87manche

yep, you'll need the box too. Find a cherokee in the junkyard and take it all in one swoop. Plan on new lines, might as well do a PS cooler as well if this is going to see any serious time offroad. Our wheelbase makes it hard on the power steering stuff, I've overheated mine badly making 12 point turns on the trail.

Dom is source locally from a welding shop. They usually do me right. I realize that the front half of the frame is only 3.5", but, my rockers are trashed, and the pinch seam is going to have to go. The plan is to bend the top of the channel over so I can weld it ino the floorpan, and then build the rock rails into the rockers from that, and the existing cab supports. probably with a few more supposrts ran to the side of the newly plated frame rail. I might go with 2x3 and then bend another piece to fit, but going with 2x4 or 2x5 and bending the one leg may be easier. I've got a friend that runs a cnc brake at a local shop, so if it will fit in his machine that's what's gonna happen. Probably do 3/16 stuff on the frame rail, maybe even 1/8, but I don't know if 1/8 will stand up to the rocks.

ruffstuffspecialties.com he's got 1/4" spring plates for $40 for the pair. and shock mounts for 14 a pair.

yes, but it would be unsprung wieght in the suspension. I'm going to stick with DOM, it's just easier to deal with. freaking expensive though, a 22 ft stick of 2x1/2 wall is 3.50 a foot. I figure one stick should be enough for the links, I'll need some 2x6 for the crossmember, 3/8" wall stuff there. and I need a ton of 2x4 channel to plate the frame.

yeah, I was going to make all of the other stuff for the frame and such. I've got a buddy with a plasma cutter, so I buy him some gas and go to town making buckets and such. looking at QA1 rod ends, summit has them for a good price. 7/8 shank stong enough? the 7/8 joint takes a 3/4" bolt through the eye.

mine has an oem walker muffler with a turn down immediatly after it's outlet. it's not been a problem.

dan over at ruffsutff has all the stuff to do captured coils. You really should take a look around his site. He's got beefy, no bling stuff at good prices. http://www.ruffstuffspecialties.com/cat ... p-203.html two coil bucket hold downs is $45. The fuel cell budget is a different beast. I'm allotting money seperately for that, so I can better keep track of how much each upgrade is gonna cost. If I run out of money I'll just put the stock tank in the bed for a minute.

sure it's in the box? might want to check the steering linkage itself, sometimes the joints from the wheel go bad. Anyway, it's just a saginaw bx. http://www.stovebolt.com/techtips/saginaw.htm the nut on the top adjusts the backlash. Don't over tighten, or you'll eat the box up.

yeah, tubing is stupid expensive right now. I'm going to have to investigate joint options. I wish I could just order whatever I wanted, but the realistic budget for linking the rear is probably going to be about $500. hence doing it myself. I figure I'm going to spend half that on joints, and the rest of it on steel. going to link it first, then do the bed when I have money for more steel.

stronger than JJ? school me on rod ends/joints. I've not really looked into that yet.

I was going to use ruffstuff brackets. nothing fancy, just good 1/4" thick pieces. http://www.ruffstuffspecialties.com/cat ... s-c-2.html I was thinking johnny joints for the link ends. I'm not sure I like the idea of spending big money on rod ends and they're not rebuildable. I was seriously considering 2x1/2" links.

20 gallon fuel cell.

if the weatherpack connectors are in good shape I'd use them. If they're trashed or corroded, I'd solder it.

if it's pushing through the bar you're not tightening it properly. You need to tighten the nut that's closest to the tube first. Then wen you tighten the far nut it gives you leverage to really clamp the tube in there.

I was looking at a lower length somewhere abouts 34". been planning a 3 link up front for a while.

I was planning somehting very similar for my cage when I cut the back of the MJ off. external roof halo, external a pillar bars down into the fenders and into the welded in rockers. THen run the b pillar tubes into the cab so I can run harness and seat stuff off the cage. Tie the b pillar tubes into one of the rock rail frame tie ins. Of course the frame will get plated.

my first guess would be nittos. They've got all the bling sizes. My friend has them in the 38" variety on a 16" rim, they ride down the road well, not terribly loud at highway speeds. Can't comment on offroad performance, his dodge is a mall crawler. He won't come wheeling with me, says he's seen how my truck looks.

how I'd love to have an x cab comanche. just not enough room in there.

external slave kit comes with a new master and slave, permanently tied together and pre bled. You can use a compression fitting to mate your old clutch line to the new one, and there should be a small hole on the slave with an allen head set screw in it, that's the bleeder.

run it back to the rear wheel opening. the area directly behind the cab is one of the most abused places on my truck. If you ran it back to the rear wheels you'd at least have a pivot point back there, so your bed wouldn't end up as crushed as mine. I loved my rock sliders, I used them to pivot on things all the time. As soon as I got lazy and didn't put them on my body damage increased ten fold. Of course, that may have something to do with the places I started wheeling at.

yeah, I've been looking at pirate. I've got the 4 link calculator. right now it's looking like I'm going to have to sacrifice some link length in order to get the separation I want. Ideally I'd like to make the rear suspension use the same length links as the front when I longarm it. So I'm really designing two suspensions right now.

Gonna keep the rear frame section. It's about the right size to put TJ coils under the rear wheel arch. I will of course be plating the frame rails though, and cutting off about 20" from the rear of the frame and making new crossmember/bumper to tie the frame rails together in the rear. I don't trust my welds enough to make a whole new frame section, and I'm too poor to pay to have it done.

brake lines always rust out above the tank. You can splice them, it's not legal so if you have inspection you'll fail. I've got a trail fix slice in mine that's held up for over a year, so it's not the end of the world if you splice it. You'll need a flaring tool, and compression fitting, line size is 3/16 IIRC.

so, another weekend at tellico, another round of ugly body damage. so, the decision was made, and apporved by the wife, that the bed was coming off. It's getting tubed in the rear. I figured, what the hell, I might as well link the rear too. So, who's done it, care to share numbers and experiences? Right now I'm looking at a triangulated 4 link, probably going to go with a 20 gallon fuel cell in the bed. Crossmember will hold the links at the frame side, I'll likely be using ruff stuff link brackets and some 2x6 box to make the crossmember.

man transwas 21 spline in the early years. the pukegoat went 23 spline before the HO model year, so he may be alright on that one. now, the output shaft length changed a few times, so that's another matter.