1987Comanche

Exasperated is a good choice :D . The cure for your ailment is less :wrench: and more . :MJ 2: . . Georgia can be your surrogate MJ for a while... Love the engine bay...so clean :clapping:. Nice coolant overflow bottle too!

I had a tip about where Meg my first MJ ('87, 2.5 AX-5, 2wd) was living now and, as it was only 3 or 4 miles from work, I went for a drive at lunchtime. Sure enough: She's looking rough...appears she's being used as a yard truck. The rust is breaking back through in droves, back of the tailpipe is gone, seat is torn badly (rest of the black interior looks ok but dirty), now has a huge crease in the tailgate, indifferent tires, the cap I put on her from Maura is gone. Current mileage is 199,700, which means she's only been driven 6 or 7K miles in the past 3.5 yrs. Still it was cool to see her. Still currently tagged and running

She looks good! Where did you get the bumpers? I assume you are going for new '31s after replacing the ball joints? Cutting away sheet metal you just repaired is always painful...like denting a fender or door you just replaced.

Were any design improvements made in the vent windows that would make later ones more desirable vs. the earlier ones? The '87 didn't have operable windows, the '90 did & they didn't leak, and the '92 has fixed vent windows and broken A/C. My passenger window glass is so scraped up/sandblasted that, in direct sunlight it's like looking through a window covered with frost. I figured I'd replace the glass when the next 1/2 price day rolls around at the jy and was considering operable vent windows while I have the door apart. Fixing the A/C is also an option if I grab a condenser, lines, compressor, and can break one line loose at the evaporator (currently seized tight).

Finished my bucket & console installation/conversion Slim pickings at the jy last weekend regarding seats (1/2 price day). I found a total of 4 good bucket seats. The flip forward driver's seat was actually in a '90 4 dr XJ Laredo and the console & pass seat were from a 4 dr XJ Sport. I tore both seats down and rewelded 6 spot welds on the driver's seat and replaced both cushions with ones from a pass seat. I transplanted the bottom seat cover from the driver's seat of the Sport to the pass seat (pass cover had a big hole in it). I picked up a set of MJ brackets out of an '89 Elminator at the JY when I was between MJs and they had been sitting quietly in the basement. The seats are both grey but have a slightly different herringbone pattern. The console lid is tan but it's better than no lid.

Hit the jy this weekend and had a few good finds. Georgia came with the crappy donut spare tire and I was looking for a matching rim, in good condition, that was mated to a nice tire. Granted it was a long shot but I found this guy laying on the ground next to an XJ. Had around 8/32" tread on it and still had plenty of air (35psi). I picked it up off the ground and brought it home for $30 :) Also had a new (to me) windshield put in Geogia this afternoon. For $120 installed I couldn't complain... Picked up buckets and a console at the jy as well. Still working on them...

I was at LKQ in Greenville, SC and Ron's in Greer, SC this weekend and neither had an AX-15 XJ/MJ in the yard. You could try Rusty's in Marion or U Pick your parts in Shelby. If you want to go retail you can try Johnsons or Speedy's.

Very curious to see what you find when you pop the cover. Georgia has been waiting on diff parts from Motive Gear (via Advance) for a few months. She's waiting on side gears/spider gears and the forging run was supposed to be mid April, then mid May, now mid June. I'd also verify any parts compatibility via the axle tag (should be a 3.07). In Georgia's case the side gears only interchange '91-'93.

Everyone loves a clean Pioneer :D...future MJOTM?? Also like the MJs that make cameo appearances in the thread, espec the other '90 and the '92 "Comanche Sport" :clapping:

You can reuse one line but not both as one for the front won't be long enough. Every line on the brake system is double flared (I've never seen a single flare on any brake line period). You'll find that the fittings on the XJ/ZJ booster are metric and the MJ proportioning valve is standard. You'll need to reuse one fitting when you make a longer brake line You can see both lines in my build: http://comancheclub.com/topic/37173-georgia-92-40-ho-ax-15-2wd/ BTW The double flaring kit is a free loaner tool at Auto Zone & O'Reilly.

I've purchased 3 needy MJs over the years ('87 2.5 AX-5 2WD, '90 4.0 AX-15 4WD, '92 AX-15 2WD) and the most expensive one was $930. That was just the initial purchase price...I dumped at least $1500-$2K into each one in order to bring it back to life.

Thanks! We had an unreal amount of rain this weekend (5" for the weekend) and Georgia apparently leaks water (I think all MJs do to some extent). Since the pass side was soaked it was time to pull the carpet and have a look. No complaints here! These are the nicest looking MJ floors yet... I think I found one source of water. Someone jammed a wire between the pinch weld and weather stripping on the pass side, near the top hinge Look carefully at the door seal roughly even with the bottom of the glove box: Also added some extra foam to the driver's seat. Just biding my time until I find buckets of some sort.

any pics??

I played around with it a bit today and noticed the TREs rock from front to back easily & can contact the spindle. The boots are in rough shape but are more or less intact. I greased them up and one shot out a wad of hardened goo (I wouldn't call it grease). TRE's seem to be dampened by the fresh grease and are much harder to rotate into the spindle. A short drive showed some improvement so we'll see what happens.

Got a few things done this weekend. Installed the stainless vent visors I picked up at the jy. I like them and, for $1.50 ea I couldn't go wrong: Installed the freebee MJ Mopar bedliner (thanks Oneoverzero!): Last, but not least, turned 250K running errands this morning!

'92 MJ, 4.0 HO, 2WD, AX-15, just a hair under 250K miles. I've been working my way through the front suspension and have done Upper & lower control arm bushings, track bar, sway bar end links. Shocks appear to be fairly new & I'm sure the ball joints are OEM. Tie rods look OE but seem tight. I replaced the steering damper last week and, shortly thereafter, a single "pop" appeared. It's not 100% consistent (I don't think any symptoms on a Jeep ever are...) but 50% of the time I'll get a single pop when I reverse direction (back out of a parking spot), or decelerate/accelerate (get off the hwy, etc). This started after changing the steering damper but, offhand, I can't understand why that would cause a pop. It could be a coincidence that it started after changing the damper, then again perhaps not. Any thoughts?

Nice wheels, LWB, I'm assuming it runs ok and doesn't smoke. D35? I'd start around $2K and see where it goes.

I knew she'd make it to TX :). Congrats on MJOTM!! You picked up where I left off with her: http://comancheclub.com/topic/27930-my-1990-and-some-pics-of-the-old-87/ Maura has come a long way in the past 8 months!!

I think so. The booster & MC combo cost $50 at the jy. Georgia's MC was shot & she was puking brake fluid onto the booster and driver's side inner fender so it was the perfect time to upgrade. My "seat of the pants" estimate of amount of braking power gained is 20%, not unbelievable but noticeable.

'96 XJ dual diaphragm booster with either XJ or ZJ MC gives you a firmer pedal and a lot more bite. XJ booster drops right in though you may have to research how to adapt the Renix brake light switch to work. I put one in Georgia about 2 months ago...check out pg 1 of my build thread for pic of the setup installed.

I think they'd look great polished up. The rims are in decent shape to start with, why hide that with paint?

I won't be up there again for quite some time. Perhaps someone can finish harvesting treasure from those trucks. FYI the red truck has a decent looking tailgate too...it was in the bed. I pulled the tail lights from the red '86 (they were the better of the two) so I'm happy.

Pulled a headliner from an '86 with a black interior at the jy yesterday. It was in rough shape but, since I had nothing (not even a backer) I couldn't be too picky. The headliner was actually in a ball, held in by the sun visors and nothing else. Some time spent with epoxy and 1.5 cans of headliner gave me a "reman" headliner. I like the black on gray. The headliner isn't really that dirty...must be dirt on the camera lens.

Found these at Rusty's today. I already knew about the blue one: http://asheville.craigslist.org/ptd/3749467765.html What I didn't know is that it's a column shift 4WD with the mini-mini console. I went up there looking for a headliner. Didn't find it in the '87 but I did find this: '86 2.5, 2WD, AX-5 (I think...shift knob wasn't on the lever, could be AX-4). and it had a mint black dashboard! I grabbed the headliner for me and the tail lights out of this one for a friend. Headliner was in rough shape but it's workable and I think a black headliner will work with a gray interior. Bodies on both trucks look pretty good (both LWB).

I remove them all by pulling the 4 bolts. Supposedly you can break it free with a CCW twisting motion but, I haven't had much luck with that. Biotex tried that and had his break free violently. FYI Quadratec has a new AX-15 top gasket for $2.50...