Sir Sam

Money aside, it’s also a slippery slope of reliability/debugging. for example, I’m going to add a power steering cooler on my MJ, when you get to big tires it becomes a necessity. So now you’ve got to runs lines, figure out mounting, make sure it’s leak free, well engineering all that, and engineering it properly, takes time. Sure you can half @$$ and rig it up so it works, but for how long. Lots of engineering effort went into designing something that would be trouble free for 30 years. Now you need to figure out something that’s going to give you good reliability. And guess what, chances are when you are finally done you will go “knowing what I know now I know how to do this better/easier next time”. All of this stuff takes time to do it right. And the further you stray from stock the more you run into like that.

I used the stinkyfab rotor drilling guide. I think it could have been better if they had cut the center hub hole and you set the rotor, and guide on a bearing without studs to help center it. I used some 1/2” extensions to keep the holes aligned for marking. the WJ arms might be thin compared to other aftermarket, but they are better than XJ stock. Still, the reason I ended up cutting them down was that I couldn’t get JKS premade steering arms at the time, they could not give me an expected ship date so I cancelled the whole order. For the price of JKS I would rather buy a DIY 1 ton setup and reamer.

Right, which also require more clearance, cost more, weigh more, put more strain on everything else etc etc. the further you stray from original the more complicated it makes everything, and even then when you think you have done it right, something comes up you realize you need to re-engineer. This is a development and prototyping process. Stay closer to stock and you will have fewer of those issues. which gets to the point, if you want a full-size truck buy a full-size truck, what makes the Comanche special is that it is not a full-size truck.

Oh and I forgot ball joints. Basically you need to buy WJ balljoints. 2 out of 4 are the same as the XJ, but either the upper or lower is different from XJ, I forget which right now.

Ya the thing about going with bigger axles is reduced clearance on the pumpkin. My Land Rover has a Salisbury rear end, basically a metric dana60. It’s a good axle, but the clearance at the pumpkin is worse than my MJ.

I used stock WJ setup with new mood TREs the 1 ton Chevy TREs are the gold standard for heavy duty stuff, but are not always an off the shelf part. Check out rough stuff to see the TRE kits. You would need two kits, one for the crossover and one for the panhard bar with a high angle TRE at the pitman arm. Then to use them you need a reamer to change the taper. You can leave them under the knuckle and Rteam them, or you can go over the knuckle and ream them if you want the little extra clearance or want the angles nicer on the panhard bar, but that comes down to a lift amount.

I have the WJ big brakes on a HP D30 in my 00MJ, with cut down WJ steering arms. I would also consider doing 1 ton TREs for steering as well. But skipped it for now since parts availability isn’t great these days. The WJ steering and TREs is quite a bit beefier than XJ. In short for WJ brake swap you need; WJ rotors redrilled to 5x4.5, WJ knuckles, WJ brake caliper bracket, WJ brake calipers, WJ pads, JKS weld on unit bearing spacer, 00+ XJ/TJ unit bearings, modified sway bar link bracket to clear upper tre to steering box linkage. custom made steering bars or JKS steering bars or: modified WJ stock steering(narrowed) I left my stock track bar and stabilizer/dampener, I was able to use all the WJ clamps which including the one for the dampner my angles for track bar VS steering are not ideal, but drive ability doesn’t seem to be affected by them. Still custom track bar brackets at both the frame and axle, along with an adjustable track bar, would be more ideal. 1 ton steering could also be a nice upgrade

Yup it was nice to use it. It was also a good shakedown and got to go off-road enough to learn some things. first, my sway bar rattled loose and I lost a bushing, got new bolts and I am going to reinstall with a bunch of locktite. it was in the upper 90s and I had a head Wind climbing up into Wyoming, I think the trans got a little hot and spit out some fluid that then smoked on exhaust. I got an atf leak from somewhere that smoked on exhaust and coated the underside and made oil mud. I sprayed purple power and pressure washed last night. I discovered the rubber plug was missing out of the transfer case by the shifter arm. This area was also oily, but it got all over. It’s possible that my fluid leak was from there. In any case I got a rubber cork to replace the plug and I will do some more driving to see if the ATF starts leaking again and covers things. It’s also possible it’s leaking at the case halves, at the welded spot on the trans pan which I had to plug the hole they punched, or at my trans cooler lines which do look like they are dripping. So I got some stuff to run down. my power steering pump whines a fair bit, and it seems to be leaking, so I am going to replace that. so right now I am planning a trans cooler, PS cooler, PS pump replacement. Fabbing some lines for both of those things......and I need to figure how and what I am doing with trans lines. Vs AN fittings with new lines. also decided to get the gen weight fuel pump adapter ring and a new XJ pump. I can’t seem to get a good read on the gauge with my modified unit, and I think it starved for fuel during sloshing, which the XJ pump should rectify.

Got the bumper picked up and installed, as expected zinc filled in threaded holes, I knew that they would need to be tapped out after galvanizing. And then.......camp time! Went up to the Snowy Range in Medicine Bow: Diesel approved: Folded up and dusty: Found a nice alpine lake: Found another nice lake, water was a good temperature: Making a sandwich:

Ok, bought a bunch of vac fittings, clamps, and fuel vapor hose at the parts store so I could get the evap system complete. No pics of the evap system because its boring. But its complete and shouldnt give me any issues with CELs. And then last friday (1 week ago), I got my exhaust done! However I have determined it is hitting the X frame where the stock cutout for the pipe is, needs to get clocked to the drivers side so it doesnt bang on the X frame all the damm time. And then I did a truck thing, went to costco for some groceries with my Dad, and came back with a chest freezer. Then I went over to Justins to use his ramp......which probably hasnt been used since this thing was last running with the 2.5L! I ran it up on the ramp enough to flex out the rear to measure for shocks. Got some shocks ordered for the rear after this. Likely could get more but I started digging a hole on the right front in the dirt! Looooong wheelbase! Also discovered that I needed to reroute my rear parking brake cables. Got those modifying in a different routing that should let me flex correctly without pulling them out of their holder. So then I got my bumper prepped, and had Justin touchup a few spots on in, then go back for finishing. I then cut holes in the bumper for the LED floods, and drill and tapped the bolt holes for them: And then I dropped it off to be galvanized. Same price for up to 600 lbs. Since this bumper weighed 55lbs you could do a bunch of stuff at once for the same price.....$310. Got my sway bars shortened and installed, though I still need to install the keeper that holds them up out of the way. Then I did some work on the Wildernest back window, installed a new handle with key, installed a new strut support ball, new struts, fixed messed up hinge, straightened the whole hinge. So it opens and closes correctly:

I think I debated about buying that one but ultimately went for the “cheap” one above. It works very well but I sorta wish I had the hydraulic one. Oh well.

For $200 you can about buy a flaring tool, tubing bender, tubing, and fittings. I ordered an XJ front stainless line kit, and then made my own from the end of the XJ rear line back to the back axle, soft line, and then on my axle to the rear disks. I bought this tubing: https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B07C8NK65K?psc=1&ref=ppx_pop_mob_b_asin_title&th=1 This bender: https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B07S8DQBNL?psc=1&ref=ppx_pop_mob_b_asin_title These fittings: https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B07ZVHXFMX?psc=1&ref=ppx_pop_mob_b_asin_title And this flaring tool: https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B01HOXH242?psc=1&ref=ppx_pop_mob_b_asin_title though there are much cheaper flaring tools out there, I wanted to invest in a good one since I have plenty more flaring to do on my Land Rover.

good, it was dirty, a few stains now I think I could scrub the tent more and get it looking nicer. The side screens and front screen are in good shape. The rear screen is in sorry shape. But overall it’s not like it rotted away.

So they wanna sell the whole truck?

I’ll say again, the AW4 is a great transmission, readily and cheaply available for a swap. Wheel base issues with using it work in the LJs favor.

Lol

I don’t know what it’s running, but it’s also not marketed as an android based head unit, which I was considering as well. From the GUI is appears to be purpose built and not android. But I honestly don’t know and didn’t look into it at that level.

NSG370 isn’t as robust as NV3550. AW4 swaps are popular. For something I’m going to wheel I prefer auto. For something I just drive for fun I like manuals.

The head unit also supports the android devices, I’d assume at the same level as apple. Android was listed, I just didn’t pay attention to it. there are supports poles that I don’t have, they go into metal brackets on the roof for when the topper is open. I need to adapter some adjustable painters poles to be the support legs. It also requires two rent poles, which I had to order a kit and make some.

Ok so I got a USB surface mount connector with 2 usb 3.0 ports in it. I drilled a hole in the center console insert and mounted it in there, then I took another surface mount USB power outlet and soldering some wiring into the power outlet(right side) of the switch panel which is always hot. I plugged in one USB cord to that power source, and the other I ran up to plug into the back of the radio. Then for the double din kit you have to trim a little and tap it over since its the air ducting. The right side just barely doesnt clear, so I just heated it with the heat gun and pushed it over. My headunit wasn't a fill depth deep so I didn't need to cut it all the way back, though what I did didnt really save me any effort so if I did it again I would notch the whole left side out anyway. And then radio installed: Already planning a trip: And...I now have a windshield: And then tonight I got the speakers installed, as well as new clips on the door panels to hold them on nicely. Forgot to take any pics of the speaker install, but you can still see the rear interior speakers.

SYE is hands down better. I did a hack n tap on mine since I have a 242 and the SYE kit for the 242 is stupid expensive. then I ordered a new Tom Woods drive shaft, which came out to like $450. so SYE is a better way to go, albeit more expensive. But I’m building my truck to get good use out of it, and I don’t want to drive around a half @$$ POS anymore.

I too love dry weather, and humidity kicks my @$$. Personally I don’t like to live where it is oppressive in the summer. flip side to that argument is cold in winter, so it’s a double edged sword.

Thanks!

Ok so I got a temporary bit of exhaust in shoving the cat further back, the final location will change a little based on where the muffler needs to sit when the exhaust shop does it. And then with the exhaust semi-permanently installed I can actually drive it on the road. So I ran down to Orielly to grab some tubing I needed for radiator overflow and the carbon canister. First trip was to the parts store! Grabbed some pics during the golden hour: So then I got a generic tent pole kit and made a new support pole for the wildernest, my friend with an MJ and wildernest measured his pole for me, both length and girth, and was even kind enough to send me an unsolicited pole pic. Using that I was able to make a replacement. Though I have to say my pole is now longer and thicker and blacker than his pole. Not that we care about such things in this day and age. Which means I was finally able to put up the wildernest and have it stay open! So tomorrow it gets a windshield, next friday it gets exhaust. And tonight I work on stereo. It's getting closer and closer! Driven it about 20 miles not. I need to get a different speedo gear though. Pricey SOBs, I need to figure out what I need and get it ordered.