thecodemonk

It was great to have you over man! Glad it worked out! I finally saw you on the morning commute this AM haha :)

That bench seat looks so good!!!

I've...never worked anything except a computer job, so I can't help with the transition. But I can offer some tips that help me at the desk: - Convertible desk. Standing all the time is no better than sitting all of the time. Keep changing from sitting to standing throughout the day. - When you are standing, take a break every hour or so and do some stretches in your cubicle. Good for the body and good for the mind. - Go talk to your team members. Walk over to their cubes. It's good to walk around, gives your brain a break, and builds good team camaraderie (good for team morale). Bouncing ideas off of each other helps keep the brain thinking in new ways too. - In your calendar, reserve time for walks around the office or around the campus. It takes about 25 minutes to go around the whole campus where I work and it's a great time to unwind if I'm alone, or catch up with a coworker (on top of the exercise). If the weather is too bad, find a corridor to walk up and down...even if you only do it once and it takes 3 minutes, it's still helpful. - Learn to multi-task on the screen. My mind stays plenty active jumping between work tasks, chatting with co-workers on the company I'm, or browsing comancheclub when my brain is needing a quick break (I do this on a little personal laptop I keep to the side). My other coworkers will listen to music while they work, which can make the day fly by too. Hope that helps!

woohoo!! Congrats! I love following the work you do on this truck. Everything is so clean and beautiful!

Thanks! It's been an adventure and there'll be plenty more to come! :)

almost 5k?! No wonder V8 and axle swaps are so popular with those rigs. Looks like the Gladiator Rubicon is a hair OVER 5k too.

I think it was the JK axles that did that (that's where I started really seeing an explosion of those parts in the aftermarket)...the tubes were not dana 30 thin, but not near thick enough for the weight and width, especially of the 4-doors. Those JKUs are stupid heavy stock (around 4500lbs curb weight *before* adding armor, winch, etc). My XJ fully armored up on heavy 35s and steel wheels (with welded on beadlocks) weighed only ~4100lbs by comparison.

Nice! This sounds like the start of a good build thread! Looks like you got some good bones to put together too! Is that grille.. melted?? With that much heat, you definitely want to replace the radiator as I would assume that the plastic sides on the radiator are probably compromised. Sent from my Pixel 4 using Tapatalk

I think cabin is any XJ 96 and earlier for doors forward. 91 had the HO 4.0, so I think you're looking at 90+ for the engine. Sent from my Pixel 4 using Tapatalk

Aw man! I need to keep my eyes better peeled! Were you in the full size pickup? or one of the cars? I'll PM you and we can work something out on the bilsteins :)

I thought exactly the same words in my head...especially that grey one!

We need to find a white MJ up here and to a patriotic photoshoot haha Man, that MJ looks so good still. If you want some grand cherokee leather buckets, I have a pair that are in pretty good condition (driver side was in the XJ but the seat itself is still straight...the passenger side never got installed and still sits in the shop). Needs power to adjust the backs or else swap the mechanism for a manual one. :) Also, I got some Bilsteins on the XJ if you want to come over and pull them and see if you want them. :)

These would have to be fabbed...the Novak ones sit the engine too high to use the truck intake and require a car intake. (Even then, if you have a DBW TB, it still seems to need a little clearancing work on a hood support beam) Sent from my Pixel 4 using Tapatalk

That's definitely the truck intake in the picture. Sent from my Pixel 4 using Tapatalk

...how do you roll the windows down? o_O

I still need to grab some video of some of this (as pictures aren't enough to really display it all), but I got the MJ home now and am daily driving it again! I pulled up to the shop to see the MJ all ready to go! They gave me the keys to test drive it before I paid and it was a blast to tool around on (plenty of power, but not so much that it's uncontrollable) After that, we got all the old parts on the pallet... ...and into the back of the truck. It definitely had that baja lean going on with all the weight in the back of the bed! That said, it didn't have any trouble hauling all of it around (as one would expect) A final engine pic for good measure... I got it all home and unloaded and it's back to being pretty much level. This sight makes me happy that it's all back home and ready for duty again! It's got both the springs and the pucks in it right now...I might take those pucks back out as I like a bit of rake in the stance. In the meantime, it runs great and I'll keep fixing/upgrading as I go (and I'll get some videos posted of it running, and of the dash, etc). I think I will get a sway bar for this at some point in the future...it leans a LOT more than the XJ did and I can only assume that's a result of the leaf springs having less arch in them and being longer when compared to the XJ leafs. Most immediate plans: - Get video of this thing running and of the gauges (which I'm REALLY happy with) - Continue listening for other rattles or noises that need attention and checking for anything that may be loose...I should probably still check the floorpans at some point (I worry I won't be able to get the carpet back in right...detail work escapes me) - Fix the broken mounts on the a-pillar trim - Find out why the radio won't pick up any stations. Going to check the wire behind the passenger kick panel after the baby wakes back up. - Swap out the 2-piece front axle shaft for a single one (and replace the axle seal, attach the blockout plate for the vacuum CAD mechanism, etc) - Get the parking brake reattached (I disconnected it when I did the axle work and never got around to getting it reattached as I needed some extra hands to hold a few things) - Fix the interior lights that are dangling by their harnesses out of the b-pillars - Continue disassembling the XJ and stealing any and all useful parts - Sell all the old parts from the swap to anyone interested nearby More long term future upgrade plans: - OBA - AC added and functioning - Sway bar (Anti-rock?) - Front auto-locker? - Front bumper (hidden mount winch...maybe BWE's setup for the winch mount and a JCR non-winch bumper?) - Building a rear bumper along the lines of "Wife's MJ" ( https://comancheclub.com/topic/8516-wifes-mj/?do=findComment&comment=136071 ) - Building some bed protection along the lines of H3RESQ's ( https://comancheclub.com/topic/27668-h3resqs-dream-mj-the-build-continues/page/26/ ) - Replace front fenders...maybe 97 swap the exterior? (the wife loves the 97 swapped front ends, I'm more a fan of the old style) Long-long term plans: - flip the grille so that it's not upside-down haha

That looks way better than I thought they would! That looks awesome! Do they stick out a lot underneath?

Oooh, excited to see these get built up!

Nice! With the list of items and what you've done to the rig, you should start a build thread if you haven't already and keep updating it as you do things (to help inspire some of the rest of us)

No sweat! Pictures really answer a ton of questions better than text can. :)

$225???

Frequency bias (or "Baader-Meinhof Phenomenon")...happens with every car I get/look into

Yup...I ran into the same thing when installing IRO's 3 link in my build thread. I just removed the bracket. That said, the fuel lines will have to kindof be moved around a bit too, to get around the new bracket going in. I had to remove one of the plastic mounts from the unibody/frame forward of the point shown in the picture so they'd get around the new bracket, but it worked fine and doesn't rub anything. :) You can see how it routes in the pictures in this post specifically:

This thing is so awesome as it is and I need to come over and get a ride in it!

This is most likely, as eagle said, a leaking vacuum line (on my XJ, it was a line along the passenger side that broke). The HVAC blender is mostly vacuum operated and will default to defrost when there's a vacuum leak.