ZJ_flexxxer

absolutely love this build man. hands down sickest manche i've ever seen. your build thread really inspires me

sold my old ones already but i do pick up every set i can find in a junkyard. if i find another set i'll post up here first.

it's a 98, and yes it's 4x4. i would have liked to gotten a 99 with the newer style intake but this one popped up and the price was right so i took it.

well the 2.5 jumped timing on me and rather than fix it i just decided it was time for a 4.0. so say hello to the new donor xj. i'm gonna attempt the motor swap as well as dash, steering column etc. using my existing clutch pedal and putting an ax-15 in it. and also gonna put the newer header panel on mine.

for better brakes/greater stopping power.

well i got bored today and decided to fab up a dual steering stabilizer. i've always thought this truck could use one after the lift it felt unstable on bumps in the road. so started out with two peices of angle iron, i basically just laid them opposite of each other and held the stabilizer end between them to get the right width and then tacked them together. then i ran a bead down each side then i cut it down to size after that i did a little grinding and smoothing and then welded it into place in front of the coil spring plate almost identical to the opposite side and at a slight outward angle to reach the tie rod then i made some tabs to mount the stabilizer to the tie rod and welded those on and here's how it came out then a fresh coat of paint! :

Thanks guys, it has actually quit idling high on its own again but I'm still gonna look into these and make sure everything's how it should be.

ok so i'm running out of options and would like some opinions from some fellow 2.5 mj guys. when i bought my mj it ran smoothly with no problems then one day started idling a little high but went away shortly. as time went on it would happen off and on and i simply ignored it. then one day it started and continued to do it. it now won't run below 2000 rpms(i'm guessing since i don't have a factory tach). i recently did alot of work to it replacing my leaking head gasket, also having the head and valve springs looks at by a shop to make sure everything was up to par. replaced all the top end gaskets. my intake/exhaust manifolds are tight with no leaks and new gasket. i've checked my vacuum lines and even found a vacuum diagram to make sure everything was in place as it should be. i still can't find what is causing it to idle high. my guess is it has to be something with the throttle body or a sensor. what's your opinion on my issue?

like most others have said here. use the 3M. i recovered my headliner with some regular spray glue and it failed. i then tried re-gluing it 2 more times with the cheap stuff and finally found some 3M headliner spray at my local o'reilly's and it worked great. still looking good after a few months.

been meaning to post this pic but haven't got around to it. here's the comanche pulling what's left of the donor xj into the scrapyard. 3300lbs not including the weight of the trailer! i love this little truck

so after finding out that wj drag links are the same length and wouldn't work for this application i decided to yet again get the grinder out. chopped the drag link in half and took about 3" out of it. i used the old peice from the wj tie rod to sleeve it with. slid it on there then welded up the center of the drag link. then slid the piece of tubing over and welded it. then i noticed that the nut on the drag link was hitting the tractor pins i used for disconnects. i grabbed the grinder and gave it a little buzz and now the knuckle goes all the way over to the stop. i still have to grab a new end to go on the drag link since the ball joint is bad and some brake lines. but here she is parked out on the street so i could pick up my mess in the driveway

i already did. grinded the old one off and welded a new one on. besides did you read the beginning of that post "went 4x4ing" lol. this is a DD only

i will probably re-do the tie rod in the future but for now it will have to do. and thanks

I began looking at my steering setup and I'm not able to run the stock drag link. Since the wj knuckles use the seperate tab and it's about 3 to 4 inches closer to the driver side it makes the stock mj drag link too long to use. I could turn it fine to the right but not all the way to the left. So tomorrow I'll make a trip to the junkyard for a wj draglink. But as far as I could tell everything looks like it should work without any interference. Should be able to find out tomorrow once I get the drag link and wheels/tires back on it. Today I drilled out my rotors. I started by lining up my old rotor on top of the new one and tracing out the bolt pattern with a sharpie marker. Then I used a small punch and hammer to put a little divot in the center of my marks. Then used a decent size drill bit to get a hole started and finally moved up to the step bit to finish it off. Spent a few hours with my drill and this bit today, and I can honestly say I don't want to have to pick up a another drill again for a while. And here's the end result. I think it looks pretty sexy on there

well i finally got the jks flange spacers i've been waiting on. spacers in place with the cv's and hubs installed and here's 2 pics of the three 12 point bolts that hold the hubs on looking a little closer to a truck again and here's some pics of the track bar on with a new end i bought this morning planning on drilling the rotors tomorrow and getting the brakes put on almost forgot, i'm picking up this xj for $500 as a donor vehicle for some parts on friday

it wasn't exactly my first choice either but sometimes u just have to work with what you've got. i still trust this cut and welded wj tie rod over the stockers that bend like a horseshoe the first time you bump into something

needed a break from the heat so i'll go ahead and do another update today. tightened down the wj knuckles, and i picked up a set of these wobble extensions from harbor freight for about $10 and this sucker worked awesome for the upper ball joint nut. i also decided to go with the crossover steering setup the wj knuckles use. picked up this wj tie rod but of course it's much to wide for a xj or even a zj setup. even adjusting the ends all the way in, it was still to wide. so my first instinct was to try some shorter ends off another vehicle. i went to o'reillys, auto zone, and advance to try and cross reference something but none of them were any help due to out of stock parts or just pure ignorance. so i returned home a little discouraged and then even to realize that had i found shorter ends that it still wouldn't have worked due to the bends in the wj ends. without these bends the tie rod will hit the diff cover when the steering wheel is turned all the way. so after a few seconds of looking at it and pondering i then of course came to my senses and cut the damn thing in half and cut about 3" out of it. threw some of my not so great looking welds on there. and ta-da! this would also be a pretty great upgrade for anyone wanting to beef up there tie rod since these wj tie rods are alot beefier than the cheesy xj/mj/zj stockers. so this is for the douche at auto zone that told me it would never work.

ok so my sway bar links came in the mail yesterday. first thing i did was remove the bushing sleeves from the lower bushings. then i test fitted them. and they fit perfect on the tractor pins. popped the clips on there and now i've got quick disco's should i ever need them. and for only about $26. oh and i forgot, my wj drilled/slotted rotors and pads got here. rotors look sweeeet! now i just have to drill the 5x4.5 pattern in them.

got some progress done on the mj got the control arms on, upper control arm bushings in the axle, axle in truck, shocks on, wj knuckles on, coils in, and some other stuff. still waiting on my sway bar links to come in(even though i'm not sure if they're gonna work)and some jks spacers for the knuckles. pics... oh and i accidently got my pinky finger with the hammer in the midst of it all

What year/model Chevy truck are those brake lines for? I need some that long for my lift

made it to the JY today and got a set of wj knuckles and calipers. didn't have any luck finding a set of the '02-up akebono calipers but oh well, still better than the stock single piston's. and i also ordered some drilled/slotted wj rotors and ceramic pads that's it for now. waiting on money for more parts lol

nice little update for today... so i noticed today, one of the lower control arm mounts somehow got bent either at the JY or in the process of getting it home. so i'll have to get that fixed. :fs1: got some more old parts removed including the knuckles and axles/hubs.(not very good pics, i worked late tonight) i also picked up some new cv axles so today i came up with a little plan to make my sway bar links disconnect if i want. i used a speed bit to make my bolt holes a little larger and i picked up some 3 point tractor pins from TSC. worked out pretty nice i think

went to the JY today and got a d30 with 3:73's to match the new d44 in the rear. didn't get much done after that. was kinda feelin lazy today. i took what was left of the upper control arms off and knocked the old bushings out of the mounts. i also took the brakes off, since i'm gonna go back to the JY next weekend and get some WJ knuckle's and brakes for the bigger brake swap.

sweet build man

well i got my parts in today. 4-6" rough country shocks for the front, got one of them as a scratch and dent for only $12.00. not sure what was wrong with it, can't find anything so far. and i got my adjustable control arms from a guy on ebay. very impressed with these things. i wasn't expecting to unwrap something so BEEFY! love these things, i might even sell the full set i have for my zj and buy a set of these. once i got done having a mini christmas morning on the tailgate of my truck, i got to work. anybody wanna buy a 2wd dummy axle??