UNL1MTD

I'm nearing Inspection and I have been getting quotes in my area for a new Windshield. Best price is 165.00 so far. Normal Price is 180.00. Only one company is willing to install the new XJ style gasket and that'll run another 40. All quotes include them coming to me and installing it in my driveway. So I guess I'm trying to gauge if the newer gasket is really worth that money. Its either 165 for a new windshield. or 220 for a new windshield and XJ rubber gasket. Whats everyones thoughts ... keep in mind its a 500 dollar truck.

Thanks again Pete, might be hitting you up for another if I ever get tired of looking at my shooty work on putting the sticker on crooked. :roll:

some new pics Sticker went on crooked, should have read the warning about the paper not being cut perfectly level ... oh well

The MJ is tooting now, was getting 12 volts, so I guess the horn went bad. I swapped in the parts truck horn and it honked on the first go. For Inspection I Just need: -To get it Titled -To get it Insured -To get it Registered -Windshield -E-brake (17.99 for the main cable at napa, crossing my fingers that its what I need ... it comes in on Tuesday) - ??? I'm sure something else will come up

Well, i put in 2 gallons of new gas. Idled a lot better, but still backfired at high rpms. I changed out the plugs, wires, cap, rotor, using di-electric grease on the connections. It seemed to help out, drove it around the neighbor a bunch and only backfired 3 times, each when letting off of first gear at a higher rpm. I think she might just need to be driven a while and it might stop when she passes all the old gas. :D I haven't changed the oil again. I plan to run this for 500 -750 miles or until 2 months pass. On a side note, my plugs and wires weren't in the best shape. Alls plugs had carbon deposits and the gapping was worn down to .45 on most. I was expecting this. Plugs 4 and 5 had oil on them. Each plug was barely finger tight in the block. Normally I got to muscle up on a 3/8s to break a plug, but all of these easily spun out of the block. There also was oil in the distributor. I cleaned it out with WD40. I have a valve cover leak, which is pretty much 360 degrees around. Could oil leaking from the valve cover possible get into the distributor and onto the plugs? or am I looking at a bigger problem? I went out and got a cork gasket for the valve cover, but haven't pulled it yet. This will be my first time, any pointers. I know I'm going to see some sludge on things under the cover, what can I do to clean it without dissembling the engine?

yea thats even easier, since I tore out the lining in the fenders the horn is sitting right there and I can put a voltmeter right on it. I wonder if its just a corroded terminal preventing voltage from getting down to the horn.

so is there anyway that the additive or changing the oil could cause the backfire? The old gas is a valid suggestion. What are some other typical reasons engines backfire?

See i was thinking that clicking meant the relay was toast, good thing I asked. No i haven't tried just running 12 volts right to it, but thats easy enough to try before I go monkeying around elsewhere. I got a working spare horn on the other truck, so if its the horn thats an easy fix.

The gas is low, in the red, and the PO never mentioned filling the tank while he owned it, so I'm guessing the gas is 1.5 years old. Interesting opinion on the slik 50, it is in with the new oil. I followed their directions and just used it as a 1 quart replacement. Basically a guy at work was telling me about it and how it would quiet everything down, i bite on it and bought it, rough to swallow at 15 bucks, but ohwell. Live and learn. New oil filter too you think?

I don't have a tach, so no idea what the exact idle is. But it did idle really high this last time out and immediately back fired after it did that. It only did that once, generally its idling fine. Well that would make sense about the up shift light coming on if I had ti in neutral and starting reving it.

Bent the other tube and bleed the brakes ... quick trip to napa and 2 bleeder screws later .. I got brakes. I was able to take the jeep for the its first test drive today. I did about mile. It was a great feeling to finally be able to drive it around. Brakes feel tight, probably going to hold off on a complete hardline replacement until I swap axles. I also got a 95+ style bumper on the front and tow hooks from an XJ. The MJ looks nice having the front clip all put back together. The neighbors (neighbor Paul) was getting pissy with me threaten police action if I didn't move it soon. Evidently having an old MJ is a hazard to the childern and the neighborhood (aka his house value). Anway with brakes working, i can move it around and he can't hassel me anymore (especially with plates and a registration). A couple more things : - the horn just makes an audible click coming from the fuse area, but doesn't honk. Is this the relay? How can I identify it? -the vinly fllooring is dirty, whats the best way to clean it? -the truck is now back firing after its oil change ... see tech thread

I'm thinking I did a big opps. I haven't had an 'old' engine yet. There was a bunch of ticking from what I thought were lifters from the engine.So I decided to treat it to Castrol High Mileage and also some Slick 50 additive. Anyways before the oil change I never noticed a backfire, not to say it didn't happen, but I never noticed it. I only got 1 mile on the truck, maybe 25 minutes of run time. Today I changed the Oil, added the Slick 50, and changed the Oil filter. I fired her up after the oil change and let it idle for 5 minutes, nothing new. Got on th gas and she back fired. Just went out after an hour and now the MJ will start fine, but even at idle it will back fire occassionally. When I get on the gas it will do it just about every time. Additionally the Orange Up pointed arrow lights up on the dash. Not sure if this is signaling a misfire or a sensor going bad, but it flashes (then goes out) right after the back fire. Any help is appreciated, I'm thinking I could either replace the plugs, wires, cap, rotor tomorrow (since I was going to do it anyway) or just change the oil again back to 10 w 30, sans the Slick 50 additive. My guess is the Additive isn't playing well with a sensor, but who knows it could just be the plugs/wires/cap/rotor. The exhaust on this truck is stock to the cat, then it's a glass pack with a turn down before the axle. The cat doesn't rattle, not sure if this exhaust is contributing to the problem or not. Any ideas?

Very cool, I'll have to keep it on the running list for what to buy at Napa. Thanks for the quick responses.

My Comanche is missing the word comanche on its Passenger Fender. I took it off the parts truck using some fishing line, but now I'm wondering how to attach it to the '89 project truck. I removed with some goo gone and a razor blade all the black stuff off the back. My neighbor mention 3m double sided tape, but that just doesn't seem like it would hold up for a rain storm, let alone some wheeling. Can you buy that black stuff and cut it out or is this by chance a dealer item?

I got the new line on, took me two trys, but its on. Bleed the brakes, 4th pump, blew another line. So Looks like I will be doing them all right now, instead of later. Does anybody know of a kit you can buy that has all the lines pre-bent with fittings that just bolts up? I know I know, I should just be a man and drink beer and bend up lines, but thats a lot of work. I would rather tackel the hardpart with a credit card. I'm thinking I'm going to do the double booster, xj prop valve mod while I'm doing all the lines. Got my front clip 80% reinstalled, getting a new to me XJ bumper tomorrow. After I get that I'll be all set to bolt it all back up. Got my electrical system working just about right. The only thing left to fight is the dome light. The switches are beyond repair, the bulbs arent burnt out, but the light itself doesn't ring out correctly or at all, so I'm going to replace them with something else. -Sean

The true noobness of this post is evident now that I have removed the front bumper and clip. There really is plenty of space to reuse/use speed clips for the front brackets once the bumper is off. And it would really make sense to remove the bumper from the brackets then remove the brackets from the unibody. Instead of just removing the brackets like I did. Thanks again for the help and patience.

I'm in the process of doing this now and any advice in regards to what size fittings go where and which fittings to stock up on is very much appreciated. :popcorn:

the track bar holds the jeep in the same position parallel to the axle. everything else in your suspension with a typical 4 link from jeep front ends doesn't do anything for lateral stability ... maybe your sway bar. so without it your front end will give once you turn and your tires won't really move, but your front clip will. so you can't steer. Your gear box will turn and just push your frame away from or pull towards the passenger side connection of the draglink. I broke my track bar on my LJ at Rausch Creek and steering through boulders was a nightmare, not to mention my ghetto fix and 4 hour drive home. Not sure if that makes sense.

I guess i didn't even consider these speed nuts to be readily available as I haven't seen them on anything else I've worked on. I'll probably just run with replacement clips for the stock bumper. Thanks for the input. I'll definitely put on some anti-sieze as well.

I'm such a noob. My front bumper is bent from a PO hitting a pole, its not bad, but I got a spare one so I figured while I'm doing the fender, might as well. I am halfway through removing my front bumper. In an effort to avoid the torx bolts for now I went to the bumper brackets and started removing the three bolts. Two just came off which was a bonus, but the last snapped the clip nut on the other side. After a bunch of spinning I got lucky with a pair of needle nose pliers and it came off. So my question is, what is everyone doing to avoid using the clips once they reinstall the bumper brackets? I can't honestly justify using these clips when I would prefer a nut with a washer on the end. What size bolt fits stock and how are you getting a wrench on the top inside nuts? I figure this has been done countless times before, might as well gets some advice from the people whom have done it before. -Sean

good tip, i'll give that one a try tomorrow afternoon. I'm thinking this will just be my first in many hardline replacements, figuring after each test drive I'm going to blow a line. :ack: I need to replace the ebrake main cable aswell. I got a spare out of my parts truck. Any gotchas when doing this? Looks fairly straight forward. Cutting the lines and getting a 6 sided socket on there did the trick. Just need the right fittings and I should have me some breaks come tomorrow. Removing the ebrake cable is cake. Only hard part is having to remove the interior first. Otherwise on each end there is just a pressure clip which needs 3 prongs depresssed and it slides out through the cab and out underneath the truck. Started the removale of the front grille and passenger fender, got hung up on a tucked out of the way 7mm bolt at the center bottom of the grille. Ran out of light taking the bumper off to gain access. I'm hoping to fix my electrical problems and replace the damaged sheet metal while its off. Why did jeep use those clippy things instead of nuts? Everyone of those buggers is breaking off on the second turn, so frustrating. Got the parts MJ running around its own power, battery cables needed a good cleaning with baking soda and a wire brush. She starts healthy now and is finally out of the driveway and in the neighbors yard. :brows:

I completely agree with you. Its just that the ones that are currently leaking get the highest priority. This MJ seriously doesn't have much rust at all. Giving the brake lines a once/twice over only showed 2 areas of concern. Right now I just gotta get them working so I can get it off the chalking blocks so I can move it in and out of the garage.

good tip, i'll give that one a try tomorrow afternoon. I'm thinking this will just be my first in many hardline replacements, figuring after each test drive I'm going to blow a line. :ack: I need to replace the ebrake main cable aswell. I got a spare out of my parts truck. Any gotchas when doing this? Looks fairly straight forward.

well i started work on the new MJ. First thing I tried doing was fix the leaking brake line. Its the hardline going from a T junction to the rear proportioning valve. Its a real small line, maybe 12"s or so. Anyway, darn thing is frozen in place. I PB blastered it all day Sunday and it just wouldn't budge. I haven't done hardlines before so I wonder if I'm missing something. Its taking a 3/8" wrench ont he T junction side and a 1/2" on the proportioning valve side. Any body got a tip for me? I need brakes!

I have them on my LJ. Basically it preloads the bushings on the shocks and prevents any walk the eye of the shock might develop over time. Some shocks use Bar Pins with c-clips, which are notorious of not fitting snuggly, BPEs are a good solution for this type of problem. Additionaly most BPEs raise(lower) the shock mount, effectively making your shocks a 1" or less longer. I use JKS BPEs front and rear with OME shocks for well over a year now.