ComancheClub.com

Thank you for taking the time to look at my COMANCHE!!!

DISCLAIMER:


Here it is the day I brought it home. Not much to look at, but everything starts somewhere!!



Here is how the MJ looks in the SPRING of 2007:





Here we are, AUGUST 2008




Here it is in Spring 2010



Late Summer 2010





Its gone thru a couple stages to get where you just saw it... Below is where my story starts. Hope you enjoy the continuing story...

CW

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I trimmed my front fender's tonight. It came out better than I expected!!!

Here it is before:




Here it is after:




I moved the flairs up about 1.5".




Now for the rears....

CW

Good clean work. What size tire, and lift?

You can go higher than that. Mine are parallel with that fold in the fender, and the bolts that hold them on are moved up so I could trim even more out. And if you go to a larger tire you'll want to cut it closer to your door at the bottom too. I had some accidental siping going on with mine before I gt heavy with them. And fold that pinch seam! Just hit it with a nice sledge a bunch. I cut reliefs in mien first to make it easier, from a longevity stance that might not be best.

Dirty,
Thanks for the tips!! I decided to leave part of the "bend" in the fender for stregnth as I really don't need it for tar size. (rather not regear this one) I relocated the center support uo to the center hole of the reloacted flair and everything is almost as solid as it was before I cut!!

The pinch seam is next on the adjenda. This week end to be precise. They can really destry a set of tars if you don't!!!! I also do it as you describe, but I add a generous amount of construction adheasive behind the seam before beating it over and more after wards. You need to be careful of the spot welds there as well, don't cut them!!! With rubber gloves, smooth out everything and allow to dry. Comes out really nice and factory looking!!

The rear flairs are being moved because of rust. Its likely they will need to be moved up as high as you describe. Thats Saturdays project as well!!!

CW

Tar size I am running now is 31" the pics with the factory steel wheel are 33".
The lift in the front is somewhere between 4.25 and 5.25 inches. I think its closer to the 4" mark myself.
The rear is approx 5.5".

CW

Last night I did the rear flairs. They also came out better than I expected. but I had WAY more rust than I thought. (don't you always!!) I need to add some bracing as I removed most on the inner wheel well as it was badly rusted.

BEFORE:



During (rust):


DURING (Trimming):


During ( The trial fit) :


DONE:


CW

Well, replacement rockers at least.

I read a thread somebody wrote some time back over on www.NAXJA.com , about using a rear tail gate cap for rocker protection. Well its only aluminum so its not really much protection,. but its really nice to cover rusted out rockers!! Its DeeZee part number 2143B for a 2002-06 Dodge Ram pick up. The contour/profile is almost exactly the same as the XJ/MJ rockers!!

When I got my MJ, the rockers where not that bad, but would have been if not taken care of right away. There was small rust holes for most of their length. I removed all effected metal, back to solid steel and cleaned and prepped area for RUST BULLET. This is much like POR15 but a top coat is not required. I left it like this for about 4 months.



Tonight I decided to tackle the diamond plate rocker covers. They are WAY long for the MJ, but almost perfect on a four door XJ. I positioned one end so it tucked up under the flair about 2". Then marked for the cuts at the beginning and ending of the door opening and then again at the end of the cab.

For the front cut its to remove the lip/fold that is the back side of the cap where it would screw to the back of the tail gate.


In the door jamb area the lip of the diamond plate is a bit too much for the front portion of the door. So I just bent it up so it would ride up the vertical portion of the rocker. This allowed the whole panel to be tucked up nicely against the body for a nice tite fit.

At the rear of the door, I choose to just cut the lip and flatten the piece so the plate extends up higher on the body behind the door.


At the end of the cab, I just cut to kinda match the contours of the cab.


Then I attached everything to the MJ using some BLACK Silicone at the door jambs and lotsa pop rivets!! You can see the area where I bent the lip up vertical so it fit tightly to the body. Its the forward portion under the hinges.



Here is the Pass side finished:




Here is the Drivers side all done:



I ran out of light so I do not have any really good shots in day light, but I like it and it looks very nice. Almost like they where made for this purpose!!

Took me about 3 hours start to finish.

NEXT will be the actual ROCKER PROTECTION!!! Gotta get some more stock. I need the 3" and 1" angle iron. then I can get going!

CW

Well I got a chance last night to do my rocker protection. I made it from poop pipe , It will be fine for this application, and it was clean poop pipe. I used sch 40, because the sch 80 was out of stock. The difference is the wall thickness, 80 is about 1/4" think while 40 is closer to 1/8".
I choose the 1.25" size, because this is measured from the inside its really a shade over a 1.75 OD. I used a hole saw to cut the pieces and "birds mouth" them at athe same time.



This way, they fit really nice for welding.




I choose to use four standoffs, maybe I should have gont to five as thts is 80" long....time will tell if I chose correctly.



For the very front and back I choose to weld directly to the "frame". As there is thicker metal here for the front LCA mount and rear spring hanger. For the center two positions, I was worried as this is a unitbody vehicle and the layered sheetmetal that makes up the frame is not as thick as the steel in a reg frame would be. So,I added two pieces of 3" angle iron welded to the frame. Then the standoffs welded to that.




I positioned some jack stands under the rockers and decided what I liked for positioning. I decided to keep it was close to the body as possible. Rather than pull it out so it could be used as a step. I cleaned the frame in all positions and my friend tacked everything into position. Then removed it for final welding.






Once everything was stuck together, we positioned it back on the truck and welded it to the "frame".





I will be adding some more bracing to tie the rails to the body. I did not have enough to do this last night, but I will add it soon.I will use 1" - 1/8" wall square tubing. Running from the back end of the cab to just in front of my front most mount. This way I can hit the bracketry AND the pinch seam. I will bolt thru the pinch seam and weld to the bracketry, then weld to the rails on the bottom.

I think it came out really good and is MUCH stronger than I expected. Everything I read said you MUST connect to the pinch seam. this is where all the stregnth comes from.....




I thru the hilift og there to see if I needed another stand off for the bed area. it seems pretty strong. this shot the rear tar is just off the ground and there was about 1/8" of deflection in the rails. As you can see I positioned the jack so it was between the two rear stand offs.


Now...if we can only get this rain to end....I could get some paint and under coating back on it!!!!

CW

I got the bracing in the rear today!! I decided to add more than just two at the bottom....I added one at the very top and one more each at 2:30 and 10:30. I used the flair mounting bolts and drilled into the pinch seam inside the wheel well.








Then added a couple good coats of undercoating. Way sturdy now!! :loveit:

CW

I also got to beat down my front pinch seams today!! With the frnder trimming I had to remove the inner fender wells, exposing the dreaded tire shredding pinch seam!!



I made some cuts almost up to the junture of the two pieces. BE CAREFUL to cut BETWEEN the spot welds.




Then I applied some construction adhesave behind the pinch seam.



Ten the fun starts, get your favorite hammer or BFH as I like to call it and carefully hit the pinch seam in to the center of the jeep. Keep going untill its nice and flat with the remaining inner fenders. Apply more adhesive and smooth it out nice so its all smooth and factory looking.



Now allow that to dry and liberally coat it with under coating.




CW

I got to looking at the front of my rig....I never really liked the saggy Rustys coils I was running. I bought the ACOS to allow me to adj ride height to the rear leafs. But the front is still lower than I would like. I piched up a set of new 4" coils and threw them in. In anticipation of my new 33" tars! WHAT A DIFFERENCE!!! The Rustys where about 1.5" DIFFERENT in height, just sitting on the garage floor!!!

I reset the alighnment, toe in at 1/8" and caster at 7-8 degrees positive. Then I allighned the wheel. Tracks nice and straight with hands off the wheel. Today I'll tackle the track bar adjustment. I have some noise front the upper hiem, I think I may be out a bit.

The tars look great, actually I could lower the rig, I have PLENTY of wheel well room.






I was conserned about room at the lower rear corners of the front wheel wells. With the trimming I have PLENTY!!.


Stay tuned for more.....

CW

looks excellent, nice job on the fender trimming

Back when I put the diamond plate rocker covers on. I had one area on the pass side just behind the door.



Where the panel was too short to cover the rusted out metal. I got a piece of stainless steel and put and bent it 'till I got it to fit in there properly. Then I siliconed between the panels and rivited everything together. This is not a first class fix, merely a way to remove rust and fill the hole.
I also completely sanded/primed and painted the lower part of both drivers and passangers doors. The drivers side had a bit of rust on its extreem lower edge. But I did this mostly to remove some adheasive. Left from factory stripping I unintentionaly removed, on day one with my power washer.

Overall, I am happy with how it came out.




Here is a shot of the adheasive...pretty nasty/sticky stuff!!




I will eventionally have the truck painted all one color. :bigwink:

CW

brian thats super. gives me ideas for my new mj.

(ps...I'm the dude that bought your XJ motor)

How do those ACOS work?