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88 Comanche Chief - 'the UniTruggy'


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  • 2 months later...
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small update- finally got the 14 bolt all bolted in with the stuff from RuffStuff. The drivers side stock LCA mount is off, yet the passenger side one is still on there; these need to go cause they interfere with my custom crossmember/LA brackets. I also got my 37" Cooper SST's mounted on my H2's today.

 

this build feels like its going at a snails pace :(

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didnt have much time to get deep into things, so for ha-ha's i bolted up 2 of the 37's, and whadaya know, they fit!! sitting on its own with 300lbs+ in the bed, and the tires clear the stock uncut fenders jamminz.gif barely ;) and at 79" wide, i think it may even be street legal!! ill have to look into that more...

 

so now that the rear end is as done as its gonna be for a while, its now time to turn to the front end. ive got the 60 ground down to the bare housing, the coil/shock/link mounts from Ballistic are ready to go, my custom cross member and side plates are ready to go, but i need to trim a bit more off the LCA mounts to clear the side plates. Then its time to bolt and burn all that stuff into place, and figure out link lengths....

 

 

then brakes, steering, driveshafts, boatsides, cage, bobbing the bed, (undecided about the dovenose/dovetail), oh yea and getting it running :doh:

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i honestly havent really thought about shocks yet; something between no-name white bodies and triple bypass coilovers :D

 

I'm also trying to figure out brakes for the back, since i need something with a parking brake so its legal-ish. the eldorado calipers are the best stock option, since I'm running 3/4 ton chevy front rotors on my 14 bolt, but from what ive read, even those arent great.

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  • 1 month later...

so work has been moving at a snails pace on this rig. the LCA mounts are long gone and the frame rails are mostly cleaned up. A friend and I burned the coil/shock/link mounts onto the d60, welded the axles tubes so they wouldnt rotate, and fabbed up a truss for stregth and for a mounting spot for the UCA mount. it looks like my lowers will be around 32". my upper is undecided, as I'm not sure where to put the frame side UCA mount; looks like I'm going to have to cut into the floor and then build a tunnel around the mount and arm. ive been shopping around for heims/flex joints and it looks like I'm going to use the 1.25" heims at the axle end, and some clevite bushings at the frame end. if this was a 100% offroad rig, i would just go for heims all the way around, but since it will be a street driven rig, i am going to bushings (for now) to keep with a bit quieter and a bit smoother. once i get the mounts in place, and the arms tapped and welded, then 'the chief' as it has affectionatly been referred to lately will hopefully be rolling. i also picked up 3/4 ton chevy front calipers to go on the 14b, and an Ford E350 master cylinder last week, which along with a gutted proportioning valve, should give me some pretty good pedal feel.

 

I'm considereing going with square driveshafts to cut down on cost, but at the same time, i may just go to the junkyard and find a longer-than-what-i-need driveshaft thatll fit the 14bolt, and just shorten it; if possible i'll do this up front as well, just gotta figure out the joints. still havent fired it up yet...

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  • 2 months later...

UPDATE!!!!!

 

more pics tomorrow in the sunlight :chillin: its so nice to finally see all my hard work pay off. that being said, it still needs lots of work, as the links are temporary, the 'panhard bar' is actually just a ratchet strap, and there's no steering. but GAH I'm SO PUMPED :jump:

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whats going on with the front suspension? :???:

 

thats my soon to be patented 'super-temporary-good-enough-to-get-it-out-of-the-garage' suspension. its strong enough to hold the weight of the truck while stationary, or being rolled around/loaded onto a trailer, but thats it. I'm also using it to play with arm length to see how everything fits, so i don't drop money on real deal arms, just to find out they're too long/short. I'm gonna end up go with lower long arms around 31" long, about an inch shorter than the very temporary test arms that are on there now. The upper will have a custom mount made as well off the crossmember.

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  • 2 weeks later...

WENT WHEELIN YESTERDAY!!!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

ok it was only in my GFs stock TJ. And she drove most of the time, but it was nice to get out on the trails again. I was PUMPED that she drove the whole trail :D and she didnt need a whole lot of spotting either ;)

 

in other news, I picked up some JK fenders for the Chief. I havent gotten any further than just eyeing them up, (as i want to wait til i flex it out to figure out where i'll need to trim the fenders to), but I'm at a crossroads with the rears. do i want the drivers side fender on the drivers side, or should i swap the rears side for side? thoughts??

 

driver flare on drivers side

 

passenger flare on drivers side

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