Duner

Oh yea the thing that hangs under the back of the bed that collects mud and aids traction. I thought it was part of the sophisticated jeep traction control system but your saying people actually use them. I think if jeep had intended us to use a spare they would have designed that space to carry a 37" tire and would not have left so much room for patch kits and fix-a-flat. Yep I'm sure it is just part of the trac control system on my MJ.

This is the best thing about the comanche compared to other trucks. First the design comes from the XJ's unibody construction which is inherently stiffer and better riding than a seperate frame (just take a ride in a ford exploder then a cherokee the diff is obvious) Because the cherokee is built around a slightly beefed up cherokee unibody frame we don't see the frame flex (not bed flex although some flex is attributed to the rubber biscuits the beds are mounted on). This makes it possible to weld to the pinch seam if you want to and achieve a stiffer truck overall you might consider welding the bed to the frame completely if you don't intend to remove it again. just take a look at the cher/manches its the same basic concept.

I guess you are ready for the dry sump setup now. or atleast an accusump that way you can maintain pressure while rolling over

Yeah, I'm not having any problems with my shaft alignments just wondering if this was a necessary mod for the mj. I could see where an xj or wrangler would benefit from this. It was just something that I was pondering while underneath the truck the other day.

Way cool, shoot some before and after pics I would love to see how this turns out.

I'm not sure about where you live but each TX resident over 18 can buy up to 5 salvage title cars in a single year, if you have a wholesaler liscense you can bid directly at the insurance auctions for as many as you can afford we have done this with three cars during 06 but only one actually had a salvage title (05 Ford Ranger extended cab edge pkg, 6800 miles bought for $7000 and repaired for $2657) the other 2 were an 05 Wrangler X $10200 3k miles about $1800 in repair and a 04 bmw 325i for $12300 still in the garage waiting on parts. The jeep and Bmw were part of allstate's accident forgiveness/replacement program = clean titles. Funny thing about the ford and the jeep they were both wrecked within 50 miles of their most recent oil change. In fact the jeep only showed 8 miles more on the clock compared to the oil change sticker, probably had the accident on the way home. Unfortunately for the wrangler it departed when my dad got the bill on the insurance it was double of my sister's camaro.

I finally started to look into these drop kits. Has any had any adverse experience from dropping the trans this way? linkage issues with the tranfercase? motor issues? or manual trans shifters?

Jared did you throw in the adjustable track bar and steering stabilzer as well - 150 bucks to the 710 then add my D44 100 bucks and 80 bucks to move the spring perches driveshaft work and ujoints. Yea 1100 sounds about right but I would not change a thing that I did by scrounging through the junkyards and combining different parts from different mfg's as I have learned so much and had a great time with my dad along the way, but if you are going higher than 4" I would consider going the full blown longarm suspension as I think the overall result is probably better than the setup that I have now.

Most important thing to remember is that the gauge is moving so should the oil. If it quits moving the engine quits shortly after that - ruling out of course that the sender or gauge actually failed. Most engines can survive with at least 7-10 psi at idle. When my dad had he scout's engine rebuilt it had about 8 psi at idle on a certified oil pressure testing gauge he didn't trust the gauge in the dash until after the test. When he brought this up with the IHC (International Harvester Corp) parts guys they all came out to see the truck because they said when they rebuild those engines the oil pressure is usually 0-2 psi at idle. So I think your engine should be ok don't be so paranoid and enjoy til the mud seeps in over your dash board.

Always check multiple parts source before buying and the dealer has suprised me as well as knocked me to the floor. It just depends on the part. My latest inquiry - front spring upper isolater mounts (new 6'5" springs arrived last Wednesday) because I lost 1 somewhere in the garage - stealer price was 12.70/ea, quadratec 4.99/ea so I order two for 9.98 + 2.99 shipping on orders 10 and less - same money twice the parts wait 3 days instead of next day. So you have to shop around unless you have a fat bank roll and I even make the local parts stores match prices. I'm a little shocked that I could not actually get this isolater at the local parts store.

just my 2 cents, go back and jack it up and bleed the system, there is never a certain number turns or amount of set time to perform this procedure and check the fluid level often. Also my dad says don't turn it all the way to the steering stops and make sure the cap on the resivoir is loose or off so the air can bleed out. He says it not unusual to have to bleed the pump again after a few days, at least that has been his experience with GM products.

Ok I went to my dad on this one to see if he had any answers as he used to lower all the trucks in his day (I guess they thought that was cool). First factory springs have a 17% variance in the spring rate for acceptability (Wow!) that means a stock MJ spring at 150 lbs could be acceptable at anywhere from 138 thru 163 lbs. Second when building cheap lifts for the street I doubt that any of the mfgr's use a standards that are much greater if at all on these products so you could see a huge variance. If you just can't find any other reasons find a spring shop that can check the rates my dad says most used to do this for ten or twenty bucks. Third he asked if the truck had severe rust as this could cause chassis twist ( i.e. do the doors line up with fenders and open and close properly)? Fourth set the truck on stands in the driveway and get it as close to level as possible then pull the shocks, springs and all of the spacers/isolators out of the front. Now you are ready to measure the distannce from the spring perch to the top of the spring support you may be suprised at what you find here. Anyway compare the two measurments if they are the difference your trying to make up you have your answer (sloppy build quality or twisted chassis you can compensate with more spacer or a knowledgable body shop with a very good frame guy can fix this easily and it is not cost prohibitive usually 275 to 400 bucks to pull just about anything that has been crushed in an accident and the good shop will provide you with before and after printout just like the alignment shop that you will visit next if the bodyshop can't do it. Remember if the driveway is not flat make sure you level the axle to the chassis before taking measurments. Good Luck and remember some variance at all four corners is normal within the factory tolerances.

My dad was reluctant about lifting the MJ as high as we did but honestly the vehicle is more stable now with better suspension and larger tires. But I agree that you should not turn an inexperienced driver loose in a lifted vehicle without doing the complete upgrade including brakes. A stock jeep wheel and tire weighs 40-45 lbs, 33" 12.50's weigh about 80 pounds this takes a lot more care and consideration to stop the truck. He made me drive my truck a year before we started the lifting process. Now as for your lift I have a couple of questions first the MJ I think sets about 1" lower in the front anyway. Did you change spring shackles at the rear? How high is the new perch above the axle tube? When we put the D44 under my truck we gained an honest 6.5" of lift, I'm not sure why this occurs as the math does not compute (axle tube dia. + perch height + spring stack) just does not add up to 6.5" and certainly not 7.5" as n your case so apparently moving the axle to the unsprung weight position is worth another 1-1.5" of lift and I do have a tool box in the back of my bed that always has 150 lbs of junk in it. So maybe I do have 7.5" of lift. So add a heavy bumper and tool box you'll need the traction anyway, but let hime learn to drive the truck in stock form first.

There is nothing to do as far as timing adjustments go. Unless someone has had the the distributor out of the engine and moved it a tooth there should be know issue. Even when I screwed up the timing chain install and had one link too many between the marks the truck still started and ran it just seemed down on power in the lower rpm band, I even pulled a trailer loaded down with my brother's furniture to college and all I noticed was that I couldn't maintain 65 uphill with the air on without shifting to 4th gear. I couldn't believe how well it ran though after my dad pulled it off and properly lined up the marks and the timing chain links. The 4.0 litre really is hard to kill no matter what you try to do to it.

Has anyone ever heard of or had any dealings with Team Cherokee? www.teamcherokee.com/

Thanks for all the help I still have not made a choice (looking for Gibson supplier locally just to check pricing). I'm impressed by the way some these trucks sound with flowmasters on them.

3m makes the double sided foam backing tape that your neighbor is suggesting. You should be able to get this at the local auto store, check where the paint and pinstriping products are located. If you have an automotive paint store you can get this tape in wider rolls unfortunately you only need a little of the stuff and they are used to selling body shops large rolls. Anyway wipe your emblem down and paint down with alcohol before applying, if the tape is fresh this stuff usaully sticks for a few years.

I did not realize that getting the bumper off was such a problem - rust is not too bad in the south but just to throw some help for those of us working with hand tools. My dad told me he had a friend who would buy a project car every year or two and then enroll in the autobody repair course at the local community college - he uses all their equipment plus stores his car there during the duration of the course - so you really don't need a shop and 100k in tools - it's thought anyway.

My dad is a big fan of the dynomax, he said it frees more hp and is much quieter than the flowmasters. He just keeps telling me that inline 6 engines sound funny with performance mufflers probably spent too much time with all those v8's in his day.

I think it's time we sit down and take a good look at this problem. It seems that no one is truly happy with their track bar setup. I have the skyjacker adjustable - picked it up from rockymountain free shipping and included the steering damper. Unbelievable bumpsteer with 3.5" lift that was on the truck when first installed, after lifting to 5.5" the bumpsteer has mostly gone away - new 6.5" coils on their way to the house now maybe it will improve so more. What would be nice would be some better bracket attachment designs to allow the bar to stay perpendicular to the frame and closer to parallel to the axle. The kevinsoffroad bar looks like it might have been a better choice than my skyjacker. Bottom line is engineering can not replace actual field testing and based on everyones field testing this problem isn't solved yet at least not by anything that just bolts on.

Ok, It's time to alleviate the stock muffler's interference with the d-shaft. It's a simple fix but what I want to know is what sounds good on a renix 4.0? I would like it to sound a bit more throaty it needs something to go with it's improved attitude 6" lift, 33" tires, 4" flares, etc. So should it get a performance muffler? or should it just get a coffee can at the tip to alter the sound?

For the details. It is easier to find a 4wd ax15 for this conversion. Sources claim that you can change the mainshaft in the 2wd tranny to 4wd but this is a lot of work. Wwhen we first looked at this swap it appeared you could just unbolt tailshaft and bolt on t-case (LOL). It's not a difficult swap and most of the major things can be handled in a weekend with buttoning up all the little things afterwords Find yourself and XJ donor and save the headache, I peice milled the swap but if I had it to do over again I would find a complete vehicle to make the swap easier. besides 4 door XJ donor are getting real cheap these days.

No such animal (cheap lift) or at least on this forum. It's all relative and once you start lifting it just keeps climbing. Mine started at 3 - 3.5" suddenly jumped to 6" when I found a D44 rear axle and went SOA. I have adjustable upper and lower control arms for now but will probably move to a long arm by the time everything is finished. 33" look good but I'm not sure the cost is justified compared to the 31's stick to the 3" lift if want to reduce your costs and use the TJ flares for clearance. By the way if want a set of TJ flares let me know, I'll send them to you if you pay for the shipping costs.

Most of the junkyard MJ's are rusted around here when they hit the yard (probably because they migrate from the northeast to texas) but I agree with the other comments find a door skin as the contour should be easy enough to work. otherwise any truly compotent bodyshop can easily make another skin for the bed side.

Run down to your local auto store and pick through the help section. You should be able to get new clips as well as bolts if you need them grease them well when you bolt it back together. They are on there because it's difficult to get the wrench on a nut.