Comanche County

I've never washed an engine, just a wipe down. I won't risk a high pressure wash or steam. Besides, oil and grease are good rust deterrents. :D

Sounds like a good plan!

Ah, ZJ coils, that's right, it'll be more that 6" unless they're cut.

I believe they were RE. Got em from Motion.

19-21 is good. It can do better if you alter your driving habits. Do a search for "hypermiling" or "hyper-mileage". I don't back up all of their methods like minimal braking around corners, etc. But this stuff works. When I worked in CO I'd coast down 6 miles of mountain road with the engine off every morning at 4 am. Turned my 23 mile commute into 17 miles. I could only do that because there wasn't other cars on the road at that time. I'd never do that in traffic. http://www.gasolinecreditcards.com/ecot ... resources/

Nice pics thanks.

What's the big deal, you wrecked the truck. Why'd they take your license?

They'll work if you trim the shock plates. But with the arms pointing down like that, the axle actually has to move forward when you hit a bump. Since it swings on an arc based on the length of the control arms. It will work, seen plenty of 6" short arm Jeeps, but its a jarring ride.

Thanks man, I made my own harness thinking I lost the supplied ARB harness, then I found it. I'll probably rewire it with their harness in a day or two.

I discovered my ARB wiring harness hidden in the bottom of my truck box...would have saved me about $100 worth of wires, connectors etc and almost a full day of work making my own harness from scratch. :fs1:

Yeah great idea!

Awesome write up! Good job bro! :cheers:

One of mine gets 15-17 and the other gets 19-21 easy. I can't explain it. Great build Bo, you are the man! :bowdown:

If you're set on a V8, there's a plethora of 5.2 Magnums out there in ZJs. With a few cheap mods they'll make as much or more hp than the ZJ 5.9s. Good luck man!

Time for an update. This past week was a Jeep building/modding marathon at my brother's house (he has a garage). First we finished his CJ7, got the head back for his 4.2 and got it running again....then I commandeered his garage for the MJ. I got the ARB compressor, air lines and switches in. Cut the front fenders to clear the 35s at full flex, and also tackled a perplexing steering issue that turned out to be a weak steering gear box. I'll let the pictures do most of the talking. Now, the MJ's turn! I started on the wiring for the ARB compressor while I let my brother tackle the metal molestation on the fenders. I gave him complete artistic freedom since he trusted me enough to: recommend rebuilding his 4.2 head, let me rebuild his D300, and rebuild the shifter on his T176 which I did a fantastic job of rednecking it up with a 125 welder,,,,it shifts perfect now though. I followed the supplied ARB diagram which wires the switches in a way where the front locker can only be engaged if the rear locker is engaged first. I picked up a very clean XJ Country woodgrain bezel and used the old "VIC" plates for my ARB switches. These are the original blockoff plates that came in the MJ's regular black bezel. They snap right into the XJ's woodgrain bezel and I added epoxy to hold them in. If you trim just the inside rectangle the ARB switches pop in perfectly! Plenty of unused connectors in the wiring harness to get all the power I needed. I did end up running a couple of wires directly to the battery though. I mounted the compressor in my truck box and ran the air lines through the drain plug in the bed and followed the hard brake lines to the diffs. Oh, BTW, my truck still has the original owner's manual and warranty card still in the dealership bag. Here's my bro cutting on the fenders.... I also finally found a Goodyear Gatorback belt. I've been having belt squealing problems for some time now. Everything I read online seemed to agree that these belts are the best. Here's the part numbers for a Renix 4.0 w/ no A/C (or w/ the A/C delete pulley like mine). Got it at a Goodyear Service center. Advance, Auto Zone (AZ), and O'Reilly's do not carry it. The Dayco belts, which Advance and AZ carry are ok, but not as good IMO. The gatorbacks are also over twice as expensive. This one set me back $83 with tax but it comes with a lifetime warranty! :thumbsup: Here's how the switches look: We got the fenders cut and decided to do a little flex testing but ran into the steering box issue.... Went to the JY the next day and pulled a PS pump, that didn't work, went out again the following day and pulled a gearbox from a 95' XJ. That did the trick. I can steer fairly easily even while locked. More flex testing. We were going to cut the rear fenders also but after seeing how the 35s tuck into the rear fenders I decided not to cut them for now. I still need about 3-4" of more bumpstops up front and about 3" out back. Also, not having a freaking ankle makes feathering the skinny pedal difficult. It actually took me about 5 tries to get the MJ up like this. It'll go over almost anything if I can get a tire on it, but I'm not smooth anymore with the peg leg. Next mods are more bump stops and a hand throttle. Yes, that's a $10K running leg just sitting in the back of the truck! :cheers: Also picked up an XJ skid plate from the yard.

Very sweet, I love it!

If you don't do drop brackets or long arms, the extreme control arm angle will give you a very rough ride at that lift height. I ran drop brackets on mine for a while at 6"+ inches of lift, actually rode smoother than the stock springs.

I got it fixed. Main culprit was the gear box. Went to the yard and couldn't find a Durango and went ahead and pulled one from a 136k 95' XJ. Got it put in and I can turn the wheel while stationary and locked all the way from left to right without the hang up. It seemed the old gear box would just quit, while either stationary or moving. Yep the front locker is essentially a spool and it's definitely tougher to turn but It wasn't turning at all, so far so good, it's driveable again. Thanks for all the responses! :cheers:

Thanks Adam, those are the type I've got. On top of the magnet, could I have the black star nut and the small hollow 8mm top nut too tight thus not allowing the plunger to move? How tight should they be?

I did the non running bleeding procedure. It helped some. Turns out though the air lockers front and rear were not disengaging. When I disconnected the air lines at the compressor they unlocked and it was driveable. I'm thinking now my problem is a combination of a weakened gearbox and two faulty ARB solenoids. I'm certain I have them wired correctly but I'm going to double check again. Still, even when the front is locked it shouldn't be like a dead stop. I should be able to turn even on pavement. I'm thinking I should have gone with Detroits.

Yeah, I'll try bleeding it like that. If it doesn't work then I'm heading to the yard to pick up a steering box. Come to think of it, it's actually been leaking for some time now. I'll try the Durango box upgrade if they've got one sitting out there. If not, I may just buy a new one, rather not put another used XJ/MJ box in it. I know of a YJ that's in another JY about 130 miles away, those are also a little stronger because of the fourth attaching bolt. But not as beefy as the Durango box.

Fellas, need some expert opinions on this one. Something happened to the MJ’s steering and it’s now undriveable. I drove it 100 miles to my brother’s house to help him finish some work on his CJ. We finished that and I pulled the MJ in his garage. It sat there for two full days. When we finished setting up the ARB air lines, I topped off all the fluids – a little bit of ATF in the PS pump. Then took it for a little test drive around his neighborhood. I barely got it out of the garage and turned on to the street. I couldn’t even drive it in a straight line at 10 miles an hour around the sub division, much less make a turn. I’ve had PS pumps fail before, this will be the third I’ve put on the MJ, but this time it was completely unsafe. In fact the steering is almost ripping from my hands pulling in either direction seemingly indifferent to speed or straight line travel. :fs1: I figured it was the PS pump anyway. So this morning we went to the JY and pulled another one. I got that on the MJ and the same thing happened. I couldn’t turn at all. It would only turn if I yanked it hard and leaned on turning the steering wheel. The PS pump screams if I turn it more than 20-30 degrees in either direction. It took a 35 point turn just to get it turned 90 degrees back into the driveway. I cleaned the “new” pump and filled it with new PS fluid. Already it turned a boiling chocolate milk color. :headpop: I know the locker isn’t the problem, its unlocking and it wouldn’t be this severe even still locked. The brakes are fine. The new pump is circulating so I know the high pressure line and the return line aren’t plugged. The only thing I can think of is perhaps the steering gear box decided to quit, but its strange because it drove fine to get here and only sat in the garage. The only changes were a new airline to the front locker and a bit of ATF in the power steering pump. So what do you guys think, the gear box? I’ve had them fail in other cars too but it was more a wear issue where they slowly gained more and more slop. I’ve never had a surprise steering failure like this ever.

:cheers:

Yup, I believe there's a couple of guys with it. One is up Canada. Just search for it, you'll see their pics.

Dude, please stick with the original. Fat Tire only unless 1554 is available then that's all I'll drink, unles the Foriegn version of Guinness Extra Stout is available (comes only in 4 packs in the States due to the 7.5% AC). Being an Army Ranger I was drawn to try the Ranger IPA, but its the absolute worst thing coming out of New Belgium.