CRF136N

Push the top up...replace the lower control arm...have a little fun with it before I tear it down? Its already got a small lift :brows: Ya, thats kinda what I was thinkin...thats why I stood back and put myself in charge of the camera; I had to get video of it :D I figured the tow strap itself would be suffecient, but appearantly the other guys thought it would be benificial for them to steady it :nuts: Whatever works for them, guess it made 'em feel "macho" helping to upright a vehicle with their muscles :shake: (you can clearly see they offered NO benefit to the suituation :rotfl2: ) They guy in the black sweatshirt and jeans thats standing at the back of the jeep in the beginning of the video is the guy who was driving it...the chick that showed up next to him after a few seconds (and eventually screams "slow down!")is his wife. The guy talking at the end is my boss, trying to take charge like bosses do :shake: Not that it matters :cheers: Oh ya, and those 31" BFG's aren't as good as they look :(

So having worked at the same small auto service and repair shop at the main intersection in a small town for the last 9 years, I've learned its not uncommon for some of the locals to roll by and offer their old vehicles to us free for the taking before they go to the junkyards...but I'v never had one actually "roll" in before... So it was about 10:00am, things were slow in the shop when we heard this screech-crash-bang :???: Assuming it was a wreck at the intersection, we decide to stroll out and check it out, but instead we see this familiar Jeep Cherokee in our parking lot, followed by the matching familiar face stumble out of it, his eyeballs still almost rolling in their sockets... Image Not Found After a brief second of :hmm: , my boss hollars out us-"you ok man?" him-"holy crap, I just rolled my Jeep!" us-"ya you did, but are you ok?" him-"I lost my brakes coming down the hill, I tried to make a u-turn into your driveway to hit the snowbank, but hit that rock and flipped my Jeep instead." us-"oh man, that sucks...BUT ARE YOU OK!?!" him-"oh, ya...I'm fine. Just scared the hell out of me." So it wasn't long before the cops, his friends and family along with a small crowd show up. After he gathered himself a bit, he was looking at the undercarriage of his mangled XJ, and with a grin on his face looked up and said "Anyone want a Jeep?" Of course I jumped right on that..."Hell ya I'll take that thing!" "Its yours, I'll bring the paperwork in for you tomorrow." he replied :eek: Right then the tow truck showed up. I looked at my co-worker and said "I see no reason why we can't flip that thing over ourselves and save him the tow bill"...he concured; so we went and asked the cops if they would allow that...they said go for it :brows: so we sent the tow truck on his way and got a flatbed truck and tow strap/chain... (Got video, cause it was the only entertainment that town has seen in awhile...dunno if its gonna go through, I'll try posting it the same way as pics) Image Not Found So, here she is. My new 1996 Jeep Cherokee Sport 4x4 4.0 HO with 140k on it. Needs minor body work :rotf: Guess now I'll have to look for another Manche to drop the drivetrain in :shake: Image Not Found Image Not Found Image Not Found Image Not Found Anyway, it sure is a shame cause it was a good lookin XJ before this; I totally digged the color. Oh well, at least every bit of useable part WILL go to a good use :D -James

...seeing as you'll have the tranny out...and the rear axle out...it wouldn't take much more than a transfer case and front axle to solve that :roll: :brows: But hey, I know some of you don't need it...just an idea :D

x2; furthermore running a 235 tire with the ax5, I would imagine 4:10's would get the job done just fine. As genovast pointed out, I got my AMC 20 rear and matching 30 front with 4:10's (or is it 4:11's?) from a '86 metric ton MJ V-6 2.8; It'll be a direct swap...no guesswork, those seem to pop up every once in a while.

Bummer, I haven't been on here for awhile...I got everything you woulda needed to fix that sitting in my backyard :shake: Oh well. As of last week there were two MJ's in Carson City, a white one and blue one, both longbeds; they have been there awhile now, so I expect them to go to the crusher any day now :( I'm gonna have to go check out the Reno one again, I don't recall 2 of them there :hmm: Anyway, I got tons of extra parts I am soon to be getting rid of, some MJ specific, lemme know if any of you Reno guys need anything...I see a couple of you poped up since I've been on here...we should get together and do some wheeling; I now live in Carson, but usually make my way back to Reno 2-3 times a week; finding some great areas here in Carson too...pm me if your interested -James

:rotf: You must have commented on that no more than 10 seconds before I deleted it from my signature. Cleaning house, making some changes to the profile :banana:

No, no pop ups or anything goofy, moving or exciting...but I personally don't see anything wrong with a couple "sponsor" link logos stuffed in a corner, if they help the site...and even better, cc members with a discount on purchases :brows: You don't need to run a business or make profit off this, just put it back into making the site that much more bitchin and you could afford to have a healthy variety of stock of CC swag for the community to purchase (at cost+shipping even, so everyone benefits)...and even be able to give away those CC decals. Granted, I know the site works for most...thats fine. Like I said, I just wanted to give options because I know topics have come up in the past for comanche/CC related goodies to purchase. Oh, and about those cookies...there is a tray full of them, no chocolate chips left though...help yourself :D -James

So, just an idea thats worth a look. I have made a temporary move over to another website with my next project. The not only have a "donation" button, but also a "store" which features all kinds of cool stuff like shirts, beanies, calenders, etc...kinda a cool idea for CC; you could even persue the keychain option...but I know these things cost money. Just saw this thread and figure I'd speak up :D -James

Amen. Thank you. I suppose its boredom that leads me to bite these worthless posts, but as you pointed out we all have our own opinion. Maybe we should just lock a thread in the tech section for oil, filters and tires, and just have a pole at the top of whats overall favored in each catagory, along with individual comments all to avoid these seemingly repetitive threads that the midnight CC surfing dylerious people like me have nothing better to do than post their opinion, stirring contraversy and taking up otherwise useful space in our forum :wall: This way anyone who is lost and confused as to what to purchase can resort to this :hmm: :dunno: Or maybe just ban altogether any thread that relates to tires, oil or filters :rotf: OK, I have to get some sleep now. :cheers: -James

I was 12. We moved to snow country. My mother traded her volvo for a new '96 Cherokee Country I helped her pick out. I remember the day we brought it home, and something about that damn Jeep had me instantly hooked. At 15, I began my search for an xj of my own...but then discovered they made them in a truck! Shortly thereafter, I found an '86 Comanche XLS 2.8 4x4 in Texas for $600, motor needed rebuilt; while in need of a little work, it was straight and rust free. I had the local shop rebuild the motor. My father and I flew to Texas and picked it up, and drove it home to northern Nevada. I dumped my heart and soul into fixing that damn thing up: It wasn't long before I got a '90 XJ Limited, then my '87 MJ shortbed...its turned into a helpless sickness from there. Another 4 xj's and 1 MJ later, I still have my '87 MJ...which I sold and repurchased several times through the years :nuts: As for my '86 XLS, I traded it in back in 2001 for a new Tacoma. It bounced around many used car dealerships before it disappeared. In 2005 I ran a carfax on it to see where it wound up; it was registered to someone in Carson City, NV, but had two weeks before that carfax check recieved a "certificate of destruction" :cry: RIP. Yes, being only 2 weeks, I jumped in my truck and hit every Carson City junkyard searching for it to pay my respects...but had no luck :cry: :cry: Now wishing I kept that thing for a motor conversion. Oh well. :cheers: James

Well ... He said, "Go to your local tire shop and ask what's popular." You said, "I guess we'll have to agree to disagree." That sounded a lot to me like you didn't agree with him. :dunno: OK, I'm done with this now...were not getting anywhere :rotf: I seem to have this talent for taking peoples threads and starting a debate, I got to work on that...starting with this one. You win. :thumbsup: :cheers: -James

Well, CW, it appears as if we are just going to have to agree to disagree :shake: It appears as if in every tire thread, you tout domestic brand name tires... Where in his ONLY post in this thread (quoted above) does CW say anything about domestic brand tires? Even as a tire shop owner/manager, how can you possibly DISagree with "Stop in your local retailer and ask to see whats most popular and go for it"? Ahh, very good point, but if you have kept up on the many other tire related threads he clearly shows his support for BFG a/t's, and every time he usually makes a point of "domestic" made. It was merely the suggestion of "you get what you pay for, and descent/cheap etc" that lead me to the defence that sometimes less expensive tires are an OK option. Now, this said, where do I say in there that I disagree with his idea of going to a local shop and ask for their suggestion on their best tire? :brows: :cheers: -James

:hmm: Not that its any of my business, but I'm still stuck on the second sentence of your intro...what the hell you doing in China??? Military, or? You don't have to answer, I'm just intrigued. I've been to Asia many times, and always thought it would be fun to move abroad for awhile and experience a different culture, for no reason other than to say I did it :nuts: Anyway, welcome :D :cheers: James

Well, CW, it appears as if we are just going to have to agree to disagree :shake: It appears as if in every tire thread, you tout domestic brand name tires...I on the other hand, speaking from 8 years of experience running a tire shop swear by foreign...simply because times now are tough, and I believe in getting the most for your money. I have run Prime Wells on my past '88 longbed MJ with extreme satisfaction in both highway and snow driving. I also have run GT Radial (formerly known as Runway), and that is our shops #1 selling tire; not only LONG life and reliability, but price. In my search for a great, aggressive 31" all terrain, I have moved on to General Tire, which I am very satisfied with. Buying tires is a BIG investment :ack: I strongly believe in getting the most for your money in these trying times. Spending an extra few hundred dollard is not always warranted, especially when your only demands are for street use; I always suggest going onto the big tire distributors websites (such as tirerack.com and discounttiredirect.com being my favorites) and reading the customer reviews based on the tire list available for your size and needs; its a great resource. Unfortunately, since the chinese tire tax has kicked into effect, all other foreign and domestic brands viewed this as an opportunity to jack the prices sky high (to remain competitive they claim), making a tire purchase that much more difficult. This all said, and its been said before, but its a good idea to avoid brand name deals at discount retailers (costco, walmart, etc) as they DO recieve the bottom barrel rejects that don't qualify as a quality tire, even of they carry the same name. While you may luck out -and many people do-, there is always the chance you will wind up with more of a headache than anything (low treadlife, impossible to balance, etc) All else fails, if you MUST have a "brand name" tire...without breaking the bank, there is always craigslist :D Good luck. :cheers: -James

Not to rub it in, but I'm quite impressed with this one...when the storm 1st hit on Sunday, I was the lone vehicle hauling @$$ over a twisty mountain pass at night (near Lassen, Ca) through a blizzard on an unplowed road of about 8" snow with underlying ice...I got to the other side of this 30 or so mile warzone where I made the quick descent to dry pavement again, and when I went to click it back into 2wd, I realized I NEVER WAS IN 4wd!!! My manche gobbled up that snow and stuck itself so well, it never slipped, slid or lost traction in 2wd :eek: (just FYI, those were with my studded 31x10.5 R15 General Grabber AT2's ) Ok, I'll admit I did have about 700 lbs I figure in/on the back with the camper shell, tools, dirtbike & trailer hitch dirtbike rack, supplies and gear, but I'm still impressed. Of course, the weather looks like It'll be crappy the whole 1,000 mile trip back home from Washington this weekend, so I suppose I gotta cross my fingers and hope it does as well then :roll: :ack: Over 1,000 miles into the trip right now, and the Manche is doing great, not a single hiccup or slight sign of issues so far...keep it up little truck :D (except my gas mileage SUCKS, about 14.5 average and 15.5 at best; but I guess hauling that much weight, its to be expected...or maybe I'm calculating it wrong, I'm figuing about 10% difference with the 31" tires on the otherwise stock drivetrain :dunno: ) :cheers: -James

:redX: Anyone? I'm in Portland right now, planning the drive up I-5 through Washington tomorrow...(I did get your PM Seth, I might contact you if I'm in your neck of the woods Sat) As planned, I'm driving the manche and I got the bike with me :brows: I dunno about internet service once I check out of the hotel tomorrow, but I'll try. I'll prob be lingering around Vancouver for the better half of the day, and slowly working my way north from there. :cheers: -James

:hmm: To check something simple, how about a motor mount? :dunno: I've found many of my takeoff front end clunks to be a worn out and busted motor mount, causing the whole engine and tranny to hop around, and depending on which one is bad, thats why it would do it in reverse, and not drive, or vise-versa.?. -James

Drove 2 hours and about 70 miles round trip to have a glass shop re-install my rear slider for $65 :( The guy said I did it all right, except I put the glue on the window, then installed it where as I should have put the glue on the truck, then installed the glass :smart: :doh: :wall: Oh well, lesson learned. When I got home, I put my headliner in with the overhead consol, then re-assembled the rest of the int. With everything together, and 1/2 in thick "sound deadening" material under everything including carpet and headliner, and all unaccessable areas (windshield pillars, etc) filled with expanding foam...HOLY CRAP this thing is almost TOO quiet inside now! Gonna have to roll the windows down to let in some noise :nuts: Can't wait to finish my stereo, bet It'll sound great That'll be the next update :D :cheers: -James

Progressed with my interior; did more sound deadening. Installed new material on headliner frame, but didn't install yet as the rear slider I just installed LEAKS :rant: :wall: Trying to plug the leaks for now with some silicone, but in the end I might just go to a shop and have it redone :wall: I did, however, get around to working on, and finishing my overhead consol I cut it down to MJ size, re-shaped the frame to fit the MJ headliner, re-wired the lights to function like the rears from the XJ did (to function as both map lights, and dome lights for when the doors are opened) and finally re-covered it in material :D After long debate, I decided to keep the OEM keyless entry, even though I plan on an aftermarket with remote start, its just nice to have the option if I ever feel it be neccesary Then a quick plug in, AND EVERYTHING FUNCTIONS PROPERLY!!! :D :D :cheers: -James

I'm running the 31x10.5 General Grabber AT2's, bought them new about a month ago and got about 1,500 miles on them right now and I LOVE em. UNSTAPPABLE in the snow, and GREAT off-road...very smooth riding tires on the freeway up to 80+ mph; can't comment on noise as I opted to stud them (as they are factory studdable) for this coming winter, but I am probably going to pull the studs out come spring, even then they are not noisy -yet-. Dunno about treadwear yet either, but I am about to take a 2,500 mile trip next week, so I will have slightly better idea if they are going to wear like butter or not. You can't beat the price, tirerack.com will ship right to your door, and is often the best price. All this said, and I work at a shop that sells and installes tires. I worked part time at a resort last winter which we had them on our 2wd 15 pass van, I swear that thing could have plowed through 3 feet of snow...thats what sold me on them in the first place. They are a pretty cool, aggressive looking tire too. Two thumbs up, 5/5 stars, I highly recommend! As far as clearance, I'll put it this way...I got about 4.5" lift on my truck with American racing Baja's; I trimmed about .5" off the bottoms of my front flares whether it was neccesary or not, I didn't want to risk tearing a fender off or something if I should hit a bump while turned just right :shake: They don't rub at all for me, but I realize your setup is different...so I dunno there. :cheers: -James

:hmm: Umm, not to change the subject, but you know your hoods on fire, right? :rotfl2: Looks great man! I bet a lot of time went into that one. :cheers: -James

Read 64 Cheyennes writeup on the rear window replacement (great writeup, thanks!), became motivated; an MJ at my local pick-n-pull has rear slider, which I want very bad (I have non slider rear right now)...went to Harbor Freight and got $20 windshield removal kit...went to P-n-P, I removed rear slider based on wirteup, window cost $40. Then I removed rear glass from my MJ. Thats were I stand, nearly 3 hours and $60 into project :ack: -at least the hard parts done-. I think next time I will leave it to the pros at the glass shop though, for the $90 used slider installed price; but at least I know how to do it now if I ever HAVE to. Tomorrow, I'll clean up slider, paint frame, apply 3m "windshield weld" and place it :cheers: -James

Wired my foglights; wanted a somewhat OEM look, so I used this Pilot touch panel switch...kinda cool, its different, fits nicely in the OEM cutout with some minor dremel trimming : One feature I actually like is it resets to off with every ignition cycle (I have it wired to turn on/off with the ignition), so you manually turn something on (fog lights), and it automatically turns them off until you want the accessory on again; of course you can manually switch it off too by touching the panel. Learned you definately gotta run this with a relay though, as the switch can't handle the power alone (fried the first one) :shake: Think I'm gonna exchange it as defective and get somthing else to wire up :roll: Maybe a bed light :brows: :cheers: -James

One more point with my experience I forgot to mention...about late Aug this year I noticed my MJ (with the '94 HO 4.0 with 164k on the clock) began to dry start...that chilling top end clack-clack-clack for the first 2-3 seconds it would run, got progressively worse to be consistant about 70% of the time. I was using 10/30. I tried using Lucas additive...nothing changed. I changed it to 10/40...again, no difference. I then put in the 15/40 delo...and 2,500 miles later it hasn't done it since :dunno: As a service tech myself, I am a firm believer in manufacturer specs, but I think it gets to a point after about 125-150K on the clock, especially if you don't know the full history of the vehicle, that you personally need to re-write your own rules from trial and error to your specific situation, and what seems to work for your truck best. :cheers: -James

LOL, sorry :rotf: :fool: So, someone on here not too long ago posted something about the "official" CFC MJ count. Where was that source from? I did a brief google search of scrap vehicle records and found nothing...does anyone know of any website that maybe keeps track of year/model scrap certificates? I would imagine there has to be some record of every vehicle destroyed; maybe something a classic vehicle appraiser might have access to? If so, I think that would be MOST valuable for determining the rarety of the 91/92 MJ's...you know, once we figure out the official number made, then subtract the fallen ones to see just how many of them technically still exhist :dunno: I'll keep digging. -James