DirtyComanche

Perfect, they can build high priced 'exact' copies of the originals that mysteriously don't fit and fail the first time they get wet. Sign me up for two sets!

The design changed when Chrysler showed up.... I actually think the one I had is the later style now that I'm thinking about it, I should check the pictures. If I'm remembering right, early ones had the upper hinge mounted on the body like that, later ones were mounted entirely off the bumper.

That should be the factory one. My red XJ had the same one, I do believe.

That 85 is so cool, and so useless at the same time. It's too nice to cut up, but not desirable other than it's in such good shape, and I doubt any collector or museum is going to come knocking for such a thing...

The firewall needs to be modded, and the whole radiator support and front crossmember swapped over. And probably other things. If you search I think there's some writeups on doing it.

That V6 is basically a downgrade from the 2.5l. The bigger GM V6 engines certainly have merit, but it is not as simple of a swap. Even with the added work of swapping a 4.0l in the 86 chassis, I think it's a good option to consider.

I actually have an extra engine hoist that I bought specifically to mod into a receiver crane.... I should probably do it at some point since I might actually need it.

That doesn't mean it's any easier to do though... Still debating the future of my own 86. The original plan was the put a 4.8/5.3 in it, then I went and stuck it in my Gladiator...

The only thing that theoretically isn't available is the IAT. Use a GM one. Same with everything else that's "not available." Keep your AMC Jeep free of Chrysler garbage and it will keep you happy for a long time.

They're pretty common now. My previous employer used a lot of them in their older hangars. They seem to work good, but some of them actually don't make as much light as the T8 or T12 they replaced (at least compared with a new bulb). Some of them don't need ballasts and you just pull the ballast, bodge the wiring, and throw them in.

Take the engine/driveline and other bits out of you 92 and put it in the 85. Scrap the leftovers. Or sell them both as is. Either sell the MJ or commit to some sort of plan/timeline for repairing it if it's costing you money and you're not doing anything with it. My 'extra' vehicles (MJ and a couple J-trucks) don't cost me anything to store, but it still bothers me that I have them and don't do anything with them. Nobody wants that MJ, so I won't sell it, and of the J trucks only one is fixable and I've committed to making a project of it this year (will likely swap an XJ driveline in it because I have one and the 4.2 isn't original anyways and is worn out, and it has the Borg-Warner Quadratrac junk).

Yeah, being stubby it just looks like it sticks out a long way. I'm not a huge fan of hidden winch bumpers because you can't see how the cable it spooling, and typically they no longer serve the purpose of a bumper, in that they no longer protect the body.

Depends what type of AWD tcase you have, what surfaces you're using it on, and if there is traction aids in the axles or not. Also, if you're going to with actual different sized tires, as opposed to just ones that have worn slightly different, most tires vary somewhat from their listed size and it is better to actually measure them.

The logic was the main issue with it, especially coupled with the manual transmission. Comparing it to a similar year GM product was a night and day difference, with the JK just straight up sucking. It would aggressively cut throttle if it detected wheel slip, as in instantly close it to the idle position, and if the driver reacting by increasing throttle there was no override in the logic. This left you dead in the water when it decided there was wheel slip, which was doubly inconvenient for somebody like me as I do NOT expect the throttle to close if I have the pedal on the floor and I would not react to this situation by pushing the clutch in, as to me that should never be needed on flat ground and there is no indication of the engine being loaded save the RPM suddenly dropping to nothing. Compounding on this the 3.8 had minimal low end torque (especially near idle) and the ignition logic would essentially mean the engine gave up on trying to run if RPM went below a certain threshold when not in start mode (I think it was 250 or 300rpm). This all added up to that you would break traction on a small amount of snow or ice, say while taking off from a stop light, and the traction control would respond by closing the throttle, I would respond by increasing throttle as RPM/speed would be dropping, and then with my foot to the floor the engine would stall, since the tires had then regained some traction and the throttle was now closed, leaving you partway into an intersection with a stalled vehicle. In the 2011 and earlier years you could not turn the traction control off permanently, you would have to turn it off each time you started the vehicle. Eventually I learned to anticipate the behaviour and would turn traction control off every time I started it in the winter, or mash the clutch at the same time as the throttle when I felt/heard the loss of power, but to me the logic was just straight up wrong, especially as since compared with driving with traction control off I found in no situations encountered on the road that it would have actually been helpful; some wheel spin is a given when dealing with snow/ice during the 6 months of winter, and spinning through it is often the only way you're going to actually make it to the other side of the intersection. Most people just drive around in 4wd once there is any sign of snow, so they don't notice this, but I prefer being in 2wd unless 4wd really is necessary. The stability control actually worked reasonably well, but there was still tons of times that it would annoy me because I'd be palming the wheel back into the skid and it would start applying the brakes and take me where it figured I was intending to go, which would have been great if I hadn't already reacted by turning into the skid. At no times did I feel it was making my driving experience less safe, so I did always leave it on.

To save money typically ferritic stainless steel is used, and it does not hold up well when exposed to heat and atmosphere. Use 314 or 316, sure, you're not going to burn it up.

It's also going to look like a rusty pile of crap after the first use. I hate rust.

Redonkulous.

I wish there was stuff that good in the junkyard around here.

Gotcha, swapped 'er out in my cart. I'm not going to get to it for a bit so I'll see if it goes on sale before I hit buy.

Yes.

This.

The NSG370 is the 6 speed manual tranny. Which mine had. It's the oddest pile of garbage I've ever encountered, I mean, it worked, but I'm not about to say it shifted well. Actually the elastomeric dampener in the shifter is likely part of the problem, it always felt like I was stirring a wooden spoon in a pot of stew when shifting it, there was just nothing solid there.

Summit and Speedway have them. Pretty certain Dorman makes them too. I could look for a P/N later, but if you look on Summit I'm sure you can find it.

Looks great!

It is a problem with them, sometimes a deal can be had but often people want a lot for them. There is a fair amount of demand for them too as they bend fairly easy (one of the downsides that can be corrected so I didn't mention it) so they're constantly being replaced after minor collisions.