Comanche County

I thought that I saw a thread somewhere about another 5.9 owner who did it. Oh, well I'm certainly pleased with the power it makes and the acceleration that comes with it. I can live with it for sure, but I'm doing a lot of driving lately,,,,if you want to go somewhere when in Comanche County, TX, then you really have to GO somewhere. I guess I shouldn't complain about the more expensive gas, it could be a lot more expensive like back in 08, and heck, it is a 5.9 Limited - its the Jeep Carroll Shelby should have built.

Yep what Adam said!

This is my HP D44 I'm building for the MJ. Its an older Dynatrac axle from a 97 TJ. In fact I got the original invoice for this axle from 97 - total cost - 1,800 bucks with the gears and ARB. Incredible. I called dynatrac to ask about the spline engagement, which they couldn't answer since it was so old and they didn't have computer records of invoices that far back. Anyway I was told this axle runs 8K now through Mopar. I thought they were around 4K. Anyway, when I bought the axle it had 4.56 gears, Alloy shafts, and an ARB. I thought I got it for a steal at $900. However, upon the teardown I've found some issues,,,,first the ARB was cracked but repairable. I've already ordered a new one. Also I noticed the passenger axle may not be long enough. Check out the spline engagement on the front axle shafts. The short drivers side has plenty of engagement but the longer passenger side axle only has about 1/2" of engagement. I think the shaft is too short. I got one response on the build page that the rule of thumb was you're ok with spline engagement equal to the shaft diameter. That sounds about right to me. Also check out the spacing between the shaft ends where they would be inside the carrier/locker. That seems like too much space, maybe both could stand to be a bit longer. Does anyone know how mush space there is supposed to be between axle ends on a D44? Either way I've spent a little too much on the MJ lately and I'll probably live with it until I can get longer shafts. Unless you think I'll strip the splines off the first time I wheel her....then I'll go ahead and get some other shafts asap. Sorry for the dirt on the axles,,,you can see the faint line on the left where the splines engage.

Thanks guys, Actually I guess I'll be selling the D30 and 8.8 that's in it now. They've got 3.73s, the rear has a LSD with welded tubes. The rear is whining a little on the highway now for some reason so I'll be letting them go for cheap....

I've got a 98 ZJ Limited with a 5.9L. It requires 91 octane or better and usually I end up paying for 93 octane. Does anyone know how I can reprogram the computer to allow for 87 or 89 octane? I'm in TX at about 1200 ft elevation and will move back to Savannah, GA later this summer - sea level. I'm hoping I could do this without springing for a Superchip or Flashpaq, (the MJ is taking all the money right now). But it may be the easiest. I know some of those chips can be very quirky and I don't want to mess up the computer or sacrifice dependability, power, or what little economy it has. sorry, not an MJ question....

For the brake line you can use TJ front and rear lines. They're longer than the MJs. Shocks from a 95 or so F350 will work. I ran them on my MJ at 7" of lift up front. Also the rear sway bar links from a 95 F350 will work for a lifted XJ/MJ they're about 1.5" longer than the stock MJs. I used em on my old XJ that was lifted about 4". I'll be moving back to GA sometime later this summer, we'll have to put together a wheelin trip whenever I get there. I'd definitely help you out with your Jeep too.

Thanks again guys, ya'll make this such an awesome website.

Check out Mr N's site on D44 info, its fairly exhaustive. http://77cj.littlekeylime.com/web_rs44.html

That's me!

...you either have more MJs than parts to make them run, or you have more parts than MJs to put them in. ...because you firmly believe it's better to have seven 100 dollar cars than one 700 dollar car.

Thanks guys. Just got my JKS rear shackles in, so the rear D44 is ready. That's next...

will do!

Found this little gem yesterday. The JY owner wouldn't sell it whole so I told him I may have to 'Johnny Cash' it. The bed, tailgate, and rear bumper are perfect. I plan to get the whole bed as well as the blue interior. Then I finally found something I've been wanting for the MJ for a while - XJ leather seats from a 2-door limited. But the seats were toasted, I may get them to recover anyway. Its right next to the 2 door limited XJ. Here's the seats, gunky looking now but I see potential.

Here's where I need some advice. Check out the spline engagement on the front axle shafts. The short drivers side has plenty but the longer passenger side axle only has about 1/2" of engagement. I think the shaft is too short. Also check out the spacing between the shaft ends where they would be inside the carrier/locker.

Got the Front D44 mocked up with knuckles and calipers....but I've got a problem with the ARB that came out of it, as well as with the axle shafts. here's the problem with the ARB that was in it: Its got a cracked cylinder cap and the flange cap carrier bearing spun on it. I've got a new one on order to replace this one. This is the older D44 style ARB (RD06) and there's a newer design out now (RD116). Also when I pulled the pinion I found this: I'm putting the front on hold until the new ARB arrives and I can take the axle to get re-geared. In the meantime - the rear is almost ready. I've taken two extra sets of MJ springs and added an extra main leaf to the pack. Now the only thing left with this is the Brackets that sandwich the leafs together. Oh and the E Brake cables.

Other axles: I need to get done with all this swapping and get rid of some of these.... From left to right: 1. 8.8 w/ new ARB and 4.56 gears - will go in the 96 XJ or the 98 ZJ 2. D44 from an early ford F100 I think - it has 3.08 gears and 5x5.5 bolt pattern. Got for for my brothers CJ. 3. 99' 8.8 with 4.10 gears - will go in the 96 XJ or the 98 ZJ 4. XJ D44 - got for 100 bucks - a total steal. 5. FSJ D44 - an early model with 2 piece axles and 4.11 gears, I got it just for the carrier and gears. Its slightly offset. 6. D30 w/ a lockright, 4.56s, and alloy shafts - will go in the 96 XJ or the 98 ZJ There's a 242 and a dana 300 sitting there too.

Oh yeah,,,just a little tip for you boys. Ball joints only go in and come out of the knuckle in one direction.... It doesn't matter hard hard you try, you cannot press them out the wrong way. Back to the pics: Bumpers and Sliders: All from JCR. Don't mind the rust, I didn't because I was going to have them blasted and coated properly. But I decided to prep and paint them myself. The old bumpers: The rear was hastily welded onto my old MJ bumper brackets with angle iron. It worked for its purpose. It was built by a guy for a cherokee with trimmed rear panels. But I wasn't about to cut my rust free bed to bring it in closer. No mind though, I've got the JCR rear bumper on now. The old front: Here's the new front bumper after coating and installation....don't mind the flares, I'm not done with them yet. I'll eventually trim the fender opening all the way around anyway. I think I'll get new (JY) flares anyway. The coated sliders: I'm a little embarrassed of my coating job on the bumpers and sliders. I decided I'd POR15 em myself instead of blasting and spraying poly on em and right after I got the first coat on a freak wind blew leaves out of the trees and dirt all over the first wet coat. From there it just went bad. I'm not too worried about looks though, corrosion protection is the main idea here. I may redo them later. I wish I had a shop to do this in! :fs1:

I'll just divide this up into several posts.... The main part of the Down East Hi Steer kit. It comes with the 1-ton steering, spacers, and S10 calipers (I think). Edit: This kit is essentially a standard US passenger side WJ knuckle and an export (UK,AUS) drivers side WJ knuckle. They're pre-reamed from Down East for the 1 ton tie rod ends. Transfer Case: I picked up a NP241J with the 4:1 low ratio...This'll go in the MJ. I also have a new Rhino clutch, but I really want a external slave AX15 bellhousing before I put it in. Here's a shot of the front D44:

I picked up a NP241J for the MJ. Its got the 4:1 low ratio. When I get it in the MJ, the MJ's 231 w/ 2-Low will go into the ZJ....at least that's the plan. I've also got a 242, but I think the 231 will be the way to go since I'm in the south now and there's no snow driving to worry about. I do like nailing the throttle with full time 4 wheel drive though.

Thanks for checking out my build page! :cheers: I bought this truck in late 08' for 900 bucks when I lived in the beautiful state of CO. I didn't have any plans to do any of this work when I first bought it, but then I started to research my new truck and found none other than Comancheclub.com,,, I got the Jeep bug and then the tinkering started. If you're reading this, then you've probably got it too. :cheers: Its an 89' that came with the Renix 4.0, AX-15, 3.07 gears and 30" tires on it. At the time of purchase I didn't know much about MJ Jeeps. I had a 96 XJ that ran perfect for 160K miles in weather ranging from 65 degrees below in AK and 130 above in Death Valley. So I knew I wanted another 4.0 but, I also lucked out with the AX-15. I first installed Rancho 3" lift components, then added 1.75" spacers,,,then it went to 33's and a 6 inch lift with Drop Brackets and most of the parts sourced from the JY and other Jeepers who were parting out their rigs. I grabbed an 8.8 with welded tubes and 3.73 gears from another CC member and set it up for SOA. Then found a 3.73 front D30 from an 84' XJ in the JY. I ordered the drop brackets and a few other things from Motion and got most of the other components a little at time. Here's a couple of pics from back then: Can't believe I had that crappy bumper on it, but it was the only thing that I could weld my plow mount onto. It was not an ideal set up at all, I learned quickly that lifted jeeps aren't the best plow rigs. With the 33's I couldn't even mount the snow plow with it touching the ground so I robbed the 30s from the XJ and slapped them on. It worked a little better. Plowing at night when you live on the side of a mountain can be a little scary so I mounted up the light bar I got off of CL. I eventually gave up on plowing with the MJ, just too high. I started plowing with the XJ, but I got it stuck often....here's a shot of the MJ ready to pull it out one night. Ok, so the conclude this little flashback... We're newly living in CO and at the time we couldn't sell our house in GA. After about a year of paying for two houses things were pretty tight. Out of the blue, I get an offer to go back to Iraq working for a private company. It was an offer I couldn't refuse at the time... Then this happened: viewtopic.php?f=3&t=19401&hilit=iraq :( So after many months of hospitalization, we can fast forward to 2010 and I'm back home in TX and getting to work on the MJ again, albeit at a much slower pace. Jun 10' I've been working (very slowly cause that's how I move now) on putting better axles (D44s w/ ARBs and 4.56 gears) and long arms on the MJ and getting it capable to run 35s dependably. I've collected an assortment of parts, even an entire lifted XJ, and I really need to get rid of some stuff, so I'll be selling off a bunch of stuff (and the XJ) soon. Here's a shot of the MJ: I don't like the tires that are on it or the 17" rims. They were on the XJ that I bought and I wanted to try the 285s on the MJ since the truck has 3.73s. These things will go away soon, I hate em. First pics of parts I've gathered. Most came from CL, I haven't been able to do any JY'ing lately. Tires: I had previously purchased a set of new 33" Pro Comp Extreme MTs but I found a guy that wanted to downgrade from 35s. So we traded. Four 33's on soft eights plus 160 bucks for five 35" Bias Maxxis Creepy Crawlers on 16" D windows wheels. Good trade for me! One is out of the pic. Axles: The front is an older Dynatrac HP44 with 4.56 gears, an ARB and alloy shafts. The rear is an MJ D44 I got from a guy when I called about a J10 44,,,,turns out he had sold his MJ and had the 44 still laying around. Got it for 150. Here's the MJ 44 freshened up by Fort Worth Gear and Axle with an ARB and 4.56s....the 8.8 in the picture was going to go in the MJ until I found the MJ 44. The 1-ton tie rod and drag link is from a Down East Off Road Hi Steer kit that I picked up off CL.

Thought I'd just give a quick update. First thanks for all ya'lls comments, I appreciate it. Its been a major life changing event. I stayed in Landstuhl about a month, then from Nov to May was spent in the VA hospital in Temple. During that time I still had a lot of nerve pain in the perinial (?) nerve. The main nerve that is sort of like a fiber optic bundle for the entire lower leg. Anyway, it feels like a badly tingling funny bone that never stops. It was giving me extreme insomnia, just impossible to sleep. Its gotten better over the last month or so and I'm able to sleep better now. During that time though I was taking so many painkillers that now I've got some sort of stomach issue that's my current main issue. But I'll get over it soon enough. Although I'm not as "ranger-ific" as I used to be, I did manage to walk (drive really) through a JY and found a gem. I'll post it up asap. Since I've got a little more time now (and internet access), I guess I need to get started on my MJ build page. I did find a comfortable ride. I wanted a WJ but found a 98 5.9 ZJ Limited in Austin and the guy practically gave it to me. It had 219K on it and I've added 5K more. He had his own helicopter so he knew the importance of preventive maintenance and kept the ZJ meticulous. It runs like a top, only issue with it is I can hear a faint bearing noise coming from the "Super" D44. This thing is a torque monster, there's no loss of traction, it just puts you in the seat and goes,,,,,I've already knocked off a new Mustang with it. I've got a set of 4.10 and 4.56 axles for it and the old lift components from the MJ will go in it once I get my new RockCrawler long arms on the MJ. I haven't decided which set to use,,,,I'm leaning toward the 4.10s since it's main use will be as a DD and to haul the MJ. I removed the pimpdaddy running boards - I think it looks tons better without them.

Thanks for the plug brother. Lifetime Legion member myself,,,just haven't gotten around to joining the VFW yet.

I'm a little late with pics of my trailer but here they are... This trailer was built by a kid in Denver. I think the tongue is about the right length, I can turn sharply and almost jack knife it without binding up too bad. Its got a bolt on SOA kit and I usually have 33's on it, right now its got 30's on it. Not as awesome as the one your building though, man, that is a nice trailer!

A lot of MJ/XJer's do this conversion, I've thought about it but my closed system 4.0 89' MJ runs cooler than the three open system 96XJs I've had. Could be that I've got an AX-15 in the MJ and the XJs were all AW4s. For now I'm really happy with the closed system, it is a little tricky to get it completely burped though.

Right on! :thumbsup: