XJs4Ever

So I start the MJ and get about ten feet when it acts like it ran outta gas. I start cranking it over and it sputters and dies. Next I see a little blue smoke rise up thru the hood vents as I am cranking. I deduct that the fuel pump isnt running when the keys on so I run a hot wire to the pump from a constant 12v circuit and it starts hummin and home I go. Once home I am lookin for melted wires, relays, etc and find nuthin. Scratch my head and go to the store in the XJ, but when I get home I notice a bad noise under ITS DAMN HOOD! I take a look and it looks like the water pump bearings going out on it now. GEEZUS!!!!! 2/3 of my fleets down now! Anyway today I am looking for an orange wire that feeds the fuel pump on the MJ and the one I find is connected to what I believe is like a ceramic ballast resistor mounted on the drivers side inner fender and the resistor disintegrates in my hand when I remove it. Inside its black and toasted. Guessin thats the problem but I wonder if something else made it fail or it was just old and ready to die? What is that thing and what role does it play? Its Sunday so I can't get one till tomorrow anyway. Thx Rickster

I'm not sure wtf is going on here, but about a month ago I replaced my CD deck. Immediately I noticed every time I started it, my settings were lost. Checked the 12v constant memory and 12v switched wires - both ok. Returned it for another radio of the same type - same thing. Yesterday I said screw this and put the old deck back in. Now NOTHINGS working! No dome light, no radio, the aux fan and spot lights come from the fuse block - they're also dead. Clock glows but no display. Heater blower still works, dash lights work, wipers, cig lighter, fuel pump, headlights turn sig brake all ok. It starts and runs fine. Most fuses in the block are dead as well as half the single slots, but a couple are still hot. But here's the wierdest part... The hot wires from the fuse block that fed the radio, aux fan and spots are now grounded. I put a meter on them and have continuity to the chassis, for chrissake! How can so many hot wires be shorted to ground now? My thoughts are, one [or more] of the dozen relays those stupid Renix-era Jeeps have has suffered a melt-down. I can find no smoked wiring anywhere. I put a test lite on the constant 12v memory wire and started the truck and the light dimmed alot as it was cranking but it stayed lit. Before I start systematically replacing every dang relay on it at the cost of $12 each, I know theres some great minds on here and I'm beggin for some direction to go that I havent thought of yet.

Wow - how weird! I was actually going to call you, and here you are! :eek: I was going to ask if I could send you a resume to file in case your ever in need of a tech over there. I need to get out of that place I'm at and back into my field. My IQ is dropping by the second! :ack: Condensed version; I was Senior Tech at ESP for 10 years. Worked on flame ionization detection analyzers, electrical inertia set dynamometers, restraint systems, pumps, blowers. Can weld and use about every tool ever made. Hold an FAA mechanics license in airframe and powerplant. And I love starting at the bottom. Gives me a challenge! :thumbsup: I need a topper in the worst way so keep me in the loop, boss! We can work something out. Take it easy! rj

DANG!! Those are some loong @$$ perches! But I love that idea! Might just go that route!

Thats exactly what I did but I won't mount the shocks cuz I will only have 1" of compressed travel. Not enuf, no way. Compressed they are 13" and this is 14" static. Extended they are like 23" This is how I cut the mounts on my 86 but I don't have the reources to do that now. That allowed me to run OEM size shocks and I have very little problems. Guess I'll buy the weld-on mounts and the CORRECT shocks. I always like Pro-Comp ES3000. They were stiff but not too stiff, and sturdy.

I thinks I have an idea. If it works I'll go with it and let you know. I'm a poor broke bastard and can't afford to just go buy everything I need so I depend on my talent to fabricate, and this just may work... :idea:

Its pretty much completed but I'm not sure how to set up shock mounts. I cut up the ones on the 86 to make them work but don't want to do that this time. Any ideas?? I will post th build-up pix soon

I was thinking about that. It has an AAL in it now that I will remove and lose about .75", plus install XJ shackles which should take another .75" off. I don't want to go too high in the rear cuz I consequently have to lift the front and that nets about $100 per inch. The SOA I did on my '86 gained me about 5.25" total. Between the 3" coils I have now and about 1.5" worth of spacers I have, that should work out about right for level. I'd rather not go with an 8.25 just for the extra $$ for the locker but if I can find one I will go with it. May still tempt you out to Parker when the time comes tho.

hmmm again my replies are vanishing.. Anyway, I'll say it again - I luv's you guyz! :cheers: I will get the perches, brake hose, shock mounts [mine are bent to HELL] and try to tempt James750 out of Conifer to assist.

My trucks a shortbed. I sprung-over my '86 which was a longbed and had no driveline issues at all even at 8". At last Thursdays firewood gathering trip I bottomed out a couple times [yea I was aired down with 500lbs of wood in the back but still --] Will I encounter any wierdness on a short box truck?

HAH!!!! LOOKIT WUT I FOUND!!! Image Not Found

I dunno guys. I am out of parts to check/replace. I will swap tires/wheels tomorrow. Hey James did you ever instal the gas strut with the mounts I gave ya? Thats my favorite Jeep mod - gettin rid of the prop rod! Thanks Rob/Phil/Pete/everyone for the advice. I just thought of a smilie this thread needs - a smilie beating on a dead horse....

Well, I am waiting for a set of extended LCAs from a dude whos in Moab now, BUT my 89 XJ as well as my 91 XJ both had 5" and neither ever suffered from this. I may hit the boneyards for a complete set or steering jazz off a ZJ [tie rods, centerlink, drag, trackbar etc] HEY - ZJ LCAs are pretty beefy...will they fit an MJ? Ours are like C-challel. Those are closed

Well that didnt do a damn thing either [trackbar swap]. As far as I can tell the ball joints are ok. Plus wouldnt that be a problem at stock height aslo? I can't understand why adding 2" is causing this crap! I guess I'll swap tires/wheels with the XJ & see what happens. GEEZ MON!!!!!!! :wall:

Puttin on the spare trackbar now. Will dbl check the control arm bolts n ball joints. May even swap the tires/wheels with the XJ. The toe was only off 1/8" so a 1/16" adj was all I needed.

HAW!! Jeff, as always - ya kill me! ;) Cin loves that place. Me - ya I like em cept what they pride theyself on...hash browns. I hate theirs. Okay well the arms on and toe set and yet STILL the DW's persist. 1" lift - no prob. 3" lift - DW's. WTF???!!! Swapped in LCAs and UCAs from a '98 XJ, new tie rod end, alignment, trackbars good n tight, new steering stabilizer....what else?! :mad: I didnt add the shackles. I did the math and it would have only gave me 5/8" lift so I decided it wernt worth the effort. DW's seem to be an MJ thing. I've had two XJs both I lifted over 4" with no DWs ever on either one. Both MJs had them right from the get-go. Tore my 86 to peices! Well I do have a spare used trackbar I have no other path but to swap it in and see what the hell happens. :dunno:

Thanks boss! The toe has been on my mind ever since the front lift went back on [didnt add any to the back yet]. I never adjusted it. I'm draggin the wife out to Awful House for breakfast, then its back here to put the truck back together and set the toe. Also gonna add some longer shackles to the rear to get some forward rake. All I have back there now is an extra XJ leaf for more load capacity. It only gave me 3/4" of lift but I destroyed four bits drilling the centerpin holes. They are smaller than MJ's.

Yep, they should be fine. 30's are close to P235/75. I'm running P255/70's now and those are about 1.5mm taller than 235's but very wide, and have no problems at all with any rubbage. I am at stock height in the back... Image Not Found

Howdy Folks! Been awhile. My $#itty life keeps getting in the way. Hey - With a massive puller, a BFH and a lot of heat, I popped off the pitman arm off my MJ to replace with a ZJ one I've had for years. I had some DW's so I lowered it down to 1" [V-8 ZJ coils] but no change so I replaced the tie rod [left outer end] and that did the trick. Put the 3" coils back on [gain of only 2"] and the DW's are back! I'm waiting on a pair of extended LCA's from a guy whos stood me up 3 times so far but when/if he finally comes thru on those, they're going on too. While its cooling on the garage floor, I set the two arms together, and its hard to tell if its actually longer or if the angles are just sharper. Anyone know? I am pretty sure XJ/MJ arms are the same. The ZJ one is on the right... Image Not Found

Scott - I'm gonna need you to take me back to the Loch cuz I don't remember the turn-off but dammit when it comes to wheelin invites you gotta GIVE ME MORE NOTICE!!!!! I like that place and the first time I [we] went it was spitting snow and hail. We'll take James cuz its closer to his home than the deep south we been doing. I also want to run Jenny Creek. It was closed when I hauled Cin out there but its gotta be open now.....??? here's us 3 years ago at Loch Lomond right after I bought the XJ.. And the dickhead who wouldnt share his pics!!!!!!! He is officially OFF the invite list....

Met James & his Folks at the "Flies and Lies" bait shop in Deckers at 10:30 this morning and we all ran a new one to us. Its only about 4-5 miles around the loop, mostly steep climbs and sharp turns. One section called Moab Hill kept us busy for a couple hours attempting lines in open diffed Jeeps meant for locked rigs. Gawd, I feel like I have been stacking boulders all afternoon. Hey, Wait a sec ........ I was!! As usual, the pics/vids don't show how steep anything is but trust us the first hill was insanely steep. We both tried to straddle the rut but that proved futile. Cool place. Lots of camp spots but also lots of bikes/quads so best done on a week day rather than weekend. Not bashing them but they rip thru the forest doing 40mph and leave the trail in several spots - NOT COOL!!!!!!!!! :fs1: Lots of trash too. Really pissed me off to see it but what can you do but pick it up? And, a few videos.. James - your next........!

NNEEEEEAAAAAOOOOOWWWWWWWW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! thats the sound of this entire thread going super sonic over my head. WTF is this about???? :dunno:

9am at Stalpes eh? I'm in but PLEASE let me know if it looks like it fizzles out like so many do!

does a list exist of 'members' who are state specific? Pete had a good idea for me to post CO trail runs to my local guys but nobody local knew of it/them in the Rocky Mtn section cuz they don't check that often, so if I had a list of CO MJ'ers I could nail them individually. I looked at the members list but it does not give locations.

dunno who to send to. I need a list of the CO peeps here! :help: well today is me/Cin 28th anniversay. tomorrow I will try to run her the easy way to the lake. Shes never been there. I asked the CO forums if its open but got no reply so I guess I will blaze it me self dangit! open or not I will post pics. gorgeous place - you'll see! ;)