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Purchased 1St Mj. '87 Metric Ton... But Wth Is This?!


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Nice wagoneer front clip.  :thumbsup:  There are very few Cherokee wagoneers left out there and even fewer MJs with a Waggy front end. Mine is the only one i have seen in person and i've only seen 4 or 5 on the internet, ever, including mine and yours.

 

On a side note, I have perfected a safe way to wire the high and low beams together, but retain your regular low beams. If you would like, i can write up a diagram of how i did it. Everything still functions like factory, you just gain extra bright high beams. 

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I'm drooling all over your floors!

Yeah?. They're pretty good compared to most MJs out there? I'll be cleaning them up and raptor lining it soon.

 

Did your bucket seats mount straight to where the bench seat went? Like the truck and the maroon interior, and I am not a huge fan of maroon interior either

No, they took a good bit of work to fit them in. I had to cut off the old mounting bolts, drill and install new ones, and make a couple brackets.

 

Nice wagoneer front clip. :thumbsup: There are very few Cherokee wagoneers left out there and even fewer MJs with a Waggy front end. Mine is the only one i have seen in person and i've only seen 4 or 5 on the internet, ever, including mine and yours.

 

On a side note, I have perfected a safe way to wire the high and low beams together, but retain your regular low beams. If you would like, i can write up a diagram of how i did it. Everything still functions like factory, you just gain extra bright high beams.

Sweet! I like hearing this... I'm a big fan of "rare". I was really happy to get the interior bits add well. I thought it adds a touch more of that something you don't see everyday... even if it is only something MJ/XJ guys would notice. I'm supremely interested in your write-up. If you have time, I'd love to do it to mine. Send it over buddy. Thanks for the tip!
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  • 2 weeks later...

Had my brother and his girl come over for a sanding party. We had to sand most of the camo areas the PO did back down to near bare metal.

 

Thanks to the Colorado weather changes, I got about 1/2 the truck in primer before the skies opened up and the rain ruined it work...

 

On a positive note, I built the rear arms into my back bumper, and I placed an order with dirtboundoffroad.com for one of his DIY Extreme winch front bumpers! Hope to see that by Thursday this week.

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  • 3 weeks later...

I haven't updated much since its cold and snowy here lately. I've been busy moving, working, and traveling but I have gotten some things done.

 

I had a sanding party with my brother and his girl, then got the truck into primer. I was tired of the camo paint job.

 

 

 

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One more for the hell of it. I think it's going to turn out great.

 

 

I also placed an order (weeks ago) for the DIY dirtbound off-road extreme front winch bumper. I finally showed up yesterday. So I got to building.

 

And test fitting before hammering the corners around. Fits like a glove. Literally ZERO snags our hangups going into place.

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  • 1 month later...

 

Question for the op, I know that the rodeo 44 is spring under from the factory, do you remember if the width was the same as mj?

Mine is from a 94/95. It is narrower than our stock axle by probably 3". I chose this one on purpose so that I could run adaptors and get my 5 lug bolt pattern back without having the rear tires sticking it a ridiculous amount.

 

The 96+ isuzu axle is wider. I am 100% positive this 94/95 axle would not fit into an XJ. My spring perches are out to the very end of the axle in the MJ. The XJ axle perches sit out wider.

 

Sorry for the late response to this (just now saw it lol).  The Isuzu Dana 44 was a standard 8.5" ring gear and a 58" WMS-WMS measure all the way up to 1997, but with a few popping up in 96 as well for whatever reason. (I have a 97 In my garage for my other Project...that happens to be an Isuzu lol).  Of note though, to anybody wanting to do a D44 from a Rodeo is the 98-04 Dana 44, which has a 60 3/4" WMS-WMS (this is the 3" you are talking about) and also features the thicker and taller "Heavy Duty"  8.9" ring gear with the thicker Pinion shaft (Dana 60 spec), in an iron housing.  Pretty much the strongest Dana 44 made - rated about 2000lbs higher than a Standard D44.

 

I was actually going to use a 98+ Rodeo D44 in my truck since they are far easier to find than a factory MJ unit.  Either have the axles re-drilled. go custom, or do a front brake/hub upgrade that converts the front to 6 x 5.5 and get different wheels.  Would also give a great overall brake upgrade as the factory rear Rodeo discs are 11.75 x .71 vented units.

 

BTW, I am loving your project and it's progress.  Looking forward to see more!

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  • 3 weeks later...

I really haven't updated this like I should be. I've got the paint almost done now. It's turned out very nice! I'm stranded to 1000 grit, with almost no orange peel. It's gonna shine when I get to buffing.

 

I also installed a long arm kit from rough country. As well as a 12,000lb winch fun harbor freight. It's coming along. I'll be bed-lining it soon.

 

Forgot to mention the new wheels.

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So I buffed by hand last night. It turned it okay. I'm going to get a buffer from a friend to rely get that shine going.

 

I also picked up a set of 35" BFG Mud Terrains. And in preparation to run then, trimmed my front fenders back some. I lined then with trim-lock to finish the edges. Looks nice.

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  • 2 months later...

I do take her out, from time to time.  Here's a pic coming up the 21 rd creek bed:

 

Here's a little flexed out shot at Bangs Canyon playground:

 

Here's a shot of a trail we were lost 60 miles deep into the Rifle Falls State Park:

 

So I do take her out for fun from time to time.  I'm still tinkering and ticking away at little projects.  Hopefully I can get my CB wired in this week.

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