Pete M

those look pretty rough. like-125-for-the-whole-set levels of rough.

apparently this is with the Ukrainian 43rd Artillery Brigade. earning it's keep lookin' for the drones. the blur would be opsec.

that actually looks pretty cool. I shall call it: reverse patina.

yup, the "classic Jeep life". car shows and repairs.

looks good!

it's alive!!!

armor, armor, armor.

woo hoo!!!! it's alive!!

I'd probably also do a track bar bracket brace for one with that much drop.

safety first.

all the modern small cars I'm familiar with have only electric fans.

I love it!

d weird. does it specifically say it won't fit the MJ? or does it say it only fits the XJ? (meaning not any other Jeep like MJs, or KJs, or ZJs etc.)

the factory kit should have all those brackets.

I'd much rather get brand new front glass installed than resealing 35 year old glass. probably not much more money either.

offroading puts quite a bit of sideways push on the track bar mounts as the tire hits dirt berms and trees and whatnot that pushes it sideways relative to the body. the track bar bolt holes (at the bottom of the frame) can wallow out because of it. but it's still better now than it was before, even without the gusset.

because of how short (top to bottom) our radiators are, this might be a challenge.

that brace is adding side to side reinforcement. any force that is pushing side to side is likely to partially bend at that weak point instead of resisting the full force. is it vital? probably not since that bracket isn't entirely needed in the first place. would I add a small rib on the inside of the bend? yes, yes I would. my hands (and all my weight for that matter) aren't as strong as the steering box so I tend not to use them as gauges for "good enough". (plus the tiny engineer that lives in my head is kinda pedantic. )

dug through the 87-90 parts manual and... still confused. the first listing (5500 9382-3) shows a photo of the bigger bracket but doesn't differentiate long and shorts. just has those L/R part numbers. down below on the same page there's another bracket (5501 8452-3) that shows an image of the smaller bracket, but that is listed under a "tubular bumper". thanks AMC, that really cleared things up. all I know for sure is that my larger brackets can't go on a shortbed truck. there's no gap clearance in the bracket for the frame.

nice! doing the steering linkage next?

you're going to gusset that bend, yes?

the larger bumper bracket is 86-only, yes? it's definitely longbed-only but my chrome bumpers by the barn both have the smaller bracket so I'm guessing the smaller one came out for all trucks in 87.

you'll be happy with either of those ratios. when my dana 35 blew up I found a 44 with 3.55s and that little bump (had 30s, which are about the same size as 235s) really put a smile on my face (until the peugeot blew up a couple months later). the 2.5L/5-speed got factory 4.10s, so 3.73s aren't too much either.

looks good. I was going to mount mine there, but added a truck box and now there's not enough room. I still haven't found a place for the spare. I guess it'll eventually go underneath if I ever fix the hoist.

runs well and looks great... every Jeeper's dream