1990 2WD Conversion and Rebuild Project

[BabySpinach]

Hello all,

Ever since I first got into Jeeping, I've wanted a Comanche.  As you know, they aren't always easy to find and they're not always in the best condition.  Having almost given up on ever finding one, my friend linked me to a Comanche on a facebook group that wasn't more than an hour or so drive away.  Being the enabler that he is, he drove with me and I purchased it on the spot.  Some stats:

It's a 2wd LWB 1990 with the 4.0L and AW4 Automatic transmission.  Mileage is only 146K!

Idiot light gauge cluster, plus it shifts from the column.

It has a Dana 35 rear.

My plans for the 'Manche are to convert it to 4WD, while completely rebuilding new axles for it with new 4.10 gears.  I'll be lifting it 4.5 inches and adding 32x11.5 KM2 tires.

I'll be bolting on a Dana 30 HP in the front and a 29-spline Chrysler 8.25 in the rear.

I have a ton of cosmetic plans as well, but the major components get the focus first.

 

[DirtyComanche]

Looks like the body is in good shape, should be a great starting point. :cheers:

[BabySpinach]

Looks like the body is in good shape, should be a great starting point. :cheers:

There's virtually zero rust!  Not even hardly any on the passenger floor pan.

[BabySpinach]

Found a guy in the hills on craigslist who parts out Cherokees.  Picked up ALL the parts I need for the conversion for $600 cash!

All parts are from 1999 Cherokees:

Heavily rusted Dana30HP.

Great condition Chrysler 8.25.
AW4 and NP231 from the same vehicle.
 

The Chry rear and trans + t-case are all from the same vehicle, I believe.  Looks like it had about 108k miles before being in an accident and parted out.

The Dana 30 after some de-rusting.. Very intensive and impossible de-rusting...

[Wiggilez]

that rear bumper is clean, Nice.

[DirtyComanche]

Oof, I'd send the front housing to a sandblaster, or go at it with a knotted wire wheel, because that's some heavy scaling on it.

[DirtyComanche]

Oh, that newer style tcase uses a different slip yoke than your 2wd driveshaft, if you were just planning on getting the 2wd driveshaft shortened.

[BabySpinach]

Oh, that newer style tcase uses a different slip yoke than your 2wd driveshaft, if you were just planning on getting the 2wd driveshaft shortened.

I've already purchased an SYE kit for it.  I'm retroactively updating this thread, as I've knocked out a ton of work on the build so far.  I just haven't had the time to post!

[DirtyComanche]

 

Oh, that newer style tcase uses a different slip yoke than your 2wd driveshaft, if you were just planning on getting the 2wd driveshaft shortened.

I've already purchased an SYE kit for it.  I'm retroactively updating this thread, as I've knocked out a ton of work on the build so far.  I just haven't had the time to post!

 

:thumbsup:

[BabySpinach]

Here's some more brutal rust removal from the D30 front.  This thing was horrid!  Help from the little sister!

 

I actually had to bring this to the shop across the street to get the freaking stupid 12 point bolt out.. The other 5 came out with some effort, but this last one was a PITA!

 

Success!!

 

Here are the hubs and what's left of the dust shields!! :???:

 

First real look at the inner housing:

 

Next up will be the Dana 30 Regear!

[BabySpinach]

This was my first time regearing anything.  I really wanted to have the correct ratio in my axles for this build, instead of doing what most do and keeping the stock gears.  I get a kick out of learning and figured, why not!?

Ordered master rebuild kit along with the gears.



Borrowed some tools from my company manager who was an old school machinist.  The hardest part about regearing seems to be finding all the stupid specialized tools you need.  He actually ended up gifting me this mike, along with several others!


All new bearings and seals!  Wohoo!

 

Measured and organized all my shims.  This pic is a tad out of order as i've already pulled the existing carrier bearings.


Factory measurements, recorded.




This is where the fun starts!

I need the old bearings to make setup bearings for the shimming.  This is how you MacGyver bearings off without the correct tools.  This is using a rented front end kit.

 

The old carrier will not be used again.

Some NASTY pitting in the carrier bearings!

 

Up next:  The pinion bearing..  This took two hours.

 

 

 

SUCCESS!!


Race removal next:


After spending about 3 days trying to find some basic grinding equipment, I found some grinding stones for $4 at a local hardware store!  Setup bearings made and moving on to shimming.  Started with the pinion install:

 

Installed the pinion races:

 

 

Installed the new ring gear on the new carrier:

 

Spent a bit of time figuring out shims and testing the ring gear backlash:

 

Pinion depth was PERFECT after I went back to using the OEM thicker oil slinger.  The contact pattern:

 

 

Installing seals:




The other side:


My work has a shop press.  I was able to press everything on after finding some fitting pipe at Lowe's:


I believe this was the final contact pattern after pressing on and installing the new bearings:


Backlash is perfect.  Gears state 0.006.  Right on the money.  Has a deviation of +0.001 at most.  Final shims were something like 0.055 and 0.035 + preload.  I think total was around 0.108.

Pinion rolling torque is perfect.  This is for new bearings + carrier preload.


Very fun process to learn!  The only thing I really struggled with was the lack of proper press and removal tools.

Next up!  Complete rebuild of the remainder of the axle!

[Wiggilez]

How long did it take you to do the gears?

[BabySpinach]

How long did it take you to do the gears?

Too long! :D

 

Honestly, the gearing part was easy.. getting bearings off and on was the most pain in the butt part.  Not having the right tools for that was the largest time sink.  I'd say I spent a good 2.5 WEEKS just figuring out how to press and remove bearings between the two axle regears.  My town is full of rich idiots who have zero practical skill sets of any kind.. This means that parts and hardware stores are scarce.  If you go a few counties over, their grocery store has more tools than our best tool store.

 

When I say parts are scarce, I mean I spent 3 days going to 7 stores trying to find a piece of pipe that would fit over the 8.25 pinion to use as a press.  Never did find one.. By complete chance, I noticed that the ball joint press kit had a sleeve that was the exact size I needed.

 

Mind you, I only have a few hours here and there to work on this project.  The regear took about a full day of labor per axle.  I'm extremely technical and nitpicky and end up spending a lot of time double and triple checking over things, or adjusting.

 

Things like checking backlash on every single tooth, while spinning and seating/oiling the bearings.

 

If you're meticulous, you'll spend several hours with setup bearings just adjusting and testing different shims and patterns.

 

The Dana 30 was actually the easiest to do.  Everything is a nice size to work with and once you have your setup bearings, it's just time consuming and not extremely difficult if you understand the math and what you're doing.

 

I made a boo boo and had to completely undo and remove my carrier once I had finally set everything up because the cross pin wouldn't cross the ring gear!  I didn't have the tools to shave a tooth, so I just unbolted the ring and did the spider setup and replaced it.

[Wiggilez]

 

How long did it take you to do the gears?

Too long! :D

 

Honestly, the gearing part was easy.. getting bearings off and on was the most pain in the butt part.  Not having the right tools for that was the largest time sink.  I'd say I spent a good 2.5 WEEKS just figuring out how to press and remove bearings between the two axle regears.  My town is full of rich idiots who have zero practical skill sets of any kind.. This means that parts and hardware stores are scarce.  If you go a few counties over, their grocery store has more tools than our best tool store.

 

When I say parts are scarce, I mean I spent 3 days going to 7 stores trying to find a piece of pipe that would fit over the 8.25 pinion to use as a press.  Never did find one.. By complete chance, I noticed that the ball joint press kit had a sleeve that was the exact size I needed.

 

Mind you, I only have a few hours here and there to work on this project.  The regear took about a full day of labor per axle.  I'm extremely technical and nitpicky and end up spending a lot of time double and triple checking over things, or adjusting.

 

Things like checking backlash on every single tooth, while spinning and seating/oiling the bearings.

 

If you're meticulous, you'll spend several hours with setup bearings just adjusting and testing different shims and patterns.

 

The Dana 30 was actually the easiest to do.  Everything is a nice size to work with and once you have your setup bearings, it's just time consuming and not extremely difficult if you understand the math and what you're doing.

 

I made a boo boo and had to completely undo and remove my carrier once I had finally set everything up because the cross pin wouldn't cross the ring gear!  I didn't have the tools to shave a tooth, so I just unbolted the ring and did the spider setup and replaced it.

 

 

 

thanks for the response, ^ this would have probably been me if I hadn't found a jy TJ with 4:10

[MancheKid86]

 

 

 

 

great progress so far!

deff going to learn lots this way

 

you do know that your supposed to measure the tare torque without a seal installed right? the seal will add a few pounds extra.

but other wise KEEP UP THE GREAT WORK.

 

are you set on 32" tires?

with those gears and lift you can run 35's all day long no issue, it will look more proportionate too, just food for thought. 

[BabySpinach]

 

 

 

 

 

great progress so far!

deff going to learn lots this way

 

you do know that your supposed to measure the tare torque without a seal installed right? the seal will add a few pounds extra.

but other wise KEEP UP THE GREAT WORK.

 

are you set on 32" tires?

with those gears and lift you can run 35's all day long no issue, it will look more proportionate too, just food for thought. 

 

Oops!  I had no idea about the torque and seal.. I had to hammer the carrier in, so I'm hoping that's enough preload.  I think it'll settle a bit once I'm driving it.

 

My XJ currently has 35x12.5 KM2s and gets about 10/11 Highway MPG.  I wanted to go slightly smaller for economical purposes with this build.  I've got 4.88 gears in the XJ too.  My reasoning was that the 'manche will be a better DD as it won't have lockers like the XJ that I've been DDing.

 

I think that the 4.10 ratio with 32s on the Chry 8.25 29 spline with a 4.5 in lift is basically the most perfect mix between lifted and economical.  I'm hoping it has some kick to it.  One thing about the 35s is that they're a SOB to push.  Coupled with the 4.88 gears, you can't really get that stuck to the seat acceleration that I'm getting even from the stock MJ.

 

While I'm not completely sold on the stock looking wheels, the tires only have about 100 miles on all 4, and they're already mounted and balanced.  I got a decent deal for them, so what the hell. I think I'm going to paint the wheels black.

 

[BabySpinach]

Time for extreme rust removal, part 3.

Got to work on the D30 some more.  Every single component was completely shot.  I had to remove and replace all of it.  Here's some rust removal prep.

I didn't get many pictures during the process as I kept my phone far away from the cloud.





Here's after the 3+ hours of grinding with wire brushes on drills.  Don't worry, I had eye protection on too:



Got the axle about as good as it was going to get, washed it with degreaser, dried it, and began the painting process.  I used some rust stopper/resistor/primer/paint from advanced auto.  Seems to be pretty decent quality.




NEXT DAY: INTERMISSION!

You know when your radiator EXPLODES as soon as you park at work and you have to buy a new one at lunch and install it before you drive it home?  Only took a few hours with surprise downpours.  You can actually see where the lower hose mount on the radiator cracked around the entire length.  Looks like someone had tried to weld it previously and it had enough..  The timing on this component fail is remarkable.. The SECOND I parked..



BACK TO AXLE:
I pressed out the ball joints and removed the knuckle.  Installed new spicer ball joints.. Driver's side joint hole was too big and just fell into the socket.. I found a really neat way to shim it using some copper audio power wire.  Basically, just took some (not as much as shown) and was able to shim the ball joint with it and press it in.

 

SECOND INTERMISSION:
Went to get some chinese food and found a long lost brother!


Some 2WD Offroading!




Lots of work done the following day!

Got the ball joints finished, knuckles painted and dried from the day before, ujoints done in the shafts, shafts painted, brakes installed with new rotors and dust shields:

 

Oh, and here's my workspace for this in the background!

 

 

First U-joint was nice and easy.... Broke the second one and had to get a different, non-spicer, u-joint.. :(  My OCD is through the roof..

Cleaned and painted shafts with u-joints installed! Outside part of the shafts was pretty rusted and needed a ton of grinding.

EDIT:

Here is a side by side of the axle, before and after:

[Newton]

Time for extreme rust removal, part 3.

 

Got to work on the D30 some more.  Every single component was completely shot.  I had to remove and replace all of it.  Here's some rust removal prep.

 

I didn't get many pictures during the process as I kept my phone far away from the cloud.

 

 

 

Here's after the 3+ hours of grinding with wire brushes on drills.  Don't worry, I had eye protection on too:

 

 

Got the axle about as good as it was going to get, washed it with degreaser, dried it, and began the painting process.  I used some rust stopper/resistor/primer/paint from advanced auto.  Seems to be pretty decent quality.

 

 

 

NEXT DAY: INTERMISSION!

 

You know when your radiator EXPLODES as soon as you park at work and you have to buy a new one at lunch and install it before you drive it home?  Only took a few hours with surprise downpours.  You can actually see where the lower hose mount on the radiator cracked around the entire length.  Looks like someone had tried to weld it previously and it had enough..  The timing on this component fail is remarkable.. The SECOND I parked..

 

 

BACK TO AXLE:

I pressed out the ball joints and removed the knuckle.  Installed new spicer ball joints.. Driver's side joint hole was too big and just fell into the socket.. I found a really neat way to shim it using some copper audio power wire.  Basically, just took some (not as much as shown) and was able to shim the ball joint with it and press it in.

 

 

 

 

 

SECOND INTERMISSION:

Went to get some chinese food and found a long lost brother!

 

Some 2WD Offroading!

 

 

 

Lots of work done the following day!

 

Got the ball joints finished, knuckles painted and dried from the day before, ujoints done in the shafts, shafts painted, brakes installed with new rotors and dust shields:

 

 

Oh, and here's my workspace for this in the background!

 

 

 

First U-joint was nice and easy.... Broke the second one and had to get a different, non-spicer, u-joint.. :(  My OCD is through the roof..

 

 

Cleaned and painted shafts with u-joints installed! Outside part of the shafts was pretty rusted and needed a ton of grinding.

 

EDIT:

 

Here is a side by side of the axle, before and after:

 

Nice Work!! :thumbsup:

[KyleSVT]

Awesome work man!

[BabySpinach]

Thanks, everyone!

So I took a little road trip (271 mile round trip) to pick this bad boy up...


BEHOLD!
Light bar off of an '88 Dodge Power RAM something or other.. It comes with two large rectuangular lights and front lights too.  Really nice kit.

 

It's about 2 inches too short to clear the top, so I'll be making spacers to go underneath it.

[MancheKid86]

for your spicer u-joint woes, you could have tossed a different end cap on the spicer and kept it a spicer  :thumbsup:

[BabySpinach]

Got a ton done this past weekend.  Here is the SYE installation album I've hosted on Imgur.  This is for the 1999 XJ NP231 transfer case that will be going into the Comanche!

http://imgur.com/a/POy8J

[Rymanrph]

That looks very similar to the light bar in my truck.  I had to section it for the right fit, but it's not too bad straight out of the Dodge.

[BabySpinach]

That looks very similar to the light bar in my truck.  I had to section it for the right fit, but it's not too bad straight out of the Dodge.

I actually was inspired by yours.. :D  It was an all day trip to get it, but I think it's worth it in the long run.  I'll be cutting the outer legs a bit and resizing it to fit the wheel wells.

 

On an unrelated note, it looks like my transfer case is missing a stud... Those @#$%ers seem to be IMPOSSIBLE to find.. If anyone has a replacement solution, it would be appreciated.

[DirtyComanche]

These guys will have one:

https://www.drivetrain.com/parts_catalog/transfer_case_replacements_and_parts/np231.html

 

Not that they list it there, you'll have to call them.

 

Otherwise, if there's a local Jeep or 4wd club, ask them.  I routinely toss out NP/NV tcases that are damaged, since they just kinda build up...  Lots of guys have a bunch of extras and I'm sure they would part with a couple studs for very little.

 

Or try a wrecker.