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88 long bed, bed bob, full width axles, plow, bumpers!!


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Yeah hopefully I won't damage the frame if I hit anything. I'm going to lean the plow blade forward just a bit to make it a little less agressive going forward and to back blade a little better. So far it all looks good but I really need to add something on the hoop to support that upper angle iron and to keep it from twisting or leaning forward. It doesn't move with me jumping on the plow with the plow raised but I could see it happening. I don't have anything hooked up yet just testing to see it take the weight! Plus I had to move the plow from the back yard up to the front of the garage to work on the blade a bit. Those front coils are pretty damn stiff and take the weight pretty good, going to need a few pounds of ballast tho! And if the A-frame angle doesn't come out right I may raise the mounts on the back of the A-frame to fix.

 

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When I lived in PA, we had a '77 Bronco with a plow on it and we had to have headlights mounted higher on a frame above the plow. Is that not a requirement any more or is it state specific on something like that?

 

Either way...looks good :thumbsup:

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Each state has their own laws but for the most part you definately want lights mounted higher than the blade. My factory headlights om my truck are completely blocked by the blade when its raised all the way. The plow lights look like theyre mounted really high but when you raise the blade it all makes sense.

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I have no idea if that is a requirement in Michigan or not. Don't really care tho, the headlights and turn signals are visible above the plow when its raised, not all the way but you don't transport it with it raised all the way only enough so its off the ground. It doesn't get driven around with the plow on besides a couple blocks to the gas station anyway, basically just for plowing out my personal driveway. I'll eventually get some lights up there, plus a cheap rotating beacon and a back up spot light... For lights I was thinking of these I found on ebay, $60 + shipping and includes a wiring harness.

 

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looks like a pretty good deal...brightr backup lights are a definate plus if your gonna plow after dark..... I wired my backups through a toggle switch and a relay that is triggered by the factory back up lights. That way any time the switch is my extra lights come on whenever you put the truck in reverse.

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You did a great job with the bumper/plow mount, but I have one question. Why a comanche, wouldnt a heavier vehicle be better suited for use as a snow plow?

 

Well the biggest reason is because I had the Comanche! Then the 6'6" plow blade came with an old 72 CJ5 I had a few years ago, I got rid of that jeep a long time ago but kept the plow blade around. I ran across a good deal on an E47 pump a couple months ago, and it just kinda came together. So far I have just under $500 into this with purchasing metal for not only the plow mounts but the bumper as well, purchasing the pump, wiring, and controls... The old manche basically sits most of the time, my gf wheels it during the summer, I wheel it when my wrangler is getting upgraded, it gets put to use hauling everthing I don't want to haul in my daily driver!

 

Actually if your plowing comercial a larger heavier truck would be best, I actually have a 3/4 ton chevy as a work truck with a 7'6" boss superduty straight blade just for plowing our large parking lot and loading dock area at work (work truck, absolutely no personal use). I can tell you its a huge pain in the @$$ plowing around a loading dock with semi trailers parked around with a full size big truck, A jeep would zip around there in no time. But for small area's, driveways, sidewalks, basic residential stuff there is no better plow truck than a Jeep. You only have to backblade a few feet from the garage door with a short Jeep, they stack snow better than any big truck ever could, easier to manuver around in tight spaces...

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for small area's, driveways, sidewalks, basic residential stuff there is no better plow truck than a Jeep.

:agree:

We have a 02 f250 at work for a plow truck. When it comes to plowing around stuff in tight areas I'll take the comanche any time. Obviously the full size truck works better for pushing deep wet snow but the old mj will still do the job.

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Well I actually got my plow to work tonight for the first time! I made the whole wiring harness myself and hooked it all up and then nothing!! I double checked everything and was getting frustrated. The damn solenoid wasn't working. So I check the ground, it had power, connections all good... It was a brand new SAM replacement solenoid from NAPA. So I pulled an old rusty Jeep solenoid I had sitting in a box of parts, slapped in it, and away she went! UP, Down, Left, Right, all the right directions with the proper movment of the toggles! Yeah!!

 

But my problems... with the plow down the front of the Jeep comes up enough to make my A frame a little to high in the rear. But it seems to push ok, it hasn't snowed here in the last week so I didn't really have much to play with just some crusty icy stuff. It didn't seem to dig in much, and it tripped fairly easily... My springs are still a little loose though, got the adj bolts soaking in some stuff to free them up. I still need to fix my trip stops so the blade leans a little bit more forward, but overall i'm very happy. jamminz.gifjamminz.gifjamminz.gif

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  • 1 month later...

Even though the MJ won't be ready for its new wheels till later this summer, going to start the axle swap in the spring, I started working on the rims! I'm using a Hobart 187 Mig and a cut 40 plasma... These wheels along with my 37" toyos on chrome H2's will probably get swapped around between my wrangler and the comanche... It took me about 2 hours to get one done and ready for paint. The plasma worked great for cutting the center out, I used the outer half as a guide... LOL, still looks like it was chewed off, its hard to hold that thing steady! I think the center will get painted silver, and the outer ring black.

 

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Wood blade in the sawzall cut the mag insert like butter. Then I got this little wood and soft metal rasp to clean up the cuts. It all went pretty quick, probably 20 minutes to cut the 2 halves down. Only problem now is the sidewall on the swamper is just to thick and it won't clamp the halves of the rim down well enough to get a good seal on the O ring... I might have to shave down some on the width of the mag inserts.

 

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And while I was working on the rims, the GF was trying to get the knuckles off her front axle...

 

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So you have worked with these then... How the hell do you get them to seal! I think my sidewall is to thick on the swampers and I can't tighten down the bolts good enough to get a good seal on the O ring. I'm going to have to bust them apart again and machine down the width of the mag insert a bit... Those military goodyears must have a thin sidewall!

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dude, i gotta say that seeing these pic's have made me hot for your gf!! :rotfl2: a woman cutting sheet metal and holding busted diffs, that's just hot! :D

 

my wife used to help me alot. she knows how to do more stuff than most guys i know. she still helps me quite a bit, but not as much now with the 4 kids. she's a great wife. jamminz.gif she hunts, trains dogs, cleans game, helps on vehicles, run the trap thrower for me, even plants birds when dog training. she's not afraid to get dirty and loves the smell of gas. :brows:

 

it's great having a partner by your side when you're doing the things you enjoy. much better than getting chewed out for spending too much time doing this or that! ;)

 

keep up the great work on the mj and keep the pic's coming. i love seeing a project progress. :thumbsup:

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Yep, having a GF that likes to do this stuff is nice, she cleans up real good to but I'll let her post pics of that if she wants haha, I don't want to get in trouble! My ex-wife hated anything to do with this stuff. But this one like wheeling so much she had to get her own Jeep, enter the $350 MJ that I have been drooling over for a year previously and finally had a reason to get it... She even had to get her own snowmobile! The only work she really wasn't involved in was putting my plow on her Jeep, lol... She did some of the welding on the bumper tho, and she will finish the rest of it when the plow comes off.

 

 

More pics...

 

Beating off knuckles that have been on since 1979... Haha, she is small, that sledge kicked her arse :D

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Removing the tie rod...

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After alot of elbow grease! She got it clean!

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Oh and I had to try out this dang tire and wheel i've been working on for 3 days! I have a set of 36" goodyears that she will probably run on her MJ with these H1 wheels, but I had to try on my 38" swampers. After I got that one swamper mounted on my wrangler we both decided that the 38 didn't reall look that big! But hopefully her MJ will turn out the right hight to run my 37" toyo's on my full chrome bling H2 wheels, what would be sweet!!

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How do you think the MJ would look with these tires and wheels!! I like the fact we will both be 8-lug and be able to run the same sized tires...

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So you have worked with these then... How the hell do you get them to seal! I think my sidewall is to thick on the swampers and I can't tighten down the bolts good enough to get a good seal on the O ring. I'm going to have to bust them apart again and machine down the width of the mag insert a bit... Those military goodyears must have a thin sidewall!

 

Oh yeah, I have dealt with them, a lot!

 

I think the Hummer rim is a 16.5X10, I don't know if you are using the Hummer wheels with new center or just the outside bead lock with new (smaller) wheels and centers.

 

The Wrangler MTs used on the Hummers is a E range tire with very thick sidewalls. I have used Super Swampers on our Hummers in Afghanistan and they went right on with no problems.

 

I am not really sure why you are having such a hard time.

 

What size wheel centers and tires are you running?

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  • 3 months later...

Got all 4 wheels done, and seeing how the Manche isnt ready for them yet I tried them out on my wrangler over memorial weekend. Zero issues besides a slight wobble out of one of the wheels on the street at speed, no worry though as these are pretty much off road only. I ran them at 8lbs for the weekend, and several days later they still have 8lbs in them. The axles for the MJ are pretty much stripped down and ready to go, we are going to take care of some overheating issues first though.

 

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Oh, and it plowed alot of snow over the winter. The plow truck at work kept breaking down so I got to plow at $75 a push and pretty much paid for the plow plus some.

 

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It also makes a great dana 60 mover. And as usual plans might change. Instead of a D44 and l D60 we might just do f&R Dana 60's... I picked up this 88 ford kingpin HP60

 

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I picked up this 88 ford kingpin HP60

 

Nice. :D How much ya pay for that gem?

 

$600 after all said and done, Kicking myself though for missing a similar year Ford 60 already set up with 5.13 gears for $800. After cleaning this one up though its in real nice shape except for the brake callipers are frozen....

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