mfpdm

The biggest thing is to take your time. The foam cushions are old and like to crumble or tear. The head rest tubes are two piece and can be carefully popped apart to remove. The lever trim I believe has a pin in it. JeepcoMJ help me out here, I know you've had these things completely apart. :D

Made it there just fine.

doh :oops: My apologies. :thumbsup: And your welcome. :cheers:

Not to be disagreeable, but his question was could anyone show him some pic's to see how they are mounted. I think it is good that you have told him they are not the best thing he can do, however I kinda feel bad that with all the negatives, he might be regreting his purchase. Sure we are all mature adults, but when you walk up to someone, "Hey look what I got", and the reply is "That's the worst thing ever", it may not sit well with some people. Please do not read into this or think I'm pointing fingers at anyone. Just my observation that we have not answered his question for help. I wish I could help you out, but I haven't even seen a MJ up close with running boards nor doing a search of the web could find out anything either. :cheers:

Biggest tire that came on a TJ prior to the Rubi was 30's. They were mostly on the 4.0' though. So I would definetly say those aren't stock. I believe yours should have been in the 28-29 inch range or wantever the metric version of that is. That is the big problem I've come across, finding something that will bolt up without any fab/custom work. I'm looking at the Rubi's tranny to see how it is wired up and if that would be a better choice to save cost.

I'm a Jeep fan, but that is very cool. :eek: Reminds me of a Warthog out of Halo. From the link it looks like that was what they were after. The younger Halo generation that is coming of driving age. I think the final production will lose a lot but seeing how it is going against the Wrangler, the price will be in the same nieghborhood(too much). :cheers:

What were the steps in putting it down? I'm curious about the putty and the mesh. They sell the mesh by itself and I thought it might be all I need with the POR 15 and would cost less than the kit. :cheers:

That's what it will finally boil down to is cost vs savings. However, I've come to realize that one thing leads to another with the jeep. Trying to get the perfect setup usually means when you think you got it right, you need just one more thing to get it perfect. I'm thinking that if I jump ahead this time, I'll miss a couple of ca-ching$ in the process. I'm leaning towards this way. I figure I can pick up a used set of 35's in good shape for about $250 and run the way I am until I get all the parts together. Stock I was getting close to 300 miles per tank. After lift with 33's and 3.07 I was getting 250 per tank. After axle swap to 4.10 I'm down to 200 per tank. I really appreciate all the feedback. Things look different with someone elses perspective. That's also the reason I brought this to this forum instead of one of the wrangler forums. I love this place. :cheers:

Bingo! That's exactly what started the wheels turning in my head when I filled up the other day and it was $50. This being my DD, that's a once a week event. The O/D for the 700R4 was .70 but first is 3.06 which will give a nice crawl ratio with the 4:1 tcase and 4.11's.

:agree: :eek: :D

Thanks for the complement. :cheers: Sometimes I over do it, but what the heck, I love using my power tools. :D

Your probably right. I do have a tendency to over think things sometime. In the Navy we call that Nuking it. :cheers:

The rpm's I could live with, it's the 11-12 miles to the gallon that has me a little ticked. Following this " Good "rule of thumb" calculation is to mutiply .12 by your tire diameter. (.12 X 38" = 4.56)" to get what the right gear should be, I would be at 3.96 (3.91). Now following thischart I'm just a little above the sweet spot towards the power side. So I can understand why my milage went so far down(lost like 50 miles to the tank). I found this great link that has a spreadsheet that will calculate your rpm's based on your tire size, axle ratio, and tranny gears. I plugged in all my numbers and came out with pretty much what I am seeing in the jeep, however, I'm going to break out the gps again and verify my speedo. I ran the numbers for the 700R4 and in overdrive I would be running 1906 rpm's at 65 mph. I'm thinking that would be less work on the engine and therefore better milage, right?

That was my plan until I saw the kit. Just wondered if anyone has tried it. With the epoxy and fiberglass mesh, it looks like a good answer for small holes.

I forgot to mention that I have a speedo calibration thingy. Worked out well when I swapped out the 231 for the 241OR which doesn't use speedo gears. At 3000 rpm in a stock TJ, I would be running close to 80-85 mph. Jeep is definetly more fun to drive now. Just sounds like the engine is really working at 65 mph. If it just had that next gear to drop into it would be perfect. :D

Until I did my lift on the Jeep, I always thought that when you unbolted the shock, it would shoot out of there like a bullet killing everyone. :eek: And that you would have to be really strong to get them compressed. :oops: Man was I a :dunce:

This is not about the MJ, but the math works for all jeeps. This is going to be long. :typing: I recently swapped the axles out of my TJ with D44's from a Rubi(4.10's and factory lockers). I had the 30/35 in it before with 3.07 gearing which with my 4.0 and 3 speed auto pushing 33's was generating around 2000-2200 RPM's at 65 mph. Jeep was slow off the start and bogged down on hills, but ran at highway speeds ok. With the swap, I gained a lot of pep in the low in but now am running about 3000 rpms at 65 mph. Needless to say my gas milage went into the toilet. I know if I want better gas milage get an economy car but I love the Jeep. So here are the options I have considered. I could go to 35's which would lower my rpm's and actually get better milage but then I would need to consider either a 1 in body lift or swapping out to 4.5 coils (have 3.5 now). My TW's drive shaft should still fit but may be short at full droop. Also would need to consider new shocks to achieve full droop as well. Maybe have to upgrade the brakes and steering to better handle the 35's. All in all about $600-1000 depending on the parts needed. Second option would be to swap out the 3 spd auto with a auto with overdrive. This should drop me down to 2400-2600 rpm's which is right in the correct powerband that I want. Would keep the pep in lower gears and reduce the highway rpm's and improve gas milage. Options on autos would be a 4 spd with overdrive out of an XJ which would bolt right up with little mods, but is computer controlled which would take a little more work to get it all wired up and working correctly. Plus the 4spd is longer and would make my rear drive shaft to long. With the TJ's every inch counts on the rear drive shaft and the front shaft would be too short. The cost of this would be $500-1000 range depending on whether or not I had to get new drive shafts made and the condition of the tranny. The other optional tranny would be get a 700R4 from a 4x4 chevy. They are 4 spd with over drive and have a decent first gear. Best of all they are not computer controlled which would be nice. Advanced adapters makes a kit to bolt it up to the 4.0 and an adapter for the tcase. I'm not sure of how much the overall length difference would be but if it is within an inch the driveshafts would be good I believe. I would have to get a new shifter for the tranny as well. The cost of this would be $1200-1800 depending on the condition of the tranny. I've seen a write up on this swap on 4x4 wire, however it was for a YJ. I think it would actually be easier with the TJ. So, now that I've bored you with the details, is there any other options or has anyone done a similar tranny swap. (Selling the Jeep is not an option :D )

Was getting ready to order some POR-15 online today and ran across their Floor Pan & Restoration Kit. Click the name for info. This seems to be an excellent alternative to cutting and welding new metal. All I have is pinholes here and there, but the floor itself is solid. Has anyone used this product? Pro's and Con's or Opinions. :cheers:

Oh be sure I have no intension of getting this. I just admire the great condition it is in with all the service records.(if they are true) Also the fact it would be fun driving around getting wierd looks from everyone. Although I believe you can't have a RHD as a personal vehicle in the states. :dunno: And yes, he listed it in the title as postal, but in the write-up I didn't see it refered to again. I think the seller is trying to get the rural postal drivers attention with that line. There is another factory RHD on there that is in the states and is set up for postal but not in that clean of condition. I would never buy anything off ebay that is listed by an overseas seller, just because of all the scammers out there. And would definetly not buy a vehicle off there from anywhere unless I could drive by and kick the tires. :cheers:

Found this on Ebay. RHD XJ that is mint. :eek: Click here Just wonder if the guy is legit. Talks about previous auctions but is a new member and has no feedback. :cheers:

Had thought about just wrapping it in cardboard but as you can see, this tailgate is in really good shape. Plus, it is no fun buying something, waiting for it to get there, and then showing up damaged. I know, I had two sets of half doors for my TJ show up damaged because they were just wrapped in cardboard. So I guess this has made me anal about packaging. :cheers:

How crazy, snowing in LA and near 70 in VA. Darn global warming. I'm going to be out that way next week. Do you think the snow will last till then :D

If your remember I did a short write-up on shipping a rear slider window.Click here for that one Well here is the second installment of How to ship... A Tailgate. Used 1x4 pine wood to frame around the tailgate. First cut a grove in the wood so the bottom lip will set in to it and keep the tailgate from moving around. Then put small 1x2 blocks on the same peice to hold the tailgate up so the lip would not get damaged. Framed aroung the tailgate with 1x4. Attached cardboard strips to the top piece to add a little protection against the wood and also make it a snug fit. Added 4 1x4 side supports. Bubble wrap on both sides. Then some newspaper to help keep the cardboard's shape. And finally, cover it with cardboard and tape it up real good. Overall the extra packaging added between 5-10 lbs, but because of the size, it is charge cubic weight and should not impact the cost. Now it is up to Fedex to get it there without damaging it. :D

Like they say, it's all about being at the right place at the right time. Nice score. :cheers:

I ran into the same problem when I put the 241 in my TJ. The 241 shaft was about 3/4 in shorter than the 231. I had to put a seal extender on the tranny. However, it said in it's discription that it was for 3 spd auto's only. Not sure if there is one for manual trannies.