Comanche County

Former US Army Infantry officer (RGR 2/75, ABN) - 11 years, Former Paint Shop Supervisor in a large diameter steel pipe factory (NW Pipe) Former Security professional in Iraq Temporarily medically retired/recovering - will probably rejoin the Army as an O-4 or resume security work overseas in the next couple of weeks.

I like it looks like it was a trail/lead vehicle for large (wide load) hauling. I've been thinking of converting my MJ to a fire fighter theme seeing how I was a volunteer fireman a couple of years ago. A bunch of lights and a ham radio and your ready for 2012,,,,hahaha!

Nice work man, cool MJ!

It took me about a day and a half to wrangle the front axle under the MJ. I finally got it in using 2x4 levers, jacks etc. This freaking thing is a lot heavier than the D30. Once I get it road worthy I think I may end up taking it to a brake shop to get the rotors resurfaced....to be quite honest its wearing me out and I just want to take care of the steak and let someone else eat the potatoes. I'll reuse the shocks I had and keep my new ones as trail spares. Here it is installed...just need to fix that track bar location. I bled the clutch and the brakes....oh yeah. I'm a little worried about the stainless brake lines I bought because they've got a rubber o ring that seals the hose to the connector on the caliper which is a potential failure area. I've got plenty of o-rings but if they become problematic I'll put the stock YJ lines back on that I was using. I think I lucked out with the ACOS adjustment. My old OME 6 1/2" springs were probably about 5 inches so I kept the same spacer adjsutment that I had and it looked to lift the front end up level with with the rear....again, I may make other adjustments once I get it out and road test it. The new springs are Motion's 6.5" coils. Tomorrow I'll take the front driveshaft to have it shortened. With the longer pinion of the front D44 and the longer yoke of the 241 I'm going to have to shorten my front driveshaft approx 2.75".

Here's the front Dynatrac D44 ready to go in ---- almost. I've got one ton steering and hi steer knuckles that I bought used from Cl. I understand this system is essentially WJ knuckes that only use the drag link arm. The drivers side is actually an export right hand drive knuckle. Both are remachined to accept 90' S10 4x4 brake calipers and the one ton tie rod ends. The thing I recently discovered I neglected was the drag link to track bar relationship :dunce: ...I'll have to relocate the track bar to the top of the axle to eliminate bump steer. That was the one thing I didn't get with the kit when I bought it,,,,until then I know I'll have some serious bump steer. The Rock Krawler 4 link upgrade kit came with a heavy duty upper control arm mount. I took the axle to a machine shop to get it attached better than I could weld it. Safety first! :thumbsup: You can see the rebuildable flex joints that come with the kit. I also cut off about 1/3" of material off the shock mount to prevent it from binding on the lower long arm during down travel. I may have to cut some more off later when I test the travel.

All three of the set nuts for the T-case skid plate broke off so I dropped bolts through the holes and welded them facing down. I reattached the cross member and cut off the bolts almost flush with the nuts. I'd prefer to have set nuts just in case these get banged off of rocks but if that happens I'll just cut the bolts out and weld in some more. This is about the extent of my welding expertise.

I also installed the NV241J . It fit like a glove, no issues at all other than adjusting the transfer case shifter linkage. I'm going to get a Cable X system to drive the MJ's mechanical speedometer but right now I'm extremely low on funds so I'll just tape up the electrical connections on the T-case and use a GPS for now. It was tight on the bottom of the case and I could have grinded about 1/8" of material off of it but all the Transmission mounts and cross member bolts went right in. The T-case sits flush on the tranny mount but everything bolted up tight. I thought it would hit the bottom of the MJ but it clocked perfectly just like a 231 and there's plenty of room on the top. I'm waiting on a 1310 CV yoke to arrive to replace the flange mount on the 241. Thanks again to Adam from Motion for finding it for me.

Here's a shot of the JKS ACOS. These were a little tricky to get properly aligned, and in retrospect, I probably won't do these on another vehicle unless there's a centered hole inside of the factory bump stop. On my MJ once you remove the rubber factory bump stop and cut off the bump stop holder, there was only a flat washer and almost an inch of material to drill through. I also broke about 50 bucks worth of drill bits and taps. The directions that came with the ACOS were very good and they addressed the different types of bump stop designs but it was still difficult to properly drill the hole and tap it at the perfect angle. The result was both ACOS are on "good enough" but not perfectly aligned. Its not hard at all, I just messed it up. You can also see the Rock Krawler Long Track bar frame mount that I got installed also.

I'm a little late updating the page. Over the last week I've made some good progress thanks to the help of Dylan (aka Exxon Valdez Jeep) and a couple of neighbors. Dylan was gracious enough to spend last Friday in 100 degree plus heat wrenching hard with me...this was a real hard day of wrenching. We started by removing the front 3.73 D30, the RE drop brackets, and cutting the lower control arm mounts off. which was slightly emotionally tough for me to do because they are unique to the Mj and that is really the point of no return when upgrading to long arms. Also, I'd have never got that much work down without Dylan's help. I'd probably still be working on it a week later. I forgot I had put my camera in my tackle box on a recent fishing trip and couldn't find it for most of the day, but I managed to snap a few with my phone. We got the D30 out and were about to start cutting off the control arm mounts and a huge Black Widow ran across Dylan's hand when he moved the jack stand. This shot doesn't accurately demonstrate the size of this dang spider, its the largest Black Widow I'd ever seen. It was around 2.5-3" across. And after several hours of wrenching in the heat that little encounter was worthy of a beer break. I have to give super kuddos to Dylan. :cheers: :bowdown: This guy was awesome and can wrench with the best of them. He'd probably mow your yard for you too. I got the rear D44 in but had been looking at the front thinking about all the work that was involved and got a little stagnated. Anyway, it helped me get motivated to get the rest of the front done. We actually worked out a deal, I sold him the 231 with SYE and 2 Low for 200 simoleons, but gave him a 4.10 LSD 8.8 for free....most of all I got a lot of help, thanks a bunch dude! That's gotta be what Comanche Club is all about. :D We got the axle and all the front suspension components out of the way and almost got the long arm brackets installed. Here's one of the Rock Krawler long arm brackets that was installed later.

"You keep using that word, I do not think it means what you think it means."

You're right about that. Nice though.

Looks like you got a nice topper with it,,,,,let me know if you want to get rid of it. I'd jump all over a red factory topper... haha :cheers:

I've never seen one of those middle cushions...anyone have one like that?

Nice MJ, I'm jealous of your shop,,,I'm working in 102 degree heat on the ground....

I love your work, absolutely beautiful! :bowdown: Thanks a lot for posting all the pics with the detailed info!

Yeah, I've always loved the waggy grill. If I found one I'd be tempted to throw in on the ole manche.

You are truly a faithful friend, your MJ will never forget it! :cheers:

ever see the movie? thats me on the xbox 360 :???: Are you saying you where in the movie?? :???: I'm no gamer.. but I though the X360 was a newer game...wasnt that movie fromt he mid 80's? I remember having the hots for his girl friend... :brows: CW I'm saying that when i play 360...thats my alter ego....I'm from that era too...and his girl was hot! I love the Last Starfighter, its one of my top 80's movies. "Back to sleep, Louis, or I'm telling Ma about your Playboys!"

360 in a MJ! :drool:

San Dimas High School football and Red Comanches Rule!

I think there's been a shift toward aluminum radiators vs copper. I recently returned a 1 row aluminum radiator to the parts store because I thought it was too thin. Then, when I was later at the radiator shop, the guy told me several manufacturers are also using aluminum now and that a 1 row aluminum can dissipate/radiate heat as well as a 2 or 3 row copper radiator.

Snow plowing is one of the most manly thing you can do with an MJ or any truck for that matter. It feels almost as good as cutting down trees with a chainsaw. Buy it and get a 4.0 donor (XJ). Here's a pic of my old plow, I couldn't afford one of those fancy Meyers jobbers.

Super tough!

I spent some time there as well as the old FOB Danger down on the River. I was also in Bayji at FOB Summerall for about 10 months. Speicher is a good place to be...Bayji, not so much. :no:

I think you're correct. I've read somewhere on here that the Service Manual says not to do it. But, when I last changed the clutch, which I had too because it was so bad, the flywheel was severely scorched. I scuffed it up with sandpaper, but that wasn't doing doing it so I used a wire wheel on a grinder. Plus, I left the old pilot bushing in.....not the smartest way I know! :dunce: I knew better. Anyway, I had a bad shaking when the clutch would engage and I think either the pilot bushing took a crap right after the install or I messed up the 'trueness' of the flywheel. I did it because I wanted to ensure it was perfectly flat.