neohic Posted December 16, 2025 Author Share Posted December 16, 2025 34 minutes ago, 89 MJ said: I have some thoughts on this. Thanks a lot! Now you have me wanting to add a rear sway bar and a bigger front sway bar to my truck I am going to be looking at a 98ish Explorer rear sway bar next week for my truck. I will report back if I have a chance to do that. I’ve been looking at the rear sway bar that came out of the donor ZJ. In the ZJs, they fit above the upper control arms in a very compact space. I think it’d fit in a similar spot above the axle in an MJ but either moved rearward or turned around backwards from how it mounts in the ZJ. I’m yet to crawl under my truck to see for sure but I know that packaging will be tight being I’d like to continue carrying a spare tire. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
watchamakalit Posted December 16, 2025 Share Posted December 16, 2025 This thread may be single handedly responsible for at least 3 mj's getting rear sway bars. I'm patiently waiting in the wings and listening to see where this all goes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neohic Posted December 17, 2025 Author Share Posted December 17, 2025 2 hours ago, watchamakalit said: This thread may be single handedly responsible for at least 3 mj's getting rear sway bars. I'm patiently waiting in the wings and listening to see where this all goes. You kids need a role model. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fiatslug87 Posted December 17, 2025 Share Posted December 17, 2025 4 hours ago, neohic said: You kids need a role model. And that’s why everyone looked at Don’s write-up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neohic Posted January 1 Author Share Posted January 1 I spent the day cleaning axles. The rear needed all of the brackets cut off, and the front needed some attention too. Probably the cleanest Dana 35 on the planet right now. As for the 30, the lower control arm mounts needed to get cut off also. One side was booger welded back on while the other was well on its way to falling off. The story was that the ZJ was a northern rig before it was in Colorado. That checks out with the amount of rust I scaled off and the blown out control arms. Then I popped the cover. Poor thing has seen some things! The ZJ came with a pile or receipts for the front axle getting rebuilt. Everything looks and feels good, but obviously the old carrier was kept with the new gears. Still waiting on Ruff Stuff brackets. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neohic Posted January 4 Author Share Posted January 4 I can’t believe the three fan shroud has been in there since 2013, but it came out today. Just going back to simplicity and undoing some wiring that 19 year old me would’ve done even before the fans. It never overheated with either fan setup. I cleaned up and kept the harness I added for the fans so I can add an auxiliary again with an override switch. For now, it’s back to basics. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neohic Posted January 10 Author Share Posted January 10 Came across a later XJ 10 blade electric fan. Of course it just dropped right in but I wired it to the fan harness I added years ago. The switches are still on the side of the console. First switch turns on the system. The second is an override if I want to manually turn it on. Don’t ask about those extra holes. Keep in mind, this truck has lived a few lives already. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoeLAW Posted January 13 Share Posted January 13 On 12/14/2025 at 2:16 PM, neohic said: Just got done reading your whole thread man, and wow, what a bitchin little MJ you got. I'm assuming this is where the ZJ ended up at, is this a shop? I see that badass 2nd gen and seems like a crawler in the background. I has questions!!?? lol Also, I have been dailying Jessica for the 2nd week now ince my daily is down fro now.. and I've been running into those stumbling issues on Jessica.. I've done a whole lot to it, but never ever swapped or even cracked oven the gas tank to check on the pump and sending unit, too scared of it not sealing good again, but I will try the relay trick, hoping maybe that will let it idle better. Thanks for all the posts keep up the good work and can't wait to see the truck in it's sport version now Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neohic Posted January 14 Author Share Posted January 14 4 hours ago, JoeLAW said: Just got done reading your whole thread man, and wow, what a bitchin little MJ you got. I'm assuming this is where the ZJ ended up at, is this a shop? I see that badass 2nd gen and seems like a crawler in the background. I has questions!!?? lol Also, I have been dailying Jessica for the 2nd week now ince my daily is down fro now.. and I've been running into those stumbling issues on Jessica.. I've done a whole lot to it, but never ever swapped or even cracked oven the gas tank to check on the pump and sending unit, too scared of it not sealing good again, but I will try the relay trick, hoping maybe that will let it idle better. Thanks for all the posts keep up the good work and can't wait to see the truck in it's sport version now Thanks dude! Open your fuel tank!! If you’re stumbling you might have the dreaded rubber line that’s failing. The ZJ came from my buddy’s shop, Pine Metal Fabrication. The Toyota is on tons and 40s. It was originally a 2wd truck and they’re way easier to build into something like this because of the lack of most speed sensors. It’s an awesome truck! Everything that comes out of the shop is super nice. Hoping to have some kind of updates on my truck sooner than later. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smokeyyank Posted January 14 Share Posted January 14 On 1/1/2026 at 4:59 PM, neohic said: Still waiting on Ruff Stuff brackets Dude, same.....going on two months almost. Then other places lost stuff in transit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neohic Posted January 14 Author Share Posted January 14 9 hours ago, Smokeyyank said: Dude, same.....going on two months almost. Then other places lost stuff in transit. You’re not the first to tell me they’ve been waiting for a while. No one else is getting replies to emails or calls either. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoeLAW Posted January 14 Share Posted January 14 I feel you guys, however I guess I'm kind of a hoarder myself, I keep ordering brackets and random stuff like bungs and rod ends when I don't need them just to have them ready whenever I do.. but yes I placed an order back in November for their Cyber Monday deals, and I'm still receiving batches of that order, not fully delivered yet. Badass good to know on those Tacos, also I think if you get the little ones that get used as parts runners those are still running the AW4 tranny, ony bad thing is the 4cyl engines. I guess I'll have to open the tank up.. it's weird though. When I 1st start it it won't idle and just bog down and die, but almost as if it was getting flooded/running too rich. So what I've been doing (which I do not like) is starting it, revving it up to 2k as soon as it starts, keeping it like that for a couple of secs then letting the revs come down to 1500-1800 and holding it there for a couple of mins then it idles just fine. But my truck is a conglomeration of a bunch of parts so I gotta keep fiddling with it.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neohic Posted January 14 Author Share Posted January 14 5 minutes ago, JoeLAW said: … But my truck is a conglomeration of a bunch of parts so I gotta keep fiddling with it.... Think of it as a “best-of album”. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smokeyyank Posted January 15 Share Posted January 15 On 1/14/2026 at 5:54 AM, neohic said: You’re not the first to tell me they’ve been waiting for a while. No one else is getting replies to emails or calls either. I called again, took a while but finally got a hold of someone, stuff is still on back order, best part is its now different things than the last time I called. Told them to just cancel the order. Went and got what I need from Barnes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neohic Posted January 15 Author Share Posted January 15 49 minutes ago, Smokeyyank said: I called again, took a while but finally got a hold of someone, stuff is still on back order, best part is its now different things than the last time I called. Told them to just cancel the order. Went and got what I need from Barnes. I almost ordered through Barnes but RS was a better deal (hindsight ) and they had the lower control arm brackets that don’t require extra cam lockout washers. I know I can just get the extra bits and weld everything solid to leave the caster adjustment to my control arms themselves, but I prefer to not have nothing more than I need. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smokeyyank Posted January 15 Share Posted January 15 Ditto, BF friday deal was good, but not good enough to get parts. Was my first and probably last time ordering from RS. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neohic Posted January 16 Author Share Posted January 16 On 1/13/2026 at 7:03 PM, neohic said: … my buddy’s shop, Pine Metal Fabrication. The Toyota is on tons and 40s… I was at my buddy’s shop today so I grabbed more Toyota content. Still an awesome truck but with slightly more body damage than the last time I saw it. It has a front bumper that currently off of it for repairing the front crossmember. Anyhow… back in street truck land… apparently this is what people with lowered vehicles do? WAY easier to get a better idea of what’s going on under there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neohic Posted January 18 Author Share Posted January 18 Well, shoot. So… the floor isn’t quite as fresh as it was last I saw it in 2010. I was crawling around under the truck today and noticed the nasty “R” word that never sleeps. I decided to bite the bullet since I was undecided if I wanted to swap to a hand brake lever or go back to the pedal. Truth be told… I never put the parking brake together after the last major makeover in 2010. I like that I can fit a Nalgene bottle in the console, so the pedal went back in. The seat came out. The carpet came up. And then?… Oh no! Not quite as bad after some cleanup, but it definitely needs to get cut out. This was the only Comanche I’ve owned that I hadn’t needed to patch the floor right there. I’ve got a plan but I absolutely despise welding on these trucks. Let’s move on for now. The exhaust between the header and the transmission cross member has always been an issue also. A while ago I added a flange that turned out to be a huge mistake. I put it in there without thinking about the front driveshaft. It’s close but only just came in contact with it probably while going around corners. That came out and a v-band went in to make a ton of room. The angle looks a bit weird, but when you figure where the driveshaft is about to live, the clearance gets better. Again, tough to see but I can fit a hand around the u-joint and the header. It’s probably fine. Lastly, I started looking at the rear sway bar from the ZJ. There’s no way it’s going to work. The new plan is to reuse the current front sway bar on the rear. It fits great where I want it to! The bar will get mounted to the axle and I’ll make up some stud brackets that bolt on with the bump stops. Stay tuned. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neohic Posted January 19 Author Share Posted January 19 Floor patch it done. While I’m waiting on brackets I decided to start mocking the new suspension in. I’ve got a track bar to make along with modifying my current control arms. Believe it or not, there’s actually room for the differential to go all the way up to full bump! Granted, not much space, but just enough. Ka-chow! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fiatslug87 Posted January 19 Share Posted January 19 How far off the ground do you think the frame rails end up? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neohic Posted January 19 Author Share Posted January 19 19 minutes ago, fiatslug87 said: How far off the ground do you think the frame rails end up? Not sure. It isn't super low though. This truck is on the same suspension that mine will be: Easily speed bump able. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neohic Posted January 21 Author Share Posted January 21 Track bar is mocked up. I started with the stock track bar from the ZJ, bent the bushing side up for better clearance, and then cut the frame side to adapt it to an anti wobble adjustable joint. The frame side bracket got cut and moved around enough to make space for the differential at full bump but also not rearranged so much that it wouldn’t still work with my mystery aftermarket lifted track bar. Again, the idea is to keep everything as swappable as possible should I ever get the urge to change things again… again. And then I started welding, put one pass around the threaded bung, and it locked up solid. Now I get to cut it apart and order a new joint. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neohic Posted Sunday at 01:09 AM Author Share Posted Sunday at 01:09 AM Track bar is done again. Everything needing fabrication in the front is done minus the control arms. I’ll be using the current arms but doing away with the flex joints at the frame. Even if the truck were to ever go back up to the lifted height I don’t want the flex joints anymore. They’ve always clunked since day one and added to road noise. I’ll get to them once the axles get swapped. As far as the new height, it can really be seen here… and the lifted links should been another 1.5” longer. I took a set of stock links and just cut them shorter. The frame side track bar bracket came out and got reinforced and finish welded. Obviously everything is getting blown apart for cleaning and paint. The exception is the track bar bracket not needing to come back out. All that got moved was the bushing pocket about a half inch to give the differential more space. Again, thinking about easily changing things, the old lifted track bar still goes right back where it was even after cutting the bracket. As for where everything sits at the new ride height, there’s plenty of space. There’s maybe a half inch between the coil seat and the bump stop. I think it’d be great to get it a little lower. Maybe the Archers cut the springs? I remember talking with John and Tommy about the suspensions on the trucks and both of them said that they sat right on the bumps. It’s kind of tough to compare ride height to old pictures because they used all kinds of different tire sizes to cheat the gear ratios for different tracks. There is some space to go lower between the differential and the oil pan… some. I won’t cut these coils, but I do have a set of rear ZJ springs I could play with. It’d mean figuring shorten bump stops too. We’ll see. As for swapping between lowered to lifted… … I can do it in about a half an hour. I need to double check caster at each height, and obviously the steering will need adjustment between each height. The longer than stock control arms work out in my favor for clearance at both heights so there won’t be any adjustments there given the caster is acceptable. Now, if only I could get those brackets from Ruff Stuff. I’ve sent off four emails and left two messages now. I’m hesitant to order elsewhere until I can actually get on touch with someone. Very frustrating. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoeLAW Posted Sunday at 01:28 AM Share Posted Sunday at 01:28 AM Looking good man! And that sucks to hear from Ruffstuff.. I have gotten several emails now of how they're running behind on an order I placed since Thanksgiving. Thankfully I don't need it, but I do feel your frustration. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neohic Posted Sunday at 02:02 AM Author Share Posted Sunday at 02:02 AM Any kind of reply would be welcome. The silence is killing me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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