DrThunder

Finally Done. May put shackle mounts on it but not sure just yet.

its fairly easy, i didn't do the fenders just cause, the wiring needs to be altered and the mounting is completly different but do-able with a drill and some hardware.

look at my signature

yea for now. :brows: i am looking for a set of 33s. The rear still sits at only 2" cause i am still waiting for parts for my dana44. Still have to set up the gears to 4.56

tested out the new setup today finally, very happy with the results. here's some flex shots

nope its a solid piece of metal heated up and bent, the bare spots are just from where the heat was and where i smoothed it out with a sander.

pics. pretty much done with the front except paint stuff so it looks pretty. all worked out well and can't wait to do the rear soon. just waiting for brake parts for my 44

agreed but i can't find anything around here like that for under $55 and thats a lot of cake. i already had tons of thick flat stock around so....

finished the crossmember tonight but am having trouble with the welding to the frame as you can tell from the pic. some sections were coming out nice but others weren't. i need to grind a lot of the weld off and re-do.

after a night of research and thinking here's what i came up with. i mocked clayton a little bit and made a "three piece crossmember" it all fits up there. now all i have to do is make the ends way stronger and weld them to the frame. the end pieces are going to be 3/8 thick all around or thicker and will be welded directly to the frame. should be more than strong enough looking at clayton's setup. the actual middle piece is obviously strong enough to hold the transmission up cause it's been doing so for years. i'll post up pics later once they are beefed and welded to the frame

i am going to beef it where it looks like it may be sub-par. the way i looked at it was the crossmember is pretty beefy where it needs to be and theres no sense in re-inventing the wheel. plus i don't have any square tubing.

done for the night. spent most of my time figuring out what to do with the long arms. i mocked it up with the mount under the frame but noticed that i would have bad tire rub at full lock so i decided to put the mounts more towards where tnt put them. let me know what you guys think. looking for people's thoughts on strengths and weaknesses of this setup.

workin on the 44, still in the garage. gonna bring the manche in soon and start cuttin it up. i don't have an inch pound torque wrench today so i couldn't set the pinion completely yet but i got a pretty good wear pattern and backlash. more pics later but i'll be out her for a while

drum brakes are simple and easier to adjust. tractor trailer trucks use drum brakes all around. if they used disks they would never stop. there is a lot more contact area with a drum brake compared to discs but for offroading its nice to have disks because they won't get clogged up with stuff

Rubicon express 4.5"

total cost of parts so far, exactly $1000.52. i still need two more joints and a foot of pipe to add to the bill so probably close to 1100 when i'm done.

more goodies, gears came in today. also got my shocks and RE springs. here's pics of all the goodies. check out the size difference between the 30 and 44 gears. does a dana 30 have the same inch size ring gear as a 35? thats pretty unreal how small that is all i need now is brake parts for the 44 and perches which i'm still waiting for. looks like i'll be doing this next week!!!!!

all quarter inch plate. unsure if i'm going to make the mounts directly under the frame or to the side and up like TNT, probably just go under the frame

tacked one of the lower arms together tonight to see what i would have left over and if there would be enough to build the uppers. looks like there will be plenty which is great cause i won't have to buy any more pipe for the track bar. still waiting for jam nuts and another j-joint, gears, springs, shocks, spring perches.

i did mine for about 170ish but that included the slave cylinder. if you're going to do the clutch it is worth the extra money to do the slave cylinder, it is internal and is bound to go!!! just my 2 cents

$500 MJ. I really like yours a lot. what size is the box tubing? that is dead nuts what i am looking for. :bowdown:

Lookin or pictures of rear bumpers that are non-stock. we all know what a stock comanche bumper looks like, gaudy. I am going to be building something this week and am looking for ideas. Sort of leaning towards a very heavy duty roll pan with 2" reciever and shackle mounts built in.

Figured i'd start a thread on the build up of my comanche. I already bought Rubicon express 4.5 coils and skyjacker shocks, not running a swaybar so i figured stiffer shocks may help a little, plus they were cheap. Dana 44 for the rear(out of scout II), 4.56 gears, possibly detroit locker if funds are available, spring perches, YJ brakelines, wheel adapters/spacers(to adapt 5 on 5.5 to 5 on 4.5), and have miscellaneous metal needed. For the long arm setup and custom trackbar i have johnny joints, poly joints, .25 wall DOM tubing, etc. All my joints that have studs are 1 1/8 thick fine thread 13 TPI. I am going to run one y-link on the pumpkin side of the diff(driver's) and on lower control arm on the passenger's side. Once I have all the parts I will begin the build(about two weeks), it should only take a few days for everthing seeing how i have all day everyday to do it. Here are some of the parts i got today.

went to advanced auto and got one of those lights because they only had one but can't wait until tomorrow to do it!