Warren99

I'm out of order a bit, as I think this was mid 2021. Basically I wanted buckets instead of a vinyl bench. I found some from a 4 door Cherokee, so they couldn't fold forward which ended up sucking more than I thought it would, but regardless I still wanted them. I drilled out the rivets holding the floor brackets to my bench, then just used a bolt and nut to hold them to the bucket.

Can't find the date, but I think I installed this new steering and track bar sometime in early 2022.

My truck was originally 2wd(and had the ba/10), before we lifted it my brother and I went to an lkq bc I had found a YJ with an ax-15 and np231. Unfortunately, I wasn't having any luck with finding a manual 4wd XJ for a shifter, so I had to make the YJ shifter work, which meant cutting a little bit of the floor out. I might finally have a lead on getting a shifter, and I cut out the trans tunnel from my parts truck so I can properly fix the stuff I cut out. Also note the golfball shifter I mentioned before haha.

This is after we lifted it, and 4wd swapped it. We got both axles, the springs, and the lower control arms from a guy on marketplace parting out and XJ. I'm not sure what the exact lift is, but for reference the only thing we did to the rear was cut and relocate the perches so that the axle was under the springs, and it made it level. With how maxed out the control arms were, the ride quality was pretty bad, and eventually I did develop death wobble so severe it couldn't be driven anywhere. I think the ended up being the lack of caster angle, but when taking it apart later for long arms, we found that the bushings in the control arms were hilariously shot, not sure if that was the cause of the wobble, or simply destruction from it. I think this was late 2020. I still didn't have the truck registered and on the road because I wasn't 16 yet, but that would be coming up soon and I had to find some mirrors, which once again I was able to get some thanks to @89 MJ.

Here is the 96 XJ my dad got me a year prior. I used everything from it that I needed for mine. Unfortunately I was pretty dumb and could have gotten some nice things from it still like the mirrors before we sold it. That specifically would come to bite me later as I could not find any mirrors at a junkyard that weren't trashed. Luckily @89 MJ had a pair and he shipped them to me.

After pulling everything off it started up and ran. The radiator was obviously punctured but I would end up using the radiator from my XJ.

Jan 2018, pics taken with an ipod 5 lol

More background information - This is my first vehicle period. I don't currently have an additional daily, and might not for a while, so the aim of my MJ needs to still be daily able. My overall build goals are that I want to make it more offroad capable, while also still being a daily driver. In 20 years when it's rusty and beat to piss I'll probably go full rock crawler beater with it, even if it eventually devolves into just cutting out the body panels and slapping them on a tube frame chassis. The other thing I have to keep in mind is budget. I don't make a lot of money right now (just turned 18 last November and am a senior), so I can't go all out on some things like I'd like to, but some of those can simply wait until I have the budget to. Big potential future goals: - I want to do an engine swap eventually with an om606 TD. You can take the mechanical injection pump from an om603, then heavily modify it for power potential and obv get the simplicity to go along with it. These motors get decent mpg when stock, and can take up to 500 hp comfortably without even taking off the head. I think it would add some simplicity, reliability, a huge potential for power to my truck, as well as just being really cool sounding engines. One problem is they are getting more and more popular so the longer I wait the harder and more expensive it will be to get one. -I want to paint my truck that oem silver color, along with the orange Pioneer hockey sticks. That has to be one of if not my favorite combinations of the factory paints and decals. Here is a great example of one. https://www.mecum.com/lots/CH1021-468229/1988-jeep-comanche-pickup/ -Maybe one day I will convert the rear to a 4 link, not sure yet. -Definitely need to upgrade my axles eventually. I don't think I wanna go straight for 1 tons anytime soon at all. Maybe Rubicon TJ axles would would fine for my purposes.

Eh Idk if I'll drill rivets out for it. Even the rusty one works fine, I just wanted to avoid taking the rust free white one out and throwing in a crusty one.

Now that the initial post has been made, I wanna clarify that a lot of the stuff that has been done may not have pictures, so I'm gonna try my best to see what I can find but will basically be giving a short description of everything leading up to where it's at today. I plan to document all of the major things going forward.

This is my 1989 Base model Comanche. I bought it on Jan 10th, 2018, making me just over 13 years old. It was completely stock, minus the custom wiring repairs that would end up being a nightmare later. The owner had hit a deer with it, and wasn't able to afford to fix it at the moment so he put it up on Craigslist for $600. I was so excited, almost exactly a year earlier, we had brought home a red '96 XJ that didn't run for $400 (that time my dad paid for it), and I was planning to build it as my first vehicle. I had always known about the MJ's, but knowing how rare they were I basically forgot about owning one as my first vehicle. But when a stock, rust free 4.0 MJ showed up for that cheap I had to get it. The only real problem it had was everything that you can see that's smashed, the radiator/condensor, and the wire loom which got damaged. The wiring for the lights would prove to be a real headache but I'm glad I got the experience from trying to figure out how to fix everything. (btw, it got its name of Project Golf Ball as it's a compact truck that's white, and it is littered with hail damage to the point where it looks like dimples on a golf ball. Also, it came with the shifter handle off so one day my older brother surprised me by drilling a hole in a golfball just big enough to let him screw it on, and it was surprisingly comfortable so I kept it for a while.) All of the work done on this truck has been entirely by me, with lots of help and advice from my dad, my brother, and coming to this forum for advice and tips. I cannot be thankful enough for the amount of help I have gotten from those around me and how fortunate I am to have access to the tools and knowledge I use. I wish I had started this thread sooner, my main purpose is to document all of the major things I do to it, so that I can always come back later and see how far I've come. Jan 11th 2018 May 2nd 2021

If I need to get pics to better explain what I'm talking about I will

The spare tire thing works in my truck, but at some point the cable broke so end of it is just a frayed cable without the retainer thing for the rim. The parts truck I just tore apart had everything, so i unbolted the little mechanism. I could just bolt this one up into mine, but it is incredibly rusty, which brings me here: -How easy/is it possible to take apart the mechanism and swap cables? -Can I just get a new retainer thing to add to my trucks broken cable? If so, how does that work? I can't understand by just looking at the factory one, aside from I'm assuming it's just like a big crimp.

dang ok

This one isn't one of the cable driven speedos?

Nevermind I just looked it up

Did they only start in 97?

Interesting tho, I didn't even notice the orange turn signals, and if I did notice the marker lights on the fender I probably would have just assumed it was aftermarket

smh now I need to be on the lookout for one of those speedos for my cluster, I didn't know they existed in that same style too.

-If I put much sound deadening on the floor, I'll be very considerate as far as to not trap water. -I think my water leaks will be fixed after I address the antenna grommet, fuse panel, and there is a almost ignorable amount of water dripping in from the back window, but I got an original 3 piece from the parts truck that I'm gonna install anyways. -Not sure if I'll keep that cloth pad or not in addition to the sound deadening. There's still a lot of pieces of rust stuck to the bottom of it from the rotted out parts truck, it may be pretty torn apart by the time I have all of those removed.

Yea riding around with nothing on my floor you can feel the heat coming off the trans tunnel, which sometimes is nice when you put fast food bags in between the seats haha

The NV3550 is the 5 speed in the later generations right?

I think by default the hose ends are for 134a but it has adapters to go onto 12. I know for sure he has used it for both in the past.

I never thought you could see a Mail carrier XJ with the right hand drive conversion and everything on a higher trim, let alone a limited. I mean it has the power seats, but also has power windows and locks. I can't imagine how hard it would be to find another switch panel for the windows should you break one or something. https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/1791235671258128/?hoisted=false&ref=search&referral_code=null&referral_story_type=post&tracking=browse_serp%3A14fdc85e-f318-45ac-b7e5-16f6a9e812d6

If the cloth absorbs water and the sound deadening traps it, what do I do just leave it bare underneath the carpet?