DirtyComanche

I measured my front, axle tube to frame rail... 17". That means about 9-10 of lift? I'm going to need some coils that come out to 8" lift for my front at some point here... Who said designing a front 3-link is hard?

I'll admit it, I have a myspace. But it's not going up here since there's a picture of me in a stipper suit on it. Although, if any of you guys are sick enough, you could find it.

I wouldn't drive it in the winter... I have a CTD to be my actual DD/winter driver. If I get a MJ to make into a street truck, I'd want it to be nice. The winters here quickly reduce vehicles to NOT being nice. So it'd just be a 6 month of the year thing, or something...

So the ZJ one does fit? I'd have tried one before buying anything aftermarket. No tube bumper, would probably just make a roll pan out of aluminum. Not technically legal, but w/e. As long as it looked alright. Thanks for the warning on the glass hood's weight.

I've heard that before. But I don't think I'd ditch the inner bed, I'd want it still to be functional, at least reasonably. Power plant options aren't totally though out. Buick 3.8 turbo, the more modern EFI 3.8 (like jeepco's), or a 4.3L vortec perhaps. Also on the potential list includes a LT1, or a regular SBC. Both the V8s present other problems. But, it's all hypothetical so it doesn't really matter... Couldn't tell you for sure on the tranny either.

Lower =/= smaller tires. Not really at least. The stockers rocked 215/75R15s and 225s. I could fit those with a dropped truck with the suspension that I'm talking about. I can go to a reasonably wide tire too. It's not as big of a deal as an off-road truck where the tire moves all over the forking place as the suspension travels. At least, from what I've seen other jeeps with similar drops running. OD ratio would be somewhere in the name of .71 - .78. Not a huge difference. I only cruise at about 130-140 hm/k, the limit legally is 110. TNT would go about 10% lower in the gear ratio than me, but that's not a huge difference again. Like I said, I'd be in the rounds of 2400 in OD there. And FWIW right now I'd not be running a AMC I6 engine - they can't rev and that bothers me.

Very pricey though. But on a AWD rig there'd be decent gains from doing both. Although, maybe not? 6061-T3 tubing isn't that expensive, it's just if the ends are? I'd run the slip yoke in the rear since the NP242 sees no strength gain to a SYE, which makes for a cheaper/simpler driveshaft. However, the front would need a slip. It also comes down to te power output nunbers, because that would dictate my driveshaft size... It might be an idea for me to call tom woods/JE Reel/1-ton CV and see if they do aluminum and for how much?

The early WJ brakes would warp the rotors. They would however fit in a 15" rim. I'd probably run 16" rims at least anyways.

How are you doing that? The design (factory "z") requires it to have a pivot point to work. I tried to adjust it to not have to be in that support, but the bracket just "tweaks" under movement and won't allow enough lateral movement to move the lever on the actual TC itself... Haven't a clue how mine actually works, now that I think about it. But I did tweak the bracket to make it work a little better...

I guess I could save a few pounds and maybe my back with some aftermarket seats. The stockers feel like they're 50lbs each...

I doubt I'll wreck it. The stock one on my other D44 is hammered in pretty good, but it's not touching the ring gear.

I think they were going to slow. Or at least I know my spotter would be telling me that.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q2y8dSWZ ... ted&search I would love to see a so-called 'tough' toyota truck survive that.

You all must put way too much faith in your spotter. I know mine is :nuts: so I don't pay him too much attention.

The WJ had larger brakes. AFAIK you have to run the WJ knuckles to use them. Which makes life a little harder.

Really? Mine are siped like mad, and I can walk through icy conditions with them that leave every other tire going sideways (at least off-road tire).

Something I can DD but have fun with... Decent power, AWD, and a lower curb weight than stock. So no removing the glass or entire bed. As tempting as it is. Lexan isn't street legal and won't survive wipers. But it'd be tempting for the rear window as it doesn't get abused. The HVAC/Dash can be removed/simplified, or entirely rebuilt, but looking at the stock parts there is little weight to be saved there if I want to keep a reasonable amount of fucntionailty. I should have weighed all the parts I took out of my trail rig. There is glass front fenders and a hood avaliable, AFAIK. They'd be worth a few pounds but would cost a considerable amount. And I haven't done the math on the gear ratio, but I doubt it would be that bad for top speed. I doubt any tires I put on it would be height wise smaller than stock (at least, not by much). 50mph = 80km/h. My MJ with 3.07s and a 5spd would tach about 2400rpm at 130km/h. That'd be like 3600rpm at 130km/h. But I'm not sure just yet. My transmission choice would be part of it...

I was thinking similar things. OTher than I'd use a LWB. In the front I thought I'd use the V8 ZJ coils and hack them until I got about a 2" drop, and maybe about 170lbs rate. And use the ZJ anti-sway if it'll fit (not sure on that one). And probably use the WJ brakes/knuckles if I could get them. Otherwise, I'm not sure. And add a truetrac (have one on the shelf) and 4.56 gears. For the rear I think I'd use one of my isuzu 12Bs. They're lighter than an 8.8, have 4.56s, limited slip, larger than D44 axle shafts and disk brakes. And a sway bar. And probably a 4-link and mount the gas tank differently/elsewhere and use some cut down TJ rear coils. It should be lighter than leaf springs, and maybe better... I was thinking poly bushings for the front suspension too. But, any good ideas on weight reductions? Wheels obviously. Perhaps removing the factory carpet/sound deadening and replacing with dynamat (is it lighter, hmm?) and lighter carpet.

Who has done what? Handling improvements? Braking improvements? Weight savings? All around drive-ability? Just looking for ideas.

Mine doesn't stay in the mount (It can't, raised tcase) so I adjusted it so it'd work that way and called it good.

Your NSS is going.

Nope. In my entire life I've only bought one set of tires new. And they were for my cutlass supreme.

I like the BFG A/Ts. They're a good tire. I think a MT/R in that size might also work well for you - but they make a bit more noise.

I can be really helpful and tell you if you have a GM HEI dist it's the one labelled " - ". :popcorn:

I've seen pics of your rig before... Looks pretty good.