All Activity

You are doing this so right. Makes me feel like I did a half-a** job on mine! Great work! Love the color!

That's what my truck looks like whenever I take it out to grab building materials for stuff around the house! I always thought I was overloading it, almost considering adding airbags or another overload leaf to being the headlights back down when I'm hauling stuff just so I don't blindly people.

Interesting, I haven't come across those guys in my search for axles yet. The only one that I found for non C-Clip 35s was Alloy USA and their axles were also a little confusing. I've got the Wrangler Trail runner ATs on the truck right now, nowhere has Duratracs in stock and I didn't have the money at the time and they matched the 20 year old Wranglers I took off the truck. I think 4.88s would make this thing way more drive able, I might even be able to climb hills in 4th gear! Also I ditched the AX5 for an AX15 with an Advance Adapters Swap Kit. What application are you guys seeing Alloy Axles for the Non C-Clip 35 on Rock Auto for? Whenever I search for something like an 86 Comanche I only ever get alloy axles for a Dana 44 in the search.

A gear driven limited slip will be good for those axle shafts. Also, you can get 1541 axle shafts for your non c clip axle on rock auto. You must have found some pretty old info out there as superior axle has been out of the game for a long time. Revolution axle is the new superior after it was dissolved/reorganized. I remember having long discussions about the 35 on Jeep forum back when the 8.8 was the latest fad. In a nutshell, your plan is sound. Just grab some 1541 shafts and a trutrac or similar and have at it. A good stout diff cover never hurts either. At 4.88 gears, that should be pretty easy on that ax5 tranny.

I couldn’t give up an all terrain either. If you and I are thinking of the same Goodyear Wranglers, those would be perfect and not have too much bite. I just wanted to make sure you didn’t want to go with a mud terrain or very aggressive all terrain. I would say that 237/75s are a very common tire. Most 70s-90s 4x4s had them. I think that was just unlucky. 15s are definitely getting harder to find though. Just like how 14s became obsolete when 15s came out, 15s are getting phased out now that everything is on 17s or bigger for the most part.

fire wood time!

Yea the whole thing that goes in tank

Dutchman axles out of Idaho makes some 1541h axles for the non clip 35. I have not dealt with them yet but am thinking about getting new axle shafts for my c clip 35 from them. Their axle selection is a little confusing but just look at the chart they have linked in the description. I think you will need the sr399 axle shafts. https://dutchmanaxles.com/jeep-scout-ih-stock-replacement-rear-axle-pair.html

Great work so far! Nice to see younger generations driving stick and into older trucks too. Also great to see such a great way to spend time with your son. Great job, and the Jeep is looking good!

Also, I run a Metric tire on the 2000. It is about 9 to 9.5 width. I haven't had it much in the snow yet. Mine are also 3 Peaks. So, semi snow tire.

First, I think you'd need a 3.55 gear ratio with 31's and a manual trans. I have 3.73's and 31's with an auto on my 2000 XJ. Does good on flat lands. OK in the mountains. I hear the main issues with a C-clip D35 is it doesn't retain the axle shaft. Yours is non - C Clip and has Discs brakes. The dics help retain the axle vs drum brakes.

The dana 35 gets a bad rep but it can definitely handle more than people think. I used to do scrap metal runs in my truck and it wasn't uncommon to throw 2-3000lbs in the back. Add some NYC potholes into the mix and you've got a recipe for disaster but it never gave me any issues. The comanche is my first car as well so its seen a fair share of clutch dumps and donuts in the snow. It's even got a BA10 trans in it, smooth as butter still. I strongly agree with this point. On lighter trucks, narrow tires will dig into the snow rather than float on it. Side bonus, better gas mileage. Going from 10.5 Grabbers to 9.5 Duratracs was a game changer.

Good to know. I'm pretty ginger with the clutch in my truck because I'm afraid that I'll break something again and I really don't want to drop the transmission and transfer case to fix it again. I'll probably just look into re-gearing the 30 and 35 to save some time instead of doing a full axle swap for basically no reason. I mainly want to switch to 31s for tire availability. Most places that I've been its really easy to get your hands on 31/10.50/15s with 235/75/15s needing to be ordered at least a day or two ahead. I don't really mind doing that when I just need to replace a tire because it's wore out, but I do get nervous while road tripping this thing about getting the dreaded double flat and needing to replace a pair of tires. I've unfortunately had that bad luck on multiple road trips and its been a headache every time that it's happened because of the car's stupid tire size (not specifically for 235/75/15s, but for 205/50/15s and 195/50/15s on smaller cars). While I have thought that switching to a harder compound would probably lead to a higher chance of the axle surviving...I can't bring myself to put HTs on this truck. It's been on the same style Goodyear Wranglers for the better part of 40 years...its how my Grandpa bought the truck back in '86 and I don't really want to go and change the style that he had it in too much. I would definitely want to have the white lettering back though, the new Goodyears that I put on this thing to get it back on the road are all black and just don't quite look right. Either way the tires are coming at a way later date when these things are wore out, the re-gear is the most important thing that needs to happen to the truck next, the 2.5 feels way gutless with the AX15s gear ratios compared to the stock AX5. Also if 235/75/15 is a common tire size and I just got unlucky when I went tire shopping over the summer please let me know, I'd probably keep running this tire size if that was the case.

Losing and regaining grip or clutch dumps on dry surfaces and it not spinning the tires is going to be what will break axle shafts. That can be as simple as not dumping the clutch when it’s dry and if you’re in a situation where you lose grip, lift off the gas. Don’t stay in it because that’ll be extra shock when the tires hook up again. If you drive smart, the D35 will live. Between me and my parents, 5 out of our 6 D35s have survived abuse and clutch dumps. The 6th one was an AMC 15 (Dana later bought this design and called it the 35) and was behind an auto, but had 2 piece axle shafts and the spines where the two pieces meet stripped out. I have another D35 with a locker that was on a lifted XJ with 4:10s and survived, but I haven’t run it at all. If you’re worried about it, find a different component to be your weak link. In the case of our Jeeps, the tires were always the weak link. They’d break loose before the axle would break. Unless you’re dead set on 31x10.50R15s, it might be worth looking into 30x9.50R15 tires or even stick with 235/75R15s. The smaller contact patch will perform better in the snow and it will hopefully break loose on dry pavement before damage occurs. You don’t need huge tires or lockers to be able to play off road. I wish I learned that earlier because it can save a lot of time and money. That said, there’s nothing wrong with having big tires because they look cool. Or consider the tire compound. Maybe look at a tire that’s designed more for road use than for trail use. A more road friendly tire will most likely have a harder compound and spin easier than a more aggressive off road tire.

Since welding in the floor pans, we have mostly just been driving it and enjoying the learning process. We have removed and repainted the rear bumber and fender flares as well as touching up some of the interior trim. One of the previous owners had painted the blue interior black but like most of their other repairs, didn't do a great job so it was peeling and flaking. On Christmas Eve, he drove his Mom to pick up food and stop by the store for some last minute things. When they got ready to leave the store, the ignition wouldn't engage the starter. Crawled under it, jumped the starter and brought it home. After digging around on here, figured out it was more than likely the ignition switch mounted on top of the steering column. Picked it up at O'Riellys, switched it out and good to go again. For Christmas just about all he asked for were Comanche parts or upgrades for his truck. He got new LED headlights, a toolbox, bed lights, and a winch controller since his has been missing since we bought the truck. LED headlights were plug and play and make a big difference. Toolbox he will need to carry school stuff and sports stuff once he starts driving to school. We have yet to install the bed lights. Attempted to install the winch controller tonight but having some trouble figuring out the wiring. Will try again tomorrow. We also got some bucket seats and a center console out of the same donor Cherokee the instrument cluster came out of. We are going to attempt to take the brackets off the current bench seat and attach them to the buckets. I will try to keep this thread updated and do a better job at taking pics as we go since I have figured out that everyone here likes pics...

He has been driving SxS, fourwheelers, and dirt bikes since he was very little so he has done pretty darn good learning to drive it. The ignition had a key broke off in it so we replaced the cylinder and picked up a new set of door locks but have yet to install them. We ordered the pillar lights and upgraded the speakers because every 15 year old knows how important music is in the driving process. Middle of September we ordered him a new set of tires to replace the dry rotted ones that came with it. We also ordered new floorplans and a speedometer cable because his was snapped off at the instrument panel. While replacing the speedometer, we went ahead a dropped a new instrument panel in from a donor Cherokee since all we had were the dummy gauges.

Been lurking around and wrenching on the Comanche as needed trying to get the kinks worked out prior to my son's 16th birthday. Picked this up back in September for $2500 off Marketplace. Pretty straight. Not much rust to speak of other than the floorboards. It's a 4.0 4x4 stick shift. First thing we were looking for were seatbelts. Found at Buddys in Springfield thanks to a member on here for pointing us in the right direction. We also had no turn signals, dash lights, or tail lights. Tried trouble shooting the grounds with no luck. Finally took it to a local who discovered the fuse box had some issues (I'm sure from a leaking master cylinder at some point). He was able to get that all fixed up and working again. Now was time to let the boy start practicing how to drive a stick.

It's your favorite, uniformed Comanche owner back again to ask more questions about the mighty Dana 35. In my last post I was asking about the differences between an XJ and Liberty 8.25 since I want to regear my Comanche. A lot of people had suggested that since I only want to run 31s and I have the mighty 2.5, I should just stick with the Dana 35 since an 8.25 with 31s would be about the same ground clearance as the Dana 35 with 29's. So I tried to do more research on the Dana 35 but mainly came up with "Just run a Super 35 kit" or "Turdy5 is junk, get rid of it", with one outlier from this forum saying that the non C-Clip Dana 35s were stout little axles for what they were designed to do. The Dana 35 in my Comanche is a NON C-Clip Dana 35. I unfortunately cannot run a Super 35 kit in this axle because Superior no longer offers an alloy axles shaft kit for NON C-CLIP Dana 35s. This is the main reason I would swap the axle. I am really really paranoid of breaking an axle shaft and having the truck be down while I search for a spare axle shaft and I fell victim to the forum legend of the AX5 fragility multiple times). By my math, I would need to run a 4.88 final drive to bring my truck back to stock ratios with 31s (I have an AX15 swap that has different ratios from the AX5 for 5th and 1st). I would also like to swap out the factory Trak Lok limited slip to a Yukon Duragrip, Sparan Helical, or Eaton Truectrac LSD in the future once it's worn out. So, would my Dana 35 disintegrate it's stock axle shafts with 4.88s and a Limited slip? I don't do a whole lot of offroading, mainly just hauling motorcycles and other junk with my truck. I have gotten close to the stock recommended payload before (right around 1000lbs plus me and my dad in the cab) but I also know that my truck is a little bit lighter than the stock specification as well (Right around 3100lbs with a half tank and me in the driver's seat). The only hard thing that this axle sees besides me hauling junk to the dump are clutch kicking in the snow, losing grip and regaining grip while turning on patchy surfaces in the wet and towing my brother's Civic out of the snow whenever he gets stuck. Sorry if I seem really dumb, I really don't know a whole lot about Jeeps once I mostly deal with import cars and motorcycles and finding information on what I can and can't do with this axle has been frustrating.

Chipping away at it… Got the new motor mounts installed, Borla header, intake manifold, fuel rail with Bosch 4-hole injectors, IAT sensor with extension, and various vacuum lines cobbled together from the Renix era parts bin all in place. A good day.

Wow, almost 7 years since my last update. My wife and father-in-law insisted I rename my Comanche from Belle to Betty since my Cherokee is named Wilma. Now I didn’t name her Wilma because of the Flintstones, I named her after Wilma Mankiller and Belle was named after Belle Star. Oh well so much for historical references (though partially fictional) over Cartoons. Betty had been running solid and is now over 100K miles, which happened in April of 2023. I managed to get a photo just afterwards at a red light. In mid 2024 Betty was starting to run a bit off and so I’ve invested in her a bit this year. It started with an overheating issue. I noticed the Aux fan wasn’t kicking on so I checked the relay (PO wiring job) and it was shot. It was a weird 6 pin Japanese relay that also ran the AC compressor. I decided it needed to be rewired correctly. I tried several CTSs trying to find one that fit in the radiator bung but as I was doing so I noticed the water pump was leaking. So I decided to replace the pump, and while I was at it I swapped in a 97+ XJ thermostat housing which has a CTS hole, where I installed a 210-195 sensor. I wired that up to the new relay for the Aux fan. I also rewired the AC relay. Through this I effectively drained and replaced the coolant and followed the FSM to refill it which want that bad just a time suck. The more electrical work I did I decided it was time for a battery cable upgrade. The stock cables were rough so I ordered the Big 7 set from K Suspension during a sale. As I installed them I came across the craziest thing… there was no negative to fender wire in my Comanche!! I guess the whole time it’s been grounded through the block. So that is now remedied and Lo and Behold my parasitic battery drain is fixed. I used wire brushes and new nuts and bolts on everything along with a coating of Oxguard. I’m working my way through the vacuum system and have reinstalled the air box and replaced the EGR side of the vacuum harness. The other side is still pending but I’ve got the part to do it now. I also rebuilt the injectors since I would occasionally smell a faint fuel leak odor after a longer drive but never found any fuel anywhere. I was guessing it must be a slow leak near an injector that was evaporating quickly. I was correct in that two of the injectors had bad o-rings. When I pulled these I also replaced the o-rings in the fuel connector for the rail and pressure regulator. I also installed new spark plugs, wires, cap and rotor. My last nagging issue is the oil pressure. It’s always stayed high. It usually is at 50 at idle and pretty much pegged the rest of the time. I’ve checked and changed the oil and it’s not overfilled. The jeep runs great so I figured the sending unit is bad. I ordered a Standard Motors PS155 but it was actually worse! The pressure at idle was past 80 and it would jump around. I think the item was mislabeled and was actually a PS155T so I’ve ordered the correct one for sure from Rock Auto. If the new one doesn’t work either I may have to get my hands on a manual oil pressure gauge and see if the Jeeps pressure really is too high. I’m dealing with a back injury right now so once I’m healed up I'm going to get the rest of this buttoned up. She’s back on the road for now but never finished.

Just finished up the re assembly. It shift so smoothly. Really happy with how it turned out. It’s worth noting that the synchros that come in a rebuild kit will typically give you the wrong rings for 3/4 gears. The part you need that has the “house” shaped teeth is the same as the 5th gear synchro. One could just order up a couple more 5th gears synchros to compete the kit. I ended up re-using my 3/4 synchros as they were if like new shape with almost zero wear. Evidence of the relatively low mileage on this Comanche (90k). First and second synchros were a bit more worn but everything is new now. One particular aspect to pay attention to on a transmission rebuild are the springs and keys that are inside the synchro hubs. They play a crucial role in shift performance and keeping you in gear. They aren’t difficult to assemble but are a bit finicky. Still need to finish prepping and painting the case. On to complete the engine work tomorrow.

It’s MTS. https://www.mtscompany.com/sendingunits.htm

No problem! Happy to help out!

Man I had googled the snot out of this and come up with nothing but searching again with “jeep eagle 88 96 harness” finally did the trick. Thank you for clarifying the years and applicability. for those finding this in the future look for Metra 71-1002 Reverse Wiring Harness. The mate for a radio install is Metra 70-1002. Thanks @eaglescout526!

More jealousy.