thecodemonk

Sounds good! I'll reserve the MJ d44 for you. If you want the engine and trans from the MJ or the newer stuff off the XJ, let me know. T-case is gone, but engine and trans is still here (And all the XJ wiring, etc).

Mine came with the truck when I bought it. From how they're installed, I assume they're aftermarket from the 90s. I'm missing a few and will probably change them out for a rub rail like the ones in the H3RESQ build and get the same functionality with the bonus of it being armor. https://comancheclub.com/topic/27668-h3resqs-dream-mj-the-build-continues/?do=findComment&comment=396283 Sent from my Pixel 4 using Tapatalk

Earning it's keep by carrying it's own upgrades home from the junkyard. Sent from my Pixel 4 using Tapatalk

Very happy with Bilstein 5100s as well Sent from my Pixel 4 using Tapatalk

Yeah, nobody does stuff with long beds ;) In all seriousness though, most people who lift their trucks like swb for good reason. It has better break over angle and departure angle for wheeling, better turning radius for daily driving...I just like as much bed space as I can get for hauling things on occasion. Give me a few months and I'll have a full width look too. Sent from my Pixel 4 using Tapatalk

Depends...I made my stock shafts last on locked 35's on my dana 30, but I was really gentle with them and always carried spares anyways. If you're staying 33's and below and don't have a heavy foot, you're probably fine. If you have a heavy foot, then probably best to upgrade while you have it apart.

Woohoo! Welcome to the club! What's the plans? Restoration? offroad? drag racing?

Every time I see this thing, I can't help but drool.

I've heard everything from: - "I have 4wd/awd/traction control, winter tires probably won't be that big a difference" - "The tires I have do just fine" - "They're so expensive...why would I have a second set of tires just for winter?" - "They'll disintegrate as soon as it's summer!" - "They don't look as cool as my mud-terrains." They're a huge difference though. I swear by them, even on my wife's subaru.

2-3" is about the limits of the stock geometry, from what I've found. At that point, if you don't do something with the body-side connection of your control arms, they'll come into contact with things and get limited. Going above 3" or so will usually require either drop brackets or long arms (and all the associated mods to go with it...longer brake lines, adjustable track bar to recenter your axle, potentially steering mods...etc). That said, 2" does a LOT for the looks of these trucks and can be worth it. Don't be fooled by how it sounds. 2" is a world of difference (especially in combination with slightly larger tires). 2" lift + 31's (compared to the stock 29s) is a total of 3" of height compared to stock (you only get half the tire-size difference in height).

With the flares, you'll clear just fine in a straight line (based on the picture anyways) and won't hit if you bumpstop it correctly (which you should do anyways, regardless on if you get more lift or not). But when you turn...that's where I'm not sure. It'll be close.

Amazing! I love the eject button haha

Yeah, they use the stock shaft and the exterior ones are greasable. It's possible you just have a failed grease seal on it, but it's always good to have fresh inner axle seals Sent from my Pixel 4 using Tapatalk

Retrofit. Aftermarket companies sell them but I would only ever run them as a backup or additional seal alongside the stock inner seal. Sent from my Pixel 4 using Tapatalk

My wild guess is that it won't fit perfectly, but might be good enough (depending on how picky you are about the height). Taco bed-racks fit pretty well (based on what I've seen JCR do), so I would assume the width and length might be fine. The hard part is getting the rooflines to match up, from what I've seen others try. 2005 Taco bed dimensions to compare against. http://laghouat-dz.org/2005-toyota-tacoma-interior-dimensions/

Haha, probably by now. Those places are pretty picked clean for jeep parts. I have two of everything now with the old XJ and MJ parts both taking up space in the garage.

If you need any 4.0 or AW4 stuff, you know where I live. :) Sent from my Pixel 4 using Tapatalk

Welp. It's been an eventful day. The good: Got the axles. 4.10 gears, superduty 05+ Dana 60 and a GM 10.5 from 2006...14 bolt! It squatted the truck a bit on the old springs. The bad: On the way home, though, I hit a bad timed yellow light and they slid into the front of the truck bed, leaving a mark. Thinking I would let them move back a bit, I gave it a little throttle when the light turned green. They shifted back...then didn't stop and settle like I thought they would. Instead, the punched through my tailgate and landed on the road. Nobody was hurt, thankfully, but it was still really frustrsting. I'm the process of falling out, one of the bounced and left a cut on the bed. A few helpful and strong guys helped me load the axles back up and I strapped them down properly, alongside my damaged tailgate. Once I got home, I noticed that my bed floor is bowed down too. Oi. Sadly, I don't think I'll be able to salvage the tailgate, so it'll live in my shop, mounted on the wall as a constant reminder to always ALWAYS strap down my load. The axles themselves came away with only minor damage to a few studs and one of the front hubs. In the meantime, I'll be keeping an eye out for a new tailgate.

Let's do it! I'll PM you my number. Sent from my Pixel 4 using Tapatalk

Are you still in Spokane? If so, I have an assembly you can borrow. Sent from my Pixel 4 using Tapatalk

Hahaha, that was actually my parents borrowing the truck for a dump run. Excited for your new rig! Sent from my Pixel 4 using Tapatalk

It's tax return season...which means parts season and thread update season. Woohoo! As I mentioned before, the steering in the jeep is super loose. "The Cure" seems to help but not enough for me to really be ok staying with the inverted-y or inverted T or whatever it's called...non crossover steering. I fought it trying to get it right on the XJ and I'm still fighting it on the MJ. Well NO MORE! It's time to upgrade and as the jeep motto says...never replace parts without upgrading. Well...one thing led to another, and I ordered a bunch of parts with the tax return. The first batch of stuff came in today! I started unpacking some boxes and everything's looking so great! First up, the obvious parts from the picture...fresh metric ton springs from general spring. I'm looking forward to them being a little stiffer than what is in there now (even a little weight seems to sag out the rear right now). Next up...a front differential cover (probably making it obvious what is going on the front). I set it here next to a dana 30 cover from ruff stuff that I never got around to putting on. Hey @Airborne Janitor or @JordanTMiller...either of you guys in Spokane need a dana 30 cover from ruff stuff and a matching lube locker? I'll sell it to one of you guys for cheap. Next up, I got a little something that should tell you what's going in the back. Last, but definitely not least, a cute bundle that's been taking most of my time is enjoying the wheel adapters to make the front and rear axles match bolt patterns. Whew! It's going to be busy in the next month or two!

Sadly, no video of it on the dyno. I dropped it off on the way out to my wedding anniversary vacation, and just picked it up after they tuned it. I need to get back to documenting this thing...just been daily driving it and had to replace all the TREs in the steering recently. The downside of ruff stuff's one-ton kit is one of the TREs is a specialized part (which means I can't easily replace it with something locally and I have to wait for shipment). I'm not a fan of specialized parts like that for anything that's a wear item, so I'm looking at heims (since I can grab those easily and carry spares a bit more easily/cheaply) for the future. My wife did say yes to throwing some upgrades in the axles too, so that'll all happen at once...pending tax return. Once I get that going, this thread will pick back up again. :)

It's really not too hard to weld up some metal into the angles for ours. We don't have as many curves to consider with our old trucks, compared with the new ones. :)

I did years ago...it was pretty easy to use. You should be able to delete the bad audio and overlay a new one on top no problem (or just mute the audio from the video and use your own instead). I know I did that when I was using it.