mfpdm

Think of it this way. You bought it for the plow, so how much would just the plow have cost you? Subtrack that price from what you paid and then add the cost of what you have done to it. That will give you roughly what you need to break even in the deal. Far as I'm concern, breakin even with an MJ is good. :thumbsup: Or you can throw all that out and post it for sale as a RARE Jeep and try to get some rediculious price for it as you watch it slowly rust in your driveway. If it was me, I'd start at $500 OBO. :cheers:

Since you said it was parked on an incline, I would probably say that either your cowl space filled up with water and found a hole or that the rear hood seal is bad and water poured onto the firewall and found a way in. Since you have everything out, park it the way it was and put the water hose on it. You should be able to locate it pretty quick if it let all that water in. As far as the foam padding on the firewall, IMHO I would not trim it as it does provide some sound deadning and heat shielding. Find and fix the leak and then let it dry out (might take some time). Here's a link that talks about the cowl and possible leak locations. Click Here :cheers:

They were used? OMG I thought they were New Old Stock. If I remember right, someone called on one of the parts direct sites, and even though listed, they didn't have them. :cheers:

I did a lot of searching in the JY for a third brake light. The problem with most other vehicles is that they are inset into the cab which would require a large hole to be cut into the truck. I'm not for that so in my search I finally found a flush mount that will only require three holes to be drilled(two for the screws and one for the wiring pigtail). It is off a 98 or 99 nissan frontier. It is a one piece unit and has 6 bulbs in it. The two screws holds it to the cab and when removed, you can pull it away to get to a cover that allows access to the bulbs. The 01 and up are a little different and have the cargo light incorporated on the ends but, from what I can tell, the top has a notch which if put on our trucks, would allow water to get in. I haven't seen the one that I got with the cargo light but it may be an option. I plan on going with an under the bedrail lighting system for the cargo area so this one will be just fine for me. That is if I don't find something better. I also pulled the wiring harness all the way to under the dash so I could wire it directly to the brake switch. Side note: If anyone works at a nissan dealer, I would love to know the cost of one of these new. :thumbsup: :cheers:

Did something similar to the Wild build with some insulation from Lowes. Sounds close but mine was not self adhesive-backed. I used spray adhesive. Here's a link Click Here I figured it will be better than nothing and a lot cheaper than the professional stuff. Will do above the headliner and under the rear window as well. :cheers:

I reported it. eBay threatened to pull some of my stuff for advertising that I took money orders. They changed their rules and no longer allow anyone to advertise accepting money orders...it MUST be PayPal of another "approved" e-payment method. Anyway...yes, you can still get them new for between $65 & $90 each depending on where you go. Well it must of worked because it is no longer there. The last NOS set that I saw on ebay went for around $150-180 I think. And where can one find these new ones for $65-90 each? Chryslerpartsdirect has one listed but it's chrome. I need the plain red one for the drivers side to match the passenger side NOS one that I have. :cheers:

Both those trucks would have been crying when I left because I would have raped them. Great find. I wish I was closer and had more of that green stuff. Tailgate, tail lights, black interior, buckets, floor brackets, and a lot more would have went home with me. :cheers:

I use to make quite a few trips up to Dalgren and it would average about 2 1/2. Your just a tad closer so 2 to 2.5 should do it for you, depending on traffic on 64. I may be heading out there this weekend so I'll let you know what is still there if I do. They only close one day a year and that is on Christmas. :cheers:

100 Sykes Avenue Virginia Beach, VA 23454 US Link with map. http://www.picknpull.com/locations.aspx ... tail&ID=75 :cheers:

:agree: What a turd. Looks like IFS but can't say 100%. I hate that we've stood for German engineering and now are going to China for the next Jeep design. I'm sure the customer base in China knows exactly what us good ole boys in the USA need. :nuts: At least you could go get a libby and hack it up to make one instead of wanting just another Chinese product in the country. What the hell, China has us by the balls anyway with the money the government has borrowed from them. And no, I'm not a racist, I'm just prejudice against crap from China. When is enough enough.

What a super deal. :clapping: Those are a lot harder to find than an MJ. He's very lucky regardless of the shape it's in, which doesn't look too bad for a begining. :cheers:

Wow! :bowdown: Now that one can claim, "Pickup Is AS GOOD AS NEW, OR BETTER". That has to be the cleanest one I've ever seen. It has been fully restored. They just left off the modified part. That could bring the $8K the other guy wanted. That paint job alone would run you about $4K or better and was not done by Maaco. His asking price, though high, is what it would take to make one that nice. If they came that way out of the factory in 1986, that's how it would of look. :thumbsup: It wouldn't surprise me too much if he got real close to his asking price. Someone that doesn't want to do all the work but have a nice MJ will put out for it. Anyone close to that thing that can do a drive by and get the story behind it. :cheers:

I can't believe I missed that one. :doh: I guess I was to blinded by the little things. That even makes this statement more ridiculous.

Well, I finally did something to at least one of the MJ's. Not much but every little thing counts, right? Found a couple of more pieces for the black interior. Now I'm down to the MJ specific ones. Put the nicer, vinyl visors in. Will need a headliner soon. :D Changed out the mini console. And changed out the door handle bezels. Tomorrow, it gets a bath and some interior cleaning. :thumbsup:

I'm starting to breath better now since I got that of my chest. :D I think the thing that really got me about it was him saying he had 12K invested. :nuts: We've got probably about $8K in ours right now, with another $2-3 to go. I know alot of his is labor but from the looks, they didn't labor to hard. Sorry if I upset anyone with my rant. :cheers:

So I went to the pick n pull here in Virginia Beach for the first time in over a month. I found three XJ's with black interior. Normally I would have raped them and offered them up here, however, being unemployed at the moment is putting the clamp on my wallet. Sooo, you Hampton Roads guys that have been thinking of doing the swap to the hard to find Black Interior, nows your chance. Did I mention that two of them are 2drs. The passenger seats are good, but the drivers seat in both are bad off. The 4dr has pretty good seats and 2 of them have full consoles. I took the small console and a set of vinyl sunvisors. Between the three you could get all of the parts seat forward for the swap. Normally I would offer to get some stuff for anyone, but I really don't have the time or money right now to help yall out. Just figured I'd post up the find for anyone interested and could go out there. :cheers:

:agree: I saw that and just laughed after reading his write up. If that was true, he would know what the real value of it was and would also be a member here. Why did he waste the money? Polished a turd. That's it, I'm shelling out the dough to buy it. :rotfl2: That means it turns on but doesn't get cold. :doh: However if you pulled it up, you would probably find a rusted floor board. That's a Maaco paint job with the Maaco signature pinstripes down the side. If it was a good paint job, you would be able to see the reflections in the paint a whole lot better and it would be shiny. Not to mention the dents you can clearly see. This is also a sign of maybe being wreck before or the hinges need replaced. With the cracked and missing pieces of the window weather stripes, I'd refer back up to the pulling the carpet idea. I call BS on this one. What, was it 100+ degrees a couple of weeks ago. I think not. Not even close. I'm sure from the factory they came with holes in the vinyl door trim, interior lights hanging out, paint removed from the steering column, dents, etc, etc... Better keep lowering. Blue Book is still only between $1000-2000 in great condition. And I surely wouldn't admit to investing $12K on it, because you got ripped off. Now don't get me wrong, it's a nice MJ, but I'm really getting tired of BS. :cheers:

Well look at it this way. It's a good argument to get a bigger rear bumper on the MJ, because the one you have didn't do it's job. :D :cheers:

I'll have to agree with Pat. That's way up there for standard width axles. 38's on a 30 and 35 are really pushing it. SOA on a stock 4wd will get you about 5-6 inches of lift with good leafs so I'm thinking he has lifted leaf packs and probably longer shackles. I would pray that there is not blocks on it. Is the front converted to leafs with an SOA? Pictures would be great. Thing you may consider is why does he want to trade. MJ's are not too hard to find and can be had in a lot places for under a $1000. How much do you have invested in your cj and would it be a fair trade? For what you plan on doing offroad, I personnally think that's more lift than needed. By the way, Welcome to the Club. :cheers:

My personal favorite is to just remove all that stuff out of the way and scrub it down with Purple Power and the water hose. :D First and last time I pressure washed an engine was my new 89 chevy truck. Took me 45 minutes to get it dried out enough to start. :doh: :cheers:

Well, after the one tire at a time test, I decided that the noise wasn't the same as when I was driving so I took it out and drove it some more to maybe narrow it down. With both windows open and my neighbor standing by the side of the road as I drove by, we decided that it was not clicking. Instead it was chirpping. :doh: I'm off to the pet store to get those canaries out of my front drive shaft. I'm really happy that it was not the wheel bearings as new u-joints are a lot cheaper. :brows: :cheers:

So this is on my TJ, but I figured the mechanics of the problem is the same on any front axle. I have a clicking noise coming from the front that is speed related. Stops when stopped. Increases and decreases with speed. I've lifted the front off the ground and spun the tires and I can hear it. So, I spun the tires holding the front driveshaft and it is still there. I'm thinking doing that, I've eliminated ring and pinion, air locker, and DS ujoints. Which leaves me with wheel bearings. It's hard to tell which side, but I'm leaning towards the passenger side one. I'm going to lift one side at a time and see if I can determine which side. This axle is out of a 04 Rubicon but I have heard that the wheel bearings don't last too long with larger tires. Am I heading down the right path here? Is there anything that I've over looked as the problem and is there any other members here that have had a simuliar problem with this axle? This is my DD and unfortunitly, has not been wheeled since installed. Not sure of the milage on it but I would guess under 50K. :cheers:

Thanks to all. :cheers: Was a Sonar Tech. and yeah, I'll be staying in the Hampton Roads area. More and likely I'll become a contractor. Civil Service has it's benefits and job security, but the contractors pay a lot better. Will probably do it for awhile till I figure out what I would really like to do. It's is a bit scary. I guess it would kind of be like being married for 24 years, get a divorce, and then have to start dating again. :D :cheers:

Well, I finally finished it today. No, not the build. I hung up my uniform and retired after 24 years of service in the Navy. It was a great ride and I'll miss it. Now I'll have to decide what to be when I grow up and most importantly, find a job. For those still serving or those thinking about joining, it's not easy staying the course, but the end result is worth every minute. Maybe now I'll find some time to finish the Wild build. :thumbsup:

Got them and the payment. Thanks. :thumbsup: :cheers: