This morning I set up shop at Miller Off Road Product's Jeep and off-road swap meet in Ramona, California. I came home with less than I was expecting!

 I really had to resist the urge to browse the aisles. My shed and garage had gotten to critical mass, so I loaded up all the old stock and aftermarket driveshafts, steering linkages, seats, trinkets, and other stuff I've collected for no reason over the years. At the end of the day I was a couple hundred pounds lighter and a couple hundred bucks richer.

I ran into a contingent of buddies from the web site, www.earlycj5.com. One of 'em had a very cheap Dana 44 rear from a Wagoneer. Tempting. He also had a Dana 27 front with 4.88 gears, Warn Premium hubs, and 11-inch brakes. Free. VERY tempting. Thankfully my buddy, Donnie has less self control than I do. I helped him load it in his Yukon. I'm sure his wife will be thrilled.

My buddy, Jim, also made the trek down from Riverside. His family used to own Johnson's Jeep dealership in Riverside back in the day, so he had an absurd collection of neat NOS stuff that'd never been installed. Need a virgin '79-ish FSJ grille or a still-in-the-plastic XJ center console? Jim is your man. He also had some really cool wheels, including a set of widened 15x10 KH steelies for $50. That was a hard one to walk away from. Jim did, however give me a cool old plate from his dealership that I'll be mounting on the front of my Cherokee. Thanks, Jim! My buddy, Steve, showed up with a cannibalized Bronco Dana 44 with 4.10s and some Hello Kitty apparel. I thought about that for a minute or two before coming to my senses. The axle: not the Hello Kitty garb. Although, I bet I could make pink work.