bval

FWIW, I've been looking at rear disc options on my Dana 44 and by the time I do that along with the locker and regearing I want to do, it's cheaper to buy a complete disc brake Dana 44 from G2 with R&P and locker. If you want to do any other upgrades to your axle along with the brakes I'd recommend looking into this.

Thanks, y'all for the kind words. I'm having a blast with this truck. @catch_22, I'll definitely let you know when I'm wrenching. I'd love to see your XJ and MJ as well. We've got a small group here that does some wheeling. Some Rover and Tacoma owners. I'll let you know in the fall when we get started again. It's too damn hot in Tennessee right now.

Thanks, @collkid! When I started looking for an MJ earlier this year I never expected to luck into one so nice. I was going to be happy to find one with low miles / no rust and build it up into something very similar to this. I definitely lucked out.

Howdy, folks. I bought @Usamedic's 1987 Comanche Chief overlander a few weeks ago. I had an epic time driving it back home from Northern California all the way to East Nashville, TN! He was great and picked me up at the airport and gave me a full overview of the history and operation of the truck's various aftermarket enhancements before I started my journey home. If any of you northern Cali folks ever get a chance to meet him I'd highly recommend it. Great guy. Here she is in downtown Santa Rosa where I went to celebrate the purchase with a full sampler flight at Russian River Brewery (home of Pliny the Elder): And here she is all setup for camping on Lake Tahoe, my first stop on the way back: We had a few minor adventures on the way back. We climbed Tioga Pass into Yosemite where, at the summit, I discovered the radiator cap was slowly leaking (you guessed it, the old, closed pressure bottle system). No fault of the previous owner, those cooling systems are junk and he lived in Northern California where it never gets above 75 degrees. So, I bought a Whoopee Cushion off of a kid in a parking lot and got all the into Yosemite and eventually all the way to Tonopah, NV before I found a Napa with a replacement cap: It held! After making that repair, we had a pretty uneventful trip home through some beautiful mountain ranges and more national parks. Now that she's home and tagged and titled I'm looking at a few projects to get her where I want her to spend every weekend camping in the Great Smoky Mountains this fall. I've got a 1994 XJ Sport that I'm planning to sell. Before I do that I'm going to swap anything good / non-OEM off of her that I can for the MJ. That includes a GDI 3-row radiator and a complete open cooling system. A previous previous owner put an absolute junk aftermarket radio in the thing. We made the 2500 mile journey home with a bluetooth speaker on the dash as our stereo. I'll be installing a much nicer aftermarket stereo w/ a back-up camera. It turns out backing up a Jeep with a camper is tricky when you fill the camper completely full of gear. Especially with those amazing blindspots the Comanche mirrors give you. I've been OK so far, but I can foresee some trips where I have too much cargo to get away with it. As her previous owner had warned me, stock 3.55 gearing on 32s is not a recipe for success in the mountains. In fact, OD is basically useless in all situations. I'm looking to regear to 4.56s and add a rear selectable locker while I'm at it. I might eventually consider a front selectable locker but I'm not planning to crawl, just overland, so that seems like overkill for now. Brakes! I will definitely be going for the WJ dual diaphragm and master cylinder upgrade as soon as I can. Debating whether to go all the way to the Crown 1 1/8" kit as well. Not only does this thing have bigger and heavier wheels/tires than stock, it has an awful lot of weight with all of that overlanding gear. Every bit of braking performance will help. I am also considering a rear disc conversion. Mostly because when I start adding up new gears, a locker, and brake upgrades, a complete G2 axle assembly w/ disc brakes and locker starts to look cheap. Especially when I consider the weekends I'll get back. Spare tire-mounted license plate display. The previous owner made a very nice piece to put the license plate in the receiver hitch and it works great for now, but eventually I intend to tow the occasional utility trailer or put a bicycle rack in the receiver hitch. Since the back glass on the camper is tinted, I can't put the plate in there. Spare tire seems like the best option. Blower motor / resistor. She only works in the lowest and highest fan speeds and occasionally cuts out altogether. Probably the resistor but I may replace both "while I'm in there". I've owned plenty of cars from this era and they always seem to have issues in this area. Might as well fix it for good. That's it for now. Otherwise I'm having fun getting to know this truck. And she sure attracts attention. Happy to join the club. Cheers, Brandon