RockMJ

We have been to the mines out in Inverness. Holder mine to be more specific. Good spot to go camping at and do some trail riding. Nothing extreme or even technical but still enjoyable. Also a good bit of hiking and exploring of the cave systems. I have been to Ocala and heard there is some decent wheeling up there but have never explored it but would be down to do so. RockMJ

Not all that far from a few of us. I am over in the New Port Richey/Trinity area of Florida. RockMJ

Nice to see this thread is still getting some hits! We still have yet to get a group meet together for us Floridians. I no longer have my orange 88 but picked up a 90 Eliminator I am slowly putting together. And I mean really, really slowly. Me and Drahcir495 regularly meet up and work on each others rigs and have done a camping/wheeling trip with more planned in the near future. Would still love to meet up with some other MJ owners in the area. Later on guys! RockMJ

Hey everyone, I know we don't have a section of the site in the classifieds for "non-Jeep related" items for sale, but I figured I would see if anyone is interested. I recently downsized my home recording studio and have some gear left over that I have no use for. I have an On-Stage Stands KS7365EJ Z-Stand setup that was used for a very short time. I also have a Jam-Stands JS-MCFB100 boom mic stand and a Quik-Lok QL-609 single keyboard stand. I have provided all the links below for anyone interested to check out. I was also debating putting one set of my KRK Rokit 8's up for sale but have not decided if I want to or not. On-Stage Stands KS7365EJ Z-Stand ($100.00) Jam-Stands JS-MCFB100 Boom Mic ($20.00) Quik-Lok QL-609 Single Keyboard Stand ($25.00) If anyone is interested shoot me a PM and we can talk. Prices are OBO so just let me know what you are interested in. Prices won't include shipping as this stuff is heavy so ill need a zip to get a quote. Thanks! RockMJ

That is what the plan is. My buddy does CNC machining. Yeah, I would never go the mold route for something of little importance to only a few of us. Mainly checking all available options! I have talked with a company about doing 3D printing but won't get into that just yet ;). I have to see what my buddy can or cannot do first then we will go from there. I called my buddy last night and told him of the interest and asked if it would be possible to cut it from plastic and he said we could make a few versions and go from there. All in all, it is sounding promising! RockMJ

Okay, so today's phone call was just as expected. I think my level of irritation went from annoyed to pissed off in a few short minutes. So, I get the woman who's name I could not recall (Melinda btw) and asked her yet again for a status update and asked if she had a tracking number. Without missing a beat "Hold on..." came through the phone and I proceeded to wait another 5:37 until the phone was picked up and quickly hung up. I feel like I am playing a game of cat and mouse at this point. So, about an hour goes by and I try on and off to get her back on the phone with no luck. Funny enough, the phone system seems to have lost its voice mail function at this point and after three rings it hangs up. So, in the spare time I decided to do some research and sure enough they have several complaints filed with the BBB regarding similar issues. And unresolved issues with customers out money might I add. At this point I started to get that feeling in the pit of my gut that holy crap, I might be out 600+ dollars. I tried to put those feelings out of mind and tried several more times to get her, or anyone back on the phone. Hell, even if I was able to leave a voice mail at this point it would feel like progress. So after a handful more attempts I receive an email saying my order status has been updated and its shipped. As I am reading the email Melinda proceeds to call me back and this is where the fun starts. Brace yourselves... The conversation starts with her apologizing for dropping the call nearly two hours ago at this point. I kindly let her know its no problem, I am more concerned about the order. She starts telling me about how her FedEx system is down and I again tell her, no problem I understand. And I do, trust me. Coming from a very small business I understand when things happen, I wholeheartedly do. I continued to ask her about the order and I can tell she is trying to rush me off the phone and I knew if I didnt keep her and get the info I needed today would be a lost cause, and I was not about to let it happen. Again. I started asking her about the email I received with the tracking number and she proceeded to tell me that it was weird that I got a FedEx update as it has not shipped yet. Big surprise here! So I just bluntly asked her what the tracking number is and is it valid. She tells me that she thinks its a USPS tracking number and I should have it in no more than three days. Okay cool, but it gets better. So after figuring out that the tracking number is not valid and I am still horribly uncertain as to what carrier its coming through, I asked her about the drop shipped products. You know, the ones I was told were ordered/shipped this past Monday. At this point I can hear it in her voice that I have thoroughly confused her so I speak up and tell her I was told four different times it was the passenger side mirror and the IAC motor. Now she sounded even more perplexed and proceeded to put me on hold, again. After another five something minutes goes by she comes back and tells me that everything is in the box ready to go. Now I am seriously scratching my head trying to piece this mess together. I began to ask her how is everything there when I was told three previous days that there were two items out of stock and would be drop shipped. She then confused both of us when she said that the door lock cylinders and IAC motor were being drop shipped but everything was in the box? My God... At this point in the conversation I am speechless, confused, irritated, and I can feel I am starting to lose my patience. Just relax she will hang up on you I kept telling myself. Next question I asked was "so, what items are being drop shipped? I have been told three different times its the PS mirror and IAC motor but now its the door lock cylinders and IAC?" to which she replied "Yes. Wait. Let me check." And again I find myself on hold. She hops back on the phone after God knows how long and tells me that everything is in the box, again. So I had to end this merry-go-round of frustration and ask is it all in the box, or is it not? She said "Yes, it is all in one box. Nothing is being drop shipped. We got in a shipment." Uhhhh? I found myself now trying to rush her off the phone because I swear I felt my head was going to explode. So to quickly end this misery, I asked one last time "Is it all in one box and for sure, absolutely for certain, going out today?" "Yes. It is certainly going out today. I apologize about the delay." And I ended the phone conversation at this point. Alright, well that brings me to this point I guess. I am still confused as to whether or not the order is going out today and even if all of the parts will be there. I can honestly say that I will never be ordering from Team Cherokee / Team Grand Wagoneer / Kenosha County Classics ever again. This frustration and confusion is unheard of and in all my years ordering parts through vendors I have never had such an experience. Hell, I have never even complained publicly about a company but this is just out of control. When I hung up the phone I seriously feel like they fed me a tracking number that does not exist just to keep me from calling for a few days. I basically did not feel comfortable and safe with them completing the job knowing there is little I can do to get my money back if they decide to screw me. Just a word of advice to anyone looking to place an order through them, you have been warned. Don't let this crap happen to you. Go elsewhere. Sadly, I feel this is to be continued... RockMJ

Awesome. That made my day/night/week/month. Seriously awesome stuff! RockMJ

Will do man. I have ordered roughly $2500 worth of stuff from them over the years and had a wish list of ~$1500 sitting there waiting to order. I think I will probably give them one last chance tomorrow when I call and depending it might be my last order. I did some research and it looks like they changed owners in the past year to year and a half? Not sure how accurate that is but it would explain the lapse in customer service. Its a damn shame for all of us. RockMJ

Hey everyone! I spoke with my buddy and we are setting up a plan to get some samples made. I might just ship him the piece I have and see what he can do from there. I also made some calls and went and spoke with a tooling company to see how much it would be to get a mold made so we could reproduce them. I already knew the answer before I called, but was hoping for a small scale production setup and small cost. The cost of a mold alone is about 5-7K dollars so its obviously not worth it, but I wanted to explore all avenues. If my buddy cannot do it for whatever reason I will keep trying my best to make it happen! I will keep everyone posted. RockMJ

Btw, not cheap but worth the investment. http://store.adventuretrailers.com/categories/FUEL-%26-WATER/Can-Holders/ RockMJ

I would be ticked off and beyond irritated much like yourself man. Honestly, let it go and learn from it. They obviously needed it more than you did and what's not to say they could not get to work and provide for their family without it? Be the bigger person and just let it go. In the far realm of possibility who knows, could be a single mother trying to scrape enough together to put food on the table and had no other options (highly, highly unlikely). I have learned that things are not always as they seem and most people will not take from one another unless they are in a really bad place. I have had stuff stolen off my Jeeps in the past and I get pissed for a bit then just chock it up to "well, they obviously needed it more than I did" and leave it at that. The karma factor could turn around and be worse for you than it would them. Hope that helps. RockMJ

Hey everyone, I needed to take the time to rant a bit and see if anyone else has had the issue I am dealing with. I ordered a little over $600.00 worth of parts for the MJ from Team Cherokee going on nine days ago now and am having some problems. I placed the order early in the week to hopefully get everything in by the weekend so I could get the Jeep one part closer to running and driving. So a week goes by and no shipping or order update email was sent to me and my order on the website kept reading "Awaiting Fulfillment". Now, I have placed orders (several thousands of dollars worth) in the past with them on other Jeeps without issue, until now. I decided to hop on the phone this past Monday after not hearing back via email for a few that I sent out between Thursday and Friday of the previous week. I spoke with a lady early Monday morning who put me on hold to go check the warehouse to see what was going on. She gets back on the phone and informs me the IAC motor and PS mirror were out of stock and I can either wait until it comes in or have it drop shipped from Omix-Ada. I asked her if having the items drop shipped will hold up the rest of the order and she said "absolutely not! I can get it all out today for you if you want." I of course said yes and thanked her letting me know what was going on. She informed me that she would get it all out and place the order with Omix-Ada and shoot me the tracking number by the end of the day Monday. Well, Monday comes and goes so I give them a call Tuesday to get the tracking number so I can arrange for either myself or my wife to be home Friday to accept the delivery. Now please keep in mind, I am not being impatient at this point, just trying to get the Jeep together and out of my jobs parking lot. Anyways, the same lady gets on the phone and I ask her if I can get the tracking information and provide her with the order number. She puts me on hold then about five minutes later comes back and informs me that the order did not ship yet because two items were out of stock. At this point I began scratching my head and could swear the Twilight Zone theme song was going off. I informed her that we had spoke yesterday (Monday) about the order and the out of stock parts and asked her again to just ship the order out and have Omix-Ada drop $#!& the rest. Starting to see a pattern here? This all brings us to today. So again, not hearing anything regarding the order I am getting a bit annoyed at this point. I placed another call and spoke with another woman different from the previous two phone calls with a name beginning with "M" (old-timers setting in). So I politely asked if I can get an update on my order, provided her with the order number, etc. and she proceeded to put me on hold for another five minutes to check the warehouse. This left me scratching my head as we had not progressed far enough into the conversation for me to talk out of stock parts. She hops back on the phone and tells me the order has not shipped yet because two items were out of stock...I politely asked her if they had any notes in their system regarding my past two phone calls and what I wanted done with the order? She informed me no so I asked her if I had spoken with her the past two days and she said no, she was out of the office. Okay? So trying to get to the bottom of it I asked her what is going on with the order (like I had any questions as to what the status was). She asks "Do you want the order to go out without those two items?" Yes, yes I would like to get the parts I ordered from you guys and today if possible. And here comes the same line I keep getting fed "Okay I will get this order out today for you." So I proceeded to ask "So what about the other two items?" to which she replied "Do you want them to be shipped when they come back in stock, or drop shipped?" "I would like them drop shipped from Omix if it will be quicker?" She came back and told me that they actually placed that order Monday but have not received the tracking information yet. So this lead me to my next question as to when I should see the rest of the order that has not shipped yet. She told me she was not sure but it was for certain going out today (Wednesday). Which leads me to here, Wednesday night, still without any tracking information or an update to the order. Has anyone else experienced this completely ridiculous BS? I can totally understand being short staffed, busy, etc. as I work for a very small company and we are normally overloaded, but I mean come on already. I have ordered from them in the past and received everything in a timely fashion and without issue but this is getting ridiculous. I will be giving them a call tomorrow and if the order still has not shipped I don't know what I am going to do. I could cancel it but chances are it will take them six years at this point to give me back my $600+. For anyone in the future looking to order from them, be forewarned, customer service has taken a serious hit with Team Cherokee and I will never be ordering from them again. Worst part is, is that they have some rare and hard to find items that you cannot get elsewhere. Just really bothers me when companies take their customers for granted when its our orders that keep them afloat. Rant officially over... RockMJ

Don, thanks a ton! I edited the original posting and header to reflect the switch. RockMJ

Hey guys. I just received a pretty good original trim piece to get some drawings made off of and move forward with this. If a mod can move this thread I can reword it so its no longer a WIB thread and an actual discussion so we don't have to repeat ourselves. So, basically the next steps are to get the drawings done and see what type of costs are associated with this little project. I have already received a few PM's from other members asking for black anodized, natural with a clear coating, etc. All entirely possible depending on how easy it is going to be to rough cut and final polish. I will keep everything updated for everyone once I get some more info. Time frame is probably 1-2 months before I can get over to him due to distance, fuel costs etc. Thanks! RockMJ

Factory Eliminator buckets that I am restoring. Fixed all the broken bits and pieces and they are super comfortable. The bolsters hug you and the seat bottoms when new, or near new, feel great! Highly recommend finding a set! RockMJ

Agreed! It has been a long time goal of mine and with our future companies goals in mind the expedition MJ will fit in perfectly. I mapped out how the system will work last night and all in all, its pretty damn simple. Nothing overly complicated about heat transfer or water delivery but a matter of getting the system integrated in a way that works smoothly. Next thing to tackle is the latching system for the drawers and cabinets ill be making. Trying to figure out what latching system Adventure Trailer and others use. Very slick setup with a lock built in and flush mounted as well. I will also be making a build thread over the next few days to document everything. Cheers! RockMJ

neohic, LOL RockMJ

Absolutely she will be! It is funny you posted that link as I had been looking at heat exchangers already! Plan is to mount the water filler neck in the cap with a dual inline filtration system prior to the water entering the tank. The tank is going to be mounted underneath the Jeep with a skid plate and mounting system fabricated to keep it all safe and secure. Might be able to get away with using a YJ 20 gal gas tank skid as its relatively flat. Ill need to get my hands on one of those for testing purposes once I get the poly fresh water tank and all. Pump will be mounted in the bed with the lines splitting off for cool water and a line heading up front for an inline heat exchanger. Going to need to use heater hose as a sending and return line for the hot water to keep the system all happy. The lines are going to feed back to an Adventure Trailer Fast Disconnect External Shower setup that will be mounted in the side of the cap as well. It is the most cost effective setup with a temperature regulator built in and low volume shower head attachment. Super sleek setup! I really think planning these build are just as much fun as actually building it all. Build thread... RockMJ

Yes, I really need to make one! I will have to get all the photos ive been keeping to myself of the build thus far. Not a ton of progress, but its still in the planning stages. I am thinking up a trick solution for fresh water storage and delivery to incorporate into this build as well. So far my list of must have's are as follows: - Adequate sleeping quarters for two adults and one dog - Center dual sliding drawer system below sleeping quarters - Storage on either side of drawer system and below sleeping quarters - On board air system with tank and delivery front and rear for air tools, etc. - Adequate, long range off-highway recovery gear (fully self supporting) - Winch (Jeep is staying 2wd for the time being) - Full medical supplies and trauma kits - Dry food storage - 18-20 gal, possibly more, fresh water delivery tank and system for solar shower, cooking etc. (12v water pump + delivery methods) - Cold food storage in the form of a small fridge/freezer (ARB, Engel, etc.) - Keeping the Jeep under its GVWR versus curb weight (IIRC ~4850/~3250) So, that is basically the short of it. Jeep needs an entire overhaul on the suspension so I will be doing a small lift with nothing larger than 33's. Rear end will end up with a locked, geared, and trussed 44 to offset the 2wd Jeep's limitations. I will be building everything out, installing, test fitting and making sure all is sound and functioning before tearing it all back down for paint. Really excited about this project and how it will turn out. I will be creating a build thread to keep everyone in the loop about the build and our little non-profit organizations trips and what-not. Thanks again for everything everyone! RockMJ

Excellent to hear. Thanks again. Now I am off to compile a list of parts and get to ordering. I will continue to post progress for everyone to check out. I really need to make a build thread for this MJ. RockMJ

Don, with that rack up top, would you feel comfortable with a kayak up there on a long distance trip? Does it all feel sturdy enough for it? RockMJ

That is all I needed to know! Thank you again. RockMJ

I used them as inspiration for the cabinets in my camper. Anxious to see what you've got planned for keeping cabinet space plus sleeping quarters. :popcorn: My MJ will never hold up to your camper, but I hope it comes close! I hope you guys who have gone down this path don't mind me bothering you with PM's. Hopefully we can all get something out of this for future projects! RockMJ

Don! Awesome information my friend! I was almost certain yours was a Leer from memory but I could not say for certain. And yes, the rear door rubber seal is totally gone. Just curious, but what did you do about the trim rail around the outside bottom of the cap? The portion where the pop rivets and screws are my rubber trim piece that goes over them is half missing. Also need to figure out a gasket to mate between the two that will seal it up permanently as the cap is never coming off. Thankfully all of the glass is in great shape, just needs the coating on the windows taken off and refinished. Don, thank you a ton! RockMJ

I can totally understand about the distance, but I have been planning my entire build around this one essential component that would not work otherwise. Hell, I would have driven to CA if I had to. Just a matter of how badly you want something ;) RockMJ