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1988 "lowmanche"


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So to start I picked up a super cheap mj after moving to north carolina, just needed a truck for picking up stone, wood, tools and such for around the house. Being a jeeper I couldn't keep the thing stock for long. The original plan was to make it a mini dually but after irs swapping a 60s c10 at the shop i worked at I decided to do my research. The plan after this was to be a somewhat lowered (not slammed) independent suspension comanche on about a 27-29" tire.

Started with a 2016 mustang irs. This is an 8.8 with an lsd from the factory and 3.31 gears. Pretty solid with less than 20k miles and 700 bucks shipped to my door. After mounting the irs where I liked it I couldn't use my stock 15s for mock up as the brakes are too big. Found a local set of cobra wheels, and eventually wrapped then with some 29" toyo proxes. don't worry, I got bushings for the shock mounts since that photo was taken

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As for the front suspension, I picked up a set of mustang 2 spindles and fancy rotors /brakes from johnny law motors relatively inexpensive. Also got upper and lower control arms. I was planning to build my own arms, but they were so cheap that even if I have to modify them it made it worth the while. Plan is to match the mustang irs rear at 65.5" wms. I'll be building my own mounts to the stock frame and everything so geometry will be all up to me. Other than that I need to pick up some steel this week, and get my jk running again after the fuel cell swap so I have more space in the garage. 

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13 hours ago, mooseinabox said:

That is awesome. Great fab work

Thanks man!

3 hours ago, Jeep Driver said:

Finally, someone is actually doing something interesting here. 

 

:cool:

Interesting is a good term haha

39 minutes ago, MJXJjeepguy said:

Oh my lord!! :bowdown: it going be badass lowered comanche! Probably one the lowest comanche out there!! :laugh2:

Haha I doubt it. If i felt like back halving it i could easily get the rear 3-4" lower

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16 minutes ago, Swampy said:

That's going to be one wide comanche!! Are you going to build custom flares or widebody the truck?

Plan is to build a set eventually as everything designed is made for a larger wheel opening than I'd like

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11 hours ago, Awinski said:

Plan is to build a set eventually as everything designed is made for a larger wheel opening than I'd like

That'll be cool. I have seen people use wood and foam to mock up 

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Haha thanks pete. Just figured that section was for builds. Whatever works for the readers!

Tonight I made some progress on the cross member and taking off the track bar support that's plug welded in. Cross member is 3/16 wall 2x4, this is what the lower a arm mounts will go off of. 

As for numbers, I'll post once everything falls in place for my final numbers but the planned isnt anything extraordinary. Just some easy geometry for a slightly track performable dd. 

 

And the bracket I cut off, took about an hour start to finish with a 5/16 bit and some cold chisels. Wanted to do this as I didnt want to weld to it and weld to the frame on the other side making load transfers uneven and having to shorten the cross member on one side etc. Plus considering it was just spot welded in and I wasnt going to try to clean out the cracks for a proper weld, I just decided to remove it. 

Tomorrow I'll try to get as much as I can done as Sunday I'll be traveling to my mothers for Easter. 

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Love this build. I always wanted to do something similar with a CJ7. I DD a lowered WK when I have more than two people and get mostly good comments. When we drove it to Colorado on our honeymoon we got some weird stares. It handles some much better now. The 20's helped allot also. It is truly a fun drive.

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Can't wait to see this coming to life!

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Alright well, got a lot done today, not nearly as much as I wanted to but some solid progress.

Finished the crossmember, measured about 50 times, trimmed cross member, tacked cross member to the frame. Lower pivot point located at 8" off the ground and 30" a part. 

 

Made some adjustable upper mounts and got the passenger side tacked to the frame. I'll be building some bracing for this. uppers at about 19.25 front and 19 rear and about 36" a part horizontally.  just a little bit of anti dive and gained caster in compression with the angled upper, but I can change and adjust at any point in the future. 

 

Not pictured: Mocked up shock towers; ill be using the trusty and cheap Ford f series ones you can get off ebay for about 40 bucks. Measured for coil overs, fought with bolts, several curse words shouted, few victory brews drank. 

 

Hopefully the driver side goes a bit easier. Now that I know where everything needs to go, but that also means I'll want ti match the passenger side exactly. 

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4 hours ago, Jeep Driver said:

Where or how is your steering linkage coming around the cross member? Rear steer? Can you swap knuckles side to side?

Standard mustang 2 manual rack, itll mount somewhere on the front of the crossmember. The steering arms are bolt on so.k could technically move them wherever I want to. 

4 hours ago, jeeptruck636 said:

Do you have any future engine plans? Stroker, LS, diesel? 

There are, anything attached to a manual trans. Diesel most likely won't happen

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no pics, sorry. but i got the lower arm stuff welded up on the driver side, and got the bracket made for the driver upper. and the fun part, got to order coil overs today. hoping to have this thing on it's own weight this weekend, hoping. for now i'm just trying to plan accordingly so i can get as much done saturday and sunday as possible. may or may not be driving 3 hours to pick up a topper as well, only because i like the look and I'm young and dumb. 

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