WranglerMangler

Saved from the junkyard. Bought it out of the yard before a single part was taken off luckily. $800 only one little dent on bed below the tail light. Bought as a Blue pioneer 1991, 4.0 HO, 2wd, SWB, D35, nothing special Converted to a 4wd AX15, 231J, D44 F&R Detroit lockers, Custom Radius arm, plated the frame from front bumper bolts back to the front of the rear spring hangers. Still a work in progress. No pictures yet.

Thank you EagleScout526. Appreciate the information and time.

How early of D30 Knuckles? I have the stock D30 knuckles off my 88 that I did the 4wd WJ knuckle swap on. Would I need to convert to 4wd front unit bearings (running stub shafts) and brake rotors for the 2wd truck? Different ball joints? Does a bigger or better caliper fit the earlier knuckles? What booster do you suggest? Believe the WJ is an ‘04

Persistence pays off. This truck was parked at a neighbors house for quite a while. I stopped by and chatted with them about the truck 3 or 4 times before they were willing to part with the truck. One day I got a call to come and get the truck. I headed up to their house anticipating a negotiation but was met with the title and keys. They said just getting rid of the truck was payment enough for them. Free Comanche! Brought a battery, fired right up like it was parked last week. Carefully drove it home. No brakes at all! And it’s been sitting ever since kinda as a parts truck/ future project possibly. No real plans for it yet. Western Washington, Red (or burgundy) 4.0, auto, 2wd, LWB

Thank you EagleScout526, FiatSlug87 and Pete M. Pretty awesome to see that she was already registered with you guys. I believe there was another owner between the two of us. I was a tow driver in Renton Washington and was called out to an apartment complex one day for a vehicle with expired tabs. Turned out to be my new Comanche. Impounded the truck, it sat in our yard for 28 days and was sold at auction to the proud new owner (me) for $500

You did the WJ knuckle swap on a 2wd MJ? Anything different or special from the 4wd swap? I have access to the entire 2wd WJ right now and was possibly even thinking entire axle swap with a bolt pattern change? Do you have any input or knowledge on this?

MinChe (MiniManche) Western Washington Custom “MonstaLiner” paint job from PO 1988 (build date worn off) 228,xxx 4.0 Renix, BA10/5, NP231, D44R disc conversion welded, 1pc axle conversion D30 open with WJ knuckle conversion, stock gearing (3.07s?) custom long arm suspension. 31” Tires. Warn 9.5CTI winch Reliable enough to be my daily driver. Take it from Seattle to Missoula then south into Idaho for a week long, 1500-2000 mile hunting trip every year. Averages over 20mpg fully loaded down. She has ran every trail at Evans Creek ORV park multiple times. Liberty Wa Evans Creek ORV park North Fork, Idaho Lions Rock, Liberty Wa South of Salmon Idaho. 45th parallel. Half way between the Equator and North Pole Horse Creek Hot springs Shoup Idaho How I decided to mount my Rock Sliders. 1/4” plate inside and outside the “frame rail” held on with 10 sleeved 1/2” bolts. This is just for the Rear most slider mount. There are more plates farther forward on the frame for the other 3 mounting points. Snow wheelin anybody? Semi stuck in the sand? No problem. Comanche to the rescue.

Hello Everyone. My name is Shane from Maple Valley Wa. I’ve been a Comanche owner since 2010. CommuteChe (Black) 1991 2wd 4.0 AW4 117,xxx mi Minche (MiniManche) White 1988 4wd 4.0, BA10/5, 231, Disc brake conversion D44, custom long arm, WJ knuckle conversion, 31s, 1pc axle conversion D30, rock sliders

I was under the impression that the valve will reroute the hot water back to the engine and not let the hot water flow through the heater core so in the summer I’m not getting hot air blown on me? I suppose a SoCalJeepComanche owner would have a better understanding of trying to stay cool in the summer over one in Western Washington. Lol. Every other Comanche I have had, I have eliminated that valve and gone straight to the heater core.

Spent some time cleaning up the mess of heater hoses and doing a coolant flush. These are the before pictures from the factory. And what I came up with... Luckily I was able to use 3 of the same hoses to clean it up. (Napa 10768)

1991, 4x2, 4.0, AW4, D35, SWB, 10/90 build date on door, 117,xxx miles Western Washington hopefully soon to be my Daily commuter (CommuteChe)

Hello, I’ve been searching around the forum and haven’t found anything on this topic. Would it be worth the time and money to do a 2WD WJ knuckle swap on a 2WD ‘91 MJ? I have already done a D30 4WD WJ knuckle swap on one of my other Comanches and love the steering upgrade and better front brakes. I have access right now to a free 2WD WJ front axle. Is this an upgrade with the 2WDs as well? I also have access to the 2WD WJ transmission as well. (42RE) Would it be worth grabbing as a spare or upgrade? Would it work with the 1991 4.0? What else could I salvage for the MJ from this WJ I have access to?

Found some stock TJ wheels this weekend on Craigslist. Pretty happy with the appearance of them. Especially for the price. And luckily, I got all 5! Unfortunately the tires are too big and in pretty bad shape. Going to need to get new rubber.

Just a quick update for a couple days worth of after work progress: I have been going through the engine bay and trying to fix most of the wiring mess the previous owner left. Not too bad but.. annoying. Bought some loom and heat shrink to start the process of taking apart the harness connectors and running heat shrink down the wire to the damaged wire insulation. This is for the O2 sensor that was ran basically across the top of the exhaust pipe. I believe the insulation melted then it was stripped back. I tried to make the wire break by a few fairly aggressive snake maneuvers and short tugs. It survived so I put heat shrink on it. Rerouted the new loom away from the exhaust. I found a few others but not as bad as the O2 sensor. Cleaned up a little rats nest that was made by the previous owner next to the coil behind the alternator. Since I got this truck, the drivers side tail light was in the bed. I never really looked at it until tonight. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. This poor tail light. Some fool unscrewed the two screws on the outside and proceeded to either yank or pry off the housing, without unscrewing the two on the inside behind the tailgate. The two broken tabs. Got a Mini Snap On pocket screwdriver red hot for some plastic welding. Inside of the tab. Cleaned up pretty good with a little scrub from Steel wool. I did notice that either the electric fan was... Parted with in the past at some point or didn’t come with one? But I was out Scrounging in the garage and found a working E fan and the actual harness plug for the fan! Pretty sure this is the first of 5 Comanches that will have a “factory” fan set up. Not going to install the fan until after I change the radiator and do a Tranny flush. The pan is leaking pretty bad and I would love to get it sealed up with some all around fresh fluid. And the radiator appears to have some sort of “Stop leak” crap in it. The Fairly fresh water pump kinda confirms. ‘91 4.0 HO, short bed on D44s F&R 4.88,35s with Detroits, custom Radius arm, frame plated. (Manche) ‘91 4.0 HO, short bed 2wd Auto stock (CommuteChe) ‘88 4.0 Renix, short bed, 4wd D30f D44r disc conversion, welded,long arm 31s, WJ knuckle conversion. (Minche) ‘87 4.0 Renix, long bed, 2wd auto, stock, (no name yet)

Thank you very much. I appreciate the response and love your truck. Keep up the great work and I hope mine can be as cool as yours some day.

Hello everyone, first post on the Comanche Club. Long time looker. I’m not even sure this is where I’m supposed to do this. “Project CommuteChe” This week I decided to drag my $200 junk yard find 1991 2wd HO Comanche out of the bushes at my house and finally show her the love she deserves. I’ve tried in the past to get her going again but never really put any effort into it. I am not an electrical person at all and it seemed to be an electrical problem. I did give her a very thorough pressure washing and she cleaned up a little bit but still looks like a junkyard find. Can’t complain about that mileage though! The Ignition switch and headlight dimmer switch were unbolted and hanging down by the brake pedal. The Ignition lock tumbler was obviously screwed with by someone who didn’t know what they were doing and needed replacement. I also found that the fuel pump ballast was cracked and inoperable. First thing, let’s make her crank. So I threw a known good battery in it and tried to crank her over, nothing. This is using the old ignition switch hanging down by the brake pedal not knowing that It grounds to the column. I needed a new ignition lock cylinder anyway so I went down to the local Napa and got the fuel pump ballast, ignition switch and lock cylinder. Installed the lock cylinder with new keys and bolted the Ignition switch and Headlight dimmer to the column. Still no crank. Ok, jump the starter. It Cranks! But with no spark. Pulled the #1 plug just to see. Something else is going on, must be that pesky Neutral Safety Switch I’ve been hearing so much about. So I remove the NSS and disassemble to inspect internal components. Doesn’t look too bad but wasn’t great either. Cleaned up and reassembled the NSS. Still won’t crank even with jiggling the shift lever. Well, let’s bypass the NSS with a jumper wire. Cram a piece of safety wire into the appropriate hole in the connector and... nothing. Still won’t crank. Must be something else. Checked all fuses again and all were in good shape. I was watching different YouTube videos of people diagnosing no crank symptoms and one guy opened his under hood fuse box where the relays are at and I remembered I had a few extra relays out in the shop from visiting the junk yard. First I swapped the “Starter” relay with the “auto shutdown” relay and nothing happened. So I replaced both the starter and auto shutdown relay with the junkyard relays. She fired right up. Burning the at least 8 year old fuel that was in the lines and having not run in god knows how long she started up pretty rough. Had to keep my foot on the pedal because she wouldn’t idle but eventually she came around. I had already siphoned the junk fuel out and put in a couple gallons of fresh gas. As soon as the fuel line was clear of junk gas she was purring like a kitten. The oil filter has a date of Manufacture from 2014 so I’m assuming that it’s been sitting since late 2014 or 2015. The engine oil is very clean like it’s just been changed. I still need to reassemble the steering column and put the steering wheel back on then start to address all the other interesting “modifications” the previous owner had made. I’ve found multiple wires stripped of the insulation. Some 1/2” long, some up to 2” long for whatever reasons. Hopefully with some time and money, I’ll be able to get her back to her former glory. Or at least kinda close. I am looking to make this my commuter vehicle (CommuteChe) to try and keep the miles off of my other vehicles. I drive 50 miles to work each way and it racks up the miles fast. Would way rather be doing it in style with an awesome older truck that you rarely see on the roads. I’ll keep posting my progress as it happens. Thank you for your time. A big shout out to my buddies Robbie and Jeff for the electrical diagnostics help! And a very special mention to my beautiful wife. The very first thing she said was to check the fuses and relays. And won’t let me forget it.

What back spacing do your wheels have? I’m looking to replace my ugly stock wheels with some more modern factory take offs and don’t want them sticking out of the wheel wells with the adapter spacers.