cocco78

What are some good upgrades to get the old cooling system working good on our 88 MJ. It seems we are always battling overheating issues, I get all the air bled out and it works for a while, then I can't find a pressure bottle that has a cap that actually stays on and seals. So I'm tired of the closed system. I was looking online and found some good deals on all metal HD 3 core, open system, from radiatorbarn.com for $166 shipped. They also have the same HD all metal 2 core for $156 shipped. What else should I look at when converting to the open system? A new 195 degree thermostat is on the list, I hear I should find a "balanced" one. I've seen them on summits web site for about $15. I'm thinking I might also pop off the water pump and see what that looks like, any recomendations on a replacement? I have already replaced the fan clutch so that is all good. I don't think my elec fan works anymore, it used to come on only when the A/C or defrost was on, now nothing. I'd like to get the elec fan wired to come on at a certain temp (stock should come on at 210?) Any good writeups on doing that or maybe putting it on a switch? Is the stock elec fan any good? Thanks

We got rid of the bench in out MJ because my GF is 5'1" and I'm 6'0".... When she drove I was smashed in with my knees up on the dash if I didn't sit completely sideways in it. she hit a big bump once and my knee cracked the dash and I broke the side window roll up handle... The bench had to go!

I picked all of the above, and then some! Originally we got the MJ so my GF could learn to wheel and come along on runs when I'm out with my Wrangler. But since then its evolved into something we beat the crap out of when my wrangler is down, I make money plowing with it, I haul stuff in it that I don't want to haul in my truck, we take turns driving it to work for fun when it is running good, its a teaching aid for my GF to learn to wrench, weld, plasma cut, and whatever else... The bed is about to fall off, but we are going to build a metal bed for it and I just fell into a nice elec/hydrolic pump to make a nice little dumb bed... Then right after memorial weekend we are going to tear into it and do full with D60's f/r link to build thread: viewtopic.php?t=4375

Anyone want SPAM and eggs... Nice camper, but all those off-road campers and roof top tents are so outrageously expensive.

Sometimes I go weeks without seeing one, then its like the MJ jackpot and I see a bunch. I seen that the Jeep dealer in the next town over has an mj with a plow on it, they were using it to plow the lot! But looking at the production numbers now I see why every one I see is an 88, along with the one I own!

1988 MJ and we are the 2nd owners, had the bedliner since new. The bed under the liner was perfect except for some area's where the paint rubbed off. But those area's won't rust because the bed liner keeps rubbing against it, keeping the rust off, lol. rusty!! pic before we did the bed bob... during the bed bob with the liner removed, we hosed out some sand and dirt and the bed was really nice!

Its no different than any other day up here, good a day as any. You can't change your plans up here on account of the weather or you'll never get anything done! At least when its snowing its generally not to cold of a day out, plus the plow is easy to put on and off...

Your not kidding, TS just opened a store here a couple months ago. I get all kinds of idea's when i'm in that store.

I had a 99 WJ limited and it was fantastic, the 4.7L V8 was a great motor. I would hands down take the 4.7L over the 4.0L in the WJ, it had plenty of power in the lower rpm band. But just like all motors made today, the small displacement V8's make a ton of power high in the rpm band. I had the dealer flash my trans to get the extra gear. I towed my wrangler a few times with it and it had no problem getting it all moving. I consistantly got over 20mpg with it on the highway, can't say that for the 4.0L powered ZJ that I had before. My quadra-drive tcase worked just fine but I think the limited slips were a little wore out. Only issue I really had was the blend doors on the hvac system were starting to fail, everything else was perfect. I traded it in at 98k miles on a truck though.

Its called lake effect snow here in Upper Michigan :D It gets old after 6 months of this chit though!!

No need for my back to fear Dana 60's any more! I think i'm going to build myself a little set of forks to have my own forklift. http://tinypic.com/player.php?v=auxw8w&s=5 http://tinypic.com/player.php?v=33c3qbl&s=5

Yep, having a GF that likes to do this stuff is nice, she cleans up real good to but I'll let her post pics of that if she wants haha, I don't want to get in trouble! My ex-wife hated anything to do with this stuff. But this one like wheeling so much she had to get her own Jeep, enter the $350 MJ that I have been drooling over for a year previously and finally had a reason to get it... She even had to get her own snowmobile! The only work she really wasn't involved in was putting my plow on her Jeep, lol... She did some of the welding on the bumper tho, and she will finish the rest of it when the plow comes off. More pics... Beating off knuckles that have been on since 1979... Haha, she is small, that sledge kicked her arse :D Removing the tie rod... After alot of elbow grease! She got it clean! Oh and I had to try out this dang tire and wheel i've been working on for 3 days! I have a set of 36" goodyears that she will probably run on her MJ with these H1 wheels, but I had to try on my 38" swampers. After I got that one swamper mounted on my wrangler we both decided that the 38 didn't reall look that big! But hopefully her MJ will turn out the right hight to run my 37" toyo's on my full chrome bling H2 wheels, what would be sweet!! How do you think the MJ would look with these tires and wheels!! I like the fact we will both be 8-lug and be able to run the same sized tires...

The Liberty wheels look great on there. A nice clean Comanche is kinda rare but it doesn't mean don't build it and wheel it!! Its a Jeep, its meant to wheel! The only thing I can say is I probably wouldn't butcher it or cut it up, but I would for sure lift it and wheel it.

So you have worked with these then... How the hell do you get them to seal! I think my sidewall is to thick on the swampers and I can't tighten down the bolts good enough to get a good seal on the O ring. I'm going to have to bust them apart again and machine down the width of the mag insert a bit... Those military goodyears must have a thin sidewall!

You have to cut the run flat portion off so when you are aired down the run flat won't cut the tire. You cut that part off and it just leaves you with the beadlock part...

Uh... about the cinder blocks.... :roll: Never use cinder blocks to support a vehicle!! But next time you do put them the other way, like the way they would be used in building something. The way you have them on their side makes them weak they are meant to support weight the other way, then put a board or 2 on them to spread out the weight of the jackstands. I don't understand the comment on the BPE's? What difference would it make if the bushing was perp or parallel to the axle? I don't think that would effect your ride quality in any way...

Wood blade in the sawzall cut the mag insert like butter. Then I got this little wood and soft metal rasp to clean up the cuts. It all went pretty quick, probably 20 minutes to cut the 2 halves down. Only problem now is the sidewall on the swamper is just to thick and it won't clamp the halves of the rim down well enough to get a good seal on the O ring... I might have to shave down some on the width of the mag inserts. And while I was working on the rims, the GF was trying to get the knuckles off her front axle...

Even though the MJ won't be ready for its new wheels till later this summer, going to start the axle swap in the spring, I started working on the rims! I'm using a Hobart 187 Mig and a cut 40 plasma... These wheels along with my 37" toyos on chrome H2's will probably get swapped around between my wrangler and the comanche... It took me about 2 hours to get one done and ready for paint. The plasma worked great for cutting the center out, I used the outer half as a guide... LOL, still looks like it was chewed off, its hard to hold that thing steady! I think the center will get painted silver, and the outer ring black.

shoot, i would have let them pull the unit bearing apart... I know on mine they are shot anyway, free unit bearing! Great story though, I bring stuff like that to my local Midas. They LOVE to see me pull in, but they are great guys and don't mind if I watch or hang out with them while they work.

I modified a set of Radius arms with 1/4" wall rec tubing and some old RE rubber bushings on the end. They seemed to work pretty well under a Wrangler, they will be going under the comanche this spring...

Sell it... there are alot of MJ's out there. If you store it at $60 a month for 4 years thats $2,880 in rental fee's... To bad your dad has to be that way, my dad would store stuff for me if he could get away with it where he lives. I'm not sure if its a Michigan law, but I know its enforced by the blight officer in my town, nothing in the yard without registration and insurance if its a car. A junk vehicle can sit on a flatbed for like 48 hrs or something like that, same thing with any non op car even if it has plates and insurance on it! I hate living in town. :(

Thats not an AEV conversion, well, that is to say AEV didn't do the conversion... Some guy built it and did all the fab work himself, he did buy the AEV cab closeout and a repo chevy bed. There is a long thread over on JU about it. Interesting, don't like the bed though. I don't think it fits with the lines of the wrangler.

Yeah, 4wd does help a bit in braking and fishtailing in some situations. It'll keep your rear tires from locking up before your fronts (well one rear tire and one front tire :P ), so they lock up all at the same time :eek: I've logged many many miles running though wonderfull Michigan lake effect snow, both professionally and non professionally, we usually see over 160" a year up where i'm at. I usually just run a bed full of snow on the MJ with no prop valve, lol, but my gmc has about 200lbs of weight in the bed and its great in the snow, so much more traction in 2wd with just a few pounds of weight. I wouldn't use cinder blocks as they could not feel to good smashing into the back of your head in an accident, but a few bags of sand come in real handy. Especially when you get stuck!!

No worse then any other truck i've driven, is this your first truck? They are all pretty light in the the rear, and all benifit from a little weight in the back if you don't want to use 4wd.

I took these at the detroit auto show in 2005... :bowdown: Nice shot of the rear, lol Anyone see the concept gladiator? Full size Jeep pickup...