Dzimm

That is pretty awesome, would be an awesome camper rig. Reminds me of the FC pickup a buddies dad owned when I was a kid. I thought it was cool but never realized what it was until I got into Jeeps.

This^^^^ Just make sure to have a few spare 10mm sockets on hand. 90% of those half metric of the 1/3 of all fasteners are 10mm and for some odd reason, you can't ever find that 10mm you were just holding...

Give it another hour and it will be slightly easier to make sense of what is going on. I don't even know what to say about this craziness.

https://www.quadratec.com/products/16311_5256.htm?gclid=Cj0KCQjwsYb0BRCOARIsAHbLPhGRqu5gRLiuEHE_SaNIPnpjRoZJVPn8AoSvijD1sH1J8ZS1SkxiiaoaAsfvEALw_wcB

Was able to get paint done today. Too busy to do anything else.

That doesn't surprise me, quite the markup there and you still had to build it yourself!

The old bushings came out way easier than I thought. Many people say it's not possible to remove the bushings without a press but I got all 4 out in around an hour with a hammer, chisel punch, drill, and a reciprocating saw. The big bushing was easier and only took about 10 mins, the small side took closer to a half hour each. Run the recip blade in the gap in the leaf spring to cup the outer collar, drill holes in the rubber, punch the center collar out, punch the rubber out, then punch the outer collar inward and out. I then used these wire wheels to clean up inside the bushing eyes. Just a veriety pack with like 10 sizes from Menards. Used a regular cup wire brush to clean the rest of the leaves. Two coats of primer on both sides. Will get paint tomorrow!

That's surprising to me. Theoretically you could build an entire vehicle without a VIN then. I'm sure they had some sort of contingency to prevent that tho.

How does an entire body go NOS. Did they used to sell bodies back in the day?

What year did they switch over to the multi-ribbed belt?

Weird that the pulley on it is for v-belts. Did any XJ/MJ have v-belts? I'm thinking this may be for a full size, wagoneer or J-truck maybe.

I don't remember but and bolts that high on my 4.0l. if the holes aren't threaded then either you have to reuse the nuts or try to tap threads. However I don't know how that would work in cast.

Holy dead thread. No you will have to cut the old column mount off to make room for the new one. The new one you will just be drilling holes and putting nuts and bolts together so it's an easy install. The only required fab work is the mounts for the dash, steering column, and firewall where the steering column goes through. It's all easy stuff you can do with relatively basic tools.

I'd put them all back. They are there for a reason. It'll make everything easier to install if you completely remove the front grille and have a clear shot from the front.

The axle is out! Only had 2 of the spring bolts give me issue. Had to cut 2 of them but have replacements on the way. Luckily I'll be able to use the parking brake cables on the blue truck, I will need to get new ones for the disk brakes. Also got the leaf springs separated and ready to clean up. Middle 2 XJ leafs with middle 2 MJ leaves. The XJ leaves are definitely flatter. Hoping to get an inch or two of drop from swapping these in the pack but we'll see. MJ shackle next to an XJ shackle. The XJ shackle is 1-1/4" shorter. New axle with the old one. It's amazing how much smaller the D35 looks compared to the C8.25. Need to clean the shop up a bit. Hopefully by the end of the weekend I'll have the leaves cleaned and painted so I can assemble them next week. If all goes well, I may be installing the new axle next weekend.

Yes you do. They are hard to find and way too expensive. Maybe someday you'll have more of those than Liberty tow hooks.

Found 4 of them with nuts shipped for $17 on eBay!! Thanks everyone! Saved about $50 in freakin hardware!

So I had to cut 2 of the 6 bolts to get my leaf springs and shackles out. I'm looking for replacements and am struggling to find a good source that doesn't want stupid money for them. I believe the XJ ones are the same as MJ, is that correct? Where have you guys gotten replacements?

I honestly think the worst thing these days for me is the emails from companies. I always make sure to uncheck "add me to mailing list" but I still get a stupid amount of junk emails. Especially with coronavirus, I've gotten an email about it from every company I think that's ever had my address.

It may make me a horrible person but if they are obviously foreign, I will make up a language with an accent like theirs. They hang up pretty quickly.

I'm hoping I can make it work. The kit is designed to bolt on both sides of a plate so I'm worried it will cause the shock to stick out too far but I'll have to see when it gets here.

You didn't happen to paint "Brembo" on the side did you? I love fresh paint on calipers, just looks good.

I decided to order a shock stud kit and try to repair my spring plate. It should be here next week. As for the truck, I got the driveshaft out, brake line disconnected, and parking brake cables removed. All the leaf spring and shackle bolts are broke loose and on hand tight. Tomorrow the axle will be coming out! I'll be rebuilding the leaf springs this weekend. Not sure how long it'll be until the new axle goes in.

Yes I got the full packs.

I'm gonna hold off for now. Ordered a stud kit to see if I can't repair it.