DirtyComanche

And are they any good?

As I've mentioned in a few posts, I'm a little out of touch with what the aftermarket has done for the MJ (and the XJ) in the last 10 years. What is available for fender flares at this point? How well do they fit? Do any allow for spectacular amounts of trimming? And do they hold up to mild abuse? I'm not limited to plastic/rubbery flares. If there's good tube flares around for a reasonable price, I'd like to hear about it. I know Bushwhacker has long since discontinued their "Look at 'em wrong and they break" fender flares that were popular 10 years ago. The new ones sound like they're much more flexible.

If I was going to spend that type of money it would not be on a rear D60, especially not that setup. I will post the long form answer of my reasoning if you want.

I'd run the 8.25" with 33s. Better ground clearance, less weight. Depending what the D60 is out of, it might be a half mile wide too (well, 65"+).

He said 'filler' not 'filter.' :laughin: I believe he means something like this: http://www.speedwaymotors.com/Inline-Die-Cast-Filler-Neck-1-5-Inch-Hose,9010.html Which allows you to run a rad cap even if your radiator doesn't have provisions for one. I used one of these on my old MJ when I went to a remote rad, since I was still using the Renix rad.

http://www.northwestfab.com/NWF-Eco-Box-Billet-Planetary-Doubler-Case_p_2403.html I highly suggest phoning them and talking about you specific application, as they will point out whatever issues you might have. And read the instruction manual before ordering so you know what you're getting into. You need a 10+ ton press to assemble it (they say something like 30, you can get away with less). One thing is they don't (or didn't) offer a 21 spline output. This is okay because you don't want to run that, IMHO, but it means you can't bolt a pre-91 4.0L tcase to them. So what you're going to wind up doing if you're in that situation is taking the input gear out of your 231, and using it as the input gear in the EcoBox. Then if you buy it as a 23 spline output shaft you can bolt up any later NP231J out of an XJ. The EcoBox is just a case that you can put the planetary set out of a NPwhatever aluminum tcase into. It comes with whatever output shaft you need, the shift fork, and a stud/hardware kit and a few other things. You will have to get a tcase to steal the planetary set out of, but you can use the one you have now if you pick up another to use as the 2nd tcase. You will probably have to physically destroy the case half to do this, as not many people have the needed press too to get it out, YMMV. You then need to press the ring gear you stole into the EcoBox, make sure you have the proper press tools when you do this as you do not want to damage it. Then you drop your planetaries and input gear into it, then assemble the two halves of the EcoBox together, figure out your clocking, seal it up, install the input seal housing (also stolen from the donor tcase), and then you can then stick it onto your transmission, and bolt whatever tcase you want to use to the back of it. As I said, I would avoid using a NP231 as the second tcase. If you're gentle with it, it should be okay for at least a while though. Also, they will recommend you use a 6 pinion/planet reduction set in the BlackBox, which I would agree with, however it's far more important that the second tcase has this. You will probably be okay just using a 3 pinion set in the EcoBox, especially if you only plan to use a NP231 behind it. I didn't document assembling my EcoBox very much, as it was fairly straightforward. But there is some threads on Pirate and other places that show it in reasonable detail. Make sure you're up for it before you do it. It isn't hard, but you do need a press. Also you will have to build a shifter setup or buy one, so be prepared for that. For my EcoBox I bought a blank shifter and boot from JB Custom Fab and welded it to the supplied fork adapter, it fits between my center console and the passenger seat tightly, and I had to bend it a bunch in my press to make it just right. My NP205 twinstick setup (pictured in my prior post) is not really relevant to you, I believe you would just have to lengthen the one rod on your stock shifter setup to be able to shift the 2nd tcase. I hope my post makes some sense, I'm supposed to be sleeping right now so I'm not firing on all cylinders.

Yeah, I think the EcoBox is a good deal. I think it's worth it in the long run to just spend a few more bucks rather than messing with the ones where you hack up a regular ol' tcase.

Image Not Found Only picture I have that shows it, but the EcoBox has more material around where it bolts to the tcase, as they left the case at full diameter between the reliefs for the studs/nuts and the shift rail on the other side. Has anyone broke a Behemoth? No idea, don't really care either, since it's now obsolete anyways.

I always like the look for the new style front end. Your paint body work looks amazing too.

I don't want to argue about it, but I've met the guys there and was buying NWF products when they designed the original BlackBox. It was designed around being bolted to a NP205, it's internally nearly the same as a Behemoth, but the case was made stronger around where it bolts to the second tcase, and minimal material was removed to clear the NP205 shifters. This was to avoid problems with having the case break from the weight of the NP205, even though they recommend you run an additional mount on it (you will break most aluminum transmission tailhousings hanging that much weight off them). I never asked him specifically why they made the Titan, as in if guys were having failures, but it's obvious that it's marketed to the big $$/HP crowd. The Titan has not been around for nearly as long as the BlackBox, which makes sense because the big $$/HP crowd is something that's relatively infant compared with tradition rockcrawling.

Who is TMI? The umm, Mad Rooster? design has been cloned and made by various companies over the years. The problem is all of them seem to go broke. So one day you can order one, the next day you can't, the day after that you can get it somewhere else. The EcoBox/BlackBox was really meant to be used with a NP205, it's honestly stupid overkill to bolt a NP231 to it. Of course, they then offered their Titan setup for whatever reason, I'm guessing somebody with 1000HP and 40" tires managed to break a normal BlackBox. Behemoth went out of business too, right?

I think I will order two Bilstein 24-188197 shocks for the front. They should be correct for approximately 3" of lift. Hornbrod used Bilstein 33-185606 for his rear, but I think I will wait and look things over a bit better before I even take a guess at what should fit. I will have to look around and see if I have anything on the shelf anyways, there might be something that is workable. I don't feel that the rear will matter as much anyways.

I figured I'd price steering parts just so I knew what I'd be getting into. I figured out what tie rod parts I needed, or at least I think, from RockAuto. I phoned the local parts places and they quoted me hideous prices, so that's out. Moog ES3096L is the tie rod at the knuckle (outer, as I would call it), DS1312 is the long tie rod piece (inner) that connects to the drag link, and ES2079S is the adjuster sleeve. However some reading I did alluded that the MJ/XJ drag link had changed between 90- and 91+. So I mucked around looking at part numbers, and it has. The thread went from 20mm to 22mm. But, I can't quite figure out what exactly is what, since Moog's site doesn't seem to have a diagram, and Rockauto typically has less than useful descriptions. Moog DS1238 is the long drag link piece with the outer tie rod. IMHO the adjuster sleeve should be the same ES2079S, as that's a 22mm one. The only thing I can figure looking at things is it must be another ES3096L that connects to the pitman arm. Am I right on the P/Ns for both the V8 ZJ stuff and the newer XJ stuff? For comparison's sake, it's $275 + tax/duty to have this stuff to my door. I think I can buy a universal '1-ton' kit from NWF for about the same price, which begs the question of if I want to deal with reaming knuckles and the pitman arm for the sake of going to even bigger components, especially when I don't anticipate ever needing the strength. It would allow me to go to an inverted-T setup though.

Rather irrelevant, but I don't think you can buy a Stak anymore. They went broke, TrailworthyFab (IIRC, Dookey on Pirate) bought up the IP/rights to all their stuff, and since then he hasn't bothered to do anything with most of it. Some people were pestering him to put stuff back into production, but he isn't interested at this point for whatever reason.

Is the TJ bar significantly thicker than the XJ one?

Really digging that look. My JK is the same colour with the same wheels.

If you thread the bolts in by hand with the tstat housing off, and then compare to the housing, it becomes immediately apparent which way they go. Sorry I can't tell you for sure, I just can't quite visualize it.

Other things: Brake lines - I plan to use the Dakota line in the rear, and move the front lines down Steering - I think I'll just order up the ZJ tie rod and call it good enough, I will check if everything else is worn out first or not Rear driveshaft - I don't have one, so it will be a matter of it I want to track down a SYE and go to a CV shaft, or just get one of the random shafts I have lying around cut down and balanced (only $150 or so to do that) Track bar - Whatever the aftermarket one that came with the truck is, I will probably use that. Sway bar - I'll probably redrill to move it forward a bit, and just lengthen the stock links by cutting them off and sleeving them. I have some rod ends lying around that might work too. Shocks - ????? Probably look for a KYB that will work. What have I forgot?

As far as the control arms goes, if my buddy sells his Danger Ranger rather than parting it out (he's on the fence), I think I will make my own. Lowers: Need 2 of these: http://www.barnes4wd.com/Forged-Poly-Joint_p_419.html 2 of these: http://www.ruffstuffspecialties.com/catalog/125TS-SQ.html Half of this set: http://www.tmrcustoms.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=6_52_283&products_id=1251 And 2 jam nuts, and 2 short pieces of 2x2x.250 HSS. I actually have the square adapters, probably the bushing sets (I should), the jam nuts, and the HSS on the shelf. So it would be quite cheap. Uppers: Half of this set: http://www.tmrcustoms.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=6_52_322&products_id=2610 2 of these: http://www.tmrcustoms.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=211_215&products_id=2485 2 of these:http://www.tmrcustoms.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=2_169&products_id=1305 And 2 jam nuts, and 2 short pieces of 1.75x.120 DOM. I have the jam nuts and adapters for sure, I think I used up the last of my 1.75x.120 DOM. Ruffstuff also sells fork dealios for the upper axle mounts, they're less money but aren't threaded (would need to do things a bit different). We'll see.

That's how these things go. I'll be watching for updates. :cheers:

I had two other thoughts on wheels. Buy 1.25" thick 5x4.5 to 5x5 adapters and run stock JK wheels. Why? Because I have a JK. At least then I'm still sticking with two lug patterns across all my vehicles (5x5 and 8x6.5). Then I could unload all my other oddball stuff and help clean the place up. Adapters are about $300 cnd to my door. I have zero issues with spacers or adapters. Anyways, doing this I can get a set of stock take off JK Rubicon wheels and tires for $500~, and in general used tires and JK wheels are easy to find. Or I could buy a set (5) of steel Pro-Comp 16x8s with 4.25" BS locally, asking $500 and I'm sure he would budge. 2000lb load rating, which is probably good enough, and I have some 16" tires around, and 16" tires are easy to find for the most part. I'm leaning towards this route as it would be easy enough.

This is all my opinion based on what I have broken personally, or seen break in person, or a trusted internet source has broken and documented. I would not buy a Teralow kit for the NP231. Yes, people have them and love them. However, they're a total timebomb and their inability to cut the gears correctly means you have to limit input RPM severely in order to get any real life out of them. This straight up does not work in certain situations, as with the 4:1 reduction you are lower than you already want to be some of the time, but high range would still be too high. Specifically I am talking about mud, loose hills, and snow (may not apply to you). The 231 is NOT up to the task of being the case behind a doubler. It is a time bomb in this arrangement. It will live longer with a HD SYE providing the front axle does not have a locker, but a failure is mostly inevitable. If one wants to use an aluminum tcase behind the doubler, a GM or Dodge NP241 would be a decent option, as you get 6 pinion planetaries, a wider chain, stronger case halves, and 32 spline outputs on both ends. One good thing about going this route is it does not weigh much more than a Np231 (231 is say 65lbs dry, 241 is about 80lbs dry IIRC). The length disadvantage of this arrangement is largely irrelevant in a MJ, with the exception of the front driveshaft starting to be longer than what I find comfortable. You will be hacking your floor pretty badly. I have limited use for the D300. The problem with it is that by the time you buy all the upgrades, you are approaching the price of buying a NEW Atlas. However, you can find ones that are already built for pennies on the dollar. The other thing that bothers me about them is if you run them flipped, which you will probably be doing, they tend to leak. As in, I've never seen one that doesn't. The seals for the shift rails were only meant to seal in a little splash oil, and seal out a little splash water and dirt. If you don't care, then fine, for me it bothers me to the point that I couldn't do it. As said, the Teralow gears for the D300 are fine, there is no limitations with using them. The D300 is nice in that it is more compact than the other gear drive options, and does not weigh as much as them (85lbs dry in stock trim, it weighs more with HD outputs). Personally I went with a NWF Ecobox (http://www.northwestfab.com/NWF-Eco-Box-Billet-Planetary-Doubler-Case_p_2403.html) and a Ford NP205. This was because I had a broken NV241DLD to harvest the planetaries and ring gear from, and a couple useless NP231s with my needed 21 spline input gear. This gave me a much stronger setup, which is also more compact than a standard NP231 doubler, and there was no requirement to weld a blockoff into the stock case and risk not having it seal properly. I don't know if anyone is reliably building NP231 doubler kits anymore, everyone that used to do it was out of business when I went looking to buy one. Also NWF is somewhat local to me and charged me in Canadian dollars and shipped it free (not value to you, but it costs me a lot to get stuff out of the US). With the Ford NP205 I get 32 spline outputs on both ends, twinstick capabilities, I don't have to run it flipped, and it's super strong. Unfortunately I wound up cheaping out when it came to driveshafts and bought 1310CV yokes for it, in the long run I'm guessing I will regret this move. The penalty on this setup is it is very heavy, with the NP205 being about 140lbs dry and the doubler itself being about 50lbs, and it became fairly hard to package as I wanted to preserve ground clearance and wound up cutting my floor out badly, modifying my seats quite a bit, and it needs a second mount to help control the weight. Oh, I also had to cut a massive hole in the tcase itself and weld a plate over it, since Ford has a very awkwardly placed mount boss 'thinger' on the top of the case. And building the shifter setup took a fair amount of time and headscratching. At the end of the day the Rubicon case seems like an easy and cost effective way to go.

Sounds about right for light driving. I wouldn't be bragging if something lasted that long though. My '11 JK only has 23000km on it. I'm not bragging about JK longevity based on my personal testing. :rotf:

I've bought from them 5 or so times. Only one minor screwup, which turned out to not matter at all (they shipped something the same day when I wanted them to wait a week). I know some people don't like them for whatever reason. They seem to have a decent deal on RE stuff, and have some pretty oddball things in stock.

I was just going to buy the Procraps through T-Dot, people can say what they want about them, but I always price check and most of the time they're basically the same deal as getting it from the US but with way less hassle. But for comparison, I could buy these from Summit: http://www.summitracing.com/int/parts/crr-3995812/overview/ Basically the cheapest Soft 8 that would work. They're silver, which is cheaper than black for some reason. They're still $440 cnd for 4 by the time they get to my door, assuming that all taxes/duties/fees are actually paid upfront as the shipping calculator implies. The advantage of the Soft 8 is it is actually rated for 2200lbs, 400lbs a wheel more than the Procomps. And they're silver, which I haven't decide if that looks better than black, since black is played out. If they were a darker silver, more a charcoal or gunmetal colour, I think I would be all over them.