Pete M

now I'm thinking about integrating a small winch... and now the cabin fever is really setting in. I'm dying to run out and start tearing apart the front of the Jeep and making cardboard templates. I think I'll wait til it's above freezing though.

I could be wrong, but I think it's on the same circuit out back as the parking lights. meaning if they have juice, then the problem would lie in the wires leading to the plate.

how old/cold is the battery? soon as it got cold my old optima finally showed it's true age. showed that it had charged, but had no balls behind the voltage. check all bulb sockets for corrosion. and it's not weird at all for a truck that's been sitting to fail to start.

what is it you're looking for?

try cleaning the battery terminals and cable clamps mating surfaces. my MJ was notorious for getting a thin film of buildup between the 2. or try gently smacking the starter with a hammer. it's possible it's just stuck.

it's not being chained to the house, it's my grandmother. she goes through weird fits of mild dementia and I never know if I'm talking to a stubborn 91 year old adult or a selfish 4 year old child. but back to the more fun aspect of being stuck here... I'm thinking of stripping off all the stock fascia like above and keeping the factory steel bumper, painting it black, and then adding in a bit of C-channel from frame rail to frame rail to make my stubby bumper. sounds easy if I say it fast. still have to figure out a turn signal solution. might go with the lifted one where he reintroduced the bumper fascia where the turn signals mount. oh, and I want a prerunner skid plate under the bumper to protect the wires and jazz that are there. below is the stock steel crush bar.

50 years from now they may be worth something. (but likely not)

more importantly I'm debating a 2" lift, Rubicon rims, 255/70s, and yanking the front bumper for something more offroady. I've got no idea how much lift this one has, I just liked the simple bumper. finding pics of a stubby bumper on a liberty was apparently more challenging than google and my brain could handle.

sooooo, it's possible I've been cooped up with my grandmother for too long. that plus a lack of sleep in the last week or so (I get up every time she does to make sure she gets to the bathroom alright, and also any time I hear a noise that might possibly be her). I just now started contemplating sleepy eyes for the liberty...

my go-to mystery noise is the exhaust banging on the crossmember, but admittedly this doesn't seem likely in this scenario. when's the last time you changed the gear oil in the diff? maybe it's time to take a peek inside?

Jeremy, I think you might win the "snow, but not really" award.

use a hose or pitcher of water and check the windshield for leaks. well, I guess wait until the outside world is less frozen.

we only got a dusting here which is fine I guess since I'm more or less trapped in the house while my grandmother is early in her knee rehab. But if we got a few inches I would have found an excuse to make a run to the store.

that's a tough call.

yup, very good advice.

specifically in the vendors section: https://comancheclub.com/forums/forum/37-vendors/

did the frame get checked?

it's on its way to being the most widely known MJ ever.

yup. silver always looked good on a Jeep. NHMJXJ, what's the plan for her?

message sent

I've had so many trucks at once that they inevitable got referred to by color. not inventive, but kept it straight for my family/friends. oddly enough, I still refer to the 88 as "the red truck" even though it's tan now.

can the new be glued over the old?

you can save a lot if you can find good condition used WJ arms in the junkyard. but new ones aren't crazy expensive so it's all about your time vs your money. the 3" kit straddles the line, where the 2" kit affects the suspension geometry very little and the 4" affects it a lot. some kits skip the arms and track bar completely. to do this you need to adjust the lower arm shims as we've suggested with the WJ arms (same length as stock, just curved and infinitely better built). without a track bar your axle will shift over to the drivers side a bit. most all kits seem to skip the brake lines which is a bit scary to me. it is true that you can jack it up 3" higher with coils and AALs and call it a day. it'll be 3" higher for sure and probably work ok in the dirt, but you won't be happy with it for long if you drive it every day. If your budget really is tight, maybe scale back the project to be a 2" budget boost (spacers, WJ arms, longer shackle out back). don't forget an alignment after it's all said and done.

wait, he replaced the low beams with spots?! and what exactly was the look he was going for on a jeep with 4 lights if you make angry eyes in the top ones only? well, at least you can scrape the stock ones clean and install some relays for the lights. what an idiot.

you should be able to view your own, maybe?