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My Painfully Slow 1988 Mj Build aka The Red Dragon.


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If you disconnect the lower control arms on the axle side you should be able to slide them in there...

Yeah, there lies the problem. The axle came with a good set of LCA attached. I soon figured out the PO never removed them because the axle side bolts are seized. It was a battle to get the other end of the arms inside the alignment adjusters and align the bolt holes while the axle was still attached to the other end of the arms. It kept catching the edge of the alignment adjusters and bending the heck out of them. I had planned on putting in the coils first then got ahead of myself.

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Coils are in, brakes are on. Brake lines do not want to come off. I think I am going to have to cut the hard lines and reflare them to install the new Chevy hoses.

Threw on the tires so I can put it on the ground and install the track bar. Of course I had to take a pic.

I still need to replace the pitman arm. It does not want to come off either even with a BFH and a puller. I am going to add some heat and see if that works. I still have to install the shocks and get some new hardware because all the bolts on the bar pins snapped during removel. I am kind of disappointed the new Teraflex bar pin eliminators didn't come with those bolts.

O' well, I guess it's an excuse to go to Tractor Supply.

 

Oh yeah, in the pic you can see I installed one of the 97+ mirrors I grabbed at the JY last trip. It is about time this truck is getting some attention.

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Careful with heat and a steering gear. It can melt the seals and cause a ton of problems. A rental pitman arm puller, big breaker bar, cheater pipe and a BFH have always worked for me.

I have used the heat method in the past with good results. Like you said you have to be careful to not overheat the box and keep the heat concentrated to the arm itself. I would usually use the same method as you but the pitman arm puller I got from Autozone has a shoulder cast on the end of the nut so that you can not put a socket on it, only a wrench. Maybe they had to many people snapping their rental arm pullers. :dunno:

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I figured I had some free time this weekend so I would spring over the rear of the Comanche. I got up early, disconnected everything attached to the rear axle and cut the u bolts. I started to wrestle D35 out of the way with my jack when it rolled off and it landed on my ring finger. :mad: Ouch! I pretty much knew it was broken as soon as it happened but spending the rest of the morning at the urgent care confirmed it. The axle also tore the skin so now I am on antibiotics. Today I tried to work on it again but after whacking my finger a couple times I gave up. Hopefully my finger will feel a bit better next weekend so I can make the Comanche mobile again. 

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Well, the finger is feeling a bit better so last night I decided to finish the SOA in the rear. It is nice to have the truck off the jack stands and mobile again.

The truck sits a little lower in the rear. There is a bunch of stuff in the bed including a HD read bumper so hopefully it will com up a bit. If not I will have to go with a bit longer shackle.

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