Incommando

MANY will debate this but... There were a few hundred 1945 CJ2's made. IMHO the "A" wasn't added until the 1946 model year IMHO. Some "experts" will even tell you that there was not a 1945 civilian version at all and that the CJ line started in 1946...but I owned a '45 in the early eighties and did a bit of leg work ( pre-internet remember) to find those in the know about the 1945. If it is a 1945 it is a CJ2 and fairly rare, but maybe not valuable? The other give-away that is is not a military issue jeep is that the headlights/markers lights are not recessed. A lot of things get changed out over the years but the 1945-1948 models had a two-piece windshield with a center post where that one has a later one-piece, possible from a 3a or aftermarket or indicating it is a late '48-'53. Part of the problem was there was no standardized "model year" and some states titled a vehicle as to year from the date of purchase, not the date of manufacture, in that era. EDIT: Someone posted up about the CJ2 while I typed :D

http://pirate4x4.com/forum/showthread.p ... st13315544 I have no affiliation but for those of us without the ability to weld up our own....

Ronnie rocked. Heck, George I is looking better all of the time and W's respect will increase with time IMHO.

<---- lusting after an FC170...someday.....

Nice!

Well, not a lot of opinions but I have pretty much settled on the D60's.

Can ya blame them? Those 3.8 pigs are going to be a tough enough sell as it is. Talking up the 3.6 too much too early would assure tens of thousands of unsold '11's.

Thanks for the replies...and don't forget to subtract the weight of the stock stuff... Got a build thread link and/or narrowing tips Cracker?

Good points. IF i swap, shortening the front shaft is fairly cheep and the local bone yard has a pile of driveshafts I can chose from for the rear, even if it is one that is a little too long that need cut down. Of course the 2wd driveshaft is already too long and may be long enough as is or at least be a cut-down candidate. The goal woud be high zoot driveshafts and new yokes for the D300 to go to 1350's or 1410's but for now concversion u-jopints will work. IF I go D60's..

I don't have a link handy but the Taurus fan/shroud is a popular swap.

Although I have not tried it persoanlly it is my understanding that the XJ/MJ driveshafts will bolt to ta D300.

Swapping from a 2wd to 4wd requires a new rear drive shaft or at least mods anyway. So that woudl need to happen eitherway I went. The front would be a hit or miss. Maybe a 1310/1350 conversion joint at the pinion and check to see if the added height made up for the longer snout? If not, like the rear, shortening a driveshaft is much cheaper than going full custom or lengthening one.

The biggest mistake with the caliber, IMHO, is that Daimler Chrysler designed it to look like a small SUV just as the gas prices started to climb. The Neon was their entry-level small car and they tried to go a little up-market with its replacement. Even if it was a perception and not reality I think that drove buyers to smaller looking vehicles whether they were truly that much smaller at all.

My wheeling is probably closer to the basic east-coast style: forested trails, usually wet/muddy to some degree. Maybe not always as bad as mvusse's avatar but you get the drift. The D60's price reflects the fact that they are Dodge. 4.10 gears. Not optimal but better than 3.55's. Bracket kit (motion) and a long arm kit, like Iron Rock, are about $1000 with some shopping. The steering linkage is still on the D60F including a high steer arm on the pass. side. The axles set purchase alone is about what a set of alloy front shafts for a "beefed" HPD30 would run. Lunch box lockers for the 8.25 are limited. I know of 6 or 7 people who have destroyed Ausie's in 8.25's. I am one of them. I assure you it was within spec at install. Not meaning to make this an Aussie bash as I love their product for other apps, but to me at least that leaves the power-trax no slip as the lunch box of choice for the 8.25 and they run around $425. I could run a spartan or aussie in the front and save maybe $100-$150 but I am not sure how street-able the thing would be in the winter. I used the LSD front as a comparison because that is how the D60's are set-up. $425 no-slip plus $375 for TT = $800. For the money it seems that beefier axles to lower the risk of being stuck 200 miles from home with a busted ball-joint or axle shaft with the ears torn off may make some economic sense. A HP D44 is the same width as the D60F and would present just as many swap-in difficulties it would seem. Beefing even a HP D44 to near stock D60 strength would blow the budget right out. And adapting the D44 steering would most likely be just as involved as a D60. i think you would be hard pressed to find a detroited rear and a LSD front HPD44 axles set for what I would pay for the 60's. My previous Cherokee ( not an XJ :thumbsup: ) ran a chevy drw D60 up front and the killer rear axle, a D70HD. The one GM used when the 14-bolt wasn't enough: 4" axle tubes and huge diameter 35 spline axles and bigger hubs. Sure they were wide but using un-recentered H1 beadlocks brings the track width back to normal srw width. they, too, were 4.10's but were usable if not optimal with the 37's. The T18 tranny may have made a difference but the D20 only had a 2:1 low range. Even so I don't think that a 36 or 37" tire will tax the rear D60 too much even if it is stock except for the detroit. No big lift: 4.5 to 5" and bumpstops. The truck has undergone some moderate trimming to where narrow 32's would work with no lift. But that would leave the center guts pretty low on a kinda longish wheel base so the lift is going on anyway. The SOA would probably get some bastard leaf packs as I have several XJ, a 2wd MJ set, and a nice set of FSJ springs to choose from/use. Keeping the rear SOA to 4.5-5" or so should not be an issue. The truck in question is the maroon one in my sig: it has 31's on it in that pic with zero lift, just trimming. Each install would probably run a few hundred $ for "incidentals" that pop up. The biggest issue is the labor. Some of this stuff is beyond my confort level and I would need to lean pretty heavily on some favors to get it done. I know the danger of major upgrades stalling a build completely, as well.

The Patriot/Compass are nearly idenitcal to the Caliber on which they are based and the Caliper is discontinued as of Novemebr. Can the econo jeeps be far behind?? http://www.autoblog.com/2011/08/24/dodg ... k1%7C88994

Tire size depends on the axles. If I stay stock i will keep the 32x9.5 TSL's I have now. If I go to the Dana's I will sell the TSL's and buy 37" or 36" H1 tires.

OK, opinion time... If they do not get sold out from under me I have a set of Dodge D60's lined up for 9/1 pick up. The front has the powr-lok LSD (one of the best ever) and the rear has a full Detroit. It is packaged with a twin-sticked D300. I should be able to get the axles and then purchase the brackets to install them for about $1,900 with a long-arm kit. Pro's: Mucho beef in the axles and transfer. Decent traction adders already in place. A very good deal on the axle set/t-case from what I have been pricing. All three pieces are out of running/streetable vehicles. rear has discs Con's: LABOR INTENSIVE. Probably over kill for who I wheel with and where I wheel now. Width would be about 4" wider per side but no wider than a HPd44 front. I have a 29-spline 3.55 8.25 rear and matching XJ D30 front to swap in. I already have pieced together 4.5" springs, adj lowers and track bar & shocks for the front and perches/u bolts for SOA on rear. Gears & kits to get decent gearing in the axles is > $500. True-trac for the front is $400. Lunch box for the rear $425. Almost alloy shaft kit $400. These parts alone are almost $1,800 with fluids, etc, Pro's: ease of installation! Steering geomtery and brakes already in place. Con's: It is still a D30 and even though HP, the tubes are smallish and the ring gear is tiny. $1,800 dollars in what really isn't considered 1/2-ton strength axles. A wash is the tires. I would get surplus 37" H1 tires for the D60's for about what I could sell the almost new 32" TSL's I already have to use if I stay with the stock axles. Either route would require driveshaft fab/purchase. So, what say ye?

As long as the gear ratios match the '94 should be a breeze to swap in...the ZJ not so much. By '95 I'd bet that the vast majority of XJ's were auto and the both will probably be 3.55(4)'s.

no one makes amini-truck anymore. Maybe GM will bring one closer to the original S10 to market. Imagine if they had combined the Dak and MJ...solid front axle with a 4.0 inline and a full frame.... Killer.

The evacuated some of the taller building sin Dayton, OH due to shaking. Hope everyone is fine

Motion Off-road has several off the complete Rubicon Engineering kits in stock as well as individual suspension brackets :thumbsup:

Nice kit! And the misc pieces parts are helpful, too...discizzionz discizzionz

TnT does not have the stuff for a pass. drop... I will be jumping on your website shortly. Does your R.E. kit include the truss?

I did a bit of research on Ballistic and, unfortunately, their issues extend to phone orders too. Numerous cases of sales people telling customers that an item is in stock just to get the person's money and no product is ever sent. It looks like they are too cash strapped to repair their main machines and are saying anything to get the cash coming in to fix them. Very unfortunate because the only other "kit" that I know of is from Clayton and it is $450 :ack: Rubicon Engineering HAD parts for the swap but they are gone, too, for all intents and purposes. I would have to lean very heavily on some favors to have this stuff fabbed up if it comes to that. LCA brackets and coil buckets are out there, but the UCA mounts seem to be the issue. Some other stuff is HP Ford D60 specific. :fs2: I may ending uo cutting off the factory mounts and trying to strengthen them... :ack: I could stick the the original plan of my 32" TSLs on the stock stuff but i was hoping to increase the beef as I will have to drive the truck to where ever I 'wheel it and I just am not feeling comfortable with being 4,5,6 hours from home on a stock D30.

Does anyone have any build up info, here or from another site, using a pass. drop D60 front in an XJ/MJ and retaining the coil spring front suspension? I do not want to do a front leaf swap. ( I am converting a 2wd so using a Dana 300 instead of a 231 is no big deal). Yes, D60's are large. But if you are going to put a new front axle in they are the same price ( other than the purchase price) for swap goodies as about anything else. For example, say you find a D60 front and rear set with matching 4.10 ratios. Rear has a full detroit while the front has a neato power-lock LSD. Around $1000. Going cheap, re-gearing a HPd30/8.25 would be at least $500. "almost alloy" shafts $400. Rear lunch box/front true-trac $700. So, that is $1600 and that is without any trussing or other upgrades to the stock axle set. You can get surplus 37's for $80 to $130 each and cheap beadlocks for the 60's are out there. Going D60's front and rear would be no more work and no more expense past the purchase price than say a HPD44/9" combo and I'd end up with a much stronger axle set. I did a search. But the search feature insists on dropping the "60" from any search for a "dana 60" and you end up with a few thousand threads. I looked through a few hundred but... Any help would be appreciated! :thumbsup: