DirtyComanche

Gonna move the gas tank?

The boosters are crap. If you've got a soft pedal and can't find anything else obviously the matter, the booster is probably piling up.

Shave the 14B and it'll be great.

There's enough restriction in the stock downpipe to provide for low-end exhaust scavenging. As long as it's got that crushed part in it to clear the D/S. Besides, do a couple more intake side mods and it won't matter if the exhaust flows way gooder.

Smart guy with a good gimmick. Or he's just REALLY pissed off.

Er, I need the performance one.

Can I get it online somewhere? I tried looking at the mopar site but it was way too much "Oh, plastic jeeps are so awesome and you need fake rock rails for them and while you're at it buy a neon because they're really fast" and I never actually managed to find if they have a sensible product listing or not, or if you could just download a whole catalouge that had things listed in a LOGICAL fashion, say by make and model of engine/vehicle or something. It's all glitter and no go.

I think he's asking both. Build one like the rear half of my exo. Bolt it to the bed with plates, but on the other side have another plate and tube to tie it into the frame. Then it won't come off.

It's a neat rig and a lot of work. It weighs a TON though.

Actually, I think if he had a gear drive for the timing he'd be okay for close to that. But apparently the crank goes somewhere around 6300.

You're probably better off with the explorer axle. But that's IMHO. See what one costs in your area first. It's not a bolt in. The spring perches are in the wrong spot and are SUA from the factory. There's also some anti-sway bar funk on the axle. So, there's a few things that need to be cut off. Then you'll need to weld on new perches. Weld the axle tubes around their perimeter to the centre section at the same time. I had a machine shop do my previous 8.8 entirely. Removed old stuff, welded on new stuff. Cost about $100. But I did supply the spring perches and told them where to put them. You'll also need shock mount brackets too. Rusty's off-road sells both at a reasonable price too (much as I dislike them).

There's a reason why people don't use those axles very much. Something to do with parts availability.

It's not there. Looks like he f'd up his ad. However, I DOUBT it's a 2.8 or 2.5. Just look at what he lists. And I doubt it's a 4.0L either. I'm thinking it's a mopar V8, just judging by the decals and the ram. Probably a 360. Somebody could ask though. I'm too lazy to try to remember my ebay password.

I have actually seen rockcrawling on stiff leaf springs that will simply amaze people. It's all about making the tires that you have on the ground work, because there's probably only ever going to be 2 of them at most. Obviosuly there's a limitation to that. Torque loading on individual parts is higher. And you've got less tire on the ground to provide traction. Not to mention that you're horribly hard on the body. But it can be made to work. The winner of the last werock event in my area ran leafs on all 4 corners. (That was pro-mod class I guess, one step down from the top buggy class?) Besides, a free lift is no big deal if it doesn't come out so great. After all, you're only out time and sweat.

Front or rear? I won't say they suck entirely. They have their uses. And mud has nothing to do with articulation IMHO. Large tires with paddle tread and a lot of power... That's all you need. Stiff leaves work better than soft ones because you won't run any risk of wrap on the harder stuff. On the soft stuff you don't need travel because the idea is to just hammer accross it without ever sinking. You'll drag the diffs and bury yourself onto the frame before you'll need any more wheel travel then leafs provide. And my leaves flex quite well, and don't wrap. I made statments about how they did not impress me before, and in a lot of ways they still don't, but I have resolved a few of the issues and found the reason for a few others. Not to knock link suspension. My leaves will come off at some point. I already have the axles to do it...

Uhm... 8.8" has 1.31" shafts and a XJ/MJ D44 has 1.31" shafts. The 8.8 tubes do neck down to 2.75" just before they enter the brake housings. The XJ/MJ Dana 44 has the same 2.75" axle tubes as well. Rather than welding the tubes on the 8.8 into the diff housing, the tubes are just held in with pressed-in plugs. These plugs tend to stop doing their job under severe stress. It can be fixed by welding the tubes or trussing it. But since we are comparing STOCK axles I won't give you that.... Also, one thing to note is that the 8.8 uses a pinion flange instead of a pinion yoke like most Dana axles. . Okay, I'm wrong on the shafts. I thought they were 1.32". Got confused with the 26 spline crap I run. However, what's the neckdown diameter on a D44? If they're anything like the front D44 stuff, I bet the stock 8.8 shafts are still better. Welding the tubes to the housing is done when you change the spring perches. Unless you're an idiot. So, if I was wheeling an explorer I'd certainly be worried. But since I would have no inclination of doing that, I'm not. Oh, 8.8 tubes are thicker, IIRC. But I may be wrong on that too (lots of the D44s use very thin tubes). And the pinion flange design is better than a yoke. I'd forgotten about that. A u-bolt yoke isn't too bad, but a strap yoke is only worthy of the trash bin. However, the flange design works better - at least IMHO.

Not bad for around here. That front D60 would sell for $1400-1800 complete. The rear is worth $200-250 about.

I dunno, this opsled guy seems to have a bone to pick. Okay, maybe he's had some whiney customers. Fair enough. Why's he taking my hatred of UPS personally? Who cares if they're an American company, I'd hate them equally if they were Canadian. Everything I said about UPS was regarding brokerage and how they sent a package around the continent for me. Brokerage is set by them, as was said. If something is shipped to me by USPS I am charged something like $8 is brokerage fees. Which I will gladly pay. And FWIW, I have never ASKED to have a package shipped to me with gift status. Paying 13.5% tax on anything isn't great, but it's not going to kill me. However, twice it has been offered to me (if they want to, sure) and once something was shipped to me as being parts for a 1968 chevy, which mysteriously enough makes it tax exempt. I didn't ask for it, I had to call the guy back and thank him (besides, he makes excellent parts). But, I don't want to argue this. If my point isn't made here, it never will be.

The explorer 8.8 IS a stronger axle, there's no theroy about it. Although, I'm sure we could get a 10 page debate. I hate to admit it but sterling makes a better 1/2-ton axle than dana does. 8.8 shafts are bigger. 8.8 ring gear is bigger. 8.8 pinion is bigger. 8.8 axle tubes are stronger (than most D44s). There is drawbacks about it. It's a hair narrow, and you'll need 1-1.5" spacers for it to track even. It has c-clips, which aren't that big of a deal - there's a sweet kit to remove them. The stock cover is useless sheetmetal. And it hangs rather low and chunky. Oh, it's way heavier than it needs to be. I payed about $500 (out of a wrecker, not a you-pull) for my 8.8 with the gears I wanted and a limited-slip. All in good shape but a leaky axle seal. Amusingly enough, when I got rid of it I sold it for more than that actually. But there was a good reason for that (I gave him extra brake parts and the wheel spacers). D44s aren't a bad rear axle though. But don't pay $700! If you want it to be cheap, the full size grand wagoneers had ones that were a little narrow and the wrong bolt pattern. Pay about $150 tops! But you could get 6x5.5 to 5x4.5 conversions spacers to fix both problems at the same time (IIRC, I had found them). However, the gear ratio will be undesirable (3.07 or 3.31) and they come with drum brakes. Just things to think about.

Get off your high horse.

And they suck either way.

So, I've been running this thing and stuff. The rad and fans seem to work. I had my propane tuned and the idle circuit in the mixer is f'd. But the power valve is alive... So, I'll need another mixer. However, since the power valve did work, it does run and drive fine other than it bogs off idle and runs a little rich the rest of the time. However, something happened that I'm wondering about... I was in 4LO driving around on the pavement and put my foot down. It bogged, then went like mad (okay, seems as it should). I watched the tach and it hit 7200. Is it even possible, or is my tach out? It's a cheaper gauge (equis). It pulled hard the entire way and definatly sounded like it might have been running that many revs... I've had this engine to 6000ish on missed shifts, but never THAT high. Maybe I'd better do it with the camera on...

I like how those rims came out. I had a set that I was going to do that to, but they wound up going to the aluminum scrapper in the end (I didn't see the money, too much stuff around so I gave them away). If I get a nice MJ, I'll have to do that.

So, where's the pics? Or pics of something like it... If there's more than one, there's gotta be a photo somewhere.

Your XJ have a decent drivetrain? 4.0, Aw4 or AX-15...? You're simply not thinking outside the box here. You can combine them and not give up the XJ, but have a badass MJ at the same time.