Incommando

Took it to a local ORV park ( Thrashing Trails) and gave it its maiden voyage. I did not get many pictures but the truck did great. It went everywhere that any other street-driven jeep went and did so easily. Here are some obstacles that I walked through where the Wranglers had to take the strap. View out of the windshield (bypasses are for wimps) Not hard core by any means but it is actually pretty steep. It walked up this climb that took the other street jeeps multiple attempts. The ledges at the top are taller then they look from the bottom. Both of these TJ's wound up hating the ol' MJ :thumbsup: . Frankly a Rubi in stock configuration with the limits on the lockers leaves some room for improvement

My pillar lights never worked ( not unusual, huh?) I snagged the front dome/map light cluster & the lighted vanity mirror visors out of a 2000 XJ CLassic and mounted them up. The headliner/backer was gone when I bought the truck so I mounted the dome light above the mirror. Installed my Cobra Ultra III compact CB on the back of the cab. I tilted it so that I could easily read the LED numbers in bright daylight. I used some neat little "beadle" re-usable zip ties to hold the mic cord up and I used quick-connects on the wiring so that I can easily remove it when I want to. The antenna is a 3" Firestick on a springy. This mounting location should give it the most unobstructed broadcast & reception short of plopping it onto the roof. [/ URL]

I am over by Dayton. I just removed the factory temporary spare from under the bed on my '91 when I did the lift & 4x4 conversion. It holds air. It doesn't look like it was ever used. You could clean/paint the rim and put it under there for show purposes. It is yours if you want it. (Edit: I started this before your other post posted. Oops) Correction: my '88 with the factory tow package & LSD D44 rear had a matching tire/rim that matched the other four. I cannot say for sure that it was the factory equipment but it, too, looked like it belonged there. I don't know if it was an appearance package deal, a tow package deal, or an LSD deal.

Yeah, your LCA's are too long. Mounts look stock, though. If you are at stock height you could possibly get by with a junkyard WJ LCA swap as they are a slight upgrade or you could return to stock. WJ or stock arms would re-center your tire in the wheel well and correct your camber & move the pinion up. The yoke should be pointing up at the front t-case output yoke. If you do determine that you do have some lift yet then adjustable LCA's are the way to go as those on there need to go anyway. They will definitely cause DW and/or vibrations as they have your camber all jacked around. Just replacing the uppers with adjustables and leaving the too long lowers on would still keep your axle pushed too far forward.

Pep Boys Dakota Definity M/T's are often on sale fairly cheap.

Good job

5" of lift will clear 32's with stock rims with no rubbing.

Negative on the KK Liberty. It remained 5X4.5. I have personal knowledge of this.

:)

Barnes4x4 & Ruffstuff both offer decent pre-fabbed mounts you can use as well.

Not exactly on topic but when I had my Pioneer's door panel a off the other day I saw that they are stamped "pioneer chief." I didn't think the manufacture of those two models overlapped.my title lists "Comanche Pioneer."

I am not a fan the double myself. The first gen Dakota bar looks good in an MJ. For a bar to have an serious strength it would need to mount to the frame and not to sheet metal IMHO

The shoulder lugs on those are way too aggressive. You can sneak by with a street tread but even with spacers those will rub.

Are you copying and pasting the links? Use the bottom of the fourth link choice offered.

The awesome sound of those...

Petty Enterprises turned a Challenger into a Super bird clone. Pretty cool. Initial reports are indicating that the actual Fiat products are as craptastic as they ever were

Well the experts are here so..... :rotf: As the weight on the truck moved and unloaded/loaded the suspension whichever rear tire had the least traction would spin and therefore leave a rubber mark. This is also true of the front axle. It is a common fallacy but a fallacy that only a certain tire ( most of the time it is the passenger rear) will get power in an open rear end. As the dynamic forces change the powered wheel changes. This occurs most often when pulling a heavy load or hauling one and could result in all 4 tires having spun at some point..but just not at the same time. Just tromping it and going will generally not cause the loading/unloading that would result in the power shift.

To make the temp gauge work you will need a Standard Motor Products TS-199 sending unit or equivalent. This sender is located on the back driver's side corner of the head and points straight up. The McAutoparts places do not even list this unit and will try to sell you the coolant temperature sender for the ECU that is located in the thermostat housing. That one does not trigger the gauge, though. Either steal this sender when you snag the cluster or order one ahead of time. I live in a metro area of nearly 1 million people and no one stocked this sender. The oil pressure sending unit is located below the oil filter and the correct one for use with a gauge (Standard PS315 or equivalent) is readily available should you not get the one from the donor. Other than that this swap is 100% plug & play.

Wasn't the Volkswagen Rabbit Pickup a rear wheel drive front engine diesel? No. It was a FWD Rabbit with a big open trunk. Just another econobox. Did I miss the specs on that Mazda engine for HP & TQ? How does it compare to the 4.0?

Yeah, the step bumpers were all the same. The towing package got you a receiver hitch not a braced-up bumper. It is a good home brew but considering how relatively cheap receiver hitches were...

There ya go Gas milage? Durability? Power? Ahhhh who am I kidding I just wana do it so I can roll coal outta the Jeep haha Gas mileage? Seriously? And how many years do you think it would take you to pay for the swap in fuel savings? Durability? 4.0's routinely break 300,000 miles. Power? Didn't your own statistics show the 4.0 makes more power and, if you only knew it, out performs the TDI at every RPM point? There is no "extra torque in the low gears" to consider. Oh, wait, all diesels have more "low gear ( I think you really mean low RPM though) torque" because everyone just knows that is true.... Pssst...the H.O. 4.0 has more torque at idle than the average TDI does MAX! :doh: The best engine for the MJ is the 4.0. A 1987 4.0 had more horsepower (177) then the truck 350 of the same year. (160). Hell the H.O 4.0 had the same horsepower and much more torque than an '87 BMW M3! And no swap headaches to contend with, either. Pretty much any swap in an MJ that had a 4.0 is for vanity/bragging rights and not real-world reasons. You may argue swapping a 4.0 for the other engines available in the MJ. It is harder in the 2.8 era trucks but even the factory diesel is a large step backwards over the 4.0. The 4.0, especially at the time of its introduction and again at the step-up to the H.O. ( OBD-I) version, was a world-class engine.

Anyone who claims to know anything about jeeps should know about CAD. It was used on several models for several years. Knowing about it isn't much of an indication of in-depth jeep knowledge. Out of curiosity why is it so important that your truck has "factory" lockers? A dealer installed unit would be no different than a home installed unit and isn't factory either or an "option" either. So. Cal has been a hotbed for jeeps for decades and has had numerous dealers for decades a well. A Google shows dozens and dozens. I added a locker to my MJ just last month. Old trucks of lesser value are more likely to be modified. There is still really no indication that your truck has either an LSD or a locker. As you don't know yourself you obviously have not serviced your diffs. It is a cheap operation and you can PST pictures of what you find in there. Many people are confused over CAD vehicles having "lockers" because they don't really understand how the CAD connects the two pieces of the axle together. They hear lock and axle and think diff locker.

Replaced the master cyl. with a new, rebuilt, or used unit?

New Rusty's bumper is on I needed front tow points to try it out off-road. I will add the winch in a few weeks

Check the flexplate-to-converter bolts