87Warrior

Bingo.

There should be a hole for a bolt (or stud) to go through on each bracket under that fuel tank support pipe. These are the two most forward bed mounting points.

Slick rig. <br /><br />Welcome to the club!

Another boring, yet relatively important update.The main body XJ harness has been modified for the MJ: Since I didn't want to drill any additional holes in my floor, I utilized the floor plugs at the rear of cab for the XJ harness to exit the cab.<br />

I've never been a big fan of caps, but I think I need to pull my cap out of the woods and give it some attention. I like the black cap. Looks good!

Having pulled and installed several MJ/XJ dashes, it is easy for me to say it is easy..... The dash is held in place by two 15mm bolts and 5 or 6 10mm bolts plus a few wires and/or cables. Start by removing the steering column. Then loosen, but don't remove, the two 15mm bolts. One on each side of the cab, above the kick panel. Then remove the defrost panel at the top of the dash. Find the 5 or 6 10mm bolts under the windshield and remove them. Carefully pivot dash away from windshield and remove/disconnect any wires or cables preventing removal.

Wow, apparently the price of the JKS arms went through the roof. From Northridge 4x4 it looks like they will run about $650 today for a set of 4 :ack: Rokmen seem to be a little cheaper. I have a hard time saying the lowers or uppers are more critical. You really need both to get the front axle aligned correctly, especially if on a lifted rig. That said, I believe the LCA takes far more abuse than the UCA. The LCA is also much larger and more robust, even from the factory. Sadly, my TJ sees far more road use than wheeling...probably 90%. I built it so I could drive it 16 hours to Ouray or Moab, wheel it, then drive back home. I think it has 100K miles on the suspension. It handles great on the road and is a blast to drive down a twisty mountain road. My father has recently built his TJ very similarly to mine, but used the Rokmen control arms (with JJs at each end). It also handles great and I do not notice any vibration or road bumps with his Rokmen arms vs my JKS.

Those Ironman arms with the poly bushings are identical to any other bottom of the line, cheap control arm on the market. Because the arms provide no 'twist', all of the twisting force will be applied to the bushings. This is why solid control arms with solid bushings at each end wear out very fast. The stock control arms may be weaker, but at least the the U shape design is designed to twist allowing them to last longer The rubber bushings in the stock control arms are cheap and easy to replace. I know nothing about the Dorman replacement part though. Based on your replies, I am going to assume you refuse to buy an arm with a Johnny Joint on one end. I will be getting Rokmen arms for my '92. Although a bit spendy, I have the JKS control arms on my TJ and have for 7 years. Might fit your needs, with a quality part.

The slingers main purpose is to act as a shim between the crank and balancer. The new Mopar balancer does not need this shim. There was a similar topic about a month ago regarding the balancer and oil slinger.

Thanks! I am already making plans to do the Trans American Trail in this truck once completed. This task is finally underway: This is my plan: - Add 5' of wire to the Driver tail lamp/plate light and passenger tail lamp harness - Utilize MJ floor plugs to let the harness exit the cab in various positions (fuel pump and driver tail lamp/ plate light on driver side and passenger tail lamp on passenger side) - Use XJ rear cargo light as MJ dome light, this part of the harness also includes the rear speaker wiring - Use XJ vanity mirror light harness to power a lighted rear view mirror, XJ overhead dome light placed above rearview mirror

Or Wrangler, or Dakota with the 2.5L with ALUMINUM valve cover. Don't waste your time with another plastic cover. Pick up the Felpro Permadry gasket for a '98 2.5 Dakota. It is more $$$, but rubberized and almost guaranteed not to leak, unlike like the cork gaskets. Plus it is a direct fit and less messy since you do not need to use RTV :)

I am not sure what a MR2 is, but folks retrofit car seats in Jeeps all the time. If they are similar size to the MJ seats, I don't see why they wouldn't work for you. Why not try? The cost is right ;)

That skid loader attachment is slick! Wouldn't work well here in Kansas, all of our trees are twisted and gnarly. One 12" Osage Orange log will heat my folks place for 20 hours when placed on a hot fire. Growing up we rarely used the furnace, even on the coldest of days.

Oh baby, that is pretty. That is easily a $10k MJ, IMHO. Curious to see where it ends up.

I am not sure what question you are trying to ask here. A solid $500 XJ is a pretty good find. Even if you only use the sheet metal, axles, doors, seats and console from it, you could probably part it and make your money back. It sounds like the XJ would work perfect as a donor rig to do the 97+ conversion. My recommendation for you is to enjoy your truck for the time being, sit back and read through the hundreds/thousands of awesome build threads here. Realize if you go down the 97+ conversion route you will be MJless for quite sometime. This fellow did the 97+ conversion at a lightning fast pace: http://comancheclub.com/topic/40605-88-comanche-and-97-xj-about-to-become-one-hello-all/

This evening I managed to get the dash installed. I had to rob a parts truck for the upper dash nut clips and bolts. I have also ordered two varieties of carpet padding/insulation, a roll of Fatmat (like Dynamat) for the rear cab, doors, pillars and roof and a full set of KellysWIP battery cables.

Start here: http://comancheclub.com/topic/30671-97-swap-how-to/ Will I need to find one with a good motor in order to swap dash out? I suspect you could reuse your renix motor, but that is like putting rain drops back into a cloud. I read where the wiring harness is needed in order to swap the dash and have it functional. Is that correct? will the newer harness work with my current 88 4.0? Yes, you will need the ENTIRE XJ harness and components retrofitted to the MJ. I would like to update interior (dash, seats, center console. Since you want to update the dash, you are in for a lot of work. Several folks here have maintained their renix system and simply swapped the late model sheet metal, seats, console, etc. The 98 Cherokee classic is $500 with blown motor but tranny, transfer case and front and rear axel seem to be good and interior looks good as well. If you could talk to seller down to $300-400 you could easily find a replacement motor and have a great donor rig in great shape for less than $1K. Or flip the XJ and make some $$$ for MJ mods.

Heck, shouldn't your rig fire up with no problem regardless of temperature with a good battery? I've never had an issue with starting a Jeep in less than ideal temps, even when I lived in the Colorado high country.

I have a decent set of mirrors I took off my 92 for the 97+ mirrors. Manual adjust and the black housing is faded some. I should have the plastic interior trim piece in gray as well. If interested I can take a pic then send them to you for the cost of shipping.

In regards to the rear window wiring. Some of the windows/locks share common grounds or power (I don't recall) that you do not want to remove. Starting at the plugs at each rear door, I traced each individual wire back to it origination point or splice point. I did this with all of the wires going into each plug at the rear doors/hatch then tested the lock/window function of the front doors while still in the XJ. I still have to clean up the interior harness and redo the stock Chrysler splices wrapped in duct tape :ack: For the tail light harness I plan to simply extend the XJ wiring and adapt the XJ light sockets to the MJ taillights, or splice the MJ taillight sockets in place of the XJ sockets. This will also allow me to use a plug-n-play trailer light harness designed for the XJ. I will try to send the tail light wiring through the cab with the fuel pump wiring.

Looking great :thumbsup:

Question number 2: In the below photo you will notice the front two plugs on the PCM are empty. I am trying to recall what piece, or pieces, of harness plug into these empty spots. Are both plugs for these empty spots part of the engine block harness? Since my engine and engine harness are a 40 minute drive from my house, I am unable to simply, 'take a peak'. Any my curiosity is driving me nuts :dunno: Thanks again :)

Very nice. CRD and all, eh?

You will see those two door switch panels pop up on various forums and even ebay on occasion. So far the sellers seem to be pretty proud of their part ($$$), so I haven't picked one up yet. Be sure to post up some of your photoshop ideas :thumbsup:

That looks like a pretty nice donor. Must have been an expensive truck to buy new: 4.0, slider, cargo light, full cluster, two tone buckets, tilt, AC....