Blue88Comanche

Yes, by counting drive shaft revolutions. But: Start at the beginning. Your truck was originally a 2WD. What year, what engine, what transmission? Then you converted it to 4WD. Did you swap both the front and rear axles, or only the front? Are we to understand that you swapped in one or both axles without even knowing what ratio the gears are? What year truck did the "new" axle or axles come out of, what engine did it have, and what transmission? And then we need to know where you want to go with it. If you have to weld new spring perches for the rear axle, the new perches have to be positioned correctly to establish the pinion angle. A few posts above, you asked that that should be. The answer is "It depends." It depends on how much lift you will have, because the amount of lift affects the angle of the drive shaft in the chassis. The spring perch location and pinion angle would be different if you're going to stay at stock height than if you're going to go a SOA conversion. my truck is an 87, 4.0 inl 6 2wd. the donor truck was a pioneer. don't recall what year it was. it had same engine 4.0 i swapped both axles and transmission, yea w/out knowing ratio's. at the time i wasnt concerned on what ratio's i got as long as they matched. seeing i were using the original axles from the same truck. I'm not sure what trans i got from the donor, but i think its a 231 cause i have the 2hi, 4hi and 4 low. are there marks on the tranny that i could check. also my t-case is from an xj so don't know if the tag on that will match the trans no luck on the tags, they were gone. so will pull the cover and check. and how do go about making sure the pinion angles is correct, auto or manual transmission? "I'm not sure what trans i got from the donor, but i think its a 231 cause i have the 2hi, 4hi and 4 low. are there marks on the tranny that i could check. also my t-case is from an xj so don't know if the tag on that will match the trans" what? That TC sounds like a NP231.

the discount is put in at check out, the code is comancheclub. it should take off 10% I have the MT leaf packs and like them, they sit about 1-1.5 inches above stock. and my 31s fit just fine

only on armslist lol

while you are looking at the rear suspension under your truck its a great time to change the diff oil that has most likely never been changed, while the cover is off look on the ring gear for a stamp marking that shows something like 41 10 then divide the small number into the big one and you have your gear ratio. also while the oil is being drained see if it is sparkling (means lots of ware) and you can also inspect the carrier and gears for wear or damage. the oil change will only take a few min of your time and is worth the effort. a exploding diff is what started my gear change.

I pumped it several times before I even got on the road, they delivered to our business near their shop but I could not get it till well after they where closed. after I got off the main road and parked I checked for leaks, fluid level, and vacuum connection to the booster. tried the breaks a several times, but it would go to the floor. all I know is the brakes worked perfectly before they messed with it. They did leave it at one of the few parking spaces with a curb to park up against....

pics are not working for me on thic pc, but it looked like it was part of the factory set up.. again take a look under your truck. i am done for today as 20 min ago the brakes went out on my MJ (the emergency bypass line and manual transmission saved my tail tonight) as i was headed home, and i am waiting on a tow truck...

normally i agree but to replace the front carrier requires the brakes to be removed the reservoir is full and the bypass line does in fact work

Well I got the jeep back tonight. So it's raining, dark, and the windshield wipers aren't working 100% and as I come up to my first red light the petal goes to the floor and the rear locks up. Thank God for manual transmissions! I was bearly able to stop. And I was safely ably to get in the gas station parking lot. A tow truck has been dispatched and will take 90 min. So while I am waiting.... A front elocker was installed, the front brakes had to me removed from the axle to remove the shafts. I was not leaking fluid, and the brake fluid was full. The brakes where working the other day. Just not after the work that has been done. Any thoughts?

How much of a lift are you looking to get? The potential replacement axle will contribute to the about of lift you get in a SOA conversion. If you go SOA get some oversized / longer spring perches they should help with axle wrap. As for the axle diffs, some XJs came with the trac-Lok limited slip, it's clutch based VS the True-Trac gear based. Most ford 8.8 came with trac-Lok but they are narrower and would require wheel spacers or aftermarket rims. An added bonus to the 8.8 is they can be had with disc brakes.

that's how i plan to mount mine when i eventually get one. also a full sized shovel will fit in the same manner is that a 40mm ammo can? what do you store in it. I was planning to get a couple .50 cal and .30 cal ammo cans for dry and tool storage.

a TJ is a second generation jeep wrangler

Are you converting to spring over axle

The spring plates for our trucks are the lower shock mounts. I will get a pic for you when I can or just take a look under your jeep. MJs are spring under axle, XJs are spring over axle

Have you even looked at the suspension under your truck? The rear shock mounts are welded to the axle on XJs. On MJs the shock mounts are part of the spring retainer plates. seeings i converted it to 4wd, yea ive seen my suspension. it did, might swap both idk yet. depending on what you all say is whether or not I'm swapping axles or buying a truetrack. either way i am eventually going to do that SOA, just wanted to know if i needed to fabricate my own shock mount to weld on the axle or if i could buy them. what is your current setup? engine, trans, and what not. It will all depend on what gears you want to go to. for example if you have the 4.0 and a manual transmission then odds are you have 3.07 gears. if you wanted to step up to say 3.55 gears then it would be cheaper to find a XJ in the junk yard that had the 4.0 and auto trans, odds are it had 3.55 gears. the front axle will be a direct swap (if you hace a CAD on the current axle the vac lines will need to be capped), the rear axle will need the spring perches cut off and relocated and the xj shock mounts will also need to be cut off. my local Pick and pull sells jeep axles for $90 out the door per axle, and a shop may charge about $100-$150 for the perch relocation. so for about $280 to $330 i could have gone from 3.07 gears to 3.55 and for the most part i can do all the work. The other option is to buy the gears (and carrier if needed) and have some one install and set up the gears. I just had this done in my MJ and the total cost was about $2,100 for 2 sets of 4.11 gears, master rebuild kits for both axles, Dana 30 E-locker, Dana 44 open diff carrier ( I have an aussie locker), and labor. :ack: Just realized how much i spent....

workaround, jig, hack, it gets similar results in a different manner is all i was stating. :cheers: Did y'all get any snow down there last night? We got about 6" with more coming tonight. :eek: Very un-Bama weather... no snow, just rain and 40F weather. I agree this weather is very unusuall :hmm: I am getting the MJ back today thankfully. If the Roads ice over the Charger gets parked till its nice and warm again, and the MJ becomes primary for any required driving.

workaround, jig, hack, it gets similar results in a different manner is all i was stating. :cheers:

I agree, but The torque ratings are very close, I think the only reason the 231 is stronger than the 242 was the fact the 242 has the "open" center diff. I have the 242 in my jeep and now that both front and rear axle ratios match again i will be leaving it in Full time 4wd.. One thing to consider is the D30 U-Joints on sharp turns can jerk the steering wheel when in any 4wd mode. I converted over to CV joints to solve that problem. by open center diff you mean when it in AWD right and not the part time 4x4. yes when in AWD mode the 242 acts like a open center diff, when in Part time 4wd mode it will be locked

you could rig an extended idle switch onto the RENIX era jeeps. granted you loose ac when in this extended idle state, but if you add a switch to the ac clutch circut so the ac does not kick on the ecu is set up to anticipate extra load and adjust the idle accordingly. I discovered this when i had the ac clutch wire disconnected and the ac set to defrost, the jeep would idle high till it was set to a function that did not use the ac compressor,

I agree, but The torque ratings are very close, I think the only reason the 231 is stronger than the 242 was the fact the 242 has the "open" center diff. I have the 242 in my jeep and now that both front and rear axle ratios match again i will be leaving it in Full time 4wd.. One thing to consider is the D30 U-Joints on sharp turns can jerk the steering wheel when in any 4wd mode. I converted over to CV joints to solve that problem.

what engine does your jeep have? If its got the 4.0 I-6 then using the coil springs from a 2.5 I-4 jeep will lower the front.

I never noticed that in the WK I had what year was your JK? Sadly my charger does not have the EVIC Display. If i had thought about it i could have asked the dealership to change that if possiable on LX platform. I just had work done to it today.

Took the Charger up to the Dealership for a few things, recalibrated the speedometer, oil change, fixed the fog lights, rotated and balanced the tires.

Got the call from Steve's off road, my Comanche is ready for pick up! can't wait to get it!

So this all started with the front diff, but the thread has migrated to the rear diff. Just to clarify do you want to swap the front or rear? XJ front axles are bolt in. TJ and ZJ axles will also bolt in but are low pinion.

Well both times I spoke with their tech support regarding the activation code, they stressed over and over make sure the engine was running. I would rather pay a few dollars in gas vs a new head unit.