Tbarber16

UPDATE. I think I’ve made my decision on what I want to do as far as front shocks go. I’ll probably be fabricating some shock hoops that go up into the engine bay. That way I can run longer bypass shocks and take advantage of what travel the front end is producing. Now I just need to figure out why the whole front of the truck moves side to side while the suspension compresses and rebounds.

WOW Goatman, you’re a lifesaver. I bought all new plugs and wires, distributor cap, rotor. I got the cap and rotor on. And started going over the vacuum lines. I found the one you were talking about and it was unplugged by the firewall. I plugged it back in and the truck runs like new. THANK YOU! That could possibly be why my old Comanche ran like crap too.

UPDATE So as you can tell from the pictures I got the front end kit on and ended up snatching up a set of Cooper Discoverer 35x12.5 tires. It sits awesome but the front fenders are coming off, it rubs like you can’t imagine. Had to do a 35 point turn just to get into a parking spot. And I haven’t even given it the garage alignment yet so even moving it 50 feet into the shop my tires are screaming at me. I also backed the truck up and put it in park to check ball joints. And yeah, they will be replaced very very soon. The truck was looking like a riced out civic. During the install I took the air cleaner off to get to the driver side shock nut. And went to park it without the filter on. And it started running seriously rough. And smoking really bad. Smells really ritch. I’m imagining a vacuum issue. And upon re-installing the filter and leaving the battery cable off for a couple hours the rough running persisted and it’s to the point where it’s almost un-driveable. I pulled one of the plugs and it looks like crap. So I went ahead and bought spark plugs, wires, distributor cap, and a rotor hoping it’s gonna solve my rough running issue. I still need to temporarily mount some front shocks so I can at least drive the thing. So after the plugs and wires. I’m going to give it a garage alignment and make some shock brackets. Phew, wish me luck

I’ll just leave this here

Wow thank you so much for the info! I’ll look into those coils and the bump stops. I’m planning on 4 linking the rear after this coming sand season so I’m not sure how much I really wanna do with the current setup.

I will be running fiberglass on all four corners. Most likely hannemann bacause they offer the 6” flare in the front. I like the looks of the McNeil but they only offer a 4”. 6” hannemann in the rear as well since I will eventually be swapping a ford 9” back there.

Another small update. Shipping was 3 days from rustys. Got the leafs on tonight! And holy DROOP Batman! Threw on a couple of crappy shocks that were a bit longer. That way I can still drive the truck. Re-used the hardware that came off, but got measurements so I can order some new stuff. Surprisingly the old leafs didn’t put up much of a fight. Other than heating up almost every bolt cherry red with a set of torches. It went pretty smooth! I sprayed the crap out of the brake lines in hopes that they’ll come apart easy and I can just add in my new extended lines from rough country. That’s for this weekend. Hoping to get the front done this weekend as well! We’ll see how everything goes.

Little bit of an update. Got the new rocker on and boy is it crooked! Good thing it’s just rivited on for now. I was getting impatient. Time to bondo the rest up and call it good for now. This won’t be a show truck. I’m a little hesitant to add pictures because I know everyone is gonna hate how I mounted the rocker.

How is your headliner board fixed to the roof? My truck came with the headliner off and I'm not really sure how to attach the board back to the roof.

And as for another update. I ordered rustys competition 4-link kit as well as their 4 inch leaf springs and 5 inch coils. A heavy duty track bar and steering box bracket were added to the cart too that way I don't have to upgrade in the future. The parts arrived yesterday and I'm hoping to have everything on by this weekend. Then I can measure for shocks. Thinking 2.5 double or triple bypass. I'll keep my eye open on race-dezert for deals but will most likely be ordering shocks on Black Friday in hopes of getting some sort of good deal. Bypass shocks are expensive! I'll have to see what I want to run as far as bumpsrops, I'm thinking air bumps or hydraulic but I'm not sure as to what stroke and what size. Hopefully more research will point me in the right direction.

Alright time for an update. I've taken a little time to address the rust on the passenger side. And tried my hand at replacing the rocker with one from an xj. Pictures attached. I didn't do this the correct way and I'm aware of that as you'll see from pictures. Cut out all the rust and started cutting the rocker to fill all that empty space. Needless to say. Bondo will be my friend.

I'd like to get everyone's input on the suspension I should probably be running. I'm thinking rustys Jeepspeed four link for the front and their 4" comanche leaf springs for the rear. Rubicon express 5.5" coils and adding a 1" schackle to the rear to help even it out. Not sure about shocks yet. I guess I'll see what kind of uptravel and downtravel numbers I'm pulling before I cross that bridge. I'm open to running shock hoops through the bed but eventually will want to run a full bedcage or maybe even backhalf tube chassis the truck.

Alright here we go! Had a comanche a while back in high school and didn't have the funds to keep it going or do the upgrades I wanted. Out of high school now and just picked up another comanche so I feel it would be appropriate to document the build in case anybody wants to do something similar. Ill have pictures attached below. And feel free to move the "thread" if it's not where it belongs. I'm new to the site. It is a 1990. 100k miles. Has the 4.0 and aw4. Dana 35 out back and it's 2wd so not much up front. Michigan truck so Very rusty but the floors have been replaced. New rockers going on soon and then the build really begins. Planning on going jeepspeed/ prerunner build. Keeping it 2wd and leaf sprung for the first stage. Then possibly beams, 4 link, and v8 swap when I start getting bored. Anyways here's some pics. I'll post as I make any and all progress. Exhaust fell off on my way home from picking it up so that will be the first "upgrade".

If you're reffering to the top of the fender it actually goes just below the flat top of the bed of the Comanche. I'll get a picture here soon. My bad for not reading your post throughly.

They make just the bulge for the Cherokee and the Comanche two different designs. If you look at the pictures for the Cherokee there's a cut in the top and the Comanche bedside bulge doesn't have that. Just my .02

PICTURES!!!

I'm right here with you on this topic. I want to run fiberglass front and rear with a long bed but not sure how just the bulge would look. They need to make long bed bedsides already!!

Check the ground at the back of the block to the firewall. Mine has similar problems and it ended up that ground strap had broke in half. Just my 2 cents

How do I add photos. I've got something drawn up you might like.

You could make it low profile. Just like the one on the ranger but with hinges to swing out.

That would be sweet! Have you ever thought of something that could swing out?