gaucho919

It’s been almost a decade but the Comanche still lives! Use it almost everyday. 136k miles on it now. Have just done regular maintenance. Now has 35x10.50-17s

Here is a picture of one of the bolts, you can see the two nuts to keep the skidplate in place, and they give you vertical adjustment.

It was actually easy, I used some rubber stripping between the tank and the frame and the tank and skidplate. Then hard mounted the skidplate to the frame, welding two 1/2" bolts on each side with a nut on the top and bottom side so the tank won't get squished.

The truck has undergone some other modifications, added an XJ 20 gal auxiliary fuel tank with a factory steel skid plate, modified the exhaust to go around the fuel tank and installed a used and rebuilt by me Warn M8000 sporting Viking Offroad 3/8" x 80' Winchline.

I am in the process of building a MB turbo diesel '86 MJ. The engine swap is done and it fits like it belongs in there. The main hurdles are the motor mounts, oil pan/steering bars clearance and oil cooler mounting. I used hydraulic Ford F150 motor mounts for the 300 six. 6" lift and an extreme drop pitman arm and I still had to notch the pan. Used the AX-15 transmission with the adapter from mercedesdiesel4x4.com.

I set the engine as far up as possible, even clearancing the hood support braces. The top front of the valve cover is about a 1/2" from the hood. Then we fabbed a trackbar drop bracket and installed an extreme drop pitman arm. The draglink comes about 1/4" from the oil pan when turned fully left, so I will be notching the pan just a bit. I also will be limited on up-travel but I'd rather have that limitation than a hole in the oil pan. Oh and it's got a 5.5" lift

The OM617 actually fits great in a Comanche, I am building an '86 MJ with a '78 turbo OM617 using the Koch adapter kit and a '98 AX-15. The engine is all in and running, I just need to finish the flatbed and get the driveshafts back from being shortened. Here are a couple pics during the build. Good luck with the Comanche hunt!

I would imagine it is original to the truck, it definitely came in a '91 model truck because it is a high output motor(91 was the first year) made in really late 1990. I don't know if there is a way to tell if the motor is original to the truck, hopefully if someone knows they'll read this.

Thanks Exxon, that's the look I was going for bc that's what I use it for. If you're ever in Montana you're welcome to stop by our shop, I haven't learned about all the good trails around here yet but I'm getting there. Thanks BMX I searched and searched for these wheels for a while and didn't find any. One day I decided to post a "wanted" ad on CL for them and someone called me that same day with a set for sale. You should try it, I was in NC then too.

If those numbers are right it would indicate that the motor is a High Output(the MX) and it was built on Dec 19, 1990.

Really nice comanche! I like the Speedometer in KM, you can tell the year of the motor by looking at the stamped number on the passenger side of the block, It's a smooth surface just forward of the distributor, if you can tell me that number I can tell you when the block was made.

Some pics of the trip from Florida to Northwestern Montana in the ol' Comanche. The truck made it without a glitch, at near max tow capacity and payload. Towing a loaded 6x12 enclosed trailer, going uphill in CO was troublesome sometimes down to 3rd gear and the pedal to the metal. The disk brake 8.8 helped a ton going down hill. Averaged 13.5 mpg going 60-65 over 3200 miles going through Yellowstone. I've had a set of different tires/wheels on for a few weeks, Dodge Charger 17" steelies and stock rubicon BFG's. I found the tires used with ~15k miles on them and they are really quiet on the road. Here are some pics of the trip. Looking for a job too if anyone has an opening.

Hi, I've been searching for a way to extend the range in my comanche, planning on making a trip to Alaska. I have seen some 97+ conversions put an XJ tank in place of the stock spare. Does anyone have experience with this? I have a '92 shortbed MJ, and I'm looking for maybe adding an XJ tank, or wrangler tank where the spare tire is. Any tips or advice would be great. Cheers

Thanks Exxon Valdez, Alexia it does have the front driveshaft in it, it is completely 4wd. I will take some more pics soon and try to remember and post some of the other stuff I've done to it. I put 4WD emblems on it off a honda passport, I just like the way they look on the tan paint. Had to get rid of the old crown vic rims bc they were too narrow at 6" and they were making my tires bulge in the center of the tread. other than that I'm just enjoying driving the truck around, it drives like new and gets lots of looks haha Latest thing I'm working on is a new to me 8.8 with 4.10's and LSD, putting a 02+ explorer cast aluminum diff cover with cooling fins on it.

Really nice comanches man, Thats gotta be a lot of work, It's taking me forever to do just one, I'm in Jacksonville just north of you