socal1200r

That's what I've been trying to say! The T has push-lock fittings on all three ends (two arms and the bottom). Cut the Shrader valves off the ends of the airlines, but leave enough on one of them to connect to the bottom of the T. This would be my single source of air for both bags. At that point I'd have two airlines with open ends at both ends. Put two open ends into the arms of the T, and the other open ends into the fittings at the airbags, and it's done. However, that won't negate this issue of air moving between the bags under load. Seems that the only EASY way to prevent this is to just have separate airlines for each bag. I'm not looking forward to having to air up and check two valves instead of one, but with how infrequently I expect to be needing them, it's a tradeoff I can live with, IF it will keep the air from moving from one bag to the other.

Good advice...I've always been a fan of s/s lines, especially on the motorcycles I've owned. I've always thought of them as a one-time investment, install once and forget about them, except when it's time to change the brake fluid. I'll have to check the ones on my motorcycle now, and make sure I'm not losing any fluid at the reservoir, the brake levers are firm, and there isn't any "weeping" of fluid at the banjo ends...

That might make sense in theory, but I've never heard of such a thing in real life, as far as the air passing from side to side, depending on the load or terrain. Anyone else want to chime in on this?

If that T fitting had a Shrader valve at the bottom, with the two "arms" being push-lock fittings, that would be EXACTLY what I'm looking for. But so far, the only thing I've found is a T fitting just like that one, with the three push-lock fittings...

Found a suitable part on Napa's website (MBI 11053), but it doesn't have a Shrader valve. None of the Napa stores around here has one in stock, so they referred me to a fleet supply place. They had them in stock, with the push-lock fittings, so it looks like I'll be using one of those. I could make it work though, in that I'd have to cut one of the Shrader valves off, leaving a few inches of airline on the other end, so I could attach it to the bottom of the "T", put the Shrader valve thru a hole in the bumper, and that will be my single source of air for the bags. Then cut the other Shrader valve off the other line, and then I'll have two airlines with open ends. The airbag ends have those push-lock fittings, and this fleet supply "T" has the push-lock fittings as well, so I should be good to go. The Napa part was $5, but wasn't push-lock. The fleet supply part is $8, with push-lock fittings, so besides having them in stock, the push-lock fittings on both ends should be pretty easy to do. I'm going to try and get this part on Mon, and get the airbag kit installed sometime next week. Once I do, I'll get some pics and post them.

Just got the Airlift airbag helper kit for my MJ. It didn't come with a T-valve, so I could air up both bags at the same time. I went to a local auto parts store, Lowe's, and Home Depot, no luck. The lines are marked "1/4 OD", if that helps any. Does anyone know of a place that might have a Schrader T-valve for these air lines, or am I going to have to air them up one at a time?

I wondered how that was done...thanks for the pics, looks simple enough!

I'd say 31x10.50 would be the max size...I'm running that with no lift, WJ LCAs, but 2" of lift would increase fender clearance (I hit the inner fenders going in this one angled driveway at the local post office). That really isn't much lift, but it would be enough for 31s to not hit the fenders like mine do. And you do know that a lift won't help LCA rubbing issues, right? If they rub at full lock, they'll still rub with a lift. Only cure is to not turn to full lock, or install different LCAs.

I tried replacing just the bulbs in my "dome" lights, but that didn't work. So I ended up buying new dome lights at the local auto parts store, and on/off switches at Radio Shack. I don't have the knowledge or patience to figure out why they weren't working, so I made sure the wires at the dome lights were functioning properly,wired them into the switches, and bypassed the door jamb switches. Instead of the LED light strip that was featured in one of the threads in here, I just replaced the standard 194(?) bulb with a white 3-LED bulb, and wow is that bright!

EXACTLY! If after you pull the tab away from the base of the wiper arm, the arm still goes all the way down, you don't have the tab pulled all the way out. The arm will NOT go all the way down to the glass once that tab is pulled all the way out. With the arm resting away from the glass, it should release the tension on the base, and the arms should pop right off.

I thought I saw a post on here by someone who flipped over the u-bolts and shock mounts on the rear leafs, in order to shorten the length of the rear shocks. Looked pretty cool, and it has the added benefit of keeping the bottom shock mounts out of harm's way.

Yup, that tab has to go away from the arm, and make sure it's ALL the way pushed out. Then, what I do is push down on the end of the arm, which should raise the arm at the base, and it should come off. I tried wiggling and pulling at the base, then found out when I let the arm down it came loose. I've had to remove these arms a few times, so they're not going past the glass when they wipe, and it gets easier every time. Once you get yours off, you might want to put a drop of two of lubricant on the knurled knobs that the base of the arms sit on.

I think you're on to something there...I'm picturing those wheels that are on the truck already, either powdercoated or painted gloss black, with the shiny Jeep center caps, maybe a small red pinstripe around the outer rim...now those would look sweet, and no one else would have a look like that! Plus, powdercoat or paint would be a LOT easier to keep clean than any aluminum wheel...

Black Ions or the black Cragars, in that order...

I was going to suggest using 30x9.50's instead, but it sounds like you already have the 31's? I don't think running 31's on stock 6" steel wheels is going to work, without rubbing on either the fenders or LCA's, or both. Of course it would work on wider rims, be they stock Jeep or aftermarket, but even then, you'll still have to trim either the fenders or get WJ LCAs. Good luck with whatever you decide to do, and like you said, no cuttin' up a rust-free MJ (at least metal, plastic would be okay)!

Any decent muffler shop should be able to hook you up with new piping from the the manifold on back. If your budget is $200, I'd also suggest getting a Thrush all-welded chambered muffler. Summit Racing sells them for about $30 plus shipping, and your local auto parts store might even have them in stock for around $40. Most likely if you got a new cat that would blow your budget, so you'll have to decide on that as well. Bottom line: help out a local muffler shop by letting them put on some new aluminized exhaust tubing, and use one of those Thrush mufflers, which are half the price of a comparable Flowmaster or Magnaflow, and will sound just as nice. Those two things should keep your new exhaust below $200.

If my MJ were in that kind of environment, I'd invest in a snorkel. But, growing up in So Cal, and being stuck here in Norfolk (VA), my MJ doesn't go thru deep mud or water, so I'm fine with the inlet hose under the bumper.

Belts, hoses, fuses...I'd do a function check too (lights, signals, horn, wipers, windows, tail gate, hood, doors, etc). Ask him where he parks it, and look for any obvious fluids on the ground underneath. I'd also crawl underneath and look at the underside (diffs, shocks, oil pan, trans, exhaust, etc). While you're under there, check the diffs for fluid level too.

When faced with a similar dilemma years ago, about whether or not to buy a particular red Moto Guzzi motorcycle that was in Oklahoma, when I had a gorgeous yellow Ducati already sitting in the garage in California, the answer came to me when I had my kids at the theater, watching Disney's "Hunchback of Notre Dame". There's a scene in there, where Quasimodo wasn't sure if he should go down to the street and participate in the Festival of Fools, and the gargoyles tell him, "it's better to seek forgiveness than to ask permission"...BOOM, there was the epiphany, lol! So I got the Guzzi without telling the wife, and of course she found out about it when I had it delivered to the house...slept on the sofa for about a week, and she still holds it against me to this day (close to 20 years)...just wish I still had both of those bikes, lol...

And don't forget little details like gauge cluster swap...if memory serves me right, your '86 has a cable speedo, and anything newer than a '92 or '93 will have an electronic speedo. but I suppose if you swap the wiring harness from the donor vehicle, and if it has an electronic speedo, you could get it to work...still sounds like too much work to me...

If it was me, I'd leave the '86 alone, and look for a newer MJ with a 4.0, and fix that one up, that way you'll get what you want as it was from the factory, instead of monkeying around with engine/trans/axle swaps and everything else that's involved with that. Sounds like you won't be happy with the 2.8 and 3-speed automatic, so maybe you could cut your losses now and get something more along the lines of what you want? As for the SOA lift in the rear, I think you'll need a 5"-6" lift on the front to match it. And lifting it that much will involve a WHOLE lot of things. The cost for lifting it like that could probably get you a newer MJ with a 4.0, or at the very least a donor XJ with a 6-cyl for a swap.

I polished an aluminum motorcycle frame by hand, back when I was young and dumb, lol! I used oven cleaner and steel wool to remove the clearcoat, and 0000 steel wool and Mother's to polish it. Took me about 20 hours to do it, and was high maintenance to keep it shiny afterwards, since I didn't clearcoat it. Would I do it again? Definitely NOT, it was too much work to do it and keep it shiny. If it was me, I'd just take them to a shop and let them do it. They can strip the old clearcoat, and you could get them either powdercoated or painted, and polished in the right places.

That's what I was thinking. Dimensionally, a Dakota bench seat should fit, provided the correct mounts/spacers/etc. are fabbed to mate with the existing seat bolts, or new bolts are used to match the Dakota seat rails, or the MJ bench seat mount is grafted to the Dakota bench seat, or some combination thereof... I think something like that is definitely doable, provided someone has the parts, tools, and knowledge to make it work...

The way I understand it, instead of relying on the cab lever AND this vacuum-assist gizmo to operate the 4wd system, by locking the CAD, the cab lever does all the work now. I tested the system after I did this mod, and it's not locked in full-time 4wd. Using the cab lever to put it into 4H, 4L, and back into 2H, it operated like it should. Apparently, Jeep did away with this vacuum-assist thing in the early 90's, so by locking the CAD and using only the cab lever to engage the 4wd system, it'll operate like a newer Jeep's system.

You da man, Pete...key words here being "right tools"...I don't have an electric drill, saw, bench vise, grinder, or any kind of air tools, so for me, it was cheaper to just pay a shop to install them...but you're right, if one looks at a pick and pull, or in some classifieds, and has the right tools, it looks like an easy enough swap, and definitely worth it...