JWheeler331

Part of this whole thing with the Comanche is me wanting to drive it and enjoy it while doing things to it as needed. Of course I want to do all the normal stuff such as lift, tires, paint and so on and so on but I must also fight my urge to completely tear it all down. I want to keep the truck running and not just have a complete build going on. My ultimate goal is to lift it enough to run 33 inch tires. My JKU has 35s but I think I want to say around 33 with the Comanche. One of the things I did yesterday was hook up a small trailer that I got recently and took it to my father in law's shop so I could put some lights on the trailer. It did not have any good lights. Once we got the lights on the trailer we found out that the plug on the Comanche had some shorts. It sometimes would make the right blinker come on and sometimes it would not. Also the same on the left side. The running lights were non existent. After some testing and tracing it down we found that some old connectors were the problems so we replaced all of that and got all the lights working on the trailer. Don't have a lot of pics of that process as it is just a bunch of testing wires and connections but did snap a few pics from the day.

Enjoyed the thread so far. Hope that you can get back on the MJ soon.

Nice job on the build.

I’m in the Slidell area.

I went ahead and ordered one. May be a bit before it goes in. Still have to pull my carpet and address any issues that may be there. Hopefully not much.

Seen that after I posted it. So that answered the question about if its actual vinyl but still hoping to see someone who has used it and has it installed. Would like to see how it turned out.

Yeah. An original one would prob. be hard to find. I know these new ones come oversized so you can fit them right. I was mostly hoping to see other's photos who may have done it.

I have been thinking about going back with a vinyl mat instead of carpet. Any of you done this? Although this shows a carpet mat all the wording says vinyl so I assume it is the vinyl. Replacement Vinyl Flooring Jeep Comanche (automotiveinteriors.com) Have any of you done that to your truck? What vinyl mat did you use? Pics? Fitment?

Indeed it is.

Well, the master cylinder change seems to have done the trick. Today I took it on its true Maiden Voyage..... for me at least. I put 25-30 miles on it today. Brakes seem to work pretty well now. Truck drove well in town and on the interstate. Most of the gauges seem to work. The temp gauge is a little iffy and would not really get all the way up to temp. All my lights worked well including blinkers and such. Heater worked well. Seatbelt lights came on. Upshift light was working properly. Overall it was a pretty decent first real day of running.

Such a great thread. Thanks for sharing. I just looked over it all. Very impressive.

Okay, Not a whole lot has changed but I was still having problems with the brakes after changing the whole front set up. I figured out that I did not have all the air out of the brake line on the driver's side. I got that out and then I realized that the adjuster on one of the back brakes was locked up and would not adjust. I got that replaced and finally had a good full pedal. Then I drove it about 5 miles today and felt a pull....kinda like it was bogging down. I stoped and noticed the front brakes were smoking. Upon further inspection I noticed that my brand new rotors had some gouges on them. Sheesh. As I drove it back to the shop it was worse. Almost like driving with the gas peddle and the brake on at the same time. I could not get out of 3rd gear because it would just slow me down too much and bog me down. Double Sheesh. I got it back in the shop, got it jacked up and the tires would not spin freely upfront. I undone the brakeline between the Master Cylinder and the caliper and it released some fluid. The wheel then spun freely. I pumped the brakes again and the same thing happened. This time I check at the Master Cylinder. In the end I found that it looks like I need a new Master Cylinder so I ordered one and it will be here in the morning at 7. I will update the post if that gets me going. Jeep Life Few pics just for the thread.

I am in Louisiana. I don't know much about any wheeling places around but just thought I would say hello to a neighbor.

Thanks for all of the tips and pointers. I am trying to learn about this stuff as I go but also trying not to buy things that in the end will not be the right stuff. I have been reading the links and watching videos as much as I can but I do learn better with hands on experience.

Gotcha. Yeah that makes sense on the lug pattern. Didn’t think about that. I struggled with those anti rattle clips big time. Surely I was doing them wrong but couldn’t find anything to help me see how to do it.

I know ....... another Axle question. Sorry, I could not find exactly what I was looking for through the search or the links. I am fairly lucky in that my Jeep Comanche has a Dana 44 in the rear and a Dana 30 in the front. I am happy with that. My questions are about disk brakes. While my front has disk brakes they were a pain in the butt to change and I am wondering about what it would take to change the disk brakes to a more modern version where it don't have those anti rattle clips like that? My JK pads I can change in about 30 min. Would be nice if the Comanche was easier like that also. I would also like the rear to have disk brakes also. I have read over some of the disk brake conversions that all use other makes disk brakes. With the aftermarket support of the JK models would it be possible and/or worth it to convert using the JK disk brakes? Is there another model jeep with all disk brakes that works? Is it just best to use a ZJ?

Very nice. I hope to get my Comanche looking about like yours looks. Very well done.

Thanks. I’ll look through the links.

Here is a video of the rear axle. if it loads. IMG_7607.MOV

Yeah it’s definitely not connected to anything.

Do you happen to have a photo of what it’s supposed to look like? I have tried to search and don’t see it. I guess maybe something is not hooked up.

Are you talking about the thing on the rear axle for brakes? What made you ask? I’m new to all this and trying to learn as I go. Did you see something that made you ask?

That would be cool. I have watched hours of different Comanche videos on YouTube lately for ideas and information.

That's a good question. As I am new to all of this I am not 100% sure. I will have to look at it and see.

Thanks. Will do.