The 75 dollar Comanche, and an introduction....

[NotMatt]

Here's a few pics of the long arm install. Still mostly mocked up, I have the arms pulled back out now and need to box in the upper mounts on the lower links and then paint. I have new hardware to go in, then I can put the coils in and get the trackbar all hooked up and see how she sits at ride height.

 

The actual ride height with the coils in ended up sitting quite a bit higher than I had it mocked up at for some reason (maybe I didn't measure something right), so I'm glad I left plenty of room to adjust the castor in the upper arms. When I test fit the springs, it was sitting exactly at 0 degrees compared to my 6 degrees at mocked-up ride height without the coils.

 

So much to do still. :eek:

 

 

[NotMatt]

Sitting on its own wheels now! The front is about an inch higher than the back, but I'm hoping it will level out after getting a radiator and coolant on the front and the springs settling a bit. I'm going to drive it as is for now and put a lift shackle on the rear later if it still needs leveling out.

 

The caster is at 6 degrees. I need to trim a little off the end threads on my trackbar so I can adjust the body end in a little bit more to pull the axle back to the driver's side, then I need some shocks and brake lines to finish up the front.

 

[NotMatt]

More progress last night, got the radiator installed and the front-end all put back together, and put some canyons with worn out 33's on last night. Not sure if I want to stick with 33's when I buy new tires or trim the fenders a bit and run 35's. I really like the look of the canyons with stock fender flares all the way around, and 33's would be less of a hassle on 3.55 gears right now.

 

I ordered some 1" lift shackles for the rear yesterday afternoon to level things out.

 

[NotMatt]

Alright, so I've been making progress but haven't been taking too many pics. Picked some goodies up from Rockridge 4wd on Friday. Bilstein 5100 shocks and some RE brake lines. Spent friday night getting those installed and a few things buttoned up after swapping in the 4wd tranny and transfer case.

 

 

Got 'em all installed and got the brakes bled.

 

 

And a parting shot after getting her on the road tonight. I spent today getting the exhaust buttoned up, getting the bed cleaned out and putting some rear shocks on. I put a flowmaster 40 series on and replaced some beat up portions of the tailpipe and put some high heat black on everything.

 

I'm driving her around in front wheel drive right now cause I still need to get a rear driveline built. I have some 1" lift shackles for the rear on order that should be here next week, but I'm not sure if I will put them on or not...

 

[NotMatt]

Got some 35" Maxxis Big Horns on there. On loan from a buddy of mine until he gets his XJ back on the road. I think they look gooooood... need to trim the front inner fenders a bit though cause they rub slightly.

 

Also added a 1" lift shackle in the back and an extra coil isolator up front so it sits "just right" now. :D

 

 

Here's what we did with the parts donor XJ after pulling all the good stuff out of it.... Got 130 dollars in scrap metal price for it and some other misc. scrap including the 2wd front axle and another junk D35.

 

 

And here is the Rockridge4wd.com JK. Spent some time last week getting it ready for the annual Wenatchee Valley Apple Blossom festival Classis Chassis car show and parade. Yes, that's a Wurton 50" LED light bar up top and holy cow is it bright!

 

[HOrnbrod]

More progress last night, got the radiator installed and the front-end all put back together, and put some canyons with worn out 33's on last night. Not sure if I want to stick with 33's when I buy new tires or trim the fenders a bit and run 35's. I really like the look of the canyons with stock fender flares all the way around, and 33's would be less of a hassle on 3.55 gears right now.

 

Those are Ravine wheels, not Canyons. :cheers: Great job on that cross member too.

 

Canyon Wheel

[Comanche County]

Nice work!

 

You've got the best stripe/color scheme Jeep ever made!

[NotMatt]

Baby got some new shoes. The Big Horns in the last pic were on loan and I gave 'em back to my buddy, so I put the 33's back on and ran those for a while. Finally got around to getting some 16" wheels so I could put on this spare set of KM2's on. They're 315/75/16's so just about a 35" tire... and bam, it's like I got a brand new truck again.

 

In addition to that, I've been slowly fixing other little issues. I replaced the alternator because it was squeeking and only charging at 13.7 volts with no accessories on. While I was there I went ahead and replaced my leaky power steering pump, and put a new YJ fan clutch on (seems to be the same one as the 4.0 ZJ one that lots of people put on).

 

I scored a nice straight tailgate for a song, to replace my other tweaked one. Had to drive 150 miles to get it and scrape the 2.8 V6 logo off when I got it home, but it was worth it. Some day I'll tape it off and throw some red paint on it but it's good for now.

 

Here's a pic..