500 MJ

I gotta ask the question if either of those suckers leaked on your way home. That would be one heck of a mess to clean up! :popcorn: Also, in my opinion, that TJ isnt worth what he wants for it. If you want to do ANYTHING at all to that 4 cyl as far as lifting it up, you might as well stick with the 6 cyl TJs instead. We had a '99 TJ with the 4 cyl and after we lifted it 4 inches and put 35's under it, it got the same gas mileage as a 6 cyl and it was WAY underpowered. To solve the problem we would have needed to regear the axles. I'm still running 3.55 gears in my 6 cyl... I've never heard anything about 4 cyl Jeeps as far as excellent wheelers after they have been modified. Stock they are just fine, my Bro has a YJ with the 4 banger. Its OK in my opinion but I will never own anything but a 6 cyl Jeep. I Love my 4.0 and my MJ! ;) But, thats just my $.02. It's your decision ultimately. Just please don't do something you will regret later. :cheers:

Hey Pat, I might be able to help you out here BUT, my setup runs an AX-15 in the place of your AW4. Everything else is the same (SWB/4.0L/AX-15/SYE NP-231/D44) I got a rough measurement of the setup I had in the truck before I went out and bought the shaft. I wasn't going to change my lift, just swap out the rear axle and SYE the T-Case. So I measured the differences between my old C 8.25 and D-44 snouts and the differences on the T-case (I had already done the SYE to one that I had as a spare so I could still drive the truck with the old stock unit, so I had the before and afters easily available to take measurements on) and then went to the yard. I came up with a length of around 50" would be more than plenty for what I needed. They had a driveshaft bus there so that made my search easy, however, it also kept me from knowing what the shaft that I used came off of. I have good faith that the shaft came from a Ford product as it used a 1330 U-Joint. I left the one end at this size and got a conversion joint (Precision 353) to fit it. The other end I hacked off and welded my new 1310 CV joint on (it was a 3" tube). I got all of the parts (Spicer 1310 joints, CV yoke and the CV end) for the shaft at the junkyard and I used an H Yoke I bought on another shaft (They used to build shafts and they still sell the parts). Remember to scribe the driveshaft (both sides) between the joints before you cut. It makes it really easy to realign everything this way. Here are some pics (This is what I got from the yard): And your last bit of info for the shaft: Mine is 45" long Compressed and 49" long Extended. This measurement is from the Very Very end of the H Yoke to the Center of the U-joint on the axle end. So, you could get by with a shaft that is a few inches shorter when it is compressed because you will be welding on the whole CV assembly and thus adding length to the shaft. Hope that helps, let me know if you have any questions. - Brent

How hard was it to do the gauge swap with the automatic with the gear shift indicator.

Yah, The rear part of it will sit on the top of the roll bar... I do see what you are saying though... Thing is that I'm not so worried about the twisting of the canoe, its the loading and unloading of it when I have the Jeep parked in un-level areas. Thats why I'm thinking that I'll put those bars in there..? :popcorn: Also, I just realized that I drew the bolt in the wrong spot on the lower part near the hitch. Its all going to be gusseted at the joints and they will be held together with bolts and pins. So there will be no way that it can fall back on the front of the truck, it will have a pin and a bolt in the gusset to hold it at 90 degrees. :roll:

Well, last year it never came to be but this year it WILL be a completed project. I've thought about it alot and I've come up with the following basic plan. I'll use my FRONT hitch to mount it up, rather than my rear hitch so I can use that for a bike rack or to tow a trailer, etc. The rack that I drew up in paint is the basic plan. I will use a piece of 2" stock to come out from my hitch and then I'll use smaller stock for the rest of the rack and the supports (the drawing doesnt show this though). I've thought that I want to keep things as light and cheap as possible. Once its all put together it will be able to be folded up and stowed in the corner. Should be easy to weld up and sturdy enough to use time and time again. I plan on using it ALOT for hauling a canoe and also for hauling lumber and whatever else I need to move that won't fit in the bed. Thoughts?

For your viewing pleasure, this is what one looks like in 2003 Chrysler Electric Blue Pearlcoat...

Its a T50. Good luck with removing the ones on your rockers if they have holes in the bottom of them and allowed the bolt threads to get rusty from our wonderful Michigan salt. The ones on the center of the cab floor usually don't cause problems... just the ones at the anchors of the cab pillars. I'll have to meet up with you sometime this fall. I go to MTU. Glad to see another guy from Michigan on the boards. - Brent

So... Question. If you already have a set of the bucket seats from a 4 dr XJ (so they are fixed and don't tilt) and you want to get set that do tilt but the fabric is the wrong color/torn... whatnot... Will the seat covers off of the ones that you have on the 4 dr frames be able to be slid onto the 2 dr frames and work? (with the addition of a cut for the release lever on the side so that they could tilt)

The swap isnt a bad one at all to do. Some people claim to be able to do it in a weekend. Others, like me, took their own sweet time and did it over a summer's long restoration/refurbishing of their MJ. The MJ and the XJ come from the factory with all of the components needed for the 4wd system already on their Unibody frame. You shouldnt need to weld anything on or cut anything off to clear the new parts that you put in as long as you use parts from another XJ/MJ. These parts will be directly bolt in. Axles In my ORIGINAL swap, I used a front axle (Dana 30) from a '91 XJ (Post CAD) and the matching rear axle from the same XJ (Chrysler 8.25) Here are pics of those axles. They ran me $300 total from an area Junkyard. If you are planning on putting in a lift, the time that you swap over the axle(s) is the best time to do it in my opinion - thats what I did - FYI I swapped both axles in because my MJ was originally geared at 3.07, had a BA10 manual transmission, and it had a Dana 35 in the rear (a junker of an axle for offroad use). The axles I got from the XJ were from one with an automatic in them and were geared at 3.55. Thus a gear change was in order for the front axle or I could just get the matching rear axle and pop it in at the same time. I chose the latter. If you can find a Dana 30 HP from another XJ/MJ with the gears in it to match the ones in your rearend you will be all set. If you go the route I did and get BOTH XJ axles, you will need to be able to find someone to cut and reweld the perches for you on the rear end to SUA (Spring Under Axles, the MJ configuration) rather than SOA (Spring Over Axle, the XJ configuration) - just a highlight for you to be aware of. Suspension The front suspension on the XJ/MJ is the same for 2wd and 4wd models. All suspension components can be reused from the original layout of the Jeep. These parts should be able to be re-used unless you decide to put a lift in. Then you start putting in $$$ here. I put in $100 for a set of used 3.5" Rubicon Express coils for the front, $300 for a new set of 4.5" rear springs from Rusty's Offroad and $120 for new shocks from Rusty's. Steering The same that goes for the suspension goes for the steering. All of the parts are the same and can be reused, right down to the tie-rod ends. If you have a shot steering set-up like I did, now is the time to fix it. To fix mine probably ran me around $400 because I replaced all of the rod ends, the stabilizer, the drag link and the tracbar. Trans/Transfer I LUCKED OUT here. I was able to bring home a AX-15/NP231 combo for $250 TOTAL. That is DIRT CHEAP for this setup. This usually runs around $500 +/- $100. The reason I got my setup so cheap was that I had a motivated seller and he had pulled the parts from a YJ Wrangler. This would turn out to cause some issues down the road with clocking. This difference is in the tail housing of the trans. It clocks the transfer case to a horizontal angle in a Wrangler and a tilted angle in the XJ/MJ. So to fix this problem I needed to make room on the floor boards of the truck to accept the new higher clocked transfer case. It was kind of a pain. So if you can, get one from a XJ/MJ. The setup bolts in on the factory crossmember and is again all bolt on stuff. One thing to consider if you have a manual or auto. To swap from one to the other requires a whole set of things to happen (Clutch pedals, Automatic Electronic parts...) It is easiest to keep your Jeep setup as it currently is, otherwise you need to do ALOT more work. Nickel and Dime Stuff This one is the kicker. Most things go un noticed by guys when they plan on doing the swap. Driveshafts need to be bought and or shortened. Universal joints replaced. Components in the Trans/Transfer or Axles may need work or need to be replaced once you get them home. You should get an alignment, not hard to do by yourself, once you get everything in there. Other things include: Speedometer cables, gear lubes for the new parts (tranny fluid and axle grease), a new clutch (resurfacing the flywheel), paint for the parts (I like mine looking nice), 4wd shifter linkage, the list goes on... On these things, I must have spent around $600 or MORE after all of the stuff was done... Final Word Overall though, if you have the money and the TIME to do it and do it right, it can be a very fun swap to do. Its getting late and I don't have many of the other pics I have hosted on the net. If I get the chance I'll host them up somewhere and post them up later on. - Brent

If you don't want it or feel like fixing it I would be very interested in getting it if its rust free and straight. A few dents here and there are ok but I really want one that the sheetmetal is solid and in good shape on. I can get to the internals, don't worry about that. If the sheetmetal is in good shape, set your price and lets make it happen. ;) If you feel like taking more pics of it I would appreciate it as it would let me get a better look at it...

Wanna sell your tailgate? :brows: It looks like its in nice shape...

Yah, my brother hosted the video there so if you want to see it I guess you need to have an account... Spud guns are a Blast!

Anyone else got one? My brother and I had our own firework show after we got back from the county one tonight...

Been there done that many times. It seems to go faster and faster the more you patch a floor. ;) The tranny and t-case swap isnt hard to do. Have Fun!

Lookin Good!

Hey, if there is any chance of me going it would need to be on or before August 24th. I head back to school the next weekend... Roger just pointed me toward this thread and there is a good possibility I can make it now that I know about it...

So what was that axle geared at before? What are you geared at now? Looks like I'm not gonna make it to Silver Lake on the 4th, have fun there for the day. I don't have to work but some other things have come up at home that I need to be here for...

I got one from another MJ, I think an XJ one would work though as well because there were slots for fuses for the Rear Wiper and such in the ones I had. Last I checked, we don't have those to clean our rear windows off... ;)

Well, the old truck is still holding together wonderfully, I had to replace the transmission in April. The synchro went bad between 1 + 2 gear. So I threw in the spare trans that I had for such situations. I also replaced my clutch master cylinder, it was leaking on the fuse block and I had to re-wire a new one of those in - not fun! A few pics: My whole exhaust needs to come out to get the trans out, here is a pic of the complex setup I am running... :brows: And here is a pic of the present state of the blue beast (I like the look with out center caps in the wheels better...)

Well, I enjoyed my trip to Finland but I am now home and working on my White MJ again. I left off with the carpet being pulled way back at spring break. We cleaned it with a pressure washer (which works great!!!!) and left it out to dry....for 4 months. Before the carpet was pulled this is what it looked like: Once I got back into town last weekend I started right where I left off. After throwing a battery in the old girl, it took right off and I got ready to do some work. I started cleaning up the rust on the floor and found that after-all I would need to patch a place on the passengers floor that had caught lots of water from the leaky windshield, it was a shame as it was all still mostly there but had lots of pinholes in it. So I cut my patch and welded it in. Drivers floor was good to go! :brows: Got the nice and dry padding put back in: And then the carpet: I own what you see, the Canoe and two Jeeps 8) I also started cleaning up some rust very quickly this weekend, got the tailgate as good as I am going to get it, I'm hoping to replace this one because it is bent and some of the rust has gone through the skin... So now that I have a nice new clean interior, I started to clean my new bucket seats so I could get them installed. Thats how far I am, once I get them done I'll update again... Things are going nicely so far and I'm so glad to be able to work on the truck(s) again!

I made mine from a shaft I found in the junkyard driveshaft bus. I got the conversion joint to convert the joint on the axle end from the Ford to Jeep size and then cut the shaft down on the other side of the splined area to weld on the Jeep CV end. It came out pretty cheap and I learned alot by doing all the work myself. After everything was said and done I bet I probably had ~$140 into it with all brand new parts except for the tube itself, the spine and the yoke on the axle end...

Nice looking truck :thumbsup:

I've got a plan for some removable ones that I will be fabbing up this summer. Should be a pretty simple design and easy to make. The pipe I will be running THROUGH my frame will also be in double shear because its going through. I'm making mine removable so I can clean below the rocker much better in the winter time and also get mud out easier. They also will be easy to paint and upkeep this way. - Just something to remember when you make yours.

I just learned about all of this stuff in my water resources engineering class. I found it interesting but a PIA to calculate all of the flowrates and times of concentration and such. Even our professor told us that the formulas used to calculate that stuff were just "ball park numbers" and that there were NO precise ones in water resources. Every good engineer will design something to withstand problems related to water resources but because there are no defined formulas its all relative (and therefore subject to 100% error)... just something I found interesting... Best of luck to all of you guys down there in Wisc. - hope you are all unaffected by this stuff...

I got my parts from a '98 - or at least thats what I was told by the guy I bought them from - ZJ D35. It went pretty smoothly and I'm pretty satisfied with the results. You can see the process in my build thread, page 6: http://www.comancheclub.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=2024 There is a write up on www.madxj.com that I followed very closely to make mine work. So long as you can make the spacer and have access to a press to put the new bearings on, it is pretty easy. However, you will be ahead money to replace the drum setup that you have. After buying the used disc setup ($215 is what I paid), the new rotors and new ebrake pads, I was well over the amount of money it would have cost to keep the drums. Then you tack on the cost of new axle bearings and it adds up quick... Of course the other side of the coin is that if you want to do it later on you will have just replaced all of the parts now that you will be getting rid of. - Thats what convinced me to do it and get it done now.