88towmanche

Ok - will give you a heads up if they are available

Not sure if this Comanche has been recorded on CC - anyone has an info let me know. Picked up off Craigslist - '86 LB 4x4 2.5L 30/44 4.11 gears Looks like this was a wheeler - front fenders are cut, the exhaust has been routed to come straight up through the bed right behind the cab. Not really a straight panel on the whole truck and lot of rust. PO says fresh gears in a 4.11 Dana 44 that came out of an 87 - primary reason for purchase. Not sure about the rear bumper - don't think it is homemade looks pretty cool. Not running, not sure am going to even attempt to get it running - everything looks like it is there but this one is for parts. Anyone looking for anything specific to the 2.5 let me know.

Thanks Derf, Was thinking maybe the driveshaft off the 86 donor was possibility but not sure until I get it and can measure everything - different engine/combo so who knows...

Sluggy is finally going to become Tuggy....found a rusted out 86 LB 4x4 with a Dana 44 - PO says it is an original 87 MJ 44 that was regeared with Yukon R&P some kind of locker and is now a 4.11 - still Spring Under, perches have not been messed with. Have not picked up or seen truck yet - just pics. Couple of questions for those who have done this: Going to have to modify the drive shaft to accommodate the 44? Have read on here that either have to lift 4-5 inches or shorten the shaft...sound correct? (don't want that much lift) Anything else regarding rear swap? Brakes should not be an issue or is there something different with that axle? I'll be swapping the D30's up front to keep the ratio as well - can't imagine any issues with that part of the swap. What else should be scavenged off that 4cyl truck? Tailights are decent - those go into the parts bin. Interior buckets are rough, but will keep those for frames & brackets. Tailgate is trash Flairs are all there - keeping those. Rubber molding around rear window - keeping that - maybe rear window as well if better than mine. What else? Plan is to scavenge what I want off the rig and then send off to pick n pull The interior looks fairly complete and is red - I might grab a few misc parts but most of it is no use to me. What is unique to the 86 4cyl that is in demand - I'll pull stuff off and post on the want ads here if people are looking. Not trying to turn a big profit - happy to sell to folks on here for nominal prices and shipping before it goes off to the boneyard. Will post pics when have in my possession.

Mine squats like a dog taking a dump when I hook the boat up - drives me crazy. I did the puck & shackle lift and think that took away some of the factory rake (got more out of the pucks than I did the shackles) To try and help the squat (am ok with it empty) I bought an air bag assist kit that is supposed to help eliminate the squat under load but not mess with the ride/stance when unloaded. Have not installed helper bag kit yet because sluggy needs an axle swap from 3.07 to 4.10/4.11 before it earns the towmanche moniker - trying to close the deal on the MJ unicorn, a factory D44 in 4.10 - should pick them up this weekend.

Doh! of course, should have done that before posting - thnx

Blinkers on the towmanche are freaking out.... Usually normal flash, but then will suddenly go to rapid flashing like one of the bulbs is out or something - all the lights work, even when they are in rapid flash mode so don't think it is a dead bulb (maybe a dying bulb?) Had a '88 Cadillac Allante (long story - don't buy one) - that freaking thing had a "redundant tailight array" and had a set of back up bulbs for each socket - so there were either 8 or 10 bulbs in the rear and if one of them dropped below a certain amp draw, warning lights went off all over the dash - but with no indication which bulb was failing. So every time that freaking alert went off, you had to go through every single bulb and replace with a known good one and see if it cleared the error - and this would go off before the bulb actually failed so you really had no idea where to start - couple of times I just replace all of them to get over the hump. Anyway - still working through Cruisers tips, probably a bad ground somewhere but if someone has a place to zero in on for this particular issue throw me a bone.

Had this exact same issue installing WJ LCA's on mine. Could not get the axle side to line up - was hitting the bracket, thought I was going to have to do a LOT of grinding but by starting over and installing the axle side first got it done (with an ratchet strap assist and maybe a bottle jack to push the axle around.

Ran across a 2006 PT Cruiser headed for pick n pull - was a limited so leather interior - seats look pretty good, leather & suede medium gray color. Owner told me to grab whatever I wanted before tow truck showed up so I grabbed the front seats - didn't realize they had the integrated air bags, saw the wiring for the heated seat function so just cut that with a pair of dikes well past the factory connector so I could theoretically hook up the heated seat option in the comanche (switch is actually on the seat) - anyway, was cutting away and saw sparks.....holy crap freaking thing has an air bag! Not sure if that could have triggered the bag but was concerning - disconnected that battery to get the other one. Have a set of the seat brackets from Krusty - going to see if these can bolt up and work in the truck.

Will do - have to confirm the windshield is even a problem first. 10 years ago was dragging a travel trailer through Colorado with the famdamily and had the gray water tank partially fall out and start dragging somewhere in the Rockies. Didn't hear of see anything amiss (radio turned up to drown out the kids squabbling in the back seat) - anyway, drug that thing for 20 miles or so before I finally heard the noise and pulled over. Jacked the tank back into place and secured with ratchet straps until we go to a campground in Colorado Springs. Scraped a 3 foot long hole on the back corner that was 2" wide in places. Went to local hardware store and bought some 3M 5200 marine sealant and some aluminum flashing - used a picnic table as a brake and bent that flashing to roughly accommodate the trailing edge of the tanks, loaded it up with 6 tubes of 5200 and pressed it in place with a couple bottle jacks. Did some sightseeing for a couple days and let that cure. Had that trailer another 4 or 5 years and never had a problem with that tank - never leaked despite the massive hole.

I would bet that you could pull the trim around the windshield, mask everything up and the spray that rescue-911 (or something comparable) around the windshield and then put the trim back on - might try that if I find the windshields are the problem on the Cherokees

The adhesives and sealers are so much better today than when these trucks were built - the MJ gets garage queen treatment and stays out of the rain, so no issues with that yet, but the Cherokees are another story....been trying different sealers on the 88 cherokee - had a can of rescue 911 sealant (as seen on TV!!) laying around and used that in a few spots on the firewall, definitely cut down on the amount of water coming in and that was a half-assed effort. Going to pull the carpet, use the baby powder trick and see if I can spray-seal the leaks up and how long it will last.

I have a set of Krusty's sliders - highly recommend, fit was perfect.

I have the Downey tonneau - nice product, definitely made specifically for the Comanche.

Have read on here that the brackets are the same - so should be able to either take the brackets off of your buckets and use on the bench, or if you get a bench with brackets should bolt right up. I'd be interested in the buckets and console.

Also - think I put the LCA's in back-assward, but haven't noticed any problems, will get around to turning them around one of these days - think the oval bushing is supposed to be on the axle side - had a 50/50 shot of getting it right......

Feels mostly like stock to me, lost a little bit of grunt going up to that tire size - planning on swapping out the axles to get different gearing (3.07 to 4.10) as I intend to use the rig primarily to tow the boat around - but no complaints just driving it for fun with a light or no load.

From the other side

31's with a puck an shackle lift. Think it would have worked stock - got about 1-3/4" out of the budget lift - did swap out the LCA's.

I had specifically planned to tow my 17' Crestliner Superhawk around Washington State with the Comanche. Loaded out, boat/trailer combo crosses the scales at right around 3000 lbs - but not happy with set up as is.... Rear end squats too much with the boat hooked up - 32 year old leaf springs and probably similar vintage shocks not helping - have an air bag helper kit (still have not installed) may solve that issue, or may order new springs and shocks. Bigger problem (for me) is the factory 3.07 gearing with the 31" tires makes for piss poor towing - so looking to swap out the axles - found a '86 4 cyl manual 4x4 for sale locally for $1500 but did not act quick enough - that one most likely had 4.10 gears which is what I want to put on the rig. Expect that once I get the gearing changed, the MJ will be a pretty sweet set up - for now still using my full size Sierra to yard the boat around.

+1 vote for Krusty Like em on my rig

I replaced all the factory speakers, the head unit and put in a small powered sub for right around $200 - was quoted $600+ to have it installed by a shop so opted to diy. The Sony head unit is a mechless marine model - easy install because of the short form, lot of room to stuff all the wiring behind. Found a local shop selling these for $45 ea - bought two, 1 for the truck and 1 for the boat. Crutchfield will tell you which scoche harness you need to hook up to factory wiring. The kicker speakers came off of Amazon - nothing fancy, they do the job. The Rockville powered sub was most expensive component and you need to buy a quality amp/sub wiring kit and run like a 4awg wire back from the battery..... Little cab pretty good sound

Had a huge oil leak suddenly appear on the 88 XJ - had to move it out of the way of the boat and decided to drive it to pick some fuel for the kicker, got back and parked it - 1/2 hr later noticed a dinner plate sized oil spot - WTF? Turned out it was the Oil pressure sensor (have full gauges in the XJ) - see pic, the plastic body separated (you can see the o-ring) and oil was spewing out when it was running - and big surprise, the gauge was not working.. So ordered this one off of Amazon: Standard Motor Products PS315 Oil Pressure Sender $21 shipped and works fine - but definitely does not look like the big metal one in the MJ - figure that one might be original?

The rear on mine was 19-1/2" from center of the hub to lowest edge of the flare. Front was 18-1/4"