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1988 Jeep Comanche Aka The Penny Sniffer ,pic Heavy


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Got a new paper weight in the mail today... The pitman arm I have now is 3-6 inches of lift. this one is for up to 8 inches. Should be good enough for the 8.5 inches of lift thats about to go on it.

 

Still going to have to drill/taper it to accept the 1 ton chevy TRE I got on it now.

 

 

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Well finally got the axle back with the 4.10's in and the spartan installed. I got ripped off it cost me a arm and a leg and took for ever...... oh well nothing I can do about it. Its done now. Hopefully I can install ball joints this weekend.

 

 To those who have set up gears befor, How does the pattern look?

 

Either the pinion isn't in far enough, or it's a hair off on shimming. The center of the gear lash is not set at the center of the ring...it's on the outside. Adjusting, you can get more contact and thus a better wear pattern.

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Why the ironman shackles? The rear is obviously way higher with what's in it In the pics on this page.

 

And why the pitman drop? Unless you drop the trackbar to match, you will have bump steer.

 

 because I will  be installing this with serious off-roads long arms. 8.5 inches of lift in the front.

the rear is sitting at 7.5 inches of lift and the shackles are to raise it to 8.5

 

Also have claytons offroad track bar with drop bracket for 8 inches of lift. Pitman arm is top makw sure all the angles stay good with my steering.

 

All this is mentioned in the thread,

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Well finally got the axle back with the 4.10's in and the spartan installed. I got ripped off it cost me a arm and a leg and took for ever...... oh well nothing I can do about it. Its done now. Hopefully I can install ball joints this weekend.

 

 To those who have set up gears befor, How does the pattern look?

 

Either the pinion isn't in far enough, or it's a hair off on shimming. The center of the gear lash is not set at the center of the ring...it's on the outside. Adjusting, you can get more contact and thus a better wear pattern.

 

 

I was told the same thing by someone else. I'm going to have to install the axle and then bring it back to the guy and have him look at it again.

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ME TOOO thanks guys. Its been a long road of buying parts after parts and putting them on the shelf untill I had everything to do the lift. I believe at this point I have about 2000-2500 into the lift.and the front axle.

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Got some more work done on the new front axle. Was able to get it painted up and painted the track bar drop bracket, along with the knuckles. still need to drill them out for the 1 ton TRE's.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Went to a local offroad park (might as well be called a mud hole...) this weekend. Had fun, but got stuck quite a few times. I knew I would, seeing as how I only have 2wd right now because I still have the old front axle in with the non matching gears to the rear. Just made me want to get the long arms and new axle under even quicker. Did have some damage this weekend too. The rear break lines got wrapped up on something and pulled them and I don't think I have rear brakes right now. Something went in the front axle. Makes some got awful noise when I turn. I think It is a ball joint. Don't really care cause the whole axle will be sitting in the scrap yard in the next week or so anyway. Oh and some new pin stripes of course!
Most of the pictures I have is of when I was stuck...








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Plenty of people get away without doing it, but good caster, which is usually between 5-7 degrees (upper ball joint behind lower ball joint), will improve road manners and make it easier to steer. I'm building a high pinion 44 at the moment and setting the pinion at 13 degrees and the caster at 6.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Got some more work done on the Turdy 30 this past weekend. Was able to drill the knuckles and pitman arm for the 1 ton steering. Ball Joints are pressed in and u-joints are also. Went an picked up some hub bearings from advance. Ordered "MOOG" ones but they gave me "National" and didn't have any Moog ones in stock, kinda ticked me off...  Don't know much about "National", are they as good as Moog products?  Anyway, had to order 2 spindle nut kits from Napa because I misplaced mine, from what I hear you are suppose to replace them every time you take them off anyway. Also lost the bolts that attach the hub bearing assembly to the knuckle. Going to head to fastenal today to get some. Called the dealership and they wanted like 6 bucks per bolt, Smh.... Highway robbery. Waiting on a buddy to get back in town next week to install it all and the lift. Then I will have to measure and have a custom front drive shaft made with multiple cardone joints on it to deal with the steep angle. Also Still need to install the locker in the rear. Hope to have this thing wrapped up by the 1st of July. Reds are starting to hit hard in matagorda bay and its killing me not having a 4wd.

comparison of the knuckle drilled out to 7/8ths to accept the 1 ton tie rod ends. Second time I have done this and its not very fun..... Burnt up my Dewalt hammer drill.


With the tapered inserts installed.



And the axle 95% complete



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  • 3 weeks later...

Well axle is all done so now to start on the lift. Went ahead and mocked up the serious offroad crossmember to see what I'm going to have to do to make it fit. I am going to have to make a new mounting point for it on the frame. So the plan is to get some 1inch by 3 inch channel, weld to studs to it them weld it to the frame. that will be the man mounting location for it. The drill two holes through the side of the frame and bolt it up. I am going to have to trim the crossmember vertical plate that hugs the frame to fit around the cab support. Also It looks like its going to be a serious tight clearance for the drive shaft. So I'm going to notch that part of the cross member and plate it back in. One last thing, The crossmember transfercase skid looks like it might not be deep enough. Looks like the transfercase might come in contact and rest on the skid. I have to do some cutting and test fitting before Ill know for sure though.

 

Jacked the truck up to see where it "should" sit once the new lift. After all this and 8.5 inches of lift it looks as if I'm still going to rub on the street with 35's..... I was really trying to avoid cutting fenders because I didn't want to cut into the bed. They are getting harder and harder to find. First things first though, get the lift on and then go from there...

 

 

 

 

Last thing is front drive shaft. I'm trying to find one that should be able to take the steep angle. From what I have read some xj guys were able to get away with just an extended stock shaft on 8 inches of lift with no problems. Others had bad vibs. I found a driveshaft that should be able to take the angle. A multiple double cardone joint DS. Tom woods makes them. However I am getting mixed reports as to its hwy use... if I have bad vibes with that the only other option I have I believe is to cut off the C's on the axle and rotate back for the pinon angle or do manual locking hubs that way the ds is not spinning in 2wd.

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  • 1 month later...

Nothing new to mention about the mj right now. Have been hitting the books hard and will be graduating in about a week. In the mean time I have been looking to trade in my 2008 ford fusion as soon as I get a job for a H3T. What do yall think. I am not considering anything less than the V8 option. They are hard to find and have been looking for the past year.

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I think it is a good looking vehicle for a dd. Plus if I can get it with front and rear diff locks( which is fairly rare) it will be icing on the cake. Planis to throw some nice tires on it and rock it. looks like I can get one with about 50k for 28k. It will come with the 5.3 a trusted vortec....

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Plenty of people get away without doing it, but good caster, which is usually between 5-7 degrees (upper ball joint behind lower ball joint), will improve road manners and make it easier to steer. I'm building a high pinion 44 at the moment and setting the pinion at 13 degrees and the caster at 6.

 Nice work on the axle..... but you might give some more thought to cutting it to keep it closer to the ground.... I know how hard that is but with the rack on top and spare tire even the slightest off camber situation is gonna feel real bad at 8 inches..... not to mention drivablility at highway speed.  Kudo's for needing to wheel so bad that you went even limited to 2wd, my MJ is down right now getting a new front axle as well and it's killing me..... also DansGreymj, after months of reading post after post those are the exact angles I'm putting on my HP F250 Dana 44 right now..... always nice to see someone else come to the same conclusion as you did...... :thumbsup:

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