terrawombat

That is precisely what I did, to the T. I even tried doing it using multiple methods. First, the easy method of backing up our current database through the phpBB control panel, then uploading the database to the fresh install. It seemed to transfer all of the members over, but all forum content was missing. Next I tried to take the backed up database and do it using a slightly more "manual" method of creating the database in MyPHP and dumping all of the content in there. Still didn't work. In fact, that method turned out to be an abomination. From what I can tell, the automated phpBB backup of the forum isn't complete, but I'm not enough of a database expert to know what is in there and what isn't. The next step I would need to take would be to gain access to the server side of ComancheClub so I can get access to MyPHP and work from there as I would have a lot more control over the database than what phpBB offers in their admin control panel. I'm not sure I'd want to even attempt that since I'm not well-versed enough in it. It's kind of like working on a foreign automobile for me. I know what is what under the hood and could eventually figure out how to fix it, but not without breaking a thing or two :D All is not completely lost, though. I'm still going to help out Pete and get a better "captcha" going so that we don't get all of the spambots registering. I'm concerned that each one is unnecessarily taking up valuable database space with each account that is created. Regardless if they are activated by Pete, they are still taking up a spot in the database. There are literally 50+ account per day that are signing up for the forums. Although I haven't seen a new user e-mail in a few days...maybe Pete fixed something?

It was a 17 year old platform that needed to be updated and conform to newer, stricter vehicle safety and emission standards. It was cheaper for Chrysler to design its successor (the Liberty) than it was to REdesign the aging Cherokee. The current automotive market environment has vehicle models going through complete facelifts and overhauls every 3-5 years, so even the newer body-style XJs (1997-2001) were expired. Chrysler doesn't care about what parts you can swap over from this truck to that - they don't make any money off of that. Their profits come from the initial sale of the vehicle and spare parts.

Game of Thrones and The Borgias for me. I'll tune into Storage Wars, Auction Hunters and American Pickers on occasion. I love seeing what some of those guys find, but I don't care much for the "reality" aspect of it. I used to watch Jersey Shore, but only because I was down in Seaside a few times while they were filming the first season so I wanted to see if I got any air time on the show. I didn't :(

That presupposes two things that don't work on the 2000 4.0L: (1) You need to remove a spark plug to feel if #1 is coming up on compression or exhaust; and (2) You have to be able to see the timing marks on the front of the engine. I'm old enough to have grown up with points and condensers and actually setting the timing every time we did a "tune-up." Which, back then, we did every 10,000 miles. I know what the timing marks look like -- and they aren't visible on the 2000 XJ. And I don't feel like fighting the idiot coil rail a second time just to pull ONE spark plug so I can feel for compression while I crank. I was hoping you would tell me that Jeep thought about this and made provision for it. I guess not. I'd say sorry, but I wasn't the engineer at Chrysler who did the design and layout of the 4.0L. I didn't day that this diagnosis would be effortless. This is a Chrysler-made product, afterall. If you remove the aux. fan, you can shine a flashlight at a certain angle and get a glimpse of the timing mark. With the help of a fold-able mirror, it becomes a trivial task. As for determining if the #1 cylinder is at the top of the compression or exhaust stroke...if your alignment hole in the cam sensor looks to be 180 degrees out, then you're most likely on the incorrect stroke - spin the crank around another turn and you'll be there.

Line up the notch on the crank pulley to the zero tick mark on the timing chain cover.

Line up the notch on the crank pulley to the zero tick mark on the timing chain cover.

What wire? I've had a similar, "out of the blue" problem like this with my 2001 XJ - and it conveniently happened when I was trying to get my XJ through inspection. Anyway, I tried changing the spark plugs and saw no difference. I had 300 people telling me it was the common heat soak problem. Okay - so why didn't it do it in year's prior when the temperature was much warmer? It turned out that the bolt holding down the crow's foot on my camshaft position sensor had somehow worked itself loose enough that the sensor spun itself a few degrees before re-lodging itself stuck. It seems that the Jeep PCM is able to compensate for the timing being out a few degrees and it seemed to run somewhat normal, except for those times when it didn't... Anyway, long story short - I found this article about timing your coil-on-plug XJ with a toothpick and haven't had a problem since (2+ years now). http://www.askamechanic.info/askamech2/ ... iew/55/47/ Could be a long shot, but still worth a shot...

Lucky you. I can go from "my skin is cracked and bleeding" to "I feel like I'm in a sauna" in the same week.

but it is a controlled consistent humidity rather than a constant fluctuation Although you live at 233098 ft altitude so you probably have less problems with massive swings in humidity.

I always put a sheet of plastic food wrap under the top before I hammer it down. I also have heard that keeping it in the fridge will make it last longer (moisture control).

Ha, yes, the AC configuration on the 97+ style interiors is much, much better - mainly the airflow and the controls. I still wish there was an A/C on/off button so that I could have the blower running in the floor/vent position and NOT have the A/C compressor kick on. A simple add-on, but something I wish they would have incorporated into the controls from day 1. It almost seems like there is a spot for a button in the lower left hand corner of the 97+ controls...

I did the same when I replaced mine. I'm not sure when the year was that Chrysler started doing the NVH (noise, vibration, harshness) stuff to the 4.0L, but those are the only year XJ's that I want to own anymore. Going from my 88 Renix 4.0L to my 01XJ 4.0L is like night and day. One feels like a tank and the other feels, well, normal.

I have ran into other forums administrators that say the same thing about phbb - sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't and there is no rhyme or reason as to why. However, I'm still not convinced a complete switch is the answer. I still think an "offline" beta version of the site needs to be tested on someone's server (I've got one I can set up) to put the latest phbb software on it and then upload the database and other settings into it to figure out the steps that need to be taken. Honestly it sounds like the forum admins are already doing that in some fashion as Pete has said he has tried newer versions, but has always had to revert back to an older one to have a functioning board and I don't recall this site ever being down for site maintenance.

There is no superior cell phone company. You need to go with the company that is best for your area. Your area apparently is poo poo for AT&T, so I'd look into a switch to Verizon or Sprint. Chances are they're not going to upgrade the service in your area any time soon so don't bother waiting for them to. In my case, I've had AT&T since 2002 (when it was Cingular One). I have now lived in two parts of NJ and MD and I have not had ONE single problem with their service. None. Zip. Nada. I consider myself to be living in the middle of nowhere right now and I'm still picking up 4G speeds and when I go to work I'll get 4G LTE and it's laughably fast. My GF has Verizon and it absolutely blows in this area, but it's fantastic everywhere else. Don't get another iPhone. I dunno what their reluctance to use the 4G data network is, but it's a stupid decision as 3G is antiquated technology.

I don't think a switch to a new forum is warranted...yet. What should be tried first is to get a host established on a virtual machine and load the newest phbb software. Then tinker around with it and upload the current ComancheClub.com database and record the steps taken on the virtual "offline" server before doing it with the current host. That way we can keep the current broken board limping along while we figure out how to transfer it to the new one and we can minimize downtime. I've done this twice before when I was hosting forums (Simple Machines Forums) because the update/upgrade process wasn't always intuitive. I would have to do some reading and refreshing of my memory to figure out how to create the virtual machine to set it up as a host, but I'd be willing to do that if the admins would be willing to fork over an old database file for me to play around with. I'm not familiar with phbb so I'd have to dig into it and see how it works.

This. As you know, I also recently moved into a new house with a garage. Luckily my garage already had all of the wiring and lighting installed, HOWEVER, I had a drop ceiling hanging about 2' from the bottom chords of the trusses, which gave me a low clearance garage that is completely useless for anything requiring a floor jack. I did a lot of research on the topic of garage ceilings and spent a lot of time on the Garage Journal Forums (that place is an amazing wealth of information for garages). The general consensus on optimal lighting for a garage is fluorescent lights with a bright white ceiling. A lot of guys recommended using white corrugated metal roofing panels on the ceiling as they are relatively cheap and easy to come by. I looked at doing it for my garage, but it was out of my price range as I'm still hemorrhaging from the closing costs and down payment to get my house. Instead, I put up some cheap OSB from Lowes with the intention of doing the corrugated metal down the road. Right now with OSB and fluorescent lighting my garage is very cave-ish, but luckily I have four windows for plenty of natural light in the daytime. Whatever you go with, a drywall lift is a MUST, even if you have two people doing it, this will make the job go by 5X faster. I rented mine from Home Depot for $35/day. You can also purchase one on Amazon.com for $145 and then resell it on CL after you're finished with it: http://www.amazon.com/Pentagon-Lifter-Professional-Drywall-Hoist/dp/B00149E822/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1335617387&sr=8-1

Happens in Chrome and Firefox, too.

The Chinese are expert copiers and the greatest part is that they can do it for about 60% of the cost that we can. I started working in an industry where Chinese knockoffs of our products have surfaced and we simply can't compete with their prices. Although, with China in their industrial revolution, they are experiencing a rise in the cost of production and the cost of labor. It's only a matter of time before they start outsourcing their stuff to us :D

No complaints here. I'm not paying for access to this forum so I'm not entitled to complain :) Let me know if you'd like a hand with it. I used to run a few different types of forums and have been through all of the fun database stuff. At the very least, let me try to get rid of that damn Jeep Comanche webring on the front page LOL

Been working on my shop lately - ripped the drop ceiling out and replaced it with OSB. Somewhere down the line when I plan to put something over the OSB so brighten up the shop, but for now I'm house-poor and on a budget so oriented chip board will have to suffice. At least it smells nice. Apparently the previous, previous owner didn't believe in electrical junction boxes so I've been spending some time fixing his Mickey Mouse wiring job. Here's a couple of in process photos. Sorry for the poor quality but my nice digital camera is still at my old shop so I'm using my camera phone for now. Rented a drywall lift from Home Depot. Talk about a time saver. Paid about what it would have cost to buy a new one on Amazon.com. Oh well, probably never need one again for another 10 years. You can also see the garage door opener that I found above the drop ceiling. Plugged it in and it still works New, raised ceiling is up with plenty of clearance for jacking up vehicles and getting underneath. Still need to wire up a couple of the lights, but there is more electrical work that needs to be done prior to that happening. I have three lights working and that's plenty for now. My next task is to actually get a working garage door. The horizontal tracks on one garage door were removed and disposed of (and apparently are a mutant track and hard to find). The other garage door was ripped down and replaced with a wall (see photo from my appraisal report): I began dismantling the shelving that was built into the wall: Then found out that the drywall was GLUED to the framework. Out came the sledgehammer. Unfortunately I had too much fun swinging the hammer and didn't get any pictures of the destruction. Got the wall down and found a lot of existing framework on the garage that needs to be replaced before I install the garage door I picked up on CL for $100. That will be my project for this week, if all of this rain ever stops...

Ah, the joys of home ownership. I get a call today from the previous owner of the house. He tells me that the town I moved into has some law/rule/whatever that when a home inside of the town limits changes owners a home sewer & water inspection must be done. First I've heard of this, but the PO already scheduled a plumber to come in and do the work. Told him I could meet the plumber on a certain day at a certain time so he schedules the guy to come in then. Plumber shows up 30 minutes late and says the inspection will probably take 30 minutes. Call my boss and tell him I'll be about an hour late to work. One and a half hours go by and the plumber tells me he's finally done and that there is a small leak in my sewer line and then leaves. Huh? WTF? So, what now? I receive an e-mail from the previous owner's real estate agent that says I need to contact my title insurance company because they guaranteed a clean title on the house and there is supposedly something wrong with my sewer line. I told her that my sewer line has nothing to do with the title, but I'd certainly look into it in the event that one of the many insurances I had to buy on the house will actually cover it (I certainly didn't expect to be putting in a new sewer line). Yay. My day got even better when I checked my mailbox and saw a letter from the town saying my trees in the front yard were hanging on the telephone lines and I had to take care of it or else I would be fined. Guess I need to call up Verizon and hope they'll actually send someone out to take care of the branches...

I do not believe they offered a Laredo in '86. There was a TRUE Laredo for sale in south NJ for roughly the same price and in much, much better condition. Meant to go look at it, but me and seller could never make a good time to meet up.

Most of my stuff is American-made Craftsman with the occasional Blue Point & Snap-on tool thrown in the mix (when I can afford it). I buy a lot of Harbor Freight junk for tools I'm going to use maybe once or twice a year and, for the most part, it has never let me down. When I was in NJ, I had a Sears about 10 minutes from my house so it wasn't a big deal to stop by to exchange broken tools, especially because the Auto Parts store was next door and I was going there once or twice a week. Now that I'm in MD, the nearest Sears is a "Hometown" store and the guy there seems to be pretty wishy-washy on what broken tools he'll exchange. I can usually talk my way into getting new tools, but it's an effort. Although they are made in Taiwan, I have had some great experience with Gearwrench tools. I have a ratcheting combination wrench set and a 1/4" ratchet from them and they are much, much better than my Craftsman equivalents. Dunno about their warranty though.

James?! Your name is James?! I'm still calling you Sam. Congrats. Now finish the thing.

Congrats man! I'm assuming you closed on time. Now you get to spend the next few weeks packing, loading, unloading, unpacking. Don't think I've gotten a decent sleep in the last 14 days as its been late to bed early to rise so that I can get everything in its place and back to the way it was. Just did a 16 hour day yesterday driving up to NJ, getting a 16' moving van, packing it up with all of my stuff from my old place (and a few things from my shop) and driving back down to Maryland. About to close up my laptop and start unloading the thing. I estimate that I'll need at least one more 16' moving van to get the rest of the stuff from my shop and probably two trailer trips to get my vehicles...but that's for another day. I took enough tools with me during this trip to get me started on some small projects.