Incommando

All of the interior differential stuff like lockers & gears are the same for both versions. The difference is the axle shaft & tubes. So anything like that for a CJ differential will work for you. It seems like gears are usually a get what you pay for thing. Most companies have two different lines of them. The good ones are sold under one name and are more expensive but are quiet. The cheap ones are sold under another and are generally more noisy. I have read, but have no confirmation, that USA Standard gear sets are the Yukon gears that are out of spec for the top line so they sell them off without the "pretty up" final process. We put USA Standard gears in the XJ owned by the guy who helps me on my Jeep. They are not noisy and have held up well over 20,000 miles. Well, you can't hear them over the KM1's, anyway. The "noisy" thing may be a crap shoot.

I just ordered one. Fingers crossed.

Another jeeper has some better pics on his camera's SD card. I am waiting for him to download and send them to me. http://www.haspinacres.com/

Typical of the day: this stuff was as slick as snot. None of the all-terrain tired rigs made it up the far side of this or much of anywhere that day. Mud doesn't have to be 3' deep to make things interesting

I got to take the MJ to a wheeling spot called Haspin Acres in Laurel, IN. It is about 70 miles from home. The truck was 100% on the drive there and after wheeling for 6 hours the drive home. It is not nearly a "hardcore" jeep but I feel that it holds its own for something the is as daily driver capable/comfortable as when it was stock. And it didn't break the bank. Stuffed 32: [ /URL]

I got to take the MJ out. Here are a couple of pics of it off-road. It flexes much better in reality than on an RTI ramp. I may try to take it further but I think this would work for all but the harder-core MJ'ers. [/url] Nothing crazy or hardcore but for a daily driver capable truck I think it holds its own especially if cost is a factor

Nice score

Basic rear SOA/front 5.5" lift using mainly Rubicon Express parts as listed in my sig. Short arm. Wheel wells cut and covered with TJ flares. Those are 32's but 35's fit just fine. Image Not Found This lift did not break the bank, falls somewhere between that stock/mild/restored and and "full on built" like you wanted. HP D30 up front. 29-spline 8.25 in the rear. 231 t-case. It works well both on-road and off. And it was fairly inexpensive to do this lift. It was several hundred dollars cheaper to build this lift than other SOA's I have seen once you made them complete with things like shocks. Here is a shot from the driver's seat showing the kind of trails that we have for about 80% of our 'wheeling. Bypasses are for wusses. I am sure you have seen tons of these where you are coming up out of a creek bed. Steeper than it looks but not really very tough. It is just the only shot like it I have so far. Also shot through the window. Taking it To Haspin Acres in Laural, IN tomorrow and maybe I will finally get some good pictures of it off-road.

Good point.

It is very unfortunate that our trucks use that GM Saginaw steering column. All that you need is a flat blade screw driver and 60 seconds and you can start it like you have the key.

This is about the best safety upgrade that you can make.

I don't know for sure what diff it is but from the description that is my best guess.

Sorry. I commented in this from the recent comments list and did not notice that it was a for sale post.

I cannot do body work so I would prefer a decent body and poor mechanicals. That said this a $400 truck. Those floors are some pop rivits and street signs away from being "good enough." Worst case scenario is a couple of hundred bucks for a junkyard engine down the road. Not everyone wants or needs a top of the line restore for everything. Although not the best the 2.8 is not going to jump out of the engine bay and choke you to death as some imply. Millions of these were pumped out by gm. They were adequate for the era. Make sure that none of the structural parts like the spring shackle attachments or front subframe are rusted out and that it is road worthy, use scrap metal to patch the floor, assure it's brakes and steering are good, and drive the darn thing.

' = feet " = inches You're putting a 31 ft tire under your truck?!?!?! :yes: ;) Jelly? :)

I am flad that you like it. Mine worked right up until it broke. The extra $30 I spent on the American-made locker was a no-brainer for me but that is why there are different options out there: personal choice.

*If* it is Torsion style diff it does not cause the winter difficulties of a traditional locker or LSD but they would make the driveshaft spin even if the CAD is disengaged where an open diff won't, true. They are a good choice for on-road winter driving in the front or rear. I admit that I forgot about the CAD as I did not look at the year of his truck and my '91 does not have it. The CAD was only used by jeep for about a decade and personally I am not a fan. Luckily of the 14 jeeps I have had only my '88 MJ had it and I permanently locked it. But if the front driveshaft is in order it should be fine at speed. That still leaves the noise. I would check all of the u-joints first

Your front driveshaft will spin when the vehicle is in motion whether the transfer case is engaged or not. Your front differential is permanently attached to the front tires. It would be just like putting a rear wheel drive car in neutral and letting it roll. The driveshaft will turn. To prevent the front drive shaft from turning whenever the vehicle was in motion many older 4wd's used lock out hubs to physically disconnect the front axle, and therefore the diff, from the tires. Our trucks do not have these. The diff you described sounds like a Detroit Truetrac. It is a type of Gleason/Torsen limited slip differential and not really a locker. You can Google pics to confirm this. As your driveshaft turning is correct this diff is not a problem and replacing it is not necessary. These diffs are pretty darn good. You can make them act nearly like a locker by dragging your brakes slightly. Your front drive shaft is just fine at any speed that your rear shaft is and certainly well past 55 or 75 miles an hour. If your driveshafts are in good order they are not your issue. Generally you cannot change out a diff with another without setting it up again including shims, etc... But as nothing you describe indicates a need to change that diff.

That VW Van is not imported here. Here they have sold a re-badged Dodge Caravan as a VW Routan for a few years.

VJ! Cool :banana:

It really does matter which JK coils you use. I put a set of 17/59 springs off of a '13 JKU Rubi on a 2006 TJ-U (LJ). It gave me right at 3" in the back and 1.5" in the front. I used a 1.5" spacer on the front to level it. I had to change the bar pins to use the front shocks. In the rear I heated the top pigtail coils slowly with a torch and opened it up enough to get the factory bump stops through them. It rode well and cleared 32's nicely . So the heavy duty front JK springs may lift a TJ about 1.5" . On an MJ the difference would be almost unnoticeable due to the rear rake they had anyway. Your mileage may vary.

I have had both versions of humvee Goodyears and they both suck. Why do the last forever? Because they are hard and do not grab. How are you going to adapt that 5x5.5 half ton ford pattern to 8-lug? Or is it a car axle with 5x4.5? What 8 lug front are you going to graft on? A 3/4 ton D44 as mentioned above? MJ suspension or the not uncommon swap to leafs on the front? Either way that is a lot of work for a marginal gain over a nice HP D30. From that little bit posted it seems like maybe rim choice is still some planning away. I can see maybe planning a build around rims that you already have but to start from scratch and plan around rims that you do not have yet and that do not work with the axle you already have to use? That may not be the easiest or most cost effective way to do this.

Most D44's prior to 1971 were much weaker than the D44 we all think of. They used thin diameter 19 spline shafts and 2-piece hubs like a D35 and are probably not much stronger than one. The front is most likely a D27 or if it late enough it is the weaker low pinion D30. On either the brakes and such of this era are were generally smaller as well. Don't get hung up on the name of an axle as most have many different versions and the early versions were generally a lot weaker. A late 70s D44 front is probably the equal of a mid 60s D60 front due to running design changes. A lot of people get taken by buying an axle on name instead of that particular axle's specs.

I believe they are the exact same length but IIRC the center pin location is pretty off.

They may well be that tall. I try to include "on average" or similar wording as a given brand of tire's actual dimensions can very greatly either way from the advertised size. Actual measurements on a vehicle can be effected by many things as well.