DirtyComanche

I can scratch and blast an exterior for well under $1k using Omni single stage. It shows though. It's not how I would paint anything I really cared about. But for a flip, yeah, unfortunately. I still stand by my opinion that popping the dent out, ditching the shell, and buffing it (maybe spray a tiny touchup where the paint is missing in the dent using a lacquer or single stage) would produce the most money relative to time and invested money. I'd be wary of buying a repainted truck if it appeared to be a scratch and blast job. It's a red flag to me that the truck isn't really going to be 'worth' anywhere near asking.

You linked the 97-01 versions. Can you use them? What's the difference?

I think popping that dent with a basketball and a bit of hammer work then buffing the paint would net a couple hundred bucks more. If there's anything really wrong with it or worn out, no, you won't be able to fix it and recoup the costs, unless you value your time at nothing and happen to have a shed full of good parts that were given to you. I've got a huge amount of money into mine to make it look okay... Certainly nobody would pay what I've put into it, and that's assuming my time is worth nothing.

I used hockey pucks on my XJ, so I know it can work. I was just trying to be 'more right.' I could even just weld a taller pad onto the perch on the axle.

Very true.

I don't have a picture of one installed - I looked. If you take a picture of how you've installed it, I'm sure we can figure out if it is right or not. However, as long as you put the straps in the right square holes in the frame (there's three square holes behind the cab, it's the first two that you use), and put the straps in the right place on the tank (they go in the two wide relieved areas on the bottom), and put the J bolts in the brackets on the box... It really can't be in the wrong place.

If I'd ever leave the north other than for work, it could easily happen. I'm only 7ish hours away. Thanks for the kind words guys!

Depending where you are being 4wd vs 2wd will greatly affect resale. Where I live a 2wd truck is worth half of a 4wd one. I'm guessing you're in SoCal though... Bang the dents out, pull the cap off it, buff and polish the hell out of it, and it will be a sharp looking around town truck for somebody.

What bushings do you want? I don't think anyone offers a complete kit, because there is a bunch of differences depending on sway bar size and control arm style. Energy sells most of them: http://www.energysuspensionparts.com/products/jeep_comanche_1988 Prothane offers some too: http://prothane.com/vehicle-applications/page/20/ And there is some other ones out there if you look around. Personally I'd never go through the trouble of replacing lower control arm bushings in the OEM control arms. They're quite terrible to do. IMHO you're better off buying replacement arms, either OEM style, aftermarket (such as Rubicon Express) or OEM style WJ (which need some modifications to work properly but are bent for tire clearance and have a nifty NVH isolator bushing at one end). The 2wd front springs do sit lower. Something around an inch, but with springs that are as old as a MJ it's pretty irrelevant, they're likely sagged out badly. They also tend to break near the last wrap on the bottom. If you're trying to bring it up to 4wd height you might be better off finding some NOS XJ or replacement OEM style coils, but if your coils are still in good shape you could just get a 3/4" poly spacer and it would be close.

I have ideas in my head but I should put them to paper before the flee... Can the bumper be moved up any before it interferes with the tailgate opening? I'm out of town for work, so I can't look at my MJ... I'm thinking it can a bit, maybe 3/4"? I know I managed to bend the S10 bumper up far enough that it wouldn't open all the way.

Good to see this thing is still working as good as it looks! Honestly one of my favorite MJs out there. :thumbsup:

1-tons have extra complications. You'd want to be running at least 37" tires for clearance. I partially wish I had ordered 40s rather than 37s with my 1-ton XJ build, just for clearance. Plus they're heavy axles, so you will need to do some reinforcements on the chassis/suspension, spend more money on shocks, steering, etc. Weight in general is your enemy. Part of the reason the XJ/MJ generally wheeled circles around everything else in their day was because they were lighter to start with, especially given that they were longer than many of the comparable Jeeps; it makes a huge difference performance wise being 4000lbs with 35" tires vs 5000lbs with 35" tires. But yes, building a D44 vs a 60... 60 almost every day, just as long as you've got the tires to justify it. I already told him I think JK axles might be a good option. Would they be? I dunno. He hasn't said what size tires he wants, or if/how he plans to wheel it. I don't want to go tooooo big on the tires, still needs to be a daily. I was thinking 33's I'm just looking to make a daily that I can go have some fun on the weekends if that helps... Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Throw some quality parts in your D30, then find a 29 spline Chrysler 8.25, XJ/MJ D44, or Explorer 8.8 for the rear. You won't have any problems unless you drive like Tim Cameron, and the rear axle swaps are all documented, and you don't have to change the front even... I consider 33s to be within the acceptable range of tire sizes for a HP D30, and people accuse me of being overkill about things. By quality parts for the D30 I recommend some new axleshafts and u-joints, as your axle probably has the terrible 260x joints in it, and if you regear it buy decent quality gears. Also if you get a locker get a full case locker or a Detroit Truetrac limited slip; a lunchbox locker is kinda asking for trouble IMHO, although plenty of guys have had great success with them and I even run one...

Since he can fab, they are a possibility. But ... they're wider than the TJ/XJ/MJ axles. And that brought problems, because when Jeep made them wider they didn't make the fronts stronger. When people started putting big tires on them and actually using them like Jeeps, those wider axles bent. There's an aftermarket for kits to reinforce those axles. The ones I've seen consist of tubes that fit inside the OEM tubes to beef up the wall thickness (or lack thereof), and gussets to reinforce the Cs where they mate to the axles. Overall, for an MJ you're probably better off with the front axle from a TJ Rubicon. I had mentioned the need for the sleeves and a truss or gussets. The reality is that the same problem exists with the XJ/MJ axle to only a slightly lesser degree, but most guys blow them up before encountering it because of the other areas of weakness. The other thing is that since the JK axles are wider, you can run wheels with more backspacing, or without spacers/adapters (where I'm at on my MJ), thus bringing the track width back in and keeping the leverage on the tubes basically the same as the original D30 would have seen. And since you are running higher backspacing wheels/no spacers, you preserve the scrub radius and keep the wheel bearings happier. The TJ Rubicon axle is low pinion. I don't think it has good bang for the buck, as it's just an old style D30 with an old style LP D44 center section. Pretty much the worst of both worlds, you get some upgrade in R&P/carrier strength, but increased driveshaft angles/yoke vulnerability, and all the other weak parts that his D30 already has. It's got weird thick gears with odd sized bolts too, IIRC, not that it really matters. It is basically a direct bolt in though, which unfortunately also makes it expensive.

Yeah, 8" is too tall. I want 6" max, with the hitch in it. I've dragged the hitch and bumper I have a bunch, and I think the S10 bumper is only about 7" tall in the middle and 6" on the ends. The hitch is lower than that, with about a 1" gap between. I'd rather minimize the dragging. If I build it as a step bumper I would have to put the hitch in the middle of the step area, which wouldn't be terrible, but it would be a bit weird. And the license plate couldn't be centered. As a traditional rectangular tube bumper the plate still couldn't be centered, but its easier to weld the hitch into it then.

Also illegal here. The front plate on my JK is cut for the bumper, and you can normally get away with that since at least you still have it. Cutting much of the rear plate will get you harassed, which I really don't need. I could probably trim it to only being 5.5" tall without anyone caring though, which means it would fit on a piece of 6x2 without any exposed edges. Thinking about it more, I might build a step bumper rather than the traditional straight across HSS. But I am undecided as of yet. Technically I also need a license plate light. That's pretty unlikely to happen though.

Is your RC track bar like this? http://www.roughcountry.com/adjustable-track-bar-7572.html Or is it more like this? http://www.roughcountry.com/adjustable-track-bar-1084.html My RC track bar must be an older design, because it is like the WJ one, and uses a heim on one end. It's not exactly like that though. If yours is like the newer one, pictured in the first link, with a tie rod end, it will not work with any aftermarket bracket. About the only thing you might be able to do is measure the thread pitch on the tie rod end and try to find a heim/poly joint/cartridge joint that has the same threads. Typically tie rod threads are bizarre UNEF or even finer threads than that, and nothing matches them. If it's like mine, you should be able to buy any of those aftermarket brackets, and drill them out as needed. I believe the heim they provided uses a 5/8" through bolt. Some cone spacers/misalignment spacers or hardened washers would be needed to take up the slack in the bracket.

The ball joints are very comparable. And the hubs netted you 19 spline outer shafts, unless you went with drive flanges or Yukon Hardcore Hubs. I swapped a Waggy front into my first MJ. I regretted it. Yeah, the brakes are better, the tubes are better, and the wheel bearings will last longer... But for what it's worth, I'd never do it again. If I wanted to spend money, I'd build a Jana 54/60 hybrid. But for the same price as a regular D44, and a fraction of the price of a Jana 54/60, I swapped in a regular HP D60. To do that over again I'd get a Super 60 from a F-Superduty and not have to waste money on 35 spline outers and Yukon Hardcore Hubs (that are a whole other story in themselves). Although the Super 60s are wider yet, so I might not have been as happy with that aspect. All in all, a guy can do what he wants, but everything has pros and cons, and the economics often don't work out the same in reality as they appeared on first glance.

IMHO they're too narrow for any tire size that justifies using them, you're probably running 15x8 wheels with 3" BS? It's not ideal for scrub radius, you're better off with a 64-66" wide axle and running more backspacing to get the scrub bang on. The rear especially is too narrow given how the MJ frame is so wide. Also, personally I hate low pinion front axles, and feel that while the LP D44 is going to be stronger than the stock D30 in the R&P department, the other downsides don't really make it worth it. Well, I hate low pinion rear axles too, but I don't exactly have the money or inclination to do much about that. On my XJ I went full width, then used stock Dodge truck wheels, which are a 17x9 with 6" BS IIRC (something like that), bought Yukon Hardcore Hubs to get 35 spline outers and keep the hubs in closer, and the scrub radius is perfect. Even without the hydro-assist it was easy to steer it, and there's an autolocker in the front. It literally couldn't be built any narrower and preserve steering anyways, and that's with highly modified inner fenders/extreme cutting on the outer fenders.

1-tons have extra complications. You'd want to be running at least 37" tires for clearance. I partially wish I had ordered 40s rather than 37s with my 1-ton XJ build, just for clearance. Plus they're heavy axles, so you will need to do some reinforcements on the chassis/suspension, spend more money on shocks, steering, etc. Weight in general is your enemy. Part of the reason the XJ/MJ generally wheeled circles around everything else in their day was because they were lighter to start with, especially given that they were longer than many of the comparable Jeeps; it makes a huge difference performance wise being 4000lbs with 35" tires vs 5000lbs with 35" tires. But yes, building a D44 vs a 60... 60 almost every day, just as long as you've got the tires to justify it. I already told him I think JK axles might be a good option. Would they be? I dunno. He hasn't said what size tires he wants, or if/how he plans to wheel it.

If you're going to scrap that truck make sure you save the taillights, tailgate, the rear flares, the vents on the cab, the back interior panels, and try to cut the rear window out... Then offer them up cheap in the for sale section if you don't need them. They're all hard to find.

Yeah, ideally find a donor to steal as much stuff from as possible. You might as well snag the front driveshaft too, because then you know you'll have the correct one. The shift linkage for the tcase is different too, I forgot that, I just made my own because I don't like the factory setup. I don't recall the length difference or if there is one. I'd suggest reading through this thread: http://www.naxja.org/forum/showthread.php?t=70388

If I ever tow anything it isn't legal.

My truck has a S10 rear bumper on it right now, and I hate it. So I intend to build a new one. One thing I'm a bit hung up on what to do with is the license plate. It seems 99% of the aftermarket bumpers are made out of 6x2 HSS, or something like that, and the typical license plate will not fit on the bumper. It either has to stick up, or hang down, either of which is a guarantee for it being damaged or snagging on something. Has anyone seen a decent solution? I'd put it on the tailgate, but it just doesn't fit anywhere nicely. I debated building the bumper from 8x2 and tapering it, which would allow for the plate to be hung in the middle, perhaps this is the best solution?

My original Peugeot lasted a long time, but it was the second one IIRC... It never blew up on me, but wasn't sounding very good at the end. Most of them fail in short order if they see wheeling/racing/abuse. The swap is well documented on here, I'd suggest searching for it as I might miss something. It's fairly straightforward though; my current truck is swapped. You need an AX-15, and a 23 spline tcase or 23 spline input gear to swap into your tcase (yours is 21 spline currently). A newer (93+) XJ AX-15 is preferable as it has an external slave cylinder. YJ ones work too, but they clock the tcase to the wrong spot (you can redrill or massage the floor), and I believe they need to be a 95+ for an external slave with them. You need the clutch for whatever transmission you get. Use your original flywheel (I suggest buying a new one though, but one for an 87-91 4L will work). You will need a pilot bushing from a 74ish CJ-5, as the pilot bearings from either setup will not work. Ideally you want the AX-15 transmission crossmember, as it has a drop section in it for the mount that lowers it by about 3/4". I used an AW4 crossmember as I prefer having the transmission/tcase up higher, but I've had to do some trimming in the shifter hole in the floor (and it needs a little more yet). You also need the correct AX-15 mount/mount plate, I made one out of an AW4 version, which also wound up mounting my tranny/tcase even higher. I don't recall if the driveshaft lengths stay the same or not. Like I said, search, or look in the write ups section, it's been covered (the swap is also the same on an XJ, so you can search NAXJA, Jeepforum, Cherokeetalk, Cherokeeforum, etc as well).

I think I'd be wise to replace my front bumpstops and add a little length to them. Is there much difference between any of the ones out there? I've found the Rubicon Express RE1396 and the Daystar KJ09101BK, they look basically the same. Any other brands? Any issues with installing them, or having them fall out after install? Should I just use a hockey puck?