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MJ on 42 Boggers continued

Hdcor4whlr

NAXJA Forum User
Location
Southern NH
So I bought SkinnyRidgeMJ's 1988 Comanche. Part of the reason I decided to purchase his truck was because of what I saw in his build thread. I was impressed with what he built and figured it would be a great starting point for me.

So I decided that I would do the same as he did and try to document my progress. My current plans to try the truck off road before I make any changes, so things will be a little slow to start. I also have the idea that I want to register it, so it should be interesting attempting to do that.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BWCCCk3haFp/?taken-by=dmaxpwr
 
So the first calling I've run into is tail lights. I assumed that it would be as simple as using comanchee tail lights, I was obviously wrong. And, the cheapest tail lights i've found was on eBay and they were $85.00 each, well thats not going to happen. So Ive decide that I will warp the rear corners with 14 ga sheet metal and install 6" ovals. I hate the idea, I really wanted to keep it looking like a stock body.
BWCBzV0hTJk
 
I've heard of using Dakota tail lights, there was a thread here about the options. Food for thought


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
I looked into other options but considering how beat up the rear corners are I'll just stick with welding on new sheetmetal and installing the oval lights. Thanks for the tip though.

BWCBzV0hTJk
 
Re: Full bodied MJ on 42 Boggers V2

So I pressure washed all the gunk off the underside of the Comanche. I knew everything was leaking, but blasting all the crud off just let things flow that much more. The thing that I didn't expect was that once I washed off everything I exposed a crack in the oil pan, which is cast aluminum, so now it has to be replaced. The track bar hit it at some point so that will need to be bent a little to allow for clearance also.

I hate oil leaks and ultimately failures too so instead of doing the fun mods that I wanted to do, I guess I'm going to do repairs and PM stuff. Going to replace the oil pan, water pump, one idler, all U-joints, all seals on the trans/transfer, one wheel seal and who knows what else.

At least with everything out of the way I'll be able to do some neatening up of some of the wiring, as well as add some for rock lights. And defiantly going to make some kind of removable transmission tunnel. Who knows, maybe I’ll even have time to work on the tail lights.

I'l try to get photos if I do anything cool.
 
Re: Full bodied MJ on 42 Boggers continued

I pressure washed the transmission and transfer case while they were out of the truck today. I've been waiting for a bunch of parts to come in, and most of them came in today. I also got to spend a little time working on the truck.



I was able to get the oil pan, and rear main seal installed. I used GM Performance Parts 19212593 Oil Pan that I bought on Amazon for $198.24. It came with the oil pan with the gasket attached to the pan, and new windage tray, oil pick up tube and all hardware to install. The only issue I ran into was the filter threads were too large. I removed the adapter from the stock pan and re-used it. This oil pan is designed to be used when installing this engine into tars so there is additional clearance for the pan hard bar, I'll still bend the pan hard bar to help with clearance.
 
Re: Full bodied MJ on 42 Boggers continued

I looked into other options but considering how beat up the rear corners are I'll just stick with welding on new sheetmetal and installing the oval lights. Thanks for the tip though.

BWCBzV0hTJk
 
Had an absolute nightmare of a time attempting to bleed the clutch slave in the truck. The original setup has the bleeder screw at about the 9 o'clock position. No matter what I tried I couldn't get it to work. So I removed it and bench bleed it to try and see what my limitations are. The available space is extremely tight but I'll try to re-plumb it with bleeder on top when I put it back in.
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I forgot to post that I got the trans, strong box and t-case reinstalled. Unfortunately the trans is still leaking so it will all have to come out again :banghead:. That will have to wait until I get a tranny jack, doing this with a motor crane and ATV jack is an absolute nightmare. I will also be fabricating a new crossmember too, the one there is a pretty good design but the tubing is too thin for the application. Its all bent up and some of the mounting bolts are starting to strip out.
 
I just couldn't deal with the transmission leaking, like I said I hate oil leaks. But theres no way I was going to pull it out again using an ATV jack, took most the day the first time & was dangerous as hell. So I went out and bought a Harbor Freight tranny jack. Pulled everything out again and found the source of the leak.
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The bearing cover plate was loose, can't believe I didn't check it when I had it out the first time. While I had it out this time I figured I'd remove an reseal the clocking plate on the Strong Box too. And broke a ball end allen socket in one of the bolts.
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After continually failing to remove the broken ball I decided to attempt to weld a TIG rod to it and that finally worked.
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I got everything installed back in the truck, less the crossmember assembly. I'll probably build a new one tomorrow if I can get away with spending another day in the garage.
 
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I don't know if you know but your pictures aren't showing lol
Glad to see this rig staying here.


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I started attacking the crossmember project today. I cut off two of the old stripped out mounts.

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[/url]Untitled by David Nichols, on Flickr[/IMG]

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The frame is pretty bent up in this area so I attempted to beat it back to somewhat straight shape. Then made a couple of 3/16" plates to weld to the bottom of the frame (uni-body) to help stiffen it up.

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[/url]Untitled by David Nichols, on Flickr[/IMG]

Next I made some 1/4" plates to weld to the inside of the frame for the crossmember to mount to. I drilled & tapped the plates to 3/8"-16 and then welded some steel lock nuts to the back.

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[/url]Untitled by David Nichols, on Flickr[/IMG]

Then proceeded to weld the plates to the inside of the frame, wow are these uni-body sections thin!

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[/url]Untitled by David Nichols, on Flickr[/IMG]

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So thats where I finished up today, I haven't decided if I'm going to add some 3/16" to the outside of the frame or not. The next step will be to replace one of the front crossmember mounts.
 
Been waiting for the steel for the crossmember to come in, as well as working OT and haven't had a ton of time to play with the truck. So in the mean time I figured I'd do the winch swap out that Jesse didn't get a chance to do.

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And of course I ran into a snag and don't have the hardware to go with the winch, it uses square nuts so Ill have to pick them up later.
I figured while the bumper was off I'd repair the broken light guards.

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[/url]Untitled by David Nichols, on Flickr[/IMG]

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I know, not the prettiest welds, like I said, I'm trying to teach myself to TIG weld.
I also figured that I would build in some winch fairlead protection. So I took a section of 1" solid round stock (PTO drive shaft) and bent it to fit under the aluminum fairlead. The round stock sticks out aprox 0.090", not much but I'm hoping it helps save the fairlead and maybe even the winch rope.

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[/url]Untitled by David Nichols, on Flickr[/IMG]

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Some of the parts started to come in and I got the offset heim joint for the pan hard bar. And again another snag, I was so excited when I saw that an offset heim was available in 7/8" thread that I didn't even notice that the heim was 3/4".
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[/url]Untitled by David Nichols, on Flickr[/IMG]

Not a big deal, I'll just weld in the mounting holes and ream them back out to 3/4" then just for extra strength I'll weld on some extra thick 3/4" washers and bolt it on with an allen bolt. It will be worth the extra effort though, the offset heim brings my oil pan clearance to about 2 1/2". I didn't measure it originally, but I think it was around an 1" or so of clearance.

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[/url]Untitled by David Nichols, on Flickr[/IMG]
 
I forgot to include the offset heim joint info. I got it from Barnes P/N:XM14FL, Desc. Offset Heat Treated Chromoly 7/8- 14 X 3/4 Heim Joint, Thread Hand: Left, $37.90
 
Started on the crossmember, recycling some of the parts from the old one and using 1.5" x .25" DOM for the cross braces.

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[/url]Untitled by David Nichols, on Flickr[/IMG]

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Got both the front and rear cross braces welded up, just need to trim down the front one and cap it off.

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[/url]Untitled by David Nichols, on Flickr[/IMG]

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[/url]Untitled by David Nichols, on Flickr[/IMG]

Tomorrow I'll lower the trans/transfer into place and work on making the rest of it. I still need to cut off another stripped out mount and replace it too. And sooner or later I need to take care of the leaky wheel seal that I've been putting off.

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[/url]Untitled by David Nichols, on Flickr[/IMG]
 
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