Dzimm

There is really only one good way to test what is bad, lift the front of the truck up and move the wheel up and down and side to side while watching where the movement is, be it in the bearing or in a ball joint. As for the ujoint, grab it and wiggle it all around and watch for movement. If it were me, I'd order new shafts with new u-joints and wheel bearings already on them (wayyy less work and headache for you). They don't cost all that much more than just a new wheel bearing and have all new parts. This also gives you your old ones as spares. Since the shafts are pulled, you can do any other upgrades you may want to as well, like adding outer axle seals to protect the inners. Doing this route, all you have to do is have a 10mm socket for the brake caliper and a 12-point 13mm for the retainer bolts holding the axle shaft on.

Holy dead thread.. I'll play along.. A mid to late 90s 22gallon tank from a Dodge Dakota fits in the factory location under the swb nicely. With the 97+ swap you can buy a Mopar adapter to hook the Dakota fuel pump up to the XJ fuel pump wiring and everything works perfectly. This also keeps the tank up under the truck more to avoid untimely penetration that a rear mounted tank can easily suffer.

Lol that's awesome. Where'd you get it?

Those tires are gonna look awesome on there. Can't wait to see them. Good luck on assignment.

I would also agree that if you have the funds and patience to piece something together, you definitely should. Like stated above, you get to pick and choose your parts but usually at a higher cost. I'm cheap and didn't feel like spending the time piecing a kit together, hence the complete Rusty's kit on my truck. There is already upgrades I want to do to it...

31x10.5 are the biggest you can run but you'll have to bumpstop accordingly and pay attention to the backspacing to keep them close enough to the truck that they tuck rather than slam the fender. The stock wheels should tuck these tires fine. It depends on the kit. I bought the Rusty's 4.5" kit and it came with absolutely everything I needed. http://www.rustysoffroad.com/rustys-mj-comanche-4-5-spring-pack-kit.html The main things you need are: - the springs (front and rear) - new u-bolts - longer shocks - longer track bar - longer sway bar links or drop brackets - longer brake lines - longer/adjustable lower control arms (adjustable uppers is recommended but not required at 4.5") - might need to adjust pinion angle after the lift (I used the 6* axle shims that came with my kit and tossed the t-case drop aside) - most kits come with a new steering stabilizer also Edit: one other thing, when you are measuring to correct your pinion angle post lift, check how much of the driveshaft is engaged on the output shaft, just to be sure it won't slide off during some crazy flex.

I belive those are longer. Here is a post with the LED equivalents on it for the factory MJ lights. Search Amazon for the bulb size with the term "LED" and it should come up. I'm guessing it will still be a festoon style bulb like I posted above for the Euramtec lights. Edit: fixed link Sent from my HTC U11 using Tapatalk

I changed the bulbs in my Euramtec ones to LED (cheap from Amazon) and they are crazy bright. Bright enough to light the cab by themselves.

I have to agree with this, now that I think about it, all the MJs I've seen have the top shackle bolts going inward.

If you be careful about your cuts, the ends should look like they are supposed to be there. The rubber looks exactly the same all the way through so if your cut is straight and not jagged, it will look normal.

Is that molding just a rubber strip that is double sided taped on? That's how my 95 XJ is, I'm thinking you could look for it on older XJs and cut to the size you need.

Good find. Looks like it's sitting on an MJ tailgate, on an MJ bed, that is on the ground... Does he have anything else posted?

I'm sorry to hear about your buddy and his XJ. I certainly wouldn't run without it long term or by choice, and obviously from your experience it surly aided in the rollover of his XJ. It takes a fair amount of sideways lean to get a vehicle to roll and it wouldn't surprise me if your buddy would have at least been on two wheels with a sway bar attached, if not rolled anyway. I'm just saying if I needed to temporarily run without a sway bar for some reason, I would, but would also drive knowing my vehicle has a slightly higher risk of rolling and be more careful (obviously there are unavoidable surprises like your buddy had), but that's my opinion based on my experience. I completely agree with you that if you have the ability and choice to run with the sway bar, do it. I would choose to use it over not using it, there is no doubt about that. Also if the link on the other side of the truck is still attached, he at least would have some support from the sway bar, but as stated above, get a new link for both sides as soon as you can.

Have you ever driven an XJ or an MJ without a sway bar? They are super stable even without it (I speak from experience in both a stock XJ and a 4.5" lifted MJ without a sway bar for a short time). Yeah a hard swerve would probably roll it but that's gonna happen anyway because they are top-heavy. As long as the truck isn't lifted super high you will be fine. Like the OP said, it will be a temporary thing, just don't go taking corners at 100mph and you're fine. Obviously the best thing to do is fix it but it won't hurt anything to drive on it.

I'd say if you have the cash you better grab them. They likely won't last long either to someone else grabbing them, or being crushed along with the rest of the truck. Sounds like a lot of yards aren't keeping much for older vehicles anymore, they go straight to the crusher.

I definitely will be when I can! Thanks for even offering discounts to begin with.

If they free I'll take a set

Just from looking at my swb truck, there should be no issue with these brackets fitting. That leaf spring bracket runs flush with the frame rail. (eventually I will be able to afford a hitch of my own).

I'd grab them all so they don't end up in a crusher somewhere. There is enough people around here that would take them.

That is very beautiful. If you want to sell it for 3 times LESS than you paid for it, I'd be glad to take on the project. Get back to it!!

I've been doing this research for months because I also don't want to trim. I've come to the conclusion that on a 4.5" lift, 31x10.5 is as big as you can go without trimming and most likely without rubbing anything at lock, but it needs to be bumpstoped. This all depends on the backspacing of the wheel too. I will be running the stock Eliminator wheels(not sure the backspacing) and I should be able to still stuff these tires into the fender, any taller or wider and they'd be crumpling sheet metal. Also 10.5 is as wide as you can go on a 15x7 wheel. If you are going to buy new wheels, I'd recommend grabbing 15x8 so you can fit the 10.5 and upgrade to a little wider later on if you need/want to.

I myself used rustoleum automotive spray cans and prepped and sprayed it just like you would using real paint. In the end it turned out like a cheap MAACO job and only cost me $200 and a weekend. If I used a real spray gun with better paint it would of course turn out better. If you take your time and do it right, you can make any paint look good. If you feel confident in your ability to paintor your ability to learn to paint, I'd recommend doing it yourself. The cost of even the real equipment to do it at home is wayyy less than paying a shop and it will give you the experience so the next time you paint, you'll be more confident and already have the equipment. You'd never have to pay for a shop to paint a car again. Like stated above, any shop you can find is going to have your truck for quite some time and it will cost you an arm and a leg. Maybe even both legs.. Because you'll be kicking in their door wondering when it'll be done..

Go ahead and pull the end links off and drive it. It will increase body roll so take corners a little slower than normal and you'll be fine. It's not gonna hurt anything to drive it this way.

There is a lack of writeups because most people convert to a non-disconnect style. This only requires a standard size axle shaft and inner axle seal AFAIK. I would recommend doing this instead of rebuilding a disconnect axle.

I had to resub to threads and reselect to get notifications again. The settings for these must not have gotten transferred in the switch. Works fine when you redo it.