pot, but I do have/use a pressure cooker (the old fashioned kind with the weight on the vent). I'm not a big fan of "fall off the bone" ribs....for me, there has to be that little bit of "chew" to them, but not too much. I'd imagine with the technology of an insta-pot you could probably get very good at hitting them right. Pressure cooker, not so much lol. Wahoo, spot on on the liquid smoke. I prefer fruitwoods to smoke with, right now I have a chunk of cherry wood that a work buddy of mine gave me that I'm working my way through. Good stuff.

So I had a rack of St. Louis ribs in the fridge destined for the smoker this weekend, but it literally poured rain (and is still raining, until at least Wednesday). I didn't want to do them Yankee style in the oven, so I opted to deep fry them. If you've never tried ribs this way, you owe it to yourself to. Just peel and cut the ribs into individual pieces (some say to only use baby back ribs, but I prefer St. Louis cut for more meat....I'm not a big fan of baby backs). Season them with whatever you like, I used salt/pepper/butt rub, and let them sit uncovered in the fridge for a few hours. Dredge them in all purpose flour, seasoned however you like or just plain, and fry at 350-375 for about 13-15 minutes until they are GBD. Golden Brown and Delicious. I used peanut oil, because South, lol. You can then toss them in whatever sauce you like, just like chicken wings, serve them plain with dipping sauce on the side, or just plain like I like them. Add some good corn on the cob, a beer or 10, and a nice tossed salad just to keep things healthy. :) Of course, macaroni and cheese, greens, cornbread, and the like are all good sides to go with as well.

Yes. I have one stashed somewhere in my parts pile down in the shed. It was used with older NP228/229 transfer cases in early XJ's. Read this thread:

Just make sure the CAD isn't engaged when you pull the outer shaft, that way the collar will be in the inner shaft splines. If not, the coupler could slip off and misalign inside the housing. Not really a big deal if that happens though, you can just pop the cover off and line everything up on install. The inboard end of the outer shaft (if that makes sense, lol) has a small pilot bearing (or bushing in some cases) that aligns with a hole in the outboard end of the inner shaft, much like a pilot bearing on a manual trans input shaft on the end of the crankshaft. If you do it right, everything just slides right into position, although you might have to rotate the outer shaft a tiny bit either way on install so everything lines back up. If you do have to pop the CAD cover, a small amount of diff fluid will most likely leak out. It's a negligible amount, but be prepared for it if you're working on a surface you care about not getting dirty. A little catch tray/plate/rag will catch the little amount that comes out. If you're really fussy about the little that comes out, there's actually a little square-plug bolt in the housing you can unscrew and pour a little gear oil in to refill it, but I wouldn't worry about it.

Well, sad to say but the Focus is gone. I drove it up to my brother over the holiday weekend. It's kind of bittersweet because the reason I picked it up in the first place was to give it to him.....but I didn't think I'd ever get to liking it so much LOL. Time will tell if he's good to it and doesn't either blow it up (not really possible from all my testing) or he wraps it around a telephone pole. I handed it off in top notch mechanical condition, so what will be will be I guess. The only stipulation I gave him is that if he decides at some point to get rid of it for whatever reason, I have first right of refusal on it. Heck, I just might go shopping for another one down here in the meanwhile

Yeah, for the want of trying to use up about $15 worth of old gas, it ended up costing him about $200 for a new pump/filter, a locking ring tool to get the pump swapped out, and 2 new O2 sensors.

Well, it took him a month but he finally just fixed it. It ended up being the bad gas (if you can even call it that.....) he dumped in the tank. He cut an access panel above the tank and pulled the pump and internal filter, replaced it with a whole new unit. He sent me a pic of the inside of the (poly, not metal) tank. Un-freaking-believable......

yep, that's where the swicth sat. I actually have one of them in my parts pile.....I was planing to use it as a poor man's posi-lok (but vacuum operated) on my old CAD axle but never did rig it up. I ended up just locking the CAD collar in the engaged position. I thought I would have a need for 2LO, but I didn't.

Did you have the engine out for any of this work, or did it stay bolted in with all the OEM hardware? The actual motor mount brackets shouldn't change, but the transmission mounts/cross members/crossmember locations most likely would have. You shouldn't have to rig up a crossmember drop for the shifter to fit through the tunnel into the cab. Each transmission option has a different cab side cover plate on the trans hump to accommodate a specific shifter, and the trans crossmembers are specific to different transmissions (as well as the transfer case shifter parts). Its very likely that you're using the wrong transmission mounting parts for the AX5 and that's what is causing your problems. Even if the 904 crossmember is the same as the AX5 (it probably is), you might need to move it farther back on the frame rails to mount it correctly for the AX5 to line up correctly.

Good job on the flares. I had the same problem on my TJ with factory flares and tried my heat gun. It was too tedious for me (I had all 4 flares, plus body molding and bumper parts), so I ended up breaking out the plumbing torch with a duckbill tip. It went ALOT faster with that, but I had to be really careful about getting too close or holding it in one spot for too long

That's for an NP228/229 TC. Inside the cab, behind the transmission gearshifter, should also be a 2-position switch (lever operated) with "2WD" and "4WD" markings on it. It's actually a vacuum switch that engages 4WD (mode), and then you select the range (hi or low) with the manual lever sticking out of that ^^^ cover plate. http://www.novak-adapt.com/knowledge/transfer-cases/np2xx-early

^^^^I'd say that's about right. I used 5.5" TJ coils on mine and netted about 4.5-ish inches of lift. I was trying to match the rear height with SOA and they got me close (enough).

Thank you for sharing that with us. That is really something special. Whoever thought up the idea to highlight "hero" inside the Cherokee name is a beautiful person. RIP Kenkrick. I can't say that I'd have the intestinal fortitude to do what he did.