My Comanche Build 2wd to Overkill

[shortxjdoug]

?
There's three of them in a driveway in Knoxville....

stop telling everyone where my mj stash is.....

 

[87manche]

stop telling everyone where my mj stash is.....

I kept the location intentionally vague.

 

[jeep.kevin]

I kept the location intentionally vague.

I have a feeling i will wind up collecting these trucks as well. I have been seeing them more and more. and I really like them. I didn't know there were so many differences between the XJs and MJs till I started tearing into mine.

 

[87manche]

I have a feeling i will wind up collecting these trucks as well. I have been seeing them more and more. and I really like them. I didn't know there were so many differences between the XJs and MJs till I started tearing into mine.

MJ>XJ

but none of the station wagon drivers will believe you that there are significant structural differences.

 

[Lowrange2]

I believe you. If only they made OEM crew cab MJs. :/

 

[87manche]

I believe you. If only they made OEM crew cab MJs. :/

I would kill someone for an extended cab.

literally.

 

[jeep.kevin]

At some point I'm goin to get better with sheet metal and try to make mine an extended cab.

 

[heshhash]

There was a very few crew cab jeeps made for the forestry service back in the 60's. We had an old on in the junkyard when i worked there. Hmm, i got a link for an article on one but can't seem to post it from my phone. They exit, but are extremely rare (5 built in 68 iirc)...

 

[jeep.kevin]

Thats sounds pretty cool. I don't really want a 4 door tho. just a small window behind the front ones. kinda like a toyota or ranger would have, but no suicide rear door. So i have some room for my dog to ride in the cab if its crappy outside.

 

[Kittrell]

I would kill someone for an extended cab.

literally.

For you dreamers.

 

[jeep.kevin]

For you dreamers.

I have seen that pic before, and that is pretty much what I want. I have dreams of cutting off the unibody on the cab extending it and then making a frame with a tube bed. that's very far off in the future tho. I must say tho this is a very nice looking truck, I would drive that everywhere. Oh, and I've got a bunch of progress to post up on here, when I'm off work tonight I'll upload some photo updates. I got my front 3-link built!

 

[jeep.kevin]

So, Update time. I got to work on the front suspension recently. My DSLR camera crapped out a battery so these cell phone pics will have to do for now.


I started with the Upper third link Mount. I decided to cut some holes in em to save a bit of weight and make it look a bit nicer.


Axle side trac bar mount, I just have all this stuff tacked together for now until final welding so I can make sure everything clears.



Frame side trac bar mount. I plane to add a third bolt on the top and bottom side for so extra strength and run a support strut to the other side of the frame. I pushed the mount out and forward a bit to get the trac bar a bit longer matching the drag link.







My wife got me this snazzy steering wheel for xmas. Its all aluminum, so in the weight savings department it might help a tiny bit hehe.


Couldn't help but test the flex a bit. It should work pretty well.

 

[WiscoXJ]

wow awesome build! Subscribed!

 

[jeep.kevin]

Update time! Finally, right?

Decided to throw a 62mm throttle body on it and see how that goes. It came in at a price that seemed reasonable to me.


Next up was building the front truss and the last bit for the front axle.






For the shock mount I welded a nut under the coil mount and then made a rear brace for it, hopefully it will hold up good.


All painted and finished up.


I didn't like all the black on the suspension so i did something different with the diff cover.


Welded up the 3 link arms, had a buddy spin them while I welded them to get one continuous bead.


Then installed the front axle and put it all together.


I moved on to the rear shock mounts, bent up some 1.5" DOM hoops and went to town cutting holes in the bed.


Then I made a removable brace do I can still get the bed off later.


Finish welded the rear mounts and un-smerfed the shocks.


Ran into an issue with the front upper shock mounts. For the amount of up travel I wanted the bolt needed to be right where the original mount was and I couldn't us flat plate, made some 1.5" tube mounts and notched them in, they came out nicely I think.

 

[jeep.kevin]

Me and some buddies FINALLY made it out to KOH 2015. I gotta say I had a blast the whole time I was there. (I'm there on the left)


Got in pretty close on the race course.




Ran into Jessi Combs, she was cool to meet in person. Her spec class rig gave out during the Every Man Challenge and I talked to her about that for a bit.

 

[jeep.kevin]

Update!

Went to the junkyard this past weekend for half off day and scored another XJ 44 that I sold to a buddy and also found a SYE kit installed in an NP231 so I picked that up too instead of doin' a hack n tap. But the icing on the cake is that I got my wheels n tires today! Guys at the tire store thought I was nuts when I pulled this off! Yup thats all 5 mounted and aired up too.



Here they are mounted up! 35x12.50r15 GY MTR-Ks and some soft 8s.



It was pretty great rolling it outside for the first time in a while. Im gonna order up a rear shaft from Adams Driveline in Vegas.

 

[TheLaredo]

If you're ever in Riverside, San Berdookie I recommend Ed Moore. He is the master at anything with a drivel ine. Done my mustang and my buddies jeeps.


Ed Moore Drive Lines
456 S Sierra Way
San Bernardino, CA
(909) 888-9859

 

[jeep.kevin]

AAAAWWWW YEAH! Made my own muffler and full mandrel 2.5" exhaust. Also, got my MJ started for the first time today! I hope this video link works.

 

[95silverstallion]

This build is sweet.

 

[jeep.kevin]

This build is sweet.

Thanks man. I should be driving it soon too. I'm pretty pumped. aside from dealing with cali smog.