Drahcir495

One of the very first things I did after I bought the Comanche was to decide on what lift kit I was going to buy. I knew that this jeep would be my daily driver ninety percent of the time, but I wanted to be able to take it anywhere when the opportunity arose. I spent a lot of time on NAXJA deciding on the right lift for me. I ended up ordering the Rubicon Express MJ 5.5" EXTREME-DUTY KIT RE6500. The RE6500 kit comes with U-bolt plates, RE1141 Gen2 sway bar disconnects, RE1334 Coil spring spacers, RE1345 Front coil springs, RE1380 Front bump stop extensions, RE1513 Rear brake hose, RE1550 Front brake hoses, RE1660 XD adjustable track bar, RE1665 XD track bar bracket, RE1935 Rear spring perches, RE2020 Weld on shock mounts, RE2120 T-case lowering kit, RE2421 U-bolt kit, RE9900 Control arm drop bracket, and upgraded the control arms to the RE37XX Adj. Lower front control arms and RE37XX Adj. Upper front control arms. I also picked up the RE1670 XD track bar bracket brace -> After nearly 2 year with the painter, I was forced to bring home the Comanche before it was finished. The only reason I had not brought it home sooner was that I knew that my wife would hate the jeep in the condition it was in - a shiny new paint job would have helped out a lot. I was right. I could tell she could not stand the thing, but surprisingly she now says that she likes it - “I am shocked! It is a really nice looking truck; it is nothing like what was originally in the garage!” With limited space, I am forced to relocate my CJ8 until the Comanche is drivable. With the CJ8 relocated and the Comanche home, I could now begin the transformation. Following the advice of so many of you, I presoaked all the nuts and bolts before attempting to install the new lift kit. I just sprayed everything with PB Blaster about a week before I started and I think it paid off. My second task was to securely support the jeep with jack stands. I used two sets of jack stands – one set supported the truck by the frame and two on the axles. The axle is ready to be freed -> Before I could install the 5.5” RE lift, I needed to get the front Dana 30 axle out for the new axle. The new Dana 44 housing uses the old Dana 30 outer knuckles which meant even more work. I began to disconnect everything holding the axle in place - I took off the brake rotors, the brake lines, disconnected the breather tube, the shocks, the track bar, the spring retaining clips, etc. I easily got the old springs out and did a little side by side comparison - Old springs are 18.5’’ tall, and the new RE springs are 22.5” tall -> After cutting my knuckle taking off parts that I knew I would never use again, I simplified the job with the sawzall. You will be able to see that the sawzall cut through the control arms like butter in the upcoming pictures. I unbolted the old track bar and here it is ready to come out with axle-> Out with the old 30-> New track bar mount installed and the coil spring spacer - out side view-> Inside view of the new track bar mount installed-> The beefy RE track bar brace -> Track bar Brace installed -> The drop bracket installation instructions call for a 1/2” reamer to be used on the upper control arm mount holes. Reaming these holes out allows for the use of a larger and stronger bolt. I had to order a special ½” x 8” long drill bit in order to complete this step :roll: -> It was a very tight fit trying to drill out the hole -> Another shot of drill bit – had to be long enough to make it through all three pieces-> Drivers side drop arm bracket installed -> Passenger side -> Broke a few bolts along the way. Had to drill and tap -> For the sway bar relocation brackets -> I also broke a bolt on this brace thing?? I had to grind off the welded-on bolt and add grade 8 hardware -> Then it was a matter of getting the lower control arm in. Lower control arm install sequences -> Then I was able to bolt in the new Dana 44 - Not! The axle needed a set of $50 specialty bolts/nuts for the axle side of lower control arm -> I had been putting the knuckle removal portion of the project off to the last minute, I thought that it would be challenge, but I never could have imagined just how big of a challenge. The knuckles were hell to get off. I had to buy two large sockets; a 33mm and a 36mm, a 12 point 13mm socket, and ball joint separator to even get started. -> Bwatsoncj had to come over to help me get the hub and bearing assembly off. We literally took turns beating the heck out of it until we could not swing any more. We ended up destroying both of the outer shafts with the BFH, but we eventually managed to get them off -> Now it was time to install my new Alloy USA axle shafts. Passenger side alloy shaft -> I had been storing bwatsoncj’s old hub assemblies from his totaled 93 XJ. I was thinking that they could be in better condition then mine when the time came to replace mine. After several failed attempts to get my new axle shafts to fit correctly, I took them out to compare them to the original 89 hubs. The three different hub/rotors assemblies {left two off a 93 XJ, right from MJ} -> You can see the size difference better in this picture -> After reassembling the axle with the old hubs, the shaft was binding up. It turns out that this stupid shroud thing was binding up the shaft -> The new RE kit comes with a 2” bump stop extension. You need to drill a hole in the spring cup and then tap it out to 5/16th -> Then use the supplied bolt and secure the extended bump stop to the spring cup -> I had a problem with the DS hole. It broke my bit on a super hard weld or something, but fortunately I was able to extract the piece. I was able to tap out enough of the material for the bolt to hold, but it needed to be trimmed down a little. I also wanted to use the spring clamp on the new axle. I tapped out that hole to the size of some of my stainless steel hardware-> Completed Dana 44 ready to go in - On page three of my Build-up page, you can see the steps involved in setting up the internals of the front 44. Knuckle & spring in place-> Shaft in -> One side done -> Picked up four new rancho RS9000XL nine positions shocks and added JKS upper shock conversion mounts to the front two. The JKS conversion mount uses a massive 7/8" threaded stud. * Tip * Follow the instructions and run the locking nut onto the threaded stud before you place into the jeep – I thought I could bypass this step the first time :roll: . Then I added the JKS Bar Pin Eliminators to the bottoms of the two front shocks. -> Now on to the rear SOA lift. With two BFC’s and a baker’s dozen of the Bavarian Cream filled doughnuts, I managed to get bwatsoncj to help me out some more on the lift. We took the Comanche down to the shop and placed her on the lift -> We were going to attempt to do the Spring Over Axle (SOA) lift AND install the rear Eaton E-locker and 4:56 gears all in one day. While the jeep was on the lift I was able to get a better look at the under side of the jeep. Everything looked great! And I was able to get a different perspective of the front lift and take this shot {pre-alignment pinion angle} -> <- That washer is not supposed to be on that lower CA bolt in the picture above: roll: but I didn’t notice it until the lower control arm was on. These bolts are a real hassle to get on and off, so it is going to be there for a little while. It was wonderful to have an assortment of air tools and sockets to do the job right. With bwatsoncj guidance, we quickly had the rear axle free -> While bwatsoncj worked on getting the rear axle set up with the gears and locker, I installed the Rancho shocks, knock off the disintegrating bump stops, and reinstalled the leaf springs -> And I relocated the new rear brake lines - > Bwatsoncj cleaned up the axle {the factory track-loc had fallen apart, it was a miracle the axle had not yet blown up} - > bwatsoncj installed the R&P -> -> Ring gear on the new Eaton E-locker -> I drilled out the new hole in the pumpkin, so bwatsoncj was able to install the completed assembly -> After running a pattern and checking to see if all was correct, Mr. bwatsoncj once again used his “special finger” to seal the housing up with the new Rock Crusher Differential cover -> We set the axle back up in the MJ in the new SOA position. The new perches were left loose until we were able to set the axle up in the appropriate pinion angle using his high tech pinion gauge. Then bwatsoncj simply tacked the perches into place -> The next step was to grind off the old spring perches {no going back now} -> And then completely weld up the new SOA perches and give them a coat of paint -> We re-installed the axle, attached the parking brake lines {DS it too short to use the factory routing, anyone else run into this?}, the drive shaft, and brake line. Now we were ready to weld up the new shock brackets. We were both ready to get out of there at this point. Deciding on the new shock tab location was done quickly, but it worked out well. We settled on this location taking into account where the shocks would be able to maximize the up and down travel {they can always be relocated if need be}-> Drum roll . . . the complete axle in the MJ {sorry the quality sucks, but it is the only one I took} -> I could not wait to get the truck aligned so I could slap on the new 33x12.5x17 Mickey Thompson MTZ’s that were mounted on the 17x8.5 (w/3.75” BS) Walker Evans Bead lock rims -> But that idea was set aside after running into the into the Camber problem :headpop: -> And then after I was able to fix it { Build–up page 7}:jump: , I was able to finally get the new rims and tires on her!!! Here are the pictures of that process => Before the lift with stock tires (I have the bucket in place in the shots to give a perspective on the lift)-> After the front is lifted with stock tires {notice the subliminal CC advertising?} -> Goofing off shots with the front lift complete; I just wanted to see how it would look with the 33” tires on -> After F&R lift installed with stock tires -> Post lift; Rear tires on -> Lift complete with new tires -> I ran into a problem with the drag link hitting the sway-bar lower mount, so I am limited on how far I can turn to the right – which sucks. I ordered these to relocate the mount two inches higher and lower skids for better LCA support/protection -> This thing is a lot taller than I thought it would be. Looking through the pictures of lifted jeeps in the build-up pages and internet, you can’t tell how tall the Comanche’s really are. The pictures do not give any real perspective. I am 6’ (72’’) tall, and the roof of the cab sits taller than me @ over 74.5”. Now that the lift is complete, I am breaking in the new gears. I still need to go back over all the nuts and bolts to make sure they are still snug in a few miles. Before lift measurements [From center of hub to the inside of fender flare]: Front DS – 19” Front PS – 18.5” Rear DS – 20.5” Rear PS – 20.5” After Lift: Front DS – 25.5” = +6.5” Front PS – 25” = +6.5” Rear DS – 27.5” = +7” Rear PS – 26.75” = +6.25” After Lift measurements [old tires from ground to the inside of fender flare]: Front DS – 38.75” Front PS – 37.75” Rear DS – 40.25” Rear PS – 39.75” After Lift measurements [New tires from ground to the inside of fender flare]: TBA* Front DS – xx” = +xx” Front PS – xx” = +xx” Rear DS – xx” = +x” Rear PS – xx” = +x.x” I think it safe to say that I came out with a 6.5’’ over all lift. Thanks again to bwatsoncj; you’re worth every trip to McDonalds, Cracker Barrel, Publix, and Duncan Doughnuts :thumbsup:! Thanks to Andy at Gear Works for letting us use his equipment and for the smoking good deal on all the axle goodies. To everyone on this forum - :smart: Thank you for the support and knowledge you have provided. :cheers: TBC - Rich

Thanks Wing-man :cheers:

More like Wrenches Gone Haunted :eek: !!! I've checked out this thread more than a few times :D , but today at work I saw it in a whole new light. You guys ever see that creepy dead kid behind the curtain in the movie “Three Men and a Baby?” This was that kind of experience. I get home, and it is not there :nuts:. Any one else see an apparition in this picture? Other than that, keep posting! - Rich

That thing looks like the size of a Matchbox car :eek:. Love the motorcycle colection :bowdown:. -Rich

I plan I getting a new speedo gear. It is not expensive and an easy install. I went here -> http://gojeep.willyshotrod.com/HowtoSpeedoGears.htm to find the correct tooth count, then I contacted BLHTAZ and had him order me the gear from the dealership.

:agree: :rotfl2:

Hey Rich - that worked!! The 89 MJ is in my garage! Thanks bro. You and Pete said DO IT and dang if it aint done! :jump: Heck yeah man :jump: Get those pics ASAP - Rich

Just show up with 17 one hundred dollar bills :D. Then, when his wife is around, whip them out. It should do the trick :chillin: . Good luck - Rich

Wow, looks good. I may have to change my vote :D

Big time suxs :roll: . All I have to do is cut down a bolt, and then get somebody to weld it on :roll: . I was going to pm you about getting a new speedo gear. I think I will do that now :cheers: - Rich

:agree: You can't go wrong either way, but I say black.

I saw SW2’s thread on updating the shifter knob here -> http://comancheclub.com/forums/viewtopi ... highlight=, and thought it I should give it a try. I can’t stand the dildo looking shifter that the PO left in it, so I got a TJ 5-speed knob to replace it -> While I was tightening the new one on it SNAPPED off in my hand! :mad: Fixed it on page 9 ->

Fixed the camber problem -> The write up is on page 7 8) - Rich

Sa-weet, thats the one! Thanks #2

I lost all my favorites when my computer crashed :cry: . Can anyone tell me the name of (or the link to) the site that has all the MJ owners on the USA/World map? I thought it was Flicker, but I can't find it. Thanks, Rich

Yep - "Juneteenth is the oldest nationally celebrated commemoration of the ending of slavery in the United States. From its Galveston, Texas origin in 1865, the observance of June 19th as the African American Emancipation Day." Been around for 143 years???

Now it would not be any fun if we just told you :nuts: I had to google it ;)

You had to make me look it up :clapping:. Never heard of it until today 8) - Rich

[Fender installed and antenna screwed on: Close up of antenna: Pretty ingenious work there . I like it :cheers: - Rich

And what it looks like on the truck: Only problem now is, where to put the FM radio antenna? Might just have to put it on the ds fender, just to be different. That looks pretty darn good :cheers:. Anyway to get a combo antenna, something that would work as a CB and Radio antenna? Thanks for getting back to me on that - and again, pretty sweet looking - Rich

More Pick-n-Pull goodies from today - I found a 1990 XJ with a high flow intake -> I have no idea who makes it? Picked it all up for $8, so it was well worth the price. I just need to polish it back up, and fabricated some sort of support leg for it. I went ahead and pulled off the NP231 Skid Plate too ->

Thanks, that is a fantastic write-up -> http://www.madxj.com/. That is exactly what the guy at TK said. I just can't imagine how a lift (with a solid axle) could possible change my camber 1.5*?! The only thing that I could see changing would be the caster - right? It has to be the old knuckles on the new axles?? The kit I got from Napa will give me +/- 1.5* for around $50. I hope it works :roll:. If not, I will be trying this next :popcorn: - Rich

Thanks, I can't wait either. :cheers:

That is because of the 97 ZJ V8 assembly that I am using. More pictures of it on page 4. - Rich

I get the front lift done on the MJ a few weeks ago, and I immediately notice that there was a problem -> :headpop: :mad: :headpop: :eek: :cry: :nuts: :headpop: :cry: I jack the axle up at the center section and the tires spring back into place. I am thinking strange, but it looks fine now. After finishing the rear axle, I take it down for a four wheel alignment. According to the manager at TK, the Camber is off -1.5 on both sides. Shiite! He suggested that I get some new adjustable ball joints. These are brand new ball joints, on a brand new axle housing – just my luck :mad:. I am pretty upset, and I start thinking what is wrong, and why does this seem to only happen to me. Every frickin write-up on this 44 swap touts that it is a simple bolt on project! Never once did I read about the $50 bucks in specialty bolts and nuts for the lower control arms :nuts:. I didn’t hear that I may need new extended sway bar brackets, because the drag link/tie rod is hammering the stock bracket. And they sure as heck didn’t mention this! I figure it is two late to go back now, I better just get the new ball joints. They are pricey; at around 1 hundred a piece on top of the specialty tools needed to press everything off and back on. Then I came across this post by xxmidianxx on NAXJA - http://www.naxja.org/forum/showthread.p ... all+joints. This would allow me to keep my new ball joints, and cut down on cost and time :roll:, and hopefully correct the situation. I ordered the kits from Napa, now I just need the 4 prong spindle nut socket to arrive from Snap-on. I will post up picture of the install, and if it is successful, after I get it installed. :popcorn: - TBC 7/03 – I got the special camber adjusting kit from Napa (264-2072) -> And the special 4 prong socket from bwatsoncj at Gear Works :cheers: -> . I spent a couple of hours each night after work taking the front end apart. I supported the brake calipers up and out of the way like this -> . Use the 36mm socket on the spindle nut -> I had to run out and pick up a few of the tools that I had borrowed the fist time I swapped out the Dana 30 knuckles - the 33mm socket for the lower nut on the knuckle, a new ball joint fork, and a 12 point 13mm wrench and socket to get the bearing off -> . After I removed the bearing from the knuckle I was ready to pull out the shaft (EDIT: the axle shaft :oops:) -> . bwatsoncj called me later that night to see how I was coming along, and to remind me to expect gear oil to pour out of the axle now that the axle shafts were no longer there to contain the lube – a bit too late -> I had to use my shirt to stop the flow :nuts: . On the other side I just ended up plugging the hole back up with the shaft - FYI. – and avoided ruining another shirt. I removed the knuckle and secured it in the vice. The directions say to run the insert towards the inside of the knuckle (basically tightening it out) like this -> Thank god for bwatsoncj and Snap-on tools, and my personal favorite; PB Blaster. The DS was a biatch, but the PS was easily removed. Here are some comparisons of the inserts. Top view -> Side by side -> I screwed in the new insert from the bottom in -> The adjustment piece snaps in like this -> And when you get it all back together it should look something like this -> The after shot looks pretty good -> I had it aligned last night without any problems ! So I guess that this does work :D . Now I can get the tires on and complete the write up on the suspension lift. - Rich