Pete M

that's a good choice for rims. Best factory Jeep wheels ever in my opinion. have you started a build thread for your XJ yet?

this one might get my vote.

it's those little things that cause the biggest headaches. glad you figured it out!

yup, I've definitely seen far worse. Although it feels weird to congratulate you for the small rust holes.

I don't see anything.

we may have a winner (of the darwin award). my first thought was that it was just a gag like that 2x4 used as a control arm, but this is some serious dedication to the gag.

IF (and that's a big if) I was to swing by Michigan on the tail end we might be able to make it happen. no promises though.

My folks are thinking of seeing california later this fall. My pop has strong concerns about doing a trip that would see him away from home and living in a trailer for a month or more. So, in addition to several other possiblities (like flying out and renting an RV), one plan would include me driving the Durango/trailer out to LA for them and picking them up at the airport, then the 3 of us head north seeing the sights and I would drop them off at some other airport (portland? denver?) to fly back while I spend yet another week driving the trailer back. 100 hours of driving. eek. Of course the plus side is that this would give me the opportunity to see more of you guys/gals. maybe visit some more junkyards.

car-part.com can help with junkyard searches. search for 2.5L specific items, like the engine and transmission and front or rear axles that have 4.10 gears. then you can call and see if they have the little part you want. remember that the 2.5 was used for the entire stretch of the XJ production and car-part.com only searches for part numbers and those changed now and again over the years even though things may remain swapable. (for example the 2.5L block and AX-5 remained virtually unchanged) having said all that, I think you have the correct part already. it looks just like yours I think it was just installed by an idiot that tightened down one bolt before starting them all and then forced that last one with bad results. I think that 4th hole in the transmission is simply unused.

pretty sure it would have had a lead acid battery?

take it with a grain of salt though, as Chrysler reused a lot of the letter codes. for example, you don't have the "Italia Package" or the "SE decor group" or the nickle/metal hydride battery. those codes meant something different back in the day.

that's what I was figuring. this is the mount he has now:

if it is, I'm sure it's because the law didn't anticipate it and so didn't explicitly say it's bad.