1beastmj

[Esechuy]

Hello fellas!!! I present to you "1BeastMJ".  She's my 1989 jeep Comanche base model, originally 2wd, 4cyl, 4speed manual, short bed. I bought the truck from a craigslist seller about 2 years ago for $650 and within a few months she went through a drastic transformation. It was a good deal because she was rust free and ran strong. Only thing I didn't like is that she came with no tailgate but I saw a good future for her. My plan here is to share with you the process of her transformation, maybe make some friends and hopefully go wheeling someday who knows maybe in a wonderful place like Moab Utah. Here are a few pictures of how she looked when I bought her. As you can see she was very ugly but for me she was precious

 

.

 

The day i bought the truck I had to drive 3 hrs to its location. The initial idea was to tow it back home but I couldn't find a truck to tow it, so instead I drove my car out there with my wife and kids. The truck had been sitting for a while and was missing headlights and grill. I didn't know if it was able to drive 3 hrs, but I took the chance. I took the complete header from my Cherokee and after I test drove and made the deal, I zip-tied it on the mj. The engine and transmission ran excellent but the suspension and steering were another story. The steering had a lot of play and it would terribly dead wobble even with the smallest imperfections of the road. Luckily I made it back home safe with a new project truck.

 

 

The next day I began changing the looks. I immediately sprayed bed liner over the red accents because I just didn't like that theme. I changed the wheels and tires from my xj which were in excellent condition aside from the plasti dip peeling off. I replaced the front bumper also borrowed from my xj, and I also plasti dipped the rusty hood that came on the truck. I also got rid of the factory stereo and installed an Alpine. She is starting to look different and I can now daily drive her to work.

 

 

A few weeks later after I took ownership of the mj, I began searching craigslist and facebook market for a donor xj to do the 97+ swap. I've always been a fan of mjs with the newer xj front end, specially the ones who have the interior swapped too. So I got lucky one day and came across this 2wd automatic 2001 limited edition xj with 125k on the odo. I paid $400 for the truck and the guy delivered it to my house for $20 bucks on a flat bed of course since it had front end damage. I was really happy because it had all the luxuries of the limited trim such as heated seats, power seats, mirrors, windows, cruise control, overhead console with compass, a/c, and all four oem wheels in excellent condition, airbags were intact, but the best thing of all was that the damn thing ran really good; It just couldn't get any better. I even though about fixing the front end damage and daily drive it, but my main goal was to convert the comanche.

 

 

Within a day or two after I got the donor xj I got down to business and started taking her apart. The first thing I swapped over where the wheels. In the past I had been after a set of limited trim wheels for my xj and my comanche just got lucky. The next thing which made a big different was replacing the doors because the original doors had most of the window trim and rubber seals missing and they would rattle like crazy down the road plus the mirrors on the mj looked funny to me lol and I wanted to get rid of as much bedlined panels done from the previous owners. I knew it would be a while for the power functions to work so I just added power and ground whenever I want to keep them up or down.
The dashboard came out in a few hours along with the a/c unit. Only thing I wasn't a fan of at this point was the damn tan interior, but sometimes you gotta work with what you have.

 

 

One month later after I bought my mj, I took her on a 14 hr round trip to my hometown Brownsville Tx. I even took her across the border to Mexico for a spin and on the way back she got x-rayed by the customs. When I got back home, I didn't even let the truck cool down before I started removing the engine and striping all the interior. Many won't believe me but it took me less than 3 hrs to remove engine, tranny, dash, seats, and carpet. The engine was still hot by the time it was out. I left all the wiring harness and accessories on the engine because the idea was to sell it as a complete package. Exactly 2 days later I sold the complete engine and tranny along with the steering column for $400. My goal was to get back the $400 that I had spent on the donor xj and I did.

 

 

After I sold the mj's 4 cyl, out came the 6 cyl from the xj donor. I also left all the wiring and accessories in place just like with the mj's engine. I had to do it this way because I didn't have much time left before summer was over and my wife was gonna need the family car which I was using for work in the mean time. With the engine out and ready and with the mj striped to the bones It was time to work on the firewall for the dash swap.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Esechuy]

"The dash swap"

The moment I had been waiting finally came. I had been reading forums on the dash swap way before I even bought the comanche and with all the questions and discussions about the topic it seemed like a very challenging task. I thought I'd have to read a write up during the process but that wasn't the case. Once you get started all the pieces to the puzzle start falling into place. I decided not to do any welding; instead I took a different approach to make it easier; at least that's what I thought. I chopped the metal sections from the xj's firewall where the steering column and booster assembly mount to and also where the main wire harness pass through. I then glued those pieces on to the mj's firewall with seam sealer followed by stainless steel self tapers. It ain't going nowhere I promise. More details on the pics below.

 

 

These is how the sections looks on the xj. It was a bit of a challenge to chop it off but nothing the average Joe can't handle.

 

 

Here I have the pieces separated ready to be mocked up on the mj.

 

 

Here you, can clearly see where I need to cut metal from the mj's firewall. The brake booster mount holes are the same. You can see I have a bolt on one to get my marks centered.

 

 

This is how it looks from inside. This piece I have circled is were the transmission module mounts behind the dash. I also removed this metal piece from the xj and its position on the mj is very straight forward.

 

 

I also chopped this piece from the xj and this one is important because it provides a mounting point for the dash frame. Look at the next pic below.

 

 

The small bolt circled in blue is what I used as a reference point to center the dash frame. I had to get this metal mount right for that bolt to be centered and to get it in the right position I had to install the "brake pedal mount bracket" as shown on the pic below, which attaches to the bolts circled in yellow.

 

 

Here you can see the "brake pedal mount bracket". This bracket mounts on the brake booster assembly on the four bolts I talked about and also on the frame behind the kicker panel. You can't mess up here.

 

 

Here you can see where I have it installed with the seam sealer and the self tapers. like I said before its not going anywhere.

 

 

On the a/c unit I did the same thing. That black piece there came from the xj.

 

 

Here I have the dash frame mounted but its not ready I still have to install the a/c unit. At this point you can do minor adjustments if necessary.

 

 

I had to cut that hole on the upper left for the a/c unit wire harness to pass through. I would have to go back and forth to the xj to see what needed to be done.

 

 

Here I was washing all the engine bay and wet sanded everything I could with 400 grit.

 

 

I had enough epoxy primer to get the floor boards done as well.

 

 

I recommend this to a friend, excellent product.

 

 

I sealed every crevice with seam sealer and also used it in between every piece of metal to prevent noises or water leaks.

 

 

On the final assembly first went the booster mc assembly.

 

 

Then the a/c unit.

 

 

Instrument panel and stereo.

 

 

The seats are in but not bolted.

 

 

Then the engine and trany

 

 

Almost done with the swap. The next thing was to hook up all the essential components,gas pedal, emergency brake, drive shaft, brakes, taillights, fuel supply, battery supply. More details on the pics below.

 

 

I had to retro fit the xj's brake pedal onto the mj's pedal mount to use the exact location of where the mj pedal use to be.

 

 

 

Here you can see one plate over the other with seam sealer in between.

 

 

And here I added the self tapers.

 

 

Here I am making an indentation with the wedge hammer to clear the emergency brake cable

 

 

Notice the cable goes straight back and exits through the back of the cab on the pic below.

 

 

All the rust color you see here under the body is actually red dirt from Oklahoma. The truck has zero rust

 

 

Here I have most accessories ready.

 

 

Connected all grounds

 

 

Here you can see the abs module mounting bracket. This thing has to be grounded or many electrical functions on the dash won't work, I learned this the hard way.

 

 

Since the truck is now automatic the drive shaft had to be shortened by around 6"s.

 

 

Xj's shaft on the left compared to the masssive mj's shaft.which I would have to shortened.

 

 

If you carefully grind the oem welds you can pull the yoke out.

 

 

Then you just insert it again and weld it up. All drive shafts need to be balanced or you will get vibrations. I didn't balance mine because I couldn't find anyone who did it localy and I was gonna do the 4x4 conversion later. So the length was gonna change again.

 

 

 

 

Here I am working on the e brake cable adjustment braket. If you look closely by the exiting hole of the ebrake cable, there are two predrilled and tapped holes on the bed of the truck the same size and span of the ebrake adjust bracket. Those helped a lot to relocate the bracket. I used the xj's emergency cable and the mj's adjustment bracket and drilled holes to move the assembly back because the cable from the xj is too short but with this mod it all worked perfectly. Its hard for me to explain this one but.once you get to this it makes sense.

 

 

Here its all hooked up and you can also see that I had to make a new exit hole for the cable to exit straight on to the adjustment bracket. Then I sealed it up again with seam sealer.

 

 

I moded the mj's tail lights to fit the xj's sockets.

 

 

 

 

 

This is the Cherokee's oem fuel tank sitting in the bed temporarely. Only place it might fit under the mj is in the very back where the spare tire goes but I don't recommend it.

 

 

I used my xj's exhaust setup temporarily just to make her drivable, and I wanted the donor

xj's complete set up on my personal xj. Anyways this here is the setup frkm my xj its a Super 44 side exit, no secondary cat. I love the deep sound but it gets annoying after a while and I want to be legal so I won't be using it anymore on my xj anyways.

 

 

 

 

[Pete M]

your attention to detail with this writeup is amazing!  keep it up!  

[Esechuy]

1 hour ago, Pete M said:

your attention to detail with this writeup is amazing!  keep it up!  

Thank you sir I'm getting the hang of the page its not difficult at all.

[Esechuy]

"The moment of triumph". 12 days later after I removed 2.5 engine she was brought back to live with the 4.0 from the xj. I was very proud of myself for this one.

One week later she was finally driveable. The following week after the engine was running I finally got to drive her to work; It was a great feeling. I was now able to take her to the junk yard to score her own parts and to the recycle center to dump all the scraps.

During that week I scored a 15 gallon Dakota tank which I installed temporarily on the back of the bed. I had to open the fuel pump hole on the tank to fit the xj's fuel pump assembly since it's slightly bigger.

I also did the exhaust again because it was extremely loud and annoying. It was also touching the floor board and it would heat up the interior. At this point I didn't have a rug and my seats were still not bolted on lol.

I also modified the xj's seat belts to fit on the truck; that worked out great. Then I organized and eliminated some wires on the interior. At this point all my powered functions started to come to life, like the power seats, overhead console, and many other cool stuff.

Finally it was time to get rid of the donor xj shell. I placed it for free on Craigslist and it was gone that day. One weird thing that happened was that I took it out of the yard and parked it in the street before the guy even showed up and a cop showed up before him at my door saying that someone had complained about a truck sitting by the curb lol. I guess they thought it was vandalized. He was cool and drove off. My yard was finally looking like one. More details on the pics below👇

Took a trip to the scrap yard.

 

 

This is the Dakota tank I scored. It's weird that it wasn't punctured like all the tanks in the yard.

 

 

Dakota tank on the left next to the mj's oem tank. This is what made me change my mind and I ended up using it only temporarily; it was just too small.

 

 

Here all the three tanks together xj, mj, and dakota.

 

 

Here I am with the dremmel making the opening bigger on the Dakota tank.

 

 

And here it sit temporarily

 

 

Here I am setting up the exhaust I installed the super 44 flowmaster with the oem cat. At this point its not completed but its quieter and it no longer touches the body.

 

 

Looks oem

 

 

Here i am modding the seat belts

 

 

The all metal body is from the mj next to the xj's on the bottom. I swapped the bracket over and made it work.

 

 

This seemed like a nightmare but it was not too bad. I just took my time jamming out to some chill lofi hip hop and got it done in a day.

 

 

Here I was eliminating the rear doors and rear hatch circuitry which were never gonna be used anyways.

 

 

Now it looks better but its not complete.

 

 

These are.the wires behind the bumper that go to the tail lights. I'm using all wiring from the xj here. All the mj's wiring was completely striped off the truck.

 

 

More organizing

 

 

The donor xj out on the curb chillin waiting for her ride

 

 

I think I was lucky I didn't get a ticket.

 

 

And just like that she was gone

 

[Esechuy]

"The Dakota tank swap". A few weeks later after driving around with a 15 gallon Dakota tank in the back of the truck, I finally found a 23 gallon tank and installed it under the truck. This tank came off a 2000 Dakota regular cab. As you can see it is punctured but I fixed it permanently. I also used that same Dakota's fuel pump. I did have to mod the connector but it was easy. The hard part was getting the huge tank to fit under the mj. At first I was heating the plastic to press in a high spot that would hit the frame support but at the end I ended up chopping it off. At the end it worked great and with the Dakota fuel pump my fuel gauge works like it should. More details on the pics below.

 

This is what I scored that day when I bought the tank.

 

 

Out here in the junk yards they puncture all the fuel tanks, oil pans and tranny pans. The good thing here is that it is punctured with something that doesn't remove the material like a drill bit would do, so the repair was easy and permanent. I guarantee it will never leak from here.

 

 

Since the tank has a big opening I was able to placed my phone in there with the flash on and I soldered the plastic back together. Then I soldered it again from outside and then I used I radiator repair kit that they sell at AutoZone. Its a two part epoxy and comes with a piece of fiber cloth. It worked great.

 

 

Here I was moding the fuel pump connector. I swapped the connector from the xj's fuel pump to the Dakota's fuel pump. One by one with a pick tool, I undid the little locks that hold the wire pins inside the connector. Very easy stuff here.

 

 

I used the straps that come with the 23 gallon tank.

 

 

That's the support I chopped off. I will let you know if the truck falls apart because of this lol.

 

 

And here is the 23 gallon tank installed and the fuel canister from the xj.

[Esechuy]

" Interior work" I said before that I didn't like the tan interior that I got from my donor xj, well little by little, I got rid of all the tan panels.

 

Carpet from a 4 door xj.

 

 

I scored these from a classic trim xj. The only thing is that I lost the heated seat function. I still have all the circuit ready I might later buy after market heating pads and make these heat up.

 

 

When I installed the rug the cab got quieter by about 75%

 

 

 

 

I modified the xj door plastic to fit the mj.

 

 

 

 

Soldering a bracket to secure the seats.

 

[Esechuy]

A little bit of upholstery work. After I got rid of the tan panels I got in the mood to do the headliner. I ordered three yards on ebay for about 30$ shipped. I did the headliner, the sun visor and I wrap the edges of the overhead console. It came out pretty good.

 

 

 

[Esechuy]

Custom stereo bezel and after market 8" android head unit with backup camera, gps, screen mirroring and many more cool stuff. This part of the project took me several months because I really wasn't in the mood to finish the bezel. I tried wrapping it with vinyl wrap but the results were not good so I ended up painting it with matte black interior paint. I also hooked up the steering wheel controls with the head unit. I love how this one turned out.

[Esechuy]

Custom subwoofer box from scratch. Sounds good, looks clean, and seats can be reclined all the way. The sides of the box are angled to allow the rear quarter speakers to do their thing.The air ports exit to the bottom hitting the carpet which makes the bass sound clean. I spend like 75$ in materials.

 

[Esechuy]

Wj knuckle swap and 1 ton over the knuckle. Before I even scored the d30 for the truck, I already had plans to do the wj knuckle swap. I did a lot of research on this one and I hope it works out great. I'm using the knuckles and caliper brackets from a 2003 wj 2wd. 4x4 wjs will also work as they have the same cast number. I also got the akebono calipers from the junkyard but bought them at AutoZone and used those for cores. I'm gonna use 97 wrangler brake lines because they will be longer, long enough for the 4.5" lift I'm going with. I bought the wj rotors for 70$ on ebay with the pads just to try them out and see how the drilling would work out. It ended up working good, but the drill bits are expensive. I had to use washers for the caliper brackets to center the rotor. I reamed the knuckles for 1 ton tie rods. Its my first time doing all this and so far its been fun and easy. I'm using barnes offset tres and I'm gonna use the 1ton aluminum tie rods from ironman4x4 fab feel free to ask question.

[Esechuy]

The dead axle is finally off the truck. Everything came off with ease except the track bar bracket bolt that had striped. Next step is to remove the stock control arm brackets and maybe paint some things. I've been buying all the lift kit, and suspension components little by little so it doesn't hurt too much lol. $650 truck and several thousands in upgrades, but it's a Jeep thing, many will never understand.

 

She will have to wait for another day.

[JMO413]

37 minutes ago, Esechuy said:

The dead axle is finally off the truck. Everything came off with ease except the track bar bracket bolt that had striped. Next step is to remove the stock control arm brackets and maybe paint some things. I've been buying all the lift kit, and suspension components little by little so it doesn't hurt too much lol. $650 truck and several thousands in upgrades, but it's a Jeep thing, many will never understand.

 

 

Agreed!

[Smokeyyank]

Nice work man. At first I saw the MJ and was like WTF, but you've been doing some quality stuff. Keep it coming, thing is gonna look sweet. 

[Esechuy]

9 hours ago, Smokeyyank said:

Nice work man. At first I saw the MJ and was like WTF, but you've been doing some quality stuff. Keep it coming, thing is gonna look sweet. 

Thanks bro, i'ts been a long bumpy road to get her to where she is now. I'm gonna work on this page for a few hours hopefully I can post all the progress up to date. 

[Esechuy]

One month later and I still can't install the d30. This is what I've done so far. I chopped off the factory control arm mounts because I'm going with a long arm kit. With the front axle off it made sense to install some frame stiffeners. I ordered the front sections from IRO because I like how they fold over the area were I chopped off the mounts. Some guys from All things Jeep Comanche recommended T&M Metal Fab mid frame stiffeners; I went with those. 
For more details see the pics below. Stay tune for more updates.

 

Cutting the control arm mount brackets wasn't that difficult. With the saw-saw and a long blade it makes things easier.

 

With a 1/2" drill bit i drilled out the factory spot welds and with a chisel I removed the remaining pieces.

 

Here I had wire wheeled the front frame

 

Here I am mocking up the mid frame plate.

 

Here you can see the pieces I had to cut.

 

Another cut to make it fit.

 

More wire wheeling.

 

Before I started welding I sprayed the areas with high temp 2000 degree paint to preserve the metal.but mostly for a piece of mind.

 

This was fun.

 

This was not fun for me.

 

I cheated a little. I used self tappers temporarily to keep the plates in place while I welded them.

 

Ready to weld

 

Here you can see the difference in thickness of the factory frame vs the stiffener plate.

 

Almost done.

 

[All around mj]

You have done some amazing work with your MJ. I look forward to seeing updates.

[Esechuy]

"The track bar upgrade". Since I'm going with a 4.5" lift, I was obviously gonna need to upgrade the trac bar setup. If you haven't read my previous posts, I'm converting my comanche to 4x4. I have the d30 in my garage almost ready to be installed but I decided to weld frame stiffeners and that slowed the project down. Since I'm doing the wj knuckle swap and over the knuckle 1 ton steering, I did some research on trac bars and came across the iroman4x4fab offset trac bar bracket and the axle trac bar relocation bracket designed to work with this setup. Today I installed the trac bar bracket, this thing is massive and well built. I bolted and welded it and I hope I don't have to remove it because its really on there lol. I also sprayed some rustoleum undercoating, If this coating has good adhesion ill do the other fender well and mid frame area. Hopefully by next weekend I make more progress. More info on the pics below also stay tune for more updates.

 

Here the bracket is bolted on. It felt so strong that I wasn't gonna weld it but I had the welder ready so I threw some beads and made it permanent.

 

 

 

I'm gonna keep an eye on this undercoating. If I don't like it ill just wire wheel it off and go with black caliper paint like what I used on the trac bar.

 

 

 

I'm not an expert at welding but I trust my welds.

 

 

 

This is the axle side trac bar relocation bracket. You have to cut a piece of the original bracket then use the trac bar bolt to align it and finally weld it in every area possible. You can't mess up, it's really simple. Some people say that this is a weak option because it sits over a piece of the original bracket which is thin metal but they are wrong. This new relocation bracket welds to the coil base, to the axle tube in two areas, and to the sway bar mounts.

 

 

 

I removed the sway bar link bracket because I'm gonna use the extended ones. I will have to weld those once the axle is on the truck.

 

 

 

[Esechuy]

With the dress ups out of the way I can finally proceed with the lift and axle swap. These are some of the things I've been working on the past couple of weeks. I removed the oil pan and inspected the bottom end. During idle I was able to hear a mild knock coming from the bottom and I wanted to make sure it wasn't the bearings or wrist pins. Anyways, I plastigauge tested the main and rod bearings and all looks normal I pulled on the piston rods and there was no play at the wrist pins. I figured if it gets worst i'll pull the engine and do a complete overhaul. I painted the driver side of the engine since I had the exhaust manifold removed and all the components on that area. I also undercoated the fender wells, mid frame stiffeners and also the mid undercarriage; I like how that turned out. I also did some exhaust modifications to clear the the lift kit. In the next few days I will be installing the Ironman 4x4 fab 4 link long arm kit and the d30.

Feel free to ask any questions.

 

Deer poop

 

[Esechuy]

I think I can say she's 4x4 now. I finally got the d30 diff under the truck along with the Ironman4x4 fab 4 link long arm suspension. I also installed the 1 ton 7075 OTK steering kit, trac bar, some cool looking shocks, and Rubicon express coils. I still need to fasten some stuff, tweak the alignment and center the diff but for the most part its nearly complete. Before I install wheels and tires I think I'm gonna do the 8.8 swap SOA to level out the truck. Feel free to follow the page for more updates.

 

Who doesn't love when the big brown truck shows up? It felt like Christmas that day

 

 

The kit didn't come with instructions but whenever I had a question Andy aka iron man was a text or call away.

 

 

The lower arm piece goes first on the assembly then the upper arm mount, other wise it won't work.

 

 

Barnes4wd enduro joints

 

 

Removing these joints feels like an eternity with that much of thread.

 

 

I painted these bolts with vht engine paint.

 

 

Here the assembly is ready to be installed under the truck and it weighs a ton lol

 

 

1 Ton 7075 aluminum steering over the knuckle.

 

 

Sanded the lower arms with 400 grit wiped it with alcohol and sprayed two coats of vht engine clear.

 

 

Took this pic right after the paint, they turned out badass

 

 

4.5 rubicon express coil springs.

 

 

Ironman 4x4 trac bar

 

 

Here I was reaming the pitman arm.

 

 

These angles are not at their final location i need to turn the trac bar head down and adjust everything.

 

 

AA

At this point it was ok to put a 4x4 badge since I'm not a fan of false advertising.

 

 

I'm finally getting somewhere.

[Smokeyyank]

Titties.....

 

Ill be interested to hear what you think of the iron man 4 link. I think there's and Stinkyfab are bad @$$. Only thing I wasnt huge on the iron man was the amount of bolts for the the tranny pan. 

[Esechuy]

Suspension update. I installed the raised sway bar mounts from Ironman4x4fab. I had to trim them to clear the draglink. I thought it was gonna be a btch cutting the 1/2" thick steel but with a new blade on the sawzall it wasn't too bad. I also welded the subframe to the unibody well actually I hired a friend to do it with his big miller machine I just didn't trust my handycore for something that will take a lot of stress. He did a great job, he was even welding areas he wasn't supposed to lol. I changed the motor oil and ran the engine for a while. 3 months ago when I was daily driving her, the truck had a mild bottom end knock but now its completely gone I'm assuming it had to do with the exhaust manifold gasket leaking. That's mostly it as far as progress. I know its not much compared to other posts.
I can't wait to test this new suspension but it will be a good long while until I get her back on the road. I have some new plans for the rear end I will post more details on that soon. Feel free to follow the page for more updates. Check out the pics below for more details.

 

These are the extended sway bar brackets in their original form, they are very thick compared to the factory ones.

 

 

Here I was mocking the piece and you can see it touches the drag link, something had to be done.

 

 

Here I was comparing it to the original bracket on the driver side.

 

 

I clamped that sucker on the vise marked it and started cutting.

 

 

I was gonna try the jig saw but I didn't have blades for it, the sawzall was a little over kill but it worked.

 

 

Here I am cutting the old bracket off on the driver side.

 

 

Here it is tack welded on the passenger side. This added strength to the over the axle track bar bracket I had installed previously.

 

 

I turned the wheels and everything clears. I'm loving how all the over the knuckle clearance problems are getting resolved little by little.

 

 

Subframe is part of the unibody now

 

 

Homeboy Tyler welding the sway bar brackets.

 

 

 

[Esechuy]

Good bye d35
Today I got rid of the stock d35, I will be upgrading to the 8.8 diff from a 2000 ford explorer. I chose the 8.8 because it's beefier than the d35 and the chrysler 8.25. It also has disk brakes and the same bolt pattern as the mj,xj, and tj. The other thing I like is that they are all over the junk yards and they are cheap. I thought about the d44 which is harder to find and 1 tons but I won't be going bigger than 33s also I don't plan on doing a v8 swap. The stock 4.0 has enough for me and I trust it, plus I have 3 jeeps with the same engine and many parts under lifetime warranty which can be shared lol.

So back to the rear end. I have decided to 4 link the rear diff just like I did the front, mostly because I've never done it and I want to learn something in the process. This will definitely be a challenging task since I haven't done it before and there aren't many mjs out there with this setup. The fuel tank will have to be relocated and I have decided to put it on the bed; right behind the cab in a custom enclosure designed and made by me lol. Stay tune for that one. The front end took about 3 months to complete and I have a feeling it will take me 3 months for the rear as well. I can go on forever writing about this but ill stop here. Stay tune for more updates.

 

 

[Esechuy]

33 minutes ago, Smokeyyank said:

Titties.....

 

Ill be interested to hear what you think of the iron man 4 link. I think there's and Stinkyfab are bad @$$. Only thing I wasnt huge on the iron man was the amount of bolts for the the tranny pan. 

The bolts aren't a problem at all. I love the set up but I haven't gone wheeling so I can't give a full review. If all goes well I plan to take her to Moab this September.

[Esechuy]

 For the first time I'm losing my patience with the project and for several reasons too. I was very determined to do the 4 link rear suspension but I don't want to have my truck in the driveway for another 6 months doing frame stiffeners, undercoating, fuel tank relocation, exhaust modifcations, and saving money for parts. Also its back to school season and the Jeep projects come last. Those with kids know what I mean. My kids can't wear mj suspension components to school. Anyways, last week I scored the 8.8 and I was very excited for that. I paid 151 out the door using the d35 as core. Right now I'm here in the driveway; under the truck, scratching my head; asking my self "what did I get my self in to?" I was about to cut the straps off the fuel tank and remove the other leaf spring brackets but I made one of those in the heat of the moment decisions and now I'm scrapping the whole plan. I'm just gonna weld the passenger side bracket back on. Luckily I did a very clean removal so putting it back on should be easy. I'm gonna stick to the basic initial plan for now with the 8.8 soa. Maybe later down the road ill do the 4 link when the moment feels right and the pockets aren't tight. Maybe I should stop bitching and go back inside the house and give it a second thought. I know this is a Jeep thing I totally understand but man right now I just want to kick this 8.8 right in the pumpkin and see how far it will roll. I think I need a beer.