trail grenade Posted March 29, 2010 Share Posted March 29, 2010 ok so ive owned this thing for like 5 years, it used to be the plow truck but it hadnt been used in 3 years. so last spring i decided to dig it out of the weeds, put some bald 31s on it and use it for trail cutting at my house. ive beat on it for the past year and the renix 4.0 and pukegoat 5spd are still holding up fine.. well a month ago i broke both front shafts at the same time.. so with rausch creek opening 1200 acres and my love for trail cutting i decided to make it a little bit more rock reliable. so i pulled an 8.8 with 4.10s at the jy and at the same time i pulled the gears out of a 4cyl comanche. i installed the gears in a hp non disco 30 i already had with 297 shafts. then i started bulding the 8.8.. i tig welded the spider gears up first and then i bent up some tube for a diff guard and welded it to the stock cover after i plated the lower lip then i built a removable pinion guard for it and fabbed my own u bolt eliminator spring perches that use 5/8" bolts and have integrated bump stop pads so once my 8.8 was ready to go in i decided that i didnt want to put it back in sua because of the crazy loss of clearance.. but my leaf springs were in awesome condition and would have given me like 8" of lift if i put them spring over.. i decided to inboard my leaf springs to the inside of the unibody rails and up about 5" i fabbed new spring pockets on some stiffeners and welded them up next i built new shackle boxes and set them up using some 1.5 shackles to get a nice nice shackle angle while i was working on the back half i recessed an xj gas tank down in the floor in the front of the bed to get it up out of the rocks and protected right now it has beat 3" coils in the front and its sitting level i got some 33" dunlop mud rovers with like 75% tread in trade for a gas tank skid i built for some one its a work in progress and needs to be finished for my trip to rc the weekend of may 1st.. i have a lot of work to do still fab front diff guard fab front stiffeners and bumper fab new crossmember and flat belly fab boatsides fab rear bumper fab rear shock mounts (upper and lower) install dual brake booster and zj prop valve and all new brake lines and hoses install front shocks install new u-joints wire up electric fan to a switch install renix sending unit into tank (so my gas guage works) figure out exhaust and a bunch of other random junk ill keep updating as it comes along Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Automan2164 Posted March 29, 2010 Share Posted March 29, 2010 Wow. Just wow. Some pretty good fab work for just making a trail beater. Have you driven it with the springs inboard? Have you noticed any difference in the ride? Welcome to the group! Rob L. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trail grenade Posted March 30, 2010 Author Share Posted March 30, 2010 y not make nice stuff for a trail beater? lol i hate wrenching on the trail.. havent driven it inboarded yet... but my shocks and bumpstops will be on the outside of the springs so i think that will add plenty of stability.. thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
86FUBAR Posted March 30, 2010 Share Posted March 30, 2010 Nice build so far, what springs do u have in the back that would net that kinda lift ? iv been wanting to inboard my springs to increas flex but with the longarms i kinda don't need much more flex. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trail grenade Posted March 30, 2010 Author Share Posted March 30, 2010 stock 4wd comanche leafs in like new condition and 2" xj shackles (1.5" lift mj shackles) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
89eliminator Posted March 30, 2010 Share Posted March 30, 2010 i don't know about those UBEs but i love the pinion guard. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SStone Posted March 30, 2010 Share Posted March 30, 2010 Trail beaters are the best. Sweet MJ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trail grenade Posted March 30, 2010 Author Share Posted March 30, 2010 i don't know about those UBEs but i love the pinion guard. prolly should have noted the top plate is temp. for mock up purposes and will be replaced by 1/4 or 5/16" when its wheeling time... antidisestablishmentarianism else arent u sure of? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trail grenade Posted March 30, 2010 Author Share Posted March 30, 2010 Trail beaters are the best. Sweet MJ! this thing is strictly street queen. :banana: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
89eliminator Posted March 30, 2010 Share Posted March 30, 2010 i don't know about those UBEs but i love the pinion guard. prolly should have noted the top plate is temp. for mock up purposes and will be replaced by 1/4 or 5/16" when its wheeling time... antidisestablishmentarianism else arent u sure of? well i wasnt sure of the thickness of the plate...so nevermind then keep up the good work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darren Posted March 30, 2010 Share Posted March 30, 2010 Nice work on the Jeep so far, but your pictures suck. Try to do better next time. :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trail grenade Posted September 28, 2011 Author Share Posted September 28, 2011 So i have recently started another major project on my comanche. I got sick of working around and fixing the stock bed and "frame" behind the cab, and decided to cut the frame rails flush with the cab and start fresh. I have a trip to rc planned for the weekend of october 29th, therefore it will need to be finished up and ready to wheel by then. With that said, on to the plans and progress. stock spring soa, inboarded, flipped stock wheelbase 113" 14.5" white body's 5" frame "z" my 8.8 rear crossmember with shackle mounts frenched you can see here, it was a little tweaked cut everything off behind the cab cut and folded the pinch seam along the back of the cab and started working on a plate to cap the back of the cab, frame rails, and tie into the boatsides the 8.8 pulled cut some plates out to connect the cab cap to my already existing frame stiffeners on all 3 sides of the stock rails tonight i got my rear crossmember tacked together ] That's where I'm at right now, i hope to get a couple hrs in a day to work on it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trail grenade Posted September 28, 2011 Author Share Posted September 28, 2011 had a couple hours to work on it today, got the frame rails and rear crossmember tacked together Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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