Go4Lo

Yes it did have proper break in oil. Have the reciepts for it. I do not know however if the cam/motor was broke in proper. But if it was, I doubt it would have made it 12k. Well I continue to keep researching. At this point I'm still leaning towards zinc being the issue. I don't deny I could be wrong though. I think either way there will be zinc in the oil from this day forward just to be on the safe side. Cats are a lot easier to replace than cams. WOW! The ole MJ looks great! I'm super impressed with the finishing touches you've put on it an even more excited to see you wheelin' it! I'm just getting back into the Jeep scence as I took a break over last 6 months. I stumbled across your build thread from my old build on JF. I am sad to see the cam/lifter failure, BUT as you said I feel like it was due to improper oil useage as well. I can testify that motor was broken in correctly (this wasn't my first motor rebuild) using Comp Cams Break-In oil. I can't speak to what oil the second owner ran but I had been running the Comp Cams 10w30 Muscle and Street Rod oil which has higher levels of zinc. I know it's more of a hassle to run it because you can't just run down to the parts store to pick it up but I felt it was worth it for the added peace of mind. Just an FYI, you can order it by the case from Summit, part number 1594-12. Again, you've done a AWESOME job with the truck and I look forward to seeing it back on the road. I don't get on CC much any more but feel free PM me and I'll give you my email address if you ever have questions.

Why do I need side protection when I don't have rear lower quarter panels and the upper corners of the bed are armored? What a useless comment? :dunno: I don't see any TJ's out there with corner guards that run wrap around bumpers as well and their corner armour is less thick than mine..... And the mounts are too weak for what? To pull a yacht? :shake:

As most of you know there is really NO options out there for MJ rear bumpers other than the basic bumper that JCR offroad makes. I contacted Terry at Rigidco several months ago about possibly building a MJ rear bumper. He was excited to help out, the only problem was I was in NC and he is in UT. So after many emails and phone calls I ended up with a base rear bumper from him based off their XJ rear bumpers. From that point I proceeded to modify my stock MJ bumper mounts and the Rigidco bumper to make it work on my truck. Below is the finished product. Let me know what you think. Stock MJ tow bumper mounts (4 bolts along the frame and 1 under), cut down, plated, and gussets added. Drilled for a standard 3 bolt mounting to the rear bumper. Image Not Found Image Not Found Trimmed and tapered ends of the bumper to be the same width of the tailgate. Capped the ends with 10g plate and ground the welds down smooth. Image Not Found Image Not Found Image Not Found Test fit prior to paint Image Not Found Finished product painted with Rustoleum Spray on Bed Liner. Also I used flip down license plate bracket and a pair of LED LightBoltz to mount the tag. Image Not Found Image Not Found Image Not Found Image Not Found

Just told my glass guy that I wanted the later rubber trim instead of putting the metal trim on. He was happy because he didn't have to screw with those plastic clips. Just remember that it's the black goo that holds the window in. The rubber or metal just fills the gap. :cheers: I had the same thing done on my MJ. When I called Safelite I told the phone rep I had a '99 XJ that needed a new windshield and seal. The tech guy was a little surprised when he got there to find it was actually an MJ. I did have to take a punch and knock off all of the old tabs inside the windshield frame. Otherwise the install for the Safelite tech went smooth as they just glue the front windshield in and the rubber piece is used to fill/hide the gap.

:agree: :drool: I knew you guys would call me out on the stickers....LOL. I know I need to get a CC sticker on there to add to the collection. :banana:

Thanks for the comments! The trim is called Protekto (sp?) trim and it sticks to the outside of the fenders with 3M tape. The ONLY place I've ever found it is from Dirk at DPGoffroad.com. Give him a call an he can hook you up with a roll of it for about $30. One roll is enough to cover all 4 fenders of an XJ or MJ.

As promised a few pics of the new additions, Currie Correctlync steering and Lebarron hood vents. Also some pics of our trip out on the beach today at Ft. Fisher, NC. Image Not Found Hood vents and our spot for the day. Image Not Found Not many people on the beach :rotf: Image Not Found My wife goofing around with the camera Image Not Found Image Not Found Image Not Found Image Not Found Image Not Found

I have the center section of the rear bumper already, I'm just waiting on the end caps from Terry at Rigidco. Hopefully I'll have them in a few weeks.

Thanks man! The corner guards took way too long for mass production. They are definately a one off set....LOL.

Thanks fellas. I pulled a late night Friday night and got the new shocks on as well as the Currie steering and buttoned up some other loose ends then drove it to the beach Saturday morning. I'll try to post up some pics of new parts and some mild wheelin on the beach later this week.

Of the entire swap the fuel tank/charcoal canister was the worst part! :ack: LOTS of trial an error and test fitting. The solution I ended up with was using the stock MJ short bed tank, blocking off/sealing the stock fuel pump opening on the side, cutting a new hole in the top of the tank and dropping the fuel pump in from the top out of the '99 XJ and using a set of fuel cell rings from Copperhead Fab. With this set up I was able to remount the stock tank back in the stock location thus utilizing the stock filler neck and straps. I ran rubber fuel injection hose from the top of the tank/fuel pump to the XJ hardlines that I transferred over to the MJ. Also I remounted the evap/charcoal canister from the XJ under the bed of the MJ and extended all the lines. The only 2 negatives with this set up is the tank did have to be spaced down about 2" lower so that the top of the XJ pump clears the bottom of the bed. The stock straps have enough length in them to work. Also the MJ tank is deeper than the XJ pump reaches by about 2-3" so I have to fill up a little sooner. Otherwise everything works great, including the fuel guage. Image Not Found Image Not Found It's hard to see but in this picture you can see the evap/charcoal canister from the XJ remounted. Image Not Found

Yes, that's me asking about A/C stuff on NAXJA. I "think" I got the A/C problem fixed last night. I had to remove the shim behind the A/C clutch because the gap was too much.

Nice shocks...I have the 5100s on my MJ as well. I had the same problem with the 12" travel 5100s being too long in front. I found that the 10" travel shocks work the best all around with about 6-7" of lift, ie SOA rear. I have my rears set at about 4.5" uptravel and 5.5" downtravel. The nice thing about the 5100s is if they are like new you can get 95% of your money back by selling them online and just buy you another set of the shorter shocks.

Nice truck! I really like idea of a rear tire carrier. I thought a LOT about putting one on my truck but I could never figure out if it looks right on a truck without a camper shell? :nuts:

Thanks guys!! I was able to sell the Bilsteins and the ORO steering on JF. The new 10" travel Bilstein shocks and Currie steering should be here later today. I've got to scramble to get everything on since we are leaving tomorrow morning in the MJ for a week long trip. It's a 4+ hour drive to the NC coast so tomorrow will be the true test :yes: Pics to come later.....