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1986 MJ 2.5L 4x4 | "Heavy Four"


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  • 3 months later...

The ol' 86 just keeps on a keeping on. She turned 170,000 miles this past weekend and still only burns 1/4 quart of oil every 5,000 miles. Although I do have a random miss and loss of power I can't figure out.

 

Just a glamour shot of the beast:

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I noticed you said that your Autodesk license expired. There is a good FREE CAD program, called DraftSight. Not sure if you are familiar with it. I use it on my Linux systems mostly. I use ACAD on my Winblows PC as I am a student and have access to the autodesk programs for FREE. 

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glamour shot of the beast:

Nice pic !!

Thank you! I love finding beauty in the Kansas landscape, the MJ is just a bonus :)

 

really like your jeep have went though your thread before because there is not alot of people doing anything with 4banger jeeps so i like seeing another 2.5 out there being used and enjoyed!

Thanks. I really like my 'truck that doesn't look like it should run' as some of my family refers. The 2.5 is an awesome power plant. Throw it in a MJ and you have pure gold. This MJ has more power than my old 4.2 YJ ever did.

 

As far as the CAD program, I simply need to download AutoCAD 2014 and go from there. Although I did find a neat Autodesk app for my Chromebook that might have just enough power for me to get something drawn up.

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  • 1 month later...

Replaced the radiator that has been flopping around in its mounts since I bought the truck. It just seemed like an accident waiting to happen, probably when I would be a long ways from home....

- Flushed the slimey brown/green gunk from the radiator/motor

- Radiator

- Thermostat

- Upper and lower hoses

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On this fine Sunday morning, I decided to leave the house early for church services and drive some of the county roads. The rural roads of Kansas never cease to amaze me!

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  • 5 months later...

The day before an ice and sleet storm, I found the MJ with a flat tire. Aired it up and hosed it down with soapy water and found air was leaking along 1/2 the bead. I am not sure what happened to the wheel or tire, but I needed to get the truck on the road. So I swapped the tires and wheels from my '92 to get me by. The truck took about 30 of cranking to fire up this morning at -10°.

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  • 2 months later...

I have found myself needing a trailer hitch several times over the past few years to pull around a small trailer. Sure my '03 TJ and '06 WK have hitches, but I don't really want to use them to tote a lawn mower or load of trash around. That is why I bought this truck!

 

Four years ago I bought a used MJ trailer hitch from a forum member for my '92. The truck ended up in the body shop before I could used it, so the poor hitch just sat in the attic. Until now. I finally removed the paper wrap it was shipped to me in. 

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Does anybody know what kind of hitch this is? Is it a factory unit or another? The paint is flaking off and it has some rust, so I will media blast it and repaint. 

 

In anticipation for a weekend project, I crawled behind the truck to blast the bumper bolts with PB Blaster. I had never removed the bolts holding the 1/4" bumper brackets to the frame since what was there worked with my Fey bumper. I found the passenger side bracket only has one bolt holding it in place and was welded to the frame.... Now this hitch installation just got a little more interesting. 

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This hitch was in very poor condition cosmetically. There were about 5 layers of thick paint and a lot of rust. I media blasted it, primed, painted and bedllined (to hide some of the rust pitting). 

 

I started by pulling the bumper brackets. Only one frame nut remained in good shape, three broke off inside the frame and the other four had snapped bolts rusted in place. Instead of trying to weld in new nuts and drill and tap the others, I took out the trusty air chisel and knocked all of the nuts off and inserted Grade 8 bolts from the inside of the frame. A long breaker bar made this easy. I need to pick up some longer bolts to get more than two exposed threads at the end.

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Hitch installed with the Fey bumper and 1/4" bumper brackets that came with the truck.

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This Valley hitch hangs LOW.

IMAG9723-1.thumb.jpg.b10b4c31c4c58589db954015eb12f512.jpg 

 

Now I need to install a trailer light plug...

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  • 3 months later...

The hitch has been busy this summer, pulling its weight in landscape duties. You know, there are some things you just don't want in the bed of your truck.

 

Like this load of rock:

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The 2.5 did surprisingly well with this haul.

 

The truck has been running well, but not perfect. I am hesitant to tear into it, but it needs done.

- Replace exhaust manifold

- Pull head and repair broken manifold stud

- Replace stock front coils/spacers with used TJ 3" coils (should retain existing ride height)

- Replace the 207 with a 231

- Replace D30 with a non vacuum model + larger u joints

- Replace D35 with a 8.8 (need to buy one)

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  • 3 weeks later...

Now that the summer heat has left Kansas, I decided to start on the front axle project so I can get a new set of AT3's mounted before winter hits.

 

Non disco D30 gone through.

- New Spicer Ball Joints

- New Napa Unit Bearings

- New Moog UCA bushings in housing

- Replaced calipers, rotors and pads with lightly used parts from TJ

- New Dorman Chevy 1500 brake hoses (these are much nicer than the YJ hoses)

- Used 3" TJ lift springs

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The front end came apart real easy.

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I managed to get the new axle under the truck, but ran out of daylight while fighting with the driver side hard brake line. If the rain holds off, I should get it buttoned up in a few hours this weekend.

 

I have found an 8.8, 4.10, limited slip, disc brakes for $200. If it is still available next week, I am going to try and pick it up.

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Now she is back on the road.

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The truck drives much nicer now. The Chrysler style front brakes, albeit a poor design with the one piece knuckle, stop the truck much better than the AMC style brakes that were on it. Plus it is nice to have more parts interchange with newer Jeeps. Before the front end rebuild it felt like a squishy couch swaying down the road (according to my wife), even with the swaybar connected. Now it hugs the road like a Miata....ok maybe not, but the overall handling is much improved.

 

The TJ 3" coils actually lifted the front of the truck 3", not the 2" that I was anticipating. This is probably due to the springs being stiffer for a heavier 6 cylinder. I am not complaining since it eliminated the forward rake. As you can see in the picture the stock trackbar is too short now, so the axle is sitting further to the driver side. I will install a used RE1600 trackbar when the new frame side end arrives.

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On 9/16/2014 at 6:46 AM, 88whitemanche said:

Nice!

Love how your preserving this truck and show it's character even with the rust spots....

Thanks! I think the trucks appearance speaks greatly of its character. This is my first time actively trying a budget build so it is different than anything I've done before.

 

RuffStuff 8.8 swap kit is on the way.

 

Now I have to figure out what is causing death wobble! It struck a 55mph coming out of a corner. This was the aftermath. My shorts look the same....

IMAG0073-1-1-1.thumb.jpg.f7e8e1b6007f9e9874a2a0586683abda.jpg

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... Now I have to figure out what is causing death wobble! It struck a 55mph coming out of a corner. This was the aftermath. My shorts look the same....

 

Sorry about the DW, but to be honest I had a nice giggle over this.  :teehee:

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