jeff351

X5 on Krustyballer hitch. I bought one a couple months ago.

I agree, probably 3.5-4". here's mine freshly installed and drove about 50 miles today. Factory shackles. Rides nice though. I have a 2" spacer and some unknown coils off the donor XJ in the front, and it sits with a slight rake.

I'm 100% jealous of your adventures.

FYI - General Spring has the metric ton leaf springs back in stock. I just ordered a pair.

my wife and I were out there in southern Utah last month. Absolutely loved it. Photos of the Grand Canyon and monuments don't do it justice.

I'll see if I still have the tube of sealer I used when I installed (and later removed) a trans tunnel cover. After applied, it was still flexible and wasn't overly hard to remove.

I looked at doing something like this on mine when I did my 97+ conversion. I think its certainly doable, like others pointed out, if you cut a hole, just make a cover that overlaps it about 1/2". Then drill some holes for sheet metal screws, apply some seam sealer, and button it up. Seam sealer would make it water proof and its not hard to break the seal once you remove the screws.

I had no idea this was the same truck; i thought all along that someone did a really cool paint job. Very nice!

I posted on this thread here but figured I'd tie it into my build thread also now that its done. I got a welded up trailer hitch from @krustyballer16. This part fits perfect, if you need a hitch, this is the one to get. The challenge was "Will it fit with a Gladiator bumper". Answer, yes. Minor work involved. Step 1, fit it up. Yes, the bumper was in the way a little, so I weighed my options and decided in the end that I'd rather make the hitch fit the bumper and not vice versa. So a little modifying was in order. Then tack weld, and check fit. A little trim via Dremel of the bumper was required, but not much. Once I was happy, then final weld. To reinforce where I cut it, I plated it with a section of 1/4" steel. Then hit with a coat of paint, and install. Couldn't be happier with the end result. Not a ton of work and it looks great. Now if I get stuck, there's a legit tow-point.

The fun starts on page 5.

Ok...yes, the Krustyballer hitch will work with a Gladiator rear bumper. However, since no two Gladiator bumper mods are installed exactly the same, expect some sort of fab work to make it fit. 1) The Krustyballer hitch fits perfect as-is, no problem there. 2) The issue is how you attached the Gladiator bumper. In my case, I originally fabbed it up to fit as close as possible to the rear of my MJ. I had two options to make it work with the hitch; either modify the bumper to move it further back, or modify the hitch to drop and move forward. In my case, it was easier to just cut the hitch since I really liked how my Gladiator bumper fit the MJ.

From the Department of Unnecessary Projects: The donor 98 XJ came with a Kenwood stereo, which I assumed was good enough, but I could never get it to sound right. Now I have a new Pioneer head unit with 3 sets of pre-outs,and literally about 1/8" of clearance to fit a 10" sub centered behind the console and the 6x9 speakers on either side. Plus just a hair clearance to mount the amps. Now it sounds pretty stout. Funny thing is, I'm way too old for super-loud music...but whatever. I already have hearing loss from the military While at it, I also installed a phone holder on the dash.

Exactly! I messed forever on my Torino and didnt realize I was burned out until I stumbled across my MJ in a junkyard a few years ago. It was a win-win; I got to take a break with the car, and a new project I was completely unfamiliar with to focus on for a little while. Now that my MJ is mostly back to daily-driver status, I was able to return back to the Torino. Somewhat refreshing

some of these odd-ball ones are from growing up on the coast of Maine where we put our nice cars in the garage for the winter, and drive "winter beaters" that we didn't care about getting rusty. 1970 Ford Torino GT (still own) 1985 VW GTI (sold) 1991 Dodge Daytona (sold) 1984 Oldsmobile Custom Cruiser wagon (gave it away) 1989 Kawasaki ZX-7 (sold) 1985 Honda XR250L (sold) 2005 Kawasaki KLR650 (sold) 1995 Mercury Cougar (sold) 2000-2002 i forget exact year Audi TT (sold) 2010 Ford Focus hatchback (sold) 2002 Nissan Xterra (sold) 1993 Ford F150 (sold) 2001 Dodge Ram (sold) 2007 Nissan Sentra SE-R specV (sold) 2014 Mazda CX5 (still own) 1989 Jeep MJ (still own)

Checking that you saw my PM and payment for a hitch

Despite having my 4.0 being hot-tanked after machine work, I pressure washed the bare block inside and out (sticking the nozzle in every crevice) with a piece of cardboard underneath to watch for debris flushed out. Took several times to get no crud flushing out before I felt confident it was ready for assembly. After the initial 50 mile oil change, I cut open the oil filter and there was zero debris inside.

I did almost the exact same sound proof treatment inside my cab when I did my conversion; I think you'll be happy with your results. BTW, your floorboards look great. I used a brush to paint my interior....my OCD hates the brush marks in the paint

Very cool. Great fab work there!

During our recent power outage after Hurricane Helene, most of us didnt have much to do once we got our property cleaned up. Someone took his trained dogs to Lowes to kill time and have random fun.

jesus h chri....not a spot for anyone who doesnt like heights! I'm jealous. I do an annual backpack trip for week up in Maine each year, but our drop offs on this side of the country are nothing like that

sorry, not tire related..but what Is that a pile in the bottom picture?

I may have missed it, but checking in if anyone here is effected by Helene or Milton (we had no power or internet for over a week here.) On 9/27 we had Helen hit us here in upstate SC/western NC. The cul de sac we live on was relatively unscathed, but we were really lucky, others nearby had trees smash their homes and cars. The only good thing to come of this is our neighborhood really rallied together and helped each out in so many ways. My wife and I took my MJ out to scout around and here's a picture she took which was typical of the area around us. We are mostly back to normal now, other than lots of trees laying around. Up around the Asheville area they got absolutely destroyed - thoughts and prayers to those who lost EVERYTHING, it has to be the worst thing ever.

I'm about to find out! Will post an update

Could I custom order this with everything except the cross beam?

I saw a few "rumors" on Facebook that Key Parts is looking at reproducing tailgates. Any merit to this?