jage

One of the guys in our club has an air horn off an old firetruck. not quite the same, but he runs it off his onboard air tank

"when a winch alone just isn't impressive enough to the other mall rats...." that looks like it'll have the old 8274 problem of blocking the radiator oh, ah, $1400... you could buy a milemarker for each end or a 12K winch and two quickair compressors for that... http://www.gowarn.com/search_result.asp?referer=Froogle&source=Froogle&partNumber=71801

no kidding you'll regret parting with it, even if you could get $$$$ buy a moped... or an old cheap $700 tiny engine car just to get you through school

if you want to use any of the graphics at bignastyoffroadpark.com, like the flash guages, you have my permission. the owner hasn't paid his bills and never had any exclusive rights to my work.

Yes but I'm going with 30 spline shafts and a rear disc conversion which I think means I can order them in any bolt pattern.

I wonder if it would pass inspection. Why on God's Green Earth would anyone put a NEW motor in that thing?

If you take out the tranny cross member with a jack under your tranny you can tip the whole thing back (watch your fan doesn't go into the radiator) by lowering the jack. This is based on having done this effectively once, but I think someone else recommended it so that gives it a little more creedence.

Down at Drake Farm I had my front and rear locked and was climbing some wet limestone. The tires started slipping and the XJ went straight left, front and rear at the same time, just walked over sideways about 4 feet as I was spinning rubber. I wound up perfectly centered between two saplings and spinning all four tires. Turning left and right had no effect, and it was all I could do to keep my liftgate out of the rear sapling, so I didn't want to try braking and see if I stayed out of the tree. So I called out the window and someone got the end of the strap on my hood and they hooked it to another vehicle uphill and got tension on it so I could stop. All the while I'm spinning all four tires and floating between the two trees. Yum.

What's EB?

Good point, well I'm used to following YJs and TJs down tight ATV-originated trails here in Indiana, and full widths or semi full will definitly be an issue in some places. The best evidence being the smashed XJ fenders and crushed doors that I pulled back out countless times. But I probably will only drive the truck here once, maybe never. Either way I'm comfortable with running full widths, just that with tires it's not likely that they'll fit on my trailer, and I don't mind shelling out some dough for the front 9, but I don't want to buy a new trailer just to fit an axle width I don't really want. As far as the high 9, that's cool but I think useless for me. Luckily whenever I want to waste money on some I can drop 'em in. They certainly would be a waste here in Indiana, but I've never wheeled in AZ so who knows. Of course I also have to have more money to waste as most of my budget is going into the front axle. No comments on lug patterns?

I ran ez's front and rear and the only problem I had was the rear got water in the diff and the teeth got rounded off. it would just click through when under load and I had to replace it. I'd say for the money they're great.

I always wanted to have a storker! Nice looking find!

I had stock uppers, the bent LCAs and 6+" of lift and my shocks were the limiting factor. The bend does a really good job of increasing your LCA mount clearence. Personally I wouldn't notch until I knew it was a problem. Of course my lower shock mounts were tented after awhile, so I'm not convinced that plate is terribly strong even unmodified.

Yeah, I'd rather go Ford 9s at both ends. They should hold up to the weight of the truck and the 38s. Plus its a shorter explaination... "Yeah, they're Ford Nines front and rear" vs. "Well, it's a Dana 44 Front, with chromolly shafts and D60 outers and a Ford Nine rear." Phew. My signature is alreay full...

Does someone have a vaccum line diagram? I would think if they're related the problem would be upstream of where they're common. I have vents not work because of a total lack of vaccum, and I've had my vaccum plug pop off and I don't recall noticing vent issues while it was off, so I'm guessing that if they're related it's pretty high up. Also I'm not sure I've ever heard any reason not to just permanently connect your axles with a hose clamp... aside from the ability to say "I've got this retro vaccum system working" is there any reason to restore it?

You don't think coming out around 74-78" total is wide enough? 64" axle (?), 10" rims, 5" BS (?), 14" wide tires... Also, question I forgot... what bolt pattern? 5 on 5.5 or Ford 8-lug? And why that pattern.... I have no rims in either pattern except that my tow rig is 8-lug.

I had some of these and they mounted and worked like Pete said. Everybody always says "get adjustable control arms", which have threads in the middle or on the ends so the alignment shop can get your tires perfect. I always figured the one piece would be stronger, but that was until my alignment shop smashed the tube at the elbow straightening it to fix an alignment problem¹. Once the tube is out of round they are a lot weaker, and afterwards I noticed the dent got worse and worse after dragging the LCA over rocks right there, but one never occured in the other arm. The same treatment probably would have folded a stock arm so I wouldn't not buy them because of that. It's possible that the original dent was from rock too, not the shop. I'd like to think they know better but I had both the alignment and a wheeling trip between perfect arms and having a dent and like I said the other arm was never damaged... :dunno:

OK, I'm going with a rear Ford 9" out of an early Bronco. I was going with a full size 9, but our sample truck with tires had 80" from tire outside to tire outside, which is exactly what my trailer width is and I don't want to compensate with backspacing that much. We're guessing the early bronco axle will take a couple inches off each side. I'm planning 5.88s, selectable lockers in both and disc conversion. Hopefully I'll be able to run 38s.. So, ideally, where should I get a front axle from? I'm assuming that Currie or someone can build me a Ford 9" with mounts that fit my Skyjacker lift- where is the best place to buy from? I basically want a ady to bolt in 9. Also I'm going with 9s because we figured doing 60/70 or 70s would be too heavy for the 2.5L. Thoughts? Who should I buy the front from?

Currently I'm planning on going with Ford 9" front and rear with 32 spline shafts. I'm about to post about it so I won't thread jack with my project.

Personally I'm using Skyjacker 8" XJ springs and moving up the rear perch several inches forward. It's mostly because I already have the springs. Somebody else will have to give you better advice. :dunno:

depends on your spring quality too. XJs of course come SOA but if your aftermarket springs are soft you can get permanent axle wrap... there are a lot of factors that influence wrap. personally I just go SOA and don't worry about it. if it turns out there is a problem and that problem is axle wrap, then I'll address it. but you know I don't pretend to know what I'm doing either :dunce:

Hmmm Hmmm. Mixed emotions on that. I'm storing it at a friend's place until January and then he's going to finish it for me and I'll come back around March and get it. I'll bet you donuts to dollars that I'll have bought another Comanche, a "Daily Driver that I just couldn't pass up" by then. Heh heh. But anyway, the #1 goal is to get it and other things out of the garage so I'm happy about that.

I have an alternator lying around. It's got a double V flywheel and came off a 2.8 L don't know if it would help

Sometimes Rusty's buys cheap stuff out of house too. You can't guarentee that just because Rusty's didn't make it it's good - my rear XJ springs from him were total crap and bent the first time out. The spring guy who rearched them said they were the cheapest spring steel he'd ever seen. And ditto the customer service. I wouldn't take Rusty's if he was givin it away.

Yeah I loved my RE coils. They look like the day I bought 'em and I beat them pretty hard under my XJ and they never gave me an issue.