Knucklehead97 Posted June 29, 2016 Share Posted June 29, 2016 Finally making a build thread for the new one! '89 short bed 4.0/AW4/2wd. Clean as a whistle with 108k original miles. Bought it for 1000$ due to it overheating. Converted it to an open system and all is well! First thing I did was put my brand new tires off the other Comanche and my Canyon wheels on it. Then added 350$ worth of sound system. Kicker door speakers, Pioneer stereo, and a Kicker 10" with a Boss amp. And all was awesome Thursday afternoon when I got the system installed. Sounded great, the 10" was the perfect amount of bass for this truck. But then Friday morning on my way to work.... Hit a deer going about 50. Not even a mile from my house. I was super upset but Geico took VERY good care of me and now I have the truck and 1800$ :D so I am now in the process of getting the parts to fix it and also ordering some other stuff. I ordered an upgraded headlight harness and clear marker lights since I needed a new one anyways. Luckily all of the damage was cosmetic and the AC condenser got bent real bad but I believe the radiator was untouched, we'll see. Total plans are: Krusty hitch Front hitch 1-3" lift (already have a 1" to install) Either 31's or 32's. Probably 31's due to gearing (opinions are very appreciated) Wheel spacers (opinions on them are also very appreciated!) Basically this truck is going to be my around town trailer puller/kind of daily driver. Nothing heavy, just a single axle 6×12 at most. But it's so clean that I want to stance it perfectly with slightly bigger tires and a small lift. More to come! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reddout Posted June 29, 2016 Share Posted June 29, 2016 Bummer about the wreck, but sounds like you are going to do OK in the end. Good starting off point though. Your truck looks to be in good condition Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keyav8r Posted June 29, 2016 Share Posted June 29, 2016 I have Spidertrax wheel spacers on the rear of my 91Eliminator. Highly recommend them. Watch their website for deals on blemished spacers to save a few bucks. Whatever you get make sure they are hub centric. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Knucklehead97 Posted June 30, 2016 Author Share Posted June 30, 2016 I'm not sure if I want to space the rear AND the front or just the rear. The front would probably be less than the rear, of course. And are Ebay spacers bad? I would of course get hub centric. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KyleSVT Posted July 2, 2016 Share Posted July 2, 2016 Wow what a deal $1k for such a clean truck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Knucklehead97 Posted July 8, 2016 Author Share Posted July 8, 2016 deer damage fixed! Gotta get a bumper but it ran up the road no problem and the sub sounds great. Very happy right now and excited to get my wheel spacers for the back installed soon. Updates to come as mods happen! :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reddout Posted July 8, 2016 Share Posted July 8, 2016 deer damage fixed! Gotta get a bumper but it ran up the road no problem and the sub sounds great. Very happy right now and excited to get my wheel spacers for the back installed soon. Updates to come as mods happen! :D What size spacers did you go with? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Knucklehead97 Posted July 8, 2016 Author Share Posted July 8, 2016 1.25" hub-centric Trail Sports for the rear only. Going to leave the front alone and let the 31×10.50 tires I plan to get do the rest haha Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reddout Posted July 8, 2016 Share Posted July 8, 2016 Sounds right. From the posts, the front sits nice and flush. Look forward to seeing new pics Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Knucklehead97 Posted July 9, 2016 Author Share Posted July 9, 2016 I have a front hitch coming in tomorrow. Rampage H4 headlights and a Flowmaster Super 44 coming Monday. Inventory at work is next week so not much progress will be happening for a while because after next week is VBS at my church and I'm teaching a class every night. Updates will come asap though :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ComancheKid45 Posted July 9, 2016 Share Posted July 9, 2016 Looks great! :thumbsup: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Knucklehead97 Posted July 10, 2016 Author Share Posted July 10, 2016 Sitting at a campsite in Guntersville (about 45 minutes from me) and the Jeep did perfect on the drive up here toting all the gear. My front hitch came in this morning and I had enough time to install it before I headed out! Still have to drill one of the front mount holes but it's super sturdy and for 70$ I'm extremely happy. Can't wait to get a winch and mount for it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Knucklehead97 Posted July 10, 2016 Author Share Posted July 10, 2016 Looking like the lift and 31's are going to come sooner than I expected. My rear axle is leaking at the pinion seal so i'm fixing to start looking into building my Explorer axle with 4.10's! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Knucklehead97 Posted August 2, 2016 Author Share Posted August 2, 2016 Little bit of an update. Decided against the Ford 8.8 right now to run 31's due to finances. But I did get a 98 8.25 out of a Cherokee last night! no leaks and everything spins and looks how it should. Needs brakes though. Going to paint it after all the weld work and slap it under there. Also may be getting a 98 2wd front beam axle to overhaul and put under it with a paint job. Otherwise the only works thats been done was getting 1.25 spacers installed in the back. They look great. Got the rear tires out exactly how much I wanted. going to measure and add a spacer to level out the front suspension with the back. The front is way to low for my liking. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Knucklehead97 Posted September 26, 2016 Author Share Posted September 26, 2016 the front axle after I got through building it. With the WJ arms and ZJ steering. Getting the truck up high enough to rip the axle out was fun... I kind of like it this high Taking the old axle out took about 4 hours. But that was with a LOT of sweet tea breaks and just observing everything so I didn't lose any parts. and done! Sits almost perfectly level now. About a 1/4" lower in the front than in the rear. Wish it sat a LITTLE lower in the front but I'll probably add the rubber isolators to the front and my XJ 2" lift shackles to the rear and it should be about the right height. Fine with it as is for now. But I have to say, the ZJ steering and WJ arms are AMAZING. This thing handles like a dream now and takes bumps so smoothly. Very happy with my decisions. Took some work to fit the upper and lower WJ arms but it was worth it. The shocks bottom out before the arms do. But I did have to do some trimming to the upper bucket and the lower shock mount, nothing too bad. I recommend it all. Also, can use the TJ Canyon center caps now (is it bad that's the entire reason I swapped out the axle?) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Knucklehead97 Posted December 17, 2016 Author Share Posted December 17, 2016 Added the correct front bumper with end caps from a 91'. Also painted my front wheels and added chrome center caps (need to paint the rears but gotta wait till Summer.) Got a LOT to do. Mean lemons battery cables, Krustyballer hitch, bucket seats, building the rear axle, ect... so much left. But for now here is a poser pic I took during a little photoshoot driving around Thursday :D I really love this picture. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
krustyballer16 Posted December 19, 2016 Share Posted December 19, 2016 What front hitch is that? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HOrnbrod Posted December 19, 2016 Share Posted December 19, 2016 Added the correct front bumper with end caps from a 91'. Also painted my front wheels and added chrome center caps (need to paint the rears but gotta wait till Summer.) Got a LOT to do. Mean lemons battery cables, Krustyballer hitch, bucket seats, building the rear axle, ect... so much left. But for now here is a poser pic I took during a little photoshoot driving around Thursday :D I really love this picture. Nice job with the hitch. Did you cut a square hole through the air dam to mount it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Knucklehead97 Posted December 31, 2016 Author Share Posted December 31, 2016 What front hitch is that? https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B000E1AVQ8/ref=yo_ii_img?ie=UTF8&psc=1 Haven't gotten the chance to try it out yet. Almost did the other day when a fellow broke down on a hill but neither of us had a tow strap. Since then I got myself a nice strap :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Knucklehead97 Posted December 31, 2016 Author Share Posted December 31, 2016 Added the correct front bumper with end caps from a 91'. Also painted my front wheels and added chrome center caps (need to paint the rears but gotta wait till Summer.) Got a LOT to do. Mean lemons battery cables, Krustyballer hitch, bucket seats, building the rear axle, ect... so much left. But for now here is a poser pic I took during a little photoshoot driving around Thursday :D I really love this picture. Nice job with the hitch. Did you cut a square hole through the air dam to mount it? Thanks! And yes, I did. I had to cut a square hole and 1 1/2 line going about 4" outward on both sides for the brace that reinforces the actual hitch port. Didn't do a pretty job on the cutting but you can't tell unless you look right at the hitch! Need to notch the bottom of the air dam for easier access to the tow mounts but it's manageble without Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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