neohic

Stock bumper brackets? They should be the same for either long or short box MJs. :hmm:

Sold to someone here or just some random buyer? :eek: That's a tough thought to turn and put myself in those shoes. I were to sell off a truck like that, I'd probably never want to see it or know whatever happened to it ever again. I actually just made comment the other day on the thought of buying someone else's partially done project like this... the ground work is already done... everything is laid out for how the rest of the project will go... a plan is already in the works and to change it would be a major ordeal... and then when it's all done there is the thought that it's someone else's truck because they already got so far along with it that you're just picking up the ball and taking it that last yard. I'm sure there was a reason to sell it, but I hope it wasn't just because you were tired of looking at it. :(

Perhaps... I really only intended to put something on the roof for a place to mount a high lift and some other stuff. Things probably got a little out of hand and bigger than I needed though. :roll:

Good thinking with the black seats, Bo. Never would've thought of a black/blue combo interior but I think that'd look pretty good too!

:eek: That's a lot of truck!

Thanks dude. :cheers:

Thanks dude! Had a good morning working on this pile again. Started with taking care of some rust and "massaged" body panels and then got back to the roof basket. For the quarter panels, I went higher than most do when cutting, but everything was pretty mangled on the driver's side. Made room for a future wrap around bumper. Also found that some of the wiring behind the taillights needs some attention. Lots of corrosion and when I put everything back together I found that the parking lights don't work on the passenger side. As for the basket, right now the plan is to keep the spare hanging off the rear bumper but I also wanted the option of putting it up on the roof if need be. The four supports are all lighter gauge 3/4" tubing and the center is a big beefy length of 4" channel. Not sure if I'll add any "cool guy" lights to it, but I threw on some tabs just in case. Obviously everything needs to be finish welded, but I wanted to get it all together first. Then came the main event! It's a bit higher than it'll be once it's on its own mounts. As for the mounts themselves, They're a big clamp that sit down in the drip rail. The 90* bend needs to be cut way down to a smaller lip. I also need to add a little bit of a bend to the straight pieces because the basket came up a bit shorter than it should... that's what I get for using leftover crap. Got a little distracted after that so I put it on hold. Went back to the tube doors because it's a nice day outside and that got me thinking about them again. I was hoping that I could get away easy and just use some gate latches even though everyone online says that they don't fit too well on the '97+ latch pins. Well... they're right. I figured I already had them so they got modified to work. Drilled out the rivet and built up the inner part of the latch so it would fit the smaller latch pin. Figured while I was in there that I'd add a tab that I can put a spring on just to make sure that they don't ever go over center. Then I got distracted AGAIN and started thinking about the rear bumper. That is all for now.

Very nice, sir!

That's what concerns me most! :laughin: I'm going to pop the cover at some point soon regardless. Looks like the cover has been backed into its share of rocks over the years and I'd really like to see what's going on with the spiders. If they aren't welded to the carrier, it'll probably stay that way it is with the addition of ZJ disks. I like the option of adding a locker if not right now then in the future for better road manners. If, on the other hand, they are welded to the carrier... it'll probably still stay that way until something gives.

... and I bet it was fairly cheap too, right? I cannot wait until we move out there. :roll:

It happened... came and went. There was some interest but I don't think anyone here got one.

Geez! Talk about flat! I'm in the same boat on this side of MN but at least we've got some trees. Hell... must be a good place if your dog were to ever run off though. I bet you could still see it three days later on the horizon! :laughin:

Less than the cost of a cheap locker, enough to keep the seller happy, and cheap enough that the buyer feels like he's getting a good deal.

That'd mean that I'd have to do something with the front too which already has had a ton of work done to it already.

Good call. Briefly looked into that and found that the springs are usually trashed while trying to take them out. Probably going to need a new set of springs/pins anyhow.

The 8.25 in the Ape is welded. Not crazy about it, but it's there. Drove it around town a little bit and today was really the first time I've driven it on fairly clean roads... and it sounded like an episode of CHiPs! I'll soon be putting a set of good tires under it and I hate the thought of expensive tires wearing faster than they need to. I know... I know... they're going to wear faster while slipping around on rocks, but still... So to recap from the build thread, it's got a Chrysler 8.25 with 4.56 gears. Not sure if the spider gears are welded to the carrier or not... haven't popped the cover off yet to do any investigative surgery. What I'd like to think is that I'll be able to just pull the axles and pull the spiders out to be replaced with a locker. Then comes in my predicament... I've got a friend with another 8.25 with a known good locker in it and wants a decent enough price on the entire axle. I figure I'd be able to use the locker and also have a good set of spare shafts. Problem is that his axle has 4.10s otherwise I'd just swap the whole assembly. I've looked around online and while there's all sorts of information on installing them, I haven't found anything on removing them. Is it even possible without destroying anything?

Not yet... been waiting for some warmer weather for a few things on it. There's the oil pan that the plug is all screwed up... the rear axle that I'd really like to know if the spider gears are welded just to themselves or if they're welded to the carrier too... it needs brakes... :thwak: On another note, just sealed the deal on some 33" MTRs for it that'll be happening sometime in the next few weeks.

Ah shucks... needs a radiator now too. :shake:

Very cool and welcome! Big fan of Dirtbound products. :thumbsup:

That's the magic word that I live by! I though about going this route a while back for the winch but WARN wants $150+ for a similar setup! :eek:

Started thinking about wiring in the winch today. Picked up some wiring stuff... couple switches... other such fun things... pretty much everything for an in-cab control. See, a number of years ago, someone decided that I didn't need some of the things in my old shop (without asking for my permission to do so, of course) and one of these things was my recovery bag with the winch controller. Being that it's an older winch, WARN doesn't carry replacements. Since then, the winch was hung on the front of my Eliminator and then never used again. Well, now that it's on a vehicle that I have full intentions of using it on, it's probably a good idea to make it functional again. I wired in an in-cab control when it was on another one of my previous MJs and it was all sorts of handy but still kind of a pain when I was out of the truck. Then I found THIS! Did some digging and apparently there's a bunch of people hard wiring these things on just about any winch, plows, and pretty much anything else that uses power in two directions. Found a wiring diagram and BAM!... I had to have one. Should be here sometime this week and now I'm very excited to have such a fun toy. I'll have to be sure to use it frequently!

True... true... :laughin:

Been a while since this topic came around again. :D http://comancheclub.com/topic/8233-tire-poll/ http://comancheclub.com/topic/18055-black-wall-or-raised-white-lettering-out/ Also another vote for white letters out.

:popcorn: