long vs. short bed mj

whats better to eventually build with an exo cage, full size axles and so on? whats the pros and cons of the two? thanks for any responses

The 113" SWB is probably the better 'wheeler... I wheeled a 119" LWB for a couple years and it has a h-u-g-e overhang past the rear axle. OTOH the LWB makes hillclimbs look too easy.

so the wheelbase is actually longer and not just the bed past the axle? if the wheel base is longer, you would have better driveline angles since the shaft would be longer.

woody said:

The 113" SWB is probably the better 'wheeler... I wheeled a 119" LWB for a couple years and it has a h-u-g-e overhang past the rear axle. OTOH the LWB makes hillclimbs look too easy.

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Yeah from 100-115" or so seems to be a very nice wb length. xj's are 101.4, zj's 104.9, yj/tj/cj 93.4 I have a yj and it does do good off-road, but after driving my old 89' xj with just 3" lift and 31's at's I liked it much better and after seeing all the support for the xj on this site and others I decided to get an xj for my wheeler. Try to get a short bed mj if possible, otherwise you can get a long bed and chop it. Personally if I was getting into a wheelbase over a xj's 101.4 I'd build a full size jeep like a J-10 or cherokee/wagoneer. That way you get a full frame and strong drivetrain(dana 44's, turbo 400 or 727 torque flight, big 360 v-8, etc), plus they can be had for cheap. :guitar:
Troy

ok red here is the situation, i am looking to buy a jeep pick up to dd for a year or 2 and then eventually cut the bed off and turn it into the beast, my xj is my wheeler now but i want something i can beat the sh*t outta and not care. I need a pick up for my uses and also whats up with the mj is it unibody or not? U think full size is the way to go huh? I will eventually build an exo cage to connect rear coilovers to. BTW if the guy who just built the mj out in CO. i think it was? if u see this i could REALLY use some input, b/c after seeing that project im considering leaving the xj as is cause its built enough and starting the mj project.

Ramsey said:

so the wheelbase is actually longer and not just the bed past the axle? if the wheel base is longer, you would have better driveline angles since the shaft would be longer.

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Yes the wheelbase is longer... 6" longer on the LWB. The bed is longer too... both in front of and behind the wheel opening.

The driveline angles are great on the LWB... ran SOA at +-6" with no SYE and no vibes at any sane speed... but this also puts more of the driveshaft down into harms way, and if the operator isn't careful in the rocks, it gets corkscrewed pretty easily...

xjrugger said:

ok red here is the situation, i am looking to buy a jeep pick up to dd for a year or 2 and then eventually cut the bed off and turn it into the beast, my xj is my wheeler now but i want something i can beat the sh*t outta and not care. I need a pick up for my uses and also whats up with the mj is it unibody or not? U think full size is the way to go huh? I will eventually build an exo cage to connect rear coilovers to. BTW if the guy who just built the mj out in CO. i think it was? if u see this i could REALLY use some input, b/c after seeing that project im considering leaving the xj as is cause its built enough and starting the mj project.

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Yes the mj, xj, zj, wj are all uni bodied jeeps. The only 1 that isn't today is a TJ wrangler. If you want to go with a long wheelbase and want a killer truck get a J-10 or a full-size cherokee or wagoneer SJ. Those trucks can take a beaten and keep going, I like the yellow J-10 that Helen Hunt drove in the movie Twister. That was a nice truck and made my bro Brian cry. The only thing that sucks about those trucks is their thirsty v-8 carbed motors.
Troy

how bout the guy who cut the bed off and exo'd it, is it a smart decision to do that and will it take pressure off the unibody. If i did this after about a year or 2 it gets full size axles, 5.38's, lockers, coilover rear and 38's. Do u think its even smart to do, or should i just do the j10 so i dont have to sleeve the framerails and add structural support to the unibody. Sorry to eat your time up, but i really want to do this b/c like i said im looking for something that i can beat the snot out of and not have to drive to work on monday.

xjrugger said:

how bout the guy who cut the bed off and exo'd it, is it a smart decision to do that and will it take pressure off the unibody. If i did this after about a year or 2 it gets full size axles, 5.38's, lockers, coilover rear and 38's. Do u think its even smart to do, or should i just do the j10 so i dont have to sleeve the framerails and add structural support to the unibody. Sorry to eat your time up, but i really want to do this b/c like i said im looking for something that i can beat the snot out of and not have to drive to work on monday.

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get a short-bed if you plan to wheel it. the wheelbase is great and with 35s I climb right up stuff that YJs on 38s are struggling hard with. however that wheelbase has meant a worse turning radius and damage to the rear driveshaft. Right now my shortbed is sitting at 115" (originally 113) and if it were cheap and easy to change it to whatever I wanted I would go with 108-110.

I have 7-8" of lift with no SYE and my driveline angle is similar to that of an XJ with a 3" lift, I have over 10,000 miles on it with no problems.

Brett, I like it, im feeling that amount of lift with full sixe axles. Just another ? What do u think bout rockwells for an mj and 39.5's. Or should i do 14 bolt/d60? I was contemplating a j series but then there is no coils and i want to have coils w/o a lot of conversion work. Also when i initially lift it i would do a soa and shackle. It may sound crazy but i have a xj on 35's that i wheel pretty hard, but its got a nice looking body with minor damage and i also dd often, so i dont want to destroy it, yet i find myself holding back on things i want to challenge. Another ?= Can i tow an mj weight equivalent to yours behind a stock xj.

xjrugger said:

Brett, I like it, im feeling that amount of lift with full sixe axles. Just another ? What do u think bout rockwells for an mj and 39.5's. Or should i do 14 bolt/d60? I was contemplating a j series but then there is no coils and i want to have coils w/o a lot of conversion work. Also when i initially lift it i would do a soa and shackle. It may sound crazy but i have a xj on 35's that i wheel pretty hard, but its got a nice looking body with minor damage and i also dd often, so i dont want to destroy it, yet i find myself holding back on things i want to challenge. Another ?= Can i tow an mj weight equivalent to yours behind a stock xj.

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Build a monster mj if you want, but you will be better off building an extreme rig with big tires and axles off of a nice platform like a full size jeep. They are easy to find, cheap, and already have a dana 44 front/dana 60 rear in the J-10 or J-20. The wagoneers and cherokees 76-91' have dana 44's front and rear with turbo 400/727 torque flight and big v-8's. Plus the wb is in the area you are looking for. They are around 110" or so.

red, its not out of my mind yet but im just seeing many complications with converting coils into it, plus yeah coilovers would be great but i dont want to go too deep into the wallet for this project. (im laughing as i type this, considering that it will cost a lot) oh no

The MJ is actually part uniframe and part regular frame (sorta). It's not C-channel like other rigs, but rather made of two layers of sheetmetal. It's fully boxed and very strong, but welding to it can be tricky. My rollbar is welded to a bracket made of 1/4" steel, which is welded to a 6x6" piece of 3/16" steel, which is welded to the frame. I stepped down the thickness with each piece and used a wide piece of steel to spread out the load on the frame. On another note, drilling through the my frame was suprisingly tricky because the rust in between the layers stopped my 1/2" drillbits cold and that caused the bit to catch the top layer and either stall or break. Next time I'll be using a hole saw or find a plasma cutter to borrow.
As to which wheelbase is better, both can be made into awesome wheelers. It all depends on what kind of trails you see or what your preference is. No matter what you do, invest in some good rocker guards (but don't expect to attach then to the body like XJs).
Jeep on!
--Pete

(P.S. this is not my truck)



The Jeep Comanche Yahoo Group:
http://autos.groups.yahoo.com/group/jeepcomanche/

if your going to be removing the bed anyways find one that is already beat u. I have my old DDmj that pretty rough and this winter(hopefully) the entire frame section behind the cab is getting cut of and rebuilding from there with a custom bed.

I wish I could find an old J10/20 around here and cheap! I want a project, but I cant find a 4x4 MJ

Why do you need a 4x4? Just grab a rusty 2wd and get going! If you stick with Jeep parts, the 4x4 stuff is bolt-in. And if you're replacing the axles anyway, why pay more for stuff you won't use? If you're going all out on a new driveline, then you can even get away with buying a 4 banger. Mine used to be a 2wd daily-driver until the stupid Peugeot finally self-destructed. I used a 4wd tranny and t-case from a TJ, 78 Ford axles, and a lot of ingenuity on a very limited budget and tool collection. Try to avoid the 86 model year if you can. The engine compartment will need some serious attention to accomodate anything much bigger than the original engines (and that includes anything as long as the 4.0L or V8s).
Jeep on!
--Pete
Project pics: www.picturetrail.com/petermontie
Email: [email protected]
Comanche Yahoo group: http://autos.groups.yahoo.com/group/jeepcomanche/