socal1200r

Did I get what painted? When I bought the MJ back in Nov, it was already two-tone, I just hit the lower edges of the panels, about 3.5" worth, with some bedliner spray. If it wasn't two-tone already, just one solid color, I would've hit more of the lower panels with the bedliner spray, maybe up to the bottom edge of the black section that's on there now, or about 8" - 8.5". Hope that's what you were asking?

The tonneau cover was bought by the previous owner. From looking at the receipt, looks like it was ordered from a company called Sportmaster, slant-side snap cover, part #30-410-01, cost was $269. It has three rail sections that go all around the bed, and one for the tailgate, and the cover snaps to the rails, not the bed itself. It also has three cross bows that help keep the cover tight and helps prevent any "low" spots where water could accumulate. Here's a pic of the cover from the back: It's a little over 2 years old, and has held up very well. The black cover is a little dirty, but all the snaps are intact, goes on and off easily, no rips or tears in the cover, etc. To me, it's a quality-made setup, and I'll probably keep it for a while. Plus, it keeps the bed out of the elements, and stuff in the bed are hidden from view. I keep some items in the bed, like jumper cables, tie downs, tie down extensions, towing chains, hitch receiver/ball, and a fire extinguisher.

Or just run 31's on stock Jeep rims, WJ lower control arms ($85, http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/2-LOWERI ... 2ea9c5f97c). Just another option, one of which I'm sure will be MANY, lol...

31s on stock Jeep rims will clear the fenders, but not the lower control arms. I'm running Firestone Destination ATs in 31x10.50 on stock Jeep alloys, with Grand Cherokee (WJ) lower control arms, and there's no rubbing at all (unless I'm entering/exiting a steep driveway at an angle, don't ask, lol). I got a set of WJ LCAs off eBay for about $85 shipped, and spent about $100 getting them installed. But like others have said, aftermarket wheels have a different offset, and you'll end up rubbing the fenders. Better to spend the money and get the WJ LCAs, and not rub the fenders, as long as you have Jeep wheels. And yes, a lift won't help the rubbing issue. In this pic, you can see how the WJ LCAs are fully boxed, and have a slight "S" bend in them, to clear the tires at full lock (I had the 31s on when the pic was taken): Here's a couple of pics of my stock ride height MJ, with 31s on Jeep alloys: As for your future mods, some possible suggestions. You can get a muffler that sounds just as good as a Flowmaster, for less than half the price. Go to Summit Racing's website, and check out their Thrush all-welded, chambered muffler for about $30. That's what I'm currently running on my MJ. Here's the link: http://www.summitracing.com/parts/WLK-1 ... mage=large As for tires, there are several good alternatives to BFG ATs, for less money. I got a set of 4 Firestone Destination AT's for less than $500 out the door. Also, if you live near a WalMart, check out the Goodyear Wrangler Authority and Uniroyal Liberators. Had I been able to get a deal on either of these tires for less than the Firestones, I would've gotten them instead. Walmart's mounting/balancing and tire warranty runs about $18 a tire, so add that on top of the tires, and you'll get an idea of what the total package will cost. The Uniroyals were $115/tire, and the Goodyears were $130/tire at my local WalMart. http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product. ... d=11983156 http://www.uniroyaltires.com/tire-selec ... re-details

If my truck wasn't already painted two-tone by the previous owner, I would have sprayed the lower panels higher, like to the bottom of the black, or about 8" from the bottom. You can see in this pic that the mud is splashing higher than where I sprayed the very lower portion of the body panels with textured bedliner spray (slightly higher than the bottom of the door). But at least I've got the lower 3.5" covered: I used to have a '94 Cherokee that I sprayed the lower panels with bedliner spray, and I think it turned out pretty good. This is what it looked like sprayed about 8.5" up from the bottom. To me, it's still a red Cherokee, and the black lower panels didn't distract from the primary red color of the Cherokee. If a friend of mine hadn't wrecked that Cherokee by driving it into a tree, I'd still have it, but oh well...:

That truck bed and lower panels are screaming for some roll-on or spray-on bedliner! Roll bar turned out well, nice job!

Yeah, I paid around $8 a can for the stuff, did fine on the bed extender, but sucked on the truck bed itself. It didn't spray on evenly, so I ended up buying the roll-on bedliner stuff in a can. Price it out, and you might want to go with the roll-on stuff, instead of buying 3-4 cans of the spray. Caution on the roll-on stuff, don't apply it directly from the can, because it starts to dry out. Just buy some cheap painting trays or cooking trays, some disposable brushes (dollar store!), pour some in, and have at it. Otherwise, you'll have to buy some acetone to clean up the brushes, which is more money. But I'd definitely do some kind of surface prep, at the very least rubbing it down with some rubbing alcohol or acetone. Maybe that stuff on a scotchbrite pad would do it. Don't have to scrub it down to bare metal, just rough it up enough for the bedliner to stick to.

That's what I've had to do with that bed extender. I got the occasional paint chip, which was very obvious, since the aluminum underneath is silver. I just touched it up with more of the spray liner stuff, and it looks fine.

Instead of trying to find new bulbs and amber lenses, wouldn't it be cheaper to just buy a new set of fog lights? I agree that amber lenses are what you need for true "fog" lights, and 55w bulbs should do the trick. I have a pair of motorcycle glasses with yellow lenses that I use at night, and it really brightens things up, without the glare of reflected light. I think shooting glasses operate on the same principle.

I think that's what I used on the floorboards, because it has a textured finish. I used another brand of spray-on liner stuff, which dried smooth like paint, and ended up not sticking very well to an aluminum tube bed extender I bought for another truck I had. Resprayed it with this stuff, and the textured finish was definitely better, and lasted MUCH longer. I also used this stuff to spray the lower edges of my MJ, and the only advice I can give is apply it like paint, because it will develop runs!

Got my snowmobile vents today that I bought off eBay ($8 incl shipping!), and played around with placement on the hood. The overall length and width for each vent is 6" x 4", and the cutout areas will have to be about 4.5" x 3". Good idea to look under the hood, to make sure it clears everything and isn't directly over any critical parts (like the distributor and TB). These are considerably smaller than a set of LeBaron vents, so I'll be able to place them farther off center, away from the distributor and TB. My idea for mounting them will be to drill the four holes for the corners on each vent from under the hood, lay down some painter's tape, then do everything else from the top side. That hood is big and heavy, and I'll be doing this by myself, so I plan on doing most of the work from the top. Put down some painter's tape; mark the area to be drilled out for the louvers to sit down into; use a jig saw to cut the hood; test fit and adjust as needed; remove the tape on top and bottom; run some clear fingernail polish along the cut edges for rust prevention; run a small bead of black rtv along the underside edges of the vents, for a water-tight seal (i.e. water doesn't get trapped between the vent and hood); then secure the vents to the hood (not sure if I'm going to use sheet metal screws or bolts). Am I missing anything?

Ahhh Well I had not looked up prices for the Controller/Compressor Kits... My Local Airlift Supplier has kits with the controller and Compressor including a gauge and All the hose's and Hardware which is the way I will Be going as it keeps it simple and You know the compressor will be able to handle what you need since it is made specifically for this purpose... There's certainly something to be said for the convenience of having an onboard compressor to add air to the air bags, but I can't justify almost doubling the cost of the airbag kit to do it. I'll just use a low-cost portable one to air them up. But if you've got the bucks, getting an onboard compressor installed along with the aribags would be a cool combination.

Wade I have some water spots on my floorboards as well. I ended up taking out the bench seat, cutting out most of the carpeting, putting down some bedliner spray, and drilling a couple of small drainage holes where most of the water was puddling. I'm using heavy duty rubber floor mats now, and what little water accumulates on the floorboards now, I'm okay with it now. If you haven't re-installed your carpet yet, I'd suggest putting down some bedliner on those floors, and using some good rubber mats. Good luck!

The cheapest Airlift onboard compressor I saw on Amazon was $140, and I can get a 12V portable one for around $30, so that's what I'm going to use. I don't plan on doing a lot of hauling or towing, but when I do, this air bag helper kit, and a portable compressor, should do the trick.

Has anyone installed one of these kits, or know someone who has? http://www.amazon.com/LIFT-59503-Contro ... &carId=001 http://www.truckaddons.com/Catalog/subp ... ontrol.htm I can't seem to find a pair of air shocks for my MJ, so I'm thinking one of these kits would be the next best thing. What I'm looking for is something to level the back of the MJ, should I haul or tow anything that would make it sag. Not interested in helper springs, want something air-adjustable. If I install one of these kits, I'll get a 12V portable compressor and keep it in the truck. These kits look like they'd be a great substitute for air shocks?

I like my 2.5 4-cylinder plenty, but if I was thinking of swapping in a bigger engine, it wouldn't be the 4.0 six. If I had the $ to throw at it, I'd look at swapping in a small-block V-8, like a 289 or 302, since their distributors are at the front, and there are probably lots of donor vehicles out there with those engines in them. Plus, with my MJ being over 20 years old, it shouldn't be as complicated as a newer truck, with OBD II and all of that other new-fangled sophisticated electronics and all, lol... But like I said, I like my 2.5 just fine, so there won't be any engine swaps in her future, if at all (unless I win the lottery, lol)...

I ordered a set of window wipes from them as well, already shipped, waiting for them to arrive...

That looks like the exact same muffler I'm running on my MJ now. Got it for less than $40 at a local auto parts store, which is actually a little less from Summit, since they're like $30 at Summit plus shipping. I like how it sounds, and the design/construction is VERY similar to the more expensive mufflers from FLowmaster and Magnaflow. It's funny, because on Summit's website, I think that Thrush muffler is made by Walker, because it has a Walker part number. Could be that a lot of the brand mufflers are made by just a few companies, and just rebranded, like they do with athletic shoes and such, lol...

Those tread patterns look too aggressive for street use. I don't plan on taking my MJ off-road too much, certainly nothing like rock crawling or mud bogs, so an AT tread design is more than enough for me, and less expensive too. But looks like you have a pretty good idea of what type of tire you want, it's just a matter of what size. I still say go for the 235/75, and stay away from the letter-type tires.

Stay with the metric-sized tires, and go with a good 235/75-15. I like the Firestone Destinatino ATs I have, and WalMart has some really good looking Uniroyal Liberators and Goodyear all-terrains of some kind (can't remember the specific WalMart model name).

Weird...my '88 MJ has the 2.5 4-cylinder with a 5-speed, 4wd, D35 rear axle with 4.10 gears, and doesn't seem to have any problems getting up to freeway speeds. It's also running 15x7 Jeep alloys with 31x10.5 Firestone Destination AT's, with WJ LCAs, so there's no tire rubbing on hard parts or fenders (unless I'm entering or exiting a steep driveway at an angle). When I first got the MJ, it had the stock steel wheels, with 235/75 Goodyear Forteras. They looked pretty decent, better than the 225/75 Michelins that were on there before. I'd say go for 235/75s, or at the very least, 225/75s. Your 2.5 should drive just fine with either of those sizes, unless your gear ratios are really low, numerically speaking.

Flowmaster and Magnaflow mufflers are about $70 from Summit. Thrush is $30, and a glasspack is about $25. For the money, I went with the 2.25" inlet/outlet, chambered, all-welded Thrush, for less than $40 delivered. But a lot of the auto parts stores carry these mufflers, and you might save a little on shipping if you bought one locally.

I used one of these chambered, all-welded mufflers from Thrush on my 4-cyl MJ: http://www.summitracing.com/parts/WLK-1 ... mage=large I highly recommend using one of these mufflers from Thrush or Summit. I've used them with great results, and they're considerably less expensive than something from Flowmaster, Magnaflow, etc.

I put some Bilsteins on a '96 XJ I used to have, and it rode much better. It helped cure a death wobble, but I'm sure new tires, alignment, shocks, and steering stabilizer has a part in it too! I think I got mine off eBay, and saved a ton of money from buying them at the local 4wd store.

Went ahead and ordered the 4-piece window wipe set from Team Cherokee. How hard is it to change those things? Am I going to have to remove the door panels to change them? The one on the outside of the passenger door is gone, and the other three are pretty much rotted. With shipping that set is costing me $117, but hopefully that'll be the last set I'll ever have to buy...