sureshot007

I'll help you set it up if you help me find a short bed shell for CHEAP

A little update: This past weekend was the Susquahanook Trail Performance Rally (stpr.org). We had a solid performance with no real problems - bent a wheel but was able to continue to service on it, and the idle stepper motor decided to rattle apart and stick at 4500 rpms (was able to remove it in a few minutes between stages). We would have had a 3rd place finish in class, but some penalties we picked up for speeding between stages added 12 minutes to our overall time and dropped us back to 5th. This puts us in a tricky spot, as we'll need a very good performance at the next event (newenglandforestrally.com) in order to have a chance at the Eastern Regional Championship title.

I don't post much, but I thought a few people might enjoy this. First I have to thank Bob (Wildman) for all his help. He has gone out of his way to get me the parts and assistance I needed to make this event happen. And Matt at United 4WD in Clarence, NY - also went above and beyond. We ran the Team O'Neil Regional Rally event this weekend in Dalton, NH. With the exception of not having any power, the truck did great! The lack of power comes from (or doesn't come from, as the case may be) the 2.5L engine I'm running. It just doesn't put out enough power do get going real fast. Other than that, it rained the entire time and had fun in the mud and rocks. It was funny to see all the other teams back at service fixing broken stuff, and when we pulled in, my whole crew just sat down and ate some lunch. We ended up 3rd in class. Turns out if we didn't stop to pull a subaru out of a ditch, we would have been second. We all had a great time. Our next event is the Susquahanook Trail Performance Rally (http://www.stpr.org) in Wellsboro, PA on June 4th and 5th. Anyone in the area should stop by, check things out, and say hi! Photos of the event are here: http://www.onalimbracing.com/photos/201 ... eil_Rally/

Why am I looking for a lightweight driveshaft? Trying to reduce rotational mass as much as possible to free up as much horsepower to the wheels as possible (within reason, I'm no going to spend a million dollars on this). Rally is: http://rally-america.com/whatis.php Group 2 is a class for 2wd, with under 3 liter, naturally aspirated motors.

One of my other friends mentioned them as well. I was really hoping for an "off the shelf" solution. Avoiding custom parts means I can find a replacement when broken at an event.

Well what if I was tossing a ford explorer 8.8 in the rear - should I not bother with the driveshaft adapter and see about running a ford driveshaft?

Thanks for the info, I'll give him a ring tomorrow.

If you don't mind me asking, how much did it set you back?

How about some specs on the stock longbed driveshaft? Maybe then I can try to find an appropriate replacement.

Are there any sources for aluminum or other lightweight driveshafts? Maybe there is another car/truck that has the same length shaft that I might be able to source from a junkyard?

First off, they are bent because I didn't truss them and the springs were broken, so the jump pretty much destroyed it. Jumps like that are not common in rally. If you have an axle that matches my request, let me know what it is and what you are looking to get for it.

I only plan on running it for another handful of events, and the d35 is plenty strong enough for what I need.

What I have: a D35 with welded 3.73s and drums, and the axle tubes are bent. What I want: D35 or greater, 4.10s would be preferred, locker would be nice (but I'll weld it again if necessary), and disc brakes would be awesome. To top it all of, if it would be ready to bold into an MJ, that would make my day. The less labor I have to put into this, the more time I'll have to get the rest of the truck ready for the next rally (which is May 8th). So I call out to you, the MJ community, to see if you can help me keep my racing dreams alive!

The ones that were on there were about 14" in the rear and about 15" in the front - and that was just measuring from the bottom of the shock tube to the tip of the piston, no including the bushings on the ends.

http://www.eshocks.com/bil_ORvh.asp?Ser ... &SubChar=Q I think these will do the trick. I measured last night and they have about 7" of travel.

I'm looking at buying a set of the Bilstein 7100s, but since I'm not lifted, nor ever plan to be, I'm not sure which part number to get. Their website doesn't even have Comanche listed as a vehicle. All of the options for Cherokee are for 3-4" lift applications. Does anyone have any idea what I should get for stock replacement? EDIT: it's 2wd if it makes a difference.

Rear window is plexi, so I am trying to figure out if I can make a new one think enough to support a sliding window. I'm probably going to add a roof scoop at some point as well.

I haven't installed the doors yet, so I forgot that they do flip out that far. So that might just work. I need them to act as air scoops for when we are racing - it gets awfully hot in that thing with the windows rolled up.

Is it possible two swap the little folding windows on the doors so that they push out from the front?

Anyone know where I can find the info on Ford 8.8s? Like which models had which gears and lsd/lockers and disc brakes?

We are considering the bumper relocation as an option as well. So what's so bad about the D35? Everyone says they are terrible, but what breaks on them? You have to realize that I am running 14-15" wheels with car sized tires (205/60), and will be running on loose surface (dirt, gravel, snow), so it's not like it will have a huge load on it, or crawling with huge tires. I realize the D44 will be better, but I just have a hard time believing that the D35 is made of glass. I will start a project thread as soon as we nail down a definite game plan and start working on it - but that probably won't be for another month. And I can always use the help in sourcing cheap parts, or if anyone is interested in some level of sponsorship, I'm all ears :)

I think I forgot to mention that the previous owner welded the rear diff on it. It's held up pretty well thus far, but should we be concerned about it breaking any faster than anything else?

We hit the bumper on the ground a number of times at the last event due to "yumps" - its like a mound that's larger than a speed bump, that you get some air off of. The bed comes down and slaps the top of the yump. A shorter bed will stop that from happening.

Thanks for all the kind words! You must forgive me for asking newbie questions, since this is my first comanche... Is it a good or bad idea to swap the rear end for a cherokee? I was thinking that since the springs are shorter, it would allow us to cut the bed a little shorter, but since the MJ is spring under and the XJ is spring over, I wasn't sure if it was going to yield a relatively similar ride height.

I just double checked on the rules for Rally America - max displacement in Group 2 is 3 liters, and max in Group 5 is 5.1 liters. Group 5 includes forced induction. I'd rather stay in G2 for now, so what are my options for the 2.5L? I need something ultra reliable, but with some umph.