mfpdm

Why the hell would you do that to put on a cheaper design? The reason only a few produce a bracket for the MJ is one, the stock control arm mount is a lot stronger than the XJs and can support the added stress, and two, low demand. Now before you say what do you know, I've kicked the crap out of this dead horse. Do a search with "RRO" and you'll find plenty on the drop brackets. Now another thing since on the soapbox, I've heard this a couple of times about the self tapping screws not going to hold up on the braces. Now of course you know the brace, when fitted tight against all surfaces, acts as part of the frame, right. If it's not flat up against them then ditch them because they are just a piece of crap bolted in place. Now when they are installed right, those grade 5, self-tapping screws believe it or not, will be enough. Those bolts are not holding thousands of pounds in place but are there to keep the brace tight against the frame as stated above. Nothing is pulling at them to rip them from the frame however, they will face shear forces. Since the shear strength of those bolts is about, uhm, 15000-16000 lbs. per square inch, you're going to have to hit something really hard to shear them off. At that point your going to be pulling your head out of the dash and what's left of your suspension out of your @ss. Now even if your brace were to say fall off while wheeling or going down the road, its not what is holding the drop bracket on so you shouldn't panic, unless you run over it and blow out a tire. Now that I've got that out of my system, if your still wanting a brace for your drop brackets, fab one up or have someone build one for you. RRO's braces are really a good design and could easily be duplicated with something similar. Far as the drop brackets, themselves, go with a brand that you trust. I personally wish I had. :cheers:

I'll never know, to me they are priceless. :D Actually, I did see a set of NOS ones go for close to $200 on ebay once. I bid up to $180 and then stopped. Felt bad that I didn't keep going but in the long run, I still got a set for less. :D I never leave any unless they are completely broke. At worst case, I can break even or at least help out a board member. :thumbsup: :cheers:

Mine was a manual so I swapped everything over from the donor which had the floor shifter for the AW4. I don't believe the column shifter cable will work for the floor shifter. Seem to remember a thread about it not to long ago. Now if your referring to the other cable from the column that locks the shifter until the switch is turned, that one would be totally different from a column shift and would have to come from the donor of the floor shifter. :cheers:

X2 on seal but don't use silicone. Pull them off and replace the weather stripping on the back. Also make sure that the blowout insert still has the flaps on it. :cheers:

Be sure to document what you do and take pictures. This would be a great mod for all us Renix types. I'm like you, I hate that jumbled mess so called engineers came up with. :shake: :cheers:

Is it just my lack of seeing different brands of track bars or is that one in backwards? I've never seen the adjustment on the axle side, always the frame side. Seems like if it was turned around, the axle side would go in the hole lower on your bracket. :dunno: :cheers:

Here is a fairly quick and easy Mod that has been done by others so I'll not drag it out too much. The stock floor shifter in pre 97+ XJ's and all of our MJ's are less than ergonomic. The 97+ floor shifter puts it at a better angle and a little higher up. The ZJ shifter handle is in my opinion a better grip. So to get the best of all, here is the Mod. The problem with the standard floor shifter is that it sets a little low and when in park, it is really blocking easy access to the ash tray. Here are pictures of the Pre 97, 97+ and ZJ shifter in comparison. You can see the height difference between all of them. Also here you can see the difference in location in park. Here is each one in the truck. (My MJ is still in the build process so the lower panel is off the dash.) Pre 97 97+ And the ZJ shifter. This pic will answer the question, "if you want the ZJ handle, why not swap the whole thing?" Well as you can see, it sits too close and will actually be on the dash. The only difference in the shifter bases is the location of the console mounting bracket. Since the ZJ one is out, here is the Pre 97 and 97+. The red arrows show the bracket difference. To get the bracket off the Pre 97, just drill out the two pinch welds. I used a small bit at first then stepped up two more bits to make it easier. Then you have to pry it off carefully as to not mess up the bracket. Mine did distort just a little but I used the bench vise to flatten it back into the right shape. Now you need to cut off the bracket on the 97+. I just used a sawsall and cut it even with the base. Be careful not to cut into the shifter. I slid the blade inbetween the bracket and shifter and cut outwards to avoid this. You then need to attach the Pre 97 to the 97+ base. Now at first I thought I'd just drill two holes and use small bolts, but them I remembered that the base needs to set flat and also that there is a gasket on the other side to keep crap from coming up throught the hole it sets in. So I started to brainstorm on how to get it on there. I guess you could weld it. That’s it, weld it, JB weld it. So I prepared the base and the bracket with a little wire wheeling before I mixed up some JB Weld. Measured the location from the Pre 97 so I could mark where to put it on the 97+ It comes out to 3 inches to the front of the bracket if you measure like this. Mixed up a small amount of JB Weld and applied it to the base then set the bracket on it. I plan on using a clamp to hold it in place while it cures so I then used a small piece of Duct tape to cover the bracket so the clamp would not have to be chiseled off and to protect the gasket from getting any JB Weld on it. Put the clamp on it and make sure the position is right. There is no moving it later. Now go away for 24 hours so it can cure. Well 24 hours have past and here is the result. As you can see the JB Weld did come through the holes so it was good that the tape was on there. Also learned that you should use painters tape because it did pull a thin layer of the gasket off but it should still be ok. Now at this point you would re-install the shifter and put the console back over it prior to putting the shifter handle back on but since I'm a little ways away from putting things back together, I'll step through the handle mod. To remove the handles from all the shifters, you just need to pull them up real hard while pushing the button. Now the ZJ shifter rod is a little different from the XJs as it is a smaller diameter farther down the rod. This allows the longer base of the handle to slide down. Now you don't need to get out the lathe to make the 97+ smaller but this will make getting the handle on quite a bit harder. Once your shifter is installed and the console back over it with the selector panel, put the ZJ handle on as well as you can by hand and then use a rubber mallet to bang it the rest of the way on. It will look like this basically. And in the truck. Mine is not completely on all the way because I still have to get the console in but you get the idea. Make sure you have everything in place before putting the handle on all the way. They are a real bear to get back off. So now when I need to access the ash tray, which is actually a coin tray, I can without problems. Plus with the ZJ handle and the better position of the 97+ shifter, it should feel real nice to shift and give a beefier look. :cheers:

Jake, meet your southern relative Buzz. I had to do a double take when I first saw your dog. He looks just like mine when he was younger(15lbs lighter). Part shepherd, husky, akita, and a bit of chow. :cheers:

When I'm not working on the Jeeps I'm....................................... . . . ...umh................ . . . ....errr................. . . . . . OH MY GOD, I DON'T HAVE A LIFE!

$20 a piece for the power ones. Yeah if those fenders are there next week when I go, I'll think real hard on grabbing them. However, they are probably already gone. :roll: :cheers:

Here's that piece of crap tool your referring too and you can see the window results behind it. Unless you have used it before, don't bother. The money you spend could go to the professional to take it out. I would be curious to see your rubber surround that you pulled out by hand. These normally get some of the urethane on them and if you pull it the channel portion of the surround that wraps around the backside of the glass gets torn. I've attempted a hand full of these before getting the professionals with the proper tools do it. Not saying you can't do it yourself, but the odds are better with the pros. :cheers:

Not to hurt your feelings but I'd ditch that aluminum 44 and spend the dough on getting a real one. With the problems I've heard of with that thing you'll be spending more money and in the end will probably have to get a new one anyway. :cheers:

Try rockauto.com http://www.rockauto.com/catalog/raframecatalog.php They have several listed. You may need to call them to make sure which is which as not many of them have dia. listed. I did notice they talk about 242 1st design so that may have something to do with your problem of finding the right one.

If I were going to invest money on something that just held some hooks, I think I'd spent a couple more bucks and put something like this on. At least then you would have the option of different hooks or d-rings to use with the 2in reciever and you could get a tray for a winch. That pic was found at the link below but I saw the same ones on other sites cheaper in the $125 price range. Just a thought. http://www.autoanything.com/towing/77A3 ... x?kc=ffsku :cheers:

Went to the JY today here and it was great. It's been raining all week so no one has been out there to rape things yet. CFC's is kicking into high gear for them so some nice XJ's are starting to show up. Here's a couple of pic's of things I saw. 3 97+ XJ's. Lots of parts and one is just begging to have the front taken off for the 97+ conversion. Nice waggy XJ. Still has all the front pieces, nice fenders and doors as well. Would make a nice Waggy MJ. Anyone doing a right hand drive conversion? 94 XJ RH drive with full metric gauges. Love that woodgrain bezel. Couple of non Jeep things that look good. Late 80's FS Chevy from the USMC with all the bigger bumpers and stuff. Bad Pic Lastly I may go back and get these, a set of dually fenders on an S-10. Figured it wouldn't be too hard to make them work on an MJ. Dually MJ is on my list of project trucks. :D Not sure what axle would be under it but I did notice it was only 5 lug. I'm not really in the position to pull anything but money always talks, I just may be hard of hearing. :cheers:

That would be my ultra rare switch bezel. :D Believe me I was thrilled to find that. :clapping: Especially seeing how the truck had neither option installed. That's why it has the blanks instead of the switches. :cheers:

There is a couple of different fixes to disable the security system. Here's a couple of links that may help. http://www.naxja.org/forum/showthread.p ... t=security http://www.jeepforum.com/forum/f11/jeep ... em-388068/ http://www.naxja.org/forum/showthread.php?t=9413&page=2 :cheers:

Unless you have the proper tools and know how, let the professionals do it. Should cost you about $40-50 bucks. Don't let no fly by night company do it either. They should have a saws-all looking tool that has an offset blade and not a piece of wire to saw back and forth. You need to save the rubber so you can put it back in. There are no new ones and nobody makes an aftermarket one. I bought a whole truck just for the back window and gasket so my glass guy could take it out. I'm assuming that this is a factory three pane slider with rubber surround(gasket). If not, and it's just an aftermarket one without the rubber, just use a hook blade from the inside after you have removed the interior trim from around the window. Either way, you will need to remove the trim to avoid damage. :cheers:

Yep. Here is how to get them off if you don't know. http://comancheclub.com/forums/viewtopi ... =2&t=18718 What happens is that the 20 year old weather stripping stops doing it's job and allows water to run down into the blowout insert. Just get some from the hardware store and replace like so. :cheers:

Yeap, that sounds like the factory security system on the XJ's. When you unhook the battery and hook it back up, while the lights are flashing, lock and unlock the drivers door with the key and it should reset the system. If that doesn't work, do the same process to the passenger side door. The factory system only shuts off the fuel flow so yes you could start it and keep it running with another source of fuel. :cheers:

That is the hole for the factory antenna cable. You said you have two, where's the other one at? Anyhow, the factory grommet will actually come off of the antenna cable. There is a small metal ring crimped on one side. Just remove it and you can slide it off. Any XJ in the JY can provide the grommet. Far as your leak on the passenger side back, two possibilities. The B-pillar blow out vent is letting water in or your rear window. Now the rear window could be as simple as it was not sealed good or it maybe that the window channel has a spot that has rusted through. You should be able to pull the back cab trim pieces and see if you have water trails. I found this out when I recently had the rear window swapped on the 86. Two holes rusted through on the bottom of the window channel and was probably the cause of my floor rot. :fs1: :cheers:

Never really got the hunting bird thing or hunting anything so I recommend this Probably a hell of a lot more fun to shoot and when you got bored of hunting, you could lay waste to some old cans or something.

My front D44 on the TJ I got out of a rubi has been weeping since I put it in there. I use to check it after every oil change but loss more gear oil checking it than it was weeping. As long as it doesn't start leaking, it's just a eye sore. I always laugh at the dealership when they come and tell me I have a serious problem and need to have the seals replaced. I tell them it's ok until it leaves a spot on the driveway. Far as your coolant leak, it could be the waterpump getting ready to go and leaking out the weep hole thats suppose to let you know, huh, your waterpump is getting ready to go. :D :cheers:

HOW TO INSTALL A HOME SECURITY SYSTEM 1. Go to a secondhand store and buy a pair of men used size 14-16 work boots. 2. Place them on your front porch, along with a copy of Guns & Ammo Magazine. 3. Put a few giant dog dishes next to the boots and magazines. 4. Leave a note on your door that reads: " Bubba , Bertha, Duke, Slim, & I went for more ammo and beer. Be back in an hour. Don't mess with the pit bulls; they attacked the mailman this morning and messed him up bad. I don't think Killer took part, but it was hard to tell from all the blood. Anyway, I locked all four of 'em in the house. Better wait outside. Be right back. "Cooter" :peek:

No HO this time around. It's all Renix. Would have like to have done the HO swap but was trying to keep it simple. :rotfl2: :cheers: