Pete M

In the past I sorta didn't even need a clutch for those things. :D Just put it in gear, turn the key and keep cranking. The starter will move the truck forward and eventually the engine will fire and you're on your way.

Yes. What gears are you running and what size tires?

Just a different passion that my rusty ol' Jeeps just can't seem to fill. It's a Dakota R/T. 5.9L Magnum engine, 3.92 gears with posi, regular cab and loaded with all the factory goodies plus my custom stereo equipment. It's one of the fastest factory trucks ever produced and my only "new car" purchase. I guess if someone were to offer me my asking price, I might sell it, but with my graduation looming and then (hopefully) some employment of the engineering variety, I'm far less apt to sell than I was a year ago. Even if I did sell her, the money would go directly towards my debt, not the Jeeps. When the money finally starts flowing and I dig myself out of debt, I plan to dump the automatic for a Richmond 6 speed and maybe do some engine mods. I find it hard to alter the engine too much seeing as it has 33k miles on it. Maybe I should build up a 5.9 stroker (into a 401) and sell off the stocker. Dunno. The first thing to happen once I start driving it again is the stupid Skorcher tires are history and I'm putting stock 255/55s on the front and 275/60s on the rear. :D Years ago I only had the red one and it was a little 2wd. Then the white one fell into my lap. Then the red one's tranny blew up and she got parked and I bought the Dak. Then I got sick and built up the red one. After being sick for so long I got poor and had to park the Dak. Then the white truck got parked and started being used a big portable storage unit. Then the gray one fell into my lap and I started building it to be a bumming-around truck (I already owned 3 trucks but not one of them worked as a "pickup" anymore). So now I have 4. And that doesn't even count the 89 MJ I owned for a while either (took the engine out and gave the body away to a Jeeper in need of a project).

It would have (if I had the gumption to swap in a battery). :D

But if you bought this one, you'd have 2 really nice trucks. :D If I put 7 grand into my trucks, I'd still have 3 piles of junk (just really, really expensive junk).

The joys of old trucks. :D I fired up the 90 just now and turned it around without too much hassle. I'm not even going to think about what the problem was until I get the new fuse box in.:roll:

So which bidder are you? I don't know who to root for. :D

Just one of those days... I had some daylight to kill yesterday so I went across the street to fire up my fleet and let them run for a while. First thing I discovered was that I forgot to disconnect the battery on the van and the optima died. No biggie, I walked back home and drove over in the Libby to jump the van. Started right up. Then walked to the 88 only to remember that I stole the battery out of it for the van. Oh well. Went on to the 90. Pried up the hood (removed the latching mechanism) and I forgot that he hook thingy was still there and the hood only opened 1 inch before slamming back down and pinching my finger pretty good. D'oh! Great. Connected the battery and fired the truck up. Forgot how loud the thing is without a muffler and a floor. Noticed the front tire was flat. Great. Walked back home and grabbed the little 12v compressor. Found out the cig lighter in the 90 doesn't work at all. Great. Backed the Libby up to it and hooked up the compressor. gauge doesn't read anything on it. Ignored that and let it run to see if anything happened. Then went on to the 86. Hokked up the bat and fired it up. Then went on to the Dakota. Hooked up the battery and the alarm goes off. Pushed button on key fob and nothing happens. Great. Unhooked battery and walked back home to get the other fob. This fob works and the alarm goes off. Fired up the beast and let it idle. At this point in time I decide to drive the van back to the garage (it is first in line for repairs) and as soon as I touch the steering wheel the power steering pump make horrible noises. Great. Looks like that slow leak wasn't only leaking while driving. Walk back home and grab some fluid. Can only find about a third of a quart. Great. Walk back to the van and dump it in. It quiets down enough to drive it around, so I drove it back to the garage. Walked back to the trucks to check on the tire. Seems to be inflated enough to stop so I wrap up the compressor and as I'm doing that, the 90 stalls and dies. Great. So I get in the cab and see that there's gas, oil pressure and the temp is ok. Huh. It fires right back up. Now it will only idle for about a minute before shutting back off. Stupid truck. I figure it might have something to do with all the idling (or possibly the disintegrating fuse box) so I just leave it and carry on with shutting down the rest of the fleet. That's when I notice the lake of water collecting in the back of the 90. Great. Why couldn't I have noticed that back before it was constantly dying and I could have turned it around and parked it facing up hill? Oh well. Maybe I'll try again today. So I closed and locked everything up and drove the Libby back home. So overall, my afternoon was "great". :D

I have seen aftermarket larger throttle bodies for the 4.0L, but I don't remember where. :( Rubicon Express I think. Spacers aren't worth it on a 4.0 or other MPI setup. They "work" best on throttle body injection or carbs.

Gearing, gearing, gearing, and more gearing. Absolute best bang for the buck. :D

You might as well weld the gears together and make some modern art out of them. :D I can't condone sinking any money into a Dana 35 outside of new shoes or gear oil. I made these out of my old Peugeot:

Frequently it's cheaper to just go get a 3.55 front axle than to regear one. And 3.07 gears SUCK are to be avoided at all cost. :D

I saw "89 Commanche" written on the fender of a junkyard MJ. Barely 6 inches from the emblem. :D

And Commanchee and Comonche and Camanche and... :roll:

Everything is on a donation basis. Send as much as you like or as little as you can afford. :cheers: All donations go directly back into the site. A small "ComancheClub.com" decal or a small red/USA/camo truck?

I can't remember what shipper it was, but I had a part I needed for work go from Ohio to Alaska and back to Michigan. Was supposed to be an overnighter (and they shipped another the next day) but it took months for the original to do the big trip. Out of the blue it showed up at our dock looking like it had fallen off the truck somewhere along the way. :roll:

I think the cheapest route would be to steal brackets off a Dana 30 and then add metal to them for strength.

click me!!

I really like my smaller "SUV" box. Might even fit between the up bars of the aftermarket bars. If anyone wants I can get a width measurement from it.

Have someone wiggle the wheel back and forth while you watch underneath. Follow the system down from the steering box and see where the motion stops. Depending on your situation, it might not be a single bad part but a combination of slightly bad parts.

There aren't any specific policies as of yet. Since the site is non-profit and donations so far cover most of my bills, I've been hesitant to start anything. But in the near future I hope to make a concerted effort at getting a full website up and running and when that happens I'll re-evaluate what the costs become and how to go about financing it. Until that happens, I've been fairly lenient with allowing posts in the pub from manufacturers and venders but would prefer that posts concerning items/products for sale go in the classifieds. If you have any questions, just lemme know. Thanks, --Pete

Even though it shows 12 volts, it doesn't necessarily mean that enough amps are getting to the starter. Bad connections or corrosion can stop amps in their tracks.

Every time that happens to me it's either a super-dead battery, or (far more often) some poor connections at the ends of the battery cables. Try cleaning them up to see if it makes a difference.. Do the cables themselves look to be in good shape? Are you getting decent voltage from the battery?

I would swap in stock MJ leafs and sell off the Stanleys. XJ shackles will drop it precisely 0.5" because they are 1" shorter than stock MJ shackles (or something like that).

madxj.com seems to be down at the moment, but thatnk goodness for Google caches. :D booster swap