Incommando

Trimming the fenders to just below the body line and using 4 REAR TJ flares gives a lot of extra room and looks tidy

OK...I will type slower and maybe it will sink in: YJ & XJ/MJ Dana 30 front axle differentials, not housings, are the same and are interchangeable during all years when the YJ was made. They are both high pinion reverse cut gear sets. Again they are 100% interchangeable. It cannot be put any more plainly than that.

Now your getting warm. On a D30 high pinion = reverse cut. My opinion ( ;) ) is that they are interchangeable

Why not? Exactly: why not? If you are going to start off with "because YJ's were low pinion..." you might want to look into that first :doh: Of course that could just be my opinion and you don't share it.... :rotf:

it is a poser all the way

You don't really say but you mention rotors, which only the front axle uses, so I am going to assume that this is a front YJ axle & that you have a 4wd which means that you will need to re-gear both axles. You also tell us nothing else about your Comanche so just playing the odds I will assume it has a D35 rear. Factory pieces may be of a higher quality than the cheaper aftermarket gear sets when new but how do you account for the toll that mileage and possible abuse over the last 20+ years have taken? Were there ever over-sized tires on that YJ? The D30 is hardly the most robust axle out there even if it is adequate for most stock applications but if you start hammering on it and with bigger tires to boot...?. Even if not powered the front diff turns with every tire rotation. To do this right you should still be getting an install kit so you would have about $250 in buying that YJ axle & swapping the used internals over. But that is just for the front. There are package deals out there for everything you need for a front and rear swap for about $400. http://www.rustysoffroad.com/jeep-driveline-driveshaft/jeep-ring-pinions/jeep-ring-pinion-gear-specials/rustys-gear-special-84-99-xj-87-95-yj-d30-rev-front-d35-rear.html + the carriers for a total of around $570. As half of that $570 is for the rear swap you are looking at about the same money new versus used. IMHO trying to swap the front MJ suspension mounts onto the YJ axle to avoid just changing the pumpkin as about equal to holding the light bulb and turning the ladder. :brows:

First of all be brutally honest with how you will use the truck. Aggressive tires are great if you need them. Otherwise most have many drawbacks such as greater cost, decreased tire life & MPG, road noise, loss of on-road handling ability, bad effects on wet and/or icy roads, and such. If you do not need them then get an A/T or even a street tread and you will be a happier camper. There is a large penalty involved with being a poser when it comes to tires. The difference in ground clearance and wheel-well stuffing between a 31 & 32 is only 1/2". It is also only a couple of hundred RPM's difference at daily driving speed. Personally I think that 32x11.5's look about right on a 4.5" lift.

In the FSJ world that is known as the "muscle" grill. I like it and had it on my '80 N/T Cherokee.

There is trim missing on the driver's front fender with no signs of it having ever been there... at least that is visible in the pic. Wreck repair? Other unseen damage? Flare doesn't seem to match up with the bumper as well on that side either. If you use something like carfax remember it is only as good as the info it is giving. If I hit a tree, straighten the sub-frame by hooking a chain to a tree & backing up until it jerks it straight-ish, and slap some china crap sheet meal on it that would never show up. Not an outrageous price around here but not bargain, either.

Nice. It is a stick so that gets you a 207 transfer case and locking hubs on the D44 front. It should have an AMC model 23 rear axle that fixes all of the crap issues on the CJ-spec model 20 rear axle. Humvee's used the center sections from these axles for their entire run.

Rangers did not automatically have an 8.8 so just make sure your donor has one. The 7.5 was more common in the earlier years with the 8.8 not being available at all until 90 or 91 IIRC. I have seen a guy who mistakenly bought the smaller axle out of a '98 Ranger because he was sure that all Ranger's had 8.8's. If you just need a git-r-done axle that '91 is ok but the early ones are not as strong as the later ones. Getting one from a later Explorer will get you stronger axles and factory disc brakes as well. For some reason the Ranger 8.8 never had as high of a GVWR as the Explorer version and the 31-splines versions were harder to find.

A commonly held misconception but this is not entirely true. The suspension is the same but the front unibody subframe is different between and MJ & XJ. Most XJ kits of this type can be modified for the MJ as mentioned above. The same is true of drop-brackets. I only know of one set CAD made specifically for an MJ but they are made by the disreputable RRO.

Bwa ha ha ha ha ha ha ha I have seen it from afar and it looks clean. But he is, IMHO, at least 5x too high on price.

As to the legality of bead locks: Although I have not researched every state I have researched several and not one of them has anything making the use of bead locks a criminal/traffic offense. Moreover not one person has ever provided a state law banning them no matter how many times I have asked for them on various boards. Based on the best available info at this time my conclusion is that bead locks being illegal is a rumor along the lines of anything attributed to the infamous "they" as in " You know they say..." Some argue that because the wheels are not submitted to the federal DOT to be tested that they are not legal. A couple of points: First off federal DOT rules regarding such things almost exclusively apply to manufacturers, not individuals. Even so do you think JCR submitted their bumpers to the feds to see if they equal or exceed the OEM specs and received a number for the certification? I don't. Yet DOT specs exist for bumpers. Should we all remove our aftermarket and home-built bumpers? Secondly most bead lock rims are rims from major manufacturers that have been modified. They have been submitted for certification prior to modding. Do you re-submit your jeep for re-testing every time you modify it, such as with the bumper example above or if you do not have a functioning TPMS? Hell no and there isn't even a process for you to do so, anyway! DOT rules that apply to interstate commerce are also applied to a business, even if it is a lone trucker, and not individuals. Many states, including Ohio, have commercial carrier laws that apply only to commercial carriers. Everything you do to modify a vehicle potentially opens you up to litigation or insurance issues.Your brakes were not designed to stop the heavier rolling mass of big tires and rims. Did that cause you to rear-end that Pinto thus burning a family alive? Did that metal bumper inflict more damage than the stock one would have?. Did your lift, certainly not a factory piece, cause a lessening of control that kept you from avoiding hitting my client? Did the height of that modified bumper cause a greater injury? The list goes on and on. The mere act of DRIVING opens you up to litigation and insurance issues if any other party wishes to make it so. This is doubly true if your vehicle is modified from stock in any way. Heck the mere act of LIVING does that. If someone is truly that paranoid stay at home...but not in the bathroom as that place is dangerous. :rotf: I will try this again: If anyone can post up a link to verifiable information as to a law that not only bans bead locks on a private citizen's vehicle but also makes it illegal by specifically prohibiting it and ascribing a penalty please do so. And stories that your cousin Jed's sister's babysitter's boyfriend got a ticket for it is in no way admissible. It would take a link to a state's law website or at least a code number and wording so that it could be verified. I have been waiting years for such things with no success. As such I will follow my research regarding the legality of bead locks. Anyone reading this is free to do their own research and reach their own conclusions.

I guess i had never noticed that my CEL did not come on when I started it. I swapped this cluster in a couple of months ago to get a tach and gauges and did not notice it. There was no bulb in that socket at all. Swapped in the unneeded maint reqd bulb and everything is good to go. No CEL light when running but it lights as it should when it is cranking/starting and I can now check codes. 12.... To my knowledge the battery has not been disconnected in the last fifty key cycles. A weakening battery is a possibility as I bought this truck almost 4 years ago. At the time it had a less then new looking Walmart battery in it and it is still there. It does not seem to be spinning over the ol' 4.0 like it used to, either. I may replace the battery and see if I had a low voltage issue. Heck I need a new battery anyway. 33.... a/c clutch relay = normal as I do not have A/C 35..... Cooling fan relay. I had stuck a JY electric aux. fan in and, after testing it that it worked with a hot wire and a ground, I just plugged it into the existing wires. I never got it hot enough to see if it would turn on or not. I am just going to unplug it to eliminate that possibility and work on that later. The lack of codes leads me to think CPS because I have heard of them being bad without an 11 code on an intermittent issue. I cannot get the stalling issue to repeat, either. For $40 I am just going to replace it and then keep the old one for a spare if that was not it. A CPS isn't a bad spare to have around on these anyway.

Driving along in the old MJ and it cuts off just like you use the key. Will restart almost Immediately. It my do this again aftsr it restarts or it may not. Both times it occurred the engine was warmed up but not overheating. I amelled excess fuel when i kicked it into nuetral to try to restart it on the fly (unsuccesfully) but not when I coast to a stop and restart it. Went to cycle the key and either my CEL bulb is out,too, or there is another issue. I will get the CEL bulb thing corrected tomorrow and/or get it scanned. A buddies 98 XJ did this a few years ago and it was the neutral safety switch replacement that corrected it. Thoughts?

In the couple of months I have had one in the back of mine I have done moderate wheeling with it twice and it works great. I still hear it on slow speed hard turns, like into and out of a parking spot, but it doesn't effect drivability at all.

3.07 only if it was a 5spd. 3.54 if auto. IIRC The D44 was not standard on the Eliminator. I would verify the D44 and its originality in that truck. Although available in the SWB the 44s are more often seen in the LWB from my observations. I don't think it was available with the 5-spd as that tranny was not part of the towing group that got you a D44 and the ton versions were all LWB. Just from looking at packages I don't see were a SWB 5-spd D44 would fit. For all intents and purposes the Eliminator package was just an appearance package like almost all of the Jeep's packages prior to the Rubicon. It had no more horsepower or torque than any other Comanche of the year and no special gear ratios. The same performance could be had in any of the 2wd SWB MJ's. If you ever get to run the butt off of a 2wd SWB HO Comanche it can be pretty fun.

There are a couple of threads on the ZJ upgrade in the DIY section. Unless you are going to also flip the TRE's it is probably all that you need

4.27 & 4.30 are the widest factory differences that I know of but you may be able to go further

32x11.5r15 on 15x8 Factory TJ rims and 4.5" lift: No rubbing on or off-road. No issues. No Bumpstopping. . BFG & General make a 33x10.5x15 A/T's and BFG has a 33x10.5x15 M/T. If you want a slightly narrower 32" tall tire and don't want to run a very aggresive bias ply Super Swamper then you need to go to a 16" rim. 235/85/r16 is 32x9 or so while 265/75/r16 is 32x11 or so. There is a huge choice of treads in those sizes. KJ Liberty's are a great source for appropriate 16" rims. Although it is widely debated in most terrains narrow treads work as well if not better anyway. It doesn't give that macho "look at meh big tars" look, though, so many avoid it. Remember that the tread type can effect fitment greatly. Something with very aggressive shoulder lugs may not fit where a rounded shoulder street tire would. I ran 31x1.5's on an unlifted MJ by using a low-tread all-season tire. Many issues with tires hitting the fenders can be avoided by retaining stockish backspacing. Decreasing the backspacing moves the tire out where....you guessed it...the wheelwell gets smaller due to the fender opening.

The JCR MJ DIY kit is well designed and goes together nicely. I assisted the fabricator I hired in some of assembly and all the pieces went together very well. The JCR kit is more expensive due to all the extra pieces, cuts, and bends they have incorporated into it. The Nates 4x4 finished bumper is simple and great for getting a durable bumper. I could not recommend one as better than the other since they fill different segments of the market. The MJ market is so small that JCR took a chance just making the DIY kit after their original run of finished rear MJ bumpers bombed on them. Since the Nates 4x4 rear bumper is so simple they can easily fulfill a custom order for a MJ. $279 + you had to farm out the labor + spend your own time. So what is a realistic cost of this bumper assembled using that process so that an apple-to-apples comparison can be made?

IIRC the MJ is lighter than the XJ so that might explain the difference when those two are compared.

The various how-to's on this jeep can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL1U__4as20wHOiPKzZcCSwgcZOWybKJtm&src_vid=dP0B2phuEN0&feature=iv&annotation_id=annotation_2358038215 I don't like it at all but that doesn't mean that I can't respect the work that went into it.

Just in case anyone was getting their hopes up because they found a part #... http://www.fasttrackautoparts.com/item/57059-draw-tite-75021-hitch Product Details Weight Carrying: 3500 lb. Gross Weight, 350 lb. Tongue Weight! Weight Distributing: 5000 lb. Gross Weight, 500 lb. Tongue Weight! Includes Standard Black Utility Ball Mount, Pin, And Clip (DRT2923)! J-Pin Ready All Frame Attachment & Black Finish! Backed By A Nationwide, Limited Lifetime Warranty! ITEM IS NO LONGER AVAILABLE