jpnjim

Mine was installed correctly, the frame was sealed, square & true, the seal just wasn't sealing anymore after 15+ years (I pulled the sunroof from an 85' XJ). I used to joke that the sunroof made the MJ into a 'real' Jeep, wet seats, fogged windows, and noisy on the highway. :smart: Jim, I'm not pounding on you :cheers: I didn't mean it that way, but one thing is, you "re-used" it, so that might have something to do with why it leaked on you :dunno: I read were you ran the drain tubes, and that should have solve any leaking, but like you said, the gasket was 15 year old, and it might have just be dried out and not sealing tight. Sorry if you took my statement wrong :oops: :D I didn't take it personally (or as a shot). But I did want to clarify why I thought it was leaking. At the time I was scared to make the first cut, and amazed myself at how nicely it came out. Well, until the first time it rained. :ack:

Mine was installed correctly, the frame was sealed, square & true, the seal just wasn't sealing anymore after 15+ years (I pulled the sunroof from an 85' XJ). I used to joke that the sunroof made the MJ into a 'real' Jeep, wet seats, fogged windows, and noisy on the highway. :smart:

I'm glad that this vendor makes parts for our Jeeps (not many companies bother with us), but I think there are better ways to address this issue. I can remember buying a receiver tube from a truck supply company when I built my rear bumper, it was just the tube, maybe 8" long, and pretty cheap. They have them starting at $20 here: http://www.hitchcorner.com/trailer-hitc ... sories.htm I think I paid more like 1/2 that. I can completely understand Brian not wanting to claim any certain tow rating for his bumper without testing ($$$$$), but even if he had to tack a $10-20 surcharge to buy the more expensive (true) hitch tube, I'm sure the original poster would've picked that option. If the OP paid someone to paint the bumper & install it, it makes solving the problem that much harder, but cutting out the thinner wall tubing, and replacing it shouldn't be that tough for a local (to the OP) welding shop to take care of. Seems like that would be better than the direction things seem to be headed (public, potentially bitter war of words on the board). Kevin (knever3), If it were me, I'd get a price for a local shop to do the work, and see how much Brian was willing to work with you on it. Hope you guys can work it out. :cheers:

W-O-W. Some words 'slipped' out of my mouth while I was watching that video.

:USAflag:

I ruined my red MJ by putting in a (factory XJ) sunroof. I thought I'd be good to go, especially since the factory sunroofs had drip tubes inside the frame, that ran into the A-pillars, incase any water got by the seal. I even had the factory bag, for storage when you pull the glass out. Well, so much for that, the thing leaked ALOT (seeping between the frame & the glass). Anything more than a light drizzle would get enough water inside to fog up the windows, the mirrors, and sometimes even my glasses. :ack: It was cool for a while, I'd use it as my 'escape hatch' when wheeling, was nice to be able to climb straight up & out, then onto the hood, or into the bed, when buried in mud. Part of the problem was my own fault tho, the spare tire on my rollbar overlapped the sunroof, so I had to move the tire to get the glass in & out. Made for an exciting, and wet few minutes when it would suddenly downpour on the trail. :doh:

Technically these ARE 98' ZJ wheels (tho this set came off an 01' Anniversary edition XJ): I really need to snap some new pics of this MJ. :ack:

well.......maybe but this isn't as bad as you think. If you replace the carrier bearings with two identical (new) carrier bearings your probably OK in regards to you pattern (if you have a good pattern your backlash is ok) because the carrier is automatically centered in the housing (as it was when it had the 'old' bearings on it). The issue when swapping your carrier bearings is the thickness of the bearing itself and how much preload the bearings are getting. I have measured some bearings and there are some thickness differences from one brand to another and SOMETIMES (even with a case spreader) you can't get the carrier back in the housing due to the fact they are new and effectively thicker than what came off. When I had the problem above (using 2 different brands of carrier bearing to set up the gears), swapping carrier bearings gave me very little, to no backlash, after having had them set up nice with the cheaper China bearings. Maybe the gear side bearing was so bad, it 'collapsed' much more than the non-ring gear side, increasing the backlash, but when I put the 'good' bearing set in, the backlash disappeared. It probably had everything to do with using a poor quality bearing set, but I wouldn't want to see someone swap carrier bearings as a preventative maintenance, and burn up a gear set.

How did it stay up there. You know how everyone complains about re-using leaf spring U-bolts? Well they still work pretty good to support your tire to a round tube. :smart: That was also a great place to put the high-lift. (you can kinda see it in the pic) I used two reinforcing plates that go on the spring plates (shaped like this"_n_" ), I sandwiched two together, open end to open end (forming a pretty heavy duty sleeve), bolted both of them (also with U-bolts) to the roll bar, and the high lift slid right into the opening. I could've even put a padlock on the jack if I was worried about someone grabbing it.

You can also *carefully* get them off with a grinder. But swapping carrier bearings can mess up your backlash & pattern, changing pinion bearings can mess up your pinion depth, backlash & pattern. When I set up my D30, I tried to get 2 matching sets of carrier bearings (same manufacturer). One set to hone out as 'set-up bearings', the 2nd set to actually press on & use. My parts guy didn't have 2 matching sets, so I got one good set & one China set. They 'mic'd' exactly the same, but when installed, with case preload, the 'good' set's pattern & backlash was very far off the honed out china set. :( I ground the 'good' set off, ordered two more matching 'good' sets, and the slip-fit set, and the pressed on set had identical backlash & patterns. Short version: don't mess with it if you don't have to. :D

I posted the info for 1992 here: viewtopic.php?f=2&t=21642 Some of the pages didn't scan that great, but you can see the curb weights.

Best place I ever ran it. It would go in the rack for the drive to the trail: and flip it up on the cage once I was wheeling.

I'm surprised he doesn't have the American Flag style Jeep Letters for MJ's listed. I'm equally surprised no one has the twin hockey stick Pioneer decals listed anywhere (probably the most common MJ decal of all). :dunno:

According to this chart: http://littlekeylime.com/MrN/mrnimages/leaf_springs.png Waggy/J truck rear leafs & MJ's both are 57" long, with similar pin offset. I question this, but MrN is usually right on with his info. :dunno: I'm not saying they'll bolt right in, but there may be some other options (like Waggy leafs below an MJ main leaf).

Good story. I have a 'one that got away' story, I saw a decent builder SC/Rambler + a 69 Rambler parts car in someone's yard about a mile from here, so I stopped in to see the guy. He was talking about how much work he'd done on it, when I asked if he'd sell it, he said something like 'I have atleast 8 in it now", that was way over my head (and not worth it back then) so I passed it over. The Brookline AMC show was a couple weeks later, so I passed the info on to someone random guy there. (this must've been 1988, or 1989). They bought it. The '8' he had into it (I assumed $8,000) was 8 HUNDRED. :rotf: Oh well. :dunce:

You have to read the container. Years ago, the Castrol I was using said "for limited slips", then the back of the container said: "good for topping off", or something to that extent. Meaning: if you already have an axle, with the friction modifier in it, and it's low, use this stuff. Personally, I would only trust it if it said "includes friction modifier".

X2, if 'nothing' works in this mode (heater & wipers should also work on MJ's), the problem is likely in the column/ignition switch mech.

X2 on this question, I'm running the low tone side only, I guess I could get a super low tone for the passengers side, and have that deep "get the @#$% out of my way sound", instead of the lame 'eennt' sound it makes now.

:cheers: Though I never went back to that thread to see what wheels they were (which is why I cautioned the original poster, also and why I put spacers on my Ravines). WBKrazy, painting the caps gray is good idea :smart: I sprayed mine black (pic in sig), but also got some Chrome caps recommended by hornbrod (I'll swap them when I re-pack the ft bearings)

I ran TJ Canyons (the 15x8's) without the center caps on 2wd hubs. You really don't want to run without the grease caps. jimoshel ran in to a problem with one of the wheels, and this 2wd hub, IIRC he cranked it down, and broke the wheel center, so pop the wheel caps, make sure the wheel is going on straight, and tighten gradually. I'm running Ravine wheels on the 2wd hubs now, others here run them without spacers, but I slipped a couple 1/8" spacers for good measure (they're factory AMC spacers used on some brake hub/wheel combo')

but holy crap do they chirp the tires a lot. :ack: I messed around with different tires, and pressures, Boggers were the worst (for me), BFG AT's were nearly silent, with the PSI pumped up (35+). So I daily drove with BFG's outback for most of the time I ran the spool. The only time they were bad was in concrete parking garages, where they Absolutely Screamed, no matter how slow I drove. :clapping: People walking in the garage would do everything but dive out of the way :rotfl2: then snap me a filthy look, only to see I was barely going 10MPH. :rotf: FWIW, 15 minutes of running the Boggers made them look like I hit them at a 45* angle with a belt sander.

Yikes! looks like this particular Ebay Machine has a VERY questionable history. Buyer beware: http://www.theamcforum.com/forum/ocumen ... 653ca.html

The low miles is very nice (if documented), but no valve cover tag (a big deal to me), wrong wheels, and wrong intake/carb/exhaust mainfolds (and assumed lack of emissions stuff) kills it for me. Currently @ US $20,300.00 Reserve not met

There are a few Javelins hanging around at that AMC place. All this Machine/Javelin/Hornet talk might end up with me coming home with one. How rare is the Machine/Expensive are they? Rob L. For AMC's, they're one of the most expensive 'regular' models (AMX/3, SS/AMX & other specials not included), for limited edition, high profile musclecars, (compared to other makes) they're still dirt cheap. Parts are where the price will kill you, I linked some Rebel Machine wheels on Ebay here last month, absolutely ridiculous prices (and that's usually without the trim rings, or centercaps). They also used a unique intake manifold that goes for a pretty penny. My (1971) Javelin actually came stock with Rebel Machine wheels, so I have a set, but I really hesitate to run them because of their value/expense to replace. (I run the 72-74 style 15x7's instead). Here's a Machine on Ebay: http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/AMC-70-r ... sQ5fTrucks Its being sold by a non-AMC car collector/dealer, so I'd guess the reserve is set pretty high. (also notice even this kazillion dollar 3,538 mile version DOES NOT have the correct Machine Wheels & Intake on it)

:agree: Which continually dumbs down the 'common knowledge' out there when it comes to anything AMC related. :doh: One of the worst things about driving an AMC car is listening to all the mistaken drivel as 'AMC experts go on and on, while 'complimenting' your ride. :shake: "Ford sent their out of tolerance 390's over to AMC for a good price, the engines were so good, even out of spec ones ran great bla bla bla..." "AMC 401's were really Chevy 396's that failed spec and had to be bored .030, bla bla bla" "AMC bought the old/worn tooling from Ford Mustangs, Dodge Darts, bla bla to build its cars"