JZLAJeep

We've owned 5 XJs over the years, including 3 currently (see the signature below). We have a neighbor that knows we like like XJ/MJ/CJ and came to us for advice on buying an XJ for his son. We told him that we tend toward HO although are open to any clean model between 90 (or late 89) and 2001, that facelift models seem to go for higher prices, that we like 5 speeds when we can find them. We tend to look for vehicles that are stock rather than modified. At this point miles don't really scare us if the vehicle has been well maintained.

Found the build sheet for this when we had the driver door panel off. Pretty cool! The page is stamped with a date 4 days earlier than the build date noted above.

Amen. We are family friends with the owner of the main 4x4 shop in town. I'm sure his shop could do a good job tuning suspension. He'll build a $200K Jeep if you want him to, but we are at the far other end of the spectrum...

We don't have a lot of experience with lifts, but we have now owned two XJs that are lifted and both ride/rode noticeably worse than stock suspension. Do all lifts ride stiff? In principle I guess it makes sense that to make the vehicle higher the suspension components need to be taller and stiffer, but if all lifts are as stiff as what we've experienced, then no thanks, we'll pass. I once saw a James May clip where he said car modifications are stupid and always make the car worse (can't find the clip right now) and I'm starting to believe him. One had spacers in the front and taller leaves in the back. Front rode OK. Back rode stiff. Our current lifted XJ (see link below) has a Rough Country lift kit, which I know don't have the best reputation, but I'm surprised at how stiff it rides. I'm actively communicating with a couple guys about buying or trading for their stock suspension take-offs to put it back to stock. If we were to lift anything it would be the Comanche. I don't know if it's because it's longer or because it has the single row of seats, but it just "feels" low even though I know it's the same height as the stock XJs (I measured). For whatever reason it "feels" like an El Camino rather than a pickup. We'll probably never lift it, but if we were, that's the Jeep we'd lift.

2 door XJ seats for sale in Idaho. https://www.facebook.com/share/14Hc4D6N4cY/ We don't need these, but I know they are desirable for those of you putting bucket seats in your Comanches. Don't know if the guy will ship, but if needed we could help facilitate. Figure someone out here will want these, just don't know if shipping will be prohibitive.

Nice!

Yes, the orangeish jumper wire in the first photo snagged and was pulled out. That wire comes from the cut orange wire in the second photo. That "Y" leads to the spade connector in the first photo. The crimp connectors and shrink tube connectors make it appear to be a hack job. You are saying the spade connector should plug in under the kick-plate on the side wall by the hood release latch?

Dusting off this oldie. Last week I was driving the MJ and my boot hooked on a wire and pulled it out cutting off the fuel supply. When I rolled to a stop I found the wire in the first picture dangling at my feet. Immediately figuring this was a jury rigged I jammed this blade into the fuse panel in the "BATT" slot which got me home. Had to pull it again once I got home of course to keep it from draining the battery. Haven't been driving it since, but today I got under the dash and 1) tried to get it back to usable and 2) figure out what was going on. This may be our problem dating all the way back to the start of this post. Digging around, I found that this orange wire from the first photo is jumpered from a harness above the fuse panel (see the second photo - sorry it's blurry) For today I just fixed it well enough to work and stuck the spade connector at the end of the orange wire into the rear wiper slot. So the fuel pump runs continuously when the key is in the on position, which is how it was before my boot toe snagged the wire. Seems that this is a hack fix that was maybe meant to bypass the emergency fuel shut off? Will appreciate some suggestions on how to fix this properly.

We are about to pull off the lift on an XJ because the Rough Country lift kit makes it ride so poorly compared to stock hardware. Previous owner of our CJ rebent the factory leaf springs and ended up lifting it just from that.

This question fits under this heading so hopefully not too much of a high-jack. Apparently starting in '95 Jeep stopped allowing the vent windows to open. Last Saturday we pulled some vent windows from an XJ that was being parted to install on one of our newer XJs later. The driver door was dented enough to break the main glass, but not the vent window. I didn't notice at the time that unsurprisingly, the vertical rail (for lack of a better term) was bent (see the first photo). It appears that we won't be able to just pull the existing, non-opening, triangle window and replace it with the pulled vent window because of the bend and that we'll need to try to take two windows to make one. To that end, which is the easier route? 1) Move the vent window hardware (hinges, seals, etc.) to the existing window. 2) Remove the vertical rails and replace the bent one with the good existing one. Looks like maybe it's a matter of removing a few rivets (see 3rd photo) and somehow putting it back together.

Lock nut instead?

We tend to the purist end of the spectrum. When looking to buy a Jeep (which happens too often ) we look for the least altered we can find.

Beautiful pickup! Sorry to hear that your old one was wiped out on the street. Have had that happen before too - hit and run.

That's really cool. How did you do the curved part at the top of the door?

I'll vouch for @Dzimm too. The mirror clips worked great, just a pain in the rear to get to the point where they can be installed. It's a good idea to address any nagging door things all at once while you'll have it all open.

You can take your existing flywheel to a machine shop and ask them to resurface it for you. Cost us about $60 last time. You can buy the pilot bushing from a 70's CJ that will replace the pilot bearing. I found this old write up here

Keep your flywheel and have it resurfaced. Did you have the flywheel resurfaced when you did the clutch 100 miles ago?

I decided to buy a "nice" Jeep for once.

Thanks guys. When we can get around to it we'll try #3 and take photos.

Nice. And there are these too. Six of us have these shirts in our family. https://teedrab.com/product/jeep-comanche-t-shirt-unisex/5388624903983617

Oh man, your tires are worth more than our Comanche!

I know I would!

Only done this once in a junk yard back in 2022. We pulled the engine with the transmission attached to get the AX-15 transmission out. At the time it made sense to use for some reason to pull the whole drive train rather than lay in the dirt trying to get the transmission out. We left nearly everything attached, but I do see that the front clip, radiator, etc. was removed already. I've attached a few pictures from that day.

That's awesome!

Came across a 97+ bumper and factory fog lights at the local junk yard that I couldn't pass up. Now trying to decide what to do with it. One of the fog lights is broken, but we have identical fog lights pulled off of a ZJ from a previous junk yard trip that we haven't been able to use because the brackets were wrong for a MJ/XJ. The fog light bracket is the win with the lights. What there is to like: The fog lights recess into holes in the bumper end caps Straight bumper with both end caps in good condition What's not to like: Bumper end caps are not compatible with 84-96 front fender flares without modification The bumper appears to be the same shape as an 84-96 bumper, but with several extra holes and slots, making it less than ideal to repurpose with 84-96 end caps Options to make this work: Install the factor fog lights under an existing 84-96 bumper and cut the air dam Keep the factory fog lights on the 97+ bumper and acquire and install 97+ front fender flares Keep the factory fog lights on the 97+ bumper and cut the bumper end caps to not interfere with the pre-97 front fender flares. Leaning toward option 3, but wanna hear how others have tackled this. I suspect that most of you that install a 97+ front clip also replace the front fender flares with 97+?