Smokeyyank

Pretty sure he asking about swapping the engine and tranny and leaving the body alone.

Not really. The 4.0 is obviously a great motor but the 42re tranny sucks but they are easy and cheap to rebuild and you can put a shift kit that fixes most of their issues. Biggest fault really is the 4.0 isn't the best choice for a WJ. The 4.7 on the other hand plenty of power for a WJ but not the friendliest engine to work on and they have their issues. But they have a way better tranny, 545rfe, and the quadradrive is a moot point since you can swap in a 242. You can also look for a E53 (X5 from BMW) if you want something a little bigger. if you can find one with the 3.0 those are great engines. I'd avoid the v8's, they aren't terrible and their biggest fault is the timing chain guides, DIY job but very involved. I had a 4.6is for a few years and like a typical BMW was amazing to drive. Going 100 felt like nothing and it just holds the road. Wagons are going to be tough to find. There aren't that many and are big with the roundel crowd.

It should be having "play" there. It's the adjustment to tighten up the steering. Should be a hex head adjustment. It's not bolt on, when I had it on my XJ I had to tap a bracket and modify some things. Nothing crazy though.

If you are getting too much play then your box might be failing. You can adjust it to tighten it up but might just need to replace the entire steering gear. As for the EVO that was an option on 96 zj's IIRC. If your rig is stock or close to stock I would not venture down that rabbit hole. If you want to improve the stock set up Durango box and WJ pump are a great upgrade

You probably just need to freshen up the steering in general. Have you replaced the TRE's or anything else? Your box and pump might also be giving up the ghost. No need to run a ram assist on a stock rig...ever.

I'd say anything after 07 is when it really started to become the issue of car manufactures making vehicles harder to work on for the average Joe who can turn a wrench on the weekend. Down turn in economy and the need to create and retain jobs along with cutting cost was a major issue. Manufactures have made it to where you either needs specialty tools to do the work or some much computer aided diagnostic equipment it makes it so ineffective cost wise to DIY compared to taking it to the dealer/shop. It's the reason I sought out a WJ. For me it was one of the last "Jeeps" made. When it comes to parts, honestly BMW is probably one of the better ones from my experience, (other than older jeep and GM) most everything is still made in Germany, parts aren't that expensive compared to most american ones but they are labor intensive to work on and use too much plastic. Japenese cars I think have the highest cost of parts, true you don't replace them as often but when you do it's a pain and not cheap. I'd avoid anything ford like the plauge, same with VW. GM has their ups and downs. If I need a good daily that will see snow, I'd go XJ hands down. If I was looking for a car an old E30 or E36 is an awesome choice IMHO. Not only a blast to drive but easy to work on and DIY friendly. Yes, they are going to need some love but truthfully the best car I ever worked on was my old e30. Picked it up cheap, fixed it up and loved to drive it. There's a reason the model coined the term "ultimate driving machine". Civics are just too bland for me. Yeah they work but you lose part of your soul.....

I love my daughter and glad she is in my life, granted she's 2 so doesn't really know the difference between today and tomorrow. To me though its just another hallmark holiday. Theres still 364 other days in a year to show you care, love and respect not only your family but others. If you can only find 1 day a year to do that well you probably suck. My wife has made me grown to hate mothers day because it always has to be some overboard elaborate b.s. between a "gift" and the other Shenanagins that go with it. Me, I'm fine just having some pizza, beer and a wrench in my hand. So basically a normal weekend. Anywho, hope you all have a great day!

I'd check the ground for the deck

Took the WJ on a road trip last weekend for a wedding down to Westcliffe, CO. Thing drives great, the 4.7HO has so much power it's awesome. I need to replace my steering as the TRE's are shot. I had some DW and traced down a loose bolt on the track bar, but after looking at the TRE's they are toast. Ventured out on a little dirt.

I'm not familiar with the WK. I know on the WJ you can run the 08+ intake and it helps. It was a difference in the runner design that flowed better at lower RPM. I was thinking about doing it on my WJ but I had already spent too much on my junk.

Bass blockers might be able to help Have you goofed around with the EQ settings to make sure nothing was out of whack?

That's a sexy, great looking truck!

If I was attempting a decent rattle can job, I'd sand with 220 (possibly lower depending on how well the 220 was doing) really just enough to scuff off the old junk and have a smooth surface. I'd completely skip body work if I was rattle canning because If I'm going through that much trouble I'm doing the rest of the paint correctly. Feel it would be like building a bad @$$ race car and putting some chrome cholo spokes on it. But I digress...... Lay down a good amount of primer, filling primer first 220-400, then sand, then more filling primer, sand again 400-800, base primer, block sand with 1000-2000. Once it was prepped dedicate a clean space to spray color ( you can make a DIY booth, really just need some plastic to go around and wet the floor to control dust) clean the surface with a tackcloth and tar remover, paint it light to medium coats building up to total 4-6 coats, If you have any runs you can wetsand but if you're laying down light coats you should hopefully avoid that. Let it dry, go back over with tackcloth, lay down clear in light to medium coats building as you go. Honestly, I'd do proper prep and a single stage paint if you really want it to look nice AND last. Rattle can while not terrible just isn't going to last. And spraying with a HVLP gun is a lot easier. https://www.eastwood.com/paints/automotive-finishes/colors/single-stage-urethane.html Single stage is a lot more forgiving than a standard 2 stage and will hold up better than rattle can. Just my 2 cents

Easiest and cheapest for removing any old stickers or decals is one of these https://www.amazon.com/Follex-ERW-Decal-Eraser-Wheel/dp/B00BMU9CEM Sanding is sanding, if it's just rattle can it's not going to give you a hard time. Depending on the condition of the clear will really be the tell on how difficult it will be to sand. Guessing since he sprayed over it it's probably almost non existent anyways. Make sure you're not just blasting away the old paint with 80 grit. You're going to create a bunch of swirls and then will need to use a heavy fill primer so your final paint doesn't look like sh*t. You should be building your sanding, i.e start with 220 and work up to 2k. There will be primer and bondo fills mixed in there as well. Aircraft remover is amazing at stripping paint and will take it to bare metal quick. But you need to be able to get it neutralized and sealed quick as well, if not you're going to have rust issues. A quality paint job is 90% in quality prep. Prep like crap, paint will look like crap. This is also going with a 1/2 stage. If your just going to monstaline it whole different process.

Only on the areas that have light surface rust. Peeling clear coat I wouldn't even bother with until you are ready to paint. Nice thing with primer is it doesn't need a clean and smooth surface to bind, it helps, but isn't as crucial as a full on paint job. If you just want something on it, give it a scuff with some 220 spray the self etching and rattle can it to seal it. Just leaving it as primer is just about as effective as not doing anything. Since you're not in a rust belt state personally I wouldn't do anything until you are ready to 100% do it all. What you have is nothing crazy bad and I'm just of the mind set no need in do the work twice.

Gothca, I've just never seen someone do it that way. I've always just put on side on the coil bucket and the other either on the car lift or wrapped around something on the unibody.

That's pretty minimal and nothing looks like cancerous just surface rust. The clear coat peeling is no issue. My MJ has 0 clear left. If you want to sand it you can but I'd go with a self etching primer.

I'm not sure if this is real or a joke.....

-Looks like an adjustable track bar. Not sure what type though. -No not a drop bracket on your LCA, just a hacked up mess -You can count the leafs on your spring pack to see if a AAL. I bet someone will chime in with the normal number. I believe the MT would be thicker but I wouldn't bet on that. -The UCA looks like someone took a plasma to make the WJ arm fit -I don't know the "drop" on a pitman but there is a bend on it

You need to get on one side of the axle by the track bar and the other on the body or another solid surface. Basically just a way to pull the axle back over.

Keep the 4.0, rebuild it and regear accordingly. I have the 4.7HO in my WJ and I love it (also because it's a fresh rebuild with tons of "goodies"), but they have their issues especially with age. They are expensive to rebuild and not the most friendly to work on. 4.0 exact opposite. When I had the 4.0 rebuilt in my XJ it was a little over 2k for a rebuild and R&R. My 4.7 was 3.5k for the same thing. 4.0 crapped the bed at 225k, 4.7 160k.

Thanks! Love it so far. Nice being up out of the city and so close to the mountains. Grew up in Denver and while it's still home I just over it. Way to damn many people and out town asshats moving there.

Yeah, not my look.....fn ugly as sin

Right on, thanks for the info and terminology correction. I was welding outside and it was a little breezy so I'm assuming it blew away the shielding gas. Guessing the lower turned out better because it had the top of the bucket to help block any wind. Next time I'll put up a shield or something to block any direct airflow. Welding the exhaust was a challenge. I couldn't get beads going on certain parts, especially upside down. We changed the wire to a smaller gauge but still had some issues. The resonator was stainless and I just wasn't able to get a consistent bead around. Ended up having to do 2 passes with smaller beads. Other b*@ch was just not having enough room to get the gun in. It doesn't have any leaks and sounds awesome. Little louder than I was expecting but 0 drone and when you punch it it opens up. On a separate note, got all moved into the house this past weekend. I hate moving....with a passion. This was hands down the hardest one so far. Probably because it was another city and there was just so much to get moved. happy that it's done but now it's the dreaded task of unboxing and trying to keep the wife in check because she thinks we need to buy all new things....ugh. I took the WJ on it's maiden flight up the hill and damn the thing moves. I can easily pull 90 going up I70 which is something I haven't been able to do since having my old SS HHR that had a turbo. Rides nice a smooth. Steering wheel is crooked and I need to fix that, but otherwise all good in the hood.

I run ACOS on mine. I did it to balance out the rack give you tons of versatility over spacers. Don't know how much I "lifted" it. Probably about 1.5". You can also run upcountry springs for a little boost. I have a little taller shocks but that was because I swapped them over from my XJ that was lifted