88towmanche

Towing 3,000 on a regular basis has been ok - boat/motor/single axle trailer cross the scales loaded out at ~3,100 (depends on how much bait I'm taking) No trailer brakes - tongue wt is only 150 ish and it still sagged the @$$ of the truck - got a helper air bag kit to level that out. Got a frame mounted receiver hitch (not using bumper) Biggest issue for my 88 is the weak-sauce 3.07 gearing - can't hardly drag it up steep launches, no grunt. Got a parts '86 with 4.10's & a dana 44 that are going to get transplanted into the 88 one of these days - figure that will make a hella difference in how it functions as a tow rig - which wsa the original intent.

I used a chop saw with an abrasive cut off wheel - go slow enough so you don't cook the rubber bushing. The oval end goes axle side - I think, put mine on back-asswards but haven't switched them back yet.

My OEM mirror had the silvering flaking off so I bought one somewhere and had the same problem with the factory button being a bit too small. I am old school - just about everything can be fixed with tape and zip ties....wrapped the button with electrical tape until it was fight to get the mirror back on - fixed!!

No complaints with the BFG's - been buying them off Amazon. Discount Tire has two websites: discountire.com discounttiredirect.com The direct website will sometimes have lower pricing and different inventory.

The Rockville sub with built in amp was like $100 - head unit was $45 on sale and the speakers all came in around $75 ish - with the wire kit for the sub (don't go cheap) - I think it was $250 all in.

I like having the sub - it has a separate volume control so if want to dial back the thumping easy to do. Whole stereo system ran around $200-$300 for all 4 kicker speakers, a head unit and a sub with built in amp. Went with a marine head unit - think it is a Sony - really like those have one in the boat as well - bluetooth/USB is the way to go - without the CD player there are no moving parts (mech-less) and they are about 1/2 the depth of a standard unit so super easy to tuck all the wires back up in the dash for clean install. Not sure if this link will work - but here's what I put in mine:

I like having the sub - it has a separate volume control so if want to dial back the thumping easy to do. Whole stereo system ran around $200-$300 for all 4 kicker speakers, a head unit and a sub with built in amp. Went with a marine head unit - think it is a Sony - really like those have one in the boat as well - bluetooth/USB is the way to go - without the CD player there are no moving parts (mech-less) and they are about 1/2 the depth of a standard unit so super easy to tuck all the wires back up in the dash for clean install.

Have to agree - not liking that set up on my rig, at least not for pullin a boat.

I don't know...I have the same set up and it is weak-sauce with 31's & 3.07. I also have an '89 XJ with twice as many miles that feels much stronger with what I presume is a different gear ratio (what did the Renix XJ's come with 4.0 5spd?) That rig should easily haul around my fishin boat and is "ok" on the road but weak pulling up hills and ramps. Have a parts MJ with 4.10 axles that is going to get swapped over (factory MJ D44!!) - once I finally get to that, expect we'll see if gearing is source of suckyness or not.

Looks good

Here's a pic of the front of my '88 XJ - Laredo package, black & chrome (paint is shot - used to be black)

I bought one of the airlift kits off of amazon: AIR LIFT 59503 Ride Control Rear Air Spring Kit The truck squats when I hook up the boat (30+ year old springs) so was planning to install the helper kit to help the old girl out.... Then I put the budget lift on it, only a couple inches but thinking now I need spacers for the air bag kit - firestone has a 1-/34 spacer that should work, or I can stack big stainless plate washers to get there. Now I am planning an axle swap and depending on whether I take the AAL from the '86 donor truck I will be installing the bag kit when I do the axle swap. Install looks pretty straight forward - I am going to run the air lines back to the rear bumper and use a plug in compressor for now (or airtank) can figure out OBA down the road.

Like this? Krusty hitch with stock bumper

I am very happy with the hitch I got from Krusty - you won't beat his price for the quality delivered.

$25 ea would be great, $50 would be spendy - at $100 would stick to scavenging JY's Put me down for one of each.

When I installed the Euro lights in mine, found that BOTH lights have to be hooked up or the fuse blows every time.... Install went: Pull OEM lights, clean everything up, install driver side replacement Euroteck light and bam - fuse blows. $#!& Try again with new fuse double check everything....bam, fuse blows. Damn Ok, forget driver side let's at least get passenger side in - install passenger side Euro light and bam - fuse blows Crap Try again with new fuse, double check everything....bam, fuse blows. WTF Ok, install both lights complete and THEN plug fuse in - Golden! never had a problem since.

I bought a cheap driver side belt off of Amazon - works fine, here's how install went for me:

This - +1 for Krustyhitch.

I have the blue interior but have not been able to find even trashed blue buckets - going to go gray and am thinking maybe the dark gray Dakota 40/20/40 seats - I have gray buckets in a 2 door XJ but that rig is so nice not going to take it apart (so much for buying a parts rig - can't bring myself to scavenge parts off it) Going to leave the console/door cards blue - was thinking maybe headliner/carpet in a dark gray to match Dakota seats and see how that all looks - if I go with the Dak seats don't have to find a center console either. All subject to change of course - I ran across a Seahawks flag the other day that would make a nice headliner and pretty close match to the factory blue so.....

Plugged line? My brothers & I used to resurrect old chevy's and flip them for cash - from the mid '80's to early '90's you could still pick up decent '65-'69 Chevelles for cheap (even back then, 1st gen camaro's were expensive and Novas were usually trashed) go through them to get road worthy and shoot fresh paint - we'd flip 4 or 5 cars a year make $10-$15k for the effort. Anyway, one of the problem we'd run into with the brakes were plugged lines - don't know what crap gets in there, but sometimes those blockages are why we couldn't get the fluid to flow.

Got a Downey on mine - highly recommend. Got it last year

Passenger side straight as a string. Driver side - damage to the rocker and rear quarter - nothing a hammer and quart of bondo can't fix. Washington truck so no rust.

I've got two of them an 88 & 89 One of the kids is in love with the 89 so that one is spoken for - might be able to deal the black 88 4.0 5spd - stock Laredo package - think it has 130k on the clock. WI is a long ways a way

Floors are rough but repairable, rockers, cab corners all look good. Agree it might be a good candidate for 97 swap - but if we are taking on a second MJ project, Wife wants a SB so am on the hunt for that. Once the axle swap is done, will evaluate long-term plans for this one - got room to store it, but the inventory is up to 4 jeeps now (2 MJ 2 XJ) and there are only so many hours in the day....

I need to get some measurements (been raining to beat hell so haven't messed with the truck yet) - but the back of the truck looks a lot higher than stock. Originally figured it was a longer shackles, but looking at this pic, they look stock. Do the spring packs look funky? - is 4+1 correct? Guess I should take some time and compare with the 88.