Doorknob The MJ

[Bronzewyrm]

during the decade in witch I grew up "yo mamma" jokes were all the rage... One of them came to mind when This Mj came into my possession."yo mamma's like a doorknob, everybody gets a turn" whorable I know lol, But Never the less it is My Turn with her.

I Give you Doorknob the MJ






these photos were take how I got it, off the trailer into is parking spot. I wanted to keep track of things here right off the get go, as its going to change FAST! I wanted to give it a proper visual inspection so I crawled all over it to see what I could find :rtm:.

First I found a Bent main leaf spring on the driver side. Comanches are longer so ill have to source one.


I found several bushings and joints that need addressed, but nothing I wasn't expecting. Then I found the broken track bar bracket.


Along with a loose/striped motor mount bolt, and a broken off steering box brace.


Said steering box brace. I actually like it, a lot.


Less than rock solid steering


Ball joint?!? I assume when it "slipped" on ice in bpb's driveway..

 

[Bronzewyrm]

it came equipped with 35" m/t's on T/R beadlocks, Arb in the front turdy, Warn hub conversion, D44 rear with a spool, and a few other things...


SYE


Iffy looking 3 link stuff



BPE's, unknown shocks


Custom coil spacers


WARN!


New radiator


Mess-O-Wires

 

[Bronzewyrm]

AND some Body damage to fix.









My plans for her are simple, fix it, paint it, wheel it, sell it. We will see what gets done in what order. This jeep has been around I know, and yall might know a thing or two about it/have old pics of it stashed. feel free to dump them here. Im debating on ditching the flat bed and getting a regular bed back on it, also back and forth with blue, or forest green.

It has 4.56 gears in the axles, and a 4.0/AW4/231.

Looking forward to building another MJ.

Bronze.

 

[Jbh97009]

I like the trail ready's, and the warn hub conversion! Looks like a fun project!

 

[SPECFab]

Those are only trail ready weld on rings and I straightened the crap out of one of them I had to use the press to fix it LOL

 

[Demonoid369]

Ahh in so jealous, that d30 is like my dream axle lol 4.56, warn hubs, and arb, beadlocks. You lucky bastard lol have fun man. I need to stop by and check it out lol

 

[Bronzewyrm]

Those are only trail ready weld on rings and I straightened the crap out of one of them I had to use the press to fix it LOL

please explain, I have a serious lack of knowledge about bead locks. how are aluminum locks "weld on" ?

come on by larry just text me 1st im not around much for the next week or so.

Bronze

 

[NW-ZJ-SCOTT]

the most hated MJ in the northwest..
and yet, I still had a "Slight" desire to be the new owner, when eric moved to Afghanistan

EDIT: They are aluminum rings welded onto standard alloy wheels.. same thing as a Steel DIY beadlock kit, but for aluminum wheels

EDIT2: I hope to see you do good work with this rig.. Congrats on the new project

 

[SPECFab]

Never air them up past 25 psi they can explode
And yes its a weld on ring on a Chinese wheel.

 

[NW99XJ]

Congrats on the new acquisition Jon!

 

[stang65]

needs some tlc but its in the right hands cant wait to see this on the trail

 

[paddlernate]

I like the flatbed. This thing looks past the point of being a utility vehicle, so the bed fits it.

 

[Bronzewyrm]

Well the MJ, pressure washer and I spent some quality time together today.



Turns out under all that gunk , there are jeep partz


Spent a some time at the JY with my good friend tape measure, looking for a radiator for my v8s10 project, and it turns out ranger/explorer leaves measure out the same as the mj. (+/- 1/4") so I grabbed a set out of a late model exploder


Took off the steering box brace, trac bar, and trac bar bracket to start cleanup and fix'N


Trying to think up a good way to brace/gusset this up.



Trac bar bushing is totally wasted, debating on ordering a heim for this side, along with fixing the axle side mount up (nailsalon status)


I suppose I could slap another bushing in there if I knew where to get the right one, but there is obviously a bind in the area...


Progress is progress right

Bronze.

 

[TORX]

This was a surprise to read about.

I too was thinking about trying to pick it up at one point in time. It's an old rig that was probably built more than a decade ago. It's had a lot of work done to it. Some good, some bad. Hope you can get it all sorted out. I'd love to see it out on the trail again.

 

[TORX]

Trying to think up a good way to brace/gusset this up.

Trac bar bushing is totally wasted, debating on ordering a heim for this side, along with fixing the axle side mount up (nailsalon status)

Bronze.

That's a stock track-bar bracket, I'd just get a "new" one and call it good (I think I have one or two in the scrap pile). The upgrade alternative would be to convert it to a double shear style bracket.

As for the lower track-bar joint. I'd leave it a bushing otherwise the track bar is going to want to roll around with the bends in it. Measure the ID, and go hunting. It looks like an old RE1600 track-bar.

 

[CSB_YJ]

Here's a few from a work party at SPECfab a while back.

 

[Bronzewyrm]

nice! I ordered a set of 7/8" joints for it, going for a bushing today. should be able to start of things here soon.

Bronze.

 

[stang65]

ill have those shackles to you this week. got busy today

 

[Bronzewyrm]

I will be using 7/8" heim joints for the axle side of the LCA's. after you have the jamb nuts, tube adapters, and misalignment spacers, the joint them selves are $19 and change, I know of plenty of people running 7/8" in there control arms combined with the luck I have had with the 1.25" joints, im going to run them and see what happens. I have plenty of spares laying around, and heims would be an easy change on the trail if worse came to worse. I will be mini skidding the axle as well.


I did some forum digging to see what I could come up woth for a bushing for that front track bar. it turns out that a TJ Rear track bar sports the same bushing I needed and it also sports the same 1/2 diameter hole I was looking for.

Energy Suspensions PN: 2.7103 mine is a "g" stands for black, I think reds are a "c"



Bronze.

 

[Bronzewyrm]

started today by getting ready to fix the track bar issues.


I ground it down, drilled the crack , and welded it up.


I wanted to add some strength to the bracket so I went with the simple easy fix, More metal!



all painted up.


Installed the new track bar bushing, cleaned the mud off, and then cleaned the black over spray off from one of the PO's. came out decent for a used jeep part.


Total PITA to install as usual for a track bar.


But in the end it feels really good now. seems a lot more stable



Ill be on to the leaf spring change next.

Bronze