Duner

jeeps are not for accelleration that what cars do. jeeps are for us nuts who want to go everywhere with a steering wheel in our hands that those tree hugging hikers go. If you have 4:10 gears resonable tires under 33" and a 4.0 litre inline 6 you should have acceptable accelleration mind you its nothing like my sisters camaro but it moves adequately. Although I would be suprised if you have 4:10 with and aw4 and 4.0 L unless PO cahnged the gears, most automatics have 3:55 gears.

my rear axle D44 is leaking at the pinion but it's very obvious from the partern of gear oil slung all over the underside of the bed, interesting thing is it does most of its leaking while driving and not when parked.

Ok, based on the 2wd drive dimensions I have a very honest 6" lift. the down side is the rear cost about $200 for the D44 and SOA conversion and the front is about $750 and I still need to hit the alignment shop again so lets call it $800 now how much will it lose when I put the bumper and winch on the front (LOL) i'll just put the spacers back in I now have a collection of 2" and 3.5" lift components.

Welcome to the forum. The conversion is relatively straight forward and does not require great mechanical skill (thank you jeep for building both 2's and 4's the same). I highly recommend the Cherokee donor vehicle as stated above it is the way to go. If I did it again I would buy a running donor vehicle with matching drivetrain or at least the drivetrain that you would like to have. Second spend some time going through the forum here as just about any question you will ask has already been answered, but remember we don't mind answering any question again that's what makes this such a great forum. Third are you lifting your truck as well or just converting to 4wd?

I think its time we come up with some standard method of measurement for lift. I saw this in an earlier thread that someone suggested that we measure from center of axle to bottom of frame rails this seems like an accurate way to measure actual lift without the varying tire diameter problem instead of the old bottom of flare to the ground. Now if we all accept this I just need someone out there with a stock manche to measure their truck and let us know what it is as I have no way to go back at this point all I can tell you is that at 6'2 I think I need a step to get in my manche now.

Check the track bar bushings, my skycracker adjustable is already giving up the bushing on the axle side. I had to remove it this weekend to modify the mounting bracket (cut off tab and weld to the axle bracket, thanks dad) so I could use the JKS adjustable swaybar links and the bushing edges were crumbling already. After you check the the bar check the upper control arm axle bushings this should eliminate the clunking with a proper alignment but remember all of the rubber bushings are suspect.

If you want to run the wide tires on your manche you have to sacrafice something. I went with shallow back space 3.75" on the rims, and enlarged the wheel openings via the bushwhacker pocket flares and the truck now has 6.5" of lift and with the adjustable upper and lower control arms I was able to push the axle toward the front to get tire centered back in the wheel opening. I have not had any rubbing in the back even with the D44 SOA running the 305/70x16 but the old 31x10.50's on stock rims rubbed front and back before the truck was lifted. You can probably for go the wheel flares if you go 6"+ on the lift and pick your tire and wheel combo carefully. I never intended to lift my truck this much you just can't stop once you get started (LOL). No really it was the SOA conversion in the rear that mandated more lift in the front other wise I would have stuck with a 4" lift.

John, Sorry I was working all weekend and missed that trip. You will find out that your Comanche is a lot more capable than you think and much more capable than many fullsize 4x4 trucks with v8's. After wheeling mine the other day I realized that I feel more comfortable in it than in my dad's 05 wrangler. Now it's time to get that manche of yours up off the ground a little higher.

After my first mudding experience I'm still cleaning mud and sand out of the truck. I will be making a number of changes under the truck to prevent mud caking in certain areas. next if you do this on a regular basis borrow your neighbors pressure washer or invest in one your self or better yet get all your mudding buddies to chip in on the cost its a co-op thing and my mom still goes out every spring and buys dirt to put in flower beds I'm bringing it home every time I go offroading for free and she's pissed about the mess. On the other hand my dad said sacrafice the WD-40 and spray the truck down everywhere like they do when racing sprint cars this way you can easily remove the mud between heat races. They make some specific products for this as well but he says WD-40 is still the most cost effective plus it will help slow corrosion down.

It truly is a comanche thing, we are diverse group of people many whom bring a great deal of knowledge from other sources and some of us who have only worked on our comanches. The wisdom available here is unlike any other auto forums. My dad is always waitng for answers on the dune buggy site he uses but I can post a question here and have multiple reponses within hours. This is one of the net's best sites.

I was browsing the craigslist this weekend (never any comanches for sale) and behold there are actually 3 up for sale: 87 2wd 2.5 can't tell if stick or auto, red, swb, dented tailgate no rear bumper $500 owner says engine needs a rebuild but it runs and drives 88 2wd sport truck 4.0 w/130k, pukegoat, straight body no rust, red, swb already sporting 31" bfg's and D30 front axle 4wd conversion is half done running, turn signals not working for $1200 plus he has a 3" lift and stainless brake lines he will kick in for another $150 he also has a 8.8 rear with discs for sale. 89 2wd 4.0 lwb with auto, dark gray for sale $2800 nice truck but a little high since it has a few issues rear body damage where the bumper got shoved into the bed - looks like someone then torched the corner of the bumper off. If interested check them out on craigslist in Houston and email me if want my dad and I to go by and check them out in person

You have been contacted by the police because you are the legal owner of the vehicle on paper since last registered. You are not liable for any accidents or crimes that the vehicle may have been involved in especially since you filed papers saying that the truck had been sold and noting the date. Whether the guy driving the vehicle at the time it was impounded has legal issues or just money issues he will not be able to get the vehicle released from impound without your permission. The police are going to require that the title be properly transferred and that any and all fees are paid prior to the truck moving off the lot. If I were you I would go down to the yard and assess the trucks condition plus I would get an estimate of the charges that will accumulate on the truck until the 30 days are up. Leave your number with the impound yard in case mr. C shows up to try to claim it he will need your help anyway. Most people in his situation will just leave the vehicle there in which case you can pick it up and do whatever you want to with it. In Texas they look very dimly on people who purchase vehicles and do not properly transfer the titles especially if they are driving the vehicle on the streets. It is different if it is a project stuffed in your garage but remember to keep all papers in a safe place and my dad keeps copies of the papers with the cars. Good luck in whatever you decide.

I just replaced the bolts on mine and it loosened up again, I ended up just finding a good nut to go on the end to tighten it up. I think the original nuts are welded to the flange but the one of mine has no threads left in it. It has held with the extra nut for about 7000 miles with no problems.

I went to the muffler shop the other day after listening to everyone on the various choices and I have decided to go with the flowmaster 40 but I nearly fell over when they told me $125 installed. This is just for the muffler not tail pipe. Then when I discussed routing the tail pipe like the guy did yours between the body and spring they said they wouldn't do it because the spring my hit the pipe and this is a shop that specializes in custom work (I guess they were tired and needed a rest since there were no cars in the shop that afternoon) anyway I left to think about it some more. I can get a 40 series from the auto store and weld it in myself for $70 but I wanted a custom pipe as well. I'm afraid to ask about the head pipe.

After you finish throwing tools and cussing, take a deep breath, muster up all of your patience and check the hole for burr's then apply some grease to the o-rings and the holes and carefully work the injectors back into place. I watched my dad the throw tools the first time he worked on my brother's toyota and my sister's chevy. He said he never had any problems on the jag or porsche when he changed injectors but those two little cars pissed fuel everywhere.

Yes, my dad made them fit easily by making a 3/4" thick spacer ring and angling the speaker in the panel to clear the seat belt retractor. Go to projects (i think about three pages back) and check out my pics at the end are the stereo installation pics and the subwoofer has been changed to pioneer's new 10" shallow mount in a small box facing forward between the buckets seats it really kicks now. In the future I think I'm going to add some speakers in an overhead console position just to make sure I go completely deaf as well as adding some marine speakers in the bed under my tool box so I don't have to open the doors at the beach.

Best solution replace the axle with non-disco, preferably a D44 if you can find one otherwise if you are just wanting to lock the axle together the cad fix is quite simple and cost nothing in fact I did the one where you just remove the c-clip slide the fork to the other side and re-install the c-clip. Abosolutely no problems, lost maybe 1/4 to 1/2 mpg overall. Cost: $0.00 Time: aprox 15 min

rotation direction is generally stated from driver seat point of view while car is moving forward. This equates to CCW for forward for most rear drive cars made. Or if you face the engine while it is cranking you will see it turns CW from this point of view which translates to CCW from the driver's seat.

Check out "ridenlow12"s recent purchase in MJ projects forum - I think it was listed under my first comanche. He has some good photos of the drop brackets on the MJ he just bought and relax as he has promised to get the truck properly supported before it injurs someone. I never really considered drop brackets as an option but I guess that they offer a lower cost and better ride (potentially) than longer control arms if you are just lifting the truck for larger tires and street driving but if you go offroading the ground clearance becomes an issue. I know I have said this before but if I did this all again I think that I would go the long arm route for lifts above 5"

Wow never really thought about the oil filter, you buy new parts and expect them to perform their jobs properly but my dad told me that he has had bad sparkplugs before from both champion and autolite with no visible damage to the plugs that just failed to spark. So I guess the oil filter is the same crap shoot and difficult to diagnose if the truck had been sitting for a year - change oil/filter start up and have problem, I would assume that the prolonged period of non-operatiion had caused the problem and not the oil filter. I will change brands just to be on the safe side.

Added note for safety: My dad's friend lost his father under a car that was not properly supported while he had gone to the auto store to get some parts. This was a trans swap that they had performed on this car before so there was a comfort level while working on the vehicle. You can never be to safe. My dad had a car roll off the front of some self made ramps while he was underneath pulling the driveshaft. He survived with no physical injuries but we practice thorough safety when we raise any vehicle off the ground to work on it. (Control what you can as murphy's law is governing the rest). So please support it properly and get the tires back on it.

That lift looks like it may be 4"+, the front axle has drop brackets on the control arms and the spring wire looks very thick like my rusty's 6.5" coil springs. My tomken's and skyjacker 3-3.5" coils are a smaller wire diameter like the stock spring. Either way the lift is probabaly worth the money spent on the truck.

My MJ had 31's when my dad bought it, the front tires rubbed when turned and the rear tires would rub the inner fender on the bed when simply going into and out of parking lots that had steep drives. You can probably run them but use a wheel with less back spacing or use spacers for moving the wheels further out and consider using a 2" econo lift if the wheels or spacers don't cure the rubbing problem.

The local dealers are accessing parts from their local hubs that may still have inventory so if direct connection says its discontinued you might check with you local dealer and find the parts guy that knows what's going on. My dad has discussed collecting some MJ's and 2 door XJ's for parts and storing them at the ranch before all the parts disappear. He's not concerned with the 4 door XJ as there are 3 on every corner around here.

It's a PITA because my dad looked at it when we bought the truck, the PO through it in as spare parts that he said he just had not had time to install. We know better now I think my dad would rather replace the parking brake cable than that switch. Anyway has anyone ever pulled the gauge cluster out to gain access or is that what you were talking about doing?