Dzimm

Good work! Glad it's back on the road.

Clear coat makes a big difference. That looks like a pretty flat finish now, but with clear on it, it will shine up quite a bit. If you want that metalic look though, you'll have to switch paint. I can't imagine the metalic being much harder to spray, if at all. Just practice a little with it on a scrap piece of cardboard or something and you should be good to go!

Nice work so far. What size tires are those in the last picture? Do they rub anything up front?

Good point. Missed that it was an 86

Yeah this guy did some weird things on this build. I'm still wondering why he pulled a 66k mile original motor... 50k miles either direction on the 4.0L is nothing.

Yeah you should be OK. Lift to tire size questions are one of those "your mileage may vary" kind of things so there is a small chance you may get some very minor rubbing at full lock on a camber but overall you should be fine. Just make sure you bump stop properly to avoid any contact that may occur.

Glad to hear your instrument cluster works. As for the fog lights, usually the issue with those is broken wires somewhere or corroded connectors due to the location of the plugs and wires.

Use the add-on for whatever browser you are using, that is described and linked in this thread. It will then show the pictures above.

Do you mean "parted out"???

Is this a redneck electromagnet?

I don't know where the power for that comes from on the older electrical but on 97+ there is a fuse in the engine bay for the interior lights and gauge cluster. (sounds like that may be the case with the fuse you replaced?) More than likely you bumped a wire loose somewhere when the dash was removed. Could be ground or could be a power wire. The only experience I have with this exact issue is on my 97+ truck and that was a blown fuse, so I am not of great help here but I'll try to give you an idea. I see that you have three options: 1 - Find the wires associated with the gauge cluster lights and use a multimeter or a test light to test the wiring to see where you are or aren't getting power. Start from either the fuse box or the gauge cluster to find where the issue is. 2 - Find and read the associated wiring diagrams and see if there are any grounds or connections that could have broken loose. Use these diagrams to find all possible trouble spots so you can check it for shorts or other issues. 3 - Take the dash back out and search around for any pinched or broken wires or connections behind the dash.

I never noticed the slight curve in it but you can have curved glass made and you can have a flat pane of glass bent. It's just more expensive than a regular flat pane. It won't cost a whole lot more however since it's a very slight curve. Here's the measurements of the center pane of a factory 3 slider. 14 7/8" x 11 1/2" x 1/4" thick.

Click the link in my first post of the thread.

Anything could have happened, it's hard to diagnose the cause on an issue like that. Best fix is to get an ax15. It's a much stronger trans and anyone on here will say the same thing.

Seems to be working fine for me now.

I've noticed when posting that the "submit reply" button will say "saving..." for a very long time. I found that after it says "saving..." if you refresh the page, it posted your reply. It seems to post immediately but takes forever to send the confirmation back to the user. I haven't had it double post or timeout at all using this method.

3 or 4 pane slider? I've got a factory 3 pane I can measure. It's probably not available anywhere for purchase but you can have a piece of glass made to fit.

Cut the XJ shock mounts and spring perches off the 8.25. Weld on the new spring perches in the correct location for the MJ, then just use the MJ shock plates on the bottom of the axle. The larger ubolts may have to be squeezed slightly into the holes in the plate but they will fit in the holes.

Well I just returned from a 400 mile trip to visit my parents in Eastern Iowa. The truck ran great. Went 70mph the whole way with no issues. Had a great time there spending time with family and eating pizza cooked in my uncle's pizza oven he just built in his back yard, it was the best pizza ever. They all were very impressed with my truck and my uncle now wants me to redo the wiring in his 68 Camaro for him. I did some mileage testing on the way home and I averaged 18 mpg with mixed highway and city driving (rather spirited) so I'm going to say I get 17 mpg in city and 19 mpg highway. Pretty good for the old 4.0L

I'm sure this is true but that doesn't change the ability of the US government to say its a National Security threat so that they could kill the sale of Chrysler to a country like China. Even if it's not necessarily true, the government can easily manipulate the public in way to make us believe it.

Shelbyluvv has the fenders for sale in the classifieds.

Being able to produce a vehicle and having all the behind the scenes stuff is different. If China owned the company, they would own the technology rather than just use it for what it is. Of course they could always reverse engineer things but that takes a ton of work. It is far fetched that any technology in a Jeep could be a national security threat but if it is possible, the government won't take the chance. Especially with the state of the world today.

One thing you want to be weary of, and I'm surprised that guy didn't think of. If your gears blow up and you go driving in fwd, the rear end could lock up at speed. This is not only a huge safety issue but it could also snap a u-joint or twist the driveshaft since those still spin. I would never recommend driving on a blown up axle unless you take the diff cover off and take the chunks of metal out. Even then it isn't a good idea to drive it. The exception to this is to drive it off the trail. Good luck on your search for a D44. They are hard to find but you may be lucky. If not, I'd recommend the C8.25. You just have to cut the XJ bracketry off and weld on new spring perches. Like he said, those are plentiful.

Thanks Alexia! Like Pete said, real life first. Just wanted some clerification on it.

I looked into this pretty heavily and it won't happen. The motor company in China has come out and said they aren't looking to buy Chrysler and don't know where the rumor came from. I've also seen talk among some people in the legal field that the government would step in and stop the sale on the grounds that China would receive US technology and could pose a threat to national security. There is a good video on it on one of the TFL YouTube channels.