terrawombat

Beautiful cats! I also miss having a cat or ten around the house. The addition of my siberian husky to the family has pretty much made the house a NO CATS EVER home.

Free rust protection. Oh wait, no such thing as rust down there. :fs2:

Well, then you probably shoulda just stopped there... I will agree that the MJ frame is not designed to withstand Class IV loads. Heck, it's probably barely capable of doing Class II loads. I, however, was designing a set of sideplates for a receiver hitch and that's what I was concerned with. In engineering, you have to make assumptions to narrow down the problem and reduce its complexity, which is what I did for this problem. The model that I showed was in no way the final end-all-be-all, but just some preliminary findings to show my potential client base that I was doing a little more than just copying someone else's design. I had no intention of classifying my hitch sideplates as ClassIII, IV, or anything else for that matter. In fact, we had discussed somewhere in this thread that a disclaimer would be issued with each set to let the customer know that these plates are not rated for anything. The cost to get a receiver hitch rated is very, very expensive and depending on where you live and how strict your vehicle inspections or local law enforcement is, it could be an issue - hence the disclaimer. The reason I even threw around the Class III and IV stuff was because I used the Class IV load ratings as a guideline for my boundary conditions for the FEA model. I agree, but it needs to be broken down into smaller chunks. My chunk was determining the strength of the sideplates.

If you want to call basic engineering principals blowing it out of proportion, then yes, I was. I don't like to just copy designs and automatically assume that because it worked, so will the copy. I was also intending to sell these at one point, so if I didn't do my homework and design it properly, I would have slandered my name and reputation. Both the Draw-tite and U-haul hitches have inherent design flaws that could easily be fixed to make a much more robust and reliable product. That was my intent when I was "blowing it out of proportion."

I place 10 orders a week just to try and get Brent's magnet, but still haven't got it :( Now...what am I going to do with all of these parts...

Came back to my shop in NJ for the weekend to get some more wiring done. I started permanently soldering, heat-shrinking and electrical taping up wires that I knew were in the correct spot. I concentrated on the passenger side of the vehicle since there were fewer wires and I had figured most of those out. Started like this: Ended like this: A little cleaner and I need to arrange things in the engine bay, like the PCM, so I can get the wire routed correctly and when I'll be using push-mount style zip ties to tie it into the sheet metal. I worked on the drivers side a little bit and was able to figure out the wipers. The XJ's intermittent wiper logic is on the wiper switch on the column. The ZJ's intermittent wiper logic is a combination of a relay in the power distribution center (the underhood fuse/relay panel) and a ground signal from the ZJ body control module (BCM). Since I won't be using the ZJ BCM (except for possibly wiring it into the CCD network so my engine stays running for longer than 3 second), I had to reroute and snip some wires to get the wipers to work correctly. I also swapped a ZJ wiper motor onto the assembly so that the ZJ engine harness plugged right in. Seems to work just fine. I also tried to work on the fog lights, since the XJ donor supposedly came with them installed. The front was smashed up and the front bumper long gone, but it had the fog switch on the interior panel. Turns out someone must have swapped it in because the wiring for the fog lights is non-existent. I would have had to come up with something creative since the XJ uses a relay in the PDC for the fogs and the ZJ uses a relay on the interior junction block (which is not in the system). I thought about using the now-unused intermittent wiper relay, but it operates off of a ground signal, whereas the XJ fog relay operates on a 12VDC signal. I could take apart the PDC and re-wire it, but not sure it's worth the trouble just yet. Also tried to get the horn to work. This is an interesting scenario since the XJ has a relay on the interior junction block for the horn, while the ZJ uses a relay in the underhood PDC. I can get the relay in the interior to click, but it sends a 12VDC signal to the underhood PDC, when it's looking for a ground. Solution will to be to remove the PDC relay and jumper it out and just let the XJ operate normally. I want to do it this way so that the "panic" button on my keyfob toots the horn. Not sure how much I'll get done tomorrow as I ran out of supplies. Need more shrink tubing and good electrical tape. Here are some other pictures:

I've got a set of brand new perches from Mopar. Part number P4120074. I bought them with the intention of putting a D44 in and I believe the Mopar perches have a 3" radius on them to fit the D44 axle tubes. The Ford 8.8 has 3.25" axle tubes so the Mopar perches don't quite fit flush, but it's not too bad.

I believe he said wheel adapters in another thread.

If it makes you feel any better, I just went from a house with an 80'x32' shop to a house with a 0'x0' shop/garage/area with concrete. Be grateful you at least have a garage, even if it has no power outlets :D

E-mail would work best. I just moved to Maryland and the cell phone service at my new place of residence is non-existent - might have to finally say goodbye to AT&T and hello to Verizon (yuck). Anyway I can most likely send you the design, but it's on my computer that is attached to my CNC plasma machine back at my shop in NJ so you can see the logistical issues I have with that right now. I'll be heading back to NJ this weekend so I should be able to grab it then. I'll send you a PM with my contact information.

They're generally 1/8" aluminum.

And I see this little guy: Down with some friends in Rehoboth, DE at Dewey Beach and it seems the food vendor has some good taste in vehicles. After a few more cold ones, I'll go over there and ask him if it's for sale. Also, I swear I saw a member on here from this area. I'll ask if he's on the forums.

Slightly off topic, but if you decide to switch to power steering and have no use for that manual steering box, might want to give the member "mjtjnj" a holler. viewtopic.php?f=25&t=31554

Well, here's how she sits before I take off for Maryland. Kind of bummed since I had a full head of steam going on this project, but I could also use the break. Big ticket items left are: Engine bay to interior wiring Paint trans tunnel and then spray with undercoating Pull 5.9L and 46RE from '98ZJ donor Clean engine/trans, paint Install engine/trans Retrofit Dakota fuel tank to fit Route fuel and rear brake lines Interior wiring cleanup/splicing Install new rear leafs Set pinion angle on Ford 8.8 and weld perches Paint Ford 8.8 and install Mount Drivers door Mount front fenders, header panel, hood, and front bumper Mount bed and rear bumper Complete exterior repaint Yikes - that list looks longer than I thought. Oh well, one step at a time. I plan to use my weekdays down in MD to do research and order any parts and then come back to NJ on the weekends to wrench.

You can polish a turd, too, but it's still a turd.

I personally think it's pretty tacky, but my opinion on wooden bumpers has been very biased since the guy down the street from me purchased a brand new '06 Rubicon TJ five years ago and immediately took off the front and rear bumpers and fitted them with a set of stained oak bumpers. Talk about trashing a Jeep that already looked great from the factory...

When I adjusted the bands on my 46RE, I used a 1/4" drive 12-point socket. I'll be damned if I remember what size it was, though. The torque wasn't very high where the socket would start to slip on the square head.

I have a preliminary spreadsheet that has all of the wire colors/wire gauges, which connector they are in and what their function is. Unfortunately, the wiring diagrams for both the XJ and ZJ are somewhat cryptic in how they describe certain things. For example, they will label a lot of the wires as "Fused B(+)", but they won't tell you where it's supposed to be fused to, so you have to look at the wire color and location and go back through the wiring diagrams to figure out what it's used for. So far, I've just been determining each 12V power wire coming out of the power distribution box and giving it a nice, easy to understand name, like "HVAC Blower 12V Power" and updating my spreadsheet with the names I've been giving the wires. Eventually I'll have a fully updated spreadsheet with more decriptive names and I should be able to create a wiring schematic, if I have the time or energy at that point. While looking through the wiring diagrams, I realized that the 12V power wire for the interior lighting also supplied power to the radio, so I pulled the radio out of the '98ZJ donor, threw it in the MJ, but since I don't have the antenna mounted yet, I didn't get any stations to come in. So, I found an old box of junk in the storage room in my shop and it just so happened to contain an LL Cool J CD, so I'm currently rocking out to that. Don't call it a comeback, I've been here for years...

The wiring has begun... The last picture is my wiring information station. I have one laptop with the XJ PDF manual up and the other has the ZJ. So far I have power to the instrument cluster, interior lights work, ignition switch trips the starter relay, and the blower motor runs. This will probably be a long process of testing, splicing wires, and then cleaning it all up. What is really annoying about the ZJ engine bay/lighting harness is that a lot of the power/signal wires are on the opposite side of where the XJ stuff is. I imagine by the time this is over and done with, I'll have a pretty hefty bundle of wires crossing over the top rear of the engine bay to get the wires where they need to be.

I would venture a guess that the full gauge cluster is original. I say that because this truck seems pretty well "optioned" out. It's got the retractable underhood light and a cargo light. Some auto Comanche's have the gear selector on the dash, but I believe that in '86, the gear selector display was mounted right on the column, itself - at least that's how our auto '86 was.

I don't have experience with the ACC molded carpet for the MJ, but I have used them in a couple of Mitsubishi 3000GT's, which are of a similar size to the MJ. I felt there was a lot left to be desired with the kit. A lot of cutting and trimming and the carpet never seemed to fit quite right in any of the corners of the vehicle. I needed to use adhesive velcro to keep the carpet against the floor pan around the door sill areas, although the way the MJ plastic trim is made, that wouldn't be a problem. They say that the use of a heat gun will help with the install and can "soften" the mold on the carpet so that you can recontour it to fit, but I did not find that to be the case at all. The quality of the carpet was no where near OEM quality - it was much worse. After about 6 months of daily driving, there were spots on the carpet that started to become matted. The 15 year old OEM carpet I replaced was stained to no end, but it was still plush. Also, the "jute" padding they added to the underside was about half the thickness of the OEM stuff. Unfortunately, we don't have many options for carpeting. I'm currently installing the front portion of a 1999XJ carpet in my MJ and so far, so good. However, I also installed the front seat bracket mounts in my MJ, which the XJ carpet is contoured for. Once I get it in and trimmed, I'll take some pictures, but I think it's going to come out pretty nice.

Yep - an extremely common axle and very easy to get parts. Hard to beat $150 for a complete axle with near new brake pads and rotors. Also seems pretty easy to find them with 4.10 gears. I found three 4.10 ratio 8.8's at my local pick and pull, but went with a Trac-Loc 3.73 axle to match the front that is already in my truck. Sure beats trying to find the elusive MJ D44. Even the XJ D44's are going for $400, minimum, and I'd have to regear them anyway.

I began routing the engine bay wiring today. The engine bay harness for the lights, front turn signals, fog lights, wipers, washer, etc. is out of a '98ZJ with a 4.0L. I'm not sure if I'll stick with this harness or yank the one out of my donor 5.9L ZJ since it has the provisions for the electric fan in it already. It's basically just an extra 60A fused circuit in the power distribution center and I'm not sure if I'll be going electric or mechanical fan. At the very least, I can get the engine bay wiring harness routed and fitted properly. It's going to be extremely frustrating and interesting to get this to work, but the fit isn't all that bad and it definitely looks plausible. Also got the brake booster in and front lines hooked up. Temporarily blocked off the line going to the rear since I don't have the rear axle completed yet. It's currently bolted in the truck, but it's on the stock leafs and the pinion angle isn't correct and it's not even centered. When I finally get my 3" rear leafs from Hell Creek, I'll get those bolted up, pinion angle set, new perches welded, axle painted, and permanently mounted in the truck. In the meantime, the front brakes are bled and seem to work. I may have an extra hand for much of the day tomorrow, so I think we'll concentrate on getting the engine/trans outta my donor 5.9L ZJ. Unfortunately, the updates will be few and far between starting next week as I begin my new job in Maryland. I'll be coming home some weekends to work on the truck, but I hope to find my own place in MD with a garage so I can haul the thing down there with me.

Yes, I've noticed the narrower track, but I knew that going into this. Wanted to see what it looked like first and then decide on what spacers to get later.

Good to hear. Was your driveshaft noticably angled? FYI - I'll be at 3" of lift and I've got that conversion piece on order.