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Awesome! I love starting brand new projects! (It's finishing old ones that's the killer) Glad to see you back in an MJ Jon!

Thank you Mountainman. Sorry you've had such a bad year. RIP to your friends as well :(

Forget Comanche of the month, this thing is Comanche of the Millennium! Awesome Machine! I'm glad its in good hands :)

Taking out the bolts, and squeezing the ends together with something like a Ball Joint Press would probably work too. Just be careful the C-clamp press doesn't slip off while you are tightening it.

I'll add, that I bought a knocked down Iron Scorpion front bumper kit like this (no longer available) to build my rear MJ bumper around; Great option for a home build without a metal brake. You fold it in a vice, and weld closed the seems. A little labor intense but a great option. If the JCR kit was available then, I would have jumped on it. I'm considering one for my DD 2wd MJ (Grandpa-Jeep)

http://www.jcroffroad.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Store_Code=J&Screen=PROD&Category_Code=XJB&Product_Code=DIY-MJ-R Site shows it at $185 Was this the sale price?

I forgot I had posted this here, but there's some pics of the NOS factory rocker here; http://comancheclub.com/topic/20114-rocker-replacement-thread-cab-corner-too/

There are pics of an NOS factory MJ rocker in my "trail truck" project thread (link in sig) and I have NOS XJ rockers I can snap pics of if you want to show them what they are really supposed to look like. It would be nice to have factory style rockers available again.

Thank you for bumping this for me hornbrod! (I was having trouble posting from my phone) and thanks for the kind words jeepdoggydog! He was one of those friends that you never know how much you'll miss them till they're gone. :( Rest in Peace Lenny Olsen Happy Thanksgiving guys Make sure your family AND friends all know how much they are appreciated today.

Last thing, anyone know of a decent, not crappy LED strip light to illuminate the license plate, please post them up :) Something like this http://www.amazon.co..._sim_sbs_auto_2 but a little more durable.

here's some *before* pics: rest of the 'surgery' is here: http://comancheclub...._40#entry171541 Thanks :D Cool factor played a big part :) Not having to turn around on tight trails to yank the guy behind me (assuming I ever get this thing out on a trail again ;) ) was the excuse I used to actually do it. All that's left is to chop up the underbrace from the old bumper: and attach it to the new bumper so the winch can go back in. Hopefully soon......

Still slowly still picking away at this project. Now that I have an actual garage to work in :) got the rear bumper mostly done: lol, its a 9 year build now :) figured I'd update the title (from 6 to 9 years) Maybe I'll get it back on the road for it's 10 year anniversary. :D

This tailgate was in rough shape The guy I got it from a had a few, back when I had a J truck I couldn't find a tailgate to save my life, so I couldn't bear to chop up a good one. I picked the worst one of the bunch :) Few more pics before it got rattle canned:

Hi all! I still don't have interwebs at the new house, so I've been seriously slacking in my visits here. I did get a little more work on the back bumper done tho: Cutouts to the lower left and right are flat spots for the high lift Cutout to the right also has a tow hook, I like to loop the winch line through the D-ring, and grab the hook with it Ends didn't come out as perfectly symmetrical as I wanted, but they're pretty close. The winch isn't in place right now, since there is still another under bracket/support to attach. The tailgate is just a teaser, and hopefully the pics will motivate me to finish that next. :)

I love this place :yes:

Thanks Don, you are right on the money as usual. :D I'm mostly settled in, lots of time going back and forth setting things up. I have some pics to post, but don't have the interwebz at the new house yet. BTW, I'm still using the crappy back up toaster at the new house that is just as bad as the crappy toaster oven at the old house.

Be aware that there was gear pitch changes throughout the years for the input gears, and you can't easily tell the difference by looking at them. I swapped an incorrect 21 spline input into a 23 sp case 10+ years ago and it sounded like there were rocks in the transfer case. The year case & input SHOULD have been comparable, but they were not. It was horrible. No combination of parts (sun gear, planetaries, etc) worked, though no real damage became of the case for running it like this. No metal ever showed up in the oil, even though it sounded like it was destroying itself. I'd buy the right case, and try to resell yours to recoup some of the cost. Goodluck.

You don't like toast? or you don't like anything TOASTED? (bagel, waffle, english muffin)? Are you sure you're not doing it wrong? ;)

I knew I could count on the Comanche guys for support and answers :D The whole not toasting thing went unnoticed by me for a while, since I was making chocolate chip eggo's and they are already brownish right out of the box. Switching back to plain eggo's told the tale. They come out the same pale color they went in as, only warmer. Leaving them in longer just makes pale hard as rocks, waffles. I'm gonna try another new toaster, and report back these important findings.;) thanks for the advice.:D

I don't know how this slipped by me. We used a toaster for as long as I can remember. Had one of those big stainless ones with 4 slots, and life was good. Then we went to a toaster oven, and that also ACTUALLY toasted stuff. You know, put nice, dark, semi-burnt lines in whatever you put in it. Fast forward to today. The 4 slicer is long gone, the original toaster oven we had died a couple years ago, AND NOTHING I BUY TODAY ACTUALLY TOASTS ANYMORE. :headpop: We've tried new toaster ovens, even went back to old fashioned toasters, but they only heat stuff up now, no actual TOASTING anymore. If you keep putting the bread/English muffin/waffle back in, eventualy it gets hard as a rock, but will never actually toast. Rant off. Anyone else run into this, or just me?

Phone took forever to post the toaster thread, I REALLY wanted to hit send again, but I resisted, and it STILL double posted it. :doh: Sorry folks, nothing to see here ;)

:fs1: :wall: :grrrr: :headpop: 1)All vice grips, except vice grip brand are junk. 2)Irwin (company) bought vice grip 3)All vice grip brand vice grip production was shipped to china. 4)All vice grips now suck. :wall: I can't argue that; but considering that my vice grips will support a couple hundred pounds of weight and spring tension from garage doors...I'd hesitate to call them junk. :dunno: Except when they wear out and pop open; in which case they become junk. ;) The made in USA vice grips are still top notch. But almost any new ones you buy now are gonna be China crap, They are looser stampings, cheaper quality steel, just all around junkier. They look like the cheap vice grip knock offs that have been around for years, only now they are stamped "vice grip". :(

:fs1: :wall: :grrrr: :headpop: 1)All vice grips, except vice grip brand are junk. 2)Irwin (company) bought vice grip 3)All vice grip brand vice grip production was shipped to china. 4)All vice grips now suck. :wall:

I put together a small tool kit for my 18 year old, tool less nephew for Christmas. I think I spent about $200, and wanted to get 100% made in America stuff. I figured when he is my age, retail, new, made in America tools might not even exist anymore. :( I had to pick through the 40% china crap now at Sears to get the USA stuff. Deeply disappointing for me I have no idea why someone would pay a premium for china crap, just because it says Craftsman, Husky, or Kobalt on it. If I'm going to get made in chine crap, I'll take it for Harbor Freight's made in china crap price thank you. China sucks. :hateputers: The devaluing of the dollar, so china crap is all anyone can afford anymore sucks even more.

Congrats! Looks awesome!