Esechuy

Thanks brother

Just finished installing the Xj fuel tank on the rear; under the bed, where spare tire would normally go. It wasn't too difficult lol. I'm tackling the whole project from the bottom because she's my daily driver and don't want to remove the bed, plus the Dakota tank is still functioning inside the tool box on the bed. That's the main reason I'm doing this mod, I want to use the tool box as one. Cutting the crossbrace support was not a good idea but I will make up for it later. If the truck falls apart do to this I will share with you I promise. Anyways I plan to install a skid plate later when the pockets are right. I still have to connect the lines and filler neck but that will be another day. More info on the pics below. Also at this point I'm pretty much up to date with whats been done to the truck. feel free to comment or ask questions. half of rear crossmember had to go to clear it. I could have gone with other tank setups like tj. But this works too. I will re enforce the frame later. Took all the oem brackets that were spot welded. This was a btch but they were never gonna be used so i just removed them. When I undercoat the truck it will look neat without them.

Home made heavy duty tire carrier for the beast. I just finished it right now and I'm very happy with the outcome. It took me several days of mocking the pieces and figuring out the best way to anchor it to the truck. Also the tool box lid was another issue but I manage to clear it. Next step is to buy a hi lift jack and decide were to mount it. One possible area is right behind the spare mounted to the carrier.

Hood and tailgate makeover. After messing with the suspension for more than a year It was about time I showed some love to the exterior. Here's what I did in the past few weeks.

That is not my final exhaust setup but yeah I don't mind you use my setup idea just give me credit if you post it lol. I can take more pics if you need. Thanks its been fun all along except when I have to weld on my back or when I have to drill out spot welds while on my back that sucks lol. This is an excellent question, because I'm going v8 in the future and I'm gonna mirror the side exit I have on the driver side. You are the first one to know about this. It's a tight fit for a single 2.5" pipe over the subframe I can just imagine duals. But I'm all up for the challenge. On the driver side there is no space what so ever for a pipe to go through there specially since many essential wires and hoses go through that area like fuel lines, brake line, and wire harness for fuel pump etc. If you go x pipe 4 link will be near impossible and side exit as well specially if you don't relocate the fuel tank to another location.

Aside from the cooling system problem. I also addressed some issues I was having with the exhaust system. The old setup was a catless 2.5" pipe with a super 44 Flowmaster and dual side exit. I loved this setup, it sounded very aggressive with a deep low tone, but for daily driving it got annoying and for a long trip this would not be fun. I decided to go with a Magnaflow muffler and cat. I've used this setup before and knew exactly how it would sound. It's definitely more mellow and has a higher/gayish tone. Does sound nice when you floor it and pleasant for daily driving. While I was at it, I decided to modify the dual exit setup. I was having rattling issues when it made contact with the bed. I had to space them out in order to have space to cut around them for movement. Since I couldn't find any dual tips with these angles and measurements I had to modify a new one to taste. Also I took into consideration the installation of some Notch custom flares in the future. With the old setup this would not work since they sat too far back. I asked around for measurements of them installed on a swb thanks to Jerry Bain for taking the time to get those measurements. It took me about two weeks to finish the exhaust and It was well worth the trouble because it came out exactly how I envisioned it. As much as I loved this setup I had to fix it. After an unsuccessful hunt for a dual tip with a horizontal slanted cut I ended up getting this one. The guy at the shop said no refunds lol; I got to work on it right away. My wife throwing a bead. Not the best looking welds but definitely very functional and I added the two bolt flange for easy removal later on plus it allows for fine adjustments at the exit point. Since I had to relocate the tip I was gonna have to cover the old hole some how. I cut a template on cardboard and transferred to a piece of sheet metal. Here I was using my work bench to bend the plate. Not a very sharp bent but it works. Admiring the piece after a few coats with vht header paint. Here i was painting the panel. I did not take pics of the installation process. I used high temp silicone in between the plates to prevent rattling then I tacked the piece one inch apart all the way around then filled in the rest with fiberglass filler. After it was nice and smooth I sprayed the panel with spray can bedliner. The tips have about 3/8" of play and never make contact with the panel. They look frkn badass and will definitely clear the massive Notch Custom flares now.

(Overheating problem solved) Its been about one month of daily driving the beast and It's been a constant battle trying to keep her driveable. Everytime I fix one issue, another one pops up, and then another; its never ending. The major one was the over heating; I almost seized up the engine twice. I thought it was the transmission overheating due to the 35s on the temporary 3.55 gearing. Someone told me that they had ran 37s on 3.55 and didnt have overheating issues so I decided to freshen up the entire cooling system first and the problem went away completely. Now she runs about 200 degrees in normal driving conditions and only one out of the two electrical fans is always on. Items replaced were Radiator Water pump Thermostat Radiator cap Transmission oil cooler Radiator hose Heater core flush Coolant

After almost a year messing with suspension and swapping axles I finally get to take her for a spin around the block. I'm still have many things to do to consider the suspension completed but I'm getting there little by little. This is how I Re enforced the notch on the frame with 1/4" steel plate. I did one side to see how it would work out check it out I think I nailed it but I'll let the pics do the talking if it falls apart I will let y'all know I promise.

Rear 4 link is finally coming to an end. Last post I had messed up with the axle but after I got that fixed, things started going smooth. I'm so happy with where I'm at with the build right now. Here's what happened in the past few weeks. A couple weeks ago I bought tires and wheels and that was a big moment because the truck's appearance changed drastically and I love it. If you've been following the build you probably remember that I wasn't gonna go bigger than 33s but something happen in the purchase process and I ended up with 35s. With the tires installed I could finally make real adjustments to the 4 link bracket angles and all that crap. I decided to go with the ironman4x4fab xj rear coil conversion kit after all. The main reason I went with this setup is because I wanted a low center of gravity and I wanted to stick with the original plan of 4.5" of lift. The only way to have good spring travel and staying low was going this route plus this coil kit is badass and I love the beefy spring retainers. The only sucky part was notching the frame but it wasn't as bad as I thought. I will reinforce the notch with 1/4" steel plate; it will be like nothing happened there. Today I installed the rear shocks and they look awesome. I still need to weld all the rear suspension components and do minor adjustments but this 4 link conversion part of the build is finally coming to an end. The next thing will be bump stops and limiting straps then gearing. Stay tune for the next update. V8 wj front coils net the same lift as the front with 4.5 Rubicon express coils, with spare tire and full 23 gallon tank plus 50 lbs of tools. Best coil retainers I've seen. I'm see if I can mount bump stops inside the coils. 35/12.5r15 km3 with mamba m13 wheels with 3.52" backspace Let the trimming begin I plan to weld these tabs to the inside later on then install some fender flares. For the front I cut right at the imprint mark left by the original fender flare. I took of the coil and lowered her just to see what was gonna hit but truck will never make it this low. I have room for pretty much all the essentials. I was hesitant but I had to do it. I will cut the skull piece off then weld a 1/4" steel plate to reenforce the frame. This will be blocked off later

stick around I should finish posting everything through the weekend then i will be up to date. Yes I definitely recommend you get one. I have learned a lot with this project specially welding.

It sure was a long weekend; here's what happened. I had spent a couple of days mocking up the 8.8 under the truck making sure everything was aligned and making sure the pinion angle was close to its final position. Since everything seemed good, I went ahead and welded the truss to the axle permanently. Well this Friday I made the discovery that the axle was backwards. I wanted to get mad but I couldn't stop laughing; I can't believe I got so far without noticing it what a d* a* but oh well $#!& happens. Anyways this Saturday I took it off and ground off the truss. It took me about 2 hrs to hide all the evidence of the f**up but after that all went smooth, I mocked up the axle and fixed the lower arm brackets which were hanging too low before; everything is looking way better now. I installed zj ebrake cables and since they were kinda short I made a little custom plate and modded the mj ebrake junction plate to connect them to the xj hand brake cable. I also installed the 1310 flange that I got from a ford ranger and used the 2wd xj drive shaft. I also installed extended front brake hoses and many other little things. Project is not far from being drivable and I'm very happy. Tires and wheels have been ordered and should be here anytime. I need to buy the tera flex speed bumps that I'm gonna use for the rear coil upper mounts. After that it will be shocks and bump stops but first things first. Brake bleeders always go on top of caliper that's one clue that i didn't catch early. Axle vent tube was pointing down the whole time and I never paid attention to it. Here the axle is off awaiting surgery. Like nothing happen but it was a pain in the @$$. Both yokes are from a 2wd xj but i had shortened one when I first did the aw4 2wd conversion more than a year ago. Now with the 8.8 I had to get an original yoke. I thought I was gonna have to cut the 2wd xj drive shaft but it works really great with the 8.8 on this shortbed mj. I will do more testing at full flex but so far I'm satisfied. The truss here is just tacked along with the lower arm brackets which you can't see from this angle because they are parallel to the ground. Here you can see them. I might move them just a tad down to raise pinion but this is close to how I wanted them. This is the mj ebrake cable junction plate. It took me a while to figure out how I was gonna make it work. Look at the pics below. I welded this hook just for extra security Lock tite for extra security as well Looks and works like a factory setup I will have to extend the shocks about 2" but I'm gonna have to make those decisions once wheels and tires are installed. Here I was installing the front brake lines leaving plenty of room for flex. This is how she sits right now. There's no springs on the back just a piece of wood between the rear truss and the bed. I don't want city ordinance to give me $#!& anymore so this is what I do instead of using the jack towers throughout the week.

(Rear 4 link update) Winter progress is going slow but I think I'm getting somewhere. I still haven't finished the 4 link and I have a feeling it will take a few more weeks, mostly because I changed my mind with the coil spring setup I was gonna use. Before I was gonna notch the frame and install the xj rear coil conversion kit made by ironman4x4fab shout out to them. These brackets are well made an will definitely fit with very minor modification on the mj but I didn't want to mess with notching the frame at least not at the moment. Anyways most of you are familiar with jcrmanche and have seen how heavily built it is; shout out to Daryl the owner. The 4 link I'm using was pretty much design on that truck and I'm gonna do what they did with the coil mount setup. It will probably cost me more in parts but that's the route I decided to take for now. So far I have welded the rear truss and mocked the 4link brackets with arms. I need to adjust the lower arm brackets and do other mock ups before I burn everything permanently. I recently finished the tank setup too and it worked out great. I mounted the dakota 23 ga tank inside a tool box in the back of the bed. It might not be dot approved but I don't see why it couldn't be. Also today I moved the truck from the backyard to the driveway and that was a big moment because for the first time I tested the 4x4 on the truck. I had to because the rear drive shaft is not even connected and she pretty much dragged her self out of there. This time city ordinance can't say anything because the truck has both axles, license plates and everything up to date. With the truck in the driveway progress should move more steadily now. Stay tune for more updates. More details on the pics below. Mocking up the ironman4x4fab rear 4 link kit this guys always impress me with their products I welded the tubes to the diff housing 4 link diff truss Lower arm brackets, I had to cut them to fit the 8.8 tubes I have to adjust these lower mounts I want as much clearance as possible and they are sitting too low. This is the kit I was gonna use and migh return it for a refund. These are v8 wj coils. This day I was moking up the piece and decided not to take this route. Who would guess there is a 23 gallon tank in there. Got some straps from the junk yard and bent them to the shape of the tank I welded flat head ss bolts to the straps. Then installed the strap on the tank. Drilled holes through the tool box and bed of the truck for extra security. It ain't going nowhere My friend Chris Migl hooked it up with a 90 degree fuel hose. Thanks brotha And here it is fully connected you can't smell any fuel vapors or anything. Fuel canister is under the truck.

Thanks for your service brother. My neighbors thought I was crazy but as soon as I put the new tires and got her rolling everybody was stopping and saying that it looked badass. I've never gotten so many compliments with any other vehicle i've owned. I work in Ft. Hood and there's many jeeps out here but only about 3 comanches. The attention she gets is unreal. I can't wait to make it look like I envision it. I'm very near as far as cosmetics go.

It's time to get the ball rolling. I recently received some components for the 4 link and this weekend I finally began working on the project. Yesterday I ground off the oem spring perches from the ford 8.8 and the shock mount brackets. It was a very sketchy task; you will see what I mean in the pics below lol don't try this at home fellas. Today I mocked up the 4 link brackets and tack welded the passenger side. I ran out of time because I got distracted with the exhaust set up. Yup the bracket interfered with my side exit exhaust. I had to modified everything again. I even had to chop a piece of the bracket but it won't affect anything. Feel free to ask questions or comment on the post. Stay tune for more updates. This is were she has been sitting all this time after they insulted her saying she was a piece of junk. I'm very impressed with the quality of these comonents. Ironman4x4fab nailed it once again; It was definitely worth the long wait. 8.8 spring perches removal. Always wear ppe and never remove the guard on a grinder. 8.8 is now ready to mock up the coil conversion brackets and all the other stuff This is the part I had to cut to clear the exhaust and also to prevent from notching a piece of the frame. The only thing that I lost here was two points of anti dive tuning. With the 4 link bracket on the frame I can still come back later and install rear frame stiffeners. All looks good but I won't weld all the perimeter of the brackets until I mock up the differential under the truck. Here I have finished welding the Super 44 flowmaster side exit setup. It took me about 3 hrs to make it fit right. All I need is to add a hanger but I won't do that until I paint it.

City official says my mj project is a " junk vehicle". I've been working on the truck on my driveway for about 6 months now and today they wrote me a warning notice. If you scroll up to my previous posts you can see that I'm preparing to 4 link the rear suspension and that I removed the leaf spring brackets permanently. The note says I have 30 days to do something with my junk mj. I can't fix it in 30 days and moving it seems impossible. The truck has no brakes, no fuel tank, and no differential. Also I don't have u bolts big enough to temporarely secure the 8.8 to the leaf springs. Me and my wife decided to move it to the back yard one way or another. If you look closely at the pics below you can see what I did and what happened lol. I bolted the oem leaf spring to the rear factory shackle bracket but up front there is nothing to bolt to so it just rests on the bed. We started moving it little by little choking the tires every ft because the drive way and street are on a slope. My fear was the truck rolling away down the road possibly running into a home. All was going good until I pulled it with my other mj over the curb by the access gate to the back yard. The differential slipped out of position and almost came completely off the truck lol. It was a lot of hard work but we got the job done. Now I will have to work on the project, on the back yard, on the dirt, but under the shade of a huge pecan tree well, until its fall and I loose the shade. I could be saying that all this was a bad experience but it was actually funny and fun all throughout. Damn city official doesn't have a clue how much I love my junk vehicle. As far as progress on the 4 link goes, I haven't done much. I did worked a little on the exhaust setup but I can't really make any permanent mods as I need the 4 link brackets to check for clearances. I should be ordering those next week. Below are some pics of my side exit exhaust. Stay tune cool stuff coming soon

I know the feeling of driving a clean stock mj. people love them just as much and compliment all the time. I recently sold my stock Eliminator last year; a decision I still regret to this day. cool blazer by the way bro. Thanks bro I went ironman4x4fab xj spring rear brackets and bilsteins in the rear. maybe in the future ill upgrade to long travel shocks but i kinda want to keep it daily driveable and be able to go fast with it. i bought one of those flap disks at harbor freight but haven't used it yet.

Great news!!! I'm taking the "screw the rent" route to 4 link this sucker. If you read the previous post yesterday I wasn't being myself. I had scrapped the rear 4 link suspension plan and was gonna go soa but today It feels like I'm back on track. I removed the fuel tank and the driver side leaf spring bracket. I destroyed the brackets and trashed them this time, to prevent me from getting second thoughts. I won't be doing frame stiffeners until maybe after I have the truck drive-able. I was gonna go with T&M stiffeners but instead I'm gonna cut my own. Sorry for the last post but also thank you for the support. Stay tune for more updates.

For the first time I'm losing my patience with the project and for several reasons too. I was very determined to do the 4 link rear suspension but I don't want to have my truck in the driveway for another 6 months doing frame stiffeners, undercoating, fuel tank relocation, exhaust modifcations, and saving money for parts. Also its back to school season and the Jeep projects come last. Those with kids know what I mean. My kids can't wear mj suspension components to school. Anyways, last week I scored the 8.8 and I was very excited for that. I paid 151 out the door using the d35 as core. Right now I'm here in the driveway; under the truck, scratching my head; asking my self "what did I get my self in to?" I was about to cut the straps off the fuel tank and remove the other leaf spring brackets but I made one of those in the heat of the moment decisions and now I'm scrapping the whole plan. I'm just gonna weld the passenger side bracket back on. Luckily I did a very clean removal so putting it back on should be easy. I'm gonna stick to the basic initial plan for now with the 8.8 soa. Maybe later down the road ill do the 4 link when the moment feels right and the pockets aren't tight. Maybe I should stop bitching and go back inside the house and give it a second thought. I know this is a Jeep thing I totally understand but man right now I just want to kick this 8.8 right in the pumpkin and see how far it will roll. I think I need a beer.

The bolts aren't a problem at all. I love the set up but I haven't gone wheeling so I can't give a full review. If all goes well I plan to take her to Moab this September.

Good bye d35 Today I got rid of the stock d35, I will be upgrading to the 8.8 diff from a 2000 ford explorer. I chose the 8.8 because it's beefier than the d35 and the chrysler 8.25. It also has disk brakes and the same bolt pattern as the mj,xj, and tj. The other thing I like is that they are all over the junk yards and they are cheap. I thought about the d44 which is harder to find and 1 tons but I won't be going bigger than 33s also I don't plan on doing a v8 swap. The stock 4.0 has enough for me and I trust it, plus I have 3 jeeps with the same engine and many parts under lifetime warranty which can be shared lol. So back to the rear end. I have decided to 4 link the rear diff just like I did the front, mostly because I've never done it and I want to learn something in the process. This will definitely be a challenging task since I haven't done it before and there aren't many mjs out there with this setup. The fuel tank will have to be relocated and I have decided to put it on the bed; right behind the cab in a custom enclosure designed and made by me lol. Stay tune for that one. The front end took about 3 months to complete and I have a feeling it will take me 3 months for the rear as well. I can go on forever writing about this but ill stop here. Stay tune for more updates.

Suspension update. I installed the raised sway bar mounts from Ironman4x4fab. I had to trim them to clear the draglink. I thought it was gonna be a btch cutting the 1/2" thick steel but with a new blade on the sawzall it wasn't too bad. I also welded the subframe to the unibody well actually I hired a friend to do it with his big miller machine I just didn't trust my handycore for something that will take a lot of stress. He did a great job, he was even welding areas he wasn't supposed to lol. I changed the motor oil and ran the engine for a while. 3 months ago when I was daily driving her, the truck had a mild bottom end knock but now its completely gone I'm assuming it had to do with the exhaust manifold gasket leaking. That's mostly it as far as progress. I know its not much compared to other posts. I can't wait to test this new suspension but it will be a good long while until I get her back on the road. I have some new plans for the rear end I will post more details on that soon. Feel free to follow the page for more updates. Check out the pics below for more details. These are the extended sway bar brackets in their original form, they are very thick compared to the factory ones. Here I was mocking the piece and you can see it touches the drag link, something had to be done. Here I was comparing it to the original bracket on the driver side. I clamped that sucker on the vise marked it and started cutting. I was gonna try the jig saw but I didn't have blades for it, the sawzall was a little over kill but it worked. Here I am cutting the old bracket off on the driver side. Here it is tack welded on the passenger side. This added strength to the over the axle track bar bracket I had installed previously. I turned the wheels and everything clears. I'm loving how all the over the knuckle clearance problems are getting resolved little by little. Subframe is part of the unibody now Homeboy Tyler welding the sway bar brackets.

I think I can say she's 4x4 now. I finally got the d30 diff under the truck along with the Ironman4x4 fab 4 link long arm suspension. I also installed the 1 ton 7075 OTK steering kit, trac bar, some cool looking shocks, and Rubicon express coils. I still need to fasten some stuff, tweak the alignment and center the diff but for the most part its nearly complete. Before I install wheels and tires I think I'm gonna do the 8.8 swap SOA to level out the truck. Feel free to follow the page for more updates. Who doesn't love when the big brown truck shows up? It felt like Christmas that day The kit didn't come with instructions but whenever I had a question Andy aka iron man was a text or call away. The lower arm piece goes first on the assembly then the upper arm mount, other wise it won't work. Barnes4wd enduro joints Removing these joints feels like an eternity with that much of thread. I painted these bolts with vht engine paint. Here the assembly is ready to be installed under the truck and it weighs a ton lol 1 Ton 7075 aluminum steering over the knuckle. Sanded the lower arms with 400 grit wiped it with alcohol and sprayed two coats of vht engine clear. Took this pic right after the paint, they turned out badass 4.5 rubicon express coil springs. Ironman 4x4 trac bar Here I was reaming the pitman arm. These angles are not at their final location i need to turn the trac bar head down and adjust everything. AA At this point it was ok to put a 4x4 badge since I'm not a fan of false advertising. I'm finally getting somewhere.

With the dress ups out of the way I can finally proceed with the lift and axle swap. These are some of the things I've been working on the past couple of weeks. I removed the oil pan and inspected the bottom end. During idle I was able to hear a mild knock coming from the bottom and I wanted to make sure it wasn't the bearings or wrist pins. Anyways, I plastigauge tested the main and rod bearings and all looks normal I pulled on the piston rods and there was no play at the wrist pins. I figured if it gets worst i'll pull the engine and do a complete overhaul. I painted the driver side of the engine since I had the exhaust manifold removed and all the components on that area. I also undercoated the fender wells, mid frame stiffeners and also the mid undercarriage; I like how that turned out. I also did some exhaust modifications to clear the the lift kit. In the next few days I will be installing the Ironman 4x4 fab 4 link long arm kit and the d30. Feel free to ask any questions. Deer poop

"The track bar upgrade". Since I'm going with a 4.5" lift, I was obviously gonna need to upgrade the trac bar setup. If you haven't read my previous posts, I'm converting my comanche to 4x4. I have the d30 in my garage almost ready to be installed but I decided to weld frame stiffeners and that slowed the project down. Since I'm doing the wj knuckle swap and over the knuckle 1 ton steering, I did some research on trac bars and came across the iroman4x4fab offset trac bar bracket and the axle trac bar relocation bracket designed to work with this setup. Today I installed the trac bar bracket, this thing is massive and well built. I bolted and welded it and I hope I don't have to remove it because its really on there lol. I also sprayed some rustoleum undercoating, If this coating has good adhesion ill do the other fender well and mid frame area. Hopefully by next weekend I make more progress. More info on the pics below also stay tune for more updates. Here the bracket is bolted on. It felt so strong that I wasn't gonna weld it but I had the welder ready so I threw some beads and made it permanent. I'm gonna keep an eye on this undercoating. If I don't like it ill just wire wheel it off and go with black caliper paint like what I used on the trac bar. I'm not an expert at welding but I trust my welds. This is the axle side trac bar relocation bracket. You have to cut a piece of the original bracket then use the trac bar bolt to align it and finally weld it in every area possible. You can't mess up, it's really simple. Some people say that this is a weak option because it sits over a piece of the original bracket which is thin metal but they are wrong. This new relocation bracket welds to the coil base, to the axle tube in two areas, and to the sway bar mounts. I removed the sway bar link bracket because I'm gonna use the extended ones. I will have to weld those once the axle is on the truck.

One month later and I still can't install the d30. This is what I've done so far. I chopped off the factory control arm mounts because I'm going with a long arm kit. With the front axle off it made sense to install some frame stiffeners. I ordered the front sections from IRO because I like how they fold over the area were I chopped off the mounts. Some guys from All things Jeep Comanche recommended T&M Metal Fab mid frame stiffeners; I went with those. For more details see the pics below. Stay tune for more updates. Cutting the control arm mount brackets wasn't that difficult. With the saw-saw and a long blade it makes things easier. With a 1/2" drill bit i drilled out the factory spot welds and with a chisel I removed the remaining pieces. Here I had wire wheeled the front frame Here I am mocking up the mid frame plate. Here you can see the pieces I had to cut. Another cut to make it fit. More wire wheeling. Before I started welding I sprayed the areas with high temp 2000 degree paint to preserve the metal.but mostly for a piece of mind. This was fun. This was not fun for me. I cheated a little. I used self tappers temporarily to keep the plates in place while I welded them. Ready to weld Here you can see the difference in thickness of the factory frame vs the stiffener plate. Almost done.