Pete M

glad you found it!

my truck is notorious for getting a little bit of corrosion film buildup between the battery terminals and the cables. juuuuust enough to kill the power. gotta regularly pop them off and clean the connection surfaces with steel wool.

one window down (then up, then down, then up again ). ran out of energy and light today so I'll tackle the other tomorrow. past-me seems to have unplugged the wire harness to the rear window switches (which are in the center console not the doors) and forgot to leave a note for present-me, soooooo that was a whole debacle-and-a-half trying to figure out why there wasn't power to the rear windows.

Pioneers were middle of the road, 87-92. Chief was a bit above it. the Eliminator and Laredo were top tiers in the years they were offered. 4wd and skids were options on any trim level, but the majority of MJs of any trim were 2wd. which is a shame but that made them cheaper I gurss. My 88 was a 2wd Pio with vinyl buckets and the 3/4 gauge cluster. pure middle of the road.

how much rust?

nothing to see here. just loading up some new Vegas.

mine is on its way

custom = base model for 86: custom, X, XLS

the parts stores should carry some adapters and pre-made lines for those who are shy about flaring your own. there is no good reason why everyone hasn't done this by now!

if it's rust free, it's worth saving for sure.

which buckets? MJ buckets go right in (except for the female seat belt end that won't have the plastic sheath that holds it up). most 84-95 XJ buckets can be bolted to your current floor brackets. or you can get creative with any ol' buckets you find in the junkyard. each will take a different adaptation approach though.

yeah, looks like a solid platform to customize to your liking.

boring update: I developed another a bad shimmy under braking so I replaced all the brake parts at the corners with nice condition junkyard stuff; soft lines, calipers, pads, rotors. A big thanks to whoever replaced all those parts on their KJ right before scrapping it. from that same Liberty I grabbed LCAs, knuckles, bearings, struts, etc. for the eventual lift (my stuff is just too rotted to reuse). boring update 2: the mirrors now work (was a bad switch) and I've swapped out the why-the-hell-are-they-shiny trim bits inside with base model flat gray stuff. coming soon: functioning rear windows!

shoulda woulda coulda. I'll make due should I need something. don't sweat it. on a positive note I have replaced all the calipers and soft lines and everything seems to be good. was pleasantly surprised how easily the old brake line fittings came loose.

historically my go-to technique seems to be to just have a tailgate that doesn't work. can't steal it if you can get it to open but after the MJ trailer is all fixed up, I think I'm going to get that pivot lock and some anti-theft screws for the taillights.

never look back!

a-yup. my thoughts exactly! I still dream of buying up a whole southern body and swapping the engine over. or maybe just selling this one and buying a rust free CRD. worked on the rear brakes today and stopped mid-project up after finding the caliper slides completely jammed up on the drivers side. looks like I'll be doing all the calipers and soft lines tomorrow. rusted brake line fittings suck. sprayed it all down with pb blaster and we'll see what the mornin' brings. sigh...

all boxed up and ready to go out in the mornin'.

after installing the junkyard rotors yesterday (fixed my brake pulsing!) I got super depressed over the state of rot in the front suspension and went back today to grab the rest of the bits from that one super clean KJ. struts, knuckles, lower control arms, bearings, calipers (was tempted to grab the rack too, but figured I'd just by a refurbed). If I ever touch ANYTHING in my front suspension (I want to get the frankenlift later this year), it all has to go. the bolt heads are all rounded from rust flaking. But now I have a big box of clean goodies for later use.

another beautiful build

I've transported couches in my old 97. sometimes with people on top of them. good times. the answer to "will it fit?" was always "yes" until proven wrong.

got it! message me an address.

are 2door XJ armrests the same as 4door?

they might have been in acceptable shape. so much of the interior was just trashed that I don't remember looking at them specifically. If I get back there I'll check it out.