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First off, 'Welcome'! There are no 'get lost kid' thoughts here unless someone becomes belligerent or is just rude. This is a pretty respectful and helpful community! If you have the motivation and desire to turn your own wrenches, the MJ can be a blast. Whether it's a 31 year old car, pickup, house or girl friend, it's gonna need a little work. Previous owners never care for your stuff the way you do, so don't afraid go all in. All the comments above are important. Rust, leaky stuff, how well the transmission shifts and how the truck rolls down the road all tell a story. It might be worth spending a few bucks to have a mechanic (or one of your trusted friends) do a compression and give it a once-over for a second opinion?

Nice work DewManche! Did you use the brackets from your bench seat or fab completely new mounts?

It was my impression is that even though I have an adjustable track bar, a drop arm would reduce the angle of the draglink and reduce stress on the gearbox. This is purely conjecture on my part, without having actually measured these angles. My MJ is just going to be a daily driver/lite trail rig, so I don't need to do any crazy upgrades. I figure if I can find bolt-on items that are factory and a bit more beefy they would be more subtle than expensive aftermarket parts.

Thanks guys! That makes more sense now. I mistakenly thought I could use the steering components. I think I'll go back to sleep now! LOL Have a super-fantastic weekend!

Eagle - Thank you for the details from your experience. That's helpful! Smokey & Mean - you're saying you don't think the brake booster, master cylinder, proportioning valve to accommodate the upgraded disc brakes I already have as well as the beefier tie rod, drag link and the 1" drop that comes with the WJ pitman arm is worth the $100?

What I understand would be an 'upgrade' from my stock Comanche is the front steering components and the brake booster/master/proportioning valve I mentioned above. (since I'm already disc brakes on all four corners) My 231, D30 and 8.8 are all freshly built with SYE, seals, bearings, gears, etc. so no desire for any of those parts for my use. Sounds like axles, transmission and transfer case aren't worth much, so maybe I just suck it up and pull these components for the $100 and leave the rest in his driveway?

Hey all, I found a wrecked '99 Grand Cherokee (WJ) for $400, but I think I can get it for $300. I have the guy talked down to $100 for the brake booster/master/prop valve and tie rod/drag link/pitman arm if I pull everything where it sits. (in a muddy driveway) All this WJ is missing is the engine. The drivers side looks like something dragged the length, but the interior is clean and all the running gear is intact. (minus the 4.7 V8) After looking at Pete M's index for bolt on upgrades, I wonder if it's worth dragging the whole thing home for the bolt-on upgrades I can put on my '89 Comanche? I have a D30 up front and an 8.8 SOA in the rear with disc brakes. I'm thinking that since high temps are just above freezing this weekend, maybe I would be better to just drag the whole thing home so I can do the work inside? Think I can part out the drive train and interior and get my money back? Other than the steering parts and brake upgrade, what else should I be considering for my Comanche?

Sign me up for a set, please... I'm guessing with enough direction on which is front and which is rear, I'll figure out the rest... LOL

Nicely stated Pete M. As an amateur 'wheeler' I've been poking around the desert and woods in the Cherokee for about 15 years, and old Chevys all my life. (I've earned the grey in this beard of mine! LOL) I finally acquired a Comanche two years ago, and I'm just a rear driveline away from finally having it on the road. The journey from 2x4 to 4x4 has been one of my biggest undertakings alone, and finding Comanche Club has been invaluable. So many people with such great knowledge! In this modern way of sharing information we lose sight of shared experiences. That only comes from busted knuckles, the occasional 'Adult Beverage' in the shop, that friendly rivalry that only happens when your buddies have to tow or pull you out of a tough spot and the occasional rift between friends as they find new ways to do what others might think is a waste of time or resource. Where I live in Central Oregon we count distance in drive time, not miles. It's four hours to the pacific coast, Washington, Idaho or California. That means I'm four hours FROM all of you! I'm on five acres that would host a handful of enthusiasts who need a place to pitch a tent and sear some dead cow on their way to a new adventure. I don't have much, but together we pretty much have it all!

Awesome and complete feedback. Thanks!

Hey all, My step son snagged two clocks from a wrecking yard, but neither my '89 or his '91 seem to have matching plugs in our dash wiring. All I have is an '88 electrical manual, and a generic Hayes repair manual for schematics. Does anyone have a pin-out and color code to match these up?

With all the old Chevy pick-ups I've owned, I used a light coating of bearing grease. It stays in place and holds up to heat. In those cases, I would disconnect the speedo cable from both ends, pull the cable out and shoot a copious amount of brake cleaner down the cable sheath to clean it out. (put the lower end of the cable into a bucket or something to catch the mess) Then I would dab bearing grease in the palm of my hand as if I was going to pack a bearing, and drag the cable through. Again, a LIGHT coating the length of the cable, then put everything back together. Of course, I always made a mess doing this but it works on old chevys. Are my redneck roots showing?

@saveevryjp1998 - I'm sneaking into that part of my project that the interior gets my attention. I have a bench seat in excellent condition, but I am interested in more springs to 'double up' as suggested earlier in this thread. I'm willing to pay shipping and a donation into your jeep fund if you still have those lower springs?

I have armor from the SmittyBilt bumper I had on my XJ that I never installed. I'll see if I can mock it up on my '89 and get you pictures / feedback?

Nice. I need to find a longer axle to frame hose and 'T'. Sadly, there is no pick n pull here. (hard to believe, huh?) The E Brake cables were both cut when I picked up this 8.8, so I may have to cough up a chunk a of change to buy new cables. I've seen some posts about how these can interface with the MJ ebrake cable coming from the pedal, but don't remember where. Did you have to do anything special?

I looked through all my Jeep stuff, but the banjo fitting for the Ford caliper is a bit different.

Pete, you just showed me the err in my ways! I was going to route the soft line past the leaf springs, but your picture just opened my eyes. It is much more logical to route the hard line past the leaf springs.

I'm finally on the backside of converting my '89 Pioneer 2x4 to 4x4. I went with the Ford 8.8" rear differential, SOA with an overall effective lift just over 6" on 33" tires. Yesterday I bought new calipers and rotors, and still need to re-plumb the rear axle brake lines from the load valve back. In the perfect world, I would like to have this look 'stock' to the untrained eye instead of running braided stainless lines that are available in the universal kits. I found NAPA brake lines (p/n 683655 & 683654) a perfect bolt-on solution for my front brake lines with a D30., as they were nearly 5" longer than the stock hoses, and hope to do the same for the rear axle. I don't like how the stock Ford brake hose needs to stretch from the caliper to the axle. (I still need to fab mounts/tabs) I assume that since the '97 Explorer this diff came out of had coil suspension that these hoses didn't need to reach beyond any obstructions like they do with a leaf spring. The stock lines are only 11" over all length. I would prefer 13"-15". I also need a 24" source hose (from steel line down to the axle). So far what I'm finding stops just over 22". I've spent an hour or so on-line trying to find options, but I'm not savvy enough with brake systems to know just what I'm looking for. Any insight or thoughts would be much appreciated.

I like bucket seats in a go-fast machine, but prefer the bench seat in my Comanche. Older American made cars often had burlap between the springs and the foam. I've also seen folks use card board (more layers = more firmness) worked up between the foam and spring for a 'poor mans' fix. I'm at the point that I'm soon to be re-assembling the interior in my '89 and would love to know if there were a better solution than paying $400 to the local upholstery shop.

Thanks Goose and Smokey. I found a high pinion, non CAD D30 in great shape for pretty cheap. I'm going to rebuild it (new ring/pinion, bearings, seals) and keep the '89 AW4/NP231. Seems like the easiest route for now to get it on the road, then see where my next adventure takes me?

@DirtyComanche, that's super helpful! With the power of the internet, it's amazing just how small the world has become and readily available information is... And yet, a couple hours of searching and reading was just summarized nicely in a few lines!

Hey all, I'm in full swing converting my '89 Pioneer SWB from 2wd to 4wd. I've just finished a Ford 8.8" rebuild with 4:10 gears so I can run 33's without much pain, and will be doing an SOA / SYE swap soon with new spring perches and shock mounts. I swapped an AW4/NP231 from a wrecked '89 Cherokee last fall (major rear-ender), and have a D30 from my wrecked '91 Cherokee. (major front-ender) My daily driver is a 2000 Cherokee with a branded title that will become a fender/front panel/hood (maybe doors also?) donor once the Pioneer is road-worthy. I don't have the 'moxy' to do the HO/Renix swap into my Pioneer right now, and with Cruiser54's tips the Renix is pretty solid. I plan on selling the 2000 Cherokee when I'm done. Since I know the condition of the Transmission / Transfer case in the 2000, is it worth swapping into the Pioneer? Is it as simple as plug/play with the computer? If not, how about just the transfer case? I'm fairly certain the SYE kit is specific to either the '89 or '00. Is there benefit to using the D30 from the 2000 Cherokee versus the 1991 that is already on the ground? The D30 on the ground does have bent brackets from the wreck, and I can't say with confidence there wasn't any other damage that can't be seen with my old eyeballs. (not sure if there was any deflection with the axle tubes, etc.) Regardless which one I use, it's getting new ring/pinion/gears/etc. I'm a half step above 'shade tree' status, and like most of us my money tree isn't producing well with our drought, so I want to do this right the first time. The Pioneer will be my daily driver when I'm done, and wheeling is limited to mostly poking around in the desert and a few logging trails. My pocketbook (and back) don't allow me to be as aggressive as I used to be! LOL All opinions are welcome...

@ Skorpyo - Thanks for such great details. That helps me a bunch! It sounds like since I was planning on new perches, shock mounts and a driveline that my $100 gets me a beefier rearend and disc brakes. Seems like a worthwhile investment, since my time will probably be similar. @ Pete M - I don't yet know what this originally came out of, but the guy I'm buying it from just pulled it from an XJ. @ 75sv1 - I haven't looked up any spacers yet, but will they require new lug studs?