terrawombat

I've got a Comanche-specific Draw-tite hitch on my '88 Pioneer. I could get measurements from it, draw it up in CAD, and even burn the side plates out on my CNC machine, but I'm on the other side of the country.

There was a time when I had three ('86 and two '88s), but we're down to just two now. Not going to lie, I pop on Craigslist daily to see which ones I can find locally...

Hey Pete, Got my shirt, CC business cards, and magnet in the mail on Friday. Thanks a bunch for putting forth the effort to do this!

The difference between the 'Chrysler' Jeep in the 80's and 90's and Jeep in the 00's is that they were able to recognize engineering deficiencies and correct them. Even though the '84XJ (and I realize Jeep wasn't Chrysler owned then, but try to stay with me) was considered a disaster with a poor powertain, Jeep recognized this and evolved, stayed true to their name and gave it a bulletproof 4.0L and AW4. Granted, the manual transmission option (pukegoat) still sucked, but they recognized that tranny was better off as a paperweight and threw in the AX-15 (and even gave us an easier to work on external slave cylinder in the mid-90's). Even the YJ got some upgrades in the powertrain category going from the carb'ed 4.2L to the bulletproof fuel injected 4.0L. The death of the XJ is arguably the end of the true Jeep era. Although the TJ lingered on for several more years relatively unscaithed by the idiots at Chrysler, it's death finally gave their engineers full authority to start pumping out some true pieces of s**t. Instead of refining their product lines like they used to do with the XJ, TJ, and YJ, they just continually dump models, add new ones, and build existing ones on entirely new platforms. As an engineer, it's blatantly obvious to me what has happened in the company. The true 'Jeep' engineers are either dead or retired and the new, young engineers of the company are just doing what they're told by the higher-ups - creating crap to fill market niche's. Chrysler doesn't have the money nor balls to actually produce anything that will appease us Jeep folk so there is no bother holding your breath.

My folks had a really nice 1994 Dodge Dakota extended cab, 4x4, V8...maroon with a topper. That was a really sharp looking truck for the time and it wasn't terrible on gas either. We promptly got rid of it because it had a heap of electrical problems. You'd be driving down the road, at any speed, and the truck would just die. You could crank and crank and crank and it wouldn't fire up. My mother was usually driving it when it happened and always had to call up my Dad to come and get her...when he arrived, the truck fired back up and was able to drive back home no problem. Took it to a few people and no one could figure it out. Wound up trading it in on a '98 GMC Sierra 3500 4x4 and 5.7L V8 (not a dually, though) with snow plow package (stiff front suspension) and trailer package (stiff rear suspension) - truck rides rougher than hell, but will pull anything.

i'm fuzzy on the dates for newer stuff, i just don't pay attention to anything not in the 90's, but i'm gonna say the answer to the 2004 thing is the 4.0 maybe, i forget when exactly the minivan motor replaced it. 2007 got the minivan engine. The 4.0L lived until 2006. They did throw in a Mercedes 6-speed manual transmission in the 2005 and 2006 TJ's though, and it seems fairly stout. My girlfriend has a 2006 Jeep Wrangler Golden Eagle Edition with the 4.0L and 6-speed manual and other than 1st gear being completely useless on the road, it's a fun to drive and it feels like a Jeep.

Not sure why some of you want to stop at 2004 for the TJ's - they didn't get bastardized until the 2007 model year when the JK was introduced. Only other Jeep that I would drive past 2006 is a Grand Cherokee SRT-8 :brows:

The NP231 is roughly 75 pounds with no oil. The AW4 well over 100 pounds with fluid, but no torque converter. I'm basing these weights off of what I know I can lift from the ground and onto a table. The NP231 was no problem, but definitely heavier than a 45lb dumbbell (but not heavier than two). The AW4 took a lot of effort for me to pull it from under the truck and lift it onto a cart. I would estimate somewhere in the 135-150lb range.

Looks like that rear bumper has some good rot ;) Hope the owner of the Blazer isn't bitter enemies with his neighbor and it all pans out for ya!

So you initiated a drag race with another vehicle in order to get a good look at a car wreck? Some people never cease to amaze me.

That video ain't going to get me to leave Facebook. How else am I going to check up on my girlfriend every 2 sec...err...days...?

How certain are you that it's seized? You said you tried to jump it and you just got a 'click'. Almost makes me wonder if maybe just the starter is dead. Regardless, try turning the thing over by hand using the bolt on the crank pulley - I think someone mentioned what size it is (19mm?). This should be your very next step. If you can confirm that the engine is indeed seized, then it's time to go the cheap route and dump PB blaster in the spark plug holes and work the thing loose. Sounds like you either need a new battery or a charger to give some life back to the one you've got.

I find 16 and pregnant utterly amusing. It makes me laugh every time I see how truly blind these kids are. Yes, I admit, I'm extremely shallow. I got hooked on Pawn Stars simply because some of the stuff brought in is really neat. I also love when they drop stuff off to get restored, mainly because I know some of the restorations they are doing take weeks, sometimes even months (like the airplane), but I get to see the finished product by the end of the show! I don't believe Chumley is really as dumb as he is portrayed and a lot of his stuff is scripted. There are also some other things that are entirely too scripted that bother me - like when the grandson was to deliver the "toilet chair" to someone and just put it in the back of the truck, didn't strap it down, or put the tailgate up and it flew out and broke...obviously scripted.

This works better: http://reddeer.kijiji.ca/c-cars-vehicle ... Z202949931

I was thinking about taking my YJ through inspection with no doors or top on it. I guess that wouldn't be such a good idea here in NJ...

The vehicle in question is a 1997 TJ Wrangler - no historic tags for that for a long time.

ZJ's came with 4.0's as well....I see no need for dealing with clearance issues. The motor mounts between the ZJ and the XJ/MJ are very, very different. Just because a 4.0L fits inside of the ZJ engine bay proves nothing in the way of what the 5.2L V8 engine will do when fitted with XJ/MJ engine brackets and placed in an XJ/MJ engine bay. Granted, V-engines are wider and less tall than inline engines, but there is also a lot more supporting equipment that needs to sit on top of a V engine (intake, throttle body, air cleaner connection) whereas on an inline engine, all of that stuff can be put to the side.

The hood is awful, but I wonder if that was done for clearance issues. Obvious it doesn't need to be THAT big, though.

If the Jeep originally had a 2.5L, I certainly wouldn't mind the 4.3L Vortec V6. I've driven the piss out of a '98 Chevy Blazer and a '01 GMC Sonoma - each had the 4.3L. It had plenty of power, no problems, and was extremely reliable. The Sonoma also was pushing 24-25MPG on the highway which was probably my favorite thing about that engine.

This, to me, seems like an inherently bad idea. Now, I may be overreacting a bit, but my thought is that if you start spraying the bottom of an open engine with brake clean, some of it may seep its way into rod and main bearings. Brake clean is pretty powerful stuff and it'll remove coatings of oil with ease. The last thing you want to do is start up the engine with no lubrication between any of the bearings. So when you go to replace the RMS and reinstall the last main bearing cap, make sure you coat the bearing very liberally with some oil or engine assembly lube - do not install it dry.

At least they made it to the playoffs! Their pro-sports counterparts, the Bills, haven't seen a playoff birth since the late 90's! I was pulling for Buffalo, too.

I'll toss some pictures up. I didn't get any once I applied seam sealer (and I already reinstalled the interior), but here is what I've got. Rust: Cut out the bad: Weld in the good: Fit the good: Good welded in:

AFAIK ZJs never had a front bench seat. XJs did, and of course MJs. Hard to find a decent one, but they show up occasionally on Ebay. I think this is your only option, unless there's an aftermarket one out there. :dunno: The XJs came with a front bench seat?

When I did the floor in my MJ, I tacked the replacement panel down on one corner using a very small bead (maybe 1/8" or a little larger). I then worked around the rest of the pan molding it to the original MJ floor and continued to use small tacks about 1.5" apart. After it was tacked up and to my liking, I went back over each tack and put down about a 1" long bead, but there were still gaps in between. I used a high quality seam sealer (The brand name is escaping me right now) and it has held up very well so far. I was very liberal in the amount of seam sealer I used and I applied it both on top and on the bottom of the new replacement panel. I used POR-15 on the bottom of the panel (underneath the truck) and Valspar Tractor & Implement paint on top (inside of the cab). Would have used POR-15 on both sides if I had enough of it. That stuff is too expensive for me to keep a large supply of it.

I think you mean it currently has .030" wire and you'd like to put 0.035" wire in it. If you're only putting 20 gauge steel sheet in the floorpans, then that welder is probably fine the way it is currently setup. 20 gauge sheet is pretty thin stuff - I think the original floorpans were at least 18 ga., but I may be wrong...I'm just going off what my YJ Wrangler tub was made from and the MJ could be different. I used 14 ga. steel to repair my MJ floors. It was definitely thicker than stock, but I didn't want to mess around with replacing those again as it's not the most enjoyable job in the world. I used a 110v Lincoln MIG welder - the kind you get from Home Depot, but mine is setup for CO2/Argon gas and I use 0.023" solid wire.