Back into the jeep thing, now an MJ.

N

Nova Wake

NAXJA Forum User
Location
N. Chittenden, Vermont
Well i haven't had a jeep for a little while and needed a second car, I didn't want another suv and wanted a small truck and at the same time this popped up on craigslist and even better i knew where it was as it was on one of my normal fishing routes. Being that its new England this thing is extremely solid and even the rockers only have surface rust. The guy new nothing much about it and originally brought it from mass and owned it for the past 12 years. As far as i know it only needs brakes and ball joints to pass inspection, but now the fun starts with replacing all the little things. Also the rear bottom tail light doesn't work and it isn't the bulb, either the socket or wiring im guessing. Its also missing two of the bolts for the rollbar. I have the tailgate but the handle is gone and he attempted to give it a shaved look with bondo and never completed the project.

Its rides fine but doesn't like idling i;m sure it needs filters, plugs, battery and all. One of my first upgrade is to get better headlights. harness and h4s, it has no speakers either but a nice unit in the dash. The thing is already a real blast to drive compared to my former cherokees, but that may be due to driving a 4cyl for a year or so.

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Looks like the brakes arn't to bad but the ball joints are, going to order balljoints, a balljoint separator and a ball joint press so i can do the job myself from now on, even with the tools and premium ball joints its cheaper than a mechanic.. It looks like there is one small hole in the driver side floor and the rockers are a little weak but not rusted through yet except the inner one on the passenger side. After i do the balljoints and get it inspected i'd like to replace the rockers and maybe driver side floor pan or just that spot, i wish i new a welder and someone who could make rockers out of square tubing as to use that area as jacking points..

My rear signal doesn't work on the left side rear and like i said not the bulb, could this be a fuze, also the blinkers and windows are extremely slow like their in molasses?
 
Nice looking truck. Is that a tilt column? I got a rear bumper just like that. Is there a dealership's name stamped into it?
 
not bad at all, looks like the only downer is the bench seat! Lucky on that rear 44.

Is that... a rear swaybar of some sort that I see? Never seen one on an MJ.
 
I had my driver side marker and brake light fail with a good bulb and fuse before.
It turned out the p/o did not properly tie in the trailer wiring when he installed it.

I noticed the receiver on your bumper, did not know if you had trailer wiring tucked under it anywhere or not.

Hopefully this helps
 
sorry for the late reply, i fixed the balljoints and the ujoints, and it turns out the the rear light was in backwards so the wrong filiment was lighting up making it appear to not work.
I need new screws for the tail lights the old ones are shot. It is wired for a four pin trailer. It is a column shift and thats a change for me compared to the cherokees. I still need to do the exhaust and the brakes are weak, the master cylinder is full and the front brakes are new so either there's air or the master cylinder is shot. Figureed it be a good time to just upgrade to the grand cherokee setup. I'll have to get a better picture of under the rear to see if thats a swaybar.

The jeep does have indeterminate problems with stalling, usually its right when i start it it doesn't want to stay started unless i punch the gas for a few seconds and its fine, does the same thing when driving sometimes(twice i dont drive it much yet). not sure why, it feels like its choking on its self, and punching the gas straightens it out for a bit, i don't know whether its an egr problem, or exhaust, or fuel yet.
 
It does appear to be a rear sway bar and it has a broken bolt on one side, It does have the rear valve thing for the brakes i guess i;ll have to get rid of that. I want newer doors on it, but having decided if i want the whole clip. I have a rock monitor bumper for the front and Ive prepped it for that. she sits bumper-less for now till its repainted.
It also has this huge gas tank skid plate, as well as a front one.

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Can you get any pics of the rear sway bar and how it mounts? I have an MJ I would like to put one on....yea, it's a 2wd.

Your truck looks great BTW!
 
Sorry for the late reply, anyways the comanche is now inspected, the front bumper is on has new exhaust, new ujoints and balljoints and a new radio. I have a few minor problems still.

One the thing spews coolant sometimes out of the bottle, it doesn't matter what i do the f**king cap doesnt stay tight, i did order a stant volvo cap to replace that. . It has also stalled out a total of three times, once when i first got it my ex stalled it and could not restart it i was able to if i punched the gas, and twice on me, once could of been due to low gas put gas in it restarted. And once about a month or two ago while driving on backroads before it was legal, it again restarted. Each time it would sputter and you could tell it was gonna die, if i pumped the gas pedal it clears it up and is fine. It hasn't come close to choking again in awhile. It did sit awhile before i bought it and it could be just that.

Next i thought i may have had a blown head gasket but i don't think so, i saw white smoke once or twice come out the exhaust and tiny little bubbles on the dipstick(oil) coupled with my coolant problem that i thought was overheating and the stalling i scared myself. I have not seen white exhaust again and it was cold and damp out so i'm guessing its just that it didn't dispel like in warm weather. No other problems like milky oil, white exhaust, higher oil levels. So i suppose i was just expecting the worse with a engine with 216,000 on it.

Today i pretty much lost heat, it works sometimes then not? I don't know if its related to poor vacuum on the coolant bottle or it sucked air in or what, I know it did work, and the only coolant leak is when the engine gets hot enough to blow the damn cap loose again.

Other than that it seems to be doing fine and is a blast to drive, it seems to have all its power there besides an uneven idle sometimes when in park. Ive been trying to find newer style front doors, but it seems noone is parting jeeps out around here maybe due to winter coming. I'll be on hold for awhile as i have no garage and its getting shitty out:( november in new england.

I think this jeep has all the options that the metric ton comanche has, its been fun so far and now money is getting tight. I'm thinking of 31" tires, but 33" tires look very appealing to, but i really don't wanna lift it past 3" I'm into the low center of gravity thing.

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and heres the sway bar, yeah one side is snapped.

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it looks like that thing was pretty well optioned.

I'm curious if the tank skid is a factory piece.
You can fit 33's on 3" of lift on an MJ no problem, because you can open up the rear fenders more than an XJ.

I fit 34" SS TSL's on 3" of lift. Just be sure not to cut too far, if you get past the pinch seam in the rear fender the bedside flops around.

From back in the day:
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3" Skyjacker springs and AAL.

This is a 34" in an uncut front wheel well:
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and with a worn out 31 in front of it for reference:
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Thanks, the rust isn't really to bad on her, one rocker is solid the other needs a little work and the floor is gonna need attention eventually as there is one rust hole on that too, also two spots on the inner rockers, overall though out of all the jeeps ive had it has the least amount of rust and has been my favorite one.

I think i'm gonna ditch the newer front clip idea as i like the older more basic look. What i am gonna look for is better seats doors with manual windows, and a tinted rear slider as my center glass is broken an i like tint. Also would like factory black interior pannels/dash.

Yes the 34's look decent on your truck, ive always been a strong believer of low center of gravity over giant lift, even if it involves cutting. I even tossed the idea of having the bed bobbed to increase departure angle, but winter has pu a damper on things for now.
 
It doesn't look like that now. That was 4 years ago.

I did end up shortening the frame, and lost the bed, and cut the front end up some more, then put 35's on it.

it's ugly now.
 
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