89 MJ

That would be great! Fingers crossed I’ll see you there again

Excellent work

Get the whole trans crossmember if you can. The AX-15 one is different than all of the others.

September 2024 - @Salvagedcircuit's Golden Brick Build Thread- Year/Model - 1988 radio-less long bed base model. Drivetrain- 270k mile 4.0L I6, AW4, NP231, stock driveshafts and axles, Dana 30 front, Dana 35 non c-clip back. 3.55 ratio. Cooling- Stock Mechanical fan and electric fan. Electrical/Ignition- -All Cruiser54 tips completed except C101 removal, 6AWG battery/starter wire upgrade, 30+ replaced duct-tape crimps, 10+ replaced ghost crimps. Added speaker wiring, door wire baffles and speakers. Suspension/Steering- Bilstein 24185622 front, monroe 58484 back, new leaf springs from St.Louis spring, rear XJ shackles. Stock ride height was measured. New OEM transmission mount, new-to-me OEM engine mounts. New lower and upper control arms. New lower axle bushings, new steering stabilizer shock. Interior- Stock interior with the rubbermaid cup holder, phone holder inspired by @m2bandit, vinyl floor, sound deadening, Goldwood metal 5.25 speaker grills, stock radio, new radio harness, infinity kappa speakers front & rear. Brakes- stock size rotors and drums, new rotors, pads, brake cylinders, brake lines, wilwood prop valve, WJ brake booster + master upgrade Lighting- Holley retrobright headlights, LED interior B-pillar lights from a blazer, inspired by @schardein. Exterior- New door window trim and guides. Three coats of not-matching dubious quality paint. My best guess: a stock medium-bronze-metallic base coat, Earl Shribe gold paint job on top, then a sprinkling of spray can overhaul as a top coat. Wheel & Tires- Firestone Destination A/T2 A235/75R15 on stock 10 spoke alloys. Misc- I find it amazing that so many parts are still available for the comanche. Yes, there are many non existent parts, but I think the current availability of parts can be attributed to the clone culture in china not giving up on the XJ until the late 2000s. I bet the original warn molds were not destroyed but cloned, hence the incredible variability in part tolerances today. https://www.theautopian.com/wip-a-deep-dive-into-how-china-started-building-bizarre-jeep-cherokee-xj-clones/ Best MJ story- My brother and I went on an unexpected quest on Black friday in 2023 to collect a full-sized EV charger from some questionable folks in New Jersey. His Penske truck rental was canceled last minute and he needed a way to pick up something large and heavy ASAP. The charger was purchased off ebay and the item location fit the bill for an honest and trustworthy New Jersey place of business: a back door used car lot. It was the first time my comanche was driven more than 10 miles round trip after an extensive list of repairs completed. My MJ went from southern NH to central NJ, carried the 750lb of metal and electrons from NJ to Cambridge, MA and returned to southern NH with no sweat. Sadly, the floor pad I installed was too thick near the accelerator and prevented the throttle butterfly from fully opening so the comanche could never accelerate past 55mph. Yes, we were getting passed by Carollas and Prii, but no truck ever looked so good in the right lane and received so many questionable stares. CC is Awesome! Why? ComancheClub has the best folks around! Everyone offers up whatever troubleshooting skills and knowledge they have all while remaining civil. There are not many places like this on the interwebs. The guys on here are walking Jeep almanacs. Some even have the bolt and trim clip part numbers memorized. It's both incredible and spooky.

Beautiful truck. I'm sure it cost plenty. I know Collins Bros were asking a ton for it.

You're going to find so many friends now that you've got a trailer haha

Here is the site with information for the 2025 AMC Homecoming Show in Kenosha. I went in 2022 and thought it was a great time. https://www.visitkenosha.com/events/annual-events/kenosha-homecoming-car-show/ I'm not sure if I will go again in 2025, but I would like to. Probably would just have the Eagle though. And MJs are allowed. They didn't have a problem with my 89 there. In fact, there were several MJs there. In fact, I met @jpnjake and his father there in 2022. Here are some pictures from the 2022 event:

Except 96 is completely on its own for most of the wiring, from my understanding. I know the ECUs are on there own, and seem fairly prone to have issues where they won’t rev over 3,000 rpm

I don't think that I mentioned it anywhere yet in this thread, but ever since I got the car back, the aluminum power steering pump bracket was broken. Some fellow Wisconsin AMC collectors sent me another one, which was perfect timing because it came as I was doing the engine. It was actually from the guy who got me in touch with the person I got the driver seat and some other interior pieces from. They've got a YouTube channel in case you don't get enough AMC content here on CC. https://youtube.com/@americanmadeclassics?si=0EGLg9GocDnzUOBk

A grinder and paint makes me the welder I ain’t

I’d think white lithium grease would be your best bet.

I think it was a year thing. Early ones had the springs one way, later ones had it another way. If I recall correctly…

I’d probably be in for a set if you want to produce them

I just wish I had turbines for my Eagle haha

Looks so much better on the turbines!

Thank you!

Sounds like you’ve got yourself talked into keeping Renix, which I think is the right call. With Cruiser’s info, it shouldn’t be too hard keeping these rigs on the road. To be honest, OBD1 does not seem like an upgrade over Renix. I don’t think there are as many knowledgeable people in the ODB1 crowd. I could see doing an ODBII swap for easy diagnostics, but that’s a ton work and if your truck hasn’t had much for issues to this point, it seems like a good way to end up with issues.

It really sounds to me like she doesn’t have a good reason for you to get rid of them. With this new property, I’m sure you can justify a truck. You’ve also got another car, so it doesn’t matter if it is super reliable. And your kid loves them, so selling them would make him sad. But please let us know how this goes.

Looks pretty close to the way my floors did. I also had the vinyl flooring.

AX-15. NV3550 was 2000, I believe. Sometime after 97 for sure. The BA went away mid 89.

My grandma found some pictures of the 40 when my grandpa was building it. His 34 Chevy is in some of them too. I also got a really nice hood for it.

Darn. I need to do this too and was hoping the video would still be available.

My truck also has this weird gap and I know my front fenders and header panel are original to the truck, but my hood was off of a later XJ. The gap is annoyingly large, like yours.

You’re making good progress

Other than registration and insurance, what do are they going to cost you when you’ve got them on the road? Do you have another truck to drive? The CJ is a fun adventure vehicle for the whole family and the MJ can do truck stuff. Do your kids like them? I know I really liked some of our projects growing up and was sad to see them go. Why does she want them gone so bad? They don’t need to be daily drivers, so does it matter if they need repairs? Funnily enough, I have the opposite issues with my family. I talk about selling my truck and my parents talk me out of it.