JEEPERZ MJ

[JEEPERZ]

Well ive been working on the mj so much, i figure i might as well show some of my handy work. lol

I never realized how much fun working on cars could be. I bought the mj about a month ago for $500 for a neighbor that said he was tired of the nickel and diming he was going through. I got the best deal of my life!!! yea, i got a great price on it, at least i think i did, but I have discovered wrenching!!!! where has it been all my life. I get out of the house, the fiance doesnt want to hang outside on the ground under the truck. so i get all the time to myself drinkin beers and gettin dirty.

 

 

 

So far, ive put in a new power steering pump, new rear spring and shackle bushings (red :oops: ) i changed the vacuum switch on the transfer case (won't shift into four wheel) which didnt help. ive got a solution for this, but it will be after the lift. i can get it into 4x4, it just requires getting out of the truck

this weekend ill be installing the SOA and next week will be the front rustys kit that i piece milled together.

 

 

yea, these are the red poly bushings i don't like.

 

right now there is a 3" lift w/28" radial tires, a d30 front and d35 rear

4.0L pretty much stock except the lift and bigger radials

i have put a new stereo, amp, sub, and ipod

 

 

Here is the 4.0L rebuilt out of a 90 xj

[89eliminator]

that thing is clean! nice find.

[mjeff87]

but I have discovered wrenching!!!! where has it been all my life. I get out of the house, the fiance doesnt want to hang outside on the ground under the truck. so i get all the time to myself drinkin beers and gettin dirty.

 

 

Shhhhhh! quiet.....you'll ruin it for all the rest of us :D

 

Nice, clean MJ you got there. Yes, those bushings are red LOL......

 

For the CAD, you can shim over the shift fork with a couple washers to lock both axleshafts together full time, like the newer XJ's. Mine's been like that for a couple years now without a problem.

 

Jeff

[JEEPERZ]

got off work today and tore into the mj. ive only recieved the soa kit so it will look kind of funny for a few days. after doing the bolt on soa, i have this huge hunk of crap :headpop: hanging down below the axle. after i get done I'm going to take it to a shop and weld on the perches and use u-bolts instead. ill just have to figure out how to mount the shock stems. i hope that will work. ill take some pictures of it tomorrow. i only got one side done tonight, so ill start again in the morning. I'm really happy with the one side though. there was a 3" lift, so removed the AAL, i figure i will be at 5.5

 

 

For the CAD, you can shim over the shift fork with a couple washers to lock both axleshafts together full time, like the newer XJ's. Mine's been like that for a couple years now without a problem.

 

thats the plan, i might get to it this weekend while i wait for parts. i wonder if i can get rid of all the vacuum hoses?

[mjeff87]

yeah, you can cap them off or pull them out if you want. I was converting to 4WD so I didn't have any to begin with....I got all the lines out of the junkyard to do it like the factory, but after about 5 minutes of looking at the whole mess of spaghetti I realized I didn't want to mess with it. Out came the CAD, in went about 7 washers, and it's been like that since :)

 

Jeff

 

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[pingpong]

If you look in the Tech Forum for Jeff's post about Soa'd, you wil find he used Taco shocks for his rear.

[JEEPERZ]

been busy this morning, got the rear soa done.

 

 

wow, that pulled out of the transfer case alot, i think its alot anyway. wonder if thats normal???? should i not drive it and get the drive shaft extended?

 

off to wash the dogs, then back to put the acos in. i bought some coil spring compressor things. hope it goes well.

 

If you look in the Tech Forum for Jeff's post about Soa'd, you wil find he used Taco shocks for his rear.

yea, i saw that. looks cool, much better than what i have now. I'm going to give it a try.

[pingpong]

MOre then likely you will need to address the driveshaft issue. That does seem like a lot of exposed shaft. Jeff has a d44, and a stock length D/S and it seems to work.

[JEEPERZ]

it does seem like alot, ill take the d/s in once i get everything else done. i had a hell of a time getting getting the acos in. it was dark when i finished so no pictures til daylight. i put the truck on stands in the front then unbolted the shock and sway bar. after all that i put the coil spring compressors on and wrenched them down good and just worked the springs out then back on again with the acos. i wonder if i should have unbolted the lca or uca? i had a hell of a time. i put a scissor jack in between the lca and the frame to help push down a bit. not sure if that was a good thing or not, but it worked. I'm done working on it for the weekend. my adj lca's should be in as well as the track bar by tuesday. do you guys undo the trackbar or the lca's or uca's when you remove the coils??

ill put up some pictures tomorrow. I'm very happy with the way my mj sits now.

[JEEPERZ]

here she is

 

[JeepcoMJ]

you need new lower control arms..I can see that the springs are arced back a bit and your wheels aren't quite perfectly centered. did you keep the stock ones?

[JEEPERZ]

you need new lower control arms..I can see that the springs are arced back a bit and your wheels aren't quite perfectly centered. did you keep the stock ones?

 

i should have my new adj lca's on tuesday as well as my new adj track bar. not driving to far til then. ive got some searching through posts to do as I'm not sure what a caster angle is quite yet, but i think it should be addressed :D i also have some cheesy drop down sway bar brackets coming that I'm sure ill end up replacing with something that looks better and won't catch.

thanks for the heads up though.

[TNT]

You should buy a YJ slip yoke which is slightly longer and allows for more driveshaft angle before binding.

 

You also might want to drill some new holes in the spring perch to move the axle forward about an inch.

 

Doing both of these things will take care of your rear driveshaft issues as long as you set your driveshaft angle correctly.

[mjeff87]

yeah, that slipyoke is out too far. Mine is only out about half that amount, using a YJ yoke, and I've got vibes from 40 mph up in 4th and 5th. For now, rather than getting one of my driveshafts lengthened, I'm gonna put a 242 TC in tomorrow, which is reportedly 1" longer overall than a 231 (just happen to have one under the house :D and the 231 that's in there now needs to come out for a rebuild anyway). I'll put some pics up tomorrow.

 

I'd also recommend you replace both driveshaft ujoints, as they tend to get comfortable operating at a certain angle over time, and you've just changed that angle by the SOA.

 

Your rig is looking really good man :cheers: . Now all you have to do is all the fine tuning post lift to get it just right (like I'm doing now....) What front coils are you running, by the way? Those definately aren't stock. I've got a set of 5.5" TJ springs going in mine when I get my new UCA's. With the way I have those ACOS spun all the way down now, those ZJ coils ride like pure azz...

 

Jeff

[JEEPERZ]

thanks jeff :cheers:

 

yeah, that slipyoke is out too far. Mine is only out about half that amount, using a YJ yoke, and I've got vibes from 40 mph up in 4th and 5th.

 

I should have everything in this next week for the post lift stuff. Once i get all that done, i think ill take it somewhere to get the d/s extended a bit and get the u joints done. I'm lucky that its not my d/d. ive read on here how to do u-joints, just don't know if I'm up for that one. yet

i like what tnt said about the yj slip yoke having more driveshaft angle before binding, so I'm getting one of those ordered before i take it in.

 

What front coils are you running, by the way? Those definately aren't stock.

Jeff

 

when i bought the truck, the guy told me it was a 3" pixie lift. the coils came with that. when i put on the acos, it measured 3" of space between the top of the coil spring to the top of the acos, so when i measured the lift itself, from stock height, i still only have 4" of lift over all. it doesnt make sense to me as i should have 6"

3" coils + 3" acos = 6"

but right now i measure 22 3/4" from center of hub to top of stock flare. i guess stock height is 17 1/2" I'm no math wizz but isnt that 4 1/4" of lift.

i do have 4.5 coils coming ups next week, so ill probly change them out. i was thinking about leaving those in cause of the hassle changing the coils :D

[JEEPERZ]

ok, I'm really not a crack head and ive proven I'm not a math whizz

17 1/2" stock (from search)

23" re-measured tonight

=5 1/2":oops:

 

also, the rear

20" stock (from search)

24 1/2" measured tonight

=4 1/2 lift

 

i just noticed in the new parking space tonight that the front looks a touch taller. ill have to get it on level ground to have a real good look. ill get a picture tomorrow. i may need new shakles.

[TNT]

This is a comparison of the YJ yoke compared to the MJ / XJ style yoke.

 

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If your yoke is still out to far drill a new hole 3/4 of an inch behind the original center hole in the perch to move the axle 3/4" forward for more yoke engagement.

[Pete M]

If you've got an automatic, the driveshaft from a 4.0/stick MJ (of the same bed length) will be 1" longer.

[TNT]

If you've got an automatic, the driveshaft from a 4.0/stick MJ (of the same bed length) will be 1" longer.

 

Thats good to know because I'm swapping in a 4.0 HO AW-4 and going back to SOA with the 9" axle. The 9" axle appears to have a 1/2" shorter pinion then my current D44 rear axle. So I will gain 1.5" of driveshaft length and lose 1/2" of pinion length which should be about perfect. Time will tell.

[JEEPERZ]

If you've got an automatic, the driveshaft from a 4.0/stick MJ (of the same bed length) will be 1" longer.

 

yea, i got a 4.0/stick now. i should just go hit some j/yards and see if i can find one. ive got pletty of other stuff to look for as well.

 

i put the mj on level ground tonight. I'm really happy with the way it looks. i got that urge to pull out the wrenches again. where are my parts rustys!!!! :headpop:

[JEEPERZ]

If your yoke is still out to far drill a new hole 3/4 of an inch behind the original center hole in the perch to move the axle 3/4" forward for more yoke engagement.

 

I'm going to try this. i don't think i understood what you were saying at first. but it makes sense now. ill let you know how it works out. i just need to find that slip yoke now :D

[Pete M]

You can always get a longer d-shaft and have it cut down by a shop. Then you can get the perfect length.

[JEEPERZ]

well today, i cut out of work a bit early :D and started putting in the the parts i got from rustys. i put in the lower control arms and the new front shocks. tomorrow i will put on the drop brackets for the sway bar and the rear shocks. i did however drive it around a bit. I'm a little on the nervous side driving it because of the drive shaft issue, but i couldnt help it. i love the new height. oh yea, i need to put on the new track bar as well. its getting there, this weekend ill do the new brake lines too.

[JEEPERZ]

before lift

 

 

after lift

 

after all the post lift fixes, TIRES :D will be the next thing addressed 33 x 10.5 x 15 my fiance is starting to get pissed about the money I'm spending. she just doesnt understand :roll:

[ridenlow12]

just remind her of that ring on her finger and then ask what did you get in return? at least that is what I tell my wife but I think she has been adding the prices on all the parts, :cry: so soon I will be out of excusses. But you have a nice looking rig :cheers: