The86manche

I have 2 that i daily.. well one is down for rust repair.. But my 95 orvis that ive owned for over 3 years now Love this thing its treated me well and helped many family member in their own pinches. And its comfy! I usually have 3 cars in the fleet at a time so that i have a backup for myself or anyone else for winter or any emergency so my third car i have usually bounced around. Originally it was a 00 audi a6 quattro 2.7 twin turbo with a tiptronic transmission I sold that and picked up a 98 5.9 grand cherokee and had a blast in it sold that and then decided i wanted to drive something that didnt need constant work so i went out and bought myself my first "newer" car. 2013 dodge dart limited 1.4 turbo with a 6 speed manual. Loaded with features and comfy! Its not fast but it gets great gas mileage!

Theres a place in.. i believe kansas? Called nobody else's auto, he has a facebook too that he posts whats in his yard. A LOT of old stuff. I'm pretty sure he may have what you are looking for. Otherwise theres an old school junk yard about 45 minutes from me called blanchards auto salvage that may have a bumper or two. This place has old model As and Ts returning to the earth

This has so many options and ideas buzzing through my head haha 86 xls metric ton 2.1 diesel 5 speed 4x4 amc 20 rear sport bar with fog lights, cab light, brush guard, turbines, extra cabacity tank, tow mirrors, red interior with buckets and two tone silver and black exterior, full chrome trim, and a dually kit with a cherry on top. The other would be a street comanche. Dana 44 rear(if you could get it with one) 5 speed black on tan

If you have a keystone parts facility near you you can check to see if they have any wheels in stock. You would be surprised at what they carry. I got 3 of them through keystone from my work for less than 150 a wheel. I had to send a core out but they ones i had where rough to say the least. Made yours look good. Lol

Bummer. Weird how an accessory part just doesnt seem to exist. What is the part number?

Is there anyone who could scour the mopar database to see if any nos kits exist?

I do know of that brand. I was snooping around the forums on this topic and that came up. The look isnt bad but would love to find some oe ones.

I want to try and revive this to see if its possible to find some oe rear window louvers. I know theres the afternarket knes but I'm really curious if they are out there and if anyone has a line on a kit. Or can find them

With the days getting shorter and working full time (and a week long trip to disney) progress has been slowing down a bit. But ive been doing what i can. my focus is now on the rocker, which even before i cut it.. was basically nonexistent. And apparently part of the firewall/floor. And here i thought i was done with that.. i added the front unobody brace and patched the hole i found in that corner. Cut out a previous patch for the inner rocker i had done a few years ago that i wasnt happy with how i had done it. Measured and cut a patch to replace the previous patch and i used the old section that came with the brace as a template to make a new and clean piece to fill in the brace. I wirewheeled the whole inner rocker and sprayed some etch primer and sandable primer for a first layer of protection. I will come back and scuff and por15 the whole inside. Finished removing more sections of the rocker for the new one and gearing up to finish patching the bottom of the A pillar. All the while ive been scuffing and priming and laying on por15 to the new rocker getting it protected and ready for install. This is a home stretch i feel. Theres still some more cleaning and coating id like to do elsewhere. And i found out the spring perches on the front axle are rotted so I'm on the fence about how i want to go about that. I am very happy to say this jeep will have a new lease on life and will see more years on the road. Its taken several extra months juat to get to this point which is longer than i wanted.. but I'm still happy with the progress and results so far.

As do i. And i got really lucky with mine and my seats are in good shape. I have made some more.. slow.. progress. Will update later today

Thats part of your door catch that holds your door open. Would bolt to the A pillar and side of the door

They are mj tail lights. Any in good shape fetch a pretty penny nowadays.

I think I'm buying from that stash. I have a friend who works for crown automotive who is helping to sell them and he messaged me. Getting 2 sets, one of each set for 300

And to wrap my night up i decided to cut the rocker open to see how it looked behind there. Not great. But what i was expecting. Got rocker panel? I bought a new rocker from A1Auto and was very happy with the quality. Full length non slip on and has the cutouts for the steppads. And its thick! Beefier than the stock rocker was.. er.. before the rust. I also removed some of the nose too. getting it ready for the rocker and also because i have replacement fenders. here!

I patched the last spot on the unibody behind the brace Again.. upsidedown.. Anyway, ground it down and wirebrushed the underside to clean it up and then sprayed some etch primer for coverage.

Weekend progress! Spent the whole weekend burning away and moving along at a good pace! Had to peel the seat brace back to patch a spot and fill in the gap. i can't explain why thats upsidedown.. And that is the floor all welded up! It was a good feeling seeing it solid again. At least the floor. I spent sunday welding the seat brace back etch priming grinding and seam sealing Last step will be por15 and then the interior gets put back together.

Lucky dog! I wish i had found that, would have jumped right on it!

As far as rear axle swaps go a lot of people like to swap in ford 8.8 rear axles. Sturdy, a multitude of gear ratios, and tons of them so cheap. However, spring perches would have to be welded. If youre a patient person comanches came equipped with a dana 44 and in 86 a dana 20 axle both are very stout and would bolt right in. Drawback is relarively rare and expensive. Theres someone on here selling an mj 44 axle actually. I bought one off of him and hes got one left. As for regearing youre better off buying a whole kit assentially. So you get new bearings and such. Ive never regeared an axle myself but from what ive seen its a bit of a process because it has to be done right. Shims and proper gear mesh.

Not as much of a score as finding mj parts but its a close second!

From there it was welding time. I used sections from my parts jeep for this. And piece by piece put it back together. The unibody ia in layers so i started with the inner structure and worked out. don't know why its upside down... Lots of POR15 inside everything i could get a brush into. And i bought stainless hardware for the crossmember and seat too. Rear seat brace area. Seat brace and spot on the floor was gone so more POR15 and patches Moved onto the front floor after finiahing the back half And how we are sitting now. After the floor is patched ill be moving onto the passenger rocker panel that is swiss cheese And i scored a nice set of fenders off an orvis i found in the junk yard i lucked out! Same color! The old ones are rotted at the bottom. And the hood was recently replaced off another of the same color as well.

So my friend gave me a parts jeep to help with my endeavors! Free with a title! Was a rust free 93. Original plan was to take this shell and make it the new orvis body. Sadly life got in the way so i took everything i needed and scraped it. Okay so now onto rust repairs! I wanted to start on the unibody section that the crossmember was hanging by a thread from. Pulled the seat and carped and started cutting the rust out. And i cut... And I'm still cutting.. Until finally the rust was no more. New ac option!

And with all that brings us up to speed on its current condition and the work i am and have been putting into it. Ive loved this jeep its been very reliable to me and never let me down. Its helped family out many times. Its grown on me. Its the second longest jeep i have owned. It is now pushing 200k And new england has sunk its salty teeth into her. The worst spots on the jeep. A lot of people would just theow this away at thia point. But i can't bring myself to do it. So I'm determined to fix it. And pass the jeep on to someone else when I'm done.

It was a challenge at first

Well some time later my younger brother had ran into life problems, no job, debt, and car motor locked up. So he had moved in with me and i lent him my orvis to use to help him get back on track. Only problem is.. he didnt really tell me when something went wrong.. until it broke. Like the brakes. He drove it until it was metal on metal. And that was the rear brakes. The front slides were stuck. So what was supposed to be pads and rotors turned into calipers.. and brake hoses... and brake lines.. Brake lines all the way up to rhe master cylinder.. But hey, the brakes were now new and serviced! So wouldnt have to deal with that again for a while. And then i got a call later at night some time later because the jeep made a metalic clanging sound when he started it. And he was almoat an hour away. Took the drive out expecting something minor only to find this. Harmonic balancer seperated and hit the fan. Thank god he wasnt driving. Radiator and motor were saved.

Rear control arms were replaced as well the lowers were rotting so i decided to do them all. And fuel filler neck was swiss cheese so i replaced that too. And one of the times i was visiting my buddy at his shop i left the jeep idling and the radiator ruptured. Turns out the PO mickey moused some glue to fix a radiator crack. don't know how it lasted at all but thankfully home was a half mile away at the time. So let it cool off and huffed it back. My buddy gave me a radiator out of hia parts jeep and i found out at one time he also had an orvis and had saved the body side moldings. He gave them to me for free as well! And yes thats a lightsaber