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this is a sweet build. I could use a steering column and an old crappy bench seat. Do you know where I could get a deal on those? Did I see you are in Winston Salem?

that is about where I was headed. I don't even have a diagram to know what all the fuses go to and the cover is missing as well (if there ever was one).

on my MJ, it has a roll bar and fog lights that would appear to be factory but I'm not sure. The fog lights were working when I got it but now they aren't (as well as my interior lights). I'm troubleshooting my fog lights and can't seem to get things sorted out, I don't have any documentation. There is a blue wire running from the fuse panel (near the clutch) that runs to the switch on the dash. coming out of the switch in the dash is a green wire that has a male blade type plugs. When I flip on the switch, there is power reading on the green wire. It looks like it could plug right into an empty slot in the fuse panel. There is a red wire that appears to be going from the fuse panel back to the fog lights. There is also a gray wire running in the same direction but I am unsure what it is for. These wires look like something someone might rig up but i am not sure. Anyone have any insight? I took a couple of pictures but taking them underneath there, none of them really turned out that well. I don't think you can tell anything from looking at them. Should i just remove all those wires and re-wire everything using a relay? i don't see a relay but am not sure if there is some kind of relay built into the fuse box with the way the wires are running etc. thanks in advance, Chris

I understand that. We like to ride up in the swamp (paper company timber land) and with the two buckets that is tough with my wife and two small kids. We usually throw a couple of chairs in the back and my wife and our 5yo ride back there while i drive and our little one bounces around up front. I found a bench a couple hrs away I might go get though....

86MJJEEP, where are you located? I have burgundy buckets and would like a bench. My buckets are pretty worn though.

it was low speed with a deer, the grill and bumper caught most of the damage. Thanks for all the responses, i have a few things to look into now.

there is a good amount of play in the steering when driving. Say you are driving straight and have the steering wheel at 12 o'clock, you would have to go to say 11 o'clock to go left or 1 o'clock to go right, then the steering is good. Could that be related?

if yo don't read anything else, read the part about the fram filters and the email from the fram engineer. If you are on your way to the store to buy a filter, you can look at the list and get one made by Wix, Champion Labs or Purolator and know it is a pretty good one. you can then spend as much as you want :-)

will do, my passenger side front fender was banged up a little due to my nephew hitting a deer with it before I got it but I pulled it out where you don't notice it, maybe it is actually pulled out more than it should be. I was more lining it up with the rear wheels. I might measure from the inside of the wheel to something underneath for a starting point and get someone to rock the steering wheel back and forth a few times so i can see what might be going on. thanks for the responses, i'll try to post back my findings.

that was the article I read, it really is a great read. I'm going to bookmark it for future reference.

i remember pricing spacers for my 06 Trailblazer and they were about $400 a set. i think for a jeep you can find a wheel with the backspacing you want for less than that and remove a possible point of failure.

from a thread I read on the jeepforum board ....I've heard nothing good about fram. The worst out there from what i read. .... they are made of cardboard inserts and have plastic valves that let dirty oil leak back into the pan. Not enough oil flow... I found a thread on a board somewhere where the guy had taken apart and tested most of the filters on the market. Seems like at the bottom was the orange fram filter. I seem to recall the upgraded fram as being ok. in the middle were ones like WIX, NAPA GOLD, Super Tech etc. Think most of the middle of the road filters were made by Champion labs. At the top were ones like Mobile1 and K&N. I may not have all of those exactly right but my reading lead me to believe the SuperTech filter is fine for me.

no, completely stock. 235/75/15 tires, aluminum stock jeep wheels.

no pic but mine is in the middle of my roll bar between my lights. It was that way when I bought it.

ok, i hadn't noticed this until I got new tires but my drivers side front wheel looks to be sitting out about an inch further than the other tires. it almost looks like a wider rim or something. All the other tires are pretty much flush with the body but the driver side front tire looks to be out about an inch, maybe more. Everything drives fine except there is a little play in the steering wheel. TRE's all seem ok. Any ideas?

thanks folks, i think we are actually going to try to fix the jeep, so no auto for me for now...

I did a search but couldn't find anything. I have the Peug 5spd in my MJ(88) but have an XJ(98) with a cracked head that I am going to part out. I was thinking about putting the AW4 from the XJ into the MJ. Is it an unbolt straight swap or is it much more involved than that? I like the 5spd just fine but it doesn't work too well on boat ramps....

many thanks

i have an 88 with I think what you call the BA 10/5 manual tranny. If I have problems with it, what is an easy automatic swap? What about another 5 speed? I'm not a mechanic but have gotten pretty good at changing parts and rarely have to hire someone to do anything, especially with boards like this.

thanks guys, I was pretty sure I had sanded it good. It was just a few weeks ago so it was actually hot around here. I was going to slowly work on the rusty spots, prime those spots and then paint the whole thing. I guess I need to work on larger sections and then paint it. Then when I am done paint the whole thing with a coat or two. I'm not terribly concerned with how the paint job looks (different shades), I just want it to be a consistent color (camo) and don't want it to rust. If the paint turns out good then that is a bonus.

I've read before on here that the equipment paint you get from tractor supply companies usually hold up pretty well, especially for wheelers. I'm looking into painting mine as well. I stopped at Tractor Supply Company last week, shopping for paint and most colors (limited color selection) were about $28 per gallon and the reducer(branded by the same co) was $8 per quart and I think they had some hardener for about $15. I ended up getting a gallon of OD green ($22) and a quart of matte black ($9) as I want do do a kind of camo pattern. Not to hijack the thread but i have some surface rust, i sanded down real good,to pretty much bare shiny metal and I painted over it with rattle can primer and after a couple weeks I can see the rust peeking back through again. Is this because I needed to sand more or because I used cheap rattle can primer?

darn, all i got was a tool kit with a new drill, sander and jigsaw. I really needed the drill and sander. I'm sure I'll find a use for the jigsaw. i might find the right blade and use it to do some trimming later :D

I'd like to have a bench if for no other reason than to get more than one passenger in the front. Are there any bench seats i can swap in pretty easily? mJ's aren't very common here and I have never seen a bench in the front of an XJ.

I appreciate threads like this because the folks that like the optima can tell you why and the folks that don't can tell you as well. I seem to get about 5 years out of my normal lead cranking batteries from walmart, I can't justify spending the $$$ for the optima. Over the years I have used many different deep cycle batteries for my boats and they all seem to last 2-3 years before they lose their strength. The past few times i just get them from Walmart mainly because WM is convenient and if you are ever out of town and it is under warranty you can get assistance.

I'm pretty sure on a manual you can put it in neutral and tow it home. you might check around on hiring a tow truck. i was going to rent a dolly one time to take my truck to the repair shop. Seems like the dolly rental was like $50 from uhaul but the tow truck was only $35. I was only going 10 miles or so though.