JeepcoMJ

no. i couldn't even look at it today i'm so angry. he won't do anything for me...when i brought up the rusty rockers last time I stopped in, he told me it would cost $600 to have them redone with some patch-panel glue and bondo. i brought up the sandpaper and he told me he had no proof thus far that his guys would do anything of the sort, and couldn't do anything about it without hard evidence. today I just wired up the new LED lights on the 40 foot flatbed, and put a semi truck air toggle switch in the 87 MJ to replace the factory vacuum switch to operate the CAD (it works a TON better).

glue deteriorates easier and faster over time when compared to metal (so long as the vehicle is washed properly)

So today I finally decided to take the rear flares off of the 3800. needed to do this because the driver's side was junk from the accident, and the passenger side had a rust bubble beginning under the paint. usually by that point, it's pretty bad and so I knew it needed attention. for reference, here's some pics of the damage and one with the rust bubble. damage; rust bubble; well, to say the least, it's very bad. the driver's side is actually wrecked worse than I thought... the impact DID crush the inner wheel well. it's not rusty though, just paint is all cracked off and obviously dented. however, the driver's side leaves me utterly speechless. in the spring of 2005, I payed $1800 in body work to have the rear wheel well fixed (firmly stated to replace the rusted metal, no bondo/smoother to be used in excess of 1/16"), the hood stripped, and the truck smoothed sanded and painted (specifically agreed on two-step clear-coat paint job in an off eggshell white). He agreed to give me a job worth more and in trade I would bring him more business from friends (which I DID do), so he cut around $1000 off of what the final price would have been I didn't get any of my money's worth. the cab corners have rusted out because they shoved their scrap sanding equipment in them from behind (I had the interior out), paint is chipping all over, rust is on the seams of the back of the cab and the seams of the gutters on the roof, and the passenger side wheel well was rebuilt WITH FIBERGLASS and absolutely ZERO rusted metal was replaced. I spent 20 minutes cracking fiberglass off underneath to find the inner wheel well rusted out to around 3" in from the bedside, and haven't gone so far as to scrape down where the rust should no longer be (i.e. where they supposedly replaced bad metal). wtf? I'm going to have to strip the truck down to bare metal now for peace of mind, because who knows what else got glassed in (it wasn't too terribly rusty, just some surface stuff that needed to be blasted and smoothed). I'll put up pics of it tomorrow if I get a chance, but what do you guys think you'd do in this case? is there anything I can do regarding the autobody "repair" shop? or am I just going to have to take this with a grain of salt and teach myself to do bodywork because no one can be trusted?

from what I've been able to look up, 1991 and up xj's which were ABS equipped or otherwise specified (buyer request) would have 297X joints. 1994 and 1995 jeep wranglers would have 297X joints with disconnect shafts. not sure if that's abs or non. they're hard(er) to find, but don't require an axle swap or anything special. as for the cv shafts...they're pretty good actually. I have two sets of them as trail spares, have repacked and rebooted both sets, and ran them in the 3800 for awhile with no issues (swapped for normal shafts when I got a set with new ujoints for free). I will be putting them back in the 3800 when it gets the new motor, ax15, and np242 transfercase.

yea, that.

you need a new sensor for sure, and to get that out you need to use a tool that's threaded backwards and fits in the inside of the broken part in the manifold. I cannot for the life of me remember what the tool is called, but places like advanced and Menards have them (especially if you go to the plumbing section and just ask the team member what they'd suggest)

it's all bolt-in except for the front end/radiator supports, but EVERYTHING needs to be changed. one spot on the firewall may need to be hammered back too.

that was funny as hell. my day has been made. now it's time to work :D (at least I get to use a plasma cutter :brows: )

the black ones rate "instant hard-on" in my book (this is out of a scale of 1 to hard-on) those are the wheels for me :D

newer 2wd xj's used the same bearing as the 4wd with a stub shaft in them.

...you will need to swap to 4wd knuckles to do this swap. I would swap to a 4wd front axle because you cannot run the 4wd unit bearings without the outer-axleshaft end in them.

the 3800 is starting to shift towards this paint color also... :cheers: keep up the good work Paul! :cheers: :D

remember to replace the uppers too :P

if you have a local jeep club, call in a favor...I guarantee someone knows how to do gears and has the ability to. buy a gear set, and have them install it. that would cost less than $250 and you'd be all set to go with your current axle. ...I may part ways with my dana 44 rear with 4.09's soon, and the dana 30 disconnect front with 4.11's. it's possible that I've found some fullsize axles with 4.88 gears :D

that was never an available combination. bookspan, you should have told him that you know the value of these trucks, are on a club which features these trucks specifically, and there are only a handful of trucks worth that...all of which are absolutely MINT or heavily modified. a stock MJ with faded paint and other small issues is worth 1800 at best.

oi! just cause I have WAAAAAY too much time on my hands, and spend too much time staring at MJs (no my mother never let me know that it's not polite), does not mean I've engaged in complete douchebaggery :chillin: :brows: :P

i'll get you that steering box this weekend wade, or at least have the xj set up on the cow yard here so you can pull what you need. lots to do on this end of things too. oh, when're you heading down to the badlands on that friday? wanna convoy?

yep. idk if the one i'm building will be done by then, but if it isn't the truck will just get the tube bumper that's in the barn temporarily. don't wanna wreck the nice stock bumper sitting in the garage...my father's layed claim on it (and my class 3 hitch... :roll: ) for the smoker (that's diesel to you ladies and gents who are unaware of it's existance)

diff skids installed rear front. it was a Rusty's, but I had my bro weld in the name on it...I cannot have that name anywhere on my truck (you know, cause Rusty's sucks) fogs hooked up. I altered two factory xj switch plates to fit 3 switches in each, so now I have 6 factory switches relayed and in the factory location. they're for the fogs, offroad lights, cargo light, power trans, auxillary fan, rear fogs. it's rediculous how much I can see at night now :nuts: cut out bezels driving fogs relays for the front fogs, have to set up relay for the rears when i install them. added a grand cherokee 4x4 emblem just because now i need to paint the clevis' red, plus install the front skid plate. painting JEEP in white across the skid too.

great job jeff! man, she sounds beautiful. that's quite a truck you have. but is it just me, or did the oil pressure look low (unless you let it sit and idle for awhile...?) for initial start-up?

acos will effect ride height at all times, it will not add support to the suspension. would you honestly be willing to adjust the crap outta your suspension when you put the plow on, then back it off when you take it off? it's not like adjusting acos is that easy... my dad had a plow on his MJ at one point. it sucked the front end way down, so he put some heavy duty springs (available at napa/bumper to bumper I believe) in it to add support. it worked, but he WAS NOT HAPPY with the ride of the truck anymore. rides stiff no matter what you do. anyways, whatever you do...you will probably not be happy. personally, I would put the plow on and use it, then take it off after every use to relieve the weight. wash the truck alot. you will not be impressed with the plowing ability of these trucks...they are way too light.

lol sorry...read my title. ....yea...i've got issues :brows:

no pics, but it would be grey with silver high points. same with the headlight bezels. I just use bumper black and go black on them

yea, the 92 motor will work. you'll have to swap alot of things from the 96 motor over that you can you need 96 flywheel/fledplate distributor (for safe measure though 92 may work) throttle body and sensors coolant sensors oil pressure sending unit 02 sensors (not sure if this is 100% necessary swap) fuel rail and injectors (not 100% necessary, but a good idea) the most important thing I can tell you to swap is the flywheel/flexplate. we recently installed a 93 motor in a 95 xj after rebuilding the motor, and found that the flexplate was different and would not bolt up to the torque converter AFTER we installed the motor :roll: so we had to take it out and swap out the flexplate :( which just cost us time.

lol guys. my day has been made by the previous post. I'm not saying rob's a yuppie. I just used the term to point out that he didnt know what to look for, and the shop obviously should have known better and should have told him the truth rather than lie. you can use the fact that the axle could literally kill you if any of the rusty-@$$ mounts fail as well.