PCO6

I used your video for guidance on my 89 XJ just last week and the results were great. Thanks!

I leave my Jeeps in the driveway so I have less snow to plow.

At 72, I've owned and regularly driven roughly 50 vehicles including 9 Jeeps (CJ, XJs 3, MJs 2, TJ, LJ & WK) and still have 4. The craziest time though was back in the 70s when, along with 2 other guys I owned 19 VWs. We built single seaters and raced them in the Canadian Off Road Racing Assoc. (C.O.R.R.A.) series. They were neatly lined up in the field behind our "race shop" and harvesting the parts we needed was never a problem.

I have 4 Jeeps and that's it. My wife has a Hyundai SUV that I drive occasionally when we're out together but otherwise it's Jeeps only for me. I also build trailers for camping which is a good complement to the Jeeps. You get to an age though when maintenance, repairs, fabrication, mods, parts collecting, etc. starts to wear you down. I'll be selling my LJ & WK soon and continuing with my XJ & MJ for as long as I can. Focusing on the two that are the most similar makes sense and they've been my favourites by far anyway. Due to age, I'll be taking my driver's test in 8 years. It will be the first time since the late 1960s. I'm looking forward to doing it in a 43/44 year old Jeep!

It's very sad to hear this. He lived RENIX XJs and MJs when they were new and shared his knowledge freely both through his notes from "The Book" and how he simply and clearly answered everyone's questions. RIP Pete.

You may have already looked at this but the Jeep Wrangler TJ Forum is one of the best sources for information. Good luck with your search. (2) Jeep Wrangler TJ Forum

It's probably a bit biased but of those 3, most TJ owners would say that a TJ is the best. I owned a CJ and have driven several YJs. I've never driven a JK or JL. I owned a TJ and an LJ at the same time and still own the LJ, which is a TJ Unlimited. Both are better than their predecessors with leaf springs up front, although some people prefer that. The knock on later models is the complexity, especially the electronics and the engine in the 2007 to 2012 years. TJs are the first Wranglers to have coil springs all around. They're nimble, simple to work on and they have basically the same bullet proof engine as the XJs.

After seeing your pic I feel like I'm more of a child!

I've had 2 sets of Turbines restored by a professional wheel shop. Both were pitted similar to yours and the came out great. After blasting them, they sprayed them silver and then turned them in a lathe to remove the pits and bring back the shine. They only took off what they had to and it wasn't much. The final step was to clear coat them. The cost was $125 CDN per wheel; less than $95 USD. If you get the wheels cheap enough that's a good deal when you consider what modern wheels cost.

I have this one on my 89 XJ. They were very popular from about the mid 80s and well into the 90s. It's a Provincial tourism slogan that is still used on our licence plates. I was surprised to find a new one at a flea market about 5 years ago and I knew right away where I would put it.

We've had surprisingly little snow this winter. The day before I took this pic my backyard was green. I had the windshield removed from my XJ so I could clean up the frame and reseal it. And then this happened ...

I picked up this poster at a flea market a few years ago. It's cardboard backed (about 1/16") and measures a little less than 14" x 21". I think I've seen the same pic in a sales brochure and if so my guess is that it's a dealer item. I can't confirm that though. Good thing is that I have the Jeep to match!

You're very welcome. There are lots of good YouTube videos that deal with equipment, techniques, products, pressures, mixing ratios, etc. BTW - I used a $40 gun from Princess Auto (like Harbor Freight) which is far from what a pro would use but fine for what I needed. Good Luck!

I bought the LJ in 2016. I had a TJ at the time and sold it 2 years ago. Both were their original Bright Silver metallic. The paint on the LJ was in good shape but rust had set in. I had to replace the front fenders and windshield frame plus some sheet metal around the rear wheel arches. There's a small amount of filler there but that's it. I'd already done the driver's side floor and torque box sheet metal but they didn't need to be painted body colour. I painted the fenders, windshield frame, cowl, doors and tailgate separately. The tub including the door jambs were painted together, one side and then the other and the hood separately. Rather than take everything down to bare metal and prime it I simply scuffed the original paint with 3M pads to remove the gloss and etch the surface. Original paint forms a good base if it's in good shape and I painted the enamel right over that. I haven't sprayed metallic in a long time and didn't like doing it then so I went with enamel - single stage, no clear coat. There's about 4 coats on it, each wet sanded and the final coat was left as is. I haven't buffed it out and am not sure if I will. There's one minor run, which I'll get around to fixing, but no orange peel. The trailer was mostly built when I started to strip down the LJ. I knew I was going to paint it grey and when done I just kept on going with the LJ.

Thanks. It's been a good Jeep for camping and other things. I built a trailer and painted it grey. I liked it so much I did the LJ too!

I think bedliner looks great on some vehicles. You have to be sure you want it though because it's not easy to get off ... or so I'm told. Here's how my LJ turned out. I didn't want a super glossy look because of how I use it. Rustoleum single stage enamel was good for what I was after and it was pretty straight forward to do. Good luck with whatever you decide on!

Just my opinion but I'd stay away from bedlining the whole Jeep. If you don't like it there's not much you can do with it once it's done. I sprayed my LJ with Rustoleum and it turned out great for the way I use the vehicle ... basically a year round daily "salty roads" driver and for camping and trails. It was a backyard outdoor job and for the $500 or so I have into it the result is more than fine for me.

None of my wheels came with my Jeeps (88 MJ & 89 XJ). I'm "assuming" (haha) they all came from Canadian Jeeps built in the US. I can't see that that would be a factor unless then wheels were bought after the original vehicle purchase, which would seem odd AND Canadian and American dealers got a different supply of wheels? I kind of doubt that. I have 13 Turbines in total and 7 of them came from Europe. Weird.

I just realized I have an Italian wheel as well. I checked my wheels that are not currently on my MJ & XJ and got the following ... U.S.A SF 8952 000 025 W. GERMANY SF 8952 002 735 ITALY SF 8952003552 On the USA & W. German wheels the number is cast into the rim. On the Italian rim it is cast into a spoke. The number is much smaller on the Italian wheel and there are no spaces like on the other 2. EDIT: The W. German wheel I just checked also has a small pert number - about 1/8" high. I'm almost certain the W. German wheel numbers are larger - about 1/4" like the U.S.A. wheels.

I have 2 sets Turbine wheels that have "MADE IN THE U.S.A." cast into the rim and one set that have "MADE IN W. GERMANY". They they look the same but the spokes are actually different. The spokes on the USA wheels, measured on the face of them, are 1" wide and the German ones are 1-1/8" wide. In all other respects they seem to be the same.

I don't know if body shops still use welders like a Porta-Spot but they used to be common for attaching patch panels and installing floors, inner fenders, etc. I bought one used many years ago and its useful for general fabrication too. You can work from 1 side or both when installing panels. Unlike the more common spot welders with 2 rods that come together to make a weld, with this one you hold the two pistols about an 1" to 1-1/2" apart and push the button on one of the handles. It produces 2 spot welds with 1 push of the button. It's meant for sheet metal to sheet metal welds but I tried it on sliders that I made for my old XJ. I welded the original sheet metal to 3/16" wall tube and it worked great. The second pic shows both MIG tacks and spot welds.

I bought a Maremont tailpipe for my 88 short bed in April, 2023. Both Rock Auto and a Canadian supplier, The Wrench Monkey (Toronto), listed a Walker pipe at the time but were out of stock. Wrench Monkey offered to bring in a Maremont and that was fine with me. If it helps, the part # is 360519 T55056. Maremont is a Tennessee company so you should be able to get one in the US.

I put a set of Hyundai Tiburon seats in my last XJ. I also have a set in my current LJ. I can't confirm that they fit in an MJ but my guess is that they would. In an MJ you'd want seats that fold forward. Knowing this I looked at small 2 dr. cars at a local junk yard until I found something I liked. They usually go for about $35-$45 a seat and they are proper automotive seats with all of the features (adjustments, sometimes heaters, etc.) as compared to some of the racing seats that are available.

And then there are the guys that take an axe in with them. I've seen it!