My MJ

[reson46]

Since Deb has an MJ, I guess it was time for me to get one. Picked it up yesterday. :banana:

 

 

 

It is a '91, 2WD, 4.0, AW4, and D35 with a lunch box locker.

 

I don't really have big plans for it. I've got other projects in line ahead of it. I'll probably drive it around like it is for a couple of years. Maybe eventually make it 4WD.

 

A few things I plan to do in the near future.

 

- Swap in some XJ buckets I've got

- Look into brakes, currently not the best

- Fix speedometer, it's somewhat intermittent

- XJ center console

- Replace the passenger side window roller handle

- Maybe swap over Deb's old bumper if I can straighten it out

 

Willy

[jpdocdave]

holly shiney mj :drool:

 

looks great, does it have a lift to, looks kinda tall for a 2wd. and what are people putting lockers in 2wd for? :nuts:

[reson46]

It has some spacers up front and a couple of extra overload leaves in the rear.

 

Willy

[freakjeep93]

I'm putting a locker in mine so i can go offroading with a 2wd cuz i don't wanna convert in to 4wd

 

 

anyway really nice find man :bowdown: :cheers: :drool: looks almost exacly like i want mine to be like

[500 MJ]

I'm putting a locker in mine so i can go offroading with a 2wd cuz i don't wanna convert in to 4wd

 

 

anyway really nice find man :bowdown: :cheers: :drool: looks almost exacly like i want mine to be like

 

x2 - Looks like a nice find.

 

You are starting to come full circle with your MJ addiction, one just isnt enough :thumbsup:

[BBCchris]

Thats pretty clean.

[NWPhotog]

Nice ride Willy! I looked at the ad for that but really wanted a long bed. That's how I came to need a 4.0 liter!

 

P.S. If you ditch the spacers and helper springs I would love them! Some how I think you will be going higher!

[reson46]

Nice ride Willy! I looked at the ad for that but really wanted a long bed. That's how I came to need a 4.0 liter!

 

P.S. If you ditch the spacers and helper springs I would love them! Some how I think you will be going higher!

 

I don't plan on any major changes in the near future. I may remove one of the overloads. It is the kind that bolts to the top half of the leaf pack behind the axle.

 

Willy

[reson46]

Hello comfort!

 

Got rid of the bench seat. The padding was pretty shot on the driver side, plus bench seats suck. :thumbsup:

 

 

 

The buckets are much better. :yes:

 

 

 

Anybody interested in the old bench? It is a later one with head rests. It's missing the seat brackets and will be heading to the scrap yard when I get rid of the XJ.

 

Willy

[randimal]

I might take a look at the bench. Mine is a little run down.

[subeng]

holly shiney mj :drool:

 

looks great, does it have a lift to, looks kinda tall for a 2wd. and what are people putting lockers in 2wd for? :nuts:

 

Because you unhook the front swaybar to allow the rear tires to always stay planted and you go places that your 4WD friends with no lockers have trouble with. That and driving to a ski area every night at midnight on unplowed roads to groom, 200lbs of gravel tubes in the back and a locker and there's no stopping it.

 

NWPhotog, you won't want the spacers, they're homemade and they are basically two 1 inch thick poly (thick cuttingboard material) spacers. The rear has the rear half overloads (used to get about 8 whitewater kayaks up on the topper) and the short stubby add-a-leafs.

 

Yeah, this is my old Comanche, finally picked up a WJ (finally a 4WD) to be able to bring my 2 year old along, child seats don't work so great in an MJ. Was kind of sad when it left on the trailer, lots of great memories in that truck, but it least it went to a good home.

 

Have fun with it William.

[reson46]

I took it for the emissions check yesterday. Their equipment couldn't handle the SuperTrapp. :no:

 

 

So off it came. :yes:

 

 

I returned for the emissions check today and passed. Even without a catalytic converter. :clapping: It still has a glass pack, but is definitely louder when you get on the gas.

 

I also removed the bolt on set of overload leaves.

 

 

 

Willy

[streetjeep2.5]

Hey, willy.

The State of Washington seems to contain lotsa good, rust free 'manches! Bought mine in 2002 in Edgewood WA (inbetween Federal Way and Puyallup). Found it hidden away in the back of a little car lot and it was rust free! Scrubbed it clean of the green mold and I have a nice, clean MJ with 307,000 on it now!

Good find! We are not a two MJ family, but are an MJ (me) and XJ (wife) family, both 4x2's.

[subeng]

Congrats on the emission test :cheers: , I never would have believed it would pass without the cat and with the cracked manifold. The supertrapp was put on it to lower the sound level some and get rid of the raspiness of the glasspack. It sounds like a straight pipe without the supertrapp.

 

I don't know what the knocking lockers on 2WD's is about, every truck I ever owned but this one came with a limited slip.

[reson46]

I definitely need to do something about the exhaust eventually. It is way too loud for me. Hopefully in the next few months I'm going to redo the exhaust on the '88. I'll probably pull the muffler off it and use it on this one.

 

I live next to a 15% grade for a 1/2 mile. Coming up that hill is very noisy. :ack:

 

Willy

[freakjeep93]

if i were closer id buy the supertrapp man but still really nice jeep dude

[bgred2]

Would love to buy the bench seat. Unfortunately, the cost of shipping would probably be prohibitive.

[reson46]

I spent some time working on the brakes. Started off with a strong pull to the left and the rear brakes did not work at all. Overall, the brakes sucked.

 

First, I swapped in an XJ proportioning valve and eliminated the rear load sensing proportioning valve (that wasn't even attached to the axle) and all the associated junk. Status - brakes still sucked.

 

Next I checked the condition of the front pads and rotors. They are not brand new but still have plenty of miles left in them. I also compressed each caliper to make sure they weren't frozen. All appeared to be good on the front.

 

On to the rear drums. After I was able to beat the drums free there was an unwelcome surprise on the driver side. The axle seal was leaking and the differential fluid appeared to have mixed with the brake dust and dirt to create a nice grease like mess.

 

In the process of replacing the driver side axle seal I discover that I don't really enjoy removing C-clips from lunch box lockers. Overall it's not really that difficult, it just seems to require coordination skills that I apparently don't have. :wall:

 

Next I replaced the shoes and springs on both the driver and passenger side. Considering how little corrosion this truck has, it was interesting to see how much corrosion all the brake hardware had. The self adjuster on the driver side had completely siezed.

 

After putting the driver side shoes and springs back together I moved on to the passenger side, only to find out that the wheel cylinder was frozen. Back to the parts store for more parts. :doh: If I was draining the fluid and replacing one wheel cylinder I may as well do the other side too. So, after picking up new wheel cylinders I got to completely disassemble everything again.

 

More fun was had replacing the wheel cylinders. The brake lines on both sides had siezed to their threaded fittings. :wall: Even after soaking them in PB Blaster overnight they did not want to separate themselves. Now I could either make new brake lines or, since I was able to break them free of the wheel cylinders, I could straighten a few of the bends of the hard line, pull the wheel cylinder and line through the backing plate until the cylinder was clear to spin freely, and remove the wheel cylinder from the brake fitting. I chose the latter, but this also required removing the axle shafts to gain enough room to pull the wheel cylinder through.......after I had just replaced the differential cover and filled it with fluid from the axle seal replacement. :grrrr:

 

The rest went fairly smoothly, besides the jigsaw puzzle of springs that aggravated my tendonitis.

 

All this just reinforces my opinion that drum brakes suck. I almost think I would have enjoyed swapping in an 8.8 with discs more than rebuilding those stupid drums.

 

And....the brakes still suck and pull to the left. :rotfl2: I would say they suck a little less though. :rotf:

 

Willy

[subeng]

Damn, everything you did to the brakes was what I was planning on doing and the brakes still haven't improved? That really sucks. The master cylinder is less than a year old also. I wonder if the inside lining of the rubber lines is delaminated preventing full pressure to some of the corners? I've heard of delaminated lining locking in pressure to a caliper dragging the pads, but never the other way around, preventing pressure getting to the caliper.

 

I found the manual for the radio yesterday, I'll get that out to you tomorrow in the mail.

[reson46]

Thanks for the radio manual. :thumbsup: We got back from vacation yesterday and found it in the mail. There were a couple of things I couldn't seem to figure out that it should help with.

 

I'm starting to wonder if the right front caliper is sticking. I know that it isn't completely stuck because I was able to compress it with a c-clamp. I think I may just replace both of them anyway.

 

Willy

[oregonman]

 

The buckets are much better. :yes:

 

 

 

wow was that a manual , 4x4 drive @ one time ?

[dakineJ]

I remember this truck,good score man. What year XJ were the buckets from? I want to lock my 2WD to,how do you like the lunchbox?

[reson46]

wow was that a manual , 4x4 drive @ one time ?

 

No, it has always been an automatic 2WD.

 

I remember this truck,good score man. What year XJ were the buckets from? I want to lock my 2WD to,how do you like the lunchbox?

 

They are from a '94 XJ. I think pretty much any buckets up until some time in '95 or '96 should work.

 

The locker is fine. I don't really notice it much, but I've driven with a full time locker quite a bit before. I can only really tell it is there when I get on it around a corner or when it slightly tries to steer the truck going down the highway.

 

Willy

[reson46]

I am prepared for when the D35 blows up.

 

 

 

It came from a '97 Exploder Sport that apparently decided to live up to its name.

 

The wife and I first found this a couple of weekends ago at the pull a part when we were looking for a steering box for her MJ. Last week I was looking at their price list and they only charge $86.50 for a rear axle. I started thinking that it may be best to jump on the deal while I can find one for cheap than end up paying $300 for one when I really need it.

 

Sunday we returned and luckily it was still there. Unfortunately this junk yard likes to make it as hard as possible to remove anything that may be attached to the suspension. They place the jack stands under the leaf springs instead of the frame. Not a big deal for spring over axles, but a big PITA for spring under. We pretty much had the axle free within an hour, but there was nowhere near enough room to slide the axle between the leaf spring and frame. The junk yard wouldn't allow jacks or anything else to lift it. But, if it was on an end where they could get to it they might consider bringing a forklift in for a $25 fee. :roll: The next few hours I spent squatting the Exploder while Deb stuffed tires under the frame. There didn't seem to be much weight on the passenger side as it went fairly easily and we were able to move the jack stand to the frame completely freeing the suspension. The driver side required lots of lifting and creative thinking until we were finally able to get enough weight off the suspension to slide it out the back.

 

Deb told me I have to find another friend to bring with me the next time I decide to pick up an axle. :rotfl2:

 

Of course the calipers and rotors weren't included in the price of the axle so it ended up costing close to $150. Still not a horrible price.

 

Anybody know off the top of their head what gear ratio this probably has? It came from a two door. I didn't think to check if it was 6 or 8 cylinder. I'll eventually pull the cover to check for sure, but for now it will sit off to the side until it is needed.

 

Willy

[freakjeep93]

wow was that a manual , 4x4 drive @ one time ?

 

No, it has always been an automatic 2WD.

 

:smart: the holes are there for tha shifters do they don't need 3-4 different bodies for different model drivetrailns ect same as the 4 link front end on a 2wd :D

:cheers:

I am prepared for when the D35 blows up.

 

 

 

It came from a '97 Exploder Sport that apparently decided to live up to its name.

 

The wife and I first found this a couple of weekends ago at the pull a part when we were looking for a steering box for her MJ. Last week I was looking at their price list and they only charge $86.50 for a rear axle. I started thinking that it may be best to jump on the deal while I can find one for cheap than end up paying $300 for one when I really need it.

 

Sunday we returned and luckily it was still there. Unfortunately this junk yard likes to make it as hard as possible to remove anything that may be attached to the suspension. They place the jack stands under the leaf springs instead of the frame. Not a big deal for spring over axles, but a big PITA for spring under. We pretty much had the axle free within an hour, but there was nowhere near enough room to slide the axle between the leaf spring and frame. The junk yard wouldn't allow jacks or anything else to lift it. But, if it was on an end where they could get to it they might consider bringing a forklift in for a $25 fee. :roll: The next few hours I spent squatting the Exploder while Deb stuffed tires under the frame. There didn't seem to be much weight on the passenger side as it went fairly easily and we were able to move the jack stand to the frame completely freeing the suspension. The driver side required lots of lifting and creative thinking until we were finally able to get enough weight off the suspension to slide it out the back.

 

Deb told me I have to find another friend to bring with me the next time I decide to pick up an axle. :rotfl2:

 

Of course the calipers and rotors weren't included in the price of the axle so it ended up costing close to $150. Still not a horrible price.

 

Anybody know off the top of their head what gear ratio this probably has? It came from a two door. I didn't think to check if it was 6 or 8 cylinder. I'll eventually pull the cover to check for sure, but for now it will sit off to the side until it is needed.

 

Willy

 

thanks for the confidence mines 2wd dana 35 possibly gunna run 31s and a locker ...... but i got like 3 axels anyway so who cares :D lol :cheers: