The Lab Rat - SFR's R&D Comanche

[StinkyFab]

So some of you might find this a little hard to believe, but in 14 years of business I've worked on countless Jeeps, done significant builds on dozens including a few very competitive racecars, but had never actually owned a Jeep until now. And I popped my cherry with a little white pickup......and it's 2wd :roflmao:

The plan for this truck is to be a showcase for all of our products, as well as a tool for developing new products for the XJ/MJ market. I'm planning on building as a fun, but not too extreme street/trail rig along similar lines to what most of my customers would like to build for themselves.

Rough plan is to:

• Convert to 4x4 using HP D30, AW4 and 231
• 4-5" of lift
• Mid or Long arm front with SFR Aluminum suspension links
• SOA Rear with Ford 8.8
• Alloys and lockers at both ends
• 33" Tires
• Custom bumpers at both ends, winch in front, hitch in back
• Sliders
• Frame Stiffeners
• New seats
• SFR Trail Proof Engine Plates
• SFR Trail Proof Motor Mounts
• SFR Trail Proof Transmission Mount
• SFR High Roller Steering and Brake Kit
• Whatever other stuff we decide to design and build
• and a sweet paint job.

So here's where we start. Hopefully along the way we'll have some fun, as well as find some cool new stuff to build. There's already a few things that should be hitting www.stinkyfab.com pretty soon.

 

[StinkyFab]

Here are a couple more pics of the blank canvas

And parked next to her much bigger badder buddy.

 

[Demonoid369]

Is that a steering column shifter mj??
You should really really try and make that work with the aw4. Don't see many of the column shifter rigs anymore.

 

[JohnX]

Is that a steering column shifter mj??
You should really really try and make that work with the aw4. Don't see many of the column shifter rigs anymore.

Actually, I believe that's common in the comanches. Mine is factory column shift with the factory AW4.



So glad to see this happening....maybe we'll get some decent MJ specific parts now

 

[StinkyFab]

Actually, I believe that's common in the comanches. Mine is factory column shift with the factory AW4.



So glad to see this happening....maybe we'll get some decent MJ specific parts now

Yep, it's a column shifter, and yes it will stay.

What MJ specific parts are you hoping for? Not gonna make any promises, but if I know what people want, that helps me.

 

[StinkyFab]

So through a complex combination of deals and timing I accidentally ended up with 2 Comanches. I had made a deal with someone for this long bed which has the drivetrain sitting in the bed (and a window in the block). It was supposed to be my R&D truck, but before I could pick it up I had the white one fall into my lap in running condition. I didn't wanna go back on a deal that was already made so now I have a spare truck.

If anyone is looking for a project or a parts rig I'll let this thing go cheap.

 

[Nimrod]

if I know what people want, that helps me.

I, for one, would sure like to have a dead pedal for my XJ. I'd make one myself if I had even minimal fabrication tools, but I don't. I'll gladly lend you my '99 for design purposes if you think it'd be worth your while.

 

[StinkyFab]

Before we could get started on actually building the MJ we had to get it running and driving properly. It ran when purchased, but barely, and it definitely wouldn't pass CA smog.

Here's the beauty of living in CA though. ALL we have to pass is smog. People from other states love to trash on CA for all sorts of reasons, but when it comes to cars we pretty much have it made. Keep it running clean and you can pretty much do whatever the heck you want with it.

I replaced the entire vacuum spiderweb under the hood, put a cheap set of shocks on the front end, and quickly replaced the front brake lines after nearly dying of shock when I saw their condition (and I had been driving on them). The TPS was also shot, and it had a MASSIVE rear main leak.

Cal came over to the shop and made a big mess all over my floor and himself while I did the easy job cleaning up the oil pan. After all this the thing passed smog without much issue and I was able to get tags for it.

 

[TRCM]

So you did the easy part, and ya still got a tsunami in the paint on the pan.......................:roflmao:

 

[StinkyFab]

Actually that was there when I started. Quality work at that there factory.

 

[TRCM]

ok..ok...ya get a bye on that one........

 

[JohnX]

Unfortunately I'll probably have to get to it myself some day since it isn't exactly high demand, but I have been wanting a tire carrier rear bumper. I think it would look and perform great with a shell on my truck. And of course it needs to hold a 40. :twak:

 

[cal]

Unfortunately I'll probably have to get to it myself some day since it isn't exactly high demand, but I have been wanting a tire carrier rear bumper. I think it would look and perform great with a shell on my truck. And of course it needs to hold a 40. :twak:

you could make one that pops into the trailer hitch pretty easy?

 

[JohnX]

you could make one that pops into the trailer hitch pretty easy?

My only hitch is part of a dirtbound bumper....no way I'm trusting that to hold a 40.

 

[StinkyFab]

Today I finally got a start on modding this thing, as well as the first bit of product development.

I've been wanting to do our own spin on the well known 1-ton steering setup, and with a stock rig, that will be getting built up it's the perfect opportunity, as I'll get to test it out with a couple different setups on the same vehicle.

Since this thing is a 2wd I had to pick up a new front axle for it, and since it's still sitting on my material cart it was pretty easy to tear into.

I yanked all the outers off the axle and brought the knuckles over to the mill. Now normally I'd just drill and taper the knuckles since I have a mill and the proper reamer, but since this rig will be used for prototyping both a UTK and an OTK steering kit I decided to just drill them out and use tapered inserts that I can remove and flip over later. Eventually I'll weld them in place, because that's just how I roll, but for now I'm gonna run it like a garage builder

 

[rockclimber]

My only hitch is part of a dirtbound bumper....no way I'm trusting that to hold a 40.

:roflmao:

 

[StinkyFab]

So now for the fun part, building new stuff! I mentioned that we'd be designing a 1-Ton steering setup, and this is the start of that project. First thing to do was to re-drill and taper the passenger Tie Rod End for the new Drag link end.

 

[StinkyFab]

Now that all the pieces were ready I got to work on the new Tie Rod. I mentioned earlier that we'd be doing our own little twist on this kit. I don't like selling the exact same thing as everyone else, I'd rather find a way to improve on what's been done before. In this case the best way I could find was to improve the material.

Pretty much everyone sells kits with heavy wall steel tie rods. They are a lot stronger than stock, but when you drive in the rocks they tend to still get bent. When I built my last rig I put a big, heavy .250 wall steel tie rod on it thinking it would be plenty strong enough. It lasted half of one trail at the hammers before it was badly bent.

To solve this problem I went to 7075 Aluminum bar. Not only does it look blingy but 7075 has a rather unique ability to flex a lot and spring back to straight. The replacement tie rod on the StinkBug has now been in service for roughly 6 years, and been slammed through most of the hammers trails several times and is still going strong with just a few scrapes and scratches.

Here's a little flex demonstration I filmed a couple days ago to show what I mean.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B601rrLFn-E&feature=youtu.be

 

[StinkyFab]

So here's the new Tie Rod for the Lab Rat.

Planning to get the axle in at this point, but it's looking like these control arm bushings could use some help first.

 

[StinkyFab]

Started off yesterday by attacking those upper control arm bushings. In the process I ended up designing up another little part, a brace for the pitifully thin passenger side upper bracket. I hadn't realized that not only was this 3-sided stamping thin and poorly designed but the bushing is just pressed into flat plate. For some reason I thought they had at least welded a tube in there, but apparently not! Freaking scary.

So here's the little reinforcement plate I made up. It's just a flat piece of 1/8" steel CNC cut to fit and welded in place. I considered using something thicker, but the bracket itself is already less than 1/8" so there's really no point. This should at least keep it from crumpling. If anyone wants one, click that link ^^^