AverageJoe10

Thanks for checking in man! I apologize for the lack of post as my life has been very hectic the past few months. Jeep is doing absolutely phenomenal! I'm actually incredibly impressed with how well it's doing. I use it to commute into Portland, (which is 35min away from where I live) almost everyday. I've been putting a decent amount of miles on it and it seems to be loving it haha. I think one of my favorite things about moving here is that I have at least one person everyday rolls their window down to tell me how cool it is to see an old jeep truck still driving around! Mainers definitely respect the old trucks around here! Unfortunately I haven't had a whole lot of time to work on the truck because I've been so busy at work but I'm hoping come winter time I'll be able to buy another car to commute in during the salt season and then hopefully find a local shop around here that I can work on the truck. We shall see.

Ah gotcha. Sounds like the right way to do it I'm sure she's going to handle great on the trails! Haha well the pictures fooled me! Honestly it's mostly because I compare my MJ to yours and my MJs paint job is pretty rough to say the least Nice to see updates of your progress. Looking forward to seeing more!

Glad to hear the suspension is working out How does she handle in the dirt? Your truck makes me want to repaint mine black instead of going back to red. Your MJ just looks so dang clean

Put on hold for the moment since I just moved but I'm hoping to get to it soon after I'm settled in!

Thanks man! Yeah I'm hoping to start applying for an auto shop here pretty soon. Don't know if I'll get lucky with another cool boss to work on my stuff but we shall see!

Just a little life update. I just moved from Boulder, CO to Portland, ME. Very excited to be living in New England. My girlfriend got a great job opportunity up here that she couldn't pass and it wasn't hard for her to convince me to come with as I love it up in New England. The other good news is that I couldn't abandon the MJ so I towed her with me! She did great! Lots of miles between Colorado and Maine but she towed behind with no problems. I also removed the rear driveshaft and put on the old tires and wheels in the rear to prevent less wear and tear Only downside to all of this, as many of you guys know, is the whole rust situation. Thankfully I've got some time to prep the truck before the salt starts showing up on the road but definitely something I'll have to address soon. Possibly a winter daily to drive? Idk if the GF will be on board with another car but we shall see lol.

Neat trick for the hose holder! Crazy that little things like that make the engine bay look so much cleaner. Great job

I'm definitely lucky enough to have a cool boss who lets me use the shop I work at, to tinker with my own toys on the weekend I like the way you think! Would be nice to actually see some results from hard abuse, where failure points happen, how long it last, etc. I've researched more into it and apparently they are common for spun pinion bearings and bent axle tubes. I used to work at a gear shop and we used to have a method for spun bearings. Maybe if that happens to mine I can try that old method. Also trussing because of the weak center point for that matter too. Regardless I'm definitely gonna give her a go and see how she holds up. Ain't no harm in that!

Thanks man! I'm excited to how it's already turning out. As for the axle, like you said maybe I'll need trussing something in. But we'll see. I appreciate that advice. To be completely honest I didn't know they were looked down on so much. But hey since I already have it all mocked up I'm just going to run it and see what happens. I'm safe on a couple of accounts, one being 31s is the biggest I'm going with tires and two being I have no desire to wheel this thing hard. I want it for more of exploration and mild dirt trails so I can't imagine braking the axle in some way but that doesn't mean it can't happen Like I said I'm just going to run the setup and if I have issues with it I'll excess once I cross that bridge!

Awesome man! Sounds like she's handling really well. She's ready for some track time like the street Comanches

Sweeeeeet upgrade man! I'm very close to getting a D44 swapped under mine as well! Have you driven it since it's been swapped? How's it feel with a rear sway bar?

Your truck looks great man. Really love the overall look you're going for

It is. Aluminum housing

Picked up a rear Dana 44 w/ disc brakes out of a grand Cherokee. 3.73 gears too so it'll match the gearing of the front axle that I put in for the 4wd conversion. Cut and sanded her down.... Then I mocked her up with new perches, tack welded while suspension was loaded on ground, pulled the axle back out and finished welding the perches I still have to rebuild the brakes on this as they are very rusted but that shouldn't take too long. I have the original hard brake lines and calipers too, that I'll install once cleaned up Excited to installed it and get rid of the wimpy Dana 35. I have no desire to put any money into the current rear end. It'll also be a bonus to go from 3.55 to 3.73 gears

Beautiful rig! Any chance you'll trade your bucket seats for a bench seat? lol Interior looks great

Finally got around to some fun stuff on the ol' girl. Installed a 3" Rough Country lift on her! Kit came with 4 new shocks, 2 new front coil springs, and 2 add a leaf rear springs. While I was there I also put on some knock-off front upper and lower control arms on as well. Tops are adjustable, lowers are not. Still have to play with the top adjusters as my caster is way too high at the moment and the front axle looks goofy I'm also SUPER impressed when I was removing all the old suspension components/hardware, everything and I mean EVERYTHING came out no problem. I mean this thing has a very clean rust-free underside and I am very thankful for that. I also installed new upper control arm bushings that press into the front axle and installed a RC adjustable track bar with a drop down bracket that I bought off a dude on Facebook, brand new still in the box for half the price of a new one. Score! Before lift.... And after w/ 31" M/T tires mounted on those beautiful turbines..... Wow! Can't believe with just a small lift, slightly bigger tires on some turbines change the look of this truck so nicely. I am SO happy with the look already and I have so much more planned for this jeep but dang, I gotta say this thing already looks a ton better rolling down the pavement I've already had a few guys flag me down on the street since the lift, complementing the old jeep truck with smiles on there faces. Super cool!

It's totally possible the first cover that broke, the original owner had overtightened the bolts at some point causing stress fractures. Unfortunately I would have no way of knowing as I bought it online.

Nice upgrade! I heard those 7 blades can move some air!

Amc logo. The first one I had the bolt holes on the driver side snapped off when I was torquing the bolts down. It was frustrating because i believe I was not even at 40 in/lbs when they snapped. Granted the cover looked like it had been through many heat cycles and was probably getting brittle. 2nd valve cover I got I set 2 different gaskets on it and it leaked both times. First gasket I put on was the rubber one without rtv. Second one was another rubber gasket with rtv generously applied to both sides and it still leaked I'm sure that they should seal up just fine but for whatever reason I was having no luck with them.

Thanks man! I actually have the relay cover but I'm missing the clips. Been keeping my eye out for them when at the scrap yard but have had no luck. I'll see if I can find a part number on it but from everything I've researched they mostly come from 4 cylinder YJ's and late model 4 cylinder TJ's. I found mine on ebay for $50 with the hardware. Couldn't believe it was that price compared to the others on there asking around $120. Just waited for a good deal and got lucky I guess!

Here's pictures from the top I also put in new battery cables as the old ones were in pretty bad shape.

More fun stuff! I was sick of the little 4 cylinder puking oil everywhere. It looked like it was mostly coming from the front crank seal on the timing cover but I decided to re seal everything else while I was at it. Cleaned up and painted the oil pan and timing cover. Resealed timing cover, new crank seal, new pan gasket, and new aluminum valve cover and gasket HIGHLY recommend the aluminum valve cover over the plastic one if you can find one for the 2.5L. I've had 2 different OEM plastic ones with multiple different seals and they have always leaked. So far I've had not one drop of oil come out from the aluminum cover with the felpro metal/rubber gasket. So I'm pretty stoked about that. Gave the engine block a good ol' craigslist "rebuild" aka brake cleaned and spray painted black So far no leaks at ALL and the engine looks good with most parts clean and painted. Only other seal I'd like to eventually replace is the rear main seal but that'll have to be if ever take out the tranny any time soon.

Yeah that would be the better option but I'll see what I can find. Thanks again

This is good info. Thank you! I'll have to do a little more digging to find where I can locate replacements. I'm still curious if I can use regular brass crush washers

Damn. I was hoping I could just get some new washers. Any idea where I could get some adapters? Realistically I only need the one that is all smashed.