Dzimm

XJs came with 3.07 and 3.55 from the factory in the C8.25. It was possible to get 3.73 on a D35 for a while. I also want to say that contrary to what you find online, XJs with the auto tranny did come with 3.07 gears, at leasy my 98 XJ SE 2-door has an AW4 and came with 3.07 gears. Hence why it feels so much slower. Potentially special order possibility?

When I did my 97+ swap I ran into the same problem you are having, I was unable to find a grommet that size. I ended up taking it out, cutting open the grommet to fit the wires I needed, then using Black RTV to seal the grommet back up, then reinstalled. Basically permanently attaching the grommet to the new wires just like the old ones.

A lot of that "power" difference you feel may be in the gearing. My 98 xj (runs great) has 3.07 gears and is super sluggish, while my 95 xj (runs like crap), and 97+ swapped MJ have 3.55 gears and are quite noticeably quicker and seem to have more power. All of them have the 4.0, AW4, NP231, D30, and C8.25, only difference is gearing.

That's how they should all go down, feel the pain they were threatening on someone else... Might actually teach them a lesson, we know handcuffs don't..

Agreed, buy it. Start low because he's not gonna get much at the crusher.

Maybe there was some accessories they wanted to make clearance for? A winch perhaps could benefit with it flipped.

Yeah I used to be a pretty good welder buy I haven't used anything other than a MIG for 5 years. I'd definitely practice quite a bit before going for it. I have actually contemplated buying this Calmini cage and adding from there but being for a 2 door, idk what the difference would be in a 4 door. I don't plan on using the back doors so that isn't an issue. The problem is that with shipping, it leaves me no room left in my budget for this thing. I guess really thinking about it tho, a "no bend" cage requires more tube so would I really save any money? https://www.calmini.com/detail.php?b=2&m=5&t=5&p=692&n= As for mounting points, I will be sandwiching the floor with steel plates and grade 8s for sure.

I do not have access to a bender without cost. I have been doing a bunch of research on cheaper tubing benders that actually work and haven't really found one I am confident in at a decent cost. I've also been researching the "no bend" cages. I have come across a few forums on these "no bend" cages and everyone who uses them claim that bending is not as strong as a properly welded and triangulated cage and that most people bend because racing organizations don't want to take the chance on people's welds, and because bending is easier to do. They even pointed out that a lot of trophy truck frames only have a couple small bends at most. I'm currently leaning towards the "no bend" cage because of huge cost savings for me and the fact that I don't really see a situation I would have this thing in where I'd have a really serious rollover. And if the thin factory roof held up as well as it did in a 60+mph rollover, I don't see why even a "no bend" cage couldn't sustain a low speed rollover. If I did go this route, I'd prolly make two joints for the "bends" to give it more of a gradual edge. Also I've been researching using a stick welder for a cage on some welding forums. Many welders claim that it will produce a stronger weld but it's difficult to keep a good arc on round tube and ironically also stated racing organizations won't allow it because they don't trust people's ability to arc weld tube. They unanimously said to use 7018 Excalibur welding rods for the cage to get the best welds. Any input is greatly appreciated. And yes I know money doesn't matter when it comes to safety but money does matter when it comes to this vehicle and the roof is not structural anymore so anything is better than what it has.

Just a curious question here, if those oversized switches (switch with sasquatch above) are sold for both the 96- and 97+ XJs, would that mean that the 97+ style rocker switch would potentially fit the 96- bezel? Maybe just not look quite as finished around the edges?

That the Dana 20 is a transfer case and the AMC 20 is an axle? Not exactly easy to mistake that.. But for someone who says Dana more than AMC, I can see where his mistake came from. Also I as well as many other people commented on one of his previous videos making sure he knew he had an AMC 20 axle before he knew what it was, some of which he replied to. Either way he knows what it is, he just made a mistake and it's a little funny for someone so prominent in the Jeep community to do. No harm no foul, just a little poking fun.

Well I haven't gotten around to doing anything else to it, but I did get a little ballsy on Tuesday. I started to push it to see how capable it was offroad. Made a new, more technical trail through one of the old garbage pit/washout/creekbeds and had it tilting on three wheels a few times. It was doing surprisingly well until I finally got it high centered on a steep dirt mound, right on the edge of the deep part of the creek. Had to use the MJ to pull it out. It's definitely interesting doing a recovery by yourself. I also figured out that the rear bumper and rear factory recovery hook are held on by rust. Luckily the hitch is still solid so I just wrapped around that to pull it out and then jumped on the bumper to straighten it back out. I'm currently working on getting the correct power plug for the welder or the wall, so I can plug the damn thing in. What's everyone's opinion on using an old Lincoln stick welder for a roll cage for this thing? If it rolls, it would be crawling or less than 30mph. It would be cost prohibitive for me to get it welded up with a mig or transporting it to where I have access to a mig. Sent from my HTC U11 using Tapatalk

He's got tons of good stuff for sale. Including an AMC 20 from an MJ. Located in Tennessee, details in the video.

That's pretty sweet. I'd wheel it but not super hard because it's too clean. I'd love to do this with a beat up 68-70 Charger or Challenger.

Exactly what Dirty said.

I could imagine he may see it as a conflict of interest. If he posts the thread here, why do people also need to go there? Kinda thing. But like you said, it could also bring viewers to his channel. I have commented on a few of his videos before and mentioned CC, I've gotten likes and replies relating to something else in the comment but nothing related to CC. This does at least tell me from him liking and responding to my comments relating to CC, he knows CC exists.

I am one who always votes for internal combustion, especially in an old vehicle. I do however think it would be absolutely hilarious to see an MJ launch and produce basically no sound whatsoever. Assuming you were to use a good electric system that is actually fast.

You'll want to keep all the 97+ harnesses and then later on down the line you can figure out which ones you don't want or need to use if you do the LS swap. For a regular 97+ swap you'll need them all basically. After they go in you can remove the wires that aren't necessary, like the rear defrost. Whatever you do, make it easier on yourself and either use the 97+ wiring with a 97+ swap, or keep you old interior and retain all the old wiring.

If they are faded and you just want the darker black to come back, use a heat gun. It will darken the flares back up and make them look new. Tim from Bleepinjeep has a video on it from a while back.

Homes and vehicles are handled completely differently when it comes to the law and it varies drastically from state to state. That being said, the majority of situations I have seen when it comes to possetion of objects in a vehicle, it either falls under whoever the object is closest to, or whoever is driving the vehicle even if it is in the locked glove box, therefore it would be safe to assume that a gun being locked in a glove box would be similar to a gun locked in a safe under the driver's seat. This statement you quoted here is definitely more up in the air as far as legality goes and it may completely depend on the cop your dealing with. I'm just giving Coolwind things to think about. I wasn't generalizing, I was just saying if concealed carry is allowed in his state, IMO it makes the most sense to carry on his body so the firearm is always at the ready and on his side... Or appendix. That way it could be used inside or outside the truck in an emergency. That isn't going to help the fact that your truck and gun are both missing. You may get the truck back but I bet the gun disappears. Unless it was a junky who needed a ride and could care less what's in the truck. These are definitely quick to open and a good option but it's an added step and the location of the safe could still make it difficult to get to since he's looking to conceal it. These added steps to get to the gun could cost valuable seconds in a life or death situation.

Are you allowed to carry in your state? The best place in my opinion is on your body, that way it's always within reach and easy to use. If someone steals your truck, guess what, they stole your gun too. Even if it's in a lockbox. Keep in mind also, if you need that gun, how long would it take you to get it out of the lockbox? Also if anyone else is driving the truck, the gun can't be in it otherwise it becomes in their possession.

Problem with that is good luck finding an MJ that only has damage to the front end and not the rest of it. If the damage to the front was substantial enough to cause the whole front end to be completely unrepairable, the back end wouldn't have survived either. And any stripped MJ is going to missing the key components you would need. Very very rarely would someone take a front clip or fenders from an MJ and not grab the good stuff also, and if this does happen, the next guy walking by is going to grab the rest. I like where your head is at but I think you are delving into the "unicorn" of wrecked MJs and honestly it would never really be worth it to haul a heavily wrecked MJ farther than your state's boarders, at least not at this point in time. You have to consider that yes the XJ and MJ are very similar in that they use a majority of the same parts but the skeleton is completely different. Check out Bleepinjeep on YouTube as he is doing an MJ build currently and in one of his earlier videos in the series, he describes the differences of the frames. I think HOrnbrod has a point in that it's usually going to be easier and more cost effective to build something custom than to graft a bunch of mismatched parts together to make it work. Yes it can be done, but it's extremely difficult and I wouldn't recommend it unless you are a highly skilled fabricator and have a ton of time on your hands, but then consider that time you spent doing drastic repairs to one MJ, how many other MJs you could have saved that needed less work. 10-15 years from now i think we will start to see more conversations about drastic repair work like you are describing, we just aren't at the point that it's worth it yet IMO. And it's not that these trucks and the XJs junked just with bad gaskets aren't worth repairing, but people just don't care for vehicles like they used to and they are considered disposable now. Nobody outside our little world cares about an old rusty pickup that's loud and smells funny or an XJ that they made 2 million of. It's sad really but that's the reality we live in.

This^ It's an interesting idea but even if you tried to turn an XJ into an MJ, you'd need the back of the cab to make it look right, and then a bed, and then all the trim pieces. You would be much better off taking on really really poor shape Comanches and fixing those to save them. The majority of them I've seen for sale recently are listed as "parts" trucks because they are further gone than the current owner cares to fix. You could look for these, scoop them up, then spend your time fixing them because ultimately, they will end up at the crusher. As you get into the swing of saving these, you may come across one that it makes sense to do what you are thinking and graft in major sections of XJ parts to fix it.

When the cat failed in my 98 xj a few years ago, I was having clanking sounds simlar to what you are describing. Eventually I started to lose the ability to accelerate. I finally cut it open to find the honeycomb had broken up into a ball and was clogging the output. I bought one of the cheap universal eBay cats just large enough to slide over the existing exhaust pipe and used exhaust clamps to clamp it together. Still not having any issues with it and invested a total of about $75 into it.

I would definitely be interested in roll bar brackets but am currently not ready to jump on them. If you offer them for sale, I would be a future customer for sure.

Not sure what you are asking here but yes they do look the same from the outside and the body lines match up properly.