cocco78

This must be the worlds slowest MJ build... I really only work on it in my spare time and I am not in a real hurry to finish it. But, we might be moving by this fall so we started cleaning and figuring out what we want to keep and get rid of. I have tons and tons of parts, its crazy. But anyway, high on the list of things to do is get the MJ to the point it can be moved in the next few weeks. So I might be adding a few more pics. Here it is with the 38's on the front, can you say wide?

Slowly

Pretty slow progress, finishing up my last semester at school but still get a little done on the manche here and there. How is this for a lower control arm? 2x2 sq .25 wall, 2.63" currie johnny joint with a 1.25" threaded end, and a poly bushing on the other end.

skinny pedal, 33" tires, and a hard rocky climb. What a terrible axle, it only lasted 250,000 miles :eek: The GF was driving and just couldn't make it, so I told her to apply the right pedal. Swapped in a welded 35 carrier and beat on it even harder and never broke it.

Its finally warmed up enough outside that i'm a little motivated to work again, it hit 40 today! But i didn't get much done, mostly just cleaned the garage... But I had the garage door open and did a little work. I got the pass side mount together and tacked into place. Got most of the pass side UCA mount made out of 1/2" thick plate, going to plasma out some cool gussets for it..

I did a little work out in the garage tonight. I got the drivers side LCA/shock/spring mount tacked in place... Well, more like half welded on. Made the little piece on the side to bolt the mount to a fin on the side of the diff, i'll probably weld that bracket all the way around. I also took apart the drivers side hub, brakes, and spindle. I'm going to be making a bracket to convert the brakes to a K20 caliper and rotor instead of the huge dual piston Ford Calipers. The K20 calipers seem to be a very good match to a stock Jeep master cylinder.

Well its been a long time since I've worked on the Manche, I've been pretty busy with no time to play. But here is a little update of stuff I've done in the last week. Kerosene heater! Slightly warmer than the 12 degree outside temp... Here is my crossmember, all 1/4" stuff... Dana 60! Its wide! Made up some control arm/shock/spring mounts in autocad and had them cnc plasma'ed out. And lastly, started on a truss for the D60. I'm doing a radius arm style suspension and need a good place to mount the upper link mount.

I have a SS Banks header on my TJ. I've had it for a couple years now with zero issues, its a nice unit.

I've learned its easier to ask for forgiveness than permission :D Or to find a wife that is as sick as you :clapping: Mine points Jeeps out to me and says "maybe we should stop and look at that" Now I find it feels weird to be the voice of reason for a change!

started building a new crossmember today but otherwise no real progress, just a fun pic... 38x15.50R16.5 Swamper radials on recentered H1 rims, 3.5" bs'ing 37x13.50r17 Toyo MT's on 17x8 H2 rims with 5.5" backspacing

Slowly... All the wheel studs were @#$%ed and 1/2" anyway, got all new 9/16" studs and nuts from http://www.ruffstuffspecialties.com good prices on stuff with them to and fast shipping. We also have some disk brake calliper brackets on order from a vendor on Pirate4x4, $45 for the pair... Got the front axle hung in place, literally :D Its actually hanging right where I want it with the correct ride hight with the springs we'll be using. Now just need to build mounts for the radius arms!

cut the bad metal out with the plasma, then made a patch panel out of 3/16" will make another small piece to tie the spring hanger to the patch panel since I wandered off my cut line and didn't get a straight cut :roll: I'm going to stitch weld the plate to the "frame", with Hobart set on 2 it leaves a nice weld and doesn't burn through. I plan to plate the bottom with 1/4" plate and ramp up the spring hanger to beef it up, its already bent from wheeling. The rest of the frame will get plated with 3/16" 3"x3" angle iron stitch and rosset welded.

So if you look in my build you'll see I found some frame rot in front of the leaf spring hangers. Post up some pics of your "frame" rust and how you patched it. I'm thinking of cutting out the rust and patching with 1/8" metal. But I am thinking I need to plate the frame with some 3x3x3/16 angle iron from the front lca mounts back to the spring hangers... I guess this is more of a pic request post just to get some idea's flowing. :bowdown:

Well, found some pretty good frame rot just on the pass side right in front of the spring hanger. I went to put the jackstand there and as I let the jack down the frame started crushing. So I chipped away at all the loos stuff and came out with this. It looks the same on the back side of the frame. The drivers side is fine though and I don't see much more rot anywhere. But its discouraging to see the complete lack of frame material. Lots of plating going on here. But anyway, got the rear axle temp mocked in place to see how its going to sit. This thing is going to be low and wide.

New 3 core all metal radiator, removed all the a/c stuff, relocated the alternator to where the a/c compressor was. Also converting from the old renix cooling system to the newer HO system. 91+ thermostat housing with a thermometric switch to operate the electric fan, on at 210 off at 195 (we'll see how that works...) Plus a new relay and wiring harness to run the electric fan. The only problem I see is not enough belt contact on the fan pulley for it to work without slipping. And I forgot to change the settings on my camera so little pics... little bracket I made... Cut it out with the plasma, ground it all smooth. I used a metal tube from inside a shock bushing for a spacer behind the bracket and used the stock a/c bolt.

nope, all the 97 and newer wranglers all have a LP front axle. They will however all bolt in a Comanche, I wouldn't worry about them being weak. I wheeled the piss out of my TJ and only ever broke a few u-joints. What you want to look for is an axle from a XJ Cherokee, those will be a high pinion D30... Actually i'm thinking the last years of the cherokee used low pinion D30's, like 2000 and 2001.

3 core all metal radiator, $166 shipped from www.radiatorbarn.com Removed the radiator, and all the a/c related items. Also removed the air box and battery, going to need to rework part the the inner fender for tire clearance and full stuff, will be moving the axle forward a little bit as well to keep the tire out of the cab floor. Will be moving the Alternator up to where the old A/C compressor was. Not pictured is a new fan switch relay harness I made up, a 91+ thermostat housing, and a new sensor switch to control the electric fan (we'll see if I got the temp switch right) fan on at 210, off at 195...

Yeah only thing was I just bought a new goodyear gatorback belt a couple months ago... I was just thinking if I could get a a pulley I could reuse my belt, oh well. Anyone have a link to the non a/c belt routing?

do they make an a/c bypass pulley for an 88 4.0L? What does it look like? I bought one off ebay that was listed for an 88 cherokee 4.0L and it looks to attach like the newer ones with the 4 bolts, like 91 and newer.

Oh, how about an electric fan control relay kit? I'm getting rid of the A/C pump and cleaning up the engine compartment a bit and with the newer radiator I don't have the coolant temp sensor anymore to run the elec fan and I don't want the girl friend to have to remember to flip on a switch to turn the fan on. I'm thinking 91+ thermostat housing with the sensor bung in it, and a relay kit. I found this kit on ebay; http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayI ... 0207066836 seems pretty good, fan on at 210 off at 195, just about right from what i've seen.

4.10's... the rear 60 we are using already has 4.10's as well. Not that it matters, doubt the old 4.0L will push 38's anywhere with 4.10's...

what about the radiator? all metal 2 core or 3?

Nice. :D How much ya pay for that gem? $600 after all said and done, Kicking myself though for missing a similar year Ford 60 already set up with 5.13 gears for $800. After cleaning this one up though its in real nice shape except for the brake callipers are frozen....

Got all 4 wheels done, and seeing how the Manche isnt ready for them yet I tried them out on my wrangler over memorial weekend. Zero issues besides a slight wobble out of one of the wheels on the street at speed, no worry though as these are pretty much off road only. I ran them at 8lbs for the weekend, and several days later they still have 8lbs in them. The axles for the MJ are pretty much stripped down and ready to go, we are going to take care of some overheating issues first though. Oh, and it plowed alot of snow over the winter. The plow truck at work kept breaking down so I got to plow at $75 a push and pretty much paid for the plow plus some. It also makes a great dana 60 mover. And as usual plans might change. Instead of a D44 and l D60 we might just do f&R Dana 60's... I picked up this 88 ford kingpin HP60