Pete M

success! I think. well, so far for the test drive at least. later today I'm driving an hour up to my cousin's place so that'll be the real test. both rear ABS sensors show issues so I think I'll just go ahead and replace both lines in their entirety. found a low fuel pressure code but that might be left over from the issues with the fuel filter head. I cleared it and it hasn't come back (yet). all in all it was worth the money just to not give that money to the dealership. thanks everyone! I'll update as events warrant.

oh man, those will be niiiiiiice...

a harbor freight unit will pull codes? the last time I was at a dealership for codes they had to break out an uber expensive reader to do it. I may have to run to HF tomorrow and, um, "try out" their reader.

if you don't power shift it or anything crazy, it might last for a while. or maybe not

the 2 spokes just seem too... "old man" to me. 3-spoke for the sportiness win!

the rears are far more accommodating to big tires. I needed just the slightest trim on the inner lower curl to clear 33s.

see, you need to take a vacation... to do more work. but the fun kind of work!

If it were me I would just park the 2 Jeeps next to each other, strip the MJ (keep all the parts to resell) and then start stripping the XJ and moving the things over. take lots of pics as you remove each thing so you'll know exactly where it goes in the MJ.

to use the trans and t-case? not much. there should be a link to swapping around the various years of AW-4 transmissions in my sig. You can also swap in the bare engine block pretty easy. But if you want the whole HO engine and electronics you should plan on stripping your truck clean and installing the whole XJ. It's been done plenty of times and it's 95% bolt-in, but it is time consuming so be prepared.

a 4banger with the 4spd manual will have 3.55 gears. 2.5/5spd would have 4.10 and 2.5L/auto would have 4.56. anything 84-86 can have weird ratios too. plus anything could have happened in the last 30 years. the only way to know for sure is to check. Metric ton MJs got the same ratio that they would have had without the MT package. 4.0/stick got 3.07, 4.0/auto got 3.55, and 2.5/2.8 stick got 4.10s

ok, then you have the original Renix ignition. the Chrysler HO is 91+. in order to get HO, you need to plan on swapping everything. There should be a few swap threads in the link in my signature that will give an idea. 91-95 are OBD1 electronics. 97+ will require more work since there were plenty of changes with the new body style. But there are threads about that too.

so you're looking for a whole drivetrain swap? or are you saying the engine and electronics have already been changed out for the 91+ HO stuff? 96 is nice because it'll give you OBD2 but in a package that more closely matches the old MJs.

what engine/trans do you have now? how big of a tire do you want in the end? do you plan on using Jeep axles from the donor or just the trans/t-case?

you can look into http://www.ksrockspark.com/ http://www.smorr.net/ and http://www.orvpark.com/

'tis a good question. I've only known mud to be down by the coast.

what drivetrain do you have now? what do you plan on doing with the truck when it's finished?

got to live the dream and get my trailer in the big MJ pic.

the baby swampers worked fantastic I had to trim the inner fender liner a bit, but that was inevitable when the new bumper gets built. I did noticed one little hiccup though. the washer bottle hangs waaaaaaay low, down below the bumper. not sure what to do about that one yet.

indeed you were. I know it more or less sucked for you, but it was still my favorite part of the day. I love a good MacGyver-esque challenge. To anyone that hasn't heard yet, Wade managed to sheer off all the studs for the rear tire when it fell into a hole and jammed. It was a true group effort and we won the day and got him off the trail under his own power.

that's only some of the 500 I took. but yeah, my biggest regret is not being everywhere at once. I can only snap pics of the trucks near me. well, that and no one ever wants to wait a couple seconds for me to get into a better position.