87Warrior

Glad to hear it Hope the recovery goes well for you.

No doubt you will beat me! I am extremely slow and meticulous. Its not a good combination :ack: I was able to get my grubby hands on an XJ Infinity stereo system for the Jeep. Comes with the factory CD player, amp, harness, and speakers. I have always liked factory Jeep radios, and their sound :nuts:, over the misfit aftermarket options. I will have to get creative to get all of it shoved in the MJ.

Negative. The last thing I need is 3 Jeeps on the road that I need to maintain :ack: I simply buttoned the XJ interior up to keep critters out since it is being stored in an old barn. The passenger side is also all warped from the flop.... air tight nightmare.

From 44's. I have a suspicion they won't work in a 30.

My truck was/half is, identical to yours. It came from the factory in 'Colorado Red' just as your truck is. When I got the bed painted, we decided to go with 'Pioneer Red' which is a bit brighter than the burgundy 'Colorado Red'. Thanks for the comment :thumbsup:

December 17, 2009 After months of searching, getting close then coming up with nothing, I picked this beautiful donor up from a little town near Columbia, MO. 1999 Jeep Cherokee - 4.0 - AW4 - NP231 - 8.25 - Cruise - 155,100 miles - New 235/75r156 tires - New AC system - Rolled on its side into a ditch - Exhaust cut right after Catalytic Converter - Shot front axle outter shaft u-joint Interior is in good shape less the stale aroma of old cigarettes. December 22, 2009 I have been working with the donor, making sure everything works 100% before I take it all apart to shove in the MJ. My first order of business was to remove the front sheet metal that was bent/banged up. The findings: - Both front fenders junk - Header panel junk, bezels in good shape - Hood perfect Then I decided to install the doors I picked up earlier this year to make sure everything works (locks, mirrors, windows). To my surprise they all worked flawlessly! I then removed the stereo. There was an electrical nightmare of exposed wires, poor splices, and a hot amp wire in the cargo area. Yanked all of that out and threw it in the junk pile. I will be running a factory XJ head unit in here eventually. Image of the vitals: Took it for a spin down the county road and tested the cruise control. To my amazement, it too worked flawlessly! Never got hot and the auxiliary fan seems to work like it should. Next step will be to get the MJ down to a rolling shell for body work/paint and POR15 everything on the underside. :banana:

I have a set of used Rubicon 4.10 R&P. Not sure if they would work for you or not. Great wear pattern, just collecting dust on the shelf.

If you did opt for the RRO arms, be sure to get the deluxe johnny joint arm. Solid bushings at both ends are no good on a stiff arm. When your axle droops, the arm must twist in order to not sheer off the mounting brackets and ruin the bushings. The factory "U" shaped arms are designed to twist, thus OK having solid rubber bushings at both ends of the arms. A Jonny-Joint at one end of the arm will be the twisting point of most control arms. I run the JKS arms on my TJ. They have been a very good investment and have been trouble free for over 3 years. They use the factory bushings on both end of the arm and twist in the middle. The factory rubber bushings provided a smoother ride in the TJ compared to the RE SF arms. Although expensive, these JKS arms replaced the very troublesome Rubicon express SuperFlex I had. Just do a search on any jeep forum and you will find a whole host of people who have problems with the RE bushings splitting. I would highly suggest avoiding Rubicon Express at all costs. Take a look at Rokmen, JKS and Currie arms if looking for a solid after market control arm for DD and off-road uses.

I realize you said 'Junkyard arms are out of the question.' I would strongly suggest you look at picking up some lightly used TJ arms. I picked up the front components (arms, shocks, swaybar, brake lines) of a TJ with 30K for $15 locally. Most guys just want the stock crap out of their garages and will nearly give it away.

This, I just do not understand. How does running your engine farther up the power band (where more HP is produced) reduce the power output :hmm: It does make sense you felt the deeper gears reduced in less top end since you are used to the engine running at a lower RPM and did not want to run it consistently higher. (As described in Eagle's post). Deeper gears can result in decreased fuel economy but the usable power elsewhere out-weighs the MPG issue. 4.10's and 33's proved to be too sluggish in my TJ. Pull a trailer and it was worse... throw in a headwind and kiss 5th good bye. Try and pull the whole set up over Vail Pass and kiss 4th, maybe 3rd gear good bye. The optimum gear ratio for a vehicle is directly related to what the owner wants out of their rig.

Welcome to death wobble. Check your front trackbar bolts and bushings, they should be tight. Next would be the steering linkage followed by the control arms. Did this start up after you stuck the plow on it, or is the plow still mounted to the 88? As for the right rear whine, is your differential full of oil? Are the brakes dragging? Or could it actually be the rear U-joint?

Bummer, no Discovery Health here. I would suspect producers from Hollywood will be calling you very soon :brows:

Haha, I would suspect some sort of Bot. :typing: At least Joe is not is not in the same shoes, just stuck in a normal hospital. Hope you make it home for Christmas time :yes:

You would be surprised how well the big bears will do with blown apart swing arm bearings. Had a buddy ride his Big Bear for a week, 100 miles a day, out in CO on the trail with a MISSING swing arm bearing. :doh:

Nice project rig :D

I carry a basic ratchet kit from Home Depot. Has SAE and Metric, variety of extensions and a bit driver with bits. In addition to that, I keep some assorted screw drivers, pliers, duct tape and a good knife on me. Usually have some cheap jumper cables, 12v air compressor, and tow straps.

Sorry to hear about your 88! Motor swap won't be hard. Start by unplugging eveything and labeling evething with masking tape. Remove the engine accessories like AC and power steering and lay them to the side. Unbolt the exhaust manifold from the down pipe. Break the motor mount cross bolts loose as well as the belhousing bolts. Sippet the front of the transmission with a stable floor jack and remove the belhousing bolts in order. I stick them in the top of a cardboard box to keep them in order. Get the engine hoist chains hooked to the head/block and remove the engine mount cross bolts. Pull forward the up to get the engine out. Get the intake and exhaust manifolds bolted to the head. Repeat backwards to get the new engine in.

I got the rear gear done for $300 in labor on the d44 in my TJ. Went with 5.13s for 35" tires. This set up is about 12% deeper than stock but good for the added weight on the rig. For a MJ that has a 4.0 31s and will see some hauling or wheeling, 4.10s would be my personal choice. In a Jeep a good rule of thumb is to gear deeper and be done with it.

I may have an extra harness with several inches of the Jeep side of the plug. It came out of a 98. I will double check on it tomorrow when I get back home.

I have spotted a few guys poking around my TJ. Never under the rig though. Always seems to be a soldier who moved to post. I can be spotted checking out the tires on rigs...

This one will stay off the road. The only straight metal on the thing is the hood and drivers rear door. Hatch is okay but has one dent. I have a hard enough time keeping 2 Jeeps on the road...

Good to hear that you will be headed home!

Pick this beauty up yesterday near Columbia, MO. 1999 Jeep Cherokee - 4.0 - AW4 - NP231 - Cruise - 155,100 miles - New 235/75r156 tires - New AC system - Rolled on its side into a ditch - Exhaust cut right after Catalytic Converter :) - Shot front axle outter shaft u-joint Interior is in good shape less the stale aroma of old cigarettes :-\ Ran around the farm today. Never got hot and the auxiliary fan seems to work like it should. Now it is time to get serious about the MJ project :yes:

I believe the yellow Romex is a 12-gauge only wire while the white is 14 and orange is 10.

I saw one today, in the driveway. Kind of surprised by this since I drove 1/2 way across the state of Missouri to pick up an XJ. Not-a one MJ to be seen on the road. There are a few that run around town. All driven by older men.