GirsMJ86

If I could afford a second vehicle or had somewhere to put it I'd grab an XJ because I still wouldn't be able to afford a 4dr JK and they make better people carriers than an MJ. But my MJ will always be my preference for when it's just me. I'll never do any hard wheeling in it, even if I am planning on lifting it and putting rocker guards and maybe off-road bumpers on it. I do those things because that is my preference over sitting low to the ground and I like the looks. I'd love to stick with stock bumpers, but both of mine are bent up some and factory rear ones are hard to find. I mean I can't even find a drivers side end cap. I could just replace the front bumper, but mine is chrome and not sure just how easy a good one of those would be to find compared to painted ones. No matter what though the MJ is the best little truck ever to be offered if you ask me. It's got looks, tons of power if it's a 4.0L (even the 2.5 was better than some engines offered in other small trucks), and very capable off-road even if 2wd.

Actually there are aftermarket EFI kits for the 2.8 and those bolt right onto the 3.4 as well or you could grab a stock EFI 3.4 and wire up the entire system.

That was great, hitting the wipers after they sent it out to sea was a nice touch.

I was actually thinking the same thing Jim. Of course I'm out of vehicle room as is so I'm double glad he isn't closer, though I would have taken the trip if it had been 2 months ago before I bought my current MJ.

I've seen 200 and 300 amp ones from Powermaster that say they are direct fit for the 4.0L.

1986 Comanche X 2.8L / AX5 / NP207 / D30 / D35 / LWB Build date: Illegible Current Location: Marion/Bucyrus, Ohio Status: Daily Driver Notes: X trim package with many options checked. Black Interior, cloth bench, carpet, 3/4 cluster (large fuel gauge with 3 small gauges), factory fog lights, factory roll bar, had factory tonneau cover at one time, chrome everything, stainless wheel trim rings, a/c, premium dolby am/fm/cass stereo, classic black and sterling silver two tone exterior. Has Holley 2D fuel-injection kit along with Edelbrock intake manifold and valve covers. Will eventually get a 4.0L HO, AW4, NP242 swap done. Current owner: Me, Alex R. aka GIRsMJ86 or RockwellB1

Just a little bit... but for that asking price and an already done 4.0 swap, seems a small issue to deal with.

I just lost out on a nos set with brackets on stupid ebay just the other day. Any chance I could get you to make a tracing or graphite rubbing of them and mail it to me? I think I'm just going to make my own since I have a ton of material.

The easy upgrade for a 2.8 equipped rig is a 3.4 swap since it is essentially the same block just better. You can use a lot of the 2.8 external accessories and it has the same bell housing pattern so the dakota ax15 will work. I personally though will be doing like geonovast said and just grabbing a complete xj to use as a donor. I'm going to grab the newest one I can find and swap everything. Not to hijack but question for geonovast. My rig is stock with an ax5, 3.55 gears, and the 2.8. I've not driven it yet with the clutch being out but will 5th really be that bad? Is it worth changing gearing?

So it is just an optioned out X. Interesting, though I was hoping for the other option at this point since X emblems seem next to impossible to find. Might just buy the NOS XLS ones and cut the X off them I guess. Thanks, Tim.

There was the AX4 4spd and the AX5 5spd, really though it was nothing more than an AX4 with OD 5th. The AX15 is the same way. The AX15 is normally swapped to because someone either has a 4spd, an auto, or a dying tranny and want the AX15 which is normally considered a stronger tranny. It is also swapped to if certain engine power conditions or off-road modifications are met since it is stronger. I believe the off-road aftermarket support is also better for the AX15.

I've not been able to figure this out for the life of me since I got this thing. I've tried all the online "vin decoders" I could find and each one says something different, even completely different at times. The title I got from the PO is little help since the DMV here is Ohio is notorious at not having the correct info written down and it can change when the titles change hand, especially when it comes to oddball vehicles that the older ladies working there don't believe exist. I have a build sheet, but I can't find any info related to what each number or letter means in the boxes. I think that most the time 1 means yes and C means chrome, but not always or I'm way off? The first '86 I had was an X for sure and it had towing mirrors, selec-trac, 2.8L, floor shift auto, sliding rear window, vinyl floor, idiot light cluster, clock, a/c, variable intermittent wipers, vinyl buckets with small floor console, full armrests, 23 gal tank. I think it had cruise control but can't be certain. I don't have any pics from before I painted it, but it was just silver with the X trim level pinstripe decals (I know this by looking at my parts book). I added the vent windows. My current '86 has carpet floor, chrome everything (mirrors, door handles, tailgate handle, bumpers, etc.), cloth bench seat, 2.8L, 5spd, command-trac, solid rear window, large fuel gauge with small gauges cluster, factory fog lights, factory roll bar, clock, a/c, variable intermittent wipers, full armrests, what I believe to be the "premium" am/fm/cass stereo, 23 gal tank. PO said it was an auto but was changed when the engine work was done, but the vin decoders say it was always a 5spd so he might have been thinking about one of the other MJs he had or the unreliable decoders are messed up on that as well. PO added the passenger side only vent window. >.< FWIW here is the vin and a pic of the build sheet. Reason I want to figure this out is so I know if I should be looking for X or XLS badges, and so I can try to get the title as correct as possible. Also because I'm curious and I like to know as much as I can about these trucks, especially if it is one I own. Right now the title lists it as a CMX for model (could mean Comanche X but I know it only goes up to three letters because my Eliminators said ELM and my Police Interceptor said CVP on their titles), Model Description is empty, and it is listed as a Comanche under Conversion. Maybe someone can work some magic on the vin, knows the build sheet codes, or has an '86 brochure laying around and could tell me what makes a definite XLS? 1JTWL6574GT173473

96-00 Dakota 2.5L bellhousing: Connects to any Jeep 2.5L L4. Because of it's GM 60 degree V6 inherited bolt pattern, also works with any Buick FWD V6 and supercharged V6, any Chevrolet 2.8/3.1/3.4 V6, any Cadillac 4.1/4.5/4.9 V8 and with a minor modification, any Olds Aurora DOHC V8 and Cadillac DOHC Northstar V8. Also bolts to any Isuzu 3.2\3.5 DOHC V6, Holden (Australia) 3800 V6 and the LS4 5.3L V8 from the Impala SS. Although there isn't much reason to swap out for an ax15 while sticking with the weak 2.8L unless you currently have an ax4 rather than the ax5 or your ax5 is dying and you have access to the Dakota ax15. Otherwise I'd be swapping out that 2.8L for a 3.4L at the same time if it's a "just because" sort of upgrade.

:yeah that:

Actually the work that is required to make a 4.0L fit in an '86 isn't that bad. There is an added bump-out by the tranny hump that allows the longer block, it can be hammered out if you don't care about it looking pretty, or if you have the skills you can hack and fab or swap firewalls. As far as painting, it stays okay on the solid plastics unless it gets heavily scratched. On squishy stuff like the armrests it doesn't seem to stay so well with the constant flexing. Also be sure to do some searching for info about the cluster swap. In '88 things changed with how the speedo hooks up, and in '91 the gauges went all electronic. I've been trying to find a full gauge w/tach cluster for mine with no luck so far. And there are like three gauge setups to make thing even more complicated. Speedo with large fuel and idiot lights, speedo with large fuel and smaller gauges (what I have currently), and lastly speedo with tach and smaller gauges.

Empty Post

Mind clarifying? Other than a bench seat and no leather wrapped steering wheel, my current rigs interior is the same as my Eliminators had. Supposedly what I have now is an X, but I can't get a clear answer to that and the badges are long gone on the side as you can see in my avatar. It does have all the chrome/silver trim though, but back then everything could be option box ticked to the buyers liking if you ordered your vehicles rather than picked one on the lot.

Being an '86 the 4cyl is a huge plus. The 6cyl for that year is awful, ask me how I know. Overall though my experience with '86 rigs have been positive, they have been the least rusty of all the ones I've owned or looked at. $2500 seems very steep, but that could be the difference in market area.

A single piece of rectangular tubing isn't going to weight THAT much. Something along the lines of what Nates 4x4 offers. The stock heavy duty bumper for a Gladiator only weighed in at 75lbs, had one shipped to me from a member on IFSJA, and that thing was beefy. Had a small pucker in the skin of it and I couldn't get it to budge with a sledge hammer, was just making sparks trying to hammer it back out without using heat. Anyways, I plan on ordering one of the Nates ones in a week or so probably, I could check the weight once I get it if interested.

And anything smaller than a semi is dead in the US market.

It's an easy enough hood to make, though I guess I should have mentioned the one I might be getting is from a friend since they aren't being made anymore. Basically OP was looking for hood ideas, figured I'd post that up. Honestly not sure why they quit making them but some companies are more stupid than others.

I'm thinking about getting one of these. I had some vents in the hood of my old '91, should be pics in the thread link of my signature. Those vents are sort of hard to find but quadratec and some other places have a ton vents for the xj hood.

List updated again. Thanks to snakedoc for grabbing a bunch of stuff for me, can't wait to get those vent windows in.

Rob is correct, the A904 was dropped after '86 along with the 2.8L. Took out two birds with one stone the following year.

If you want constant power I think your best bet would be to wire it up with a relay by itself rather than tap into power some place else. If you wanted to you could also then stick it on a toggle switch on the dash then so you could turn it on after a few minutes or so for better warm-up speed during colder months and such. Don't forget there are empty batt/acc spots on the fuse block you could tap into rather than tapping into a preexisting accessory. If it were me, I'd wire up a switch on the dash and a relay under the hood drawing power from the battery/solenoid so the fan was just controlled from the switch. This would also set things up for if you ever wanted to dual fan it or anything.