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88 Mj 2Wd To 4Wd And 37's


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Hey guys 

 

been following comanche club mj for a while had a few xjs over the years and was looking to rebuild my 92 xj to a newer model after about 6 months of not finding a 99 or newer for less then an arm and a leg with a millon km i found this mj but couldnt come to make a deal on price so i walked 

but i couldnt get this truck out of my head so a couple month later i seen it still for sale and started emailing and settled on a price minus the classic rims and the mj build started 

its a 1988 mj 

renix 4.0

ba 10 5 speed 

2wd

so we found some spare wheels and tires bolted them up and brought it the 120 km back home looked pretty sad with the spares on it Image Not FoundImage Not Found

it was pretty much stock and unmolested which was sweet over all pretty good shape first thing to do pull some carpet check some floors Image Not Foundnot to to bad drivers side  Image Not Found

passenger side Image Not Foundall and all pretty good time to cut and replace some metalImage Not Found

burnt in some new steel

all done and sealed up with epoxy primer and bed liner 

so with the floors done the tear down starts pulled the ba-10 and front 2wd axle Image Not FoundImage Not Foundi have a set of 36x14.5 iroks on my xj which is the donor for this build (body rusting out reason for orginal rebuild idea) but you can see in the prior pic i picked up 5 37x12.5 iroks for a grand a least 90% tread Image Not FoundImage Not Foundso i pulled the flares of the box knowing fair well gonna be good or really bad passanger side looks perfect and the drivers side has a bit of rust but nothing crazy or un fixable pretty good by mj standards 

a little of topic i build this mustang over the last few years got it done end of last summer tried to dyno tune with a $#!&ty local shop with no lucktook it to a mustang shop in calgary called techmotion amazing tuner runs awesome and a little scary when the 11psi hits in any gear very very fun and supper happy with it donor xj in the back of the driveway shot anyways back to the mcmanche ordered these rims a while ago still waiting :( they should go well with the 37" iroks 

getting late and am a slow tread builder i will get some more done tomorrow with all the pics i have i promise lol

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all right old xj was an auto wanted to stick with the manual for the mj found an ax 15 out of a 92 mj its an internal slave but parts are had to find here as it is so ill work with it brand new luk gold with new slave 

alright flywheel resurfaced and clutch installed with the correct pliot bushing bit of a pain that was 

bought this trans mount from novak with the pilot bushing had to cut it up so bad i should have just made one but to late now 

this is it cut up and mounted to the rubber trans mount 

got the trans mount done and trans in the mj along with the long arm cross member and t case the case is a 242 some say you can't put a 242 behind a manual something about the coast side or something but have see some run them for long time behind a manual i like having the full time 4wd option in winter here as these trucks tend to end up being my daily drivers 

now that all the power trainis in hooked up minus the t case linkage which i have a easy solution :) some of you might see the bracket in the pic above novak shifter linkage kit this one def worth the money alright front axle time 

so here is the front axle dana 30 ox locker 30 spline full cromo axles inner outter sleeves and 4.10 gears soon to be 4.88 and full heim otk steering 

ok fronts done cali style right now lol dog with worms dragging there @$$ 

few more parts to install on the front 

ok front done for now minus the pitman arm time for the rear i used the eye to eye main spring on the mj and the rest if the xj pack to make a 6" lift leaf pack plus a small block the wife did most of the leaf packs while i cut and ground perchs and shock mounts off the rear is an 8.8 with aussi locker and 4.10 soon to be 4.88Image Not Found

and for the final stance with a bit if weight in the box still (5x37"iroks and couple seats )

so it took a few moths just to get this far as i work shift work and 90% of the time is out of town work still waiting on rims to mount the 37" tires its on 36" right now hope you all like it and will keep an updated post when i can thanks guys 

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probably not but i wheeled the donor xj on 36" pretty hard over the past 5 ish years and only broke the front shaft never anthing in the axle so i have some faith in it about the strongest 30 you could build and maybe a waist in some eyes but a 44 isnt much better with less clearance and I'm not up to putting a 60 in at this point so time will tell 

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guys quick update got the rear jcr bumper tacked and about half way fully welded way more welding then i expexted  alri

new wheels came in got them mounted and balanced with balancing beads and bolted up to the comanche

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Really nice Comanche..... I just bought those tires also and was wondering how much lift you have?  you mentioned 6 plus a block in the back.  I'm hoping to get by with 6.5 to 7 inches....

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hey jbain thanks i have followed your build tread closely for a while on here and naxja. great build by the way love the way you actually wheel it anyways id say i have about an inch or two more lift then you and the tires should fit no problem with your trimmed fenders. my rear is a spring over 2wd mj main leaf with the other 5 leafs from a 6" xj leaf pack and a 2" block front is a 8" rustys coil and about 2" acos spacer hope this helps you. any advice on hard wheeling the same axle combo with big rubber mine have held up good over the past few years but i don't think i wheel near as hard as you 

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My advice for hard wheeling a Dana 30 is a simple 1 step process.... easy on the skinny pedal.... If you watch my video's you'll see I never use much throttle and I never bounce it.  If I loose forward momentum on the line I'm running I move over a few inches one way or another until I make it or take the hook. If possible I always square up on an obsticle to limit throttle up with the wheels turned.  Thanks for the info.... keep up the good work and I look forward to seeing some action pics in the future.

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  • 2 weeks later...

alright guys quick update rear bumper is fully welded wow what a job lots of welding inside and out,still waiting in 2 missing peices going to call again monday to see whats up, be nice to be able to finish and mount it need it done so i can sent stuff all at once to powder coat. got my custom drive shafts all built by local shop great job great price couldn't be happier with them, got the novak shifter cable installed works great pricey but worth it. and last but not least i cut the front fenders and flares at the front for the winch bumper i have here are some pics enjoy

   

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got the engine bay back together 100% stock kinda neat front shocks all mounted and the new interior all in new carpet steam cleaned seats with oxi magic this stuff works amazing by the way rest of the inside needs a good clean all starting to come together 

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  • 2 weeks later...

got a little bit of work done on the old girl bumper is fully welded and bolted up to check fitment brakes and clutch all bleed new valve cover gasket and trans and tcase all filled up hope to have it on the road with in a week 

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hey guys quick up date got the comanche on the road today for a bit till the cops told me to go home and find some mud flaps with a $57 ticket lol anyways here is the front bumper all painted up and some pics of her today

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so i got some mud flaps brewed up licence plate mounted with a light to keep it all legal like 

got a brand new epi 9.0 superwinch from a friend a while ago for next to nothing. the winch cover showed up today so the winch got mounted and wired up then covered up

took the mj out for a rip got some poser flex pics and check for clearance issues 

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  • 2 months later...

been a while since i have had time to get on here been driving and working on the stang but also be daily driving mcmanche was running fine but decided to do a few updates closed to open cooling system and upgraded injectors also had to mod my novak tcase shifter to get 4L and 2wd and now it runs way better more power and a lot cooler  :thumbsup: 

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  • 1 month later...

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