johnj92131

My new to me house has a 3 car garage with 2 walls and the ceiling finished and painted with flat off white paint. When I moved in it had only 2 75 watt bulbs. The light was terrible. First thing I did was replace the 2 75 watt lamps with BIG screw in CFL, Next thing I did was mount three 4 ft. double T12 lamp fixtures in front of each car, so I could open the hood and have lots of light. I put new "Day Light" lamps in each fixture. I have 4 more T12 double lamp fixtures I planed to put on each side of all 3 cars. So far, I have not need to install them. The lamps came out of my old garage and my new kitchen/bathrooms. The only money I have in my lights are for 50 ft of Romex and a box of Day Light lamps from Home Depot or Costco. And I have 300 watts of light in the garage. By the way, the T12 lamps don't make noise if you use an electronic ballast. The old ones with a "magnetic" ballast will make that humming sound. Suggest you save the money you planned to spend on "finishing" the garage walls, invest it in more lamps and an electrical upgrade like Don suggested. You will be much happier, for way less $$ and less work! I installed a pull down attic ladder in the garage. Then used salvaged 3/4 inch plywood to make a storage floor on top of the attic joists.(No thin plywood for me, I am just too heavy. Use this space for Xmas decorations and bulky things for my cars (like bumpers and old seats). Also watched CraigsList and got a whole bunch of Cosco $60, 6 ft high, 4 ft wide and 2 ft deep storage racks for $25 each. When we moved, tons of boxes went onto these shelves. Helped keep some order in the new place while we moved the thing in. BTW, I have not done any electrical upgrade in the garage yet, but it does need more electrical service. The sub panel Don suggest sounds great, but I have no heavy duty electric tools (yet), what an excuse to buy more toys!

I'd just get one of them, but they are simply not around. The last diesel I saw listed at all local to me, was an XJ, $5000 and not budging. It was NOT mint. However, I think I should be better able to find something in the 80HP range. I was looking for something more along the lines of 120-150HP, and there just isn't anything that I can source, or it is mad $$$. DirtyComanche, Find a 96-2003 VW 1.9TDI, use the Acme Kit to the Toyota trans, Manual or Auto, Toyota 4 speed auto is the same at your Jeep AW4. These TDI engines put out 90 hp and 149-157 lb/ft in stock condition. They can and are goosed to 200 hp and 300 lbs/ft. I drove to Vegas last week in a 97 Passat TDI with that much power. Yes, I watched it run on the Dyno and put it out that much power, at the front wheels. Still got 40 mpg on the highway. The Passats are all front wheel drive, there are a few "all wheel" drive versions from the factory out there. My own 96 Passat wagon has been chip tuned, it put out 108 hp and 215 lbs/ft at the front wheels, nice and low in the RPM range. I have a complete spare TDI engine saved for my Comanche (one of these days). I suggest you stay away from the 1.6 IDI (InDirect Injection) engines, If possible. Not as much power potential as the TDI for the same or less money. JJ

Don, Have been aware of GoJeep's decals. Suspect that is the best solution (especially for the price). Not sure how the white line at the bottom of the tack will match to the shift indicator cut out. Guess we could raise it up just a fraction of an inch. Well, I just broke down and ordered the stock decals in white from GoJeep. Now I have no excuses to not do the cluster swap! JJ

As you have been told, you need to use a 90 or earlier gauge cluster in your 89 column shifter truck. I have been contemplating doing the same swap in my 91 column shifter truck. For me the "best" option seems to be get tech decal to cover the old fuel guage. That would let me keep my column shift gear indicator. Then replace the tach face with the old fuel face (now with a tach decal). My current problem is where to get a decal for the tach.

Anyone know what these 12 inch brakes came from? Grand Cherokee? Dodge truck?

The thing missing from these mpg numbers is at what road speed are we speaking of?? On a recent long trip I averaged 23 mpg at 55-60 mph with my AW4 4.0 1991 long bed. My around town mpg is 15/16, which is what the truck does most of the time. (average 3K miles per year over the last 6 years, so fuel cost is not a real issue). I use my VW Passat TDI for long trips and get 40 plus mpg, or about $.10 per mile traveled, compared to using the gas fueled Camry or Rodeo at something like 11 to 16 cents per mile. Remember, I am in California. Bottom line is that no engine conversion will pay off in less than 300K miles by my calculations. So do an engine conversion because you want to play with your toys. Don't claim you will save money. Hornbrod has a sweet Comanche, but he will never claim it is a cheap project (at least I don't think so). Remember, the difference between a man and a boy is the price of his toys. And our trucks are just our toys, for the most part.

and if you go with an older SJ dana 44 front, you can pair it with a rear axle from an isuzu rodeo which is a dana 44 with disks and 4.10 or even deeper gears (can't remember what the exact number is) My 98 Rodeo 5 speed had a 4.30 rear end. My 2000 Rodeo Automatic has a 4.10 Both were/are V6, 4 cyl may have steeper gears, like 4.55, just do not know.

Happy and a safe new year to all. Johnj92131

Just tried to purchase this harness on EBay - the transaction was blocked by Ebay - "item may no longer be available" Suspect this is because of the recent floods in Thailand. The Corp. I work for has big supply problems from Thailand because of the floods.

I wanted a seat that folded forward so I could access the rear floor. Used stock MJ bucket brackets I found ii the JY. Then found excellent XJ 4 door seats and Crappy 2 door XJ seats. As I recall I took 6 or 7 buckets to the auto uphostrey shop had them put together parts and pieces to make a great pair of buckets. Also had them install a large pocket on the back of each seat using left over seat back material. Cost me $200 in labor. You can make just about anything fit. Just look for comfortable seats and adapt them.

I use Hella E-codes on my Passat. The sharp cutoff beam pattern is great. I can run with high beams on in the city and not get flashed. Have yet to upgrade the harness. But that $20 plug and play harness sounds like a deal for both the Comanche and the Passat. Think I will order a pair of them IF I can find that Ebay link again. I am 63 and it is getting harder to see at night! I need good headlights!

If you check hornbrod's posts you will see he went from 3.54 to 4.10 and picked up a couple of mpg on the highway. Don is running a Hesco stroker and AW4 automatic. I am running 235/75 x 15 tires with the stock 3.54 gears and an AW4 automatic. But I am at sea level most of the time. As for tire calculators, just use the tire makers number of revs/mile and multiply by .98 to account for sidewall flex down the road. Did that with my Passat TDI then checked it over a measured 160 miles. Dead nuts on with the calculated numbers!

If your truck runs perfect, what are you worried about? Make sure your tires are in good shape and you have a good spare. You are driving at night, so how are your lights? Worried about gas on the Interstate because you can only fill your tank with 9 or 10 gallons before it leaks? Fix the problem before you leave. Use the $80 you were going to spend on that 3 gallon Rotex tank to buy a gasket and fix your leak. don't want to do that, buy some 5 gal. jerry cans. I have 3 and never used them. Hold your speed down and you will still be able to go 200 plus miles on 10 gallons of gas. I got 23 mpg just by holding the speed to 60. Enjoy your trip, don't worry so much, be happy you have a good running MJ. You will have a nice safe trip.

I received an email response directly from Hanson. Can you post the email please? Off the receiver hitch subject, but who builds a swing a way tire carrier with the pivot point on the left? Thought I saw it on the Hansen site?

Rob: Possible source for a timing belt: www.lesharo.com This place will not be cheap, but may have some parts. Good luck. You have a PM also

You want to find a 2 door Cherokee with power windows and door locks for the proper switches and the cross body wireharness. Then you want the doors from a 4 door Cherokee with power windows and door locks for the windows and hardware.

Good for you. You have done a whole lot of homework and have a good idea of what you want. keep looking and if it is there, good chance you will find it.

You need to save your money. Go to jeepstrokers, do a search for titanengines, you will find your answer.

Fronts from an XJ are identical for the MJ - best source is your local pick a part yard. Rears are specific to the MJ, if you see an MJ in a salvage yard - grab them. I may have some extra rears, but will not know till I finish with the flares on my truck.

See Don's post in this thread for the different part numbers for the MJ and XJ: viewtopic.php?f=2&t=23515&p=242367&hilit=lund#p242367

Don, What kept you from the OM617 conversion? Money - meaning just not economical in the long run. Or just that the Stroker is close to a no brainer?

Yes, house hunting is hard work. Over the years, I have purchased a dozen new to me houses. Last one was in August of this year. We knew it was the house for us when we first saw it. A good buyers agent is worth having. Only one time did I buy a FISBO under the market price. You should expect to pay market price, with or without an agent. (NO - I am not a R.E agent/broker). Lots of agents out there - but not so many GOOD ones. Before our latest purchase, we were looking of and on for 3 years. We did not have to move - just wanted a new house that would be "our" house. Document requirements were the biggest issue I have ever seen. We submitted over 340 pages of documents for income, expenses, assets, and the source of down payment funding. Including copies of the wire transfers to escrow from each source of funds. In past purchases, all I had to do was sign, sign, and sign some more. Documentation was what ever I said it was. But things have changed - just get used to it. The good news is if you have the down payment $$, there are good deals to be had. Keep looking and you will find a good deal that can fit your needs.

Go for cool. Do the diesel conversion. V8 swaps have cooling issues. But are cheap. How about a big stroker?

The VW TDI is not a problem. There's a kit to mate the TDI engine to a Toyota trasmission. I have a complete TDI engine in my garage for this very swap. My plan is to use an AW4 transmission. My 96 Pasat puts 220 lb/ft at the front wheels with a chip and slightly larger nozzles. No turbo upgrade.

Jim, you want to be very careful about claims for medical issues, without a documented trail you can push it just so far. That said, you are on the right track. But don't quote me, ever.