DirtyComanche

My street handling is horrible. If I was to do it over again, I'd probably do it right. I mean, 0* caster and a very strange steering setup doesn't make for the best driver experience. And horrible shocks don't help... If I was driving it a bunch, I'd definatly not do front leafs. But that's me. In all my experience, a half decent coil setup will outdrive leafs anyday. Oh, there's hidden costs. Highsteer (you need it anyways), longer driveshaft, new shocks, more steering components, etc etc. Ohyeah, I have waggy fronts. Sits maybe at 8, 8.5". Who knows. It could be made to sit down a lot better. You'd jsut have to notch the frame. Which is actually a good idea. But front leafs are a toyota thing. Not a jeep thing. Mine are going to be changed...

They're all the same, AFAIK.

It was a pile in other ways too. The 231 was an update in almost every way. How'd you do that?

An AMC 20 is easy to ident. It's got a big, perfectly round cover, with bolts all the way around it. There's lots of aftermarket for it... It came in the CJ for many years, so pretty much anything you want can be had. I think a guy can even buy a full floater kit for one... Truss the $#!& out of it if it is one. They have weak tubes. And they like to spin too.

FWIW, hamsters have a great power to weight ratio.

It's me who has them... I have the SWB (look in the other thread), LWB, XJ, and YJ all kicking around. Plus the bracket detail drawings for the bed. Oh, and the SJ grand cherokee if somebody really cared. They aren't very useful diagrams though, as they are ment to be used on a frame alignment machine, and only show dimensions for the alignment points.

I hate the stock one. And I don't have provisions for a speedo. Or fuel gauge. Or any of the other crap on it (HVAC, all the lights and $#!&). So it's not going back in. And the stock gauges need to be in a sealed housing or they will fill up with stuff and stop working. Short term I could make it work (and maybe should). Long term it won't work. Since my truck fills with dust/dirt/trees every wheeling trip.

As an update on my stand still.... I'm really frusterated. It seems just the simple act of buying parts is impossible. 1/4NPT to 3/8 SAE fitting? No can do. Nobody stocks those. 1.25" exhaust tubing? Nope, doesn't exist. And I need to buy new gauges... I tried to re-use the stockers, but I'd need to build a highly complicated housing. I'd love to buy el-cheapos, but apparently they don't sell them in electric versions. I hate mechanical gauges. The avaliable electric gauges are, IMHO, overpriced. A water temp gauge is going to cost me over $100. Really sweet. And I'm stuck buying a bunch of water hose at about $7/foot. What a PITA.

Input bearing. Or it's a tranny problem.

O yea? Theres a reason I have been lurking on here for months before I actually joined, gotta learn from others experiances/mistakes :D Don't get me started. I could write a 10000 word essay on how not to build a jeep.

I should have done that a long time ago.

Hmm. $200 sounds steep. I bet there's damage to the motor/tranny/tcase at that point. And you sure as hell ain't taking the body panels from that thing.

They look like every TSL swamper I've ever seen.

It is rare for us to get a tow rig stuck in the summer (hence taking pictures), but in winter the 2bys are really limited. I got a friend to tow me back with his pile of a 2wd 6.5 chebby, we wound up cocked over sideways in a ditch after it gave up on a hill. Then it's the unload the truck to pull the other truck out routine. We also sometimes tow up the FSRs to get to a base camp or trail head, and FSRs aren't designed for a 2wd truck to be towing on. The first time you really get in a bind where 4wd made the difference on getting out or waiting a night, the extra money doesn't seem at all bad. That gravel pit has inconsistant sand because they move it around a lot.

I have (had?) an el-cheapo clarion that looked alright (as in didn't scream 'I'm an attention lady of the night'). It's really annoying that nobody that makes stereos seems to understand the 'function before form' thing, or that it doesn't have to light up like a carnival and play a retarded movie.

The problem with the factory ones is they aren't exactly strong. And they're ment to flex to a certain extent. Actually, a bunch. Anyways, it won't fail where you welded it together, rather where the bracing ends. That is the stress point. Typically in time they will crack from there.

How thick is the tube on the lowers? They don't look like they'll be an issue, IMHO. You might bend them on a rock, but WTH. The uppers might be f'd... Did you put something inside them for extra bracing? You can actually lengthen an upper arm and not have it fail (NAXJA twats wouldn't know) but I'm not about to condone ever doing it.

Oh, right. Most people seem to not do them themselves? Actually, I had one done once because it cost me $19. And them seemed way better than trying to un-seize all the TREs.

The moral of the story is 'don't buy a 2wd tow rig'. Even if it is a sweet d-max.

Going home after wheeling on saturday... Everyone else is loaded up, and we look back to see this. Image Not Found Image Not Found Luckily jeeps are awesome. Image Not Found Image Not Found

Get it all hooked up and take a quick visual. It'll probably be decent, and then you can go get an alignment. If it drives bad, take a closer look at things.

Sure, that'll work. Other than they're 'wrong' IMHO. You want a panhard (track) bar to be mounted as high as possible on both ends, and as close to flat as possible, and on the same plane as the axle (perpendicular to the frame). The 'high as possible' part is important for roll axis. Anywho, you really have to try it and see. Sometime the drag link and track bar are pretty decent without changing it. And it's always kinda weird with an inverted-Y setup. That and the front suspension geometry is always kinda kooky.

While you're in there, yukon chromo shafts are cheap

More importantly you might need to raise the track bar mount...

I don't know much about spark plugs, but it looks like you had some nasty pre-ignition or perhaps FOD, which obliderated the plug and then it was followed by carbon fouling as that cylinder wouldn't run worth $#!& (probably didn't even fire half the time). The lean condition on the other plugs is possibly related because a cylinder not firing messes with the O2 sensor readings. While it doesn't matter as much on water cooled engines, any chance the plug was dropped/smacked before install? If you break the insulator they don't shed heat correctly and can cook themselves... It's more apparent in an air cooled engine.