ChiefJosh

The booster is the main thing that you want, as far as I know. The older (what was used in the MJ from the factory) is a single diaphragm booster. The WJ, as well the late model XJ's have a double diaphragm booster. I couldn't tell you all the specifics, but in short- it's better. I assume it multiplies the force put on the plunger in the MC at a higher ratio than the single booster. I don't know if I'd go through the trouble without getting some serious benefits, which the WJ setup does provide.

Thanks man- I checked out the Adirondack Jeeps website- They've got some good looking stuff on there, especially their t-shirts and stuff. That's awesome that you're familiar with Spec. I know a few scenic dirt roads, and even those I'll be looking forward to hitting up, but I think I'll try and do a bit more if my schedule allows. I'm looking forward to the summer too, we leave in less than two weeks!

Hey I was just wondering if anybody else out there has tried their hand at homebrewing beer or anything? I just finished my first batch a couple of weeks ago, using the 5 gallon kit, and I am really pleased. I'm not much of a drinker, but I really like beer - in small quantities, and in high quality - Guinness is my favorite :cheers: In honor of the Irish, I brewed an Irish Stout recipie, basically just a boxed mix from my local homebrew store, and it turned out fantastic! The equipment cost me about $50, but the Stout mix was only $25, and for that price I got me 2 cases of some good quality beer. Who else has done some of this? I've got about a case left - anybody want to help me finish it off??? :cheers:

Where did you hear that from? Not that I doubt you, I know so much of the stuff we buy is all made in the same house, but I don't want to take that as gospel if it's just heresay.

Hey, I know right where you are at man- I grew up in Sheboygan and had a WI license til I was 22. I got two tickets- one good for six points, and about a year later I got another one. I asked the officer the second time, how many points I had- he said six, so I sent the check in and paid it. Only to show up at school a month later (my freshman year of college, 2nd semester) at get a letter saying that my license had been revoked for having 12 points on it! I was pissed. But by that time it was too late. Anyhow, if I remember correctly, in WI you should have two options. One - you can dispute the ticket, which basically means you can enter a "not guilty" plea at the court date, and even just plead that the fine or the points are too severe. I had the points off of another ticket of mine dropped that way, all I had to pay was the fine. The second option, I think, is some type of "traffic school". Some sort of remedial "driver's ed". I know it sounds stupid, and it probably is, but your insurance company would look a little more highly on that, as if you are trying to get your act together and become a "responsible citizen". You can probably do both, but call the DA's office, or the court, or whatever number is on the ticket, and they can give you a little more info. Good luck with that- hopefully you don't have to go through the hassle of loosing your license for 90 days like I did- believe me, if that happens, your insurance really goes up!

Looks to me like at some point in time, some PO (previous owner) swapped in either the maroon seat and console, or the door trim and etc. I don't think I've seen that color combination otherwise..... But that doesn't mean I'd put it past AMC (or Chrysler) to do that sort of thing from the factory..... Do you have a pic of the full interior?

I don't know if this helps you much at all, but I'll pass along the info anyways. I swapped in the WJ booster at the same time that I swaped in my '99 XJ D30 and 8.25. After the fact, my MJ stops much quicker than my 98 XJ DD does. What I did to circumvent all of the hassles with the pedals and the booster rods was this: I simply cut off the rod end from my '88 MC and also cut off the rod end of the WJ MC. Then I just welded them back together, and shazam I had a master cylinder and booster that fit my needs. I did have to beat back the pinch seam in the engine bay, and a few misc other things, but that's my story. If you want some more info from me, let me know I can answer some questions for ya. All that to say, I assume you'd run into the same story with the '96 booster. Why swap all of the pedal linkage when you can just cut and swap the rod ends. On the other hand, if you have no access to a welder (I remember what that was like) seriously- find somebody to do it for ya. It's gotta be easier than swapping the entire rod or pedal assembly.

Hey xipantera31ix, would you believe me if I told you that I once spent the weekend in Lenhartsville?! Believe you me, it was a sweet weekend. We were supposed to be camping in the campground near there, Blue Rocks is it? But we got totally rained out. We had rented out the town hall for the weekend, just to hang out and get away, most of us ended up sleeping there. My buddy and I toughed it out in the rain, we were the only ones with a REAL tent, everybody elses were from WalMart. Anyways, I'll never forget Lenhartsville, even though I've only spent 3 days of my life there. Just thought you might enjoy the fact that someone else on this board knows right where you're at.... :cheers:

I'm gonna be spending the summer working at a camp with my wife in Speculator, NY. I know I'm not going to have a lot of time off, but I thought I'd check here to see if any of you knew of any wheeling spots up there. It's a huge area, so there's a lot to cover, but I thought I'd throw it out anyway. On a side note, the camp is called Deerfoot Lodge, it's an all-boys wilderness camp. I've worked up there one previous summer, but I wasn't married then. I'm going to be the Director's Assistant, and my wife will run the camp store and share some of the camp nurse responsibilities. We're super excited about it, and we leave in just two weeks! We've got a lot to do before we go, and I really want to make sure The Chief is ready to roll with us, so I'm trying to get that done ASAP as well. If we get to go wheeling, that will be a bonus, but the summer will be awesome as it is!

Yeah it is, it turned out a bit taller than I expected. In order to keep it looking even (I don't like it when they look the rear end is all up in the air), I'm at 7.5" in the front! Thanks for the compliment, it's been a lot of work..... :D

It was on here, in the Classifieds. It was the guy in NYC who had a gray one posted up on Craigslist. It was in real nice shape. I think you mean this one: http://www.comancheclub.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=4673

Nice work! I gotta admit though, I'm not a huge fan of the Waggy grille, I prefer the 97+ XJ, but hey - to each his own :cheers:

I also got my front TJ flares mounted. I used my angle grinder with a metal cut-off wheel to trim the fenders and to modify the flares, it worked pretty well. I kept the front of the flares right on top of the bumper caps, or even with the bottom of the sidemakers, and kept the rear of the flares even with the bottom of the door, right at the fender edge. I think it looks good, not too big of a gaping opening. I marked and cut the fender so it hit right on the lip the TJ flare has that overlaps into the wheel well. I opted to pull out the liners, maybe I'll get around to putting them, or something else in, maybe not. I just used some 3/16" small bolts and washers to mount them up, using the TJ mounting holes. Worked out pretty good. Looks like they're not quite wide enough, not by PA's state standards anyways. We'll have to see what happens come inspection time...... Here's a few finished pics. That's my DD next to the Chief, a '98 XJ. Image Not Found Image Not Found Image Not Found

More progress. I got my shocks in the mail the other day, and I had the hassle of dealing with swapping bushings and sleeves. I got that all straightened out after paying out the wazoo to have a shop do the bushings for me. I ordered Trailmaster SSV's, ran me about $50/each from Quadratec, and I am really pleased with them. I measured for them myself, so I was a bit leary of how it would all turn out, but it worked out. I definatly have more down-travel than up-travel, but I should be okay. I'm sure I've got no less up-travel than a stock MJ, so it should be fine. ' I ended up throwing in a pair of 1" spacers to even things out, and I like the stance better now. Overall, that means I'm running 4.5" coils, topped by a 2" spacer and a 1" spacer for approximately 7.5" in the front. I never thought I would be that tall, but it looks good. I also had my 33's mounted and balanced, also cost me an arm and a leg, freakin' $40 a wheel to remove my 31's and mount my 33's! :headpop: But it looks good. I opted to go with a 31" spare, cause I knew I wouldn't have to worry about it on the OEM spare mount.

I didn't get around to doing my rears yet, but I just finished the fronts. I mounted them a little lower than the other pics I saw, and I'm not sure if I'm satisfied or not. I like the fact that the front of the flare comes right off the bumper end cap, and that it terminates right on the body line of the door. The only thing I don't like is that if you look close, you can see the line from the top of the original flare in the center of the wheelwell. Other than that, I'm pleased. Image Not Found

I just finished mounting my new CB, so I thought I'd share what I came up with. I pulled off the lower portion of the dash and reinforced the top edge with a piece of 1/8 x 1" flat stock. I drilled the 3 holes for the mounting bracket and bolted it all together. It finished up really clean. I don't have my console all put back together yet, but I'm gonna run the antenna wire under it back behind the seat. My ash tray/trash thingy was busted anyway, so I just covered it up. I should still be able to use the little tray underneath the radio. I think this would work a little better on an automatic trans, though you'd have to check your own clearances. As it is on mine, my knuckles just graze the CB if I shift too hard, otherwise it seems to be okay.

Well, I figured out what my options were and I got it all solved. I ended up pressing out the sleeves on the bottom of the front shocks, and the BPE's slid right in, perfect. In the rear bottom, I had to have a machine shop press out the old bushings and press in the new ones. They charged me $60! That was a bit more than I was expecting. I welded on new shock mounts on the axle, which utilize a bolt as the mount so I had to go with the smaller bushing and sleeve. For the uppers, with the sleeve out it was too loose on the stud, so I went to Grainger and had them look up large roll pins or something to replace my sleeves. No go on that, but he did find me an engine bearing sleeve that was the right ID and OD, so that worked. The whole thing was a lot more of a PITA than I expected, but it's a Jeep, so I shoulda seen that coming........ 8)

Sorry, I'm gonna have to show my ignorance on this one, what's a PDC? :dunno:

I'm with you, JeepcoMJ, there's nothing like the six pointers for grip. If you strip somethin and can get at it, you can sometimes beat the 6 point wrench back on it to get it off. I've done it more than once...

Is there any type of "easier" way to do this? I think my clutch MC has been dripping on it, or it was at one time, and I think I've got a windshield leak in about the same location. I pulled a fuse block from the junkyard, same year, engine, options, etc. and I cut all of those wires, so I've got about 3" of each to play with. I'm figuring I'll have to solder everthing together right? Or is there an easier way?

That sounds like an awesome truck, it's got about everything you'd ever want on it from the factory! Good luck with the repair! :cheers:

I ordered a set of Trailmaster SSV shocks for my Chief this week, mostly cause I got them from Quadratec, and I can get stuff from them day after I order. Here's the problem. On the rear shocks, the top sleeve ID is way too small for the MJ upper mount. Can I press out the sleeve and just run the poly bushing on the mount? I'm running into the same problem with the fronts, just on the bottom mounts. I ordered the JKS BPE's, which would also require me to press out the sleeves for the JKS bar to fit. Will I be okay to run these without a sleeve if the bar/bolt fits snug? I'm hoping to run this on the road, it's not just a trail vehicle.

My headlight harness connector was all corroded, so I just figured I'd take all of the newer connectors and plugs, so everything was all like new. I didn't even bother to check if they would have fit without it.

Yes, with a fresh coat of black paint. Even a can a Rustoleum would sharpen that thing up somethin fierce 8)

Don't worry, it'll take me at least 2 weeks to go out and take the pictures needed to finish my write ups. Yeah, I'm right there with ya on that one. Hopefully inside two weeks.