DirtyComanche

Well, the good news is I got my rear in... Image Not Found It gives me quite the rake. I dunno about the shackle angle though, I guess when I get the front on and some weight in the back it'll fix itself.

So, I've been having fun for the last three days with this thing. First issue was the snap rings, apparently nobody here carriers snap ring pliers that can expand to more than about 1". After lots of cursing and driving to every auto, industrial, and mechanical store, I found a pair that were almost big enough. A few minutes with an angle grinder made them just large enough. That hurdle out of the way, I reassembled the case halves. Then I realized that I had to do up the oil pump tube first :oops: So, back apart it came. Then I saw in one of the tutorials for doing a SYE that if you were cleaver with a screwdriver you could do it up without dissasembly :cry: Did it back up, reassembled case halves. Now, it won't shift. Can't get the shift linkage bolted on even. Seems the shift fork is too far back and it won't go foreward enough to even be in 4lo properly. I tried turing the linkage connector at the front with a wrench, wouldn't go. Tried hammering it in where it protruded from the back of the case (was mad at this point). No go. Tried turning and hammering at the same time. Still no go. So, I ask, before I disassemble again, can I fix this without opening it? I'd like to just avoid that. I think I'm gonna go bolt the axle in during the mean time... If I've just screwed up, and better open it - say so.

Tranny fluid has detergents in it, so it'll clean out some of the carbon. Never done it, heard of it done though. Seafoam works like a charm too, appartently. I'd not though, as the carbon might be holding the rear main seal together... But if you're going to go to the effort of fixing everything else, you might as well. Good luck with the 'manche!

Here's an idea: Get a longer cable that runs from the cab back to that nice little bracket thing where the cables that run to each brake are located. If you have a short bed, I believe the long bed cable is at least 6" longer - do not hold me to this, I can't remember and don't feel like crawling under the 86 right now. Move said bracket as far back as possible. Connect up stock lines that run to each brake (for whatever axle you have) and you should be good to go. Or you could get the cherokee style handle pull if you have a console, and probbaly the cherokee cables... I think they use a different bracket though. Just an idea. Oh yeah, and I think stock cables are plenty long anyways, mine seemed to be going all over the place before they got to that little bracket.

Personally I'd pull the cover and take a looksee, as it can be really hard to read those tags. Then you also won't be in for suprises if the axle was regearded (unlikely) or if there's something wrong with it, such as missing teeth...

I think it would be a T4 - if it's a 2.5L. I might be putting my foot in my mouth, though.

Call me paranoid, but I took a closer look at my gas tank today, and it's starting to bother me. Between the lighting and my camera, the pictures don't really do justice to the depth of the rust/flaking. Image Not Found Image Not Found (Disregard the 2x4, it's just holding the tank up...) That's not exactly what I call surface rust. I figure it probably has a couple years left in it at worst, but I'm not really sure. Should I just take this as an excuse to get a better tank? If so, what options do I have? I'm not a fan of fuel cells. I'd prefer a drop in replacement. There's a business on ebay that sells new ones that are identical to stock, would that most likely be my best bet? I wouldn't mind something bigger though, or even going to dual tanks. I guess I could look into custom tanks too... Oh yeah, I want to cut a hole in my bed and route my exhaust straight up through it at some point, so a stock tank would only work if it was moved back a bit, I think. If I went dual tanks that is. Might as well throw this one out there too, has anybody switched from the stock tank mounting style to something more sensible? I don't like having the tank hooked to my bed so I have to undo those nasty J-bolts every time I take my bed off. I figure I could cut the bed up a bit and weld some angle iron accross the uniframe, then weld the old j-bnolt pockets to it. Good/bad idea? Should I just figure this is something I don't want to fall off and not mess with it too much? For the 89, short bed, if it matters. I have the standard tank.

I didn't realize they changed the front according to year. It's something I never noticed before. Although, that makes more sense than according to engine type.

The swap would be hardish. You'd need a decent vehicle for a donor as you need the crazy small radiator for the 4.0 and all the peices that make it mount. And you'd have to wire up the MPFI, which with a donor vehicle with harness would probably not be too bad, or a complete replacement harness. You'll need a new trans too. And your driveshafts will probably be the wrong lenght. I don't think there's any differences in the rest of the shell. I never really compared my 4.0 to 2.5 as far as the firewall goes. If you run into any problems just keep a sawzall around and you'll be set. Oh yeah, there'll be lots of vacuum harness stuff to deal with. I think I'd recommend getting a GDI 3-core radiator to start with and just getting the mounts out of a junkyard. Assumably if you go the 4.0 route you'd get the wiring for it and vacuum stuff. And the same would go for the 4.2... Edit: Just went out and looked at both of mine. Firewall looks the same, a hammer would solve any problems. The front would need lots of cutting and possibly bending up some sheet metal to make it all fit right. I think it's very do-able though.

Got a new console and hood release cable to weld in. And a seat. Yeah, impulse buy. I was sitting in a 2dr cherokee sport looking at the dash on it for things to pocket, and just sorta thought "Jee, this seat is way more comfy than mine." Long story short I bought it and brought it home in my dad's car... (Borrowed it for the day) He was happy about all the dirt and crap all over his seats. Anywho, anybody wanna take a crack at how many times this cherokee was out of 2wd? Image Not Found I bet no more than 3! (The picture doesn't do justice to how flawless this shifter boot [if you can call it that] is)

After a little jiggling I got the hood open. Not too much damage, couple wires burned, hood release cable gone, battery casing got a bit melted. Baking soda everywhere! I'll go to the junkyard and get a new cable to weld in tomorrow. Might as well grab a console while I'm at it. And I think I'm going to cut some holes in my kickpanels and get a rubber plug to cover them when I'm not undoing my doors.

Thanks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'll go try that!

Well... I got the hood on... Unfortunatly, the hood release cable touched my second battery and instantly got burned into several peices, some of which contact other things and made a nice little fire. I sprayed it down good, looks like my batteries vented acid though, so f'. That and I can't get the hood open, I'm going to have to go to crappy tire tomorrow and get a wrench that's suitable for this. I hope not too much got wrecked. Fenders are on, it looked decent for the 3 seconds I had the hood down before I started swearing. Figured out how I'm going to make the grill panel thing fit. But I'm out of bolts and washers, so nothing I can do tonight. Well, could keep putting interior in. Any speaker pics are appreciated, I would like to tidy that up. Although it can just go on the backburner too.

There's (obviously) some AR767s. A set of gears for the D30 (4.10). A Detroit TruTrac for the D30. Rusty's 6.5" LA kit... Oh yeah, there's a AA SYE in there somewhere, probably on the bottom of the pile. Of course there's a ferd 8.8 out in the driveway (my neighbours love me). A "nice" set of used 35x12.5 BFG M/Ts behind my 86. And there's a bunch of other stuff kicking around (amidst the mess). Bloody interior though, spent half the day getting it back in. I have yet to decide what to do with the wiring for the speakers in my doors, as I have made my doors removable but still want to run kick panels. I thought of putting some sort of disco inside the rubber boot/flex hose that houses the wire normally, but I shy away from this as I see it as likely getting really wet and corroded. Suggestions? Also, did anybody get rear speakers factory? I'd like to see how they mounted them up because I'd like to get that done before the whole interior goes back in. I'm sure I could make some mounting plate for them but I'd like to see first just to save time... 'Nother thing, my center console is screwed. Thus I think I'll replace it with one from a cherokee, looking foreward to actually having cup holders... Is this at all difficult? I might shelve it for a while as it's not big deal the way it is(I know what the shift pattern is on my t-case :roll: ). I've also seen (or at least I remember having) a console out of a GC in a comanche, anybody with experience with this? I've also got lots of fun wiring issues to deal with - at least I found out initially what caused my dash lights to not work. Or so I think. Seems the orange wire that turns the deck illumination on got severed and shorted things out. I fix that up, and pulled the deck for now, put in a new fuse. Now it doesn't blow the fuse but still doesn't work. So, looks like I have to chase wires and possible replace the dreaded dimmer switch. And lastly I have to pull out the Torx I stripped on the fender I hung, and replace them and all the other ones with some bolts that a cute girl at NAPA matched for me. Ooh, I also have to modify that fender (and the other) because it was ment for an 86 while I want to use the 89's fiberglass front grill/headlight holder. Should be easy. More will probably crop up, wish it wasn't so damn hot. Then I lift!

As the little collection of high priced stuff that's in my garage stands. Image Not Found Image Not Found

I didn't think you could get a model 20 rear in a MJ. I thought the only options were D35 and D44. Similar to the cherokee, but the chrysler 8.25 was not avaliable. Anybody able to tell me otherwise? Oh, and I can't help you.

I own half of the ones that live near me. One is a clone of my 89, blue sportuck with 4.0/ax-15/np231 - he was selling it for about 3grand. The other belongs to the father of a girl I know, it's an 88 I think, teal. And there was one in one of the junkyards. So, that makes 5, but the one in the jyard is gone now. I like the whole unique thing; if I get my 89 back together... Ooooh, and I actually followed one through town once! Yeah, the whole 3 minute drive. It was a POS, with a camper and a bald fart driving. It made me angry and sad at the same time.

Glad to see a forum for us weirdos! Heck, there's more people with comanches that actually wheel them than I thought. I've personally got two, one might have to be hauled away sometime soon. The other one is stripped down to pretty much nothing as I'm in the process of painting it with bedliner. There's a ford 8.8 sitting in my yard, disk brakes, 4.10s and posi, just begging to be swapped in. Rustys off road just sent me a UPS tracking # for my LA kit, so things are looking good! Anywho, gotta go - it's like too late for me. Gotta get up early to sand the MJ.