DirtyComanche

How loud is loud?

I do have to admit that such a rolling environmental disaster is rather cool in its own way.

The ZJ ones are all the same. Watch out for the WJ ones, they are not. And 2000 was the changeover for TJ engines.

Is there a shop anywhere in the first world that charges only $50/hour though? It's $100-135 in my experience, dealer is about $150. Honestly I would buy a brand new one before trusting some sort of 'rebuild' any day of the week. As I see it, the only good options are buy new ($1540 US), buy a good complete unit from the boneyard ($650 CAD here no discount, so that's about $500), or buy a parts XJ that you know shifts correctly for ???? (normally can be had for under $1000, but you probably want to pick and choose so you get a transmission worth swapping in). Then plan to buy a flywheel, clutch kit, and a master/slave, plus you might as well change the transmission mount while you're there for another $20.

Lots of rebuilders do not really rebuild them, they pull them apart and fix whatever is blown up. Hence probably wanting to see it... You can buy a brand new one later style one from Novak for $1540, it comes with everything other than a bellhousing. I doubt Novak is cutting any sort of a deal, so I'm sure it can be found cheaper. So don't pay anything more than that for it to be rebuilt. Ideally if you're going to do this you should track down an external slave bellhousing and convert it over. Another good option would be to get a whole later style AX-15 from the a wrecker.

Closed knuckle axles were gone by 73. Many of the Quadratracs had part time kits installed and manual locking hubs installed in lieu of the drive flanges.

The thread sucks because the pictures are dead for page 1 and most of page 2. I forgot about that and never fixed them.

No, pretty much just get an XJ Cherokee that has the parts you need and swap them. Basically just get one that has the same engine and fuel injection, then take the transmission, transfer case, front axle, front driveshaft, tcase shift linkage, etc out of it and install them in the MJ. The only thing you'll need is to have a new rear driveshaft made, as finding a 4wd Comanche one is rather elusive. There's a few builds here where it was done, and lots of threads on it in the tech forum. My green one started out as a 2wd, although I bought it half converted.

Looks good.

Solid looking 2wd in Medicine Hat: https://www.kijiji.ca/v-cars-trucks/medicine-hat/89-jeep-comanche/1346230636?enableSearchNavigationFlag=true Honestly, I'd rather take one with a decent body and convert it to 4wd than start with a rotten body that's already 4wd.

You could, but I think it would be fairly undersized for the 6.0L.

I've seen a couple nice MJs come up for sill in 'Beerta over the last few years. Scour Kijiji and Facebook, I'll bet you'll find one.

Yes, it's not polarity sensitive.

They're only cool if you graft two of them together.

Front wheel drive is an abomination made for people that are just along for the ride.

That's why I thought it would be a Lada. But it's not, since it's a Dana axle.

Can you put it in gear from a standstill?

Forgot to reply to this. It's not a clock panel, it's the "I'm too poor/cheap to even get the optional clock" panel, so it's just a piece of plastic that looks like a clock panel. I think I got it out of a 94 XJ? There's enough space behind it to jam SOME gauges in there. With that Viair gauge I really had to cheat for space to get the fittings on the back. I'd planned to eventually get a little clock to put in the top of it, but never got around to it, honestly it's terrible trying to get it in an out with the air line that's routed behind the gauge cluster and all the wiring.

J-trucks are wide track, about 66" wide. It's actually an advantage compared with the narrow track Grand Wagoneer axles. But yeah, you'll need a suitable matching rearend, look in the same truck for that, or get a C&C GM 14 Bolt as it will be close. Also certain mid-70s F-truck axles were about the same width. I believe they are driver's drop post 78? Mine are all passenger drop, and I'd gladly trade one for a driver's drop... All that said, it's a low pinion D44, I wouldn't do it, it's not worth it.

Just buy it. The harness, sensors and ECM is worth it alone.

My consumption is staggeringly low. It actually has a very tight engine in it. It was a GM crate engine somebody bought and wrapped the truck it was in around a pole shortly after. I really should change the oil because that's easier than changing the engine (again).

I don't know that you'll learn anything terribly useful by trying to get it to run on starting fluid. And stored code history will likely be fairly irrelevant too. I'd say just look it over and hope for the best. How cheap is it?

Why does it have no fuel lines?

Makes more power, burns more gas. If you wanna go fast it's a good starting point. The factory tune is also really conservative, and some power and economy can be pulled out of them with just a tune. You're going to need a tune anyways (delete VATS, and probably the rear O2s, maybe a few other things) so you might as well either find somebody that writes good tunes or just buy HPTuners and try not to blow your engine up. How many miles on it? One downside of the engines in the 2500+ trucks is often they're beat on pretty hard.

In a 2wd I'd just get a F-body oil pan and set the engine low. If you even need the F-body pan. I know you can use a tape measure, so you can determine if you're going to have a clearance problem or not.