Motorcharge

HIDs are fine as long as you get proper housings that can aim the lights correctly so you're not blinding every one else on the road. Another option is upgrading to H4 housings. You can get the harness, bulbs, and housings off Amazon for under $100 shipped and the difference in lighting is night and day. http://www.amazon.com/Genssi-Headlights-Bulbs-Non-Sealed-H4651/dp/B007JNXAL2/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_2?s=automotive&ie=UTF8&qid=1414857830&sr=1-2-fkmr0&keywords=autopal+7x6+h4 http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001P29X4G/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000COBLKW/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o09_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 Even just the harness is a huge upgrade over stock because the stock harness doesn't put out enough power. It's entirely plug and play and takes about 10-20 minutes to install. Some people have issues with the relays that come with the harness, but I've been running mine for 3 years without issue. They're fine if you keep them dry. If you want replacements they're the same as the headlight relays that come on early and mid 2000s Hondas. I know its the same ones the S2000 and Miata used, not sure on other models. This has been the first upgrade I've done on the last couple XJs I bought and my current MJ because it's such a cheap and drastic improvement.

What are your plans for this? Mounting it to the bed, and especially to the bed rails isn't going to do much in a roll over other than take some pressure off the cab. Even with the bottom of the rail being plated I don't think that would do much in a roll over. Worst case scenario it rips out the sheet metal or twists the hell out of the bed and does nothing. I wouldn't nitpick the design so much if you weren't putting people in the back and relying on that to protect them. There's no main hoops and no triangulation at all and it in no way ties into the uniframe. You definitely have the skills to build a proper cage as far as being able to measure, cut, notch, and line up things, but as far as design goes I wouldn't expect much from this outside being used as a roof rack. What was the material? Is it actually tube? HREW? DOM? I'm also really curious to see the bed seats, they sound pretty cool. I'd be curious to see close ups of the welds as well.

If you've got a rake still then you're not sagging. You just need new bushings and Quadratec, Summit Racing, ect all sell them for a couple bucks. No sense in replacing the rear springs if they don't need to be and you're not lifting the rear. As for the front you could just throw on some coil spacers or find some ZJ V8 Up Country package coils. ~2" lift coils should about level things out though. That or get 3" coils in the front and some 1-2" lift shackles in the rear to go up about 2" overall once you're leveled out. I'm not sure of the exact difference between rear and front height on an MJ since the rear end is higher to compensate for loads in the bed but you can measure from the center of the hubs to the bottom of the flares front and back and that will tell you the exact heigh difference. Are you rubbing when turning or are you rubbing from flex? If it's turning adding a couple washers to your steering stops should prevent your tires from hitting the LCAs. If it's the rear you can just get longer bump stops to limit your up travel to where the tire isn't going to hit anything. For the rear you'll want to wait til you get your suspension figured out though.

JKs in a junkyard?! We would be lucky to have a TJ in a junkyard up here! And if they are, they are so picked clean its ridiculous! x2 Once in a blue moon we might get a YJ, but that's it for Wranglers. I almost never see anything but XJs and ZJs and some WJs. On occasion we get an MJ but even that's rare and when we do get them there's very little worth pulling off em. I never understand where people get JK Rubi axles from either unless they're buying them new.

last i check my dads old 75 gmc 3/4 ton ( the rust bucket) still is living with well over 1,245,000 mile' prevouse life was a construction truck till we got it. never could quite kill that truck. even when all four brake lines rusted out and i was the unlucky one to drive it home through town . scared the hell out of my mom who was fallowing me. but it still live Diesel? If so they're not even in the same ballpark. Hell, most our sprinters at work with 5 cyl Mercedes diesels in the are all 500k+ miles and a few are over 750k.

The 97+ consoles should more or less bolt right in since the biggest issue on swapping them in older XJs is the fact that the parking brake is in a different spot. The little half circle area in the middle of the console is great for switches too.

Never been a big baseball fan but I'd like to see KC win just for the fact that they haven't even been to the playoffs in 20 years. My dad moved out there a couple months ago and I visited him back in September and we went to a few of the games there at the Red Sox (we're both from Boston originally) and it's a really nice stadium.

This is the best advice. I did that to a front skid a couple of years ago and I've been kicking myself ever since... Could've gotten it for $10 at the JY... Been there as well. Went for factory tow hooks a couple years ago and found an XJ with full skids, a nice RE lift, aftermarket bumpers, ect. It was raining and I didn't feel like laying in the mud so I figured I'd just come back the next day but someone bought the whole Jeep before I could come back. Probably could have gotten $3k worth of stuff for a couple hundred.

Harbor Freight sells pullers for like $10 and they work fine.

Bump

I'm not messing with the mounts unless I have to. Waiting isn't an option because it's going to be doing DD duty by the time I'm getting the lift on. Tires and wheels are already mounted and I'm replacing the majority of suspension and steering at the same time.

I'm doing full leaf packs with stock length shackles.

If it makes you feel any better I had to fight with Verizon for 3 months until I ended up getting a hold of the head of engineering for this district just to get Fios service in my new house when my neighbors in front of and behind me already have it. We share the same driveway and they even came to repair the line going to the neighbor behind me at one point and had the temporary line for them laying in my yard. I called every damn day and maybe 4 people over that time actually grasped how stupid the situation was and still couldn't do anything about it.

Thanks for the answers. Bumping for more.

4.0 will run forever with basic maintenance. The unibodies will rot out before the motors die. The MJ only has 158k on it but my XJ was my DD for two years and has around 260k on it. My 88 I had 380k on it when I sold it and it ran like it was new. I'll see if I can dig up the article but there's a guy out in CO that's got an 88 XJ he bought new that has 650k or so on it. http://www.allpar.com/old/high-miles/richey.php

1. How do you change the bulbs in the courtesy lights above the seatbelts? I've changed the rest of the interior bulbs over to LEDs but I don't see any obvious way of getting the covers off those lights. 2. Anyone have a part number for rear shocks that will work for 4.5" lift? Preferably Bilsteins. I can weld so it's not a major issue if I need to change how the shocks mount on one end or the other. Search didn't pull up much for rear shock options and I haven't crawled under the MJ to check out how they shocks attach yet due to being sick. And are the rear brake lines long enough to leave alone on a 4.5" lift or am I going to need to extend them? 3. Is there a fairly easy way to get the seats to tilt forward if the lever doesn't work anymore? My driver's seat the lever doesn't feel like it's attached to anything anymore and I can't get the seat to budge by moving it back and forth while messing with the lever. 4. Are the floopans the same in an MJ as they are in an XJ? My carpet is in pretty decent shape and I want to get some of the fitted rubber mats like Quadratec and Rugged Ridge make but none of their product descriptions mention if they'll fit right in an MJ. Couldn't find answers to those searching.

Well now don't I feel stupid lol How does the discount from here work? Probably going to be a couple weeks before I can order, but yeah.

I don't see anything for Jeep on the Hell Creek page. Just Chevy parts? I could be missing it but I checked under all the pages and didn't see anything Jeep outside of customer photos. Saw the other brand when I was searching. Forgot to specify I'm looking for 4.5" springs, not stock replacements. I could work with 3" as well and go with a bit longer of a shackle to compensate but I don't want to do an AAL on 20 year old springs or go all shackle. I don't want to go over 4.5" lift either so that pretty much rules out an SOA swap.

Need to order some stuff from Napa when I get to work tomorrow. I'd do it today but we get like 30% off through work. Power steering pulley, idler pulley, spark plugs, wires, cap, cap rotor, wiper blades, air filter, ect. Andddd THIS is why I HATE drop in bed liners. Cleaner, but I'm gonna pull out the power washer in a bit and do the whole truck. Doesn't look like the outside has been cleaned in years. Getting a good chunk of cash at the end of the month and need to find someone other than Rusty's that does full leaf packs for MJs. I think I'm gonna go ahead and order some Monstaliner for at least the bed and the rockers if not the inside of the cab floor too. I'll put the carpet back in over it but the rust protection can't hurt. I'm thinking Pyroclastic.

Found the owner's manuals are still there and the a/c actually works. Looks like the PO had just had the oil changed, new tstat, rad hoses, water pump, and a coolant flush done which is great because I hate messing with the cooling system. Found a big chunk of the power steering pulley is gone so that's on the list to replace ASAP. Drove it around the farm a bit and it feels fine, gonna have to slap my truck plates on it later and run it down the road to see what's up with the trans. I think I'm gonna pull all my LEDs and the H4 headlights out of the XJ in a bit and throw them in the MJ too.

Some of you may recognize me from over on JF or Pirate, but I figured this deserves a build thread here too. Here's my old one if anyone is interested: http://www.jeepforum.com/forum/f177/project-motorcharge-1378970/ Drove 15 hours round trip down to Asheville, NC to pick this up last night. I'll add more details and pictures later on today but here some basic info for now. Paid $1500. Actually, I paid more for this thing than I did for my other 4 XJs combined. :laugh: 91 Comanche Eliminator 4WD Short Bed 4.0/AW4/NP231 with 158k on the clock Dana 30/Dana 35 Came with a rear D44 out of an Isuzu Rodeo but I think I'm going to get rid of it for something else. Front 44s are crazy expensive and I've already got wheels and tires for this thing so I don't want to buy new ones to accommodate the 44 being 6 lug. Only issues the PO says it has are torque converter shutter and a leaking rear main seal. Hoping the shutter is something simple and the rear main leak is no big deal. I figure worst case I can pull the trans out the XJ and swap it right over. Looked it over a bit when I got home last night and don't see much else obvious other than some cosmetic issues, but hey, it's a 20 year old Jeep. For now I don't plan on anything crazy. ~4.5 lift, swap my wheels/tires/bumpers over, clean it up, get the uniframe and body undercoated to keep it in the shape it's in, lockers, OTK steering, ect. Plan on keeping this one fit for DD duty. Not entirely sure what I'm gonna do with the XJ, probably parts donor for now, but I might keep it for a trail rig since it's paid for and not costing me anything sitting there.

True story, but I'll enjoy the lower prices. Time to look at heating oil! Hard to get excited over $3.00/gal for gas. Been buying gas for 35 years & I remember when ... Don't make yourself feel old. I'm only 27 and even I remember when it was $0.70/gallon. I thought my mom was going to start a revolution when it hit $1.00 a gallon. :laughin:

$2.83 this morning. I need to throw one of the Jeeps on a trailer and take it to Kroger. Sept point rolled over for this month so I'm up to like $0.50 off per gallon.

Added myself. Just went by zipcode but its pretty close to my actual house lol

Found this thread looking for something else and didn't see the other way to do it in here though I may have missed it. If you lay under the front with your legs facing out the front and look up directly between the motor and radiator and in between the electric and mechanical fans you can actually see the rod that connects both latches. Pull yourself up by the crossmember with one hand and grab the rod with the other and pull straight down and the hood will release. Takes a little effort to pop it out the plastic clips but it works and it's easier than taking a headlight out.