glundblad

I officially went off roading today for the first time in Attica, IN (i.e. Badlands). I could not believe how big it was. Those big gravel hills were tough. That is quite a place. For the record, I took my Rubicon, not my Comanche. The Comanche, even though it is tough, it is far too delicate. I would have been afraid I would scratch it. :shake: The only mistake I made was I took my wife. She complained of motion sickness and said it was dangerous. Climbing those big hills freaked her out. So we dumped her off at truck at the parking lot for a couple of hours. Apparently, I owe her a new purse now. I need to go back sometime only without my wife.

I am from Indiana. We have similar rust problems here. Probably the same in fact. Underneath my MJ looked pretty clean. Mine sat in a garage for 12 years without a garage door. The scale on my d44 was bad but not as bad as yours. My floorboards were in relatively good condition. Other than that, the body on mine was probably equally as bad, if not worse than yours. If that were in Indiana, I bet 80k miles is correct based upon how "little" rust it has. The holes are much bigger if you get 120k+ miles on them. One of my cab corners were too far gone to fabricate but I found one in a JY. Rockers are easy to get (XJ cut to length). Finding a bed can be a challenge but they show up on the forum every so often. The parts are out there if you are patient. There are a couple of pics in my signature that would show you how bad it was. If the frame is ok, I wouldnt hesitate.

Nothing beats copper. :smart:

:hijack: As I read this, I mentioned to my wife that I am considering stroking my 4.0 engine. She rolled her eyes and called me a discusting pervert. :dunno:

If it didnt fit, it appears that the seat frame could be unbolted from the power seat track and bolted to a standard XJ bucket track. It would no longer be a power seat but it would still fit. Wouldnt you agree?

Has anyone ever tried to install electric seats from a Cherokee limited into a comanche? Both would be 1987. Do you think they would fit or would they be too high (similar to the slider cherokee seats)? Do you think it would be fairly easy to run power to them?

Hypothetically, suppose I had two identical '87's with 4.0/5speed. One had 3.08 gears and the other had 4.10. At 60 mph, the 3.08 would run at 2200 rpm in 4th gear and the 4.10 would run at 2200 rpm in 5th gear. Are they both generating the same torque? I realize off the line, the 4.10 would be much faster (except for the fact that I would need to let off the accelerator all the time to shift) but I was curious about highway driving. My feeling is 2200 rpm is 2200 rpm regardless of whether it is the axles or the transmission causing the gearing. Any thoughts?

That has got to take a load off your mind. Congratulations. :clapping:

Very nice truck. What did those seats come from? Are they electric or anything? By the way, take my advice and don't park that thing in the North East Indiana area. Your rear bumper may come up missing. :yes:

It is really coming along nicely. :popcorn: I was curious what your impression was of your new carpet? Does it feel as thick and of the same quality as your OEM? Was it the same quality pile? My carpet is wore. I would rate it at about a 6 on a 10 point scale. The problem is since it is black, it LOOKS like a 9. But I know it is really only a 6.

Chief tends to have a much greater "coolness" factor than the other models. :rotf: Other than that, they are mostly the same.

I have an '09 rubicon and feel the trail rated badge is embarasing. I would wait to have kids and let them put them on their little red wagons. The rubie is "trail rated" but so is a liberty? How can that be? We test drove a liberty a few years back and live on a dirt road. That thing didnt do as well on my dirt road as my old Taurus SHO. Is a SHO trail rated? And what does a real "Jeeper" look like? I think it is anyone in a wranger. I didnt realize there was a "Jeep Wave" similar to a Harley wave until i got a rubicon. I get waves in the rubicon but when I drive the 22 year old comanche (which there are not too many of them left in Northern Indiana by the way), I don't think any wrangler "jeeper" notices. An old Comanche should get more attention than a new wranger IMO. And mine is in pretty good shape. I don't get it. Many don't even know Jeep made a truck? Bottom line, if the truck came with the badge, leave it on. But if it didnt, I wouldnt put it on. Wait, Maybe I will put some on my Kubota?

That looks pretty good. I will need to keep an eye out for one of those. I didnt realize blue gauges with a tach existed. I have a 6 cyl engine and I think you will need to do something to the tach to get it to read properly for the 6 but I am not sure. If I can only find a 4 cyl tach, perhaps I could even swap the face of the tach with blue face and then put my old speedo in? Other than the 4 cyl verses 6 cyl issue, I am not sure why you feel it won't work. It looks like the same wiring configuration that I have?

Yea, I thought about doing that but then the speedo would not match the rest of the gauge cluster. I don't think I would like that too well.

I thought about that but I remember a kid doing that from high school. The high speed drill caused the speedo to run at only 60mph. That would take quite awhile. I assume these odometers would be the same way?

I am probably the most qualified to answer this. I sold mine and regretted it every day since then. Then I had to buy it back. Some cars are worth buying and getting rid of. The only time you wheel with them is the day before you trade them in (a Pontiac 6000 STE for example). Others are not. Do you realize I actually had a mint Grand Cherokee Orvis Edition with a 4.0 and I sold it? I have to live with that. Since you don't have to put the miles on it, that is half the battle. Plus, if I recall correctly, it is a red chief. :clapping:

Granted, I am a little bias, but i always liked the chief. Even before I bought one.

I recently finished swaping my gauge cluster in order to get a tach. It went it pretty easily except when I tried to adjust the odometer. When I attempted that, I screwed it up and the odometer got stuck. So I bought another cluster and decided to leave the odometer at the incorrect reading. Now that I have done that, I wonder if I have greatly depreciated the value of the truck. The new cluster odometer reads 165,000 miles. The truck really has 85,000 miles on it. The tach is really helpful with my wussie 3.08 gears but I almost wish I didnt do the swap. The truck (a 1987) originally came with the blue letter gauges and I bought red letter gauges. I was curious if anyone has ever seen gauge clusters with blue letters and tach? If they exist, I could put the new blue cluster in with my original speedometer. Then this anal anxiety I am feeling would go away. :shake:

I am not sure why but watching that is almost like watching a train wreck. You can't help but look even though you know you shouldn't.

Others may disagree but I have found that having seats that do not tilt forward is not a big deal if you don't have the large center console.

Well congrads, on the job anyway.

Someone on ebay has a dana 44 axle for sale. The ad states it was only available for the years 87 -89. I have not heard that before. Is that true? I always thought it was much more common than that. http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/85-92-Je ... ccessories

That is great. :cheers: I need one of those. I live in an area that has a "deer problem". :clapping:

:popcorn: Ok, how are things going? Where are some new pics?

Nice work on that interior. I have a red comanche with black interior and always thought it would be nice to have the tan interior. When I saw that you were changing it, I was a little suprised. But i must admit the gray is much improved over the tan. By the way, would you mind posting a pic of your front bumper? That is impressive what you did to that nissan.