Backpacker

Hello all! I am finally headed back up to Alaska to reunite with some of my Comanche parts and start up work as a mechanic again. I'll be shipping up the MJ since she's not quite good enough to make the trip at the moment. Excited to have her there, but oh my goodness the salt is GNARLY, and will be worse this winter. I'll hopefully be welding in floor pans and stripping down the underside as soon as it arrives since I'll finally have a lift, and I figured that's as good a time as any to try and do some protection and prevention. Does anyone have advice for a non-permanent solution to undercoating? I want something on it for the next year or two until I do the final paint and real undercoat (very loose schedule obviously), it's really just to buy me time until I do it right. Best idea I could come up with is putting linseed oil into a weed-killer sprayer and then going over it with some rags but I am worried that it would not last. In addition, anyone who has had experience shipping vehicles PLEASE SHARE, I would love advice for how to prep the truck for transportation before I fly out. Thanks!

Edit: I can not for the life of me flip my picture right side up, file shows the right way up everywhere but on CC, If anyone knows why that would happen please do let me know Hi all! This one is a little rambly so apologies in advance. And sorry I disappeared for a little while there! I have really been struggling to find the motivation for my truck lately. I am working towards a full restoration, but I can't even seem to get myself to even work on the little stuff these past few weeks (leaning on months). My friends XJ, which is pristine and gorgeous, has kind of made me realize just how far I am from being even close to done. My truck is admittedly better off a lot of other ones out there nowadays, but it's so far from where I want it it to be (with some LARGE issues)I just struggle to even want to work on it. I still love the truck, and WANT to see it to fruition so badly, but I just can't make myself pick up the 3/8s for some reason. How do you all deal with the slumps? And does it get any easier if it's not your daily? I hope this is relatable and not looking like me being lazy, although it is certainly possible lol! (My truck and friends rad XJ added for reference) (My truck also looks a lot worse in person, also for reference)

Apologies to all who want pictures of the louvres, they are with my rollbar being stored in AK until next season. They came in an unmarked box with a bunch of other parts, which I just stuck into the shop I work at to finish up my restoration process there next year. I will update this thread with pictures as soon as I am able.

Love the J series trucks, sweet turbines!

Thank you!

Parked beside a gladiator today while getting a spare ignition key cut (surprisingly difficult as most places have employees that have never seen a key without a plastic fob before ), and realized the size difference was even more than I initially realized! Anyone else have fun pictures of their old jeep trucks beside new ones?

That all makes sense. I am fairly sure my rear springs are sagging so I do want to do new packs rather than just shackles. I guess the "metric ton" rear leafs are stock height, with the Chevy shackles gets you 3", but where are the metric ton leaf packs from?

Is there any chance you could send a picture of what your truck looks like at 4.5 inches? I am trying to see how it sits and if it looks tall enough to be on the top half of a moose rather than the bottom half. Also curious if you know of a set of leaf packs at 3", I have not been able to find anything but add a leafs at that height and I would like to just replace the whole packs rather than do drop shackles.

It is, I actually ended up figuring it out last night! Just took a lot of tracing and youtube.

Hi all, in the midst of replacing my vacuum harness I have discovered that with the previous owner adding their own cold air intake they cut out a lot of the connection points. Is it ok to just plug these hoses or do I need to find a way to route them to something? And is there a list anywhere of stuff that can just be deleted/plugged without harming the motor or performance in any way?

I'm 20, took a while to own my own vehicle because I had access to a lot of older jeeps that I could drive, I picked the MJ as my first car that I bought and owned. I really need the clearance because I spend half my year in a pretty rural town in Alaska, and need the ability to not die if I hit a moose, which requires a little bit of height. I don't plan on doing extreme wheeling like a lot of people, but I do need to get down some dirt roads and up and down a pretty rocky dry river bed for work, which also takes a pretty fair bit of clearance if I don't want to bottom out, my friend has a hilux with 2 inches and has difficulty making it through that area. I have been looking around and if I combine a zone offroad kit with a pair of new leaf packs I can do 4" for under 1000, unless I get their more expensive shocks. Do you have any experience with the zone offroad shocks, and is it worth the extra couple hundred bucks to do their 800 series? Sorry again if this is wordy and poorly articulated.

Just checked Zone Offroad, looks like I can get a pretty complete kit for even cheaper. Is it a better brand?

That all makes sense, thank you! With the long arm up front, what did you end up doing in the rear? I could consider shelling out a little extra for front suspension, just worried about finding leafs for the rear that match stock MJ shackle width.

There may well be a heater core check valve that leads in through your firewall off of your thermostat housing. I just had to replace mine because it broke while I was replacing my valve cover gasket. If it were not opening or only partially opening it would severely hinder your heaters ability to do its job. Just something to look out for if replacing the heater core doesn't solve the issue.

I do seasonal work in AK half the year, I am in NC for the winter so shipping shouldn't be an issue. I also much prefer doing my own work, and am on a tighter budget so I would like to avoid putting it into a shop. I am looking for 4" or 4.5" so that I can have 32s and not worry about rubbing or cutting up the body, would that be too much for the ZJ coil and spacers? And is there any benefit to using a shorter coil and spacers over a full coil?