today I rented a trail and headed to the yard. got the Liberty stuff all loaded up and then asked around about the missing MJ. turns out it was still in the back lot area. the boss man had the guys haul it out for me and even gave me half-off whatever I wanted. got the AX-15, 231, crossmember, front shaft, rear glass and then ran out of time. Still, I was ecstatic to save what I could from the truck. (I grabbed the bed from it last week)
when I got home I backed right up to my 88 MJ, ran a strap from it to the drivetrain in the trailer and pulled the trailer out from underneath of it, plopping the KJ unit right where I wanted it to be. easy-peasy. (this plan was helped by the foresight to drop a piece of plywood in the trailer to provide a easy slide surface to scoot over the trailer's floor)
all in all, a good 2 days of efforts. now for some pizza and a beer.