Pete M

The image is from my picturetrail site. He still needs to set up an account.

I also don't do much to fight rust these days. Everything I've ever done has eventually ended in failure, so the ambition to put much effort into it just isn't there anymore. :(

Keep working at it. You'll get the hang of posting pics soon enough. :D

I would have killed them years ago on tree branches. :( I don't even run standard mirrors anymore.

I'm going over. I'm a rebel. :D But then I now have disks in the back and it's really simple to pop the calipers off and feed them over the leafs if necessary.

POR15 won't work. I's a ceramic that won't bend with the leafs. I'd just do regular ol' paint and touch it up when it gets wanged.

Just about any "all-terrain" tire should fit the bill.

No build thread (to the best of my knowledge, as it has been a while), but I have lots of pictures at my picturetrail account down in the "protection" folder. http://www.picturetrail.com/petermontie Just lemme know if you have any questions. :thumbsup:

The calipers changed over the years so it might be a better shot than you think to get AMC parts. :brows:

Fenders are cheap at the pull-your-part junkyards.

You could still have a pocket of air trapped in the back of the head.

These guys are both in the same boat. http://comancheclub.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=11199 I have not done the conversion, but you'll need everything under the hood associated with the A/C, the A/C heater core box, and all the vacuum tubing and the controls in the dash. Basically everything that touches the A/C. Converting to 134 is simple enough so focus on getting parts junkyard that are in good shape. New parts are exceedingly expensive. It may even be worth it to buy a donor XJ that has working A/C and then sell off the rest of the Jeep when you're done.

Even after filling, there can still be a pocket of air trapped at the back/top of the head (right where the gauge's temp sensor is located). Some guys have had success raising up the back of the truck (to make the temp sensor the highest point in the block) and slowly bleeding the air out the sensor. Make sure you put a rag over the sensor while you're bleeding (so if it pops off you aren't showered in boiling liquid) and have someone manning the keys so if that happens it can be stopped immediately.

You'll be needing to swap EVERYTHING related to the engine, including the stuff under the dash. Be prepared and be organized and you should be fine.

In 86 it went: Custom (base), X, XLS

Pete, couple of questions; actually more than a couple, about your wheel stud spacers you got at Lowes: 1. I realize they are 1/2' ID; what's the length and the OD? 2. Are they steel? ASSume they are...... 3. Did you have to drill out the rotor holes to get them in there? and 4. Does the rotor come off easily using them? 1- I think it's a 1/2" inner and 5/8" outer. The choices in the store were quite limited. they were the ones with the thinnest wall I bought long ones and cut them to length with the sawzall. 2- yup 3- No drilling was necessary. Although I think the guy that built it said he milled down the inner surface of the rotors to fit over the axle flange. 4- rotor comes off just fine. Although every time I take the rotor off I'll have to keep an eye on 5 little pieces of steel. Good thing that won't happen often.

Apparently I needed a couple more minutes. On the TNT site it says that it is only compatible with the weld-on axle and the mounts need to be removed. http://jeepinoutfitters.com/scripts/pro ... roduct=792

I spent a couple minutes looking on google and couldn't find a pic of an axle that still had the cast arm mounts on it under the truss. Maybe it's for the earlier ones that had the weld on mounts and you need to remove them?

Y'all are very welcome. :cheers: If you want more tech, ya gotta ask more questions! You'll never know what all there is in peoples’ minds unless you ask. :D I’ve noticed that many of our envelope-pushing techies on here don’t really post much about what they’re doing. If you want to them to chat, you might need to call them out. Bait them by talking about what you’re doing. Yes you can, but it involves a lot of copy/pasting and is a pain in the behind. :D For complicated posts such as this one, I tend to write it in Word and then paste it over to the net when I’m done. As I’m sure many of you know, that’s one of my biggest pet peeves on the web and I will not tolerate it’s misuse. If everyone used the search feature every time, there’d be less and less everyday discussion, and discussion bring familiarity, which can bring friendship, trust, etc… Plus every case is slightly different and sometimes a little bit of knowledge is a dangerous thing. I always prefer that the question be asked so we can at least warn the person of common pitfalls. As long as I’m here, there will never be a fee. Heck, if I had a job right now I’d be handing out stickers and hats left and right and would have long ago hired someone to teach me how to use the site to its full potential. Oh, and the counter is there simply because I cannot get rid of it. But I guess it might have some advantages. It lets everyone know who is brand new to the site. And since the members here actually like to help out the new guys, it can be a good thing to know if someone might not be familiar with how things work. But I’m with you. Past 20 posts, it doesn’t really matter anymore.

As long as they are tight at the lugs you'll be fine.

If I can get back out there I'll grab them. Can't promise when I might be able to. I did. It must have been snatched up or someone knocked it off the street. The one in the photos is new, the other one is long gone.

If you can get the shafts redrilled or can afford new ones, then the nine is fine like wine. :D

strong axle + disk brakes + 5on4.5" pattern = Explorer 8.8

I have the half-ton with radius arms.

I think mine has chevy calipers. I'll go check on that later today. (I didn't assemble it, I bought the axle whole as-is) This guy used K-10 Chevy calipers: http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/showthread.php?t=229934 This guy used S-10 calipers: http://fordfuelinjection.com/bronco/brakes.html And if your rotors have slop around the lugs, I found spacers at Lowes that fit perfectly: