Hello all,
I wanted to first say how valuable this forum and its members were for me both deciding to buy an MJ, and through the purchasing process. I discovered what to look for and what to watch out for. Thanks to all for keeping the candle lit for these trucks and serving as a fantastic freely available resource.
Several months ago I decided it was high time for me to have another woods worthy truck. It's been several years. I'm a family guy and my pickup days had been behind me, but some of my children are now grown and I'm getting pretty tired of pulling a trailer with an SUV several times a month. I have a Tacoma company vehicle and an older SUV that has been serving light 4x4 needs. I just wanted something for knocking around in, pulling mountain duties, and hauling firewood, etc. I settled on an MJ fairly early as I like the median size and power-train and who doesn't love a jeep. Also, I'm a sucker for a straight six.
I finally found a local '90 Eliminator that had been somewhat abused, but seems to be well maintained overall. It has served as a woods truck and farm truck and had a hay spear in the bed in the classified ad. It has 200,000 miles on it, it's lifted about 2" (I think) with 31's. It has the buckets, full gauges, console, etc and the interior is really decent: no holes in the seats and no cracks in the dash. The body is fairly rough, but I don't need to look rich while hauling firewood so that's OK with me. I was hoping to find a Dana 44, but my truck has the 35. It's high geared, so I may swap this out in the future if it ever gives me any trouble. The wiring and vacuum lines are horrid. The fuse box is slightly melted at the top and had no less than four jumper wires in it when purchased. I've also found a few jumpers under the hood. The vacuum lines are also fairly horrendous with most being unhooked and/or capped off. Luckily the CAD seems to be functioning. The truck does have a lot of newer parts: gas tank, belts, hoses, clutch slave, rear main seal, etc., so all of that was a big plus. It has a bit of the ol' death wobble at 50MPH, so I'll have to look into that. I've driven it around 100 miles so far with no problems and it seems to be an overall good ol' truck.
My plans are to fix the wiring and vacuum and get everything functioning as close to correct as is reasonable. I may do some work on the exterior, front bumper and fender flares at least. For now, I'll be happy if I can get the brake lights and turn signals operational. I'll also likely add WJ lower control arms as my tires are rubbing the LCA's and I want the full maneuverability of this truck.
I'm sure I'll be coming to you all for help in the near future, I just wanted to introduce myself and my new MJ to the board. I'll try to add updates as I make progress with my truck. Now I just need to give it a name.
Cory
