WeezyBlue

Just an update and a heads up to anybody that might find this thread with the search function, NO, the 86 MJ with 2.5 does not necessarily have 4.10 gears. The donor I picked up is geared 3.54. It's a factory X with 2.5 and ax5

So if anybody tells you all manual trans 2.5 MJs are 4.10s, like I was told, they're wrong. The axles I got out of the 86 are very much 3.54s. That's not ideal since I want to go to 31s when all the bodywork is done. I'm torn between what to do, but I think for now it will just get both 3.54 axles and I'll keep my eye out for an xj at the scrap yard. If I end up regearing anything, then I'm just going to go 4.88 and run 33s. Anyway, I'm punching this in while I'm waiting for the front axle to dry after a good pressure wash. The trans and tcase are out. I got a new transmission mount, too cheap to not just replace even though it looks decent. New front fenders are here. Again, too cheap to not justify. Got some new window seals. Boy are those overpriced. Won an 80s Alpine cassette deck off ebay, so I'm in the market for some tapes. Speakers are missing, and I don't know if there's even wiring to the doors, so that's something to do. It came with a few interior door panels of different style. Now it's got the same on both sides, I read that they may be off a laredo? Got a set of arm rests here too but they're grey, so I need to paint/dye them either tan to match or black. Any advice for that would be awesome.

Lakeville, south metro

Yeah I got it within ~15 at idle but when revving it seems to read waaay high. I gassed it off my street and it ran to 6k on the tach and sounded like 4kish to my untrained ears. I'll have the girlfriend hold the throttle while I adjust

So I also read that the pot was only adjustable from 6 cylinder to 4 cylinder. I was trying to adjust a 4.0 tach for a 2.5. I tried adjusting both. All the way left counter clockwise made my tach so low it wouldn't read at idle. It definitely seems as if there would be ample adjustment for a v8 because... All the way to the right was too high. It read 1k rpm when the engine was idling at 850 rpm on the laser tach. This may need adjusting and I will update

Now the following is info I couldn't find specifically, it seems to be a grey area. I saw a lot of good posts by a user name Eagle and some other old links but pictures just don't work anymore. So I'll try to use a lot of key words so this is searchable. I might type some of the following oddly, because I know how important this is to people and most don't post after they figure it out. 86 87 88 89 cluster swap conversion First I will outline what I gathered as the general community consensus. 84 - 86 has metal connector on speedo speedometer cable. 87 - 90 has plastic connector on speedometer cable. 88 - 90 tach tachometer has an adjustable pot on the back for cylinder count 84 - 87 old style one notch per mph on speedometer tachometer in double (2) digits Bought an "87-90" cluster off ebay. It was a gamble, had the old style gauges. My intent was to swap from no gauges and dummy lights to a full dash. My gauge as stock in my 87 is at the bottom. Unspecified "87-90" on the top Took the cluster out of the 89 XJ sport 4.0 5 spd 2 door at the junkyard (what a rare beast itself) Here they are beside each other, "87-90" on top, 89 on bottom Here they are with the surrounds replaced, they are swappable, just to answer that question. I'm keeping the old style 100%. There's question if the 87 has an adjustable tach. Again, the one I got off ebay has what looks like an 87 and earlier style, but it does indeed have the pot on the back of the tach. Check the following photos, and I tried to tip the photos at an angle so you can see the style between the two without confusion.

Drove 3 hours to pick up an 86 donor MJ. 2.5 missing, but np207, ax5, and d30 present. We goin 4wd! I have the trans and tcase out, axle is half out and will be finished tomorrow. Snagged a few small trim parts and whatnot off an 89 at the junkyard

The Jeep is an 87, 2.5, 2wd, 5 speed. According to carfax it's been in two fender benders, one in front, one in back. There is still evidence of the front impact. No evidence of the rear impact although the bumper is missing. It's got some minimal rust but it seems very much to be surface rust. I'm in Minnesota but the truck is from Georgia. PO put a 3" lift on it. The floor on the driver side is gone. Passenger side is bad. Interior needs some parts. So as I said, had it about 3 weeks now. So far... I replaced some burned out bulbs, but have an issue with the front left. Bulb is not burned out, will not light. Need to check the wiring. Replaced rear view mirror that was gunked up under the glass. Replaced driver side wing mirror that was sagging, and chrome. Passenger side is black. Now they match. Fixed grinding terrible driver side window "regulator?" Lots of grease. Sheath (?) had come off and was rusty. Replaced simple gauge cluster with full cluster, calibrated tach using laser handheld. Replaced oil pressure and coolant temp sensors. Bought driver side floor pan. Ordered both front fenders. Replaced glasspack muffler with Borla Wired clock to actually work. Rebuilt shift tower bushings/centering pins

I bought an 87 Comanche about 3 weeks ago as an intended unique daily driver year round to keep the salt off my TJ. It's too good, and I fell in love immediately. I'll give a brief history of myself, as uninteresting as it may be. I was born in 89. I was driving my dad's 95 Dakota around the yard right after he got it. Once I had that down, my mom taught me to drive stick in her 94 Geo Prizm. I bought my grandma's car, a 90 Pontiac Sunbird auto, in 2004 for $500. After that, it was, in order: 1992 Celica GTS 5 spd 1990 4Runner SR5 V6 auto (which I rolled offroad, and burned to the ground) 1988 Corolla GTS 5 spd 2006 TJ SE 2.4 6 spd 1989 MR2 NA 5 spd 2011 Mini Cooper S 6 spd (new off the lot) 2005 TJ Rubicon 6 spd (still have as my daily, replaced the Mini cause I missed the Jeep so bad) 1995 Ranger V6 5 spd 1991 Celica Alltrac 5 spd (still have) 1982 Wagoneer Limited (still have, not running, in storage) 2014 Ford SVT Raptor 1987 Jeep Comanche, 2wd, 5 speed, 2.5 liter. And I guess you can count the 86 Comanche donor sitting beside me in the garage as I type this. I never made a build thread anywhere for my TJ, because I never intended it to get to that point. As of writing it has $35k into it in parts alone, all labor me aside from the regear. And I'm waiting on the supercharger kit to show up. So with that, I'm starting a thread on the MJ. I've had it for 3 weeks and it's already taken over my garage.

I know this is a fairly common issue. But my specific symptoms seems a bit unique. Did a cluster swap, calibrated tach, replaced coolant and pressure sending units. Everything works except the oil pressure. It is maxed. All the time. It doesn't move, key in, or key out, acc, run, running, plugged in or not. When it had the old on/off sending unit in it, it wasn't illuminated or anything. Ideas?

So really what I gather here is that I pretty much need a bracket/pulley from an 86-90 2.5, it has to be that way to mount to the TBI manifold, and that's the only option. Then I have some more options in regards to the pump itself? I thought the bracket that was already on my Jeep with just the unused pulley was supposed to work with the pump? My plan B was just to order a pump for the correct model year off RockAuto, but if I need a bracket as well then that's an issue. Then I would still need to figure out what part number for the pulley. All the Cherokees at the yards around here are 4.0, maybe I'll just be patient and wait for one to turn up.

Oh interesting, I thought I had found some old posts where people had success with the swap I'm trying to do. I figured it was worth the gamble anyway, power steering pump was $16.

I ended up pulling a power steering pump with pulley from an 89 4.0 XJ. I ordered hoses from Rockauto for the 89 setup, hopefully long enough to reach the steering box, and hopefully the pulley will work. Find out soon.

I have an 87 2.5 I'm converting to 4wd with a 86 donor. The 87 is manual steering, I'd like to convert it to power. The 86 was a 2.5 with power steering, but I picked it up minus the engine. The steering box is still there, however. I'm reading that the 86 had a different style power steering pump. Does anybody know if the fitting sizes on the 86 power steering box would work with the hoses/pump for an 87? The hoses show different part numbers between the 86 and 87 but I don't know if that's just how they attach to the pump or if it's different at the box as well. EDIT I think I answered my own question, autozone shows the same steering gear boxes for the 86 and 87. Rock auto lists the fittings as being the same sizes on the hoses between the two years, just molded differently and of different lengths.

What'd you do for the speedometer? I'm halfway through the swap and the cables connect differently. It's a shame cause I just bought a new full featured cluster with the newer style cable

Got the donor home. Looks like everything I need is here. Bonus for the three spoke steering wheel and power steering box.

Looks like I'll be picking up the whole truck for $150 tomorrow, so can't beat that. Thanks for the info, guys

Ah ok I knew the ax15s came behind the 4.0s but I just kind of assumed it was the same with the 2.5 and 4x4 to handle the different torque forces that come from the gearing reduction behind it. Thanks, good info. Ok so that's some good and some bad. Just to summarize, I pick up this transmission and tcase, swap the bellhousing between the two, and everything should bolt up in place, no rerouting the slave. Same clutch/flywheel (which are new) The CAD axles on these Jeeps I believe have the disconnect on the passenger side shaft? Been a long time since I've looked at one. Can you just replace that axle shaft with a one piece, worst case? Either way it sounds like I want to pick up the trans and tcase at a minimum. I've been toying with the idea of swapping the 5.13 D44s from my TJ into the manche and getting some Dynatracs or something for it, but that's a bit more than I want to invest right now

New member here. I'm new to the Comanche world also, but I'm not a stranger to Jeeps or the 4x4 hobby by any means. I just picked up a 1987 2wd 2.5 ax5 short bed. My plan was to just daily drive it into the ground, but it turns out it's really pretty solid, save for the driver's floor. Now I'm considering swapping it to 4x4. I want to keep the 2.5 for simplicity, and I already have a boosted 4.0 in my TJ so I'm just looking for something a bit different. I found a listing for a mostly stripped down 1986 Comanche parting out a couple hours from here. It was a 2.5, but the motor is gone. What's left is the 5 speed and tcase, and both axles. So a couple questions I have, or rather things I just want to verify with common consensus: The transmission in that truck would be an AX15? I know they're very similar. Can that bolt on without having to mess with my AX5's clutch, slave, etc? I believe both trucks should have 4.10 gears? I also believe the rear axles would both be d35s, so I'd just be taking the d30. Do I need a different trans crossmember and/or mount? Seems like it would all be mostly plug and play, just need driveshafts. TLDR: Can I easily swap my 87 2.5 2wd AX5 to 4x4 with parts off a 86 2.5 4wd?