Dzimm

Toothpaste (especially gritty toothpaste) works well to clean up plastic headlights/turnsignals. There are some products out there specifically designed for this also.

Don't get me wrong, windows XP was a fantastic OS. The real problem with it is the hardware that was designed for it is way obsolete, and everyday software of today is too far advanced for XP to handle properly. It's very uncommon to come across an XP machine that actually still works properly.

I have experienced the same symptoms you describe when I had broken sway bar links.

I don't think it's Gmail causing your problems.... Lol

All my XJs and the MJ are $50 a piece here in Iowa.

https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.com%2Fulk%2Fitm%2F381517147493 There are many sellers on eBay for Comanche decal repros. No idea how accurate or nice they are.

That thing is pretty sweet. One of the best conversions I have seen and a very clean rearend. He says the tailgate is removable with two pins and the latch. So it sounds like it is either on or off the truck, no hinges.

I had this issue in my 95 xj that turned out to be the ignition switch. I just wiggle the ignition when I want wipers or blower motor. Not sure if it's wired the same as your 89 tho.

True and very well said.

That is quite the variation in vehicles there, thanks for sharing!. I would love to keep it but it's just hard to justify the maintenance costs in not only money but in time. The extra money would be nice and space isn't exactly limited but as I said above in my response to Pete and Sinkrun, we rent the property and I can't always guarantee that I will have the extra space, nor do I want to litter their property with vehicles (we already have 5). I could always leave it sit without doing the maintenance so it doesn't cost me any money but then I run into the situation where I could make a couple grand now or watch it decay and have to sell it for nothing in the future if I never get the time to fix it before it becomes a rusted out shell or I am forced to sell it for whatever reason. Unfortunately we just can't see what life has in store for us in the future. Maybe if I buy a DeLorean and a flux capacitor... I would love to keep it, and who knows maybe I won't sell it after all, but could you imagine having all of your old cars still around because you couldn't bring yourself to sell them? That's a lot of space and money for maintenance, not to mention registration and insurance.

I tend to be the sentimental type as well Man I would also be kicking myself if I were you. Its not that I NEED the money or have lack of space (we rent a second house on the property of my girlfriend's grandparents so it's not technically MY space). The extra money would just be nice to have for paying off a few bills in preparation of buying our first house (will be at least a few acres outside of town somewhere ).

I'm struggling with selling my first vehicle. The Jeep I grew up with and the one that got me into the Jeep world. I'd like to share my experience and hear from you guys about your experiences with this situation. My grandfather bought this Jeep in the early 2000s. It's a 98 Jeep Cherokee SE, 2dr, white with a unique stripe package I have never been able to find elsewhere. He had it for a few years before selling it to my father when I was about 10 years old (2005ish). I always remember as a kid, riding around in the back of it with my parents when we would take a drive through the country in the evenings and my dad letting me drive it occasionally on gravel roads before I got my license. It was even used as a battering ram to get through a giant snow drift on the morning I harvested my first whitetail. I learned nearly everything I know about vehicles from working on this Jeep with my father and driving it every day throughout high school, all the way up until I left for college in 2013. I had no vehicle for the first year in school and finally I convinced my dad to sell me the Jeep in early 2015. In the 3 years I've owned it I was able to repair and upgrade almost everything I've wanted to. Unfortunately last winter the transmission started having issues and it has been mostly just sitting since. There is a lot more about this Jeep that made me love it throughout the years but as we know all too well, times change and priorities change. After the transmission breakdown I had to have a running vehicle and I wasn't about to work on it in the cold so I bought the black 4 door XJ I daily drive now. I had planned to fix the transmission issue this last summer but I never really got the time to do it as I was mostly focused on finishing my MJ project. Now that the MJ is drivable and the black XJ has proven to be reliable, I'm looking at where I am at in life and realizing that it is time to make a tough decision. Life is moving on and I simply don't have the time to care for my childhood XJ anymore and it needs to move on to someone who does. I have had it posted for sale for some time now but was asking a high price because I couldn't bring myself to be realistic with the memories and past I've had with this Jeep. I have recently been trying really hard to let go of the sentimental attachment to the Jeep and have dropped it to a fair price and already have a few people lined up to look at it. Today I have completely cleaned it out in preparation for a sale and the memories and past have come back to me making this a really hard thing to process in my mind. I know that as time goes on I will move on to much more important things in my life. I think it would just be good, not only for myself but for other members who are facing similar circumstances, to hear from some of you guys who have gone through this before and to just hear stories of the past vehicles that you've had that you enjoyed and will never forget. Sent from my HTC U11 using Tapatalk

Over the weekend I got some more work done on the Suzuki. I tore apart the front end and passenger side to really get a good look at the damage and try to figure out what all I want/need to cut out. There is a lot more damage to the inner fenders than I thought and I found the front body mount to be really bent towards driver. I did some more poking around and measuring the frame and the frame seems to be straight. The front is crooked because the passenger side strut tower is bent inward and in the rear it seems the control arms bent causing the axle to shift. I figure with a chain and a few yanks from a big truck or the tractor, I should be able to straighten those out. As for the body, at least 2 of the passenger side body mounts are completely ripped through the floor and the others are bent. I'm not sure how I'll be able to straighten them easily or if I will at all. If I clean everything up real good and weld the broken ones back in it should be just fine right? I really like the look of the front end with just the inner bumper and lower frame crossbar. I think I'll just weld a steel plate under the front and leave it like that. I plan on running with no fenders and just using something to cover the tops of the tires. I will do my best to flatten the hood back out and that will be held down with hood pins and I'll probably sell the drivers headlight and get a cheap set of lights to mount up front. Sent from my HTC U11 using Tapatalk

Your best bet is sourcing a used one from a junk yard or posting up in the "wanted" section here. Finding one that is in working order shouldn't be hard at all and you can get one relatively cheap. eBay may even have a few posted, often you can find them with the sensors still on it that you can set aside for some spares.

Yes it is. It's one of those sensors that can test good but still be bad. It's susceptible to environmental changes such as temperature.

Did you do anything else other than the tps? More than likely the tps is the issue. They do come bad right out of the box sometimes.

It was a little warmer today so I decided to see if the Suzuki would have power with a new battery. After throwing in the spare battery, it had power and everything seemed to power on like it should. This gave me motivation so I pulled the plugs and turned it over. Of course oil sprayed all over the engine and hood but all sounded good. I cleaned the plugs, reinstalled and turned the key. It struggled for a few seconds and then fired right up. Runs smooth and doesn't make any bad noises. I only ran it for a couple minutes because I need to do more poking around before I really run the motor. The trans seemed to not want to go into gear though. After a few tries I was able to get it to shift into both reverse and drive and the Suzuki moved both ways so I'm hoping it's just low on fluid. The last thing I did was pull off the passenger side fender to get a better look at the suspension. It seems to be straight and I don't see any signs of stress anywhere on the frame, the body is completely mangled and falling apart in that area though. It's obvious the vehicle slammed down hard on that corner. The last picture shows how the body came apart where the shock hoop runs up to. Luckily with the way the suspension and frame are designed, the body has no structural purpose right there. I really can't wait for some warmer weather so I can do some real work on it! Sent from my HTC U11 using Tapatalk

Completely agree about that damn MJ. I keep having my friends, family, and coworkers send me a link to it even the same people after a week or two. I've told myself many times to just buy the damn thing so it's over, but then I open my wallet...

Look up Davis autosports on YouTube and I bet there is a video or two on this xj. They rebuild vehicles like they just came off the assembly line. I wouldn't be surprised if this XJ has more than $15,000 in labor alone on it. This company literally goes through every square inch of their vehicles with a fine tooth comb and repair everything. For someone with this kind of money, these vehicles are definitely worth the money.

Agree with what's stated above. Anything 75w-90 works fine. Most come with the friction modifier already added anymore but for those guys with limited slips, it's important to check. I've always used Valvoline full synthetic 75w-90. It's cheap and its always come out still clean when servicing. Sent from my HTC U11 using Tapatalk

This is freaking awesome! We'll worth $5500 IMO!

The Sidekick is home and there is now a thread in the "other projects" section with daytime pictures.

I want to reiterate before I get into this, the girl who was driving when this rolled walked out with just a bump on the head. She is totally fine and we still can't believe she was okay after rolling at about 60mph in this tin can. As some of you may have seen my post in the pub about this, I have been able to obtain my buddy's rolled Suzuki Sidekick. This will serve as a mini build thread that will truly begin when it warms up outside. Worst case scenario I end up parting this thing out and scraping the carcus but we'll see where it goes. My plan is to cut the roof off and add a roll cage as well as cut a lot of the sheet metal off to give it a more buggy look. In order to make it have a practical use, I also plan on making a bed in the rear so I can use it to haul stuff around the property if need be. It is a 4-door model so I will be removing the rear seat in order to make a larger bed and making it a 2 seater. An added bonus will be that I can make it street legal as long as the suspension can be made safe again. I don't plan on putting much, if any, money in this thing so I'll be doing a lot of bending and welding things back where they go. Below there are pictures of it and I will admit, yes it is bad, and yes I'm being optimistic about making it usable... The damage is as follows: - something is broke in the steering as the front wheels don't work together properly but they are still attached to each other - the rear axle seems to be shifted to the passenger side but this may be an illusion due to the body damage - the passenger side body mounts are ripped out of the floor - the driver rear rim is bent and possibly bent the axle shaft as well - some of the plastic vacuum line connectors are broken - 1 vsv valve is broken Overall it actually seems to be fairly intact. I have yet to make sure the engine runs because it's been in the negatives and real crappy outside recently. The battery is dead so I have no idea what works electrically but the trans and t-case shift smooth and it isn't leaking any fluids. All the fluids are at the correct level except the oil, which leaked out some while it was on its side. The trans locks the rear wheels in park and let's them roll in neutral so that seems okay. I was super surprised to realize all 4 of the doors, including the fuel door, open and close fairly easily. I would never have bought this thing but I know how well my buddy took care of it and I know how mechanically sound it was before it was wrecked so we will see where it goes. If you guys have any suggestions or just want to say I'm absolutely insane for attempting this, just let me know! Sent from my HTC U11 using Tapatalk

Here are the two pictures I do have of it from the night it was rolled. The first picture is how it came to rest. The picture was taken from the road it was on when she lost control. Sent from my HTC U11 using Tapatalk

OK so unfortunately I didn't get any pictures of it in the daylight but man is the body bad.. The only body panel that isn't bashed in is the drivers rear door. The hood is jammed closed but I could see well enough to know the engine bay is intact. The stuff mounted to the inner fenders is moved around but all looked to be in good shape. The radiator isn't even damaged which is great. The body is broke loose from the frame on the passenger side and has a crazy lean but some new hardware and some welding should fix that up. As for the suspension.. Well the front drivers side tire is turned about 10* - 15* left while the passenger one is straight. Both sit pretty well vertical. I couldn't see any broken suspension parts so I'm hoping it just bent something that I can either straighten or replace. The drivers rear wheel has some reverse camber going on but the wheel is bent quite badly so I'm hoping that is the issue there. I'm expecting the axle shaft on that side is bent but we'll see. Overall I'm actually surprised at how intact the thing still is with how bad the body is. It looks to have started as a barrel roll and immediately turned into an end over end flip before landing on its side. Either way I feel confident enough the damage isn't too bad to the critical components and I plan on paying the $200 tomorrow and a buddy is gonna bring his trailer to haul it home for me on Thursday.