DirtyComanche

And the HoHo thing is something that I always say because I hate them. I find them hard to work on. The renix engines are much simpler, sorta.

Oh, all 4.0L engines in MJ/XJs are MPFI (fuel injected). And you can fit a 31 stock. Little trimming would be in order with a different BS rim.

Sorry, I screw that up all the time.

It's kinda a tossup as to of what is 'best'. 87+ with the 4.0 MPFI engine and AW4 (auto) tranny are solid. 87-89.5's with the 4.0 and 5spd got a kinda crappy tranny. Oh, and 92 got the elusive 4.0 HO engine, but you don't want that anyways. And look for a metric ton version, or check to see if it has a D44 rear. Personally, to do it over again I'd probably look for the cleanest cab possible, and not worry about anything else. But that's because I'm no longer into keeping things on the sane side of modified. Oh, the 2.5L engine is just too small! And the 2.8 is ugly. And the renault turbo diesel is beyond rare, but cool.

Why the hate on fiberglass? Yeah, it's not as durable, but the only times that I think it would ever be an issue is when I'm standing, dacing, or screwing on my hood. And for the record, the steel one on my XJ is now all dented.

Get some Crager Soft 8's or AR-767s. I think they come in 16s for Jeep 5x4.5. Yeah, I'm really, really cheap.

When I was at work today, I was looking at a clamp exactly like that, and thinking "Wasn't CW looking for a clamp for his tailgate? Maybe I should get him the part number for this thing..." Looks good.

Oh yeah, the one hanger bent a bit from the heat. It looks a lot worse than it is. I put a leaf bolt through it and torqued it down and it'll be fine.

I got some work done today. Not a lot, but not too bad considering I figured I wouldn't even be able to. Believe it or not, Jeet Kun Do is a pretty good way to make your entire body sore to the point of being useless. Anyways, figured I'd better make some spring hangers. My origonal plan to use 4x4x.250 HSS didn't work out. The ID is 2.5" on it, but you need about 2.75" for misalignment (allow the leaves to flex). So I built 'em out of plate. First one welded up, still hot. Image Not Found Most of the slag off. Image Not Found There was a couple little nasties in that welding. On place the weld got contaminated and is porous, but I don't think I'll bother fixing it as it hardly matters. Or maybe I will. Other side burned in. Image Not Found When I quit taking pictures (got too dark) Image Not Found I did take the slag off the welds on the second hanger and there was no flaws. Oh, and I had a wonderously aweful idea... I'm going to drill out the plug welds on both of my D44s, and put the waggy tubes in the ford centre section. No cutting, no mess, hopefully they are both slip fit or I'm f'ed!

My flatbed frame weighs about 180... What type of decking are you going to use? And are you at all worried about tire clearance?

What amperage is it? I can weld with mine at 35-40amps without much problem. Other than that's not enough amperage unless you're working with sheet. And who welds sheet with a stick? If it's a 90 amp unit, you should have no problem laying down a decent bead... (Unless the breaker goes) 35-40 amps and a 3/32 rod of 6013, 70-90 and a 3/16 rod of 6013 and it should do fine.

Some say god is in the details; I say he's in the prep work. Stick gives you more leeway with prep depending what rod you use. 6011 can make a weld that will hold even if you don't even both to scrape the rust and old paint off. 6013 needs it to be quite clean to make a good weld, but allows for some wiggle room. However, it's easiest if you just clean it up really good. 7018 (or like) requires the surface to be absolutely clean(clean the surface with xylene or such after taking everything off with a flap disk), however it makes the strongest weld. With MIG, it has always got to be really clean. No way around it. The flap disk will become your best friend. What's the amperage on your MIG? 110V will only give you maybe 100amps at most. Oh yeah, I just said screw it and got the garage wired for 220V and made an extension cord to weld in the driveway.

Looking better. How much lift is it estimated to actually have now?

I love my auto helmet. But that's when I'm in crazy stupid positions trying to not burn up anything that I shouldn't (under the truck). Otherwise it's no big deal with stick. I'm always flipping it up and down anyways. I learned on a poor boy flip down. Eventually it got wrecked, and the autos were dirt cheap (on sale) so I couldn't resist.

I don't think so. I think that practice was only really brought in in later years. My 89 was built in 89, has a BA10/5. I forget the exact date. It's not like it matters, it's got parts from so many different vehicles on it.

MIG is more point and shoot. But, look at it like how they properly train welders. They start with oxy/acetylene and put emphasis entirely on controlling the weld puddle. With a MIG you can make a weld that looks 'good' but is piss poor as far as strength goes. Stick doesn't really allow that.

Convert it to 4wd. It can be done cheap enough. But, you see, since you don't have 4wd from the factory, you can do it right! Go get a waggy D44 front and put some leaf springs up there, and a toyota 8" or isuzu 12B rear. Then get a tranny/tcase of your choice.

They're the best bang for the buck! A favorite of rednecks and cheap people world over! No; to buy a MIG for the same price I payed for it, I'd probably have 120amps to play with. You also have to realize that you can get greater penetration with stick at the same amperage(as a MIG). That and there's no god damn respooling when you change materials. Not to mention I can cut with it, and heat things really fast. I'd buy a MIG only if I had lots of cash to play with (I don't). And if I was to do that, I'd buy a nice lathe too... If you're really cheap you can always convert an old alternator into a nice stick welder...

My front bumper weighs 3Lbs. You guys really like heavy things. Oh, the issue with aluminum as far as using it structerally goes, is it does not 'give' any under impact; instead of deforming, it will crack. Same goes for welds made in it. It is really not an ideal material for a bumper... I'll point out though that my 'bumper,' as it is, is based on the assumptions that I; A) Won't drive straight into a tree (again) B) The leaf hangers and front crossmember will hit before anything else. C) The exo cage will do all the heavy work when the time comes. Oh, and about the weight of the bumper, if you have 180Lb/inch coils it'll only be better. Mine were too stiff with my front end being lightened...

Yeah.

Lincoln tombstone. (Stick) AC/DC+-, best money I ever spent.

He's well known, and has written quite a few tech articles. Therefore I feel I can refer to how he did something and people will understand without an explaination.

Squeezed in some time to do some more work today. Look framiliar? Tacking it up AGAIN! Image Not Found This time I just said f' it and tacked it at 135amps, and hoped it was aligned right. Pulled 'er back off Image Not Found Then final welded it Image Not Found Yeah, that one tab is bent. The plate is warped. But it will be fine. I didn't have time to take the slag off the welds. Tomorrow. And I'll put it in then. Well, weld spring hangers to it first. I also solved all of my clearance problems with the fans/rad/wiring. And I need to ask, how can you tell what amperage an alternator is? If mine is the origonal, or a direct replacement, it is 61amps. That blows. I need to junkyard a better one.

I mean a f'ing canopy... Cap, topper, etc. Now, it's hard to say what he means because between me and CW, it's all screwed up.

That's what a SWB topper is. I threw a perfectly good one in the dump.