a4xnut

It's got as much potential as a stock Sami... and it sits about the same height as the original GPW. If they gotta have their Fiat content, throw a VM diesel in it so we can get good mpg.

This is what's on the front of my XJ... it was built by a friend, since I'm not a good welder. It's not pretty, but it is simple and attached pretty well. It was also cheap... ~$40 in steel from a used steel yard (in 1998). Used the OEM tow hook bracketry/reinforcements to hang it. I wanted to run a Warn 8274 because it holds more cable and has a faster line speed than the low profile models... and I already had the 8274. They don't mount to bumpers the same as the low profile ones. There weren't any aftermarket options in 1998 for that (don't know if that's changed, but you sure don't see many on XJ/MJ's). I plan on cleaning it up and having the ends tapered and slapping it on the MJ, when I rob other goodies off the XJ. To be honest, the extra overhang has caused me to dig the bumper into the trail, sometimes forcing me to choose a different line a few times, so I can certainly see the advanges of the hidden low-profile, or even shorter overhang bumpers that have been shown... but I still love my 8274. :thumbsup:

I've got plenty of spare doors to rob parts from. I'm pretty sure it's a failed plastic clip... I just wanted to know how feasable it is to take the door panel off. Looks like I'll have to go through that drill when I can find some time to devote to the truck. I'm beginning to think I might have to take a day of vacation from work to do that. After 12 hours of work/commute - and 7-day workweeks, I'm usually out of energy when I get home from work. Then my daily driver let me know on the way home yesterday, it's time for it to get a brake job. Just did one last week on the wife's car. Sometimes it just feels like you can't get ahead... :wall:

I'll throw another wrench in the monkey works... Depends on the tires... most of them are not exactly the height they say they are. At one time I ran 34x9.50 Super Swamper TSL's on my XJ. They were 33.8" tall. When I found I couldn't keep them on the bead of even 6" rims with tire pressures under 10, I went to 33x12.50 TSL's. I had experience with these on my CJ5 and knew they could run down to 2psi if need be, even on 10" rims. A lot of people gave me crap for going down an inch, but the 33x12.50 is 33.7" tall. It didn't bother me to "sacrifice" 1/10". It did mean I had to trim a lot more from the wheel wells to run the wider tires though. One of my wheelin' buddies (I had actually bought the 34x9.50's from him), was running 35" tall Dunlops on his XJ - and they weren't any taller than my 33" TSL's. LOL

Tried the slim jim route, too... my daughter-in-law used to work for a AAA outfit and her job was to get into customer's locked cars. She couldn't get it open after an hour of trying her different tricks. I've got plenty of spare doors to rob parts from... once I can get in there. Looks like I'll have to take a shot at getting the door panel off.

My passenger side door won't open from the inside or the outside. It's like it's locked, but the key won't unlock it and the interior lock button is limp. I pulled the interior handle to see if I might be able to unlock or open it that way, but no luck. Has anyone pulled the interior door panel off with the door closed and the seat installed? With buckets and a console, it makes bringing a passenger along too much of a hassle.

I would much rather see Jeep give us another pickup... like an affordable AEV Brute Double Cab, any one of the concepts from the last few years - like the Mighty FC, Nukizer, J12 or Gladiator. Even a factory done Wrangler Unlimited pickup, instead of having to drop thousands on top of a Wrangler purchase to convert one. I wouldn't mind seeing Jeep issue a smaller, lighter option to the bloated Wrangler. Something that pays tribute to Jeep history. Something like AMC's 1977 Jeep II concept. Does this look recognizable? Give me that, not a re-badged Fiat! Not that I have anything against hot hatches, either. My DD is an '06 MINI Cooper. (And I think MINI's 4x4 is stupid, too... they should've adopted AWD for sporting performance and leave the SUV's to somoeone else.)

Rans across this in the Seatle area CL today... the phone number is in Idaho. Looks like a sweet install for those interested in a diesel with more juice than what AMC issued. No prices listed, but I'm guessing a Merecedes diesel isn't going to come cheap. http://seattle.craigslist.org/see/pts/4355418530.html Here's what the ad says, for those reading this post ofter the CL ad expires:

Great! Someone newer than me. :thumbsup: Welcome! :cheers:

I thought that might be what it was, but hadn't seen one and when I googled Dana 44 yoke, nothing that looked like that came up.

I've never seen the TJ Rubicon's D44 locker, but I've seen D44 Powr-Loks, TracLoks, Detroit Lockers, True Tracs and open carriers with and without lunchbox lockers... and that picture in the OP's link looks an awful lot like a standard D44 open carrier. In the pic, there's also what appears to be a crush sleeve. I know the aluminum D44's in ZJ's have a crush sleeve, but XJ/MJ/CJ/Ford/Chevy/ International/Dodge D44's do not. I don't know which way the TJ went, but if it's got a crush sleeve for pinion depth adjustment, I wouldn't think the pinion would work in a shim type housing. I wonder why they are selling the carrier bearing caps with the gears. Those caps are matched to their housing, so it's unlikely they would be any good to anyone anyway. There's also a dirty/rustly looking piece with splines that I'm not sure what it is... it reminds me of a spool, but with only six bolts in the periphery, it wouldn't be a spool for a D44.

I don't think the threat of a lawsuit is the reason. I think that when they see something crappy and or junky they figure the guy driving it doesn't give a damn and would just as soon hit them as look at them. I agree with this line of thought... and here's an example: In 1983, I was living in SoCal and had a nice late model Audi and a primer red '69 Land Cruiser with a soft top (when it was even on). If I was in the Audi and signaled for a lane change on the freeway, drivers would close the gap so I couldn't move over, so I learned not to signal in the Audi. In the Cruiser, I would signal and the gap wouldn't close, in fact, most of the time, the gap got a lot bigger.

When I first saw this, I just about puked. I'm not a fan of badge engineering with any company, especially Jeep. To call this turd a Renegade is an insult to Jeep heritage! IMHO, Jeep ought to be treated like the true iconic brand it is, much like Harley. You don't see H-D making scooters, ATV's, dirt bikes and sport bikes - just cruisers. That's what they do and they do it very well. They learned from their attempt in the 60's & 70's with badge engineered Aermacchi smaller displacement bikes. Later, when they diversified into sport bikes, they did it under another brand name - Buell. (And a brief ownership of MV Agusta.) I think Chrysler/Fiat ought to leave the car-like stuff to their car badges and leave Jeep in a off-roader's off-road rig arena. You don't see them diluting their Ram or Ferrari brands with cheesy little hamster cars. Besides, every badge engineered Jeep of the 21st century is uglier than the Dodge - or in this case Fiat - it shares a platform with. At least when AMC made AWD cars, they didn't put Jeep badges on them.

Exactly what I was thinking! I've had a few, I'm having trouble picking out what was worst. Fortunately, none are MJ related, but I do have a few Jeep related ones: 1) Probably the scariest one was in a '53 M38A1. It had a 350 out of a 69 Camaro SS and the seats, instruments and steering column were out of an early 70's Trans Am. It also had an Stewart Warner ammeter... all installed by a previous owner. One night, driving down US 17 in North Carolina between New Bern & Jacksonville, I noticed a light show going on under the dash - complete with sparks. In an attempt to cut the electrical power, I shut off the key and hit the brakes figuring I would pull to the shoulder and take the ammeter out of the system. Problems escalated when I turned the key off and the steering locked. The Jeep was drifting past the shoulder and in my panic, I couldn't get the key to turn back to on. The Jeep went down into the ditch, up the other side and ~100' into a corn field before things came to a halt. I was able to take the ammeter out of the system and get back on the road before anyone showed up to see what I was doing in a corn field (the corn wasn't very tall yet, so I kinda stood out - other than it being pretty dark). 2) Coast to Coast - or is it Cost to Cost: This one isn't really one failure, but more a trip from hell. In Dec, 1979, I was discharged from the USMC in Jacksonville NC and owned the Jeep above. The Jeep needed a new top badly, especially if I was going to drive it from NC to WA in the winter. A Jeep dealer in SC had ads in the 4x4 magazines for new tops at bargain prices, so I decided to drive down there and get a new top before heading towards home. That went pretty uneventful, and from there I headed to Poplar Bluff, MO where my grandma lived and then up to the St. Louis area to spend Christmas with my aunts and uncles and my mom who'd flown out. It was my intention to drive from SC to MO straight through. A couple hours east of Poplar Bluff it started to snow hard and ice kept building up on my wipers. I had to stop often to break the ice off. In between one of these periods of time, my driver's side wiper decided to depart the scene, so I swapped the passenger wiper over to the drivers side and suffered through the tunnel vision of the one little spot and the lame heater old Jeeps are known for on to grandma's place. (At least the fenderwell headers kept the floor warm.) The next day, I thought I should go out and do a little Christmas shopping and headed towards the shopping disctrict. As I was a descending a hill, some old lady pulls out in front of me in a big Olds Delta 88 and damn near comes to a stop in front of me, I hit the brakes hard, but the hill was covered in compact snow and the left rear corner of the Jeep stepped out, crossed the centerline and struct a Missouri Natural Gas Utility pickup. Day after that headed up to visit with the rest of the family (grandma came up, too) and noticed the rear axle was howling. One of my uncles owned a repair shop, so we pulled it in and checked it out. Replaced all the bearings in the axle, put new brakes on all the way around and threw some new shocks on, too. After Christmas, I continued on towards home with a stop planned for Canon City, CO to visit one of my Marine buddies who had been discharged a few months before. In Western Kansas, the Jeep started howling again, this time from the transmission area. Had the oil level checked at a gas station. it was fine, so I continued on towards my friend's. It was pretty white and cold in Canon City and my friend lived in a trailer park with no garage or carport. I didn't want to rebuild the trans outside, so I took the Jeep in to a shop and several days and serval hundred dollars later had a freshened up T-86/89/90. Made it on home to WA after that without any further issues, but a couple of days after I was home, my dad asked me why my Jeep was leaking oil on his driveway... so the t-case came out and got rebuilt, too... but at least I had a garage to work in. 3) Bad Luck/Good Luck: Coming home from a wheeling trip in Eastern Washington in my '71 CJ5, nursing a clutch I knew was getting tired, just as I was cresting the summit of Steven's Pass on US 2, there was a sudden BANG! I coasted down the western side of the pass for several miles, trying to minimize a tow bill, how far I'd have to walk to a phone, etc. When it finally quit rolling and stopped I was still several miles from the nearest phone (no cell phones in those days). I also had my wife and youngest daughter with me. We had some snacks and lunch goodies in a paper grocery bag, so I emptied the bag, opened the hood and took the cap off the PS pump's reservior and made a sign, "TOW OR PHONE" and stood next to the Jeep with my two girls. Traffic was light that day and I was sure I'd end up walking to a pay phone, but withing a few minutes a guy in a F350 stopped. We hitched up the CJ's tow bar to the truck and he towed me to my brother-in-law's place ~50 miles away. My BIL towed me on home with his motorhome. 4) Bad Luck/More Bad Luck: Out wheeling in a local ORV Park (Walker Valley for those familiar with western WA) in my 86 XJ (prior to much modding - on 31's with a budget boost and a front Lock-Rite w/disabled CAD). I was almost to the top (~80%) of a long, steep, rough climb when I ran out of traction. Backed down a little to take another shot and repeated a couple more times. On the last attempt, was trying to apply the "more speed" method, got a little off the preferred line, hit a sharp step in the trail hard enough to get a little air with the back tires. When they came down, an orchestra of noises went off and I started rolling backwards down the hill. The brakes weren't very effective going down that grade backwards, but I did finally get it to a halt. Sum of the damage: two broken motor mounts, broken t-case mount, disengaged driveshaft that was also dented and bent and a radiator leaking its contents. The 2.8V6 was trying to copy it's FWD cousins and was as close to transversely mounted as it could be under the hood of an XJ. A buddy towed me home on the end of my tow strap. After fixing what I thought was all the damage, I found out the t-case was now shot from being towed home with the front shaft turning. Turns out NP207's don't turn their oil pump unless the rear shaft is turning. (I did have a shipping cap I installed to keep it from loosing oil whe the rear shaft was out.) Those are the ones that stand out right now...

From where I sit, the one labelled "MJ" appears to be longer than the "YJ" one.