Rymanrph

While I agree that it would be easier with the engine out, it can still be done. It just takes a million minute turns of an open ended wrench.

Wish I had known that. Drove me nuts until I ripped out the whole assembly for the hand brake swap.

From what I remember, they are only attached to the channel itself. You're most likely just missing a spot weld.

The whole channel is just welded in. At the back the piece is sandwiched between the floor pan and the back of the cab, so unless you cut it at some point, the best you can do is just lift it as high as you can and work around it. What are you trying to accomplish?

What does your Comanche look like? I've probably seen you around before. I usually spot other Comanches when I'm driving my Wrangler.

I made some decent progress over the last couple days. Most of it was disassembly in the XJ. I got the heater box from the Cherokee into the MJ. From the inside, the far right mounting stud had to be relocated up and to the right. Everything else was the same. I got this computer box mounted to the firewall today: I'm not 100% its in the right place. There are some significant differences between the firewalls that just looking at, it would be hard to spot. I'll know when I put the heater box back in. I started working on the fuse panel and nothing lines up. There are 3 studs on the XJ that hold the fuse panel. On the comanche, the fuse panel would cover up the stock location for the radio antenna, so I'm planning on cutting that whole panel out of the XJ and using it as a patch on the MJ. I started doing the same on the driver side fire wall. I have several holes to fill. You can see where the clutch master was (it will be an auto when I'm done) and where the wiring harness came through. Here, I have cut the firewall out of the XJ and use the booster bolts to locate it. The hole on the top left is the hood release. Its the same size as the comanche, but its in a different place. The hole that's there just had a plug in it. I pushed on it from the inside and it went flying, so I'll have to look for it later. I'll just plug that hole back up and use the existing hood release hole. I still have to move the steering column hole and there is another small one up top that needs to be patched as well.

I got the heater box from the '97 XJ mounted in the MJ. Pictures in my thread tomorrow.

You're right, I asked.

I finally got the heater box out of the Cherokee and I'll be putting that back in this weekend, but the good news is that I have a NOS rear step bumper on the way! Thanks Don!

Ordered today and its on its way to me. I really just wanted a black one, but its hard to pass up a NOS rear bumper, chrome or not.

PM sent.

I got the steering column dash sub-frame mocked into place. I only have two holes drilled at the moment, but I've got the rest marked. After I mounted it, it looked really low, but tonight I connected the brake pedal and it bolted up fine to the assembly on the firewall. After remeasuring, I might be 1/16th inch off, so not as bad as I thought. The holes are slotted and it doesn't affect the fitment of the dash, so I'm happy. Here are a couple shots: I started to take the heater box out tonight, but realized I don't have the special tool to get the AC lines off. Hopefully I can get that mocked up tomorrow. After that, I'll move on to the wiring harness through the firewall and the steering column hole.

Here are the first two brackets I made the other night: I was trying to reuse the existing bolt holes. They work just fine, but they look ugly; I may redo them. Here are the others (well two of them): The squares in the corners kinda show where the dash tab fits between the two bolts and you can see the elongated hole where the mounting hole is. When I mount them permanently, I'll grind down the edges and corners up top so it doesn't rub on the windshield molding. I'll paint them of course too.

The 88 will be MUCH easier to swap, but it all depends on what you want, how much time you have and if its worth it to you. I really wanted the newer dash, power windows, locks, etc. To me, part of it is just being able to say, "I did this."

Disclaimer: I'm probably going to post a lot of really intricate stuff that most people won't care about, but if it helps someone else down the road have an easier time with the conversion, then its worth it. I crossed the first bridge in getting the '97 dash in today. I got the mounting holes for the A pillars drilled. Here is the mounting hole on the '97: and here is where that same hole should be on the Comanche (the stock hole is the one at the top of the picture): You can see that the hood release is mounted much lower as well. Here is a shot of it from under the loosely bolted dash: So with just those two bolts and the brace in front of the shifter, this is what you get: Everything went pretty smoothly except for the lock washer I dropped in the body (I hope it doesn't rattle). The top of the dash doesn't line up at all. I haven't decided what I'm doing yet, but the current idea I'm tossing around is to cut some brackets that I'll connect to the dash and use to line up with the old holes. We'll see.

Its new. I got it here: http://www.glasswarepro.com/

Great. I looked today and its the shutter on the top. Its always down. Hopefully I can get a better look at it once I get it out of the truck.

The black wheels I sold and the XJ wheels I sold. The Cherokee is sitting on the old comanche wheels and tires right now. Thanks for the compliments. I got the dash out of the Cherokee last night and I'm going to try and start the process of getting it into the Comanche tonight.

Your grill is upside down. Nice truck.

I got the dash off of the '97 today and found this broken piece on the heater box: There is a similar one underneath that moves the shutter, but what does this one do and can it be fixed? It looks like it broke on the end, but I don't know the natural orientation to reassemble it.

I'd just ask someone in the office. I'm sure they have some way of managing fluids.

The front axle has to match the rear, so there you go.

Saturday afternoon, this is what my interior looked like: And this is how it looks right now: The swap is underway. I've got the interior pretty much stripped and got the dash brackets cut off. The spot weld drill bit helped but I went all the way through on several (a lot really) and then I tore the metal in two spots. Not really happy about that, but I'm not going to worry. Its just one more thing I'll have to fix. I still have a lot of the engine bay to address. Here it is with the wiring, cooling and a few other things missing: Anyone want a great running 4.0l and 5 speed? Radiator, other lol? I'll put up a for sale thread soon.

So, I'm in the process of converting my already converted 4wd 1990 Comanche to a 1997. The donor I'm using is 2wd, but unfortunately, I can't use my '95 AX-15 because the donor is an automatic. I already know that I'll need a '97 4wd AW4, but will my '95 NP231 work with it? I've got another bracket for the linkage (the one that connects to the transmission tunnel), but is the bracket that connects where the transmission and TC join different between the manual and auto? I know its somewhat of a mess with all the the different years I'm combining, but I just want to make sure I have everything ready to go. If my current transfer case won't work, then I'll plan on selling it with the transmission and getting another one when I get my new transmission. Also, since my donor is 2wd, how do I get the 4wd light to come on? I assume its some kind of sensor or plug, but would it exist on the 2wd wiring harness? Summary: Current: 1990 4.0, 1995 4wd AX-15, 1995 NP231 Donor: 1997 4.0, 2wd AW4

I had 4dr. buckets with the big bolsters before I swapped to the tilt seats. I liked the bolsters, but don't miss them because of the added convenience of the tilt feature. I had to get the seats and then had to have them recovered and it was completely worth it. I'm doing a '97 swap and I'm going to keep my old seats simply because of the tilt feature.