Wannabe

Thanks so far with all the help... Yeah, we put it into 4WD on pavement. Switched into it fine, though, the light on the left came on and everything. I tried it in HI, the sound was enough of a reason for me not to try the LO. And this is going to be a really stupid question, I'm used to working on cars with 2WD, but how does one check the fluid in the transfer case? I wouldn't mind swapping it out, it'll give me something it do after school. Another thing, I'm not sure of the exact name for it, but the shift gauge that tells you what gear you're in right above the steering column, thats off. If I put it in neutral, it's really in reverse; if I put it in drive, it's in neutral; and so on. The transmission works fine, its just this little thingymajigger seems to have shifted over one... annoying problem that I could probably live with, but it wouldn't hurt to fix it. Thanks for the welcome, honestly I wasn't expecting this big of a reaction at first, but all the comments are really helpful. Pretty sure I'm going to get it now. Thomas

Hey, I'm brand new to this site and to Jeeps in general. I've always been interested in them but they've always been too expensive. I'm a college student, enough said. I just recently came across a 1990 Comanche with a 4.0 6 cyl and an auto trans in it. A couple biker guys were selling it, they seemed harmless enough. I started it up, the engine sounded fine. There really wasn't that much rust. I could tell exhaust work needed to be done on it right away. They told me there was 160,000 miles on it, which is quite a bit, but I'd been readin up on Comanches and I heard they lasted for quite some time. They had it in the paper for $1100. I offered $750 and they were more than happy to take it. Kelley Blue Book said a Comanche with 160,000 on it still went for $1200. Forgive the length of this post. So a couple days later, yesterday actually, I brought a guy along with me who knew a bit more about trucks than I did. We took it for a drive and it drove well enough. Transmission shifted fine, didn't hear any strange noises. That is until we shifted it into 4WD, which took some muscle. I touched the accelerator and a bad grinding came from the rear. The dude told us the exhaust was loose and was resting on the rear axle, which my friend confirmed, and that it did make a bad grinding sound. So after we went about 5 yards we tried to shift it back into 2WD, but to no avail. We tried it, both in neutral and in park, a good five times and it still wouldn't switch back. That was kinda strange, so he just told me to drive it back. A second after I started back up again it shifted into 2WD and we drove it back fairly noiselessly. My question is, after telling you my friggin' life story, is it a good deal? $750 for a Comanche with 160,000 miles on it. I was planning, actually hoping, to do some work on it. My price range for a car/truck right now is about $1500 so I'll have some money left over to put into it. The guy I brought along told me I should keep my money and keep looking, but I really like the truck, it has a lot of potential. The guys selling it said they haven't gotten any offers besides mine so I'm guessing it'll be for sale a little while longer. Any information would be fantastic. I'll answer any questions I can. Thanks! Thomas