jpnjim

I haven't put the metric springs in yet. These are still the (sigh) factory 900lb springs. This one I actually got in lower CT like two years ago. My first and favorite. I really like the flares, they are WAY thicker then my bushwackers I had on my TJ before. The only complaint I (kinda) have is the edge trim. Its an L shaped edge trim. With only one adhesive edge. And some of the tight body line curves don't stick as well as I'd like. For now its OK and will stay but I may swap it out with just regular C channel door trim. Do you mean the edge trim on the inside between the flare and the body? I never even noticed that was a separate piece. Flares look like a nice option for me, only concern is one would smash the first time I rubbed a tree. Thanks!

Yep, you can do it. I converted 2 or 3 2wd BA's to 4wd back when the junkyards were asking way too much for 4wd replacements. 4wd BA output housings were easy to find back then, since free, blown up 4wd BA's were everywhere. Not sure how easy 4wd BA output housings are to find these days. :???: With AX-15's being pretty common, I honestly don't think it's worth doing anyway, but it's really simple if you want to do it. The first one I did with the transmission still in the Jeep It was my daily driver MJ in 1998, I pulled the tailcone off on a whim to see how far the shaft was splined, when I saw that it was long enough, I had an old driveshaft cut to fit and cut down the output shaft the next weekend :thumbsup: Removed tail cone, put 4wd housing on marked the output shaft stuffed rags in the openings to keep filings out cut it off with an abrasive cutting wheel (turning the shaft a few times as I cut) cleaned up the end of the shaft bolted it back together with the transfer case & new driveshaft. I put a 231 on mine, so I don't know if the 242 you are using (from an early AW4) requires the same length of shaft sticking out as the 231 did. I'd measure the amount of output shaft stickout the AW4 has before I cut down the BA.

Hi Don, Passing on it was probably a good idea, short of something very unique/special, most pre-74 J-Trucks would be a pass for me. 64-73 J-trucks had some quirks that didn't get worked out till 1974: closed knuckle ft axles (bad turning radius, weaker parts, tougher to swap in discs) funky, failure prone 2" wide front leafs SOA 1974 brought conventional open knuckle front axles, and they converted the (J-truck only) 2" leaf SOA over to the more conventional Waggy front suspension ( 2.5" spring under axle setup). These early frames are also pretty flexable, I don't believed they boxed them till 1976 The good part is, J4000's could get 5on 5.5" 35 spline Semifloating D60's. 5 lug axles by themselves would be a plus for me (74+ went to 6 lug J-10 and 8 lug J-20's), but not worth it for the rest of the early year oddness. The exceptions I would love to have are an early thrift side J-truck (with the small back window) :thumbsup: , an M715 :thumbsup: :thumbsup: (even with it's own suspension & axle quirkyness), or ANY early J-Truck with an AMC 327&4 speed :banana: ^a red, small window thrift side with a 327/4spd would be my dream truck . :MJ 2: . but short of that, for a run of the mill J-truck, I'd always lean towards a 74 or newer. There's actually TWO later stepside J-Trucks on Craigslist in my area right now

I've got JK tail lights on mine, had considered WK tails but the JKs fit the truck better to my eye and my budget. Once I had trouble finding a decent set of MJ lights, I knew I didn't want to do it twice. I'll probably sell my MJ lamps eventually, but for now they're in a box. It doesn't look like you've been on here since July or so... but I couldn't find a pic of this in your build thread. I've been eyeing the JK taillights myself and wondered what they look like on yours, Thanks.

I know this is an oldish thread but..... Any problems with the leafs? A couple people have mentioned pin location issues with the Generals. I'm debating General vs Hell Creek

I had a few different BA 10-5's over the years, and always had an issue with them puking gear oil out of the vent line if I didn't extend the line to the top of the firewall, or under the bed edge by the gas fill. It does sound like you had water in yours, flushing out the fluid again might be a good idea. I was one of the guys who would take the 3 shifter bolts off to fill it from the top was just nicer to sit in the cab pouring oil instead of holding 1/2 filled gear oil bottles underneath and wondering if the drip on the fill hole threads was because it's full, or I dripped it there while filling it. I had good luck running BA's over the years, and can remember when the junkyards were getting $750-1000 each for them(!) so expensive to buy, I'd bring the spare in my truck box for any runs more than a couple hundred miles from home lol (never needed it on the road tho) I also had one get so hot on a highway trip I pulled over on the side of the road for a fluid change. Weird, because the old fluid wasn't really old, and it ran cool as a cucumber the rest of the trip and all the way back home.

Nice thread and Jeeps! (now I know who's buying up everything on Craigslist around here! :thumbsup: ) Did you put the Metric Ton springs in yet? I'm thinking of getting a set for my 89' 2wd SB (220lb me + 2000lbs of pellets should test the 2205 rating :yes: ) Flare instal looks good so far, do they look like they'll flex, or break if/when they rub trees? Keep the pics coming :cheers:

NV3500 = integrated bellhousing NV3550 = removable (AX-15 pattern) bellhousing

The search I use the most is to click "view new content" on the page it opens you'll see "by content type" on the left. If you had clicked one of those filters in the past, but never unclicked it, it is still used to screen the results. I know that has limited my results in the past. When you open the search page just check to see if anything on the left side of the results page is highlighted. That was the problem I was having.

Make sure none of the search filters are highlighted on the left side of the search page, if I search "Items I participated in" it stays highlighted and only searches those items until I click that filter again, eliminating it.

I may end up getting a new daily driver in the next few months, and I considered one of these, or the manual trans V6 CTS. but I couldn't justify the MPG with a 100+ mile round trip every day :fs2: Maybe I'll change my mind some day when I'm not feeling like being such a cheap bastage. :nuts:

Since I started it Blue room $5k pay off Christmas 2013's bill $50k bank 1/2 & home/garage improvements $250k new car + improvements +bank/pay down house loan (maybe) Pirate or the AMC board I'd trade for hurricane4's portal MJ, but shipping would hurt, a lot :) Last meal, something spicy hot, My Comanches are Garnet Red & Black My realistic dream vehicle would be an AMX3

I ran a 5 on 4.5" D60 with 33's for a bunch of years, and that was complete overkill, no way would I wheel a 70 with 33's. Plus, what front axle would you use? 5 on 4.5" means a D30 front axle, or a slightly stronger D44 ft end neither is a good match for a 70 rear. Do the 8.8, or XJ/MJ D44, or even a 9". If/when you do need a D60 or 70, use a bigger wheel pattern so you can get a similarly strong front axle to match. good luck

Let's see how this goes, answer the random questions, then add one of your own at the bottom, If you don't like a question, skip it. I'll start what color room are you in right now? what would you do with an extra $5k ? $50k? $150k? if you had to stay off Comanche Club for a month, where would you 'hang out' instead? Who's MJ would you trade yours for, no questions asked? What would your last meal be?

Nice score. 1987 was the best year of all for D44's It was part of the up country package, the HD tow package, the metric ton package, and even as a stand alone HD rear axle package.

Someone mounted an FC170 cab on a similar chassis, made it a tilt nose and all too. Pretty cool :)

There's a 10 page thread over at the AMC forum on it; http://theamcforum.com/forum/aluminum-head-for-40l_topic47259.html the thread starter works for Edelbrock ...and if you go to the last page there's some BLING pictures of it installed on his 1991 Cherokee :)

It's funny, because just like some of the flywheels, AMC 304 & 360 crankshafts both start out with the same part number (both are 3.44" stroke). But the 304 crank looks like swiss cheese by they were done drilling the bob weight counter weights for the lightweight 304 pistons. If you bought a rebuilt (formerly from a 304) crank to put in a 360, you would be using the correct part number, but the balance would be way way off.

Because of the above, whenever I pull apart an AMC engine, the flywheel/flexplate/damper always get marked to which engine they came off of. It was good, and bad that AMC drilled the weights individually to each engine. It was good, because they ended up with a more well balanced engine than the manufacturers that didn't do it. It was bad, because it threw standardization right out the window. It's not like a small block chevy where every flex plate/flywheel or damper is the same as the next.

Things we know; AMC externally balanced their V8's They did this two ways, first, they had specific flexplate/flywheels and harmonic dampners for each sized engine and second, they dynamically balanced every assembled engine with an electric motor after they were assembled, and drilled holes in the flywheel/dampers to fine tune that balance. Because of this ^ you have some crossover of parts, I know 70-71 360-390&401's all start with the same flywheel, but once its done being dynamically balanced (drilled), the 360 flywheel looks a lot different from the 390/401 flywheel. Even though they have the same part number. What I don't know, I *believe* the 6 cylinder AMC's were internally balanced, that means they would have a neutral balanced flywheel/flexplate/harmonic damper. I never build one of them, so I'm not really sure. I do know that the 6 cylinders were dynamically balanced with the whole big electric engine rig & individually drilled just like the V8's so just like the V8's each flywheel/flexplate& damper is tailored to each individual engine. Swapping one for another, even of the same exact engine is going to change the factory set balancing. By how much is anyone's guess, but even buying a brand new, correct part isn't going to match your engine as well as the original did, unless you have a machine shop match balance it to the original.

Sounds like you already have the 23 spline, but be careful if you do end up changing input gears, there was some kind of a pitch change, or two over the years, and you will know immediately if you have an incompatible gear. Wrong input = sounds like rocks in a blender

I would love to have a Trabant! :) I wonder if any ever made it here to the US? (SOMEONE, somewhere must have been crazy enough to import a couple at some point)

Good write up thanks

You'll probably get a lot of different responses, but I like and use MMO when needed. I've used it in my fuel system as a fuel additive, and as air tool lubricant more than I've used it in the engine oil, but I don't think you have to worry about it hurting your your engine. I usually use a quart or so of transmission fluid when I have a lifter tap, but I could see using MMO instead. Good luck.

Thanks it took a long time to mess around with to get as I wanted it, if you keep looking down the page I originally used Square flanges on my old exhaust which are cheap and easy to get at any auto parts store but with the Hot Rod kit it comes with ball flanges which is what I used as the first semi completed pic was a test fit... ON stock exhaust I always cut and weld in a square flange to be serviceable as it should have been that way from the factory... Ahh, thanks for pointing that out, sorry it looked like a regular slip fit to me in the other pics. A++ job all around :bowdown: