mvusse

Ran some errands yesterday afternoon, then got a bit of snow after I got back.

I have NEVER in my life pulled an engine without the manifolds and transmission still attached. Much easier to remove manifolds and transmission afterwards.

Bolt on SOA kits are way more money than an angle grinder, cutting disk, pair of perches and $20 to pay a welding shop to weld them on. And if you use your current axle, you can skip the angle grinder. The SUA perches will not be in the way for SOA perches. So perches plus $20. (And a set of stock springs).

He IS in the Great Lakes area....

Most likely the front axle is bent as well, as the housing is not strong enough to absorb the impact from a jump. If it's dog tracking you likely bent control arms or brackets.

The Comanche is an 86 with the V6. Not worth $500 IMO The M715 probably has a $2000 or higher reserver.

WOW! You actually managed to get the top nut off WITHOUT snapping the end link off. I have yet to manage that; as of now I'm 0 for 4.

Well, I'm in Canada. My mother said a lot of the snow has melted, but as of now there is 11cm (a bit over 4") on their deck.

Roughly 2.5cm in an inch, so no, only 4 ;)

I'll let you know tomorrow, when I'm at my parents' in the Lake Huron snow belt.

~8".

Weather channel had a lady on the phone that got stuck in traffic there Friday afternoon around 4pm trying to get home in SC from Medina (Cleveland), OH. Finally got moving again 2pm Saturday afternoon, having lived on water and chips she shared with her dog for 22 hours. They called her back around 6pm and she was like 25 miles from home then.

I've welded where needed on and off for going on 20 years, but for lack of practice am far from a great welder. Would like to take a course at some point in my life, but have neither money to nor time right now. So I weld what I feel confident in welding, and leave important stuff that I don't have the equipment for to a professional. So a welded to tongue on my trailer out of what were the front frame rails of the pickup truck that was used as a base, as well as patch to repair a rip in the frame of my MJ where the steering box tried to pull it's bolts through. Also welding a junk socket to a bolt with a stripped head, and welding a floor into both my F100 and my XJ that lacked one when I bought them. But I took my new axle to a professional to burn 1/4" thick steel spring perches and shock mounts on after I had tacked them in place with my little wire feed. It is great that you want to learn, and I miss the enthusiasm I used to have when I was younger, and that you undoubtedly still have. But from looking at your welds, you do not yet have the skill to make a repair of this importance. Pat (JeepcoMJ) might have been harsh earlier on in this thread, but what he states has merit. You may trust your welds, but any professional welder, and anyone who has enough experience welding can tell from the pictures you posted that you didn't do the necessary prep work, didn't do the repair properly with the right materials, and that your welds lack the strength to be safe. A lot of advice has been given in this thread on how it needs to be done, but it is all advice that someone with the necessary skill would already have known. This is what proper welds look like: You have multiple parts MJs, right? What is the frame like on the other ones?

They actually got it right for once for us. They had said 1-2, changed it to 1-3, then back to 1-2. We got just over 1". Next week I'll be smack dab in the middle of the Lake Huron snow belt for a week. That usually give me my fill of snow for the season.

I have never heard of 3.07 gears behind a 2.5 that I can remember. 3.07 comes with a 5 speed 4.0, but the 4.0 was not available in 86, and I believe the AMC 20 disappeared in 87. Either way, you should have 4.10. If you have 3.07 something weird is going on.

The better u joints were found on 89 or newer Cherokees with ABS, or any Cherokee 95 or newer I believe. Tape measure will tell you. The caps on the weak ones measure 1 1/16" diameter, while the stronger ones measure 1 3/16". Better front drive shaft on anything 87 or newer.

I believe you have 4.10 axles already, and stock tires I believe were most commonly 205/75R15, which is a 27" tire. 225/75R15 usually came with the metric tonne package. You'd need ~5.30 gears just to get back to the stock drive ratio. I believe the highest gears available for stock axles are 4.88. 4.88 gears with 32" tires would be same as 4.10 with stock tires. Only way to get good ratio with 35" tires and a 4 cylinder is using different axles with higher gear ratios available, or putting an underdrive unit between the transmission and transfer case. Neither choice is inexpensive, and both are a lot of work. Best bang for the buck is to swap in a 4.0, but even that is quite a bit of work in an 86. A 4.0 with 4.10 gears pushing 35s would be worlds better than the 2.5, and with 4.56 would be almost stock final drive ratio, and Eagle would say 4.88 is perfect. Edit: to add the AMC20 might mean you have the metric tonne package. If your stock tires were 225, that still only makes a 4% difference. 2nd edit: to add that while 5.38 is available for a low pinion D30, 4.88 is as high as you can go on a high pinion. 4.88 is also the highest available for an AMC 20. Changed original post to reflect this.

Just use a 1/4" quick coupler. The intake on the tool is 1/4" NPT anyway. Using 3/8" hose is the important part, as it's the longest part of the air line. A 1/4" restriction doesn't matter much if it's only a few inches long.

Assuming the 3/8 barb fitting is for a 3/8" hose, no problem with air tools. If using a 1/4" hose, don't expect to run more than 50 feet of it if you want to use rotary air tools.

Lunch box lockers like the Aussie or Lockright don't replace the carrier, they just replace the spider and axle gears. Since the carrier is not changed, the ring and pinion gear set up is not changed and there is no need to set up gears. Setting up gears is the time consuming fickle work when working on diffs. That doesn't apply here.

I installed an Aussie in a disconnect D30. I since then deleted the disconnect. I did have to remove the carrier housing, because the 3.55 ring gear is in the way of the spider gear shaft. Only way to remove spider gears is to remove the ring gear. Only way to remove ring gear is to take the carrier out. IIRC the whole operation took me 9 hours, but that included scratching my head, finding what stores have what for how much, and running to harbor freight to get an electric impact wrench to remove the spindle nuts after I broke my breaker bar. Actual install time for the Aussie itself was under 2 hours I think. Will be adding an Aussie to my rear 8.25 some time. Hopefully before 2010 is out. As far as too complicated: According to the instructions, if you can do drum brakes, you can install an Aussie. And that is about right too.

I just went out to measure my old stock shaft, and measure 48.25" center to center on the eyes. 1987 lwb, 4.0, aw4, np231, d35. (production date of 11/86)

I've seen black romex. Actually, my house has a lot of black 12/2 with ground, installed in the early 70s. My municipality actually specifies color coded romex based on size; don't think it is sate wide yet. White for 14 AWG yellow for 12, orange for 10 and black for 8 and larger. In Ontario ground fault circuits need to be wired with blue romex, either 12 or 14 based on max load. In Ontario any 15A circuit can be wired with 14 AWG; in Ohio only 15A light circuits. If there's an outlet somewhere, even on a 15A circuit it needs to be 12.

At least he could have cut the frame down to get the axles to match the wheel wells.

I stacked concrete blocks on each side of the front tires to prevent them from turning, and with the engine running had my daughter turn the wheel back and forth to see what moved. Hardly any side to side movement of the truck, and no track bar movement aside from the frame flexing around the bracket.