ParadiseMJ

I think this is engine paint...seein' as how it says "engine paint". https://www.duplicolor.com/products/enginePaint/ I'm thinking if was painting my engine, I'd want something that tolerated high heat and resistant to grease/oil...but this here is sure engine paint. I don't think I'd go with regular old paint, I'd use engine paint.

Naval jelly is only good for surface/very light rust. If you have rusted floors that penetrate thru the floor you'll likely need a more aggressive treatment. To get down to bare metal try some coarse sandpaper or a flap wheel and get rid of all the rust. Then treat it with a rust killer/inhibitor. Then you can topcoat that. But fix that leak first.

Buckets and bench use the same floor bracket, riveted to the seat, so it needs to be ground/drilled off of the bottom of the seat and bolted to the other seat...or set up like that. Unless you're confident in fabbing something else for the seat to floor...it's the easiest way. Just sayin'

Any confusion on how to do this comes down to one thing. The seat brackets that bolt to the floor. The MJ floor has a unique topography, hard to fab, easiest to just use the brackets. There is some drilling/grinding to do before you can bolt them up. XJ floor brackets will NOT work easily. Have you thought about getting the stock seat re-upholstered? Then you'll have new seats, in your choice of color and upholstery, with the fold forward option and they'll fit like they were meant to with no extra work involved. Then you'll just need to bolt it in, with 4 nuts/bolts/studs per side....Now THAT's easy peasy.

The 'tracks' are not as important as the brackets themselves that bolt to the floor. If you have the brackets, you can make almost any comparable sized bucket seat fit. Width is an issue, height is an issue. ZJ seats should fit, but you need to save those brackets. You'll find that the brackets for the bench seat and on the MJ buckets are basically the same I used XJ 2 door buckets, because the seat folds forward. But I had to grind the screws/rivets off the old MJ bench seat bracket and bolt it to the XJ seat. It was easy once I wrapped my brain around it. The XJ brackets will not fit the floor of the MJ. If you wanted to put a different seat in it you would need to fab up some crossbars with flat steel stock to bolt (or weld) the bracket to the seat runners (tracks).

A stock bumper with stock bumper mounts is not adequate for a recovery point. A bumper mounted hitch is considered a Class I/II for light duty towing. It might be OK to pull you out of a slippery spot, but, it's not enough to really put the strap to, pulling it out of a ditch, a snow bank, sticky mud, sand etc. It's not necessarily the mount to frame connection, which is fairly bolted to the frame. More importantly the mount to bumper connection with too thin metal and too weakly welded. Unfortunately there are not a lot of options for a good solid trailer hitch/receiver unless you have one made, make one yourself or get lucky at a junkyard. Short bed and Long bed hitch mounting are different FYI. Read the link below for more info. http://comancheclub.com/topic/26626-receiver-hitch/

OK, so there is no vacuum line to the ECU. The ECU is the computer. The MAP sensor is mounted to the firewall, with a vac line to the throttle body. It is true, I've heard, that the line itself is no longer available except maybe on a shelf as NOS (new, old stock). You can either repair the line with a piece of soft line slid over the two broken ends...to connect the two ends...or you can look at a junkyard (but from what I've found most of them are broken too) OR you can take a piece of the broken line to NAPA where there is actually a parts guy/gal that knows how to solve problems, and find some matching size bulk vacuum line of the right length (AutoZone will need to know the year, engine, 4WD or 2WD, the trim package etc so they can look it up on their computer...and it won't be there). Bulk line is cheap, save the fittings on either end of the line and put it all back together.

My first XJ had (still has) 3.55's and 31's. I never really gave it much thought since it was stock and I just threw 31's on it after a 3.5" lift. I had zero issues with power and "pep", I towed with it, loaded it up with gear and canoes, took hills with ease. I never really thought I was under geared. Fast forward to the MJ. It came with a BA-10 and 3.07's...and 31" tires. It was peppy, fun to drive for about 1,000 miles of dirt roads and around town. Then the BA took a dump, so I swapped it with an AW4. Kept the 3.07's. It still has plenty of power, pulling and acceleration wise, at speed. But starting off from a stop I sometimes drop it into 1-2 just to get it going...faster. I also have a manual lockout, so the torque converter doesn't go to OD So, at this point I gotta put it on hold and hold out for an axle 4.10's. I can easily (more easily than re-gearing it myself) set the thing up for SOA, and I don't want to have to do it twice. It's just that the way SUA us set up - my diff is 8-9" off the ground, but the shocks and springs look to be about 4". Lame...IMHO. So, guys, thanks for the input, I'll continue to scour the junkyard for the proper combo.

No, I'm 4WD, easier to find a D30 with just about any gearing around here...up to 4.10. Past that it gets harder. But junkyards galore and junkyards with XJ's and even a few MJ's. ...and Cruiser...I responded to the e-mail. I'm lazy. I do have a 44 though...never have done gears myself...looks too complicated, for me.

Right now...235's because the 3.07 gears are so weak. Want 32's

OK, so I'm trying to snag this 8.25 this week, but I have another question. The 8.25 is from an XJ, the perches have been cut off and new ones scooched over to the right position for an SOA (as this MJ is already SOA). My question here is about the shock mounts. It's got the regular XJ shock mounts, one behind the axle, one in front of the axle. What is the advantage/disadvantage of having the shocks either way (normal MJ set-up vs. XJ set-up)? If I do this should I use the spring plates from the MJ flipped over with the shock mount on it already??

From the single line going towards the engine...the rubber line attaches to a short metal line, secured to the lower part of the firewall. Then the metal line (about 10-12") curves up and attaches to a single rubber line again and into the canister. On the canister, there's a big line and a small line. The big line is the source vacuum to the manifold, it sucks the fumes coming out of your tank through the canister (via the little line). If the little line is disconnected anywhere along the line...you should be able to hear it...AND...you may smell fumes.

I use Summit, ebay, Quadratec, RRO (Rocky Road Outfitters) too for different things that parts stores usually don't have. I used TeamCherokee... once For most regular parts NAPA...either store or on-line. I have 4 NAPA stores within 20 miles of home...I can usually get whatever I'm looking for either immediately or in 1 day. If they have a part in Sacramento, they'll bring it up (100 miles) if I ask for it before 3:00 for no shipping cost. Hard to beat. RockAuto for price if I don't need it for a while.

I've seen a few soft tops on long bed Rangers...about the same dimensions. You might want to look at the Bestop stuff. Like so: http://www.autoanything.com/hitch-bed-accessories/bestop-supertop-truck-bed-camper-shell Just a bit pricey though.

Good news. Thanks

So, I hit the junkyard yesterday looking for an axle with better gearing for my 88 SWB. I swapped the BA/10 trans for an AW4 a little over a year ago, but I still have the D44 with 3.07 gears in it. Anyway, I found an 8.25 under an 88 MJ that is already set-up for SOA, with perches and a modified brake line set-up I was looking for 4.10 gears, or even 3.73's but no luck yet. This 8.25 has 3.55 gears. Since I no longer do anything near "crawling" and the 4.0L/3.55/AW4 combo is a stock configuation, would it even be worth the time/money/effort to snag this axle and do the SOA I have been wanting to do (mostly to get rid of the shock mount set-up, and the doggy 3.07 gears).

Since it runs fine when the connecter is messed with it'd be suspicious of the wiring or the connector itself. Have you looked at your sensor grounds, or tested the sensor grounds.? Is the CPS wiring off the manifold? Find Cruiser's tips and do the sensor ground upgrade (or just do the testing) and then the CPS test. Since you replaced vacuum lines I'd also look at the MAP sensor vac line and electrical connection, too. Here it is. http://comancheclub.com/topic/36382-cruisers-renix-tips/

Where's the picture?

there is a top...and a bottom. If it doesn't look right, flip it over.

That's what I'd look at too. I had the same problem on my XJ. Checked the fuses, grounds etc. it was indeed the rheostat. The dimmer is just a long spring, it can twist and break on either end or even in the middle.

Got mine at ACE hardware...depending on your local hardware store. The ACE in our area is huge. We have a Fastenal too, but they don't have auto panel buttons.

There are two little tabs, one at each end that clip into the dash. I've had all mine out to clean and paint, I just slipped a small blade in at the top (or the side depending on the vent) and gently coaxed the tab forward. Once you have the top (side) tab out, the bottom comes right out. I was also able to adjust the tabs a bit to tighten them up by warming them up and holding the tab up (or down) until it cooled off. Worked fine.

Like sloride said, I didn't like the LED in the high beam slot...too bright in my face. Blinkers are OK

I eventually replaced the cable. The end that attached to the transfer case was stripped/rounded out and not making good contact (and rounding it further). New cable fixed it.

Is correct