Pete M

what all are the plans for the truck? highway? dd? just-around-town truck? trail-only?

'tis a brave new world... at least it's a hatchback.

18 grand and they can't even show me some pics of the interior or underside or the lift parts used? did I miss something in that ad?

you are indeed insane for attempting this. but it's going to be such a blast once it's done!

neat! I love off the wall builds.

just need to trim the metal bushing to be flush with the rubber bushing. before on the right:

yup. pain in the butt.

I've purchased 2 sets of WJ arms from junkyards and checked out maybe 20 more over the years. the more I look at them, the more I'm convinced the ones I bought had already been replaced. so I guess I got lucky.

we can update your pics once it's finished

by "jeep rims" they mean nearly any factory rim that has the 5 on 4.5" bolt pattern. with just a couple exceptions they are all 15x7 or 15x8 with a 5.25" backspacing. this includes any rim from an MJ/XJ/YJ/TJ/ZJ/KJ/(and at least one of the newer small Jeeps I can't remember which, patriot?). when choosing between 30s and 31s, keep in mind that the taller the tire, the less power your engine will seem to have (in essence it lowers the effective gear ratio number). my 88 back in the day on 30x9.5s:

the ford 8.8 needs to come from an Explorer to be usable. the 8.8 was found under all sorts of Ford cars/trucks, but the Explorer one is the only one with the correct bolt pattern and width.

I use car-part.com all the time, but I've never clicked the "request quote" thingie. I either call the phone number for the specific junkyard that shows what I seek, or I simply go to the yard in person if it's close enough. for those unfamiliar, car-part.com is a website that junkyards can use to list their parts. some 'yards are very good at it and give accurate details and then remove the listing after it's sold. Other 'yards are.... not so much. in the end you're still going to be dealing directly with the junkyard itself so I would skip right to making that phone call. car-part.com is just a conduit.

are you restoring back to original specs? or is it more of a resto-mod where improvements can be made? I ask because there are far more comfortable seats out there to use. (a common one is the late 90s Dodge Dakota split bench)

the old sag box steering design can't match the feel of a modern rack-n-pinion. keep that in mind as you go forward. having said that, have someone saw the steering wheel back and forth while you poke your head underneath and look/feel for slop in the joints, especially the track bar (both ends). I wouldn't touch the box until you're certain that everything else is nice and tight. one more vote for stock height and 30s. as good as they may look, your engine isn't going to like a big fat tire for daily driving. and welcome to the addiction!

getting the AUX installed was all Jeremy (Minuit). He taps into the AM inputs or some such thing inside the radio. after that it was plug-n-play using the audio jacks and using the radio's pos/neg for the converter. I'd take a picture of the mess of wires, but I doubt it'd be helpful. (to get the radio to work in the Liberty I had to manually splice things together so it's quite the rat's nest back there) the good news is that these devices don't need to be right next to the radio. longer audio/power cables can be used and they can be stashed elsewhere in the dash. originally I was going to mount one of the USB ports exposed, but changed my mind since my phone is the only thing that's ever going to be there. So that cord is what pops out of the dash. Just realized that the bluetooth photo doesn't show that there's an AUX port on it for connecting to the radio.

what do you have currently in the truck?

Using the AUX input that our resident radio guru Minuit installed, I added a bluetooth dongle, USB chargers to power it and my phone, anti-noise loop, and now I have a modern radio (that's 15 years older than the 12 year old jeep it's in). this will be a bit more complicated for an MJ, since dash space is more at a premium, but I've got no doubt it's possible with some creativity. the bluetooth dongle I used: the 5v converter and interference noise reducer i used. normally I use the equalizer built in to spotify and then tweak individual songs with the radio's bass/treble slides. the sound is very good. good enough I'm looking into replacing the speakers next. rumor has it Minuit is working on some preamp outputs. does this mean some subwoofers are in my future?

you're not the first to have trouble with this. no idea why I'm not getting any alerts. I'll send you a message with your new password.

I find myself just staring at that mess trying to figure out how they put it together in the first place.

I had mine shortened. they just need to cut from the non-rubber end. buuuuuut, I'd wager a lot of shops are frightened off by the weirdness of the isolator design. plus the rubber is 30 years old so it might not be in the best shape. plus the cost of cutting/re-balancing could easily be over half as much as a brand new shaft (prices for the work vary wildly).

it may not look any different, but that's no longer an audio cable you see, it's a charging cable. my old jeep radio is now full-on bluetooth! the bluetooth dongle I used: the 12v to 5v USB converter (one for the BT dongle and one for charging my phone) and interference noise reducer i used.

yeah, I'm not sure what the contest was, but that pic definitely wins.

yeah, that's pretty dang epic, yet still retains the key MJ lines that we love. congrats!

done

the most wrapped my truck has ever been