87manche

it will be fine, comprimises must be made, like Mitch said, I run swampers too. They're freaking amazing tires, but I ran them on the street for a moth, and it was bone jarring.

are those the baja claws or xterrains? I've seen the baja claws in action, of the 35" and stupid wide variety. They did plug up with mud, and required a lot of wheelspin to clear. They didn't seem to directionally stable in an offcamber situation involving mud. Other than that they seemed to do just fine, just not an all out mud tire.

the brackets are stock steel, the hooks are chrome ones, likely lifte from a laredo model.

10.5s sound like a good idea. I'll start looking into them a bit. Thank ya! pizza cutters are awesome, my swampers are 34x9.5, I love the skinny tire.

if you want factory towhook brackets I'll have some soon, as soon as I get the new bumper prepped/painted and on the truck. They're shiny chrome ones even.

I'm pretty sure that guy is nuts. The truck is sweet, and what he needs to understand is that some of us can wheel and not take damage. Sure, a dent here and the is going to happen, but it's more than possible to wheel hard and not destroy a vehicle.

don['t forget with the frop brackets that you can't bolt that handy dandy brace onto an MJ, because of the reinforce LCA pockets form the factory. THe result is that they may bang around a bit, but ehy work fine, just make sure you check the bolts every once in a while.

as someone tha ran swampers on the road for a minute: Bias ply tires muswt be monitored diligently for tire pressure. They generate a lot more heat in the tread surface than a radial, and low tire pressure makes it much worse. The sidewalls are so strong on my swampers that ithey can support the truck at 12PSI and look just like they were aired to 30. It's very decieving, and they must be checked regularly. he flat spots in my TSLs were gone in about 5 miles, not terribly bad, just a little annoying. Tread life sucked, but that could be the soft comound in the TSLs, I ran them for about 3K miles on the road, and wore noticeable amounts of tread. That said, get the tires you want, and start looking used. I got my swampers, mounted on rockcrawlers for $450, with 80% of te tread left. Right now I'm looking for some used 31's for road tires. Having two sets of tires is the bomb, I get a nice ride to the trail, unpack the swampers for the weekend and then hit the trails.

This happened to me during the axle swap. Not having a welder available put a kink in my plans that day. My solution: Drill a hole through the frame rail, use a long grade 8 bolt, grind it smooth where the shock bushing rides on it. You'll need to use a nut and washer against the inside of the frame to secure the bolt, then use another washer and nut against the shock bushing. Mine's been like that for a year, and I'm considiering doing the other side because it lowers the upper shock mount a bit, which is nice if you're running a shackle in the rear.

nice score on the 20 if the ratio tag is missing you can look at the ring gear in the diff, should be stamped on there. might e two numbers, one is ring gear teeth, on is pinion, divide to get the ratio.

most of those v6's have what amounts to a flat plate with th water pump impeller mounted on it. Replacement is simple, providing none of the bolts are seiezed. Gain access to the water pump, sometimes a chore if the AC is in the way or something similar. Remove old water pump, replace with new, using a light smear of rtv on both sides of the gasket to be sure and get a good seal.

all engine related components firewall forward are the same for the XJ. So yes, an XJ manifold will fit. Make sure you get the right one for your year though.

replace the yoke on the t-case is worst case scenario.

question about the mounds, All sand or trail riding. I don't do sand.

sam bellhousing and clutch parts. the jeep FSM does recommend against resurfacing the flywheel, as it has a concave shape, and there's no adjustments for the clutch travel to take up the extra space. Some get lucky, some get a clutch that's odd.

when I did mine it went like this: Take out old axle. Remove axleshafts Measure perch distance from flange on axle tube Tak off diff cover, plumb the gasket surface. Measure perch angle with an angle finder. Take measurements and angles to new axle. Plumb up the gasket surface, set perches in place at proper angle. Weld them on.

yep, that was the tip of the century when I bought them. Cheap and beefy. The centering hole is a little bit big, so make sure you get a new centering pin that fits snugly. I used the calssic cap head allen screw.

that is a freaking awesome flat belly skid you've built. as far as flexing the rear, I'm in pete's camp, I carry enough spare parts for everyone. You never know when you'll need more than one spare axle shaft.

search under eagle's name on naxja, he posted them some time ago. That's what I used when I put an XJ axle under the truck. They're for a 3" radius tube, but a little grinder work took care of that. Dirt cheap, and beefy, made for the mopar muscle guys.

rockport does have some nasty slipery mud, but it's a gresat place to go wheeling. I think we're gonna go check out hannibal rocks this summer.

goto the chryco dealership, order the mopar performance perches. They're $8 for the SET. Have a buddy weld them on for beer, using your old axle as the template. Takes about 20 minutes with a welder to do it right.

take a look at how the tie downs in the bed bolt in, they've got a plate and two screws that hold those in. You could unbolt the tie down, bolt your rack into the stock locations, it would be wide, stable and wouldn't require any cutting/drilling on the bed.

yes, but then it's big and heavy, if you're trying to make it store easy it's not that practical.

should have posted up sooner. www.jcroffroad.com good stuff, good prices, and those guys are a hoot at a campfire. I won a stage two at the raffle, and I can't wait to put it on.

what about using those stake pockets you install into the bed rail? I do like the idea of the hitch, but then you couldn't get the tailgate down unless you took it off.