87Warrior

What a great introduction. Thank you for sharing. It sounds like you have done some Comanche home work already. I look forward to following this restoration/build. It's bound to be a good one.

http://www.boostwerksengineering.com My TJ was a dog (4.0/5spd) with 35's and 4.10 gears. It will drive, but it won't be fun. You will want to upgrade your steering, brakes and axle shafts with 35's. I don't understand why you would need to switch to adjustable control arms by simply doing a tire swap?

I've never felt the Omix stuff was real high quality and am not sure I'd trust them for vehicle control. Moog offers lifetime warranty on their joints, if you hang onto the receipt. Anything with a real Johnny Joint.

If you opt for the RuffStuff swap kit, you will need longer shock brackets if staying SUA. I used RuffStuff for my SUA 8.8 swap. Any particular reason you are choosing the Omix Ada steering parts vs V8 ZJ Moog parts? I didn't have good luck with the RE1600 trackbar under my TJ. The heim joint would be shot within 4 months of use. I am using that trackbar under my MJ now, but with a TRE instead of the heim joint. It's been good for a year and counting.... You don't need a trackbar bracket with the 1600 trackbar. Perhaps you were thinking of using the 1660 trackbar with the bracket? I had very poor experiences with Rubicon Express control arms under my TJ. I'd avoid them like the plague.

I am having a hard time understanding exactly what the issue is. Can you snap a few pictures of the brackets from the front of the Jeep? The 05 to 01 should be a bolt in affair. But Jeeps are Jeeps and people like to modify parts.

I did not realize the tail housings were the same for the cable/electronic 231, thanks for the tip. I will check to see if the 207 cable unit will mesh with 231. I was under the impression the two were not the same length based on some limited research. But hey, I will try the easy way first!

I want to upgrade to a 231 tcase in my 86 MJ that has a 207. I currently have a good 231 tcase from a 91 with the electric speedometer sending unit that I would like to convert to a cable driven sender. I need the gear driven parts that bolt on the t-case tail cone and the tail cone from an early 231. Willing to buy a whole parts 231 if you are relatively close to Kansas. Thanks!

I've carried a solitary Jeep torch for the last 15 years. However, I am looking forward to trading our '06 WK in on a Toyota for my wife. Will either be a Land Cruiser, 4Runner or Highlander. I know it's not a WK2, but FCA is one in the same when it comes to recalls... My father in law bought a new WK2 a few years back. He loves the vehicle, but constantly talks about how often it is at the dealer.

Lift blocks? The YJ is SUA stock. As with the MJ, going SOA will net about 6" of lift, which that Jeep does not have. Kind of looks like they used 2 sets of Chevy drop shackles for the lift. Stock shackles, a 2.5" leaf pack and shocks would be a big improvement. Here is my old 90: Image Not Found

You are very fortunate indeed. The peaceful, easy feeling I felt when driving the roads in pure solitude this fall was something I had never felt before. No schedules to meet, no pressure to go a certain speed, no large groups of people. I would love to have the opportunity to visit Colorado 50, or 100 years ago. I can only imagine.

They are still sitting in the back yard. The red one is so close to being a drivable truck it hurts. It needs one more floor pan patch and the interior cleaned/reinstalled, brake lines, the RAD shifter installed and general maintenance like brakes and bushings. Funny you brought this to the top today Ben, yesterday I looked over the truck with intentions to pulling it up to the new shop. The blue truck is almost used up for parts. The entire length of the inner frame on the passenger side is gone so it wasn't worth saving. The top and rear of the cab is still good and could be used to repair an MJ or to build a Cheromanche. The motor is stored in a barn.

What is the contraption with the two ducts running out the window?

Nice photos! Niagara Falls (actually the whole Notheast) is on of my bucket list destinations. Thanks for sharing. That concrete contraption along the shore kind of looks like a mill of some sort to me.

Looks like a nice solid truck and it looks to be rust free. The tire in the bed looks massive, what size is it?

I am working with a blank slate right now. It went up at the end of August. 30x40 with oversize garage doors :) Image Not Found Image Not Found (the post on the left side of the photo goes straight up, the goofy appearance is due to my lack of photoshop skills) I have built a 15' bench and a 60" rolling bench and am almost done running wire....lots and lots of heavy, difficult to work with wire. Once I get the wire run I'll move the '92 over from the two car garage that used to be my shop.

Thank you. I can't take all of the credit for the photos as my wife took several ;) I don't think I'll ever get tired of visiting the San Juan Mountains.

I used to carry a tool bag with the basics and recovery gear in my TJ...until it was stolen, so I have stopped carrying tools daily. No need to, as the 86 MJ is the most reliable (and ugliest) vehicle I've had. The Leatherman I always carry can fix almost any road side problem I would likely have. When winter comes I daily carry recovery straps and shackles under the seats along with durable warm gloves and jumper cables. If I am going on a long distance trip or wheeling, I do have a Jeep tool bag I bring along. It has a basic socket set, two crescent wrenches, bit driver and bits, set of trox drivers, 12point 13MM socket, 36MM socket, various hose clamps, various vacuum lines and plugs, zip ties, tire plug kit drive shaft and axle u joint and a ball joint press.

The airbox is from a 91 HO 4.0 and the truck is a 86 2.5. I went with the HO box because it doesn't have the silly vacuum doors. I did put some silicone around the bolts and in the few holes around the box. My flare bolts are rusted too. I simply pulled the inner fender out from around them and shoved it back in once I ran the pipe. Hasn't fallen down yet :)

Yup.

I think it depends which China factory the product come from. The airbox tube is pointing down on my truck. It was the only viable way to mount it.

Holy smoke. Somebody spent a lot of time on that!

In my years of shopping for stock MJs and XJs, about 1/2 of them have had a rusted through swaybar link mounting stud (thanks Midwest winters), essentially meaning those rigs have had no swaybar for who knows how long. I prefer to run with my swaybar connected, it just drives better. Although I do keep it disconnected when driving from trailhead to trailhead while on a trip. The MJ behaves much nicer than the TJ when disconnected :) Hey, at least you aren't planning on daily driving a SOA'ed MJ without the swaybar!

I think Eagle is right. You really should install the parts up front and see what happens. I put the Rubicon Express coils with 100k miles on them from my TJ on my MJ and actually got more lift than expected. These coils were 3.5" coils that originally gave my TJ 4.5" of lift then sagged to about 3". When I put them on my '86 MJ they provided me with a solid 3" of lift when I was expecting 2". I attribute the extra boost to the lightweight front end on the 2.5l MJ versus the 4.0/winch on the TJ. I assume you have a 2.5l MJ, even though it is not listed. I think you would be better off with a 3" leaf pack out back if you wanted to keep the truck lower. Most MJ leaf packs ride higher than advertised. An extended shackle could be used to fine tune ride height if it happened to ride low in the rear. On the other hand, if you wanted the truck to have more lift, you could fine tune the ride height with extra coil spring isolator pads up front with the 4.5" leaf pack. Additional parts? Don't forget the control arms, extended bumpstops and swaybar links.

Thank you for sharing. I know you have mentioned this....car before and it intrigued me. What a unique rig to own.

While in Colorado, I noticed my front differential housing was getting coated in a mystery fluid. Upon closer inspection, I determined the power steering pump was leaking behind the pulley, around the shaft and dripping onto the axle housing. I ordered a power steering pump with the reservoir from Napa (I really didn't want to fight that) and a new high pressure line from Gates. Before installing the new pump, I flushed out the gearbox until new fluid would come of of the return hose. It took 2 gallons of power steering fluid to flush the gearbox. I am guessing it had never been done before. Swapped the pulley and mounting studs to the new pump assembly and installed it.