neohic

... unfortunately, it's still a turd. :shake:

Go get'm, Marcell!

A very wise man once told me that when going downhill offroad, all you need is to pick two of three things... good brakes, a good shifting transmission, a horn. Figured since I still don't know why my horn doesn't have any power, I'd better take a look at the brakes. That was this afternoon and HOLY CRAP!!! When all you know with a vehicle is how you got it, one sometimes doesn't realize how bad things are until they work properly! It'll actually lock up all four now! I had most of the parts on my shelf for a ZJ disk brake swap in the rear and the front just got new pads and rotors. Shiny! I didn't use the backing plates or the parking brake though. The plates were in sad shape and the parking brake was missing a bunch of parts. This was another thing that has never worked in this Jeep for me either so I don't miss it. The cables were mangled so they got removed so all that remains is the handle in the console, the cable going from there, and the splitter bracket. Another fun find was taking the diff cover off and finally finding out exactly was going on inside the axle. All anybody could tell me about it was that it was welded. Didn't know if it the spider gears were welded to the carrier or not. I even talked with the guy who welded it about ten years ago and he didn't even know! So?... nothing was welded to the carrier! :banana: This means that I could easily remove them and swap in a locker in the future with little fuss! I was very happy to see this. As for the cover itself... ... it looks more like a golf ball than a diff cover. :laughin: Inside there's a couple grooves where the ring gear was actually rubbing away at it. Just about paper thin! I had another stock cover on the shelf so that was used with a couple new patches of steel. Took it down the road and back. What a pleasant change! No more planning ahead when wanting to stop. On an added bonus, I think the steering is in good shape too. I was planning on swapping in another drag link that I have, but after seeing how warped and rusted the front rotors were, I can see how they would've added to the problem. Picture just because all the other ones in this post were kind of boring... Make up a steering box brace Swap in another drag link Going to run it as-is. Change oil in the diffs Still need to change the front. Change motor mounts Start and finish the rear fender flares Fix drain plug in the oil pan Get windshield replaced Update OHV registration Maybe weld up the exhaust to do away with a few dozen exhaust clamps... that all leak Wire in the wireless winch control module Make a mount for the tube doors to keep them secured somewhere inside Change out the radiator Brakes

Couple things taken care of today... oil pan and steering box brace. I decided to leave the oil pan under it and just weld on half of a 1/2" pipe coupler. That went well... tight squeeze at times... but went well. Then the new brace. I tied into the old sway bar mounting holes on the passenger side on made a clamp similar to most aftermarket units. Still needs paint. Make up a steering box brace Swap in another drag link Change oil in the diffs Change motor mounts Start and finish the rear fender flares Fix drain plug in the oil pan Get windshield replaced Update OHV registration Maybe weld up the exhaust to do away with a few dozen exhaust clamps... that all leak Wire in the wireless winch control module Make a mount for the tube doors to keep them secured somewhere inside Change out the radiator Brakes

Trying to work up the ambition to go out and work on this thing this morning. It's raining and crappy outside and it's really taking the wind out of my sails. To trick myself into thinking that I'm getting something done, here's the dreaded list that needs to be taken care of over the next few weeks... Make up a steering box brace Swap in another drag link Change oil in the diffs Change motor mounts Start and finish the rear fender flares Fix drain plug in the oil pan Get windshield replaced Update OHV registration Maybe weld up the exhaust to do away with a few dozen exhaust clamps... that all leak Wire in the wireless winch control module Make a mount for the tube doors to keep them secured somewhere inside Change out the radiator Brakes I'm hoping to not find anymore surprises as I really don't have time for them. Going up to Gilbert May 29th in it. Will it all get done?... probably not.

Need to finish up the face lift soon... it's MJ season. When I ordered a radiator for the Ape, I figured I might as well order two. They came today! There really wasn't anything wrong with the single core that has been in it for the last eight years or so other than the fact that it's a cheap single core that's been in there for eight years. Obviously, I'm on borrowed time! So... need to finish the rear bumper, paint it, paint the grill and headlight surrounds, paint the fender flares, might as well paint the rears too so everything matches, C101 delete, wash and enjoy. . :MJ 1: .

Radiator came in today and it's beautiful! :banana:

Mine used to do that but when I had the interior out last I tweaked the rear bracket over so it would fit better. I too struggled with the seat belt when it fell down. :fs2:

Unless it's a known good one for a real cheap-o price, I wouldn't fuss around with a used alternator. Either have yours rebuilt or just go with a parts store rebuilt unit.

I wouldn't even dink around with it. Cut it off and weld on a new receiver tube from just about anywhere you can get a draw bar from: Then to keep things clean, I use a real fancy square wire brush that's made for use inside a 2" receiver tube. Can't find a picture online, but just imagine a wire brush that's square... I think I got it at a Harbor Freight? Anyhow, I'll scrub it out good at least once a year depending on how much it gets used. Make sure to touch up the paint inside afterwards too.

Yeah... it's pretty easy to be a creep online. I took it upon myself to spice up your credit score also by opening a few credit card accounts and then used them to put a down payment on a lake shore cabin. Think of it as an investment property. :thumbsup:

Rightfully back on 33s today. Obviously need to do something about the rears but the front flares are just about right... legal, anyhow. So what else does one do after putting new shoes under their Jeep? What else but poser shots?...

You're probably right. I'll be sure to coat the fins real good with undercoat before installing it! :idea:

Just ordered a copper three core radiator for it too.

Had a very unfortunate surprise today that got my thinking about scrapping the whole thing. :( The rust belt strikes again along with the aid of a previous owner. My plan was to be working on finishing the rear bumper so I could scratch that off my list. I unbolt it and crawl under to find this... WHAT THE?!... WHY THE?!... I was trying to figure out why the frame would've been cut like this as it's nowhere near the internal plates for the hitch. Who knows... the problem now is that it's there and there are some major stress cracks going in just about every direction from it. To add salt to the wound, Minnesota has done just that... added SALT to the wound. Rust crept its way all the way back to the bumper mounts. The passenger side looked pretty good, which was surprising. So... the tank needed to come down to make room. Here's my fix... With that, and the first half of my day, taken care of it was time to move on the intended task at hand. 33s on Sunday... for sure.

Should've said so! I would've used a bigger envelope! :D

... but the right shade for stepping in cow $#!&! :rotf:

I think Jim might have a problem with sinking into the sand around his place with those. :laughin:

I think the real question here is what kind of beer drinkers Don and Cruiser really are... or did that get resolved back channel? :hmm:

Yup... got a mirror mounted, hung the new fenders, got the doors painted, I even painted and mounted the roof basket... not pictured, of course. :D

Finished a couple things today...

A while back I ran into the issue a while back that everything on the inside of my sending unit was fine but everything outside the tank was rusted and leaking. I went a little different route though and made up a new chassis for everything to mount on to. While this was a fun little experiment, it was also intended that one could use this same chassis to mount the internal parts of a Cherokee sender (as everything is pretty much the same inside of a Cherokee tank, IT JUST ALL MOUNTS IN MIRRORED from a Comanche causing interference problems) and thus have an easy replacement option. Stainless chassis in comparison to stock RENIX chassis: HO sending unit that actually got used (notice the J B Weld on the inside of the mounting flange): Cut: New chassis mounted to existing tab: Plumbed: View from inside a LWB tank to make sure everything sat just where it should without interference: What's really cool about it is that I used pipe couplers at the mounting flange so I could then use barb fittings both inside and out: This way, I could still have the 5/16" and 3/8" (or is it 1/4" and 5/16"?) for the send and return lines outside of the tank while everything inside is based off of 5/16" (or was it 1/4"?). Anyhow, this combination could also be used with a hacked off Cherokee unit that doesn't have a return line, they could both be plugged easily if one were to do a custom pump but still retain the factory gauge sender, or the chassis could also be easily modified to mount a '97+ Cherokee pump and sending unit if doing that swap to keep the Comanche tank unmodified... lots of possibilities with this setup. The only part of the wiring that had to be modified was the ground. Originally, it was soldered on to the flange but that's an easy fix. Also replacing the o-ring and locking ring for the rest of the wiring was a must: Under the truck: Sure, I needed to run longer hoses outside the tank but I guess I could've used 90* fittings. I ran the truck this was for about a while without any issues. It was then sent back home to it's previous owner who also isn't having any issues with it. Been a few years like this, anyhow. The plan a while back as to make up a few more chassis to sell... might still get around to that. :dunno:

Pete, have you ever looked over at ERIC'S XJ?... assuming you have what with his book. Lots of good information on his exo cage before he went all out on it.

Wow! Lots of good stuff happening over here! :thumbsup: