neohic

Very cool article about the birth of the Eagle. https://www.hagerty.com/media/automotive-history/how-the-amc-eagle-blazed-a-trail-through-a-giant-government-loophole/

I love everything about this except for the 2.5/auto with AC. Throw on a set of turbines and cruise! https://cosprings.craigslist.org/cto/d/early-1986-jeep-comanche-xls-4x4-truck/7620715863.html

Big fan of Threadwrights.

Radio?

Back on the road! I got the axle back late last week and picked at it a little each day over the weekend. The old carrier had a crack in it so the TrueTrac absolutely made sense to upgrade to. While it was down, I had the driveshaft re tubed. Looking at it now, I need to check my pinion angle. The transfer case got new bearings in the output assembly also. Everything went back together fine and I put some fresh miles on it today. It’s so quiet! Without all the calamity coming from the rear end I now notice new noises from other corners of the Jeep!

Just got off the phone with the 4x4 shop: "... .130"+ of backlash and a few of the ring gear teeth were missing or chipped." Yup... it was time.

IMG_4903.MOV Well… Yesterday I was out having a great afternoon in the woods. Once I got back to pavement there was definitely a new vibration. Shame on me for knowing that the pinion bearing was on its way out but I didn’t expect it to go so fast. Five years ago I knew that the gears themselves were very rough but I just put the cover back on and covered my eyes. It has always made noise but I guess enough is enough. Going with a TrueTrac limited slip while I’m having it gone through.

28° in my happy place.

I doubt we’re done with snow this year, but the weather was too good to pass up. For a while now I’ve wanted to make up some roll up safari sides for the tin top. I’m sure I’ll get to it at some point… maybe. In the mean time I made up some supports for the top for when the sides come off. These were more scraps of material plus a couple of exhaust clamps. Not sure if I’ll continue with this route, but I like that I have top-tions. Why stop there? This was the perfect time to get back to the trail cover. What I wanted to be able to do was to just leave the bikini top on this year and throw the new cover on when it’s parked. Right up until my bikini top decided that it had enough. Bummer. Well?… guess I’ll figure a new top that stays with the roll cage and I can put the windshield down. That’ll be another day. As for the trail top… … it fits surprisingly well for being intended for a YJ. My roll bar sits a but higher than most so it takes up a little material, but the angled rear gets a little weird. It doesn’t sit quite right and there’s clearly too much material. The sides get wavy and move around with the wind. My plan is to reshape it and to add or move the straps to where they make more sense. Until then, I think it’ll do.

Um… enjoy it?

Looks so good.

For real. We were out for a few hours and hit dirt within ten minutes of leaving my place.

The amount of trust I have in this little CJ just went way up today. My buddy’s birthday is tomorrow and he wanted to get out for a day of Jeep things. Okay! There wasn’t anything technical at all, but we put on about 30 miles of off pavement enjoyment. This really would’ve been the first opportunity to see what kind of flex there is in the suspension too. Survey says?… … some on the rear and almost zero in the front. It’s all a super old setup from Superlift. For how clapped out everything looks, I was surprised at how little the front springs move. Still, had a great day toodling around in the woods.

No idea! I was driving home last night and there it was when I kicked on the high beams. Goes to show that you really don’t need things that aren’t self solving when it comes to old Jeeps.

Hot dog!

I can’t imagine it would be any more difficult than choosing an appropriate thickness flat bar, drilling, and tapping a couple holes for the new location. Might need a slight bend to it to match the frame.

From Comanche County in 2012:

I did this same swap in an ‘86 a while back. Ended up using the entire wiring harness from the ‘94 ZJ I used as the donor and then cut out everything I didn’t need.

I’m ready to get stuck now. Of course I threw a shackle on there so I can fit in with the rest of the Jeeps around here but I used some rubber bushings to keep it from rattling around. On another note, I wanted to see how close I was starting with for the rain cover. While I didn’t want to take the top off today, the cover is shockingly close to fitting. I was told that this cover was made for a YJ with the family cage. What I was expecting was the length to be way too long for the tub. It’s nearly perfect! The hard top is too bulky for the stars to completely align though. I was briefly thinking about pursuing making up roll up safari sides to the roof panel, but that won’t be happening this year with how the rain cover fits over the whole works. Oh, well!!… looks like I’ll be cutting down the rain cover to fit nicely over just the roll cage and I’ll just be rockin’ the bikini top this year.

New engine has been running great. Trying to make a plan for when to tear into the axles and transfer case now. The other day when I was reworking the front bumper I noticed some gear oil leaking out at the inner C. I think the order of operations will be going through the rear axle, then the transfer case output, then the front axle. Time to start getting bearings and seals coming. In the mean time, I started picking at making up a rear tow point. There’ll be a plate with the actual shackle mount, but also an inner support to beef up the frame. Something else I picked up recently is a trail cover. The company is called Rain Gear and they make covers for just about every Jeep except for ‘75 and older. For a while I’ve been considering rattling the dice on a ‘76 and newer cover, but this YJ cover came up for sale locally. I know that it’ll need to be cut up to make it fit right, but it was also cheaper that a good canvas tarp. More on that when the weather gets nicer.

I'm very much looking forward to this!

There’s no way this is happening. With starting the new job and a laundry list still to go on this rig, it just isn’t feasible. Most of what it needs is long overdue maintenance items. So?… obviously reworking the front bumper will make everything all better, right? This bumper has always looked terrible to me. It has some lines going for it, but really it has more in common with a park bench than what I had in my head. It’s made of 3/16”x2”x4” so it has that going for it. The problem is that there’s just too much of it. I started with taking 8” off of each side. From there I cut triangles and folded up the material to make the new ends. Something else that has always bugged me is that giant winch mount. The 8274 mount got trimmed down and I just relocated the existing gussets. I like that the marker lights are much more visible and there’s potential to get more air to the radiator. This was all a very quick and dirty project and I couldn’t really decide where to put the front plate. I like where it ended up and hopefully I’ll remember to take it off if things ever get rad off road. Overall, very happy with it.

Yes!! I love giant tires screaming away in dynos!