87Warrior

Man, what a nice truck! And how have I missed this local build for so long

Beautiful! I really dig that color, the trucks stance, everything. Nice work.

You are moving along quite nicely with this truck. I am glad I get to watch the build. ...and you are a lucky man having a wife who not only let you get a project, but is an enabler herself with those tires!

I was in the same boat a year ago looking for a similar set up and settled on a Pioneer MVH-290BT. This thing is 1/2 depth as a normal radio and has built in radio/Bluetooth/usb with outputs for speakers and pre amp. The buttons light up as dull red and the white display is far from blinding in the night. My only complaint about this unit is the font used for the text on the buttons. It screams late 1990's GM. The radio reception is just as good as the next radio and the Bluetooth connectivity is reliable and not fussy at all. I don't use the phone call options or the usb (yet) but I do listen to 'terrestrial radio' and music stored on my phone via Bluetooth. The radio does have a glossy appearance, but it does not reflect light like the photo shows.

I have spent many years travelling the trails in Colorado with friends who have a variety of Jeeps. The Jeeps with automatics always get the worse fuel economy (10-12mpg) while the 5-speeds always yield decent economy (14-16mpg). I believe this is due to the fact you can climb a slow rough pass in the 5-speed Jeep almost at idle, while automatics must be tached up to keep moving.

I do believe the 2.5 MPFI would be the easiest option followed closely by the 4.0 OBDI/II and AW4 option which would be the next easiest and most reliable option. Although....I have lusted after a 5.3 powered MJ for many years.... I didn't vote since I can't make up my mind!

I'd also suggest pulling the wiper circuit breaker and cleaning the contacts. The circuit breaker is found in the fuse block and is a small rectangular box and can succumb to corrosion just like the fuses.

There is absolutely no reason to replace the stub shaft or axle if the ujoint ears are not stretched. You can replace the ujoint and with the wheel bearing removed the job is easy. I like Spicer ujoints. I am going to assume this will be the first time your axle has been apart. Have heat and a penetrating spray ready, the first time is the most difficult. Buy a 1/2" drive 12point 13mm socket for the 3 wheel bearing bolts and two new cotter keys. Use a breaker bar on the 13mm socket and heat to get those bolts out. You do not need to worry about heating up the old bearing since it will go in the trash. The wheel bearing will probably be fused to the knuckle. This is how I usually approach the problem. http://www.stu-offroad.com/axle/unitbearing/unitbearing-1.htm Reassemble with a coat of anti seize or marine grease on all mating surfaces (even the stub shaft splines) for less trouble in the future.

Thanks Don. It is Colorado Red. My paint guy said the Colorado Red was some of the most expensive basic red paint he had mixed. I don't know the science behind it, but I do know the paint laid down very nice!

Has an engine sitting in it and is very dusty. I lost steam on this truck 2 years ago when I couldn't get some interior bits to match the quality of the body work. I think my break from it is about over :)

My 92 was at the paint shop for 3 years. The painter ran an old school shop who has been building show cars since the 70's and would only accept perfection. He also did insurance jobs along side my truck. The work included new floors, rockers, battery tray, cab corners welded in and dents/waves removed. I also had the 97+ firewall mods welded in. The paint work cost $$$$ (triple what I bought the truck for and I dearly over paid for that).

I would NEVER daily drive a rust free MJ in the winter. I do daily drive my rusty 86. It's amazing how much room other drivers give me compared to when I drive the Land Cruiser

In theory yes, an AAL would increase your load capacity. I can say that it takes a lot of weight to make this truck squat. I often carry my ATV in the MJ and I notice it doesn't squat nearly as much as my 92 did with stock springs.

I stayed SUA simply because I didn't want 6" of lift on this truck. It has about 2.5" of lift and sits nicely with the 265/75r15 tires under it. With the larger than stock tires, it feels a little under-geared in 5th on the highway. The ol' 2.5 will maintain 70mph without complaining, but the long grades and winds in the Kansas Flint Hills do make me search for 4th. Luckily I rarely need to get on interstate and the truck does just fine at 55mph, even with a load. She did struggle in Colorado with a load driving the highway passes, but even my 4.0 TJ with 5.13 gears struggles out there.

When I was MJ shopping AEV was still selling Brute kits for the TJ. I was very close to pulling the trigger for one, but quickly understood it would not have been what I wanted. AEV answered many of my questions regarding the conversion and I ended up choosing a MJ. ...in hindsight, it probably would have cost less for me to turn my TJ into a Brute than to buy and build my MJ...and the Brute would have an exponentially better resale opportunity.

I use the Photo Editor app for Android. It has some nice editing functions and yes, it can resize and/or reduce quality to achieve a certain image size. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.iudesk.android.photo.editor

Now we are talking!

Not really. It is a short add-a-leaf so the ride has probably suffered from its addition. In time the short leaf could break or cause undo stress on the other leaves. With that said, I wouldn't be concerned about it or actively shopping for new parts since the front suspension needs more attention. For your use, I bet the General Spring Metric ton leaf packs would suit your needs just right being a daily driver and weekend firewood hauler whenever the budget allows. That is a good looking truck with a great stance. You did good!

I say discos would be your best bet because the links are longer and suited for a lifted vehicle. Many of the discos available are adjustable so you can dial in the sway bar to control how much body roll the truck has. Disconnecting the sway bar does allow for extended axle articulation to play in the rock, but when on a slow rough road disconnecting the sway bar also greatly improves the ride. Don't be afraid to buy used suspension parts for your rig. Folks like to upgrade or just change components all the time and you can pick up some great deals on parts.

Thanks Ben! I am not a fan of rust, but for some reason I smile about it on this truck. Sadly, I discovered how much the cancer has spread since I bought it after rebuilding the pictures in this thread. I may be in Salida this weekend

Looks like Pete is sending you down the right path! I'll address some of your other questions. 2 - I believe any lift over 2" needs an adjustable trackbar. I have no experience with the Rough Country trackbar, but over the years, I have learned that you get what you pay for with Jeep suspension parts. The JKS bar is a good one, I've run one and I've installed one on a buddies Jeep. 3 - Extended swaybar links will get the sway bar out of the coil spring. You will find aftermarket sway bar disconnects (aka discos) will be your best bet. You may be able to use a stock sway bar link from another vehicle since you are on a budget. I know there is an article somewhere about utilizing the sway bar links from another truck on a lifted MJ/XJ. 5 - You may want to verify that your brake lines are not pulled tight and have plenty of slack to compensate for suspension droop. Enjoy your new MJ. Be sure to post a picture for us to drool over.

Nice synopsis of your build progress! Makes me want to start back in on my build. Have you found the 96 fuel pump and sender to be compatible with the 97+ gear? Do you recall where you bought the Agate trim paint? How much did you need?

Wow, it has been just short of two years since my last update with the MJ. I guess that is a good thing, it hasn't been giving me any trouble :) She now has 193k miles, 30k of those mine! A couple of weeks ago I decided to tackle a project I've been putting off since I bought this MJ, a leaky exhaust manifold. Upon a close inspection I could see the manifold was cracked, the gasket was blown out and the rear stud in the head appeared to have rusted off. Since I knew I'd need to remove the head to replace that rear stud I planned to drop it off at the machine shop who had built two 4.0's for me. The MJ came apart quite easily and I made sure to keep everything in order. While the head was getting a makeover, I cleaned every part I pulled out of the truck. With the intake cleaned up, I made a EGR block off plate. The EGR valve was frozen when I bought the truck and had been bypassed for many years. My biggest concern about this project was uncovering the bottom end of the motor. I expected to see scored cylinder walls and discoloration. Instead, all I found were smooth cylinder walls and a little carbon build up. Not bad for almost 200k miles, but it would have been awesome if there was still cross hatching on the walls. I had the head pressure checked and then rebuilt. No surprise, it needed new exhaust valves since a leak at the exhaust manifold can burn up exhaust valves. I was surprised that the valve springs and rocker arms were okay. The head work cost was more than I originally paid for the truck! This little stud was the sole reason for all of this work. The stud is from a Dorman manifold bolt kit for a 4.0. I also used a Felpro head bolt kit for a 4.0 to secure the head. I did not want to trust the 31 year old head bolts being torqued to 110/100ft-lbs. Since the old exhaust manifold was cracked at the EGR bung it needed a new manifold. I decided to try out the cheap ATP Graywerks unit. The manifold did have some extra casting I had to clean up, but it wasn't to bad. I did have to buy a new thermostat housing. The old 2.5 housing was so corroded the last time I changed the thermostat that I had to apply silicon to the gasket. The new housing is obviously for a 4.0 and has the coolant temperature sensor port. I plugged the hole with an extra renix coolant temperature sender. I will extend the wiring so that I can use this sensor for the coolant temperature to see if there is any difference in drive-ability. The MJ fired right up after the work was done. It is much more pleasant to drive without 3 big exhaust leaks right in front of me. I am anxious to see if my fuel economy improves with the sealed exhaust.

I'd start off with a new thermostat. Assuming the water pump is good (you should verify it is correct for your belt rotation), you should be able to see the coolant flow through the radiator once the engine gets warm. The thermostat is, in theory, the only thing that could be blocking the flow of coolant. The block should fill most of the way up by simply filling the radiator. You will also need a real fan. I see a couple of small pushers up front, but that won't be enough fan once the truck hits the road. This is not relevant to your current issue if the radiator didn't get warm while idling the truck.

Your resistance is within spec on the CPS. How is your voltage? http://cruiser54.com/?p=50 If you haven't done so already, clean up the grounds under the hood. Also verify the rubber 4 hose block attach to the engine side of the throttle body is sealed. Mine was dry rotted so I ran individual vacuum lines to the side of the TB. The 2.5 relies heavily on the CPS, MAP, Manifold Air Temp (MAT) and Coolant temp to run smoothly. I had a similar sputtering condition with my 86 a few years ago, but in the dead of winter. Tested the MAT and found it was faulty, registering no ohms regardless of temperature. I was unable to source a new sensor so I tried one from a HO. Even though the ohm readings are way different between the Renix and HO, it fixed the sputtering I was encountering.