the...BUNNY! (finally the post as it SHOULD be)
 

Ok, so I have been on the forums since I bought the bunny (named by my sons) with issues, seeking advice...& ALL here in the wrong place =) SO NOW I am puttin err in like it should be.
Stats (learning as I go along)
1987 XJ 4 door (not sure if XJ MEANS 4 door so...)
4.0 L Straight 6 w/250K on the odometer. (no CLUE when it was last rebuilt if ever)
When I got it, it was totally FUBAR. Mechanic said, I bought the bumpers & gt a free jeep. The issues were MANY & ... Im not mad =) Paid $1,000 for it & picked it up at night. I was only told the overflow tank has a crack, Rear running lights dont work & the tires need replacing.

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That was at the gas station 1/2 block away. My drive home (holding the brake so I would have SOME running red in back) ahead was off to a happy start! I went & filled up & got some duct tape (I dont know any better & thought it may hold till I got home (40 miles away). Come out of the store & the radiator is pissing all over the ground. YEAH, there went my good start. I had my son following me so one way or another, I do get home =) & made it safely without issue.


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Next day, I drop it off at the shop after feeling handy changing the over flow res. Both excited & scared to hear the run down of what I bought. This is where I was told bumpers were worth it, but the Jeep was free :oops: on the LONG list was the following:
Master cylinder, brake lines, rear shoes & all that goes back there, front pads & rotors cause there was nothing worth reusing, 2 oil leaks, freeze plug needing replace, radiator coolant lookin like poo, some wires melted here & there, steering needing the gear box, pressure line, return line & power steering thing, tune up & Im SURE Im missing a few more things.
$1500 covered a full brake system, some wire trouble shooting & fixing the rear running lights, radiator & engine flush, & thermostat.
I got to feeling mechanical and such (which I am FAR from) & did my 1st tune up, oil change. Replaced some blown fuses. During this time, I let my kids have some fun & add paint.

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In theory it was a good idea ...till I noticed butts, peckers & smiley faces...so we had to repaint it.
Now I was lucky to find a shop that specializes in Jeeps that was friendly, reasonable & cool to talk with. So, mechanically, its getting there & I thought (since the Mrs let me wear the pants for a few minutes) time to do the steerin & suspension. Since I bought the parts for the steerin...& they were gonna be in there for the lift anyway...They charged me $1300 for the 3.5 procomp lift with real leafs, shocks, stab bar disconnect, axel fluid & checked my 4wd for ANY foreseeable issues. There was a few other things in there...just dont recall off hand. Ran to Luke AFB & got a SMOKIN deal on a set of 5 31s for $800 mounted & balanced.

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the new ghetto-flage with the lift.

Now this is all over the course of 2-3 months. Sneaking $$ so the wife didnt notice :cheers: & I take the bunny out for a test run. Nothing far, lucky for me, just 10 miles from my house are the white tank mountains. Close enough that if SHTF...I would be ok. I have a neighbor with a Jeep that went with me. So we noticed a couple things. Goin up an incline, it sputtered, radio shut off...& then caught itself & climbed the rest & radio back on. (found out later it was electrical). It got dark & BAM...found out why people have light bars! So, back to my local shop ( I trust them cause they have no problem saying "I dont know") & they did another wire chase & didnt charge since I had spent so much with all our vehicles ($3000 fixing the mini van cause before the bunny...I took THAT off road! Don't laugh...only got stuck once :tt2: )
They spent a few hours on it & said their lead mechanic just didnt know. Gave me a referral to a shop that ONLY does auto electric & off it went. 3 weeks later, $300.00 later I picked it up today & there was a few things including a harness to the computer that were grounding. The issue of power take off almost stalling the bunny is now gone! I stopped at the Jeep place for a few more things. 1 the rear leaf springs were getting danger close to the tire to where I couldnt even slide a finger between them. 2 get the gear for the speedometer & 3 have them look at the blower motor (not worried about the AC...but the heat come fall & at elevation. If I can get the AC without spendin to much...great). So its at the Jeep shop. I didnt forget about the light bar...so got lucky skimming craigs list & got a 50in for $175! No name on it, no clue about it...but the seller claims it is rated at 26K lumen. I turned it on to make sure it worked & went from there. Cant WAIT to mount it! Have to be creative because bracket to bracket...54 in for the light bar, raid gutter to rain gutter on the bunny...52.5 inches! A friend is a skilled welder with a shop & said we can build a roof rack (more like he builds, I watch & weld some useless section) around the light bar. SO excited for this stage. NOW you are all up to date & I will do better on pictures as the build continues. Only mechanical thing still wrong (that I KNOW of) is the oil leak. That is for another day.

still on the to do list: Roof rack, mount light bar, move that bottle on the bottom left of the front that is exposed, winch, gaskets for the oil leak, fold rear wheel well & cut front for a little more room in case I do go 33s some day.

& the hits just KEEP ON COMING! I get it out of the shop that does the electrical. $300 later & the issue I had with the power taking off is fixed. Still have a short somewhere. I am going to take some time to try & figure that out.

Dropped it at the local Fletchers because the oil leak was getting on my nerves. Verdict...oil pan, valve cover, oil filter gaskets & rear main seal are my leak issues. YEAH! Not sure if I am just going to buy plenty extra oil or try to get that corrected.

So to the best of my knowledge, once the oil & electric are addressed...I should be off road ready? We shall see. Pics to follow when something is done to it.

latest & greatest...got the leaf spring adjusted from the lift (it was sliding sideways & got danger close to the tires) while there, they put the new gear for my speedometer. Its 1 tooth off, but 1 or 2 miles wrong is WAY better than 10-15 right? They let me know I have a valve cover, oil pan, oil filter & rear main seal leak. Didnt realize it was that many at first. It goes in to AMC (the Jeep shop) tomorrow to get the leaks dealt with.

Ordered a single bar rain gutter connection roof rack bar to attach the light bar to. Will do that when the bunny gets back from AMC.

Neighbor told me about a Jeep run next month & I will be there! Going to an old mining town through back country. Looking forward to it. Still have an electrical issue somewhere & will have to take the time to pin that down as well.

Do you possibly know which old mining town you guys are going thru next month?

In theory it was a good idea ...till I noticed butts, peckers & smiley faces...so we had to repaint it.




made me grin like a happy, retarded dog..... nice.

Not sure Torque, but we start at Lake Pleasant. I tried to think about it...but drawing a blank. (MAYBE Crown King?)

Right now, the Bunny is at AMC getting the 4 oil leaks knocked out, side mirrors replaced & since it was at the electrical shop...SOMEHOW my pin that locks the sway bar disconnect came up missing...just 1 of them. I am taking my sons to NAU for football camp & we get back around Thurs & I will get the bunny back, & HOPEFULLY mount that light bar! I ordered a generic roof rack bar so that should be here when we get back. Then I can put a pic up of something NEW =)

Hey Lowcog, I know the feeling...took me a little bit before deciding to repaint it...cause I was grinning to & thinking about leaving it that way too.

Back from football camp...got a call while there & a few more issues surfaced. Distributor was being held on with 1 bolt. The rest were stripped. Went with a new one there to the list of swap outs. I will get more detail when I go to PAY for it.

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Just got the luggage rack. Took it down to the shop & threw it on while its there for a few things. One of which is that vacuum can getting moved under hood so its more protected.

Ok, so the light bar went on & took it for a night time test run.

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Ran under some low hanging tree branches that pin stripped the doors & the bar hung tight & bright!

So, it went to AMC for the 4 oil leaks & while there found a few more issues. My distributor was held by 1 bolt because the others were stripped, my motor mounts were non existant, replaced starter, tray for the battery & the hold down, the vacuum can was moved, transfer case o ring.

Running OUT of things needing to be fixed! Still need upper control arm bushings (waiting on a price) & to figure out the electric short (Nasa Electric didnt do it) cause it MAY be the cause of my blower not working at all.

busy day. Folded rear wheel well ...looks pretty good.
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Then added some baja lights for a side light...that...didnt go as well. I tried to use the secondary connector for the LED. Luckily, I DID keep the baja fuse in that power string. FRIED IT in 2 minutes flat. Guess I will need to wire it on its own. Kinda sucks...but oh well. I know its hard to see, but the shadow is there =D
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out with a friend rampagin with the Bunny. Light bar looked pretty HOT out there! Nothing fell off, no extra clunks...good shape for the crown king run next month!

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$270 for the new roof rack WITH rain gutter mounts!!!

Dropped it off at AMC Jeep so they can install it while they do a few other things to it. They already fixed the over heating issue. Some how, a bearing was in a vacuum hose, fan wasnt kicking on & shroud busted. Along with clutch fan...that is fixed.

They are going to secure a wrangler bench in the rear & add seat belts for my littles, make a direct line for my blower (since the fuse block is screwed) & mount the roof rack while its there. Cant wait for a photo shoot. Mechanic said its OFF ROAD READY!

ALLLLLrightyyyyy then! Finally have some updates. While it may seem like money vacuum, the end is in site! (Kinda) Mechanically, the Bunny is done! No more leaks, blower motor replaced, there was a short on the lift gate keeping my dome lights on (disconnected it) the roof rack is installed, plate for the LED light bar switch is in (I was most excited about that than the rest...silly I know but...) Will be getting a 3 fuse block put in for the other lights yet to be installed, fan clutch replaced, shroud for the fan replaced...yes, I have about 9K spent on it (I know I could have bought a better newer jeep for that much money, but THIS is what I wanted)

Hope you enjoy the pics.
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3rd row ghetto style getting put in, will be 3 inches up& be able to fold down.

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Roof rack is on (with a little mod to the raid gutter mount)

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better view of the roof rack.I know it is on back wards, but I wasnt going to use the light mounts for the LED cause they wouldnt fit, so back wards I can mount some cheesey bajas for rear & side view. The bajas on there now arent wired yet.

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had that vacuum bottle moved from the passenger side front to up here to prevent loss by being off road & driving hard. Cleaned the air intake filter (& oiled the interior one)

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something as simple as a plate to hold the light bar switch just made me happy.

My list is down to wants...& its a good feeling! Next week, crown king!

Still doin little work. 3rd row not mounted yet, but will be by this week end.
Added the roof rifle rack. Cabella's $90.00 holds his n hers ARs.

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Havent tightened rod to bracket yet...will do in the morning. Got tired FINALLY

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Put some cheap wally world 55 watt lights (not wired yet) for when I need to reverse. Still have 1 more set to mount for a 45 degree side/back view. Once I get them up, I will do the wiring & tuck it all as neat as I can.

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Front LED & cheese lights wired, hot & ready.

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Almost done. few little things. trying to get feedback on winch & stuff.