yellaheep

Again..... Thanks for the good info! I did not know about the hub size. Glad I didn't buy the Chevy wheels I'd found a few days ago..... And no, I won't be trying to make molds. In Drachir's build thread he mentioned the Florida company that has the molds. They'll make you a pair for $700...... I'm into these for $300.

Perhaps this one? The Story of Jeep, 2nd Edition, by Patrick R Foster continues the story of the Jeep brand vehicle in a "everything you ever wanted to know" approach. The 2nd Edition includes all-new, full-color photos and covers models produced from 1999-2004. There's a historical outline of Jeep as a company and an evolution of the models throughout the years. Format: Softbound. Pages: 288. Length: 8.25w x 10.87h

Nothing real exciting to report other than I received the fenders a couple days ago. No real surprises - a couple chipped edges, a crack and some gel coat damage where the fork lift moving the truck around the yard musta banged up against the fenders. Massive thanks to Lurch for doing an excellent job of wrapping/boxing these...... coulda sustained further damage otherwise. I'll get with a body guy buddy of mine when I get the project truck and have them fitted, then get the edges and damage fixed. :thumbsup: The gas filler door is an MJ OEM piece, but you can see how the fender makes a bit of a bend... the door has about a 1/4" of bondo piled on top of it to build the contour to match. I'll have to see what a body guy might suggest to make a custom door for it to keep from having to duplicate that bondo'd one..... I'll also have to figure out a way to stiffen up the wheel opening edges and come up with an inner fender liner of sorts. Looks like there used to be some sort of fender liner..... wood wedges were glued along the inside edge where something was screwed to the wood. The wood has since rotted and gone, but you can see where the pieces had been epoxied.

Just FYI....... 2dr and 4dr rear flares are no different.

I gotta think that the width of those Olds diesels in itself would make that swap nearly impossible......

LOL....... Caption for the photo: "Son, you ain't leaving in this Comanche. Now kindly turn around and put your hands behind your back..... "

I have to respectfully disagree.......... These are friggin' beautiful........

I know where I'm going after work in the mornin'............ :brows:

Does anyone else here strongly suspect that Bob wants my stroker? :D

So, I'm on the hunt for my longbed MJ for the Dually project and while it may not happen immediately, the long term hopes/plans are for an LS engine swap. If you were looking to drop in an LS engine into an MJ, would the '86 era trucks work better for this swap because of their limited AMC electronics? Or would it be better (or just not that much difference) to find an '87-'92? Seems to me you'd have more electrical/electronic issues to work out with the later models, particularly the '91-'92 trucks. I've never done these swaps before and from what research I've done to this point, the aftermarket caters to the LS swaps. Several "easy install" wiring kits out there for the LS engines. Novak Adaptors makes LS engine mounts for the MJ/XJ. There are a few aftermarket radiator options out there as well. I'm wondering if the front firewall of the '86 trucks would be better for the more traditional radiator install? Rather than the wide and short radiator needed for the inline 6 engine trucks...... Were there any unibody/rear frame improvements done to the later MJ's? Seems to me that I've heard that...... can't find anything concrete though...... Words of wisdom? There sure seem to be a much more abundant supply of '86 trucks on the cheap out in my neck of the woods........ but my past experiences with the earlier trucks and their wiring and rust issues tends to make me shy away...... The other factor complicating my decision is that I have a nicely built Renix 4.7 stroker engine sitting around begging to be used. Just seems to me the LS engine has the potential to be better for torque and reliability.

About to unload a couple days worth of tree and shrub trimming....... One of the older guys working there walked over from the front end loader he was operating to check out the truck and trailer. "You don't see these often. Great little workhorses those trucks are." Indeed. :thumbsup:

Wow, this Britt guy is a massive tease..........

mvusse, thanks for that info! This is definitely the 10.25 then as it came from a '94 and has drum brakes. I highly doubt the pinion strength will EVER be tested if it finds it's way under my project though.... this installation would be like a posh retirement for that axle..... lol. I'm also glad to hear it confirmed that it'll have the 8 on 6.5 lug pattern. This way I can get the chrome wheel covers from a Dodge DRW 3500 when it comes time to purdy it up.

Took some more measurements today....... MJ frame rails and fender wells are 45" wide across. The Sterling with the inner tires mounted (225/75/16's) is 48.5" between the tires. A little snug but I think 1 3/4" on each side is doable. If not, a half inch wheel spacer on each side to move the duals outward wouldn't be out of the question. The spring seats are 1.5" each side too far inward to use the axle as SOA. Which isn't a big deal as I really don't want the truck lifted, so I'll be having to weld on some SUA seats. The e-brake cables are set up to run on the left side of the frame which requires the right cable to run across the axle making it much too long to use. But, the short left side cable appears to be a perfect length to be used in the OEM e-brake bracket under the MJ bed, so I can go get a second left side cable and put it on the right side. Sucks that GETTING to the brake end of those cables is such a project in itself........ lol.

Yeah, that stroker might just get re-purposed for the dually build rather than for that '90 Eliminator.......... :D

And of course.......... it's not a D60 axle. It's a Sterling 10.5. UGH! Well, I suppose it's not a whole lot different other than a bit more massive than a D60. I tried to pull up one of those axle I.D. charts before I bought this because I truly didn't think this was a D60. Unfortunately, the guy's house backs up directly to an air force base and cell signal was almost non-existent. He parts out big ford trucks and swore up, down and sideways it was a D60....... sure seemed like he shoulda been the guy to know his axles...... :doh:

Use a large prybar to bend the outer (front) side of the trackbar bracket away from the track bar. I assume the bolt broke so the bolt will allow the bracket to bend open. This will give you the gap you need to get a sawzall or cutoff wheel up in between the bracket and the bolt. Once you have the bolt cut and track bar out, you can use a hammer to put the bracket back in position. I've done this so many times........ and it's never any less frustrating.

Yeah, I still have to do some more in-depth measuring........ gotta figure out if the inner tires will clear the inside of the bed fender wells. I have zero interest in trying to re-use any of those leaves from the packs. The main leaves will be useless as the bolts at all 4 spring eyes are rusted solid in the bushing sleeves. (Hense the spring mounts having been torched off of the truck). The rest of the leaf packs are likely WAY wrong in spring rate for use on a light truck. Don't want it to ride like a buckboard...... The 16" wheels will give me some good tire size options rather than the odd 16.5" wheels out there. I believe the major expense for this project is going to be front wheel adaptors for the D30 or 2wd axle the truck will have. I suppose I could swap in a D44 front, but I don't know if those were ever made with dually hubs.... and even if they were, that'd be a WIDE axle without serious mods...... :dunno: I'm leaning toward a 2wd axle and then swapping in some WJ knuckles and the bigger brakes and WJ steering as well. That should make for a solid set up. The D60 has shock mounts that can be "adjusted" for position on the axle - just held on by u-bolts. I can even swap sides and make the mounts to the rear of the axle which should make hanging shocks on this easy. I'm just hoping this rear axle won't be like dragging an anchor........

Reception in most other automotive circles I run in has been fairly cold to this project......... but I don't care. I'm building the damn thing! :D We've all seen the threads of seemingly super rare long bed dually MJ's out there. While Jeep never made these, most were owner built from JC Whitney fender and wheel adaptor kits, or were a dealer installed package. No Jeep part numbers appear to exist for the fenders, spacers or wheels that have been seen on these trucks. Regardless...... I've REALLY wanted one. I'm a sucker for rare "I've never seen one of those before" kinds of vehicles. So when one of the club members posted that pic of the red dually languishing in the junkyard with those fenders....... I went full on bonkers crazy. With the help of CC members and NAXJA members, those fenders were saved and will be enroute to me shortly! With the "key" parts acquired for this build, I went in search of a more traditional axle to use that wouldn't require the uber expensive spacers to make dual wheels fit on a D44 rear axle. Drachir's project features these spacers and I had asked the price of the spacers...... yikes. While certainly "over-kill" for an axle, the Cab & Chassis Dana 60 axles appeared to be nearly perfect as far as width between the inner tires and overall width to fit under the MJ dually fenders. With this in mind, I hit up Craigslist and found this axle already pulled, complete and what initially appears to be the perfect width for inner and outer. It's a '94 Ford D60 with 4:10's. Measures 48.5" inner and 85" outer. Indeed, that's one massive housing. I'm hoping it won't present any real issues where it's weight or ring and pinion size are concerned for the 4.0 engine and auto trans that will power this project....... but for $200 it's complete with the e-brake cables and all......... and all I had to do was help roll it onto my trailer, so I think its worth trying. Looks like I'll have to flip the spring perches as I don't think I want the truck to be too tall using it as a SOA set up. And no, smart-asses........ the ridiculous leaf packs will not be used for this project.... :D I know, I know....... where's the project truck? Um...... still to be acquired. :nuts:

Worth watching. :thumbsup: Is this you buffalob? :D

Love the stepside bed! Looks like an 80's chevy 1500 bed, possibly with the fenders narrowed?

Any place? Willing to travel all over to get one? Care to specify where you are and where you'd like to find one? :thumbsup:

Damn, if the other side looks like the passenger side........ that's a nice clean truck. Wish it were closer. That's a heck of a deal out here in Colorado.

Hello? :D I'm in the beginning stages of my Dually build......... got the fenders....... but not the truck. Not yet anyway........ Jim - wanna sell me one of yours???? LOL!

C'mon Bob......... that was a :doh: :D