Dzimm

More cleaning, painting, and installing today

No the door panels won't swap over without heavy modification, nor will just the larger window without a Chinese 2500 regulator but those aren't available unless you know someone in China. You can swap the 97+ mirrors to the old doors however, but the electronic adjustment wouldn't work without some electrical work.

Very nice! Turned out great.

Post in the wanted section to see if a member has what you are looking for. You could try eBay and Carpart.com to see what's available in junkyards across the country.

In short, yes and no. The newer fenders don't have as much sheet metal as the older fenders. You will need to cut the older flare to match the sheet metal or it will look funny between the bumper cap and flare Because there will be an air gap but everything will bolt up just fine. You could always cut that extra sheet metal from the old fender and weld it to the new one to get the smoother lines of the 97+ fenders, while still retaining your unmodified flares/bumper/airdam without the gap. Below is my 97+ MJ with old flares cut to match the fender. This is the stock MJ length fender. You can see it goes to the bottom of the bumper in the front to support the flare.

Definitely not as bad as I thought. That 17" measurement is good to know, Thanks!

16 1/4"

Even on the cheap end it's too expensive. It needs everything from the manifold back so I'm looking at $200+ just in exhaust, add to that the head stuff, brakes, and tires it's starting to add up, plus the leaves are inverted so those should be replaced too. Plus the time to do it all is another problem. I wouldn't ask more than $1500 for this thing even if it doesn't need all this work. Maybe better to just throw it up on Craigslist as is for like $600 and see if someone wants the headache? If nobody takes it in a month or two, pull a few parts and scrap it? What are scrap prices these days anyway? Edit: oh and the shocks are bad, feels like an old Cadillac...

That was kind of where I was leaning but it also needs exhaust work, new brakes, and new tires.. interior is in good shape though.

I never realized there were different C8.25. that would make a difference in this decision! Edit: seems you are correct, multiple NAXJA threads state 96.5 as the transition to 29 spline...

So I bought a beat up 95 XJ 4wd auto two years ago for $800 for a winter DD. Invested $300-$400 in it to fix a few things and put a lot of miles on it since(has 177k) now. This last fall I rebuilt the transfer case and replaced the completely gone floors but it's still really rusty on the body, frame is fine. I also just replaced the radiator as it started leaking, otherwise I haven't touched it. I'm fairly certain it's got a bad head gasket as it doesn't run great and spews lots of white smoke regularly and has a misfire for about 30 seconds if I shut the motor off and restart within a few minutes, such as when pumping gas. If I remember correctly cylinder three had low compression when I tested it a year ago. I'm debating whether it's more cost effective to pull the head and see what the head gasket looks like and replacing if that's the problem, or parting and junking it. I really would rather put the time into my MJs and I plan on getting rid of this XJ soon to get a newer vehicle anyway. I will eventually be buying a C8.25 axle and sagged XJ leaf springs for my red truck so those are parts I could use, otherwise the rest is pretty much useless to me as I've already got spares. The problem I see is when I pull the rear end out, how do I get it to the scrap yard?? Assuming the head gasket made it run good again, I could probably get $1000 for it, but then again, it might not fix it. Assuming I could get it hauled off after removing the rear axle, what is a reasonable amount to expect from parting it? What would you guys do in this situation?

Try the boots right next to the spark plugs. It may just be a symptom of older or cheaper wires.

Not mine, been posted here a few times. Anyone know where it originated?

I've been shocked by wires when grabbing near the boot on the plug side.

Like Pete said, the window can be swapped with Chinese window parts but it sounds like getting them over here is a pain. As for the door panels, they won't without major modifications.

Easily repairable. Those bedsides don't have the stamping for the fender flares so you'd be in a similar spot to where you are now. On my red truck I used front fenders to repair the wheel arch. They aren't a perfect match but are close enough and your flare will cover it anyway. Obviously best option is to find someone cutting up a bed.

Makes sense, reply now showing the new limit. Thank you!

That ring terminal goes under the nut holding the coil bracket on. The one directly above it in the picture. The plugs in the second picture look to go to AC stuff or cruise control.

You mean that's not just me?

He can reuse the perches if they are cut nicely so there wouldn't be any money spent. Even buying new perches is only $20-$30. What do C8.25 go for where you are? Here they are $150+ so it would be a good chunk of change to swap, especially if he needs/wants one with an LSD. Normally I'd recommend upgrading too but in this situation it makes sense to just move the perches and use what he's got. He can use the MJ one for parts if something breaks down the road.

If you haven't already, just snap the last one off and get the tray out of the way, you're not likely to get the last nut off cleanly. Instead of going from underneath, use a punch from the top and pound them down. Should be easier since you have better leverage. Clean everything up and tack weld bolts underneath so you have the nuts up top still and only need to work from the top in the future.

Here in Iowa I'd expect to pay around $300-$400 for a clean rust free bed. With the couple dents in yours, I'd see it going for around $250-$275 if it's rust free underneath.

I did it as follows: - Rough sided sponge (kinda like a Scotchbrite pad) to clean the lens really good. This also acts like a fine sandpaper. - Rinse and dry, then tape the insides. - Rust-Oleum Bedliner because it's what I had but I'd recommend Rust-Oleum X2 paint+primer unless you want a slightly textured surface. Wouldn't hurt to use a separate plastic primer first. - Once dry, remove tape and do a couple coats of Rust-Oleum clear coat on the entire lens. Turned out looking really good and I will be doing it again on my red truck. Makes the lenses look brand new.

Do it! It's easy and looks great. Make sure clean well then clear coat afterward to really shine them up.

Any XJ axle needs the perches repositioned whether you do spring over or spring under. The perches are in different spots, the XJ perches are wider apart than the MJ. Unless you get an MJ axle, you have to remove the perches and move them no matter what. It's not a hard job, just need a welder. If the perches aren't moved inward, the springs bind up really bad and causes problems.