MancheKid86

Now that were all caught up I am currently waiting for a spot in the paintbooth. the owners body guy got in a car accident a few weeks ago and crushed alot of ribs so he is by himself and swamped so cars are backed up. should be about two weeks and then I can sneak in over the weekend and get it finally painted, and then glass installed A little disappointed in my paint, i had it mixed to via paint code for cyber grey, who ever mixed it put way too much green tint it. so its more green than silver that being said, generally you can return a miss tint, but its been a few years since I purchased the paint so I am stuck with it body all blocked doors tailgate and box ended up getting reprimed door jambs and door inners paited as well as inbetween the cab and truck box and the bottom of the box quarters where I cut and folded when I fit the box to the sliders truck box is officially bolted on! as seen previously in my thread the box has been bobbed 10" and the rear arches raised roughly 2" using front fenders from a donor cherokee will be sanding everything down again the day before it goes in the booth and will get the glass and all the seals installed shortly afterwards. going to be playing around with some taillight refinishing, see what gives the best result I may have one or two laying around

Speaking of driveshaft It was time to clean up the rear and install new ujoints went with the Spicer 7xxx SPL series again nothing wrong with the old ones, so i cleaned them up, greased them and have them as spares Visited my buddy at his work to get some more machining done big bolt upgrade on the long arms and drilling tapers for pitman arm and tireods the clamping was sketchy lmao upgraded the upper control arm bushings on the axle side to rebuildable Johnny joints clearance is clearance. full lock/down travel trimming for theoretical max bump shocks were too short, so went with some 15" travel still need to figure out where I'm going to mount them for either more up travel or down picked up some dual rate coils, and guess ive never ran coil spring isolators so I installed some of those as well ditched the thought of installed the ACOS I purchased, will probably use them on my other truck they look much better than the old ones theoretical max down paint stripped and and repainted all the front steering/braces had to reweld the entire sector shaft brace, when we put a patch on my steering box years ago it no longer fit and would just snap the sector shaft support bearings sourced new plugs for the back of the cab, was actually tough to get, only one town in all of lordco (auto parts store in my area) had some butchered my carpet to fit the shifters modified the renix steering box brace (or what ever this is) to clear the stiffener behind the box and then drove it for the first time in far too long Parked on the lawn, and in the hedges for the street to see lmao

I pondered the idea of AN style braided fuel lines since the 4 link cross member was in the way of the original Found what I thought was a good deal and ordered the hose and all the fittings to go from the tank to engine, but after reading some reviews the hose that was supplied did not work with ethanol based fuel so I ended up returning it all my solution ended up being simpler and hundreds of dollars cheaper I cut the bends out of the lines that used to go around the mj specific x member brace and used a flaring tool to flare the ends, the larger diameter tubes i needed to heat with a torch before they would accept being flared don't mind the cardboard shim on the filter lmao used the fancy high pressure hose clamps on either end to not mar the fuel line and just like that there was fuel to the rails one of the quick disconnect fittings by the engine mount started leaking and spraying fuel onto the exhaust manifold, I have never had it apart, so sometime before I purchased the truck a PO had the lines apart and only put one of two O-rings on the line. I consider myself lucky it never leaked prior over the years I beat on it, would have set the truck on fire Needless to say all the lines O-rings had then been replaced it was time to install the the rest of the drivetrain, I used a bunch of ratchet straps and slowly raised my trans/doubler/tcase assy high enough that i could get the screw jacks underneath of it Never test fit with the front output yolk, so i was stressing a bit but it did clear and with a bit of a shove it slid right in preferred fluids of choice, black jug for tcases and white for transmission been running my jeeps like this for years and it makes it shift like butter installed the clutch master/slave assy with an advanced adapters SS braided line all the fluid lines clamped up out of the way going to have to get creative and make a driveshaft with a steady bearing for the front the 4 link conflicts with the driveshaft since the output is so far back

They aren't that bad, just pull the retaining clips and the pins slide out Well it seems like its been a long time since posting picked up a roll of brake line and started bending full length line from master to rear axle went with Stainless braided lines from Russel's for the flex lines Russel banjo bolt on left vs what came with my calipers flex lines installed and rear lines ran ontop of my truss used adel clamps to secure it all may have to relocate the hard lines from the master/distribution block because i plan on brining the shocks into the engine bay for a bit more up travel, may be able to get away with putting the shock mounts lower on the axle I ended up having a cracked leaf so I stripped all the packs apart and swapped them around till i had two "good" sets then cleaned them up, painted and put bunch of neverseize between the plastic liners -removed the AAL's so they are alot softer and flex alot easier afterwards I resealed the rear diff and cleaned up the disc brake brackets more new hardware grinding flats so they fit the axle flange DIY caliper winder

as the title says wondering about non gas charged hydraulic shocks in the front, going away from stud top mount shocks because I can't find any with 15"-16" of travel. found a set that are long enough without going to coil overs, but they are non gas charged hydraulic shocks. anyone with with experience running non gas charged hydraulic shocks in the front? unsure if stock shocks come with a charge in the front or not. I have had the current set for so long and they have a charge in them. am I over thinking things, and they will be fine. Or should there be a gas charge. if so, how come?

ordered some new bumpstops for the ol' elliptical setup went down to the local fastener store and picked up majority of the hardware I need to start the reassembly alot of the mods in the rear are almost as old as I am, including the elliptical suspension. looking at the quality of welds and that they have lasted for 30 years makes me think they can't be that bad lmao so with that being said, I started adding the new hardware. I even spaced out either side of the rear shackles with washers this go around instead of just giving them the ugga duggas until they conformed. speaking of rubberized undercoat, I ended up going over to help my neighbor switch his rotisserie around on the new car they have in the shop to restore. @watchamakalit this is exactly why the internet says not to use rubberized. especially if its sprayed overtop of rust. pictures don't do it justice, the thing is rotten and plagued with halfassed repairs. who ever "restored" it previously scabbed some patch panels on and just put lipstick on the pig. they are bringing it down to the local sandblasting outfit, I think there will just be the outer skins remaining afterwards

man this thing is sick! great work!

after drilling a 1.5" hole for the fuel sender wiring in the drivers floorpan I masked it all off, and went to town. it went on like paint. after reading the spreadsheet it called 500 microns/0.5mm. so that's what it ended up getting. some ripples from being too close or not properly fanning the spray but overall pleased with the results. did not do the top of the rear "frame". still contemplating it. but I don't see the need as the box covers it and there shouldn't be any high velocity stones making contact with its surface. did the sliders and rear bumper as well because why not, it is non-paintable so I can always hit it with some gun wash and it will come right off if I ever want to touch up the sliders/bumper with some rattle can after rubbing on rocks and trees. and all unmasked, did the inside of the fenders as well since I am not running any inner wheel well liners. (they tend to just get torn off when a big stick/log works its way though the wheel well anyways) wish I could figure out how to get the site to not resize the pictures to the size of a large tumbnail since I'm no where near the max upload limit per post

now some people may not agree with what I am about to say. every ones experience is different. it depends on your location (rust belt, living next to bodies of salt water like oceans) road conditions (if they are heavily salted) undercoat is a very controversial topic. depending on where you read online its either a yay or nay. I believe there are a few factors that ultimately dictate the overall outcome. condition of the vehicle, if its brand new. Or if it is already seen road use/rusted/dirt salt trapped in it. the composition of the undercoat itself ie. oil based, bitumen (asphalt) or rubberized the prep work (removing all grease, salts, debris ect) or lack of prep oil seems to be the go to nowadays because it extremely easy to apply with very little to zero prep and as you know oil repels water and blocks out any oxygen (aka oxidation) but it too has its drawbacks. if not properly maintained ie. washing your vehicle regularly, and not just the exterior paint, underneath as well. it can build up dust and salt just as easily since it creates a sticky surface. when the dust builds up that in turn wicks in moisture. as long as you are diligent and do thorough job of cleaning it there shouldn't be an issue. granted you need to annually re apply the oil. if you use detergents while washing it will overtime wash away the coating rubberized is 100% a no go, as it generally bubbles and creates air pockets during the application, and overtime it shrinks and cracks causes it to debond from the surface. Allowing moisture, salts, dirt ect in causing this state of rapid decay seen on the internet. Bitumen depending on the manufacturer and additives that compose it (the type I went with) isn't perfect either but doesn't shrink/crack and if applied in the correct thickness does a great job. every comanche I have owned/parted out (10 of them) has had the bitumen underseal from factory. now I am not saying that It cannot cause rot but if applied correctly then it does its intended job. granted if I lived in an area that uses salt has high humidity and bodies of salt water. it probably would be a completely different scenario Wurth underbody sealant (german made product) AFAIK is used on all the Porsches on the road #1 issue I see causing adverse affects is application thickness. A coating of ~1-2 mm MAX is adequate and does its intended purpose. any more than that and it is too thick. the misconception is thinking you want to drown the metal in it, in this circumstance less is more protection and more is less protection another misconception is that you can annually add another layer of bitumen underseal, this is a big no. you are effectively sealing in a years worth of road grime, dirt and hidden moisture. if there is any debonding chips ect it will be sealed in. causing the rot to start. the proper way which you will not find suggested online is to remove ALL old underseal, address any areas with the converter of your choice. and start fresh with that 1-2 mm coating. adding layer after layer is just negligent and promotes instead of inhibits. shops don't care and will gladly do it because they are getting paid and its not their vehicle. most important thing you can do is clean your vehicle regularly especially in the rustbelt/high salt areas. as stated earlier not just the visible body panels but ensure you wash underneath in all the nooks and crannies that can house dirt and salt. if you are diligent and take the time to clean your vehicle, it will last a very long time. its just like someone who brushes and flosses daily versus someone with poor oral hygiene who doesn't take the time to brush and floss. ones going to have cavities/missing teeth and the other one generally won't unless they have some underlying health/genetic issues. or another good example if your a hunter/marksman and shoot corrosive ammo you best bet you are meticulously cleaning everything after an outing/day at the range otherwise your barrel ect is going to start to rot going out to my base model 2wd comanche (which I 4wd ax-15 swapped) that still has its factory undercoat. it is mint underneath. as stated previously its undercoat thickness is 1-2 mm at most. the only rust on it is from moisture trapped in the factory carpets padding in the drivers footwell from leaking window seals/lack of floor mats allowing snowy muddy boots to drain directly into the floor. also stone chips on the exterior paint that I never dealt with and allowed dirt and salt to fester without washing/reapplying paint to the bare steel for extended periods of time. sorry for the long winded explanation. but that is my take on the matter. here are some pictures of my unibody after thoroughly cleaning it with Por-15 degrease in prep of applying a 1-2 mm coating of underbody sealant. it has been professionally media blasted twice, etched and coated with Endura industrial grade epoxy

been looking for a deal on coil overs myself! haven't been able to decide between 14/16, doing lots of reading it online says 14 is more than enough, but in my town everyone has 46"+ tires so only 16's are on the marketplace until then I will be running my old coil springs with a sticker in the wheel well saying " I identify as a coil over"

for the cost of a new 6 pinion carrier it would have been just as easy to buy one, but I have alot of free time and it was a fun challenge. most tedious part was putting all the needle bearings in, which after the first two I had a pretty good rhythm. the easiest way would have been to keep the slug in the entire time and not let them fall out in the first place. took about three weeks for the grade BD threaded rod to show up, thanks to my homie who machined the carrier. his work had an account with mc master carr which actually had stock of this. no where in canada that I called had it or even knew it existed. Such a big tube for a single threaded rod! all trimmed down and installed I have a collection of gaskets from various rebuild kits so I decided to use them since the mating surface on the doubler have seen some abuse ( it may have been dropped once or twice over the years) since the studs go straight through the doubler it tends to seep fluid through them so my fix involves using copper crush washers under the nuts finally it is all together, yes it gets messy in my garage very fast lmao waiting on the undercoat my neighbor promised he was ordering (which was over a month by the way, and I ended up finding someone else in the end who was actually had a wurth account to order it, which took another two weeks) I decided to tear the into the winches. one I 100% over greased, and used an aviation grease which didn't last long, it dried right up and caused alot of drag during free spool the Warn 9000XDI it took a long time to scoop all of the dry grease out, before using solvents to clean the rest found this piled behind the pinion gear which was pushing the planets up breaking open the warn vr 8000, which has lived its entire life upside down under the box of the truck. you can tell it has been underwater once or twice it did clean up though! wire wheel and solvents and it turn out decent, not new but still useable, looks night and day better than when i cracked it open. will be getting the casings media blasted and powder coated to deal with the aluminum corrosion prior to reassembly ordered a new horn button/cap retainer assembly. the spring loaded pin did not fit so I am wondering if I put the non tilt turn signal cam in. so I will have to dig a little deeper into that or figure out something else to get it to work the previous one had a wire soldered onto the cap itself and for the life of me I can't find any of the spring loaded bits from the three steering columns I took apart my brake proportioning valve (left) vs stock (right) no load sensing valve required in the rear and finally! the day has come, the undercoat arrived so time to strip the truck down and rip the axles out to start prepping the paint for undercoat more to come, will scrub everything down, undercoat and then work on brake/fuel lines. also, A-Man thank you for taking interest in my build. there's only one other person out the twelve years of having this thread who has beat you in posts and that is Pete himself. You Pete and and Neohic have proven that there is actual interest in the stuff i post. so thank you again! here is a pic of a cj-3a my friend is finishing for a customer, which i had the pleasure of seeing while gearing some axles for his own rig

more into the tcase way back in 2014, the ring gear in the doubler spit out in a very sketchy spot both of my winches, plus two more and 8 people helped spin the truck around and safely down to a flat where I was able to swap tcases the next day ended up having to split a case in half to get a new ring gear donor. the way the doubler is built didnt allow for a retainer, or so it was lead to believe. put the new ring in, stake in in place good to go. fast forward to now. the ring started walking again! so in went the proper retainer and I started grinding hear me out, before anyone says it. Literally no idea why i didnt line the tangs up to one of the studs, thought about it the entire process... especially on the last hole lmao but here it is, it even retained its springtivity was cleaned afterwards to install the new bearing ran an idea past a buddy and he said come on down. 3 planet carriers are out of style but 6 planets on the other hand.... thats more like it! 3 vs 6 starting to assemble lets stand all of those bearing back up the graveyard, 3 carriers due to one being roasted, the other was already parts from when the ring gear ejected in '14 but made for good bearing slugs. and the third had good junk final planet and all together again

added a few more holes to this guy

went down to the local bike shop with my shifter in hand lookin for some sort of cable crimp. this is what they gave me, it ended up fitting the lever and wire perfect. it was off of a dropper post, which is actually where my cable came from. and now its fully functional. 20250608_144311.mp4

bearings and seals arrived! messed up and ordered two fat input bearings instead of a fat and skinny I think I have too many rear output seals also, they just appearing replacing the rear output bushing output flanges resealed this hands down was the most stressfull bearing to remove. ended up just tossing a washer in the bottom and went to town with a 1" rotary file. once the wall of the bearing was thin enough it just imploded and I pulled it out. replacing all the needlebearings felt like a downgrade honnestly, the new ones have half the needle count and plastic cages to take up the space. we shall see how long the last the 241's syncro dogs had a bit of crud in them outputshaft/syncro assembly after all the oil galleys got a good douching starting to put things back together was having some issues with the tcase shifting between ranges ended up tossing in the shift fork from the 80's gm 241 and the shift collar from the 2004 241 which for some reason is shorter than all of the others. I have 5 other shift collars and they are all the height on the left. thing worked flawlessly, HI 4HI N LO. full engangement of splines in HI and LO installed the spedometer gear and oil pump and closed er up left myself a friendly reminder figured out the doublers shifter, just need to add a cable guide through the top of the sping detent cap. the pin from the shift rail shift lock ball spring from fm radio antenna coupler crimped cable oxy fuel brazing I ended up shortening the pin, and using that 231 casing dowel on the right (below the electrical tape) as a bushing for inside the bore ID and OD worked out perfect another air fitting drill guide here you can see the rest of my frankenstien shifter. bike lever and mill spec wdg clamps lmao and it in action! like i said before I ended up using that dowel as a bushing for when the pin is locked in which I made after this, it straight up worked perfect and took away all the slop from the fork. that lever on the otherhand, it has character 20250607_184116_1.mp4