CONKLINATOR

Ah crap... The fix:

I personally would take this opportunity as an excuse to install hood pins. MJ/XJ hood releases are notorious for having issues... The one on my XJ went screwy, and I just put the Daystar hood pin kit in it. I plan on doing the same kit to my MJ just as a preventative measure. Nothing sucks worse than needing a jump and having to disassemble your whole front end to get to your battery.

I drove just about 2 hours to get my first one, and pulled it back on a dolly. A month later, this one popped up about 25 minutes from my house and I pass it about 3 times a week for work. It's in better shape, and was only $500 more. I went and saw it, and then let it sit on craig's list torturing me for about 3 more weeks. Finally, after a bunch of sweet talking and sales pitches, I talked my wife into approving the new purchase. Now my driveway is starting to look like a used Jeep lot... She's a good woman...

I'm trying to figure out exactly how I am going to Frankenstein the lift together on my Comanche and keep it as cheap as possible. I am looking for 3 inch coils, lower control arms, lift shackles, shocks, leaf springs, and maybe would entertain an add-a-leaf. I would also entertain 5 to 6.5 inch coils and longarm parts, so I can rob the 3 inch coils and short arms off my Cherokee and put them on the Comanche. Basically, if you've got Cherokee or Comanche suspension parts, hit me up with a price. Guess I'll probably need some brake line extensions too. In addition to suspension, I am looking for a pre 1990 AW4 and NP231. I have a dana 30 a buddy will sell me for the front of the MJ, but need the rest of the stuff to make it 4WD. Let me know what you've got!

I would love to, but I have a limited fund... I'm down to about $1,600 to do everything I want to both my MJ and my XJ. Somethings gotta go, because so far my wish list is about $6,000. :doh: Anybody need a kidney? I'm sure I could get by with 1...

Oh yeah almost forgot... It's a 1988 2WD long bed with a 4.0L, AW4 auto trans, and 170k miles on the clock... I would have liked a 4x4, but look at those frame rails... NO RUST!! I've got a transfer case and D30 front axle, just need to find a 4x4 AW4...

So I guess the MJ bug bit me pretty hard... In March I posted up a "my first MJ thread", and now here it is, just about 3 months later, and I've already got another one. I picked her up last night and she is beautiful! Well... Will be beautiful. The first one is going to end up getting put up for sale, and this is going to become my main build. It is so rare to find a Comanche with no rust in the mid atlantic/north east area, that I just couldn't let this one slip by. It needs a few minor things, but all in all, it's in great shape and ready to be built on! I am going to pull all the Jeeps out into the driveway for a family photo shoot this weekend, and I will update this thread when I do. For now, enjoy a few pics of my new purchase and let me know what you think...

I am in the very north eastern corner of Maryland... My house is almost exactly half of a mile south of the Pennsylvania line, and half of a mile west of the Delaware line.

Thanks! I figured they couldn't be anything major since they're just flopping around back there and it doesn't seem to affect anything.

I found these plugs behind the dash when I did my gauge swap... Anybody know what they go to?

So I finally bought a house... Or, I should probably say; I bought my wife a house, and it came with a garage, shed, and basement for me, which means I finally got some good wrench time on the MJ. Over the holiday weekend, I put in a new radiator for a newer XJ(bye bye closed cooling system), Flowkooler high flow water pump, Flowkooler thermostat, thermostat housing, gauge cluster with senders, and fixed some leaky vacuum lines. I got her out on the road for the first legal drive last night, and everything went great. NO OVERHEATING!!!! It did get slightly hotter than I would like, but I think my fan clutch is going out, so I ordered some electric fans... Hopefully I will be able to get those in this weekend. I ended up using the Dodge Intrepid pressure tank I had bought a while back as an overflow reservoir. I have a stock XJ bottle, but couldn't find a convenient place to mount it. I tried copying the hose routing from the XJ... It didn't really work that way, but it was a good thought... Intrepid bottle overflow... Quadratec sent me the wrong thermostat housing, so I put a brass plug in for now. The temp sensor for my electric fans will go there once I get them.

There is only one part that is under my vehicle, or donor vehicle, and it is called a "oil pressure switch" and I was under the impression I needed a sensor. Is this in fact the right part? http://www.autozone.com/autozone/parts/1989-Jeep-Comanche-2WD/Oil-Pressure-Switch/_/N-ihexuZ8znc6?filterByKeyWord=oil+pressure&fromString=search

So I finally ordered my gauge cluster on ebay and it should be here friday. I have a 20% off code if I order online, but autozone has a bunch of different sensors. Is this the one I will need for oil pressure? http://www.autozone.com/autozone/accessories/1Sunpro-Oil-pressure-sending-unit/_/N-269r?itemIdentifier=87626_0_0_ And this one for temperature sensor? http://www.autozone.com/autozone/parts/1989-Jeep-Cherokee-4WD/Coolant-Temperature-Sensor/_/N-iuad6Z91shd?filterByKeyWord=temperature+sensor&fromString=search just want to make sure I get it right before ordering...

Thanks for the input guys... I am thinking it's not going to work, but I will probably take the tail housing off of my tranny and take it to the guys house to make sure it matches up before I go spending 200 bucks on a t-case.

I am looking to convert my '89 2WD AW4 to 4WD. I found a pretty good NP231 for sale locally, but it is out of a 2000 XJ. Other than the output shaft, are there any issues I will run into trying to swap in this t-case, or am I good to go? Just want to make sure before I make a purchase. Any advice you guys can give me would be much appreciated!

I know I am a total newb when it comes to the Comanche world, and maybe the "rustic" aspect will get old, but I don't think so. The reasons you hate driving your MJ are the reasons I bought mine. I bought it because it doesn't have power locks or windows. I bought it because it is a rusty little truck that needs work. I bought it because once I'm done building it, you will know that I put in the wrench time to make it what it is. Driving a restored or trail ready Jeep used to mean you were a Jeep guy (or girl), and that you built that truck the way it was. Now driving a trail ready Jeep means you have a 700 dollar a month payment and you drive your kids to soccer practice in your shiny lifted 4 door wrangler. You can't spit out the window these days without hitting 5 JK's with power windows, keyless entry, and factory installed lift kits. Being a "Jeep guy" just doesn't mean what it used to, but I feel like being an "MJ guy" still has the same meaning. If there are any JK owners on here, I mean no offense, but I just hate how they have dulled down the Jeep to make it cushy.

:agree: You definitely get what you pay for...

I attempted to drive my Comanche to work on Saturday for the first time. I made it about 6 miles from my house, and she started steaming a little bit, so I busted a u-turn and headed home. I almost made it back when she overheated and shut down on me while slowing down for a stop sign. I pulled over, let her cool down for about 5 minutes, and then fired it up and made it the rest of the way home (only about a half mile). When I popped the hood, I found quite a mess. It looks like the PO had put a ton of Bar's stop leak in the radiator. The cap had blown apart on the pressure tank, and it was everywhere. I don't want to mess with trying to flush all that nasty, sludgy crap out, so I figure while I'm replacing the radiator, I'm going to update it to the newer open system. You guys think a stock radiator for a newer XJ is good enough, or is there something better I should be looking at?

Yeah he did sell it... Looks like he did some more work to it since that pic. It's a sick truck for sure. I saw it on craig's list about 2 months ago, but it sold by the time I bought mine. It was out of my price range anyway. I just requested some Comanche Club cards from Pete, so if I see it parked at Wawa again, I'll throw a card under the wiper blade. I saw it driving down the road on my way into work this morning... Anybody else on here local to New Castle County, DE or the surrounding area?

Anybody local to the Newark, Delaware area know who this belongs to? I saw it on craigs list a while back and wanted to buy it, but at the same time, I didn't want to buy something already built. I am much more into getting my hands dirty and building it they way I want. It sure is a pretty MJ though. The front end has a full clip from a '97-'01 XJ and it is really clean. Next time I see it out, I'll snap a pic of the front end.

I told myself I wasn't going to do any "un-necessary" mods to the Comanche until I get all the important stuff done first. The idle is jumping up and down a little bit, and just a hair rough, so I ordered distributor cap, rotor, wires, plugs, and throttle positioning sensor. Hopefully I can get all that in this weekend and it will take care of the issue. If it doesn't, I'll do fuel filters as well. I also picked up a mid 90's Chrysler Concord radiator pressure tank to get rid of that crappy plastic capped Jeep bottle that is getting bashed by the hood. After I ordered the important stuff, I was digging around ebay and found a set of Bushwacker cut out style fender flares. Brand spankin' new in the box. The deal was waaaaay too good for me to let slip by, so I snatched them up... Hopefully they mount high enough to cut all the rust out that is hiding behind the stock flares... I'll post up some pics once I get around to the install... Although it may be a little while because I want to do it the same time I do my mild lift...

One more question... Everybody is telling me that I need to switch the temperature sensor, and the oil pressure sensor. I just went on autozone.com to order them, and they are showing the exact same part number for 1989 Comanche and 1989 Cherokee. So if they are the same part, how come I need to switch them? Or should I just pull the sensors from whatever donor vehicle I pull the gauge from?

OK thanks for the quick reply... That's what I will look for. Will the tach function since I don't have a tach at all now?

Or will this work? Temp gauge is my main concern anyway... http://www.ebay.com/itm/Jeep-Cherokee-Comanche-84-85-86-87-Gauge-Cluster-Oem-Nos-mopar-AMC-Temp-Guage-/200899382773?_trksid=p2047675.m1851&_trkparms=aid%3D222002%26algo%3DSIC.FIT%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D163%26meid%3D6191238698444244209%26pid%3D100005%26prg%3D1088%26rk%3D1%26sd%3D330540664327%26

I just picked up my first MJ this weekend. It's a 1989 2WD long bed with an AW4 trans. As I am sure most of you are well aware, the gauge cluster in it is crap. All it has is speedometer, fuel gauge, and some stupid lights that I don't even think work. I want to switch it out to a cluster that has gauges for temp, oil pressure, voltage, etc. Is this even possible? If so, what do I need to be looking for. Any help in this area will be much appreciated! Will this work? http://www.ebay.com/itm/84-85-86-87-JEEP-CHEROKEE-SPEEDOMETER-HEAD-ONLY-/230900306406?pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&fits=Make%3AJeep%7CModel%3AComanche&hash=item35c2bb11e6&vxp=mtr