terrawombat

1/2" dent won't hurt so long as you keep the oil fresh and don't let any sludge build up. If for any reason you need to drop the pan, that'd be the time to replace (or repair dent).

One and done. I work with an older gentleman who is the same way with restuarants around our office. If they take a little too long or screw up his order, they go on the blacklist. There's only about 10 restuarants to eat at and 7-8 of them are blacklisted so he's limited to two types of food - Mexican and an American deli - he's missing out on a lot of other opportunities because of one bad experience. I think it also must be a generational thing... RockAuto is the go-to website for finding manufacturer's and their part numbers for specific parts. There is no other database of parts anywhere else that gives you such a comprehensive breakdown by year/make/model and the component you're looking for. I use this database to find the manufacturer that I want to use - I try to stay with American-made products, but that's near impossible these days. I then use the information to scour the internet to see if I can find a better price. If not, Rock Auto gets my business. Only under very rare circumstances do I step foot in AA or AZ - those places are a joke and are getting worse by the day. Their products are all re-branded Chinese JUNK. Sure, you can get a store manager to refund you if the part is incorrect or replace the part with the correct one, free of charge. You'll likely be going back to the store in 3-6 months to replace that part because it will have already failed. Bottom line - don't alienate a retailer because of one bad experience. Give them a second chance...I bet you'll be surprised.

It's a shame that one bad experience will turn you away from buying quality parts at a cheaper price when compared to the utter garbage AA and AZ sell. Oh well.

Depends. Do you have any PLC programming experience with Allen Bradley equipment?

They hit the dealer lots in early January of this year. I have test driven a couple so far and have almost pulled the trigger, but I cannot justify the price. Both trucks I wanted to buy were over $42K out the door. As for the engine, it was incredibly smooth, quiet and powerful. I enjoyed every second behind the wheel.

My parts book shows that number as an ECU for a 1992 6-cylinder engine with manual transmission.

My 91-93 parts book has all ECU (technically called PCM by Chryco) P/Ns as 5602xxxx. Like Don said, no such thing as an A/C or non A/C ECU/PCM.

Curious as to what these "CD" things he's talking about? Is that like a laserdisc?

Rock Auto's clearance is about the only thing they have going for it now. They used to be the top dawg when it came to online auto parts retailers, but others have caught up. Amazon now offers basically everything and free shipping on a lot of it. The other thing I use Rock Auto for is sourcing parts for my MJ diesel engine. Their international shipping rates are outrageous, but they're better than most other places I have found.

He can always build you another

I like it. Simple, effective and factory. An AUX plugin would make it just about perfect, IMO.

I'm only able to comment on how that lay-z-boy would be made. I won't actually make one, though....for legal reasons, of course.

But all of that talk got edited out to keep the focus on the design so why just do a knee jerk reaction and delete the whole thread? I now remember the loose sloppy fit if the receiver tube. Was that really the only reason they pulled the whole product? If so that's sounds pretty pathetic considering their customers had an issue with their product. And their customers were right. If their response to the customer complaint was to pull the product entirely...well that's just poor business, but I also don't know what comments were made and how they were made. Somehow I don't think it was a very civilized discussion.

I guess the issue was the bumper was presented as a final product with no indication there was additional work going into it other than maybe paint. From what I've seen thus far is Brandon has been very willing to listen to ideas and critques and has taken them in stride. This is a very admirable trait and one that will get him very far in his career path. Designs and ideas are going to be critiqued and picked apart in any industry and being able to navigate through the good and bad ideas is part of being a quality designer. Getting upset because people are allegedly making fun of your baby (see ugly baby syndrome) is part of what makes a poor designer. I see Brandon as the former which is why I was a little surprised to see the original bumper thread deleted because it contained a lot of really good discussion. Oh well.

Because I pulled it based on JJ's advice. It's still a very real issue and the fact that everyone wants to sweep it under the rug in order to keep new MJ products moving along is quite disturbing and frankly it's downright selfish. Brandon I'll give you two pieces of legal advice when selling anything with a trailer hitch on it and then I'll never speak on it again since its a very sensitive subject for some, for whatever reason: 1. Form an LLC and sell your products under that 2. Add a disclaimer to any hitch product that it has no class rating and is not designed to haul a single pound and all responsibility falls on the end user. Put your products on a website and make it so that the purchaser agrees to this disclaimer. OK - that's it.

Sorry - I went back through my e-mails to try and gather who said what, but didn't see any response from Don, but since the thread was deleted it's very difficult to go back and fact-check. I'll edit my OP accordingly. Again, I apologize for the mix-up. Also, I edited my post in that thread too to retract all legal statements that I made on John's advice so as not to derail the thread. We can put the blinders on when it comes to this kind of stuff and that's okay, but there are serious legal ramifications that come with fabricating hitches. I've already looked into it - I talked to a legal expert in the field. I guarantee that's more than anyone fabricating these products has done. Brandon's "company" (Scarborough Hitches) does not appear to be registered as an LLC. That's also not good for his own sake. It's a shame what happened to JCR and I don't know the full history of it, but there is a stark difference between complaining and constructive criticism. I deal with it every single day at my place of work. The complainers are exactly that - complainers. At first people listen to their complaints, but they slowly become the boy who cried wolf and their opinions become devalued. Those with constructive criticism can see an issue and then provide a solution. Complainers = arm-chair fabricators. The latter are just trying to do their part and help out in any way they can. I might not be able to weld as well as Brandon, but I can certainly help him with design and 3D CAD models (offer still stands).

Perhaps we can discuss here so as not to distract or discourage potential designers/fabricators/inventors from coming up with new product ideas for our aging trucks? I think we can do it...let's give it a shot. I'll start. I think it was unfair of Don to call anyone in the rear bumper thread an "arm-chair fabricator" when I saw no evidence of malicious intent, unless there were posts I was not privy to (my e-mail notification shows me each message and I didn't see anything). The thread has since been deleted so it's hard for me to really say. Most posts were merely offering suggestions on how to make the product more robust. We did not have the inside information that Bo and Brandon had that the product was not yet complete and there were additional gusset braces being added to it. Sure, we might not be the blue collar worker who is getting his hands dirty and fabricating these pieces, but that doesn't mean we can't offer suggestions on how the product can be improved.

It's available on all models except work trucks. I feel bad for the guys who pre-ordered their Duramax trucks. They were screwed over countless times on their expected delivery and dealers were getting their orders prior to the pre-order customers.

If chevy can get a diesel truck past the US EPA (even in the midst of dieselgate) then there is zero reason all other mid-sized truck mfrs couldn't do the same. Time for them to step up otherwise GM just cornered a market.

Until Toyota can bring a mid-sized truck with a fuel efficient diesel engine, I won't look in their direction when purchasing a new truck. If I'm able to land a new job in the company that I've been eyeing up and applied to my commute is going to get a whole lot longer. As a result, I will be purchasing a new vehicle and retiring some of my current fleet. I am going to take a very long, hard look at a Chevy Colorado (or GMC Canyon) Duramax.

There are a few things you need to have when owning a diesel MJ or XJ: -Patience -Time -Other working vehicles -Patience I ordered parts about 3 weeks ago and have yet to see them. They are somewhere between Latvia and the USA.

No decent parts sources from the domestic Winnebago dealers? The only Winnebago dealer that even makes an attempt to stock and source parts for this engine is Mobility R.V., INC in Hanlontown, Iowa. The guys there have been great trying to source the really hard-to-find stuff, but their prices can also be a bit on the high side. For example, they sell rocker arms for $50/ea. Those can also be had from European sources for $20/ea and typically $15-20 for shipping costs. I bought my timing cover from them and will be placing an order for some other things in the near future.

As an FYI I have put in roughly $1,000 towards parts for my diesel MJ and it's in RUNNING condition. I would estimate about $200 of those dollars spent are on shipping charges from Europe.

My '86 MJ Diesel came with the metric ton package from the factory as verified by the VIN number. It has an AMC20 with 4.10 gears (gear ratio is unverified, but I believe that is what's in it).

Nope. I already bought my basket case diesel MJ.