LO PHAT

That is so beautiful!

I wish there was at least one picture showing the entire truck.

Holy @#$%! :eek:

:eek:

My MJ must have been a very, very, very good little truck this year. :yes:

Wow! I am jealous. How did you acquire those old ball joints?

I can tell you all about this from years of experience with many different brands... Moog ball joints are absolute crap in terms of quality, durability, and tolerances. Even if you can get a lifetime warranty on them, avoid them at all costs. If you do install them, then you will find yourself having to replace them frequently. If you do a lot of off-roading, use large tires, and plan to keep your Jeep for many years, then you may want to consider springing the extra cash for a set of Synergy ball joints. Simply put, they are the strongest and most durable ball joints available. Their tolerances are so impressive that there is actually a break-in period where the vehicle's steering will likely feel too tight. If your Jeep is relatively stock and does not see a lot of abuse, then you will be perfectly happy with the Dana Spicer ball joints. Just do not expect to get 100,000 or more miles out of the replacement Dana Spicer ball joints like you probably did on the originals from the factory. The replacement ball joints are not manufactured to the same standards as the ones that originally came in our Jeeps.

My MJ claimed to have been very good this year and asked Santa for a Reflexxion cowl hood.

[ ... reserved ... ] The story and pictures of finding what many consider to be the holy grail of XJ/MJ parts will go here. At that point this thread should be caught up to the present day.

[ ... reserved ... ] ​The story and pictures of the MJ's second adventure off-road will go here.

[ ... reserved ... ] ​The story and pictures of the MJ's first adventure off-road will go here.

[ ... reserved ... ] ​The background story of the previous owner and his daughter will go here.

[ ... reserved ... ] The story of going through the MJ and getting it road worthy will go here.

Let me begin by stating that I generally suck at keeping my build threads updated. Wrenching on vehicles is very therapeutic for me. I tend to find myself in a Zen-like state while turning nuts and bolts, so I almost never think to stop and take pictures. We will see how poorly I do this time around... . . . I purchased my Jeep Comanche from a friend on June 26, 2016. He had purchased the truck earlier in the month with the intention of cleaning it up and reselling it. Fortunately for me, that same week he found a classic Mustang that he wanted to spend his time working on instead. I happily bought the MJ from him so that he could buy the Mustang. The truck is a 1989 Pioneer 4x4 with a short bed, a 4.0L inline six engine, and a 5 speed transmission. It is nicely equipped with many optional features such as A/C, power windows, power door locks, a full instrument cluster, cruise control, and bucket seats. It is an original truck with no modifications and only 104,xxx miles. The paint has seen better days, but there is only one dent in the body and no rust to be found anywhere. These are the pictures that my friend sent to me prior to my purchase.

My wife and I took our MJ for a short drive this morning, and on our way home we stopped at Fry's. I am in the habit of always parking our vehicles at the far end of parking lots to avoid door dings and scratches from careless idiots. When we came out of the grocery store we found a new F-150 crew cab parked directly behind our truck with its front bumper smashed into our MJ's rear bumper. I will admit that my immediate desire was to kick a massive dent into the Ford's door, but I am not the kind of person who would intentionally damage someone else's vehicle. As I stood there fuming and expressing my outrage to my wife, she calmly took some pictures and left the following message on a piece of paper for the F-150's owner. Merry Christmas! In the spirit of Christmas please do not hit any more vehicles. Pay it forward. We didn't hit yours. My wife truly is my better half. :)