Jeep Driver

Yeah, that's pretty cool when you find a NOS part that has been in a box for 30 years. I have a NOS TBI and numerous other parts including a complete ignition module with coil.

I make my own, doubt you'll find a ready-made part. I'd remove the line, carefully as to not distort it's shape, take it to NAPA or a good hydraulic shop and have them make you up one. 3/16...........IIRC..........one end will be flared already, they/you will have to bend to shape and cut and flare the remaining end.

Something broke, obviously, you'll need to drop the trans, regardless. Rockauto is a waste of time........(my opinion)..........NAPA will have LUK for about $100, I'd go there. '86 external is it's own creature, you'll need to buy for an '86, another reason to visit NAPA than wait a week to find out your ordered the wrong clutch/pressure plate. Yes, aftermarket masters suck, I've gone through 4 of them. Take a pic and post it here of the master rod with the clutch pedal all the way engaged, if it's what I think, there's a fix for that. I suspect your TOB failed, just a guess though. LUK is good, may come with a plastic TOB, it's fine, don't worry about it. Post some pic and let us know what you found.

https://nwga.craigslist.org/pts/6113822418.html Above is an example of what I might consider. Not too far away from me, appears to be straight and clean. The bonded title issue...........well.............I'd just transfer my numbers over and use my title, no one would ever be the wiser.....but, that's me. Little far for you...........but, this is what I would be looking for.

Also, look through his pile of parts, tell him you want an interior...........or whatever you want of it...........tell him to throw it in. People will ask the world.....but you know the drill, cash talks, bull$#!& walks. Get what you can out of it. And never assume it will be there tomorrow, I've lost deals by being an hour too late.

Gene, I just scanned the hot-spots in the SE...........junk or high dollar at the moment. You have three choices- 1) Pay top dollar for a driver. 2) Pay fair dollar for a runner at a distance, have your wife follow you home. 3) Pay fair dollar for a carcass that is close to home. The one you found- 1.5 hours is nothing to me, I drive it every day. You should have looked at it today already. If he had a clear title in his name, I'd be prepared to offer $1800. I'd show him the cash, tell him that's what I'm willing to pay, and be prepared to walk away. It will cost you about $250 to have that truck delivered to your house via wrecker. My XJ cost me $110 to have delivered from one hour away but I'm accounting for exaggerated NE rates. In my opinion, you should have bought that yesterday. You don't seem to be one to travel. Straight and clean bodies are getting real hard to find now.

According to Joe at General Spring the military wrap spring is based on and rated the same as the MT spring. His words, not mine. "Based on and rated the same as" is not quite equal to "The military wrap springs are the MT springs." The factory MT springs were no military wrap, and direct replacements for the MT springs are not military wrap. The military wrap is an additional option on custom-made springs. Forget it Eagle. It's not worth discussing anymore. Hopefully everyone understood the point as you did. When was the last time you had 2204.62 lbs in the back of you truck? Yeah, I get your point- The left hand is not a right hand. I speak in pedestrian terms, practical terms. You and Eagle can point to all the literature and brochures you want, in practical terms, you, we, have 1/2 ton trucks. As I stated here before, shortly after I installed the standard General Spring springs, I picked up a load of marble, shipped weight of 1100lbs and change. My MJ handled the weight but it was all it wanted, I was 1" off the bump stops, front end light, braking was seriously diminished. Literature can claim whatever it wants, that does not make it so. At 2200lbs you will outrun your stock brakes. According to Joe, the military wrap spring is the only MJ spring that is US made. Having had both springs in a short period of time, I can tell you that the ride quality of the military/US spring is discernibly better, strikingly better, right out of the box. Actually, I only have about 50 miles on them and they ride better than the standard spring did after it has settled in. That is why I suggested the military over any other spring that General Spring offers, regardless of claimed capacity. None of this has anything to do with the OP's original question. If the OP is overloading his springs, he's overloading his hitch and he's overloading his truck, it's that simple. I try to keep my tongue weight at about 10% of gross. I pull either a 4000lbs tool trailer or I'm hauling materials, 100-150 miles per day, 6 days per week. I base my opinions on practical everyday experiences. Below was today's load, hardwood flooring, shipped weight of 4130lbs with the weight of the trailer, gross put me about 5000lbs, Tongue weight just over 400lbs, I can tell by the way my truck sits what my tongue weight is. Regardless of which spring he chooses, standard, MT, military, if he is bottoming out with his trailer, either his springs are completely shot, or, he has a problem with his trailer or his load. It's up to him, not me, not you, to do his own research and discern for himself how to resolve his own problem.

They come with self tapper but i would drill thru and use lock washer here is the model # best price Amazon AIR LIFT 59503 Ride Control Rear Air Spring Kit Below is a pic of my MJ with new 1/2 ton springs. (now replaced) Load and trailer is about 3500lbs gross. I'm guessing the tongue weight is about 350lbs. Even with a classIII hitch your tongue weight maxes out at 500lbs which is 1/2 your total payload. As seen below, you should not be dropping down more than 1.5" with trailer attached. If you are, your springs are shot or your are over loading your hitch/truck. You will not realize how bad your springs are until you replace them, and the shackles. The airbags will become a nuisance and rather pointless, nor will they make up for any loss of control due to weak springs and bad bushings.

A bad ball joint will definitely give you a rattle/movement/vibration.

My guess would be control arm bushings.

Do you have an aftermarket master?

According to Joe at General Spring the military wrap spring is based on and rated the same as the MT spring. His words, not mine.

The military wrap springs are the MT springs. You won't need air bags.

As for paint......... The body shops I spoke to would not even write me an estimate on my MJ. Most do insurance work and are not interested in complete repaints. Most told me it would be upwards of $5K for a complete paint. I recently found one shop that is willing to spray it if I do all the body work and have it stripped and prepped. He agreed to separate the bed and prep the back of the cab and front of the bed since I only want to separate it one time. I'm looking at about $2800 labor. My paint and sundries will run be about $1,100. I hope to get it painted this fall, looks like my total cost will be about $3.900 and that's with me paining my own jambs. I painted my engine bay myself, primer, base, pearl, clear ran me about $250. I don't see anyway you are getting that truck painted for anywhere near $1K. Thanks for hearing me out though.

Below are pics of the Wagoneer, very clean. I drove to Atlanta to get a set of 5 Ravine wheels and tires, these were a collection spares, perfect condition, 0 miles, for $300. I was saving those for a 'keeper', regrettably, I put them on this XJ to get it sold. Those deals don't happen often. One does what one has to do, I guess....... Good deals are few and far between. You'll look at 6-7 before you find one worth buying. Once you do, it's a lot of work.

Since you edited your post........... Hayden, I painted my first house 37 years ago for my mother who was a realtor/investor, we continued to flip houses for the next 20 years, we built new houses for 10 years after that. Except for a short stint with Old Dominion (I make a lousy employee), I've been self-employed most of my life. We were flipping houses before Flippers were Flippers. When construction was at a standstill I decided to give a go at flipping Jeeps, It's a tough racket, particularly when you are being vehicle specific. I have always looked for a way to make a buck, if it were easy, I'd still be doing it. Some folks are very very good at it, most will fail. As for your market.......... The asking price on this truck is $19,500 in your backyard. This truck will fetch the same price in the Atlanta, Knoxville, Charlotte, or Tampa markets, easily. There's no gold in them thar hills. Watch some of his vids, you'll learn a lot.

I insinuated nothing. If you want to make a wise decision, flip it for $500 more than you have in it, you'll be ahead.

Well............OK................. You didn't inquire as to the value of dent beating and cosmetics. I'm not wrong, regardless of which market. I'm very familiar with the SE market, I watch it routinely. 4X will bring about $1500 more here in E TN than in FL, for example. $2500 and less trucks move quickly, however, I have watched trucks in the $4500 range not move for 6 months to a year, if they sell at all. Over the course of a year I brought into my area 9-10 XJs for resale, all 4X. The one I made the most money on was the one I did the least amount of work to. IIRC, it was a '90 Wagoneer, fluids, shocks, and a set of Ravines, I bought it for $1200 and I had about $500 in it, I sold if for $3500. When I evaluated my time searching, travel, buying, cleaning, selling..........effort, time, dollars................there was really no profit to be gained. As to the 'Eliminator' dilemma, it's a decal and a center console, no one is going to pay a dime more for that either. If you want to convert for the sake of converting? more power to ya. If you think there is a big payoff in the end.............you'll find I'm more right than wrong.

No good deed gets rewarded. You won't get a penny more for it. See if I'm right.

Your distributor is set correctly. I'd be looking at injectors or MAP or O2. Look up distributor indexing so you understand the process. Then take an old cap and cut the hole at #1. Just to see for yourself where you are in terms of timing.........I'm wondering of your timing is retarded.

Jeep Driver, some pics of your ride. It looks like it is coming along nicely. Thank you. :). Time is not my friend. You mentioned a build thread.................I need to put something together soon.........progress though, I need progress.

That might just work. If you don't mount the tow hooks, will it fit behind the plastic air dam w/o cutting or trimming it? It looks like it might in the instruction manual I'm just looking to tie in the frame rails with a cross member. It's a smart and necessary thing to do, in my opinion.

Interesting..........all the perspectives that get tossed around here............. Here, in the Wild Wild East, we don't tag our trailers. Another interesting thing that I learned, we can run a vintage tag as long as we have the current tag available to show a cop when pulled over. If the '88 TN tags weren't so ugly, I'd try it. Get creative, you'll figure it out.

My front receiver works for me.

I always appreciate your posts. If I ever get out to Kansas, maybe you can take me for a ride? :P I've been mulling over a SBC conversion myself lately.