Pete M

all of it.

couple thoughts: -used gears and bearings might never run quiet. they might be fine. or they might not. -are you setting them up yourself?

:rotf:

be prepared that 2.5L + 4spd manual trans = 3.55 gears, and that can cause the truck to become painfully underpowered when you bump up to 31" tires. :(

no. For every inch in extra shackle length, the truck only goes 1/2" higher. and in reverse, that would mean to get 3.5" of lift the a shackle would be 7 inches longer than your current ones. that's ~12" in total length.

or you can simply email the full image to me and I'll take care of the rest. :thumbsup: petermontie@hotmail.com

keep in mind that vehicle height and tire height will adversely affect handling. if your truck is a daily driver, please give some consideration to how you will be spending 99% of your time in that seat. :thumbsup: I wouldn't get any lift that didn't include lower control arms and extended swaybar links. but you can also piece together a decent kit. just make sure it's complete. completely custom with ford axles

I'd rather have a complete 3" lift than half a 4.5" lift. 31s fit much better in the wheelwells and have less affect on ride quality. I hated my 3.07s and just 30" tall tires. you couldn't pay me to be undergeared again. how much road travel will the truck will see? freeway?

got a haynes shop manual yet?

the gear size determines how fast the speed spins. any gear should work, but only one wil be accurate for any particular tire size. there's a chart somewhere showing which one goes with what tire. the important thing is that any gear should give you a reading of some kind (assuming everything else is working properly). the speedo housing you installed has markings on it and you need to rotate it to the appropriate side. The rotation brings the gear closer or further away to the main shaft inside and affects tooth engagement. if you clean up the metal speedo housing, you should see little numbers on it.

gearing costs hundreds to change. a better choice is to find a junkyard axle with better gears already installed. 4.10 gears is a pretty common choice. look for 2.5L MJ/XJ/YJs (a warning though, that 2.5/4speeds came with 3.55 gears so you need to check) or some Explorers came with 4.10s in their 8.8 rear axles. what is the intended use for the truck?

what do you mean you think you need a new one? what's wrong? when adapting a late model t-case in my 90, I had to swap the shafts on the speedo gears.

3" and 31s are a good compromise for stock gearing. being 2wd or 4wd doesn't matter in this discussion. gearing is key. :thumbsup: either way, don't go cheap on the lift. :wrench:

I wanna stretch out a Waggy to tow my MJ around. :yes: no wood panels though. start with this: stretch to this: then finish up with this: though I won't be towing with those particular tires. they just happened to be at the right size/angle for the photo.

viewtopic.php?f=2&t=30259

what a pain in the butt! all the more reason to spray my house down with Home Defense. :yes:

chevy drop shackles will only give 1" maximum and I think it's actually 3/4". MJs already have pretty long shackles so there's less lift then if you were installing them on XJs (which have shorter stock shackles). the small bump should match a 1.75-2" front lift and balance out the truck's rake. you can try car-part.com for junkyard parts.

cutting coils increases the spring rate and is not advised.

not joking. quite serious. (feel free to add me in. :D )

you've updated your will, yes?

still working on it. hung up on the instructions asking to purge the forum cache... :hmm: I'm not exactly willing to do that until I understand it

spray every few months and you'll never see a live one again. :yes:

what browser are you using?

:rotf: saved for posterity...