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x2 While it seems unfair, this is the unfortunate reality of used vehicles. If you're not a big professional restoration shop with a great reputation, you aren't going to get a lot more than KBB for a Comanche. You look like you have a lot of skill doing this kind of work. If you want to make money at it, you'll need to work on vehicles that have room in the price range to cover labor. Finding rare old muscle cars and making them like new probably has more potential for profit. Good restorations or restomods go for many tens of thousands. Either that or use builds like this as your resume to get hired on at a shop that will pay you for your labor.

I'd pick an AX15 over a T5. A 4.3 V6 would swap in easily. Push it forward a bit and you would have room. A 4.3/SM465/Atlas combo would be pretty sweet too. Adjust the axle gears for the highway but you'd still have plenty of crawl ratio.

Best manager I ever had ended up getting the best training he could possibly have before he got into engineering management. He was an elementary school teacher. A surprising amount of skills transfer directly over.

The Gladiator is actually the 5th line of trucks Jeep has built. First was the Willys truck. Second was the FC 150 and 170 Third was the (real) Gladiator Fourth was the Comanche Fifth was the JT.

The northern prairie states (WY, MT, SD) tend to have some pretty significant winter storms. Nothing you can't get used to but the wind can be brutal if you're not accustomed to it. Good luck in your search.

I'm working on that plan too. Got 38 so far. With a couple different road trips I'll finish 48. I mostly just need New England and the Pacific Northwest. AK and HI will take dedicated trips to get.

It's just a flat plate with a curve and some bolt holes. They're easy to fabricate with just a couple of tools.

It's certainly not safe. However I have seen things like this often enough to conclude it isn't entirely uncommon.

They are mirror images of each other. They have pockets for the side screws. They take a standard oval trailer light. The side is curved to match the profile of the bed side if I'm not mistaken.

I bought two of the Rusty's metal light fixtures when they were on closeout. I'm going to use one on the MJ that's already beat up and will be mostly for trail use. Not sure what I'm going to do with the other set yet. I'm inclined to use actual tail lights on my other MJ that will be intended for more street use.

4.0 or LS is most common. Ford, Mopar, or AMC V8s are options as well.

That would be awesome

Plenty of room on the other side too.

The parking behind the fence on the left side.

The garage. They even left water in the fridge.

The Dana 44 is alive and well in the Wranglers. The ring and pinion upgrades they made a while back make it pretty stout. And junkyards are full of Dana 44 axles from a variety of vehicles from the past. That won't change for a while. As far as the C8.25, it really is just a matter of cutting and welding spring perches and shock mounts. The drum brakes on the XJ will work as-is with the MJ hardware, both fluid lines and parking brake cables. The newer KJ axles have disc brakes but parking brakes cables are easy to work with. I do believe the driveshaft is close to the Dana 44 spec but someone who knows for sure can confirm. Either way, driveshafts are cheap to modify so that shouldn't bother you any. If you're planning a regear, any XJ/KJ donor 8.25 is a good donor because you can upgrade an early model 27 spline shafts to the stronger 29 spline while you're in there. Otherwise, stick with mid '96 and newer to go with the factory 29 spline shafts.

I'll snap a couple more pictures in the next day or two. As you face the house, there's room behind the fence on the left hand side (that you can't see) to park two vehicles. To the right is enough space to build a dedicated shop if I feel so inclined. The garage is oversize by quite a bit. I don't have an exact measurement but it's like 25x25 or so.

Unfortunately there is blood on many hands at this point. Undoubtedly there are instigators stirring things up to advance an agenda. But without a 'smoking gun' it's hard to say who or how many groups are behind everything.

It is done. Now I can start to think about actually working on the MJs...

I work a desk job making computers go so I don't use my hands for much beyond typing and mouse clicking. That's probably why my hobby is working on Jeeps and cars. And I've gone all in. I have enough tools to start as a mechanic tomorrow if I needed to. I can do just about everything outside of the true specialty jobs like bending up exhaust, mounting/balancing tires, and machine work on blocks and heads.

It's rare, so it's worth more than just any $100 junkyard axle. But it's still just a Dana 44. I wouldn't pay huge money for one but I'd drop a few Benjamins on it. Depends on overall condition and whether it has the gears i want in it or not.

Yah. Sure. You betcha. Eh?

That brings back memories.

Don't want to jinx it but that would be difficult at this point. Closing is Tuesday so I'm starting to pack.