DirtyComanche

I made the mistake of trying to help somebody (that was stuck in the bush) that I don't know... End result is I didn't have my DD for 3 days and now there's glass all over the interior :headpop: But, you should be able to trade the ranger for a MJ if you keep your head up and your eyes open.

Yeah, other than you're at least partially wrong. Pipe is measured by the ID - sorta. It's based on a system that has been around for 90 years or something, and they varied the wall size over time as metalgury improved - resulting in an ID being close to the said size of the pipe. That is, providing you're talking about steel pipe. Brass, aluminum, plastics, etc are all different. And as to of pipe NOT being a structural steel - you're again at least partially wrong. There's many different types of steel pipe; most are rated on all the same points as the more commonly accepted (by the 4x4ing comunity) tubing. Probably the most common steel pipe you will see is ASTM A53 'A' or 'B' pipe - which is rated as being about 80% as strong as HREW tubing on every point. (The B type is stronger than the A) THIS PIPE IS USED IN STRUCTURAL APPLICATIONS EVERY DAY. Think buildings. I'm not advocating the use of pipe (that's up to you) but I don't like to see the standard "pipe is for poop" or "it's not structural" BS spewed all the time.

Yeah... They're about 18ga. Umm, personally, I'd skip the front leafs. It has a lot of headaches. Go look at my thread - it shows about half of the stuff I wound up building to make it work. Not to mention all the money I have in my steering now... Oh, and the tires rub because the axle is only 61.5" wide and the springs are on a 32" centre. You can't really inboard the springs any farther - so if you want to run a big tire you need a really low BS rim. A 35x12.5 on a 15x8 with 3.5" BS did not clear to full steering. A 37x12.5 on a 15x8 with 3.5" BS didn't clear either (oh - the suprise!). But given that I've done it once, I know I could do it again and have it work 10X better.

That floor... Wow.

6" of lift and you need LOTS of $#!& for the front end. Like, long arms... For a start.

How many people here have run a front spool? They don't drive bad. It's a little odd. But I had my crash course in driving with a front spool on an icy road with a dusting of snow. I'm still here... It just tends to cause a front wheel skid if you crank the steering to hard. You also can get the front tires to scream on dry pavement... But it drives FINE on dry pavement (other than the noise) and on a dirt road/trail it's never a problem. Other than the heavy steering. But I made a run with just regular ol' power steering. Yes, my arms hated me and I had to do some creative wiggling in places. If I had a better scrub radius it wouldn't be as bad. Although, I'd still never recommend it without hydro-assist. Anyways, the difference between a full carrier locker and a lunchbox locker is that a full carrier replaces your carrier and the lunchbox goes in the carrier. You have to set the clearances right on a lunchbox, or they'll be REALLY harsh/won't lock - even then sometimes people can't get them to stop ratcheting badly. On the other hand, some people have zero issues with them and find they work fine on the street and off road. A lunchbox locker is considerably weaker than a full carrier locker, and IMHO no where near as good. FWIW, an bad lunchbox locker will potentially cause failures because the locking action is so harsh and tends to shockload parts rather badly. With 36s or 37s on a D44 with stock shafts/joints I would probably count on there being a failure sooner rather than later. Not that a spool would be a help... And on the subject of upgraded axleshafts, there's really very little to know. For a D44 they're all pretty much the same - other than superior rolls their splines which is slightly better. Mostly it's a cost difference (yukons!). You'll want upgraded u-joints too (CTM, OX, Superior, and there's a few other brands). Which is better? Hell if I know - they're all stronger than the outers or hubs on a D44 - so it is kinda moot. Personally I have Yukons and superior joints.

The box4rocks is cheaper and better made than the madrooster unit... If anyone cares.

The titan stroker he speaks of using is a 4.0 stroked out to about 4.6L using an AMC258 crank, and some other stuff. As another little opinon - I'd never buy a 4.0 stroker. Maybe build one. But I doubt it. Not worth it, IMHO.

Ever seen, umm, what's the show it's on speed channel. Hmm. Fawk. Somethin-or-other customs or something... Anyways, they do 'work' on vehicles, as in blingin' rims, audio/interior, and highly expensive and decorative bolt on parts. But, they spary-paint the plastic interior peices. Using plastic spray paint. It @#$%s up sometimes, but normally looks decent. I'd be pretty pissed if I was paying some goons $100/hour (or more) to spraypaint some plastic though. But, the short answer is you can and it can look decent. Don't go too wild on the colours.

Or just don't use 4wd... I ran around with 3.07 front and 4.10 rear for a while.

Pfffffffffffffffft. I LOVE my front spool! But I have hydro-assist. Oh, and I hated it when I didn't! And I have a LSD in the rear and keep talking about welding it. Just never get around to it. It sucks compared to a spool - even though it's a very stiff LS.

Nope.

Looks like what I need.

I'd just go at it with a total disdain for anything... Take some WD-40.

I have dual taurus fans.

Is it really that clean?

Even then they seem to hold up... There's guys on naxja that ran them out of oil and it didn't kill them :nuts:

I don't know what type of carb they used, but I'm almost tempted to say they put quadrajets on those engines. If not, it's a standard square bore setup. Either way, there's two routes... Dual fuel - This limits you to finding an Impco 300A mixer - which are quite commonly found in junkyards on dual fuel vehicles (look for work vans and work trucks). AFAIK they're all the same other than some updates over the years. They simply bolt to the top of the existing carb. You then need a lock-off valve for the gas line (electric). And you'll want an impco model E vapourizer/regulator with an electric lockoff valve. A tank and some liquid/vapour hose is all you need beyond that. Straight propane - Figure out if it's a standard square bore intake or the quadrajet style (big primaries, small secondaries). Then track down a mixer with the correct baseplate pattern. If you get the wrong one they make adapter plates for very little. Both Impco 425s and OHG 450s could be found with either base. Almost every propane V8 will have one or the other. The OHG 450s have a problem with richening up as they age but can be rebuilt to fix this. Again, a model E regulator is the best bet (they're also the most common), and you can use either a vacuum or electric lockoff valve. Add tank and a couple hoses. You'll need to advance the timing a bunch - 10-15* IIRC. If you want to do it, I'd look into the provincal inspection rules. Often they won't certifiy junkyard tanks unless they are re-tested. Which costs a few bucks. And often you can't get a fill without having proof of inspection (decal). As a tip - find a vehicle that had been inspected and steal the decal. Also, to actually get it tuned to run correctly will require some professional help. But it doesn't take long for them to dial it in correctly.

They're a LOT stronger than a waggy frame. People knock the unibody design, but it does do quite well. At least, when it comes to dealing with a loading from the seuspension - which they were engineered for. Slamming it on rocks will kill it fast in that the sheetmetal they're made of isn't really thick enough to withstand that. But, IIRC, the waggy frames are a C channel design - which is really not very strong compared with the box style frame of a MJ. Although I could check that on the frame diagrams I have for them. Anyways, the FSJ guys are always bitching about how they bent their waggy/J-10 frames. Besides, I saw it happen. We taco'd one pretty good on a free waggy - and broke the transmission apart doing it.

I'd convert it to propane if I had one... At least then it's 10mpg of CHEAP fuel. I dunno about your area, but they go lower than that here. But if it's mint, I guess it's a good deal. Oh, don't jump it. They have weak frames...

You bleed it by taking the cap off and pulling a couple donuts, then adding more coolant, then doing a couple more donuts, add more coolant and throw the cap back on. Going up and down a steep hill works too.

If it has a 4.0, it'll have an AW4. They're good. You can get a manual shifter for them if you want to be able to lock out 1st gear. And they do benefit from an aftermarket tranny cooler, but it's not like it's absolutely necessary.

That's a closed system. The fill is in the bottle up by the windshield - hopefully. The cap on that bottle, and the bottle itself, have to be airtight. There is NO overflow on this system, and if there is one - somebody has been f'ing with it.

There's a lot of deffective ECTEDs floating around. Almost all of the first run of them for the D44 only work intermittantly or not at all... Apparently they fixed that for the second run. The good news is that they're supposed to be very good about exchanging them; so you should have no trouble getting another. I'm too poor for selectables... Spools never fail you.

Somebody rebuilt the tcase without the shift fork return spring...