92XJT

Started to reassemble and see what's all in the bed. lol course after working in the snow for a few hours my dad say I could throw it in the pole barn. Which was an adventure in it self since steering wasn't hooked up and wife had to be the tow rig driver, but we got it in. And here's the donor rig.

Yep it all worked out with the trade - I now have just about all I need to finish the MJ already. One year off on the XJ - it's a 98, but starts right away, idles and runs great, and even took it wheelin in the snow up at our UP place. Not sure if I will use the seats yet - not in the greatest of shape, and rock pretty good (not sure if seat frame broke or floor board rotted). Got the remainder of the bed emptied on the MJ - sits a lot better with all the metal for sliders, spare tire/rim, 9" axle, and misc jeep parts out of the bed. Now on to the bad luck part, the trailer I borrowed continued to have lighting issues, and then my temp magnetic trailer lights messed up as well - think the wires on that harness got pinched under the CJ5 tires. Combination of lighting problems and not wanting to tow that way 4.5hrs, and the fact the MJ would of literally had to squeeze onto the trailer (trailer was 75" and MJ with lower air pressure in tires was at 76"). With all the unfortunately the MJ had to stay up north so now working on till I get up there again. And yes I'm breaking the first build rule - not including many pictures yet....... Stupid work computer won't allow photobucket linking, and our tablet has issues trying to do photobucket as well. So will have to fire up the old laptop eventually and get a few pictures up in the near future.

Sooooo looks like things might be moving faster then I originally planned. I have a trade underway, which is suppose to take place this Wednesday - trading my 1960 Willys CJ5 for a 99 4 door Cherokee (rusted rear unibody). Straight up trade so couldn't pass it up, and this should give me a lot, almost all the parts I need to get the MJ project rolling. Last time I was at our place up north I put the doors, fenders, and hood mocked in place on the MJ, and even the wife agreed it was starting to look like a truck again. Also went through the bed of parts to see what other goodies it had in store. Will be driving 5hrs to meet this guy to do the rig swap, then 2 hours to my other place where the MJ is stored, and bring the XJ to drop off. For now keeping the XJ at our place up north, and will trailer the MJ back to our normal home so I can start getting things ready. Need to get the floor pans in, weld up the rock rails, one dent in the bed to smooth out, engine bay clean up / paint, etc. XJ has approx. 240k miles on it, and figured I would get everything fixed while its running in the XJ first. Sounds like heater core is messed up, and a driver side window regulator so far. Thinking I'm going to strip down the CJ6 above and sell what I can parts wise off it. Main tub area shot, but the hard top / doors, frame, axle parts might bring in some extra revenue at least.

So went from having no wheeling jeeps a month ago, to now having 4 - all in some stage of disarray - lol. What started it was the purchase of a modified MJ, bought from a member on here. This one has a good portion left to go, and will require purchasing a newer XJ to get the wiring, engine, trans, tcase, and interior. The same day I picked up the MJ, my friend with me said, since I had a car hauler to come get his two old jeeps that been sitting in his woods for at least 15 years. 1947 Willys, and 1662-71 CJ6, and to our surprise none of the brakes were froze up and some of the tires had a little air in them. Heck had to cut trees down to get them out. Few weeks after getting these three, I found a 1960 Willys CJ5, that was very close to 100% complete. As of right now the grand total for all these jeeps is $1200, which even my wife couldn't complain about. Now I am trying to decided which one to work on first. Up for any input, I will list issues and intentions. 1960 Willys, right now needs brakes all the way around, and can't get it to fire, windshield, and a passenger seat. Turns over nice, just no spark - haven't dug too much deeper into yet due to work. From some quick diagnostic stuff leaning towards points. Jeep has been sitting for close to 20 years, about 15 from one owner, then the guy I bought it off of tinkered around for a bit before putting it in storage. Figured once I get the above mentioned stuff done may leave this jeep fairly stock and untouched - well maybe upgrade to HEI ignition. 47 Willys is 100% complete, but previous owners dad used it for plowing and while we were getting out of the woods found some hack job repairs on front frame. Frame cracked on both sides between front axle and front shackles. Haven't done much more with it since it is in storage in our home up north. Hoping to get frame fixed and again leave this one stock, if 6v still would upgrade to 12v CJ6 is missing engine, but other than that looks real solid. No title for this one as of now, and leaning towards building it into wheeler. I have a set of suburban axles (assuming 44/12bolt if I recall), and can get a tbi 305/700r4/tcase for free. Maybe do spring over on the 1/2 ton axles and through the 305 setup in and wheel as is for time being? 88 Comanche - 3 link front suspension with D44, rear is spring over with amc20 waggy. Right now riding on beadlocked 36" swampers. This one too is up north and this winter spring I plan on buying the donor XJ and then summer time bring the mj down to our main home in WI to start building.

lol found the album - July 19th, 2008 at the Badlands, I'm thinking I even had my 33" boggers at the time on the XJ.

I will have to go through some of my old photobucket albums in that era and take a look. Picked up jeep #4 this past week, lol now just need to decide which one to start working on.

We can heat our house with 100% wood if needed, or pellet stove, or natural gas furnace. Our woodstove would heat the main area of our home fairly quick, but we had a dual chambered wood stove with blower, and exposed chimney that heated the 1.5 stories. Pellet stove, we have one in the basement, and if it wouldn't have came with the home when we bought, I would never buy one. It was fine as a backup heat but to maintain a nice temp it went through a bag per 12hours, and at $4.00 something a bag added up quick. There should be smaller, like a pot belly stove / camp stove that should be more suited for smaller square foot areas like you have. Do you have a good supply of wood to cut or would you be buying it? You can use full size logs as mentioned in the initial post, but they are better suited for once the fire is good and hot. We used to load our woodstove up at night with larger logs and there would still be hot coals in the morning to restart the fire. Our stove seems to take only a very short time to heat our main living area it sits in. Figure the area is 30x30 with 22' ceilings. I didn't notice is your dad planning on using this to heat all the time, or just on occasion to get the chill out when in the room?

Thanks for the heads up on the 4:1 kit. Now I've ran across a few engine deals, but all of sbc. I can get a throttle bodies 305/700R4 combo for free, and all wiring. I know its a 305 only, but for the price it's hard to pass up. Course I also wonder how the height would be as well being it is a TBI engine. I am all over the fence on what drivetrain to do, but seeing I have no engine wiring, or interior my options are very open at this time. Same person that has the above combo has a chevy van that with the 4.8 vortex which I could have as well, but would have to get a transmission. I'm thinking even if I don't do the 305 install, I could get it and put it in one of my other jeep projects. Oh and last weekend picked up a 1960 Willys CJ5, just need to get some spark going to the engine and................................... Hopefully heading up to my MJ for a few days after turkey day - sucks having your storage place 4.5hrs away from your normal home.

Hey Wade.... What years did we wheel together, was browing some of my old wheeling file pics and couldn't find when we did? I know once for sure, maybe more - believe Badlands. lol - stupid MJ project of mine keeps getting pushed back - last weekend picked up a 60 Willys CJ5 that I am tinkering with. I need a larger pole barn with all these jeeps I've brought home in the past month.

So still debating between the 92-96XJ vs 98-99XJ, any thoughts to either way? Kind of leaning towards the newer style, but know there will be a little more electronics to transfer over. The MJ now is stripped bare in engine compartment and cab so one less thing to do. Been reading over a few of the forum builds and conversions, and doesn't look too hard to accomplish.

Dropping into to say Hey...... Name is Ed, and living in Cascade, WI (20min west of Sheboygan). Just picked up my first MJ, which is a project so not sure when I can start hitting the trails with you all. Not new to jeeps / wheeling rigs: Had a modified XJ, CJ7, 1 ton YJ, and a few more. Most of my trail riding now is in our rzr S, and for the most part we do most of our stuff in Upper Michigan. So yeah some day hope to meet up with some of ya.

So been without a wheeling rig for awhile, and been browsing craigslist and forums looking for something that peaked my interested. Course cheaper was always better, and I don't mind putting a little work into them. Came across Jakes MJ for sale, linked the start of his build thread below. Biggest plus was it was only an hour from our other home in Upper Michigan, where it would be stored till I saved up more toy funds to buy donor rig. Had a slew or rigs, some fairly tame, others a little more extreme - but nothing over the top. A few of my old previous rigs: 76 K5 blazer, lifted and 39.5 swampers 80 GMC long bed, 7" lift 38" swampers 76 scout II and 80 scout travel all 01 ram 1500, 8" lift 37" IROKs 92 XJ sport, 33" boggers, locked front and rear with 6pt cage and soft top 82 CJ7 38.5 swampers, SBC 95 YJ, 1 ton axles, 5.38 gears, stretched, 39.5 IROKs 07 Power wagon, 35 BFG KM2s Current Rides: 14 Ram with 6.4L, crew cab and 35" MTs 16 grand Cherokee 75th addition 11 Polaris RZR S, 2" RT lift, 30" zillas, lots of other mods. Hopefully link works - was the build topic he started from previous owner. http://comancheclub.com/topic/42178-99-mj-conversion-build/page-1 Good for me / bad for the start of the build, my neighbor gave me two other jeeps since we had a car hauler that day. lol so the same day I became the MJ owner, I also became a 46 Willys army jeep owner, and a 62-71 CJ 6 owner, all of which need some work, and not sure which one to start with. THE BUILD>>>>> The plan for now is to find a donor XJ to swap over 4.0/aw4/231 drivetrain, all the interior and wiring for both cab and engine. Finish the floor repairs on the MJ and get the rockrails + other odds and ends completed. I'm sure this build will change many times down the road, because I'm already leaning towards an atlas t-case already, or a 231 with the 4:1 kit, have debated a fuel injected chevy small block since I have access to a complete 94 chevy 1/2 ton for cheap. But more than likely this project is on the back burning through winter since I am storing the MJ at our old farm in Upper Michigan, eventually it will be brought down to our home in Wisconsin. Will get a few pics up when I get home. 1. Buy donor XJ (probably shooting for 92-96 years, perhaps go up to 99. 2. Finish up repairs to MJ body 3. Run all electrical, lines, etc then install engine / trans / tcase. 4. Thinking of taking all the XJ interior over all well 5. Shocks / driveshafts

So for those of you following this build thread, I am new owner of this project. Great dealing with Jake and his dad on this transaction, and I will start a new build thread to continue this project. First MJ for me but not my first jeep at least. Unfortunately the project will be on hold through winter since I had to leave the MJ at my place in Michigan till I get some stuff done at our full time home in Wisconsin.