Drahcir495's Build-up

[MiNi Beast]

 

One of my favorite pictures ->

 

 

Here is my pic, I love the tree...

 

 

And I like your new pet gator, hope you got a spare tire with you! :thumbsup:

[Drahcir495]

Here is my pic, I love the tree...

 

 

And I like your new pet gator, hope you got a spare tire with you! :thumbsup:

That is a crazy tree :nuts:, but indeed cool.

 

Silly Northerner, Gators don't eat spare tires :yes: .

[MiNi Beast]

Of course not when your running bead locks :nuts:

 

 

 

 

 

:rotfl2:

[Drahcir495]

At some point over the last 2 years – or maybe I never had them :???: – I lost power to my rear break lights. I discovered the problem after Bwatsoncj and I finished the lift last year. I was not driving it at the time, so I was able to push the project off for a later date. The lights would come one when I turn on the headlights, just not when I pressed the break pedal – you can see where that could be a problem. The PO sliced into the pink wire attached to the brake switch with a hot wire cut from a connector end – this will no doubt be a source for headaches in my future. I redid the connection – tested and nothing. Got a new switch and that did not work. Figured it could be the butchered wiring for the trailer lights. Some of the tail light wiring had been piggy backed onto to supply power to god knows what – just a wiring mess. I removed the old spliced in trailer light harness and fixed the old splices with solder and shrink tubing. Still no tail lights :fs1: . I had Bwatsoncj come over to give an outside opinion before I did something drastic. He thought it was the fuse block. Several of the fuse clips were broken inside the fuse block – just great! I figured I try to take one apart at the P-N-P to get an idea of if anything can be done. You can see a few of the broken clips in my fuse block ->

 

I found an XJ in the lot that had most of the extraction work done for me. I ended up just clipping and pulling out as many retaining fuse clips as I could.

The clips removed from the donor fuse block ->

 

I got it all back home and removed what pieces were not going to be used. I set up camp in the floorboard of the MJ and began to make some repairs. I ended up replacing a half dozen or so clips. I was not easy soldering the clips in such a tight space – it sucked. Got it done and the tail lights work now :dunno:

[BLHTAZ]

You have a lot more patience than I do. I could never have rewired a fuse box like that. Good job as always :thumbsup:

 

 

This picture just begged to be B & W to me for some reason...and I had to eliminate the putty spots ;)

 

[MiNi Beast]

Maybe they guy that had the MJ before you had owned my old MJ. What a pita with a ton load of wireing, every wire was spliced into and the MJ caame from FL to. I ended up replacing the wiring in the whole truck. It was a headache as well. GOood to see you got the lights working now :D

[grandpabear]

nice Rig, I'm having problems with my elec as well. I lost all my gauges, including my speedo, which I thought was only hooked up with a cable. I think maybe the fuse box took a dump, but haven't done anything yet. Anybody have any experience with this problem and if you could pass it along to me, it would save me many headaches. thanks to everyone in advance and this is really a great site, you guys have reinvigorated me to re-do mine, which it really needs, thanks again to everyone.

 

 

Bear

[Drahcir495]

You have a lot more patience than I do. I could never have rewired a fuse box like that. Good job as always :thumbsup:

 

 

This picture just begged to be B & W to me for some reason...and I had to eliminate the putty spots ;)

 

Wow BLHTAZ - that is really nice! Thanks man :cheers:

 

How do you think that would look on my clock?

[Drahcir495]

Maybe they guy that had the MJ before you had owned my old MJ. What a pita with a ton load of wireing, every wire was spliced into and the MJ caame from FL to. I ended up replacing the wiring in the whole truck. It was a headache as well. GOood to see you got the lights working now :D

I never understood why these guys just hack and tap to solve their problems??

 

nice Rig, I'm having problems with my elec as well. I lost all my gauges, including my speedo, which I thought was only hooked up with a cable. I think maybe the fuse box took a dump, but haven't done anything yet. Anybody have any experience with this problem and if you could pass it along to me, it would save me many headaches. thanks to everyone in advance and this is really a great site, you guys have reinvigorated me to re-do mine, which it really needs, thanks again to everyone.Bear

Bear - I found that most of my electrical problems were because of the fuses & fuse block. I had some of the same gauge issues that you are experiencing. After I cleaned up some of the bad slices it stopped blowing fuses. Be sure to clean as many ground contact points you can find – got my under dash lights after cleaning and greasing a few grounds. It is also a good idea to invest in some dialectic grease. Next I would lube up all the clips in the fuse box and replaced all the fuses. By doing just that I fixed 85% of my problems, but still no brake light - that was a clip in the fuse block :fs1: . Never had the problem with the speedo that you are having, so just be sure that is indeed attached at both ends ;) . I am just happy the brake lights work now and 98% of everything else! Clock still won't work :dunno:

[BLHTAZ]

 

How do you think that would look on my clock?

Here are the two best versions I could come up with. Let me know if you like either...

 

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[Drahcir495]

After fixing the fuse block I thought I had solved my brake light issues - I was wrong. So, I had to park the Comanche and drive the :ack: Explorer until I could figure out the problem. It turns out the brake light switch connector was bad. The PO hot wired it up and melted it good. Because of this the brake lights worked sporadically :eek: ! I went down to the pick-n-pull today to get a replacement connector. I got to meet CC member "mm's mj" while I was down there :waving: . Besides being a really nice guy, he has a very nice MJ. Wait until he posts up some pictures of his MJ :popcorn: - it’s a bueat :drool: .

 

Here is the old and new (used) connector -

I just removed the plastic connector piece and snapped the old wires and clips into it. It really snapped on well to the brake light switch and I am now confident the problem has been fixed. :banana:

[Drahcir495]

I have been experiencing a freaky problem with my Comanche. On occasion, when I was backing up the truck, the front wheels refused to turn straight. It acted like it has hung up on the sway bar bracket arm, or I had turned the steering past the point of no return. The front tires would resist for a hundred feet and then submit. Really weird and I thought what the heck is this all about? But then it would not happen for a week or so and I would forget. I basically thought it was because I was turning the wheel to far and the power steering pump was messed up. I would avoid making too sharp of a turn in reverse and I was fine. But then :fs1: when I was following a buddy in his ridiculously tall CJ7, it happened again. As we were pulling out of a gas station, I was going forward this time; I could not turn at all! This really freaked me out big time. I could only describe it as having the feeling of the front wheels locking up :idea: - oh wait, I have a front locker! But I was sure the switch was not on :hmm: ? A year ago, I had posted a thread asking everyone how I could get these nifty and expensive rocker switches to work with the new Eaton E-lockers. Never could get the lockers to work with the new switches, so I let the rear factory switch hang out like so ->

I know; real classy. Well, I never disconnected the front locker from the switch – :dunce: . I figured out that a tiny bit of juice was getting to the front locker, just enough that when I went into reverse it allowed the front to LOCK up :eek: . I quickly removed the wiring from the switch. Now, I was stuck having to figure out where I was going to place these ugly Eaton factory switches? I have a few holes in the dash apron where some idiot had tried to drill something into it. These screw holes really bother me. I figured I may be able to use the one inch holes to kill two birds with one stone. :rant: no luck, they were unevenly spaced and in a spot that the plugs would never fit into the holes! This is the alternative location that I came up with. Marked out the position of the switch holes in the center console insert->

 

I got a cheap Home Depot 1’’ hole saw and hoped it would make a clean cut ->

 

Drilled out the first hole – not too shabby ->

 

And then the second switch hole ->

 

Tip for getting the switches to snuggly fit into the (or other) thicker material. I trimmed a bit of the “wing things” to allow for the increased wall thickness of the console tray. They had an area on the “wings” that are designed to be trimmed if needed. If you look closely at the picture below you can see the so called wings I am talking about. There are a total of four wings – two top and two on the bottom. You can see the one on the right does not look as nice as the left one - that is because I did not see the cut outs before I installed the first one :ack: ->

 

I will have to post up pictures of the finished product later . . . I have another wiring project going on that I am dying to share, but it isn’t finished yet. So here is a picture of the nearly finished, but not yet installed product ->

It is a great spot IMHO because;

A – I don’t really care for the looks of these switches and they are pretty well hidden.

B – The coin tray allows me to use my fingers to help my thumb to engage the lockers switches.

C- I can use the other switches for more important things like NOS – Neon Frame Lighting (NFL) – and some wicked hydraulic power ups (Boing)!

[WahooSteeler]

Very creative and nice work Dracula. :thumbsup:

[Drahcir495]

Very creative and nice work Dracula. :thumbsup:

Thanks, I am up most of the night planning these projects

[Drahcir495]

I was killing some time tonight before I went home and decided to give the jeeps a flex test with the fork lift & Walkie :brows: . I learned a lot about what is going to be needed in terms of clearance. The flex out of the MJ was very impressive :eek: . I will have to either increase the bump stops in front, or do some trimming. The rear shock bottomed out prematurely, so I will have to move the shock mount lower. I will have to spend some more quality time with the fork lift and see exactly what modifications will be needed. Now on to the pictures. Team Blue ->

 

Front ->

 

Side shots ->

 

 

Front shock still has room ->

 

Rear shock bottomed out :shake: ->

 

You can see I still have stuffing room out back :banana: ->

 

Crazy rear shot ->

 

The CJ8 did some flexing, but I seriously need to work on getting the SOA done on it->

I did for get to unhook the sway bar, but I don’t know how much that would help?

[WahooSteeler]

That's a killer shot dude! You have what I've always wanted. Long before I had any interest in MJs, I wanted a Scrambler soooo bad. My best friend from high school fell in to one of those deals you only hear about when we were just a few years out of college. He had been looking for a Scrambler and another buddy knew somebody that knew somebody that was selling one sitting in their back yard. So for $2300 sometime around 90-92 he bought and 82-83? Scrambler with about 100k on it. Ohh, but whaddayaknow, it was a Laredo, factory air, tach, clock, 99% rust free. It became his DD for several years until he ditched it @4yrs ago (not his DD by then) and bent the frame.

 

In fact, looking for Scramblers is how I realized the Comanche might be very cool to have. I would look under "Jeep truck" as one of the search options on ebay and Comanches started popping up. I saw a couple of nice ones and realizing the were cheaper to come by than a decent Scrambler, I decided I had to have one. But I've always said I would still have a Scrambler one day when I could. I saw it in your sig a long time ago, but man is it cool to see pics of them together. :bowdown:

[Drahcir495]

That's a killer shot dude! You have what I've always wanted. Long before I had any interest in MJs, I wanted a Scrambler soooo bad. My best friend from high school fell in to one of those deals you only hear about when we were just a few years out of college. He had been looking for a Scrambler and another buddy knew somebody that knew somebody that was selling one sitting in their back yard. So for $2300 sometime around 90-92 he bought and 82-83? Scrambler with about 100k on it. Ohh, but whaddayaknow, it was a Laredo, factory air, tach, clock, 99% rust free. It became his DD for several years until he ditched it @4yrs ago (not his DD by then) and bent the frame.

 

In fact, looking for Scramblers is how I realized the Comanche might be very cool to have. I would look under "Jeep truck" as one of the search options on ebay and Comanches started popping up. I saw a couple of nice ones and realizing the were cheaper to come by than a decent Scrambler, I decided I had to have one. But I've always said I would still have a Scrambler one day when I could. I saw it in your sig a long time ago, but man is it cool to see pics of them together. :bowdown:

Thanks Hoo :agree: . I am not happy with the pictures, but it was too late after I got them home. I grabbed the wrong camera :fs1: and the shots are pretty blurry. I will have to re-do them another time with the better camera.

 

You have very good tastes my friend :thumbsup: . I also wanted a Scrambler for a very long time. Actually since I saw my first one; a guy in town with a Maroon CJ8 that had 31/32" Thornbirds - it was soooooo cool. I ended up not being able to find one anywhere and settled on my CJ7. I drove that until after I graduated in 2000 when I was able to reward myself with the Scrambler. OK, the Wife paid for it. We paid a lot more than your buddy :ack: - lucky bastid! I drove all the way out to Arkansas for this one. It was/is a rust free 84 with factory air and a 1984 Warn winch. The PO had swapped in a Chevy 305 V8, so I just dropped a 383 in its place. It really is a monster – already blown one T-5 & an AMC20. I have two transmission options waiting in the garage; a brand new NV4500, or a rebuilt 700R4 ready to go in. I just need to decide if I still want to shift or not. Somewhere in the garage clutter I also have a Dana 60 cut down to CJ width with 5 on 5.5 alloy shafts. The Scrambler has been used and is not just a driveway queen. I have driven it up and back to Tellico for a Jeep Jamboree. I have also had it out on other local rides, so it does get used. It has been garage kept for most of its life and is in awesome shape. But like all my vehicles, it just needs a paint job :roll: .

 

If something should happen to me, I would consider making you the beneficiary of the old girl. The wife thinks it is ugly :shake: , so I would need you to continue on my family legacy. So your screen name would have to be changed. Possible options would be: Drahcir495steeler? Or Drahcirwahoo? How do you like this, Drahcirwilledmehiscj8soihadtochangemyscreennamewahoosteeler <-bit long.

Possibly Wahoo495?

Would you consider having another boy and naming him Drahcir 495? You could inherit all my jeeps for such a thoughtful deed!

[WahooSteeler]

Blurry pictures? Is something wrong with your eyes? They're pretty damn clear.

 

So for my screen name to get the 8 willed to me, let's keep it simple: Drahcirismyhero

[Drahcir495]

I picked up a front sway bar of a 97 GC with the V8 for $10. I didn’t know how much of a difference it would possibly make, but for the price I couldn’t lose. The V8 bar is over an inch thick, so I picked up some new Moog bushings to go with the freshly painted (possible) upgrade.

 

The V8 Grand Cherokee sway bar & Moog bushings ->

 

The factory sway bar is on the bottom ->

 

Swapping the RE disconnects over to the thicker GC sway bar ->

 

Well it turned out that the bushings were to darn big; 1 1/8th = 28.5mm. I had both an Autistic Zone & a Napa guy tell me just to cut them a little to allow them to crush down more. I knew that did not sound right, but I did it any way. Of course it won’t work! The outside of the bushing never changes, just the inner diameter increases or decrease in size. I knew better, I really did. I installed it just to confirm that it could never crush down on the bar. I ended up using the old bushings for now. I think it is going to need a 26 or 27mm bushing. Got it all hooked back up, cursing myself for not leaving it alone. You know what, I think even with the old bushings it has improved! The steering is more responsive and it has slightly reduced the body roll. I am very surprised that it made any difference, but it did. I will update this after I get the new bushings in. For more information on this upgrade, check out goblazers_6 DIY on his V8 sway bar swap here -> viewtopic.php?f=9&t=11980

:thumbsup: .

[WahooSteeler]

Dracula, this is a mod I've been planning to do in the future too. The other guys on here I've seen do it said they had a BIG difference aftwards. I believe goblazers was one of those, said he couldn't believe it.

[Drahcir495]

Dracula, this is a mod I've been planning to do in the future too. The other guys on here I've seen do it said they had a BIG difference aftwards. I believe goblazers was one of those, said he couldn't believe it.

I know that Lead-not-follow had installed an aftermarket sway bar and raved about it. I will have to check out Gob's thread again. It has honestly improved and I am shocked. I can confidently tell you to go for it :thumbsup: . Been driving around all day with a smile on my face. I am now off to Northern Tools to pick up a cheap micrometer to get the exact bar size.

[Darren]

Dracula, this is a mod I've been planning to do in the future too. The other guys on here I've seen do it said they had a BIG difference aftwards. I believe goblazers was one of those, said he couldn't believe it.

I know that Lead-not-follow had installed an aftermarket sway bar and raved about it. I will have to check out Gob's thread again. It has honestly improved and I am shocked. I can confidently tell you to go for it :thumbsup: . Been driving around all day with a smile on my face. I am now off to Northern Tools to pick up a cheap micrometer to get the exact bar size.

 

With as much money as I have into my Jeep, that $12 Swaybar is one of my favorite mods. I honestly think everyone should do it, stock or highly modified, its a great upgrade.

[jtdesigns]

Can any of you guys put a set of calipers on that v8 sway bar and get me a diameter?

[Drahcir495]

Can any of you guys put a set of calipers on that v8 sway bar and get me a diameter?

I just picked one up. I have diameters of 25.84 - 26.18mm at various locations. The guy at Napa, using his caliper, confirmed the 26mm. I am ordering the 26mm Moog bushings, so I will let you know how it works out. Anyone else get a different measurement?

[jtdesigns]

Can any of you guys put a set of calipers on that v8 sway bar and get me a diameter?

I just picked one up. I have diameters of 25.84 - 26.18mm at various locations. The guy at Napa, using his caliper, confirmed the 26mm. I am ordering the 26mm Moog bushings, so I will let you know how it works out. Anyone else get a different measurement?

 

So I should be making sure they are over 1" in diameter.. OK cool , thanks...