Pete M

There's no wilderness in my town either. I gotta drive. :(

My water pump had maybe 10 thousand miles on it when the bearings went. :dunno: That's why I didn't think I needed to worry 'bout it. There are different categories of failures: What could fail and leave me totally stranded? (bad CPS, blown rad hose, hole in bottom of gas tank, busted drivetrain parts if I'm on a really tough trail, etc) What could fail and make life hard, but still might let me get to civilization? (flat tire, slight leak in radiator, busted drivetrain parts if I can be yanked by a buddy back to the main road to call for a tow truck) The waterpump started leaking half way through my last day of wheeling. I figured no problem, I've got extra water. Then it started throwing the belt the next day on the way home. No problem, I can easily pull over and put it back on. Then, a few hours into the drive, it started eating the ribs off the belt one at a time. No problem, I've got a spare belt. I finally gave up when I had two 4-ribbed belts and there was a truck stop up ahead. If I was closer to home than 11 hours, I would have been able to limp home. As it is I got within a couple hours of home and called for a buddy to come out and give me a ride to the store. Swapped in another pump and away we went. I still don't carry a spare water pump. But I do have another replacement belt. :brows:

You routed power through a relay, yes?

Everything heavy in my truck is thoroughly secured. :D I bet my life on it.

Out of curiosity, have you set up gears before?

See here: http://comancheclub.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=11077

What don't I carry. I'm sure that list would be shorter. I carry all of the typical wheeling failure items (stuff like U-joints, shafts, ti-rods; both Ford for me and Jeep for other people) as well as typical automotive failure items (fuses, relays, light bulbs, tire plug kit, radiator hose repair kit, etc) and then I also carry the typical maintenance items (a brake bleeding kit, funnels, various fluids like oil, grease, water, etc). And don't forget the tools needed to carry out these repairs (floor jack, a pipe for extra leverage, hi-lift, silicone, toolbox) and items like bailing wire, duct tape, etc. On long trips where I drove the truck I've even been known to carry weird items like spare ECUs, E-fans, a headlight, even a complete engine gasket kit (it was in the garage and took up almost no space in the truck box, how could I not take it? :roll: ). Whatever will fit in the boxes in the bed. I don't like relying on the kindness of strangers if I don't have to. And yes, my truck weighs a lot. I don't mind that at all. :D A few quick failure stories off the top of my head: When the E-fan decided to not come on (never did figure out why) in the dunes, I dug a switch out of my box of goodies and hard wired the fan to the battery for the duration. I blew a bead on one trip and had to search out someone with air to re-seat it (there were a few hundred people around so it wasn't a huge deal). As soon as I got home I bought a Co2 tank and have since re-seated my own as well as others' tires. I've handed out a fuel pump relay to a Jeeper in need. When the Fram oil filter decided to fail on me I didn't have any oil or a filter or a pan to catch oil in. Now I have a full oil change (and the tools to do it) with me at all times. The one thing that failed and I didn't have a spare was that water pump on the return trip from Moab. Worse part is that someone actually mentioned that in their list of what they thought I should bring and I thought I'd be fine. :roll:

Taz did a write up on the procedure. It might take a couple tries, but once you get the hang of it it's easy. :D http://comancheclub.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=11077

That'll happen. :D

For what it's worth, the "C" in Dana 35C doesn't stand for C-clip. It stands for "custom". Apparently Chrysler was ordering incomplete axles from Dana and that's how Dana was labeling them. Or something like that.

I did that to the ol' Escort back in the day while pushing it out of the garage. :roll: Not too bad, but enough to wrinkle the fender a bit. And friends of my sister did that to my 86 MJ. They clipped the door on a tree while pushing it in their backyard. If I remember right, I believe that was the last time I ever loaned out a truck to anyone. :mad:

Yup. The AM radio came standard with 2 speakers.

5 1/4"ers in the doors, 4x6"ers behind the seats in the side panels

I'm hampered by the fact that I'm usually the guy holding the camera, so there aren't many shots of my truck in action. :( Ok, so that last one is mostly water. :roll:

Finally. Some progress worthy of photos. On that top lug you can see the spacers I made up. They tuck in very nicely and should prevent any movement. I was able to reuse my custom U-bolt plates. The bumpstop and spacer will be removed in favor of a taller bumpstop. Notice the YJ shock mount that I left on the axle. Turns out it juuuust doesn't quite line up with the stock MJ upper mounts, but it got me thinking... And this is now how I'm mounting the shocks. Previously I wanted to pop a hole up through the bed and mount them to the rollbar, but that became really complicated really fast. This should provide me with full movement (something the truck has never had). Still working on the brakelines, leaf spring bolts, and whatnot. Then I think I'll be ready to move on to the front axle.

How much of a gap is there? An inch? 2? What about ignoring the gap and welding some mounting tabs on the bar to attach the header?

Don't you mean "less arch"?

Taz wrote up a how-to on posting pics: http://comancheclub.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=11077 Available on longbeds only, the Big Ton package gives the MJ a payload of about 2200 pounds, with unique heavy duty springs front and rear (4+1 leaf packs in the early years, 5+1 in the later), heavy duty shocks, the Dana 44 rear (AMC-20 in 86) and they came with 15x7 steel rims and a fullsize spare. Anything in particular that you'd like to find out? :D Sounds plausible to me.

You don't need a kit to do a turndown. Only the proper size muffler and a turndown tip to add on to the end (and maybe a short pipe extension if the 2 don't quite reach the rear hanger like mine did). I imagine both could be had at a local auto parts store. Buying the proper sizes will be key and the guys at the store should be able to make sure you're getting the right stuff. Just be sure to measure the exterior diameter of the pipe on your truck where the new stuff will be added. The pipes need to fit inside each other so inner and outer diameters of the various parts are important. Or you can buy the stainless steel band clamps like I've done and then the outer diameters need to match. I keep forgetting about the legal concerns that other states may have. You guys and your crazy inspections...

Got any pictures?

My dad has a 20x24' 0 car garage. :D

Hit the spring pack clamp? Are they supposed to go above that particular leaf (the one that has the clamps attached)?

The turn-down seems to be a popular choice. Or you can have it exit right in front of the tire. I've seen that too and it seems pretty easy.

Officially they came out in 85 as an 86 model. I'm insanely curious to see what the title says. Wouldn't be the first mistake by the DMV. And it wouldn't be the first time my reality was shattered by new info about AMC during the early years of the XJ/MJs. :D

Where is it? I wanna be on the exact opposite side of the planet so I can indeed have the last laugh when it works and they get sucked in first. :yes: But in all actuality, no I don't think it'll work.