drcomanche

Who makes that sunroof? Or what vehicle did you pull it from? Oh, and good work getting right to it. Looking good so far, keep it up.

As the title says, I just discovered this on my truck today. How do I fix this problem? Can I fix it?

Well, a very frustrating day trying to work on the truck. To start, I took the tank out to get painted, got the primer coat on and then did half of the tank in the color matched paint. Except that, as soon as I put it on, I noticed how "color matched" it was. It's a little too bright for the green on the truck, but I decided to go with it anyway. I gave the tank a full coat, and then the steering linkages. So, my neighbor picks THIS day of ALL days to mow her lawn... The resulting debris and particles? All over my fresh coat of paint. Well, that's scrapped for the day. I put it back in its box. I'll have to sand it and respray it later. I move on to the underside rear of the truck to scrape the surface rust and junk off the rails so I can undercoat them. I clear some dirt from around a manufactured hole in the framerail, and notice some dirt on the inside. So I use my finger to scrape whatever I can reach on the inside of the framerail out. I feel large chunks of metal. Apparently, my frame is rotting from the inside out, and because of limited access, I can't do anything about it... I would love to take the bed off and just sand everything, but I have nowhere to put it when I do, and the bolts are practically cemented in. Oh, and as I was putting the steering linkages away, I noticed that my power steering box is leaking. I'm a second away from punching a hole in the wall. I just packed it up for the day, which was probably for the best, considering it's about to rain, even though it wasn't supposed to today.

Yeah, the cab corners are good. Rockers are good. The floors have already been replaced and bedlined, so no carpet needed. The amount of rust was really surprising small. It just has surface rust on some spots, but with all the undercoating I'm doing, it's really just preventive maintenance. Hopefully, as soon as the other five or so parts I have on order arrive, it will be road worthy enough to register and drive. :cheers: Yes, it is MJ specific, and I got it off of Ebay. Some company called radiator classics.

Just got another present today :brows: I'm going to get it primed tomorrow afternoon, and hopefully, when my paint gets here, I'll paint it up. I also have my misalignment spacers on order now as well. They should be here in the next couple of days, and then the track bar goes on. :bowdown: About time...

It is a surprisingly easy to do project, but it will require some time. Let me see if I can remember some of the tips for it. Don't make too much. It dries fairly quickly and the drier it is, the more difficult it is to work with. If the dent or spot is too deep, don't worry about trying to get it level in one go. You can do multiple layers of bondo to fill a dent. If you don't already have them, some soft plastic scrapers(should be sold with the bondo) and a rasp and sanding block are pretty useful. Do one layer bondo, then sand it down smooth to where you can't see sanding lines or streaks. Then do another layer of bondo and repeat until it is where you want it and smooth. And probably most important, take your time. It will turn out better in the end if you aren't rushing yourself. I think that's about it, so good luck with it.

I just got my new track bar with some heim joints. It has misalignment spacers but the bore for the bolt but it is about 1/4 of an inch too narrow for the spacers. Is there a place I can buy other spacers? Should I upgrade the bolt size and bore out the holes? Is there a spacer I could put in there?

Track bar has arrived. :D Got it mock fitted in there, unfortunately, it didn't come with the correct spacers, so it can't go on quite yet. I did get it painted and started to paint all of the linkages with the closest color I could find to my paint. It ended up being a bit too far off from the color, so I just had it matched in an alkyd enamel spray paint. Should come in soon, and my new gas tank and tank straps should be in this week too. That means next week should be a real build week for me. :wrench: I hope to see a lot of progress. Just today, I got the last bit of my frame rails rust reformed, and now I'm prepping to do the front. If I manage to sell off some of my older parts, I might just be able to get my bedliner too.

I'm trying to figure out what color my Comanche is, and I have no idea where to begin. I want to paint some of the steering linkage body color, but can't find the right color. That may have something to do with my partial colorblindness :fs1: but we can just call it difficult. I've looked at almost every variation of olive drab trying to find this. Safety green, John Deere green, they all look just about the same to me, so maybe you guys can help. Here's a pic.

Thanks a lot. That is exactly what I was looking for.

Hi, I was wondering what Speedometer gear I should use to correct my speedometer in the manche. I have a front d44 and a rear 9 with 5.13 gearing and 36 inch tires. I was wondering what I should use as a speedometer gear, since I'm currently without a speedometer. How many teeth should the gear have? Anybody know where I can get them? Any info is good info.

Man, with that description, your plans are making it ever closer to making my trucks sibling. I have the d44 9 inch combo, w/ the 36 iroks and lockers. :cheers: It's a great set up, it just takes a little work... :wrench: Your truck is looking pretty mean as is, though. Do you have any pics of the interior?

Little update, custom fabricated trackbar ordered. It's about time! :cheers: I expect to see it in about a week.

Don't feel too bad about the 3500. That's about what I spent on mine as well, so you aren't the only one.

It will all work out in the end, just like everybody here is saying. The truck will always be there for you to work on whenever you get the time to. Just don't let it get to you too much.

Ok, so some major progress today. My gas tank straps put up one hell of a fight and wouldn't budge for the life of me but they could only hold up so long to the hack saw. The tank was fairly rusted on the top; enough so that large chunks of metal were just falling off. When I shined a light inside and looked at it, I could see some spots where it was starting to rust through. and my clipped tank straps I dismantled the tank filler valve, scraped off the rust, sanded it down, and put a coating of rust reformer on it. I got underneath it and started sanding and scrubbing down underneath the bed in preparation for undercoating. It looks very good under there, luckily for me. I also started on the side of the frame rail and cab with the rust reformer. And here is a quick couple of pics of the truck and its new windshield. And last but not least, I mocked up a track bar and sent in the sizes to northwest fab so they can make it for me. Really looking forward to the next couple of weeks. A lot of progress should be done on it.

Alright then. Thanks a lot. Do you happen to know if there was a switch up in the design of the tank for HO versions?

I'm not sure if this topic has been covered or not yet, but, since my gas tank decided to crap out, I was wondering if a 23.5 gallon tank will fit under a shortbed. I don't feel like there would be a clearance issue but I decided to ask you guys first. And also, while I'm on the subject, I remember a while back reading something about the gas tanks being different for different years or something to that effect. So is there anything I should look into before just buying a tank?

Well, I suffered a minor but very frustrating setback today. I suppose my gas tank was a bit more rusted and weak than I thought, and while working today, I noticed a wet spot on the tank... Well, there goes my tank of gas. Looks like I'll be adding this to the 'to do' list. On a slightly more positive note, I did get my new windshield in and set. So I knocked one off the list and subsequently added one on. Bummer...

Yeah, in general, everything went ok here, but we've had a few structural collapses near our cliffs, but nothing terrible.

So, any of you east coast guys feel that earthquake? Anybody get pics or video? Any interesting stories? My house was on the verge of collapse, cracking and bending, and I'm in Lusby.

When did Ford start using those? And on what vehicles?

So, I have a Ford 9 inch rear with to be 5 lug hubs and disc brakes. The calipers have absolutely no e brake assembly on them, and I've been thinking about adding them for a while. So, what would be the best method for putting an e brake onto it? Are there any calipers or whole brake assemblies that will fit on the axle from a donor vehicle?

finished sanding and priming my wheel wells, prepping for undercoating tomorrow. Pulled off my steering linkage to align my axle (hopefully). Need a new track bar before I can get that done. And, I removed the rear flares for sanding and priming tomorrow. :D

Yeah, it seems that way.... But the po did some ridiculous offroading in it and it has not so much as a bend. If I can't find a new one that I can replace this with, I may end up just reusing this one and having it shortened or modified to have a hiem joint.