Project Utility Vehicle, this time an MJ.

[iant333]

Yeah I bought this about a week ago now.



There I am putting my advanced college education in auto mechanics to good use swapping out the old dead battery before I drive it home.

Then I got home and already I have made huge progress on its restoration, the roll bar has been painted.




Plans:

Nothing crazy, my Subaru is and will remain my fun vehicle/money pit so this is just a daily driver that may see the occasional light/medium duty wheeling trip, therefore it will remain practical and completely daily drivable. Imagine if Jeep made a capable factory "upcountry" version of the MJ, that's what I want to build.

2 inches of lift on 31's and locked f/r, already bought some of it. 2 inch coils from Rustys, 1.5 inch shackle from Rustys, fixed LCA's from Rustys. Still have to buy shocks, probably getting Bilstein 5100's in front and some cheaper alternative in back (Because I crush alot of rear shocks on things). Everything else with the suspension is gonna stay stock, I dont want to bother changing out the track bar and UCA's and stuff and if I keep it this low I can stay with the stock slip yoke too.

I want lockers front and back, not sure what kind yet except I want selectable ones. I dont know of any selectable lockers made for an 8.25 though so i might have to compromise and get Aussies again.

After all that I might get it repainted. I'm most likely not doing it myself, from painting my XJ I learned to stick with what i'm good at, and it isn't painting cars.

[Burton58]

You're putting an 8.25 in it?

[iant333]

Yup. My parts XJ has axles with 3.73's already and its the 29 spline.

[Ruepart Hoaxley]

Good start! Please keep SporTruck graphic

If you do end up going for an SYE, MJ's are a bitch to find shafts for... you're pretty much stuck going to Tom Woods or Carolina or one of the various driveshaft makers.

[iant333]

Good start! Please keep SporTruck graphic

If you do end up going for an SYE, MJ's are a bitch to find shafts for... you're pretty much stuck going to Tom Woods or Carolina or one of the various driveshaft makers.

I'm just gonna have mine shortened at a shop. Or I might have to use the XJ one cause of the spline count in which case I will have it lengthened.

[iant333]

Did the tune up to end all tune ups.

Spark Plugs, Wires, Cap and Rotor, Fuel Filter, Oil Change to Rotella T6 5w-40 (What I use for the Subaru and didn't feel like going out and buying more oil), cleaned the throttle body and a new TPS (Only because the old one broke).

Runs like a top for 158,000mi.

And my fuel level sender is bad. But there are zero companies which make the part any more, and its one of the few things that isn't the same as the XJ. So I will have to install some sort of generic sender unless I can find a used one that works.

[murdered out manche]

just go to an xj tank and sending unit

[iant333]

just go to an xj tank and sending unit

How well do they fit?

It would have to be an older one I think since the newer ones are all returnless.

[murdered out manche]

i used a renix era tank and sender, it was plug and play.. idk about fit, i cut a hole in my bed and recessed it to the lip to get it out of harms way. I put a tool box over the tank to get the bed space back.. worked great

[iant333]

I dont think i'm gonna bother messing with the fuel gauge for now. Now that I have gotten used to just buying gas every couple days it doesn't bother me very much. I'll fix it at some point but it's a minor inconvenience. I'll prolly go with a generic tubular sender and gauge combo, drill the top of the tank and the big tube sender drops in. Unless I can find a working factory sender for a reasonable price that is.


Bought the rest of my lift and pulled my parts XJ apart.

For shocks I got:

Front: 7100 remote resi, 10" travel, Short Body, 275/78

Rear: 5100, 8" travel, I dont know what the valving is since they dont tell you.



And I figured out how to hook up the driveshafts. Since the XJ one is made of aluminum foil and is too short and the MJ one has the wrong spline count and is too long. I can just take the XJ's t-case yoke and mate to the MJ shaft then have it shortened. The MJ's shaft is pretty beefy so its worth keeping, I shouldn't need an SYE with that little lift.

[iant333]

Well I was lazy and was gonna wait another couple weeks but the MJ's transmission just died so I started swapping it yesterday. I started it up yesterday morning and it decided the only gear that it was going to go into was 3rd, it could be something other than the trans itself but i'll worry about that if the new transmission doesn't fix it.

I got all the parts and stuff and now it is just sticking it all in the Jeep. I'm surprised on how fast this is going. I have about 6 hours into it and the axle is pulled, trans is out and I replaced my rear main seal already.