Romain

As the N'th owner of my MJ, I wouldn't be able to say what bumper I have, but it looks stock enough to me. It was full body restored in the mid aughts and put in numerous car shows. That work chromed it all up too that might have led to a bumper swap. I've gone to more of a black-out look.

OK folks. Given the jobs I've done on my MJ, the hitch was easy. Everyone on this thread spoiled my expectations though that this would be a 5 minute job. LOL. It was not. 1. The hitch quality from krustyballer is incredible. So much appreciation his way. 2. On the short bed, the spring shackle bolt must be partially removed, which means the truck body needs to be supported. 3. The hitch lined up great, the holes were just right. 4. Trying to line up the bumper mount brackets over the hitch, while hitting the frame holes is a two person job until it's secured and getting that line up was tough. 5. The bumper brackets are now further away from the bolt holes on the bumper. I thought the bolts were M12-40mm, but they were in fact 1/2-13x1.5". To span the wider gap between the brackets and the bumper, I needed to buy four 2" bolts (2 on each side) then crank them down and equalize the left/right bumper gap while cranking them down. I'm so happy to have such a great new addition to the MJ, but felt more of the installation detail needs to be documented on this thread.

Ok so I don’t know if the rear seal would have held up, I put in a crate engine. 😂

I was losing a quart per tank of gasoline from bad valve stem seals. Once I replaced them, it’s all good. The inspection was easy. You could see the seals riding high on the stems.

I'd love to be there, but I'm always away during the summers.

It is. I don't notice any difference.

Adding updated pictures. Restored to more original look and added the spare tire mount to the front of the bed. Still more work to do in my dechroming effort.

After lots of planning and thinking of different ideas, I mounted a Rugged Ridge Spare Tire Carrier Mount for the YJ/TJ to the top front rail of the bed. This standoff position also lets my soft topper fold down behind the spare.

Let's all get outdoors and find some mud. It's National Jeep Day, April 4. https://nationaldaycalendar.com/new-day-proclamation-jeep-4x4-day-april-4/

I did notice that. The "dummy" cluster was sitting in the drivers seat too. LOL The underside it a little rusty, but there is some good mechanical salvage left for the '87-'88 RENIX pulling. I've thought about swapping out the bench for bucket seats (after recovering them), but the bench has grown on me, plus I like being able to have a third person in the cab.

It's fixed. The shift cam lever was in the wrong position. It was set to push up and over the top where it should have been set to push down and under (4 Wheel Low would be straight down). I took off the shift cam lever and flipped it over (90º) so it shifts down and everything is swimming now...... Commendations to the TheGearShop1945 for the work as the case runs great (after the 90º flip). It was my inexperience with the shift lever to not understand that trying to go into 4WD, the link was pushing the wrong way.... I went to the salvage yard to see a similar one and it was immediately obvious I was pushing in a no-go direction. BTW, LKQPickYourPart in Mt Airy, MD has a NP231 AMC transfer case in a 1988 Jeep Cherokee if somebody is in the market for one. Thanks to JMO413 , jdog, and cruiser54 for the tips. Cruiser - I've done half your ~33 items, so far. Romain

Should I be able to move the linkage by hand? How much resistance should it have? Romain

OK, I'm nearing the end of my mechanical assurance on my MJ. One of the last things on the list was to have the transfer case rebuilt. I took it out and it was rebuilt by "TheGearShop1945" in Baltimore. I've put it back in and hooked up all the linkages. So the problem is it won't shift at all out of 2H. It feels like the linkage is connected to a fixed spot rather than that elaborate dog-leg shifting system. I'm in the early stages of trying to figure out how the heck to begin trouble-shooting it. Any ideas? For those who have followed my MJ, I've removed the lightning bolts and put on the '86 orange stripes. It looks very nice. Thanks ALL

I'll love to see her restored.

Finally I got the fuel gauge working. No matter what I tried, the gauge in the cluster would just not work. I think I somehow ended up damaging/destroying two Renix fuel gauges and the HO gauge is backwards. Instead, I soled the problem by installing a CJ fuel gauge in the area below and left where I believe the Cherokee rear window wiper and defroster switches would go and putting the AMC logo in the fuel gauge spot. Interesting and it works. I'm done. I'm never opening the cluster again...