'88 Eliminator... Feb. 2009 - Jan. 2026

[neohic]

34 minutes ago, 89 MJ said:

I have some thoughts on this. Thanks a lot! Now you have me wanting to add a rear sway bar and a bigger front sway bar to my truck

 

I am going to be looking at a 98ish Explorer rear sway bar next week for my truck. I will report back if I have a chance to do that.

I’ve been looking at the rear sway bar that came out of the donor ZJ. In the ZJs, they fit above the upper control arms in a very compact space. I think it’d fit in a similar spot above the axle in an MJ but either moved rearward or turned around backwards from how it mounts in the ZJ. I’m yet to crawl under my truck to see for sure but I know that packaging will be tight being I’d like to continue carrying a spare tire.

[watchamakalit]

This thread may be single handedly responsible for at least 3 mj's getting rear sway bars. I'm patiently waiting in the wings and listening to see where this all goes. 

[neohic]

2 hours ago, watchamakalit said:

This thread may be single handedly responsible for at least 3 mj's getting rear sway bars. I'm patiently waiting in the wings and listening to see where this all goes. 

You kids need a role model. 

[fiatslug87]

4 hours ago, neohic said:

You kids need a role model. 

And that’s why everyone looked at Don’s write-up.

[neohic]

I spent the day cleaning axles. The rear needed all of the brackets cut off, and the front needed some attention too.

 

 

Probably the cleanest Dana 35 on the planet right now. As for the 30, the lower control arm mounts needed to get cut off also. One side was booger welded back on while the other was well on its way to falling off. 
 

 

The story was that the ZJ was a northern rig before it was in Colorado. That checks out with the amount of rust I scaled off and the blown out control arms. Then I popped the cover.

 

 

Poor thing has seen some things! The ZJ came with a pile or receipts for the front axle getting rebuilt. Everything looks and feels good, but obviously the old carrier was kept with the new gears.

 

 

Still waiting on Ruff Stuff brackets. 

[neohic]

I can’t believe the three fan shroud has been in there since 2013, but it came out today. Just going back to simplicity and undoing some wiring that 19 year old me would’ve done even before the fans.

 

 

It never overheated with either fan setup. I cleaned up and kept the harness I added for the fans so I can add an auxiliary again with an override switch. For now, it’s back to basics.