mvusse

Why do you have to drop the crossmember?

My 96 didn't have one, my buddy's 90 didn't have one. Never knew about that (missing) bracket.

Nice! Mine is packed up in the back of my truck to get the last bracket welded on tomorrow.

Both my 87 MJs have them, my 96 XJ does not, and neither my 94 XJ nor a former coworker's 89 XJ had them. I always thought they were an MJ only thing, but I think they will swap over to some years XJs.

Do you maybe have the crossmember rotated 180 degrees?

When looking for the end of the vent tube, don't get confused. If 2wd there should be only one, but if 4wd there should be three of them: front axle, transmission and transfer case.

I thought all TJ wheels were 15". I know the majority of them are.

I have one in decent shape with a dent in the bottom you can have for $50, NE Ohio. Tank was new 4 years ago. I got rid of the bed and moved to a circle track fuel cell.

I'm running 16" Liberty (KJ) rims on Sparkles.

Another complication is the 2wd/4wd issue. The earlier 2wd axles used two separate tapered bearings like older vehicles, while the 4wd models used unit bearings. Later 2wd models used the same unit bearings as 4wd models with a dummy shaft inside them to hold them together.

The earlier rotors with the thicker wheel mounting surface will work with any unit bearing. The newer rotors with the thinner wheel mounting surface will hit the steering knuckle when used with older unit bearings. Can't remember what year the change over was, though.

I use a wire wheel on an angle grinder. Like said above, don't use a lot of pressure.

What year is your transfer case, and what year did the input shaft come out of?

The input shafts depend on the transmission that was in front of it, not on the year the transfer case was produced. If the input shaft is the same spline count AND the same length, the case itself will be a direct swap. Depending on year and what vehicle it came out of, you may need to modify the harness, or get a new switch for the transfer case to retain the 4wd or full time/part time lights on your dash. You will also need a shift gate and bezel for the 242, and possibly the shifter link rod. With the trouble I have had trying to use a 231 rod I think the 242 might be a slightly different length.

I used the stock shock mounts on the frame end and Ruff Stuff Specialties mounts on the axle. IIRC I use Gabriel G63692 shocks in the rear, which are meant for the front of a F150. They are the longest shock I could find with the correct ends without going after market with 11.25" travel. At some point I will go aftermarket, but for now they work well enough. Now that I run a Ford Sterling 10.25" rear axle, the stock mounts are close enough to in the correct location that I retained them. Using the stock shock mount plate flipped to the top of the axle, you will need to still use stock length shocks, which only have 7.75" of travel.

To comment on some more issues from the original thread that started this build thread, going that high IHIGHLY advise going to full width axles. Yes, your tires will stick out, which might be an issue in some states, but at least you will be able to turn without flopping over onto your side. Waggy axles have been suggested. A Waggy D44 is about the same width as a stock Comanche or Wrangler axle. You mentioned a Wrangler D44. If you meant for the front, it still has Dana 30 outers, and the low pinion pumpkin which is not much stronger than a high pinion D30. Pretty much all Dana 44 front axles us the same u joints as the larger shaft stock Dana 30 uses. Unless you pay $240 each for CTM ones, they will break. If you want to run 37" tires, a front D60 is pretty much a must.

Two questions: Why did you decide to convert the front to leaf springs? Why do you need 10" of lift? As far as steering goes, build and finish the front suspension first, then figure out the steering. Unless you're okay with horrible bump steer, the drag link needs to be as close as flat as possible. With this much lift that will mean high steer, at least for the drag link. Another option, which would automatically prevent death wobble in the process, would be hydraulic steering. Spring over axle will net you: the thickness of the spring pack plus the diameter of the axle tube plus the spring perch. That usually adds up to about 5.5". With the natural rake out trucks have most people lift the front 6.5" to level it out. With 4" lift springs the 5.5" becomes 9.5". Add in the original old sagged springs and you should be more than 10" from where you started. SOA rear and 6.5" up front is perfect for 33" tires. Larger than 33" tires you would need to build the front axle to the extend that you might as well throw a Dana 60 under there. I retained the D30 for not quite 3 years after I went to 35" tires. In that time I went through 4 axle housings and over 20, possibly 30 axle shafts, u joints and unit bearings. And that's with the stronger Spicer 5-760x u joints. Also tried Duralast Gold (junk compared to Spicer), Neapco Bruteforce (also junk compared to Spicer) and a Alloy USA Chromoly joint (twice the cost of the Spicer, still broke on the 4th trip out).

To answer the rest of the first post, the passenger side shaft is supported by the carrier inside the diff, and by the unit bearing on the wheel end. The intermediate shaft has a pin on the inside that rides inside the end of the inner shaft. I have seen inner shafts with both needle bearings and with brass bushings inside the outside end. The shift collar riding inside the shift fork on a few nylon tabs also helps supports the inside end if the intermediate shaft and, only when engaged, the outside end of the inner shaft.

I just today realized that some of the veteran members who used to be frequent posters have dropped off the radar without warning. Checking their profiles I was surprised to see that some have not been on as far back as 2008, with others only being gone for 8 months or so. How could someone with thousands of posts suddenly disappear without people noticing until 5 years later? Or am I the only one? Or is this whole world just a figment of my imagination that won't go away while I'm in a straight jacket in an institution somewhere?

I had to make the same modifications to fit my Airtex "direct replacement" pump.

From what I can tell, he has an add-a-leaf in the rear. Front is stock upper control arms, stock track bar with a new hole drilled in the axle bracket to center the axle, some kind of aftermarket springs, some kind of extended sway bar links and looks like procomp lower control arms, but not sure. Those same arms may actually be sold under multiple names. Most of it looks like cobbled together booty fab.

Those axles have a habit of the tubes spinning inside the diff. Either weld the truss to the pumpkin, or weld the tubes the whole way around to the cast where they enter.

Did absolutely nothing. After losing power around 4 on Wednesday to the a storm coming through (derecho with 80mph winds) I just got power back at my house 6:30 this morning. Shop it still without, though.