500 MJ

From my experiences: My Dad had a '99 TJ with the 4 cyl and my bro presently has a '94 YJ with the 4 cyl. Dad's got lifted and had 35"s on it and once that happened you couldnt use 5th gear if you wanted to. My Brothers is still stock and he gets the same mileage with his YJ as I get with my 6 cyl MJ... Therefore, I'm not a fan of the 4 cyl. Some guys like it but I'd just rather not deal with it. That being said, look for a 4.0L. They are abundant and one of the best engines ever made in my opinion. Before '91, they were non HO. I had an HO in a Cherokee and it was backed with an (AW4) Auto. I got about 15 mpg highway with it. With the non HO and manual tranny in my '88 MJ I presently get about 18 mpg highway. It doesnt have as much pep, but the torque is still there in the non HO... I'm not really a fan of automatics... If you go manual, stay away from the BA-10, it'll only cost you more $$ down the road after it implodes on you. AX-15 is the way to go with manuals. To find out what gearing you have: jack the rear axle up so that one tire is still on the ground. Mark the tire in relation to the bedside fender (tape works good) and then mark the driveshaft in relation to the pinion. Turn the driveshaft one whole turn and make sure you see how far the wheel turns in relation to this driveshaft turn. Take the amount of wheel turns and multiply it by 2 (because there are two wheels) and that is your gear ratio. Or you could pop the cover off and count teeth to find out.

If you could find another one that is already 4wd and the body not in the best of shape, I'd make that into the offroad machine and keep the nice one nice...

Drivers seat looks a little funky...?

It amazes me how little work it takes to make things look so much better. Nice job so far!

Seals out of ANY 4 door xj will work, even the 98+ ones :brows: Junkyards are wonderful places for these.

Just wondering... I found one in friends XJ that is in a field... his is bolted to an AW4. Can I take my 231 out and swap this in? I've got an AX-15 right now with the 231 that came with it from factory. This trans/t-case setup came in an '89 Wrangler that I'm running now in the MJ...

Does TNT have a website?

Did you clean the plastic tube out?

Its looking like I'm going to have to replace my stock track bar (again). I don't want to put another stock one in there. What are the best aftermarket ones offered in your opinions. I don't ever want to have to replace the dang thing again... :hateputers:

Very Nice Indeed. Spending time on the body work sure does pay off... I like the two tone

$300 and you can have one just like in primer. If your interested let me know. Earliest I could have it made would be Thanksgiving or Christmas when I'm home on break... The piece of steel alone cost $90. Its 5"x2" 1/4" wall tube... This is how I fastened it to the box steel of the frame...

I can see a problem with your roofline if you do this. It will be way out of whack compared to what it is now, the slope will have to change if you want to use the rear of the cab as it is now... Its a big project: you will have to take lots of measurements before if you want to have things fit up nicely in the end and not have the truck go down the road crooked... Also you are going to really have to be sure you do a nice job with it otherwise you wreck a perfectly good MJ chassis. I would have tried it on one of the rusty ones you had before I tried it on this one...

What is a shackle/shock mount?

I'll keep you posted, Probably get to checking it out this weekend sometime... Thanks

Yah, I just cleaned out that plastic line with some degreaser and also cleaned the rubber valve on the top of the valve cover as best I could. I blew some air through the line too. Not to say it will work for you, maybe yours is way worse than mine was, but thats what I did and it worked for me... Although, leaking oil everywhere did help me against rust in the long run, I was sick of the spots in the driveway. Sorry to Hi-jack

Recently I took the old "Idiot Light" gauge out of my '88 MJ. You know the one with the speedo, a huge gas gauge and the rest are lights that turn on when things go awry. I put in a full cluster from a '90 XJ and swapped over all the sending units that were incorrect from being hooked to the old cluster and got the new ones installed just fine. Its working fine except for one problem. Somewhere along the line, between my old cluster and the new one, I lost my right front turn marker light (clear one under the headlight). The orange one on the side works fine and I know the bulb is good in the clear one because when I take the '90 cluster out, things work just fine. When the cluster is in however, it shorts it out or something. When I pull my parking lights on the turn signal indicator in the gauge lights up for the right side instead of the marker light turning on... I am about 90% sure the wiring to the back of the gauge is correct as it is setup like the harness that was in the XJ that the gauge came from. Is there some resistor or something else under the dash that I need to swap out to get my light working right again? The Right turn signal works just fine, just the parking light is fubared...?

That oil leak looks like its caused by blowby... Check under your air filter in the airbox and see if you have an oily mess. The filter should be oily too. If its all nasty down there, take a wire coat hanger (or some other wire) and run it through the plastic line going to the top of the valve cover. Clean out all the nasty in there (a can of degreaser helps too) and then take an 1/8" drill bit and work it down into the rubber valve on the cover itself, once its all cleaned out, your oil "leak" should go away. Mine Leaked just like that and it doesn't anymore thanks to what I just told ya. Good Luck, Nice MJ. 5"-6" and 33's is a nice combo. to plan for. Mine sits that high and I've got 10" wide rims with it. They keep it looking in proportion and I would recommend them for yours too if you go with that combo.

Kens Auto Parts in Cadillac. They are out on M-55 west of town about 5 miles or so. They had a black one and a red one out there. I think the black one was in the better shape, they had both been repainted...

how much would you want for something like that? Yah, dude that is just what you need! Have Fun!

I had my chance to buy a long bed and turned it down. It was in way better shape than this one was to begin with too but it had a non running 2.8L in it... You can haul more with the long bed but its way harder to turn around on the trail and I like the looks of the short bed more too. If someone wants a 'Manche in Mid Michigan, I could get you the name of the guy with that Long Bed. Its rustfree and running now....

Thanks for the comment. Now its your turn, get to it and enjoy that MJ!

Not a problem, have fun with it and don't forget to use the C-clamps and safely glasses. From what I hear, springs aren't fun when they smack you in the face...

It rode much better than with it in in my opinion. Just like the ride now cause its essentially the same thing but with the load spring. It rides like a Pickup should, a happy medium between a Cadillac and a Dump Truck. Not So stiff that you feel every bump but its not a soft ride by any means. If you have the leaf in it now, it will ride much nicer with it out... Hope that helps.

I took out the leaf at the very bottom. It still sat a bit high after that so I got some sand bags and put them in the back for about a month. Those leveled things out quite nicely. When I got my new wheels and tires last spring though I put that bottom leaf back in for more lift but then realized soon after that when I tried to haul alot of stuff the back would sag down alot. So I fixed the problem by getting some lift shackles and swapping those in, taking out the bottom leaf again and in its place putting a load spring from my original Comanche packs. Thats what I've got in there right now and I'm very happy with how it looks and works. Ride is better too.

Well, paint has been sprayed for a few weeks now and I have already taken it out and got a chip in the paint from wheeling. :roll: I don't have much more major planned for it because I'm at college now other than a SYE, CV shaft and eventually a D44 rear. I'm pretty happy with how it looks and rides now with the long arms and I'm still able to pull 18-19 mpg with it.