Pete M

Have no plans for that. took 14 winters to get to this point. I'll just wash everything thoroughly after any trips up to the great white (salt) north.

progress has been made. out with the old, rusty axle and hitch. I've been in southern junkyards so much lately that I'd apparently forgotten just how horrible it is to work on a rusty rig. today was an eye opener. most of my time was spent getting the axle out. and in with the new and non-rusty. got the fuel tank skid and rust free hitch in place, but couldn't find the rust free bolts I know I have so I decided that was a good time to stop for the day and clean up my work area.

what about buying a tow dolly? those can be very useful outside of an emergency too. I'm a little surprised I don't own one yet.

originally I was going to salvage the old rear axle, but I've changed my mind about that rusty hunk of junk.

I flat-towed my MJ with the Liberty once. I'll never do that again. It was one of the most white-knuckle moments of my life. your ZJ was never rated for towing that much weight without trailer brakes. be cautious. very cautious. Flat towing a rig (that's equal in size) is not like regular towing. the towed rig can push you around in ways you've never dreamed. you have to seriously slow down for turns or even gentle curves in the road. and the hitch rotates up and down, unlike a trailer. hard braking can then push the rear of your ZJ up or down depending on what's happening and on how straight it was while normal. Imagine a panic stop but instead of the front end diving down and planting, it goes up and gets light and squirrely as the towed rig tries to jump up into your hatch. Emergencies are emergencies though Does that only bolt to the bumper points? I would at least add a plate so that it stretches back to include the factory tow hook mounting mount. the factory bumper mounts were for collisions, not yanking on.

it's a vid on fb so I'm not sure if this will work for everyone, but here goes:

welcome! that topper is just plain awesome!

I haven't bought a stand in over a decade so I think I'm good.

3.73 is by far the most common ratio in KJs since that was the v6/auto. I believe 3.55 was stickshifts in ~05+

it's getting real

also in the link in my sig is a thread with PDFs of some of the factory shop manuals. it's a slippery slope with brake upgrades. before long you'll want to do them all. a dual booster with traditional cherokee prop up front, delete the rear valve stuff for a simple line, and rear ZJ disks and you will be a much happier owner.

MJs have a very particular bleeding procedure. should be in the link in my sig. or you can delete the rear prop valve. should be a writeup about that in there too.

swapping to disks while you're in there?

don't remember the details unfortunately. but let's just say that it was.

and that's when you handed him a Club card, yes?

the parallelogram brackets near the bottom are swap bar spacers. longer swaybar links are preferred, especially if your truck is rusty because those bolts are super prone to snapping off. If you install the spacers, soak the bolts in PB Blaster or other penetrant for like days.

also those taillights look fantastic

you should always update your build thread. but if you'd like to do a DIY writeup for any of the individual projects, you are more than welcome to do so. when guys are looking for ideas or step-by-steps, that's more of the place to go and browse.

I vote for TN. it's close enough that I can come visit.

that's "Pete" levels of crazy road trips right there

I just copied the link you hid and it worked for me so I posted it.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/361372434065

the big brown truck has arrived

daaaannnnnggggg