Pete M

XJ perches are further apart. Jeep on! --Pete

Depends on the type of wheeling you do. You don't necessarily have to chop the bed, just build a new rear bumper that tucks up into the body rather than hangs down below. If you build it right, even if you drag it on an obstacle here and there, nothing gets hurt. :D Jeep on! --Pete My shortbed's bumper:

XJ 4 door seats don't lean forward. Power XJ seats do not separate from their tracks. The best seats are non-power 2 door XJ or just get MJ buckets. If you go XJ, I think it's as simple as keeping your bench's floor brackets and bolting them to the XJ seat's frame. Also, bucket MJ/XJs come with a plastic sheath around the female end of the seat belt so it doesn't fall to the floor all the time. And if you go with the full center console, don't forget to snag the metal bracket that attaches the rear of the console to the floor (it'll be screwed to the floor). And if your bench is in good shape, remember to take a picture and see if anyone wants it. car-part.com might help you find some seats. Jeep on! --Pete

Out of curiousity, when you list the amp as being a 75x4, are you refering to Max watts or RMS? I assume RMS and the 1200 number for the sub was Max, but with no labels it's hard to tell sometimes. Jeep on! --Pete

Don't really care for either. I prefer the general "trail" trails, covered with dirt and mud and rocks. Oh and Moab, I LOVED Moab. But I don't see myself getting out there more than once a year, if that. I wish I lived closer than 1500 miles. :( Jeep on! --Pete

3 MJs and not one of them had a leaky master cylinder. I'm starting to think I was just lucky! :D Actually, it's about 6" added in the front of the bed and 6" to the rear. Jeep on! --Pete

Ahhhh. So it's supposed to pop back into shape, exactly how badly did you mangle it? I gotta imagine that once it goes beyond it's "spring-back" point, it'd be a heck of a time rebending it. :D Jeep on! ---Pete

I cannot emphasize enough the importance of actually pulling up the carpet and checking for rust on the floorboards. Water tends to find its way in under the carpet and can't get out. Also, lie down under the truck and especially look at the floorbaords and also up at the inside of the bed sides (i.e. the inside surface of the outer sheetmetal). Rust tends to start there too and it's practically impossible to cover up with new paint. Bring a small magnet along with you and check the rockers etc to see if they are steel and only steel. Check the condition of the exhaust too. Rust there will indicate there is probably more elsewhere. I don't want to scare you from the purchase, but a rust free MJ is worth a heck of a lot more than a rusty one covered with shiny new paint. Jeep on! --Pete

An aluminum tie rod? :? Jeep on! --Pete

Looks like a second amp. 1 for the sub, 1 for the rest, I imagine. That's what I did at least (back when the 88 was 2wd and a daily driver). The clear thingy is a power distribution block to split it to the amps. Keep an eye on any rust you find and try to find out where the moisture came from. The rust has a tendency to come back with a vengence. Jeep on! --Pete

That would be a sweet edition to my eventual stroker 4.0L. :D Or maybe it would be a bit overkill. :roll: Jeep on! --Pete

It's not glue, but yes they are glued in with silicone. The best trick I've found for tracing water leaks is to pull everything out of the truck (sometimes you can see the tracks of the water) and make sure everything is dry. Then sprinlke baby powder everywhere you think the water might be traveling too and from. Then close up the truck and hose it down in every suspect location. The water should make tracks through the powder and lead you straight to the source. I've had success with this method 3 times now (3 different trucks). :D When it comes to leaky windows, I usually just buy some black exterior house silicone for a caulking gun. Automotive stuff is too expensive and bathroom silicone is too stinky. Jeep on! --Pete

I assume you're talking about the front section of the frame. I got to put my rocker bars anywhere I wanted so I could avoid the complication. What doe Rusty advise? I know they've done it before so they must have some sort of solution, right? :roll: Jeep on! --Pete

So you need to go completely through, yes? My hole saws have a hex end to them but I don't own a big enough chuck to accomodate them. My solution was to use a socket and driver bit. It allows me to use my current drill, but also to add ratchet extensions as needed. I cut all my holes for the rocker guards that way. Six 2-1/8" holes completely through the frame and I didn't have to cut from underneath the truck at all. :D That would have been a TON of work moving the exhaust, gas tank, etc. Jeep on! --Pete

What are you cutting?

Get some aftermarket perches. Stock perches are crap. Jeep on! --Pete

Close, except that from my research the 30 and 35 are the same width and the 8.8 is one inch narrower (.5 per side). Jeep on! --Pete

Ease of machining probably. If I had a Dana 30 in my '88, I would have trussed it, even for my smaller tires. Strengthening the Dana 30 is NEVER a bad idea. Have you considered 33s? Does your 30 at least have the bigger U-joints? Normally an inch of width difference hardly justifies the cost of spacers, but the rear body of a Comanche is already wider than the front so it may look worse. Have you put everything together and checked it out? My rear axle is one inch norrower than the front and with the body difference, the front tires needed about 2" more coverage with the flare extensions to match the rear. Personally, I think it looks fine the way it turned out, but I dare not have all that rubber running exposed on the street. The easiest way to get out of a ticket is to not get pulled over in the first place. :D So I added the door flashing to the front and called it a day. Jeep on! --Pete

The wheel bearings and balljoints in the Dana 30 won't like it too much, but that little of backspacing has been done before. Specifically where do you foresee the tire clearance problems? Jeep on! --Pete

Do you have any pics of your mirrors? Jeep on! --Pete

The store is long since closed for the night so I guess I'll be seeing what it looks like in the daylight. This is the mirror I was thinking of reproducing: I'm going for sort of a 'military' look without going overboard. It'll all come together when I finally get around to repainting the truck a desert tan scheme (don't know when that'll be happening though). Maybe I can fab my own set-up. Jeep on! --Pete

I can't stand the stock mirrors on my MJ. They are dinky and in a bad location for usage on the trail. I saw some CJ5 mirrors in a catalog and they seemed to be a good option. The picture showed a 5" round mirror on a straight adjustible stalk. Because I wanted to just try them out, I ordered them through a local parts store (returning them is easier that way) to see how they'd work on my truck. What I got was a late model CJ mirror. 7x7 with the bent, non-adjustible (but still swinging) stalk. They are most certainly larger than I was expecting. Are they too big? I certainly want to avoid the "Dumbo" look that my Dakota had with the 6x9 mirrors (not on that truck any more). Jeep on! --Pete

Your current rear axle should have 4.10 gears (again, the only way to know for sure is to check) which is better for bigger tires. Personally, I would sell the XJ axles off (maybe to someone looking to upgrade the lousy 3.07 gears in their 4.0L/manual) and buy another 4 banger front axle to get 4.10 gears. Or you could regear. It all depends on what you want in the end. Jeep on! --Pete

Are you swapping in the h.o. 4.0l too?

Thanks everybody! I felt the same way when I first found tha Yahoo group years ago. :D Jeep on! --Pete