neohic

Well... we're finally on the up swing after almost ten months, a few of looking for a house, finding the one, a closing date figured, rescheduling closing another three times, staying up for days worrying about things falling apart again... and again... and again, and going through one last day thinking "it's not over until it's over... it can still fall apart again". Granted, we still have a couple months of work to do before we can move in. Until then, we can still say that we finally hold the keys to our new house. It's been a long road. Time to breathe. Then it's time to get started.

I would rock the $#!& out of that hat. No lie.

Congratulations on the kid, Wade!

Well... no wheeling for me this weekend. Tore into the transfer case to find nothing wrong. From where the sound was coming from I was really thinking somethain't with the planetary... guess it's transmission related. Bummer. Huge bummer.

Not worried about the wheeling. I'm more concerned with the three hour drive on both directions.

Hmm... starting to get a big rattle from what sounds like the transfer case. Things are looking grim for my weekend. :(

Have a closer look at the crossmember. I put two Trail Gear tube joints in line so I can drop out enough of it to remove the trans.

Yessir! Wheeling the hell out of this weekend!

I suppose we're down to only a few days left before my June 16th "dead line", so I might as well let the cat out of the bag... :smart: A few weeks back while in Moab, between the FaceBook and Instagram followers of the shop I work at we pretty much broke the internet with a Scout II that we had just finished. Not even a week after coming back, the editors from Peterson's 4 Wheel and Four Wheeler Magazine had gotten in contact with the Scout's owner wanting to do a photo shoot. That quickly turned into getting in contact with our shop wanting to know more about us which then turned into another potential photo shoot on the odd ball style rigs that we're getting known for. Then my boss asked the question, "can you get the Comanche done?" So... I'm trying... desperately! :D Now... I won't have everything done on my to-do list, but it'll definitely be in wheeling condition. As for the wheeling condition, the frame plating was completed and finished off with some faux-tina to try and blend it all in with the existing paint/undercoating/mud/donkey and horse $#!&. ... along with a high clearance transmission crossmember with some transfer case protection. Then the poor old Ape got its axles pillaged. Everything got moved over. So... here's the point where I put the truck in the shop because it was mobile again and it was stupid hot outside. The rear axle was pulled from the Cherokee, all of the brackets got cut off, and it then got dropped under the truck. Some spring perches happened, some lower shock mounts happened, brake lines where run, and all the while I was trying to make good time so I didn't take any pictures. :doh: I will though! Throughout the rest of the week I'd like to get a bunch of little odds and ends to wrap up, make up some quick rock sliders, and then I guess we'll see what else I actually have time for. Here's where we're currently at to keep everyone at bay.

Very cool!

Thanks, dude! The interior hoop is the way it's going to stay. Thought about doing some additional bracing, but with the future exo I figured "why?". It's really just in there for the harnesses. I put the bolt plates in the rear directly over the frame rails and it bolts in with the pinch welds. The long arms was a good one to (almost) cross off the list. Everything is just mocked up still, but all I need to do if finish weld and make up a couple crossmembers. One will be for the the transmission and the other is just to tie the frame rails together right in line with the new control arm mounts. Truth be told, I really wanted to do a three link but I ran out of room in just about every place I could without cutting up the floor.

I'd like to add fabricator/welder for Alexandria Aircraft, Bellanca along with plenty of on the side metal work.Time to update soon... I've given up on trying to mold the next generation of welders as a teacher. Just can't do it anymore and I'm tired of being responsible for those who really don't care to be there. So I had a weld test and interview at a local shop that builds bridges and completely knocked it out of the park. Looks like I'm going back into the private sector! Not overly crazy about it, but the shop is all of a quarter mile from our house and it's just too easy to move into this job. On the plus side, the company also has a plant outside of Denver. No welding, but it could make for an easy transfer for something temporary in the future. I'm just a welder again and I'm only responsible for me... and I'm okay with that. Suppose I'm due again. After a move from MN to CO in August, I've since found a job as an offroad automotive fabricator... and it's awesome. :D

And the saga continues. :D The truck will be getting a tight fitting exo cage eventually... not sure if it'll make the 16th deadline. :crossfingers: For the seats and harnesses, I made up a quick interior bar. ... that was last week. As for yesterday and today... ... the truck found its way on to a forest of jack stands. The truck then started spitting parts. :clapping: Long arm status. :rock on: Mad flex, yo. Everything needs to be welded yet, but that'll be during the week over my lunch hours. I suppose I'll have to take the Ape out of commission soon if I want to use those axles. :( It'll be for the best though. I keep telling myself it's for the greater good. With the new front suspension, I also added a couple inches to the wheel base for a cool 119". It'll be a mad hill killer fo' sho'!

Well, folks, we've already made it to the halfway point of 2017! There's been an amazing amount of build threads started and just about completed from our somewhat new and long time members. It's awesome! Way to go, us!! This month let's shine the spotlight over to our brothers up in Canada. Plenty of good stuff happening up there too! YEAR/MODEL ● 1988 Short Box ENGINE/PERFORMANCE ● 4.0L Renix with Volvo 746 Injectors, rerouted serpentine belt to delete idlers DRIVETRAIN ● AX-15, NP231 with AA HD SYE and fabricated shift linkage, HPD30 front with Lokka Locker and ZJ CV axleshafts, D44 rear with Yukon Zip locker, 3.55 gears COOLING ● Converted to open system with HO radiator and GM generic overflow bottle, heater control valve deleted ELECTRICAL/IGNITION ● Alternator high mounted in place of A/C compressor using fabricated brackets, Motomaster AGM group 34 battery SUSPENSION/STEERING ● RE 3.5" lift coils/LCAs and Bilstein shocks in the front, SOA with well used 2wd springs and stock length Monroe shocks in the rear, V8 ZJ tie rod, late model XJ drag link, TMR Customs flipsert in driver's knuckle INTERIOR ● XJ bucket seats and center console, full gauge cluster, Viair air pressure gauge in place of clock, 'Race' pedals BRAKES ● Stock front with dropped YJ hoses, rear hybrid D44/Isuzu Trooper disk brakes and Dakota and Isuzu hoses LIGHTING ● Putco relay harness with added fuses on stock lights EXTERIOR ● YJ mirrors, Krylon OD green paint, S10 canopy, crazy hood scoop/vents WHEELS/TIRES ● JK 17" Moab wheels, G2 Gear 5x4.5 to 5x5 adapters, 265/70R17 (31.6" actual diameter) Firestone Destination M/Ts MISCELLANEOUS ● Viair quarter duty air compressor, front tow hooks, rear trailer hitch Image Not Found Image Not Found Image Not Found Image Not Found FULL BUILD THREAD Remember That One Time?... Tell Us Your Best MJ Story ● There is no real best story, but I do enjoy the amount of times people ask me either if it really is a Jeep, or what exactly it is. CC is Awesome!... Why Do You Think So? ● CC is the best tech resource for anything MJ related! Way to go, Dirty! I know I say it just about every month, but I really dig this truck. So many little things that add up to one very cool MJ! Keep in mind that this truck wouldn't be anything you. Have a look through DirtyComanche's profile... go on, look! You'll see that he's always helpful to other members and can always find something positive. Good truck. Good member. Thanks for being a part of Comanche Club! -Ben This post has been promoted to an article

:redX:

Yup... unobtainable parts at this point. Any pictures of the truck?

... not telling just yet. I've got an opportunity for something big is all. I was using what I had kicking around the shop. Every single piece of material was recycled from one project or another! The two-into-one came off of a Scout 800 with a 4.2 and a crazy down pipe. Not sure if it had 3" tube all the way back? There was 2" from the manifolds into the collector, and then 2.5" the rest of the way... mostly. :D

Whoa! Can't believe I've missed all this so far! Very nice, sir. Very nice!

Exhaust day! This was a real treat. Typically in the past, this is done on jack stands and a creeper. So here's a real problem. With moving the engine over in the engine bay to clear the steering shaft I ran into an issue underneath. This clearly needs to go. Actually, I've been going back and forth on going with a radius arm suspension or a three link and this just decided it for me. The other side obviously has the driveshaft. I might still look at a three link but... .. and then this happened... which I am totally not happy with. Keep in mind that it is NOT permanent!!! To keep things somewhat happy until the permanent suspension gets built a single stock upper arm should never be trusted. :doh: The Comanche gods are definitely frowning at me for this. With that, I now have tons of room for an exhaust. Things started with the stock ZJ collectors out of the manifolds and then quickly turned into another "scrap yard special". Giveth to the scrap, and the scrap giveth back. :D After that, I changed the oil, topped off the transmission, took care of the plugs and wires, and took it down the road again. Much better to drive! Maybe now I'll finally bleed the brakes! :idea:

Pictures as promised along with an additional update... windshield day! :D Even the installer was amazed with the lack of rust. ... and the current configuration of underhood stuff. I was filling the radiator last night all the while looking at the upper hose being higher than the cap. It's kinda nice having a few junk radiators around that can give up their filler neck! :idea: Little bit of plumbing left. Leaps and bounds for this over the last few days.

Stuck around at the shop tonight with the itch to take it down the road and back. Mission accomplished! :banana: Pictures tomorrow.

Oof... looks like I've got about a month to get as much done as I can on this truck. More on that later. :peek:

I can get there within seven easy hours, Pete. Funny to think that it used to take me roughly the same amount of time to get up to the "good" wheeling in Minnesota.

I had the opportunity to take a little road trip out to Moab after years of thinking I knew what good wheeling was. It's easy enough to meet others at your job or at a bar, but think about meeting someone that has the passion to travel for days and across country borders to make their way to a place to potentially destroy their vehicle. Are there closer places to potentially destroy a vehicle?... sure. However, Moab has a special charm that nowhere else has that pulls those passionate people back. Over the past weekend I had the opportunity to meet an excellent example of such passionate people. I’ve gotten wrapped up with a similar wheeling group in the past and it was an awesome reminder of why I got involved with Jeeps. Issues came up in the middle of nowhere. Trailside engineering was had. New longtime friends were made. A huge tip of the cap to everyone that was a part of my first trip to Moab. I look forward to swapping stories in thick northern accents with those guys again! It was awesome. :D

Stay tuned to the Pub, Pete. Probably tomorrow.