ParadiseMJ

884X4MJ 88MJ4X4 88MJ4WD 4X4MJ88

Sad news. Don was one of the first guys to help me out so may years ago. Knowledge passed on. Thanks hornbrod, Rest well Charlie ParadiseMJ

In CA, anything involving money under 5K is usually handled in small claims court. A $15 filing fee and no lawyers (legal advice OK, but no lawyers in court) you have to plead your own case. Quite often they'll put you into "mediation" where you go into another room with a court mediator to work out the details...and if it's all agreed on...that's the agreement that the court uses. I realize you're not in CA. However, you need to have had some kind of contract, written OR spoken. The beef is with a former owner so the current owner isn't liable. You just need a dis-interested person to serve papers. Not a sheriff or professional process server...could just be a friend or acquaintance. If the judge ( or mediator) believes you you get the judgement. But the judgement is just that. There's really no enforcement of the judgement. I rented a house to a guy that worked in the local lumberyard, nice guy, hard worker, came with references from a guy I knew. Turned out that the guy was a part time tweaker. Then became a full time meth head, got his kids taken away from him and his wife, beat his wife up and ruined my house. Two days after I got a "judgement' from the court, he split town and went to Reno, where he was promptly arrested and spent eight years in prison. Ha Ha, I never got a dime from the guy.

I just remembered my 4 pairs of MJ taillights I had in my shop, refurbished and ready to use. Just a puddle of red plastic now. We still haven't been allowed back up the hill to our property..

Thanks guys, It's been a helluva week. Lots of horror stories about getting out of the hills. Lots of heroic stories about saving each others bacon, lots did not get saved. Don't know if you have seen the film of our Sheriff, but he is a rock star. Firefighters from everywhere in the western states...5500 firefighters + support staff. Still can't get up there to look at our place, but the whole place is toast. Looking for rentals in Chico is next to impossible. We're moving 80 miles away just to find a house available. As far as my MJ/XJ go...gone. Since I had to look for 2 years to find my MJ I don't think I'm going to look again. My insurance company gave me 6K for it, which surprised the hell out of me. There's a whole bunch of people much worse off than us. My son and daughter are going whole hog helping people, my nephew came up from San Jose with 2 full size trucks and trailers with stuff people need. I was volunteering at the shelters feeding folks, in between covering my own butt and finding a roof. So, I'll be around once in a while, but I'm a tad too old too start all over laying in a gravel driveway wrenching on the old boy. Cheers

There are also two hoses going into the tank at the filler. One is the Big one, the other is a 5/8" vent hose (can't see it unless you get under the Jeep with a flashlight. Don't know for sure, but it could be backing up there too. https://www.extremeterrain.com/omix-ada-fuel-neckfits-both-yj-1774303.html?utm_content=XT%20Engine%20and%20Performance%20-%20Other%7COmix-ADA&T5_Var4=J12443&intl=0&utm_campaign=XTW+Wrangler+Vehicle+Medium&dialogtech=ppc&utm_source=google-pla&utm_medium=shopping&T5_Var2=shopping&T5_Var3=orange&gclid=Cj0KCQiA8f_eBRDcARIsAEKwRGcX3yUgNZc9_RC6MNN4DN6fEVSO2a25Y0JuQbAPboDTMbfdsbeRjJ0aAjtyEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds This one is from a Wrangler, (and it's upside down)but you can see that there are two tubes going in.

I have to eat crow on my reply. I tried this yesterday. My 1990 XJ does lock on braking or a very rough road. My 88 MJ does not, at least not on a regular basis. I've tried to put my belt on while braking and it has locked up until I'm back driving cruising again, but not always. Then again, my newer vehicles (post 2005) all lock up with the brake even lightly applied

On my XJ and MJ the belt locks when I pull on it IF the brake is pressed and wheel is slightly cocked. Try driving it at about 15-20 mph, hit your brakes and yank on the belt.

Ideally the diffs have a tag bolted to one/two of the bolts on the pumpkin (thought I'd slip that in for Halloween) that have the ratio stamped on them. If not opening the cover and the ratio is stamped on the ring. If you decipher the ratio on the either diff you can pretty much count on the opposite axle being the same. Then again there are certain stock configurations that come from the factory, stock. someone (not me) knows those models/year/engine/ratios. e.g. 88/d44/5 speed /BA-10/3.07 or 88/d35/AW4/3.55

I'm confused with this reply. I believe that when the OP mentioned "97+ front end and door swap" the he meant the front clip, fenders and doors as a cosmetic procedure, not the entire engine, tranny, t-case etc.. One can do the sheet metal/fiberglass panels and the interior door panel swap without messing with the running gear at all. Also, you can swap a later model AX-15 (or even AW4) 4x4 trans., t-case, axles and shaft without even touching the engine. Much less complicated than it sounds.

Did I miss the part that the OP said anything about an engine upgrade? However, just don't remove any of the stock emissions equipment (vac lines, intake or air box, cat, etc.) and you'll be fine with smog regs.

My travels on dirt roads, generally do not necessarily include 4WD. My buddy in his stock Tacoma puts his truck in 4WD the second he "ventures" on the same road as I've regularly driven on in my Nissan Sentra. 2K is a good price even for a 2WD MJ that is running and only needs a few minor maintenance type repairs. My sage advice would be to take care of all the little gremlins going on with it and get the truck up and running to an acceptable stock condition... and THEN, delve into converting it to 4WD if you think you need to. Even at stock, you can drive around on a lot of dirt roads and still have fun. One of my big Jeep regrets is chopping up my XJ to make it bad @$$ when I really never used it for off roading more than a couple weekends a year. EDIT: The truck looks good and having a straight, undented, no bullet hole tailgate is GOLD !!

...or the sender is shot. I've replaced one on each of my Renix Jeeps with the same problem...$15

Don't know if you have the cable operated or electric, but, on the cable driven model, the end in the transfer case has a little square end, which must be seated in the end of the gear. If the cable was ever pulled on that "key" could come loose...or even break. Check out the tips of each end of the cable. If it jumped before and it's not working now the cable could have broken.

Do you really you have the presence of mind to think, in a split second..."There's a dog that just jumped out in front of me, I shouldn't avoid it, I'll just run it over and hope he doesn't get squashed under a tire...I'll just speed up". Pretty much everyone would swerve to avoid it. Just keep the sway bar, and put discos on it for off road if you must (IMHO). Removing the sway bar has zero positives on the road.

AFAIK the BA-10 was done after 88 - 89.

The two flashers are the same. Take one with you to the parts store. On my truck the fast blink used to mean a bulb was out, when the flasher went out it didn't blink at all, just steady on.

You can always quote the FSM for the "right way" to do things to my $400 MJ...but the valve cover solution works. It completely eliminated blowby on my XJ and so I did it as a matter of course on the MJ. Gotta think outside the square sometimes. I have to go buy a turkey baster now to suck the regular fluid out and put the stop leak IN. I'm usually not a fan of any stop leak product, for anything...but it's a.) only the P/S system b.) and it beats jumping at a new pump or box so it's worth a shot. Awhile ago there was a post about what kind of tranny fluid to use as P/S fluid. I answered..."why don't you just use P/S fluid"? The OP said it was too expensive and got butt hurt that I didn't answer his question. Of course he was looking at the price of a CASE of P/S fluid vs. a bottle of tranny fluid

Great exchange here. I got the Lucas stop leak. We'll see. TIA

Thanks for the tip. Where'd you find it?

My 88 MJ 4.0 AW4 I've been using steering fluid for a month or so...about a quarter cup a week. Just last week the leaks on the concrete started showing up. I cleaned up the pump and in that area, including the box. So, it's leaking from the steering box, not the pump or hoses. Questions: Do I buy the reseal kit or just replace and or upgrade the box. AnnnndI've never done a box, is it difficult or should I dedicate a weekend to it ...or I mean a couple days, since I'm retired now and everyday is Saturday,

I couldn't find these 7-8 years ago, so I made my own out of bulk hose. Fitting it in at first, it formed a pretty good kink in the big hose, but I was able to push and pull and roll and cut and finally worked the kink out. The vent hose, 5/8" was easy. The bigger hose was not so simple, but it's worked for me for 7-8 years and is not kinked and does not leak. The guys at NAPA usually let me rummage around back in their hose department to find pre-bent hoses, some with double bends and fuel rated, might work if you can find angles that are at least close to that space between the filler neck and the tank. Then you can get creative.

Well now I've been 6 days retired. I have so much time to DO stuff including giving my MJ some much needed TLC. So, I'll start annoying everyone with my posts.

I pulled my bench, put in 2 door XJ seats without the mounting brackets, Just a piece of 16 ga sheet metal and some sheet metal screws. The console does not move, wiggle or vibrate. The mounting holes, punched, were already there under the carpet.

I took my fuse box in the cab apart to repair 3 tabs that had been ruined by the hydraulic fluid from the clutch master. I fixed them and put it back together. In hindsight I wish I would have just replaced the whole panel from a similarly equipped XJ that I had in my hand at one time. Since then I have two other tabs starting to disintegrate. Plus my wiper circuit beaker slot is so wallowed out so that the cb just falls out every now and then. If you take the thing apart, replace the whole thing IMO. If you have to fix something in your 30 year old truck, take the chance to upgrade. My 2 cents.