terrawombat

I'm pretty sure mine has a 5 stamped in the plastic casing. Regardless, it's no longer an issue of the fuse continually blowing.

Are you speaking of the connector for the taillight harness? Would that take out my instrument cluster lights if that was unplugged or loose?

The MJ in my sig just had the instrument lights go out, which also conveniently took out my tail lights so I'll likely be getting a ticket tomorrow morning when I drive to work. Happened as soon as I hit a bump in the road and it blew the 5A fuse under the dash. Replaced it with a good one, turned the lights on and that one immediately blew so I knew I had a short. Looked at it again this morning looking for anything obvious. Couple of relays under the dash (which I think are related to the headlights) were dangling on a bracket. Thought maybe one of the hot wires touched some metal, so I zip-tied the bracket and relays to a safe location. Replaced the 5A fuse and this time it doesn't blow, but the lights still don't come on. Any ideas?

It's a nice piece and I grabbed it from Brian (1999MJ) for $100. Can't complain one bit. It was definitely made for the MJ as it follows the rear of the cab almost perfectly. Also has the cutout for the rear cargo light. Now, if I just had one of those...

I'm up to my ears with my 5.9L ZJ supercharged project, but that doesn't mean I haven't forgotten about the old MJ. Bought a Leer fiberglass cap off of 1999MJ last week and after spinning the well used Cooper H/Ts in our recent wintery weather, I decided it was time to throw on the Ravine's with a couple of brand new Goodyear Wrangler Silent Armor rubber. 2WD in the snow/ice isn't that much fun, but these tires make it a little more manageable. I'm not sure what I'll be doing to her next other than searching for a good used tailgate. I might start coming up with some ideas for front and rear bumpers w/tow hooks as I seem to be pulling this thing out a lot :D

Ok, I've got a better idea since this debate will continue to go round and round. Lets come up with our OWN top-10 worst Jeeps of all time. Here's the catch - you cannot use more than THREE vehicles from the '02-'11 years. It'd just be too easy, otherwise :D I don't have my list yet, but I'll come up with something...

Just the '87-'90 Wrangler with the 4.2L AMC I6 coupled with the Pukegoat 5-speed. There's a reason that the '91YJ is the most sought "angled" rollbar YJ - it got the Chrysler H.O. 4.0L with proper fuel injection and the AX-15.

Lets try not to take the article out of context. I love the M715 as much as any other Jeep enthusiast, but it did have its shortcomings in stock form. Also, remember, this isn't the worst 4x4 vehicles ever made. If that were the case, there wouldn't be a Jeep on the list. We're picking the 10 worst (in terms of off-road performance and aftermarket support for FACTORY parts) from our own litter as they rolled off the factory production line. That said, I don't think the author did a horrible job with his picks and his reasoning is justified in most cases. He's knocking on some of my favorite Jeeps as well - like the FSJs and the M715, but sometimes you have to step back, take a breath, and come to grips with reality :D

You are correct. They list 10 Jeeps (either an entire model line or a range of years of certain model lines) that suck in relation to off-roading/reliability standards in their STOCK form and they're not far off the mark and make some valid points on each one. However, the Jeeps that I quoted from Jim's original reply are simply ones they think were ugly, but by no means did they ever say they were bad Jeeps...just ugly. In my opinion, I don't know why they had such a big gripe with the looks of the Tomb Raider TJ. It's basically just a Rubicon with bushwacker fender flares and some different wheels. The FC Jeeps I can understand. Personally, I think they look cool, but beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

The article was just stating that those Jeeps were ugly, not necessarily bad.

I love picture books.

I love it. We didn't get much with the past weekly snow storm - just a lot of ice/rain, but it certainly made for an entertaining ride to work this morning. Watching the yuppie soccer Mom's in their FWD minivans slip and slide everywhere was a blast. I saw four accidents on my way to work this morning (8 mile drive) ranging from people locking their brakes and running off the road to a guy trying to beat out traffic from a stop sign, doing a complete 180 and getting whacked by the very traffic he tried to beat. Lots of downed power lines and branches this morning, but nothing spectacular. I wish we would have gotten the snow instead of the ice - it looks way cooler.

Hey I think I see a road!

What's the story on this truck? Theft recovery?

While the Chiefs may be rare, I don't think they're THAT rare. In my year-long search for an MJ, I came across about a half dozen Chiefs but never once have I seen a Laredo for sale by me. The only MJ Laredo I've ever seen was on here and it wasn't even a members. It was someones neighbor who had it up on blocks and was contemplating selling it, but I think he finally decided to fix it. I don't consider the Street Comanche a true trim package since it was done by a dealer in Cali. I also don't count the Thunderchief because, well, it was a concept and can't be had....not yet. Found the MJ Laredo you were likely talking about: http://boston.craigslist.org/nwb/cto/2184681634.html

Me too, otherwise I wouldn't modify them :D :agree: This is what I'm in the process of doing. Three modified vehicles - always have at least two of them up and running, but normally always have one in the shop being worked on/tinkered with. The worst case scenario happened to me in mid-December. XJ went down with a weird metal clanking noise in the rear - towed it home to my shop. ZJ had no reverse making it not very practical to take to certain places - parked it in the shop and put in a new trans. Still had the MJ to drive to work and run errands. Currently have all three up and running right now, but the ZJ is about to go under the knife to receive over 3 grand in mods :D Insurance rates are high, but manageable. Once I high-tail it out of NJ they'll come crashing down that it'll be pocket change.

The man speaks the truth. The two most reliable vehicles that I've ever had were the ones I never touched other than basic maintenance. The ones that I modified were the ones always giving me troubles. It was an issue at the time because the vehicles I was modifying were my ONLY vehicles, but not so much anymore. If one of them goes down, I got two more waiting in the wings to take over daily driver duties. I thought I could buy a 5.9L Limited ZJ, fix all the minor problems with it and just LEAVE IT ALONE. You can't. No one can. Just ask Superwade2 - he just bought one and is hooked. About a month after purchasing mine, I now have a supercharger for it sitting in my living room as well as a mound of other parts sitting in my shop.

I lose interest in vehicles about every three months, but I do something a little differently than the rest of you - I rarely ever sell my other vehicles. The first vehicle I had for any significant amount of time was a 1991 3000GT VR-4 twin turbo. Lots of mods, but I got sick of the 13MPG around town with the poor tune I put on it. Then I switched to Jeeps. Started with my '88MJ SporTruck, but the injectors leaked so bad, the crankcase was full of gas. Bearings are all likely trashed, compression is low, although it still ran and got 12MPG. Parked it in my shop in 2005 and it has sat there ever since. Then I switched to the XJ and still have my '01 as a DD, but I came full circle again and got back into the MJ, bought a couple more and then switched back to the XJ, bought four of those and now I'm getitng into the ZJs - bought a 5.9L Limited and looking at picking up a '97 5.2L Orvis. Oh, and I started restoring the interior of my 1991 3000GT VR-4 last week, so we're back to that again. Also just got the opportunity to pick up a '65 CJ-5 that needs to be finished. Keep in mind that this has all taken place in a matter of 5-6 years. I'm just glad my wandering mind is with vehicles and not girls...that gets you into a lot more trouble.

If it don't knock with 87, then that's what it's getting :D

Probably uses a brake fluid level sensor.... fluid level is lower when pads are thin due to more fluid left inside the calipers. I thought of that, but there already seems to be a brake fluid level indicator on the cluster.

How does it check brake pads?

I'd like to know the production numbers of the MJ Laredo. I think I've only ever seen one of those for sale. They're either extremely rare or their owners are so pleased with them that that would never sell.

Just goes to show how lenient they are down there in Texas :D

Yea, why punish the guys that are well equipped? You know, like me.

Awesome.