DarkCharisma

I've had my interior ripped apart for so long, I can't remember where the other end of the belt bolts to the floor. :doh:

Back from the dead ... I got an assignment across the country so I was away from the Jeep all summer; I'm back now, and got some stuff done! Ended up going with some 235/75R15 on my OE wheels; as much as I would have liked to get some different wheels, I like the idea of cheap tires a lot more... Cooper AT3s' from Discount Tire Direct, with $170 off that makes a set of 4 cost $386! Tires, steering, and brakes are on; axle housing and attached components were flap-wheeled and painted. Th broomstick served as my helping hand when I used the steering box to re-center the axle and hold the position while I connected the last control arm. Couple of questions for the guys who might have addressed this before. 1) With the new steering stuff on, I am having a b*@$£ of a time getting both wheels to point straight, while still being able to connect it to the gearbox. My adjusting collar on the pitman link is out of travel ... Is there something I am missing here? 2) Reviving the heater discussion; I traced the vacuum line that goes under the battery on the passenger side of the firewall, and all that looks OK; are there any other common heater issues on these year of Jeep that I could look into? Otherwise I might wholesale replace the damned system.

Damn, factory wheels are 15x6 it looks like. Looks like I'll have to go narrower.

Can I stuff a 10.5" wide tire on the OE Comanche wheels? Or should I expect to go a little narrower?

I hear ya about the sentimental value of things, and have considered everything you've mentioned. Part of the problem is I can't maintain a fleet of cars unless all those cars are fulfilling a purpose. I've got this Comanche, a CTS-V, and a 2500HD Silverado, and my wife has a Scion, we're already slimming down the fleet at least a little bit. Doing things that make this a safe, reliable daily that I can bring out camping or run back and forth to Home Depot in is exactly what I want it for, and makes it really easy to keep. I don't need a lot of lift (or any, as some folks have mentioned) then I won't lift it; I've had my fair share of lifted fullsizes and I love'em, but I really just want to stuff some aggressive AT's underneath it and fill out the wheel wells appropriately enough.

You guys don't mess around with the answers, thanks a lot! The Cadi is my mistress. :lol: I'll be sure to clone the build thread I have running on another board here so you guys can see (or laugh) at all I've done with it so far... Good idea on the swaybar; I'm not looking for a corner carver, I'm just willing to sacrifice off-road capability for predictable road manners, since I kind of want to daily drive this once the bugs are worked out--and if I am being totally honest, the idea of banging up grandpa's Jeep on trails makes me feel a little ill...

This. You have a few SUA options for a lift, but which option depends on the amt of lift you desire. chevy shackles will get you, at most, 2 inches of lift. Other options include Hell Creek springs, or General Springs Military wrap MT springs. I would advise against add-a-leaf kits personally, but it is another option. I'm not a fan of AAL's either, I'll avoid those and look seriously at what my SOA options are when I end up doing a Ford 8.8. Thanks! Awesome, that's exactly the kind of stuff I need to know! From what I've gleaned you can use the Chevy lowering shackles to gain an inch or two of lift in the rear. I'm just looking to run something in the 29-30" range, would that be enough to clear it? I've had poly in my Cadillac for a few years now and love it, but the Comanche is a different beast. I just want predictable, stable on-road handling. If that can be had without poly, I won't waste the money. :lol: I'm starting to get that vibe, the guy is a big TJ fan and is following my restoration/build thread really close on another board, I'll take his advice with a grain of salt. Sounds like I need a 242 then. Thanks! It's really different than what I normally have but it's been fun so far. I'll get some more pics as soon as it's done raining... Just enough to clear a 29-30" for now.

Hi guys! A little background, I bought this Jeep from my grandma over Christmas as a favor to her; it was my late grandpa's which he had bought original. It's a 4.0, 2wd, short bed, with somewhere in the neighborhood of 130k miles... we're not entirely sure since the odometer stopped working. So far I've done a ZJ booster and master, refreshed the PND switch, done chores like u-joints, injectors, some wiring cleanup, new batteries, and started converting it to 4x4 with parts harvested off of an '01 XJ; I'm currently going through a refresh of the D30 and hope to have that under the truck this Friday. I'm not really into off-roading/wheeling, so I am confident the D30 will be plenty for my needs. All in all it's coming together pretty well, but there's a few things I am hoping to get some direction on. Seats -- The original seats are in decent condition but lack lumbar, lateral, and thigh support (really any kind of support). I looked at the brackets and found that they're .... unique looking. I can't recall any seats that have anything similar to that, and the XJ seats I had didn't look like they were a direct bolt-in either. Am I pretty much resigned to adapting whatever seats I want to some fabricated seat rails? Shackles -- I do not want to do a SOA, mostly because I want to do a Ford 8.8 at some point anyway. It looks like I can do some Chevy drop shackles, like these ones: http://www.roughcountry.com/lowering-shackles-rc0501.html Would those fit the bill, or do I need to source some for a specific year? Polyurethane -- I've got a dude who's recommending I do NOT use poly anywhere in the Jeep, for risk of tearing mount points; he suggests that doing poly in my CA bushings or anywhere else will cause them to tear off. I'm looking for good road manners, so poly made sense to me, but if the mount points are too weak and need rubber to live, then I guess so be it. Control arms -- The same guy I am talking to says that changing out CA's is pointless if I don't go with Curries. Is there any benefit to running something like the Rough Country (or similar) arms? The factory CA's look pretty frail, and look like they'd twist and deflect pretty easily under load. NP242 vs. NP231 -- I like the idea of an NP242 for the pseudo-AWD/full-time option, but I've read that it's not very good, however most everyone talking about the NP242 not being very good are speaking in context of wheeling, which I don't do. If I wanted a solid 4-seasons driver, would the NP242 be a better option, or am I going to be just as well suited with the NP231? Note: I have the NP231 already, but I can source a 242 pretty easy; there's lots of Jeeps in JYards in Utah ;) Picking it up, and how it sits now, and my never-done-always-a-project fun car: