philbert001

It never hurts! Besides, tires aint cheap, big, or little!

I believe you're right there, but in a truck with 20 year old components, and the amount of margin for error that is inherently gonna be there in slop, you aren't gonna get her dead on, so dead even is enough to keep from chewing tires off, and keep her going straight down the road! If you tape measure it, then drive around the block, she'll be off again, Guaranteed! (Unless you replace EVERYTHING!)

Lol! It only got an all over, because I had to patch so much rust, and fix multiple wrecks! I'm a painter! Painters cars ALWAYS need paint! Same as mechanics cars always run like $#!&! (And don't tell my wife about the chick magnet thing!)

It'll need to go toe out, and the best way to do it yourself is to run a tape measure right under your control arms, and measure from center of tire to center of tire, or inside to inside, or outside to outside. Wherever you can get an accurate measurement. Then, move to about the same level in front of the tires, and take a measurement. more than likely, the front measurement will be shorter, (Toe in). adjust the tie rod out until both measurements are the same, good to go. then, adjust the drag link as needed, til the steering wheel is centered going straight down the road!

Thanks bud! It aint yours for sure, but she's pretty damn tuff for Northern IN!

Sweet build man! Your leg may be slowing you down, but it's great to see nothing seems to stop you! Happy Memorial day!

If you use those "Peanut" spring stiffeners, they will raise the front end, Temporarily. They will however, cause your front springs to break down, and sag much quicker, because as the spring compresses, it's putting all that force on the point where the stiffener sits, instead of distributing it evenly around the spring. your best bet for a cheap, easy inch or two, is a set of urethane spring spacers

I've been tape measure aligning jeeps for years. Like Hubbell said, find a write up. And as far as the track bar goes, just drill a new hole in the Axle side mount towards the drivers side a half inch, or whatever it takes to re-center the axle. You'll need to put a nut on the backside, as the tab-nut will no longer fit in there and line up with the bolt. I ran my XJ with a stock track bar for like a year, (DD and wheelin it pretty hard too!), and never had issues with just moving it over!

Very nice Manche! Love the rock rails!

You took the uppers completely out, or you took them off at the axle? What about the frame side? Also, with that much lift, you'll need an alignment. (It'll be toed in pretty good at 4.5 inches) And you should be thinking about and adjustable track bar too. (Or at least drill a new axle side mount hole.

Did you loosen the upper control arms before everything went in, then re-tighten them at ride height with everything in place? On that note, did you tighten everything at ride height? Or did you torque it all down with the axle at full droop? If you tightened everything at droop, (Or if you didn't loosen the uppers first), it could be twisting the bushings into their new home at a different ride height.

Yup!

I'm in no way trying to say that it's the same as the motor I just swapped out of mine, but mine had a Tick, and it was a collapsed lifter. Upon further investigation, turned out that the lifter was collapsed because all the bearings were just about dead, and it was bleeding off all it's oil pressure before it got to the valvetrain! (Pressure at the pump/pressure sender was great. 35 lbs at idle, and 70 just off idle) I'm just sayin, it never hurts to pull the valve cover, and make sure the pushrods/rocker arms are pumping out plenty of oil! I only had one pushrod actually pumping out oil!

If you still need dimensions, I'll try to remember to get them when my wife gets home. (She drives ours.) Big @#$%er! I can tell you that much! Almost 1 gallon!

Thanks!

On my ZJ, For several years, I was running 2 1/2 inch all the way back to a 2 1/2 inch supertrap. It had a nice rumble to it, but since it was even further back than a stocker, it was very quiet. Even with all the discs in it! That, and the tuneability of the supertrap is real nice, especially if you have access to a diagnostic scanner that'll read out weather she's lean or rich, or if you have a power programmer.

It'll fit, but you may need to modify/swap drive shafts, depending on which trans you have already. You are also gonna run into a whole bunch of wiring issues. If you have time, patience, a decent amount of electrical knowledge, and know how to read a wiring diagram, then it won't be terrible. Painless? Nooooooo! You ever cut off a finger? Bout that much pain! Tolerable, but still sucks!

Well, it's been a while! I changed the name of this thread, because the small block is no more. :( Financial times were tough a year or so ago, and I sold the motor for the old girl. I planned on rebuilding the motor she had in her, (Dead main bearings, rod bearings, cam bearings, and lifters), She wasn't getting any oil to the top end. oilflow was making it halfway up the pushrods, and that was it! Anyway, funds have been too tight for even that! She's just been sitting in the driveway. A few months ago, a buddy of mine blew up his trans, so I sold her trans. Then I wanted to replace the whole driveline, with an automatic, and an HO motor, but once again, times are tough, and I just couldn't afford the time or money involved in making it happen. So she sat for a few more months. I decided, and committed to stealing the whole driveline and harness out of my XJ, to get the manche on the road again. This was hard because there was nothing wrong with my XJ, and she's been a great rig, has never let me down, and only has 113k on the odometer! None the less, I committed to it, and did it! Since this killed my wheeling rig, the manche had to become a dual purpose rig! I ordered a set of spring perches, and did my SOA. Then, I swapped in my front lift goodies out of my XJ. 5 inches of lift wasn't enough though, so I ordered new springs, lengthened my UCAs, and built extended bar pin eliminators for the front end. (At what will be ride height, my 6 inch lift shocks only had like 3 inches of droop left, and that just won't do!) Anyhow, she's back on track, and I now have a short list, instead of a long list. I haven't recieved my 8 inch springs yet, but here are some pics of her with all my XJs goodies, plus a 1 inch puck. (These are all before my control arm mods, and bar pin eliminators, so don't b*@$£ at me for the axle sitting too far back in the wheelwell!) It's nice and centered at what will be ride height, and is lookin pretty good. I also swapped on my soft 8s, and 33s off my XJ. (They don't look like 33s, because they are 16 inch wheels) Anyhow, you know she is bigish, because I'm running 33s, and stock flairs! Sorry for the super long update, but I haven't updated this in what, 2 years? I'll upload more pics after I get my new springs in her. It feels good to have a short list finally! She's down to installing a new radiator, springs, and bleeding the brakes! The interior is a different story. My MJ has the $#!&ty gauge cluster with nothing but speedo and fuel gauges, and the rest is dummy lights! Well, my XJ is a laredo, and has a full cluster, and power everything, so I'm swapping the door guts, the dash and wiring, the vent windows, and whatever else I can! The XJ has all the switches in the dash for rear defog, and rear wiper, so that'll give me nice pre-wired circuits for some auxiliary goodies. It also has the comfort/power tranny control switch, which is great for towing/mountain roads! Ok, sorry, I'll come with the pics now!

The engine bay light may be stolen from a chevy, but they were OE in Jeeps! (Just like the chevy steering column and door lock cylinders!) I have one in my manche too! (Stole it from my XJ)

Yes.

Nice truck, clean bay or no! I don't think I've ever seen a 97-01 2 door!

So my urge to say, "Lots of lube!", Isn't out of line!

Drill the spotwelds on the seam, and cut back till you are passed the rust, then make a patch that'll extend under the original metal 1/4 inch, then weld her in. Keep your spot welds 2 inches apart, and make several passes to keep the heat and warpage to a minimum. Mud it, block it, prime it, and paint it!

This is all exactly right. I am an automotive painter, and all we do is trim it as close to the pinch weld as possible with a razor blade, then urethane right over the old stuff. Like wildman said, just make sure it's smooth, and at a fairly even level! good luck, and have fun with the sheet metal work!

Buy me a nice tube bumper, and you can have mine!