1988 Jeep comanche AKA the penny sniffer

[zebvance]

Yes it is.

[DRAGOONRANCH]

gotcha

[zebvance]

Got some more work done on the Turdy 30 this past weekend. Was able to drill the knuckles and pitman arm for the 1 ton steering. Ball Joints are pressed in and u-joints are also. Went an picked up some hub bearings from advance. Ordered "MOOG" ones but they gave me "National" and didn't have any Moog ones in stock, kinda ticked me off... Don't know much about "National", are they as good as Moog products? Anyway, had to order 2 spindle nut kits from Napa because I misplaced mine, from what I hear you are suppose to replace them every time you take them off anyway. Also lost the bolts that attach the hub bearing assembly to the knuckle. Going to head to fastenal today to get some. Called the dealership and they wanted like 6 bucks per bolt, Smh.... Highway robbery. Waiting on a buddy to get back in town next week to install it all and the lift. Then I will have to measure and have a custom front drive shaft made with multiple cardone joints on it to deal with the steep angle. Also Still need to install the locker in the rear. Hope to have this thing wrapped up by the 1st of July. Reds are starting to hit hard in matagorda bay and its killing me not having a 4wd.

comparison of the knuckle drilled out to 7/8ths to accept the 1 ton tie rod ends. Second time I have done this and its not very fun..... Burnt up my Dewalt hammer drill.


With the tapered inserts installed.



And the axle 95% complete

[Sharpe]

Why were you using a hammer drill on metal?

[zebvance]

All I had.

[DRAGOONRANCH]

I bet it is a selectable hammer/no hammer drill. Full time hammer drills are usually pretty good size.

[jerryg79]

Has anyone asked what a penny sniffer is?

[zebvance]

Yes it is selectable.

[colman]

national is a good brand

[TdmayfieldIV]

National is Moog. They're just Moog's bearing and seal division....

If you really care about brand, get timken from autozone. Just bring part numbers with you because I've almost shot myself several times in that store.

IMO, for a rig that sees a lot of sand and mud I just buy the cheapest bearings. Sand and mud will tear up even the nicest bearings you can buy.

[zebvance]

Buy the cheap ones or buy the good ones that have 3 year warrantys and keep exchanging the out under warranty.....

[Sparling]

That keep exchanging thing may not work out so well. Especially at advance with how the computers work.

[zebvance]

Well axle is all done so now to start on the lift. Went ahead and mocked up the serious offroad crossmember to see what im going to have to do to make it fit. I am going to have to make a new mounting point for it on the frame. So the plan is to get some 1inch by 3 inch channel, weld to studs to it them weld it to the frame. that will be the man mounting location for it. The drill two holes through the side of the frame and bolt it up. I am going to have to trim the crossmember vertical plate that hugs the frame to fit around the cab support. Also It looks like its going to be a serious tight clearance for the drive shaft. So Im going to notch that part of the cross member and plate it back in. One last thing, The crossmember transfercase skid looks like it might not be deep enough. Looks like the transfercase might come in contact and rest on the skid. I have to do some cutting and test fitting before Ill know for sure though.

Jacked the truck up to see where it "should" sit once the new lift. After all this and 8.5 inches of lift it looks as if Im still going to rub on the street with 35's..... I was really trying to avoid cutting fenders because I didn't want to cut into the bed. They are getting harder and harder to find. First things first though, get the lift on and then go from there...

Last thing is front drive shaft. Im trying to find one that should be able to take the steep angle. From what I have read some xj guys were able to get away with just an extended stock shaft on 8 inches of lift with no problems. Others had bad vibs. I found a driveshaft that should be able to take the angle. A multiple double cardone joint DS. Tom woods makes them. However I am getting mixed reports as to its hwy use... if I have bad vibes with that the only other option I have I believe is to cut off the C's on the axle and rotate back for the pinon angle or do manual locking hubs that way the ds is not spinning in 2wd.

[KrazyKarl02]

Did you measure your angle? what is it?

Rather than cutting C's you can just put some shims bolted to the leaf spring pack, lots of people run those and it shoudl take care of the pinion angle. I don't think you would notice it that much with the steering geometry.

[zebvance]

It's coil sprung. Not leaf sprung. No problems with the angle in the rear (leaf sprung) just the front (coil sprung). I haven't been able to get a measurement on the angle yet.