drcomanche

Congrats on MJOTM. I'm actually surprised this wasn't on here sooner. This Comanche is a great inspiration to me, and one of the ones I use as a reference for how I want mine to turn out. I hope to see more on this one and the others as time passes. :D

Here are some pics of where it links up and the old track bar (and its bad looking welding). Here is where it links to the bottom. Here is the upper mount. It is a newer bracket. And here is the old track bar itself, which is about 2 inches too long. Hope that helps in some way.

So, it's been a while since I posted on the build, and that's mostly because I have been on vacation in New Mexico. Now that I'm back, let the pictures commence. To start, I took the wheels off the front to paint my ugly rusted hubs. Here's a before, during, and after of that. It got one coat rust reformer and two coats of undercoating. Before my vacation, I cleaned and dismantled my wheel wells, and removed all of the plastic shrouds and flares. I've been planning on undercoating the entire chassis before winter and this is the early progress. And just today, I finished cleaning and reforming the wheel wells. I have also removed my current track bar and steering arm in the hopes of straightening out my axle, but ran into a snag with a new track bar. Because I have a modified d44 in the front, regular comanche adjustable track bars are about 2 inches too short for it. Now, I pretty much just need a custom made track bar.

I know the track bar bracket is a drop bracket modified for a "newer" style track bar. As for the bar it seems like a slightly modified bar to "fit" the truck. I'll try to get some pictures up soon.

Hey, since I have a front d44 and my axle was poorly aligned to start with. I have considered getting an adjustable track bar, however, I have run into a slight problem... The fit for it will be off because its a Ford d44. So, my question is, does anyone make one for my truck? Or for those that have it already, how did you do it? I really need my axle straight, so, any info that can help would be great. Thanks.

Yeah, I kind of figured that. But I also have quite a few vacuum lines disconnected in random places, as well as some clipped wires. Most things seem to work on the truck, but I have to figure out a few more of them. I haven't done an in depth look at the some of the more detailed areas, but I'm going to have to check out behind the dashboard, most likely.

So, as the name implies, my speedometer isn't working. I looked under the truck at the tranny and it seems that there is absolutely no connection to the speedometer gear underneath but it seems to be a wire connection. Where does it connect to? I'm unsure about this because I have a transplant engine and transmission on the truck, and it came from a later year xj. It has a full gauge cluster on it, but I always remember it being a cable attachment and not a wire...

I took off my cracked rear light today just to see why it was loose and got an extra surprise. Hooray for PO's custom wiring! I'm not exactly sure what these wires do, although that may be part of why I don't have reverse lights. The other being that the wires on the side of my trans aren't connected to anything. :doh: After seeing this, I took pictures of ALL the other disconnected connectors in the hopes of figuring out where they go. Time to consult the wiring manual... In other news, I have parts on the way. :clapping: Hopefully, they will be here soon. I really want to install something. Just taking everything apart is only satisfying for so long.

And don't forget Earthbound... If, by some stroke of unnatural luck, you manage to find it for a decent price.

My god, it's amazing... :drool:

Compared to some of the other repairs I've done, this should be an easy fix.

I'm sure I can jerry-rig something to work there. Does it have to be able to move back and forth?

eh, I have that whole transfer case, and the one in pieces. It's on the seat because I'm trying to get rid of it, and I have no garage to put all of the stuff in. So I have to leave it in the truck when I'm not working on it. @shawn: I'll try to get some more pics up. I'm having some issues with money right now so progress is slow, at best. Hopefully, with this coming paycheck, I'll get a new adjustable track bar and maybe a few other goodies. We shall see...

I'm not sure about directly behind the ignition, but I looked under the dash and the metal rod goes all the way to a metal brace on the column, where it seems to turn into a metal braided cable, but after about two inches, it has been cut off. So, the question now becomes what should the cable go to? A parking brake? Or something else. You can see it at the top of the pic, under the ridged tube and above the connector.

The more I work on this, the more the junkyard list grows... And it may never end... I got underneath today to try to take the bolts for the bed off (planning on taking it off, power washing it, and then rust reformer and undercoating) but those bolts are SOLID on there. Long socket and a breaker couldn't even do it. So I moved on to the plastic shield for the gas tank. The bolts for this were so badly rusted that they rounded out and fell apart. So I had to hack it off with a utility knife, unfortunately. After taking it off, I could see that some water and mud had gotten stuck in there and gave it a few problems, so I hit it with a rust removal wheel. I'm going to have to replace the tank straps, cause they are looking a little worse for the ware. And the bolts are still rusted into it. I'm low on gas anyway, so it's probably a good time. I'll replace them and coat the tank with a reformer and hit it with an undercoat. I ground a few spots of rust on the framerails out as well. Hopefully, I'll be able to remove the bed and get it all cleaned and coated before winter.

... when someone asks you how you've been, and your immediate response is a play by play description of what work you did to your MJ. ... when you drive 14 hours out of your way, just to look at an MJ and purchase it, then drive 14 back without it. ... when the list of "to do's" exceeds your most recent school report. ... when all you think about is the next mod you will do. ... when you can spend a whole night researching parts and modifications you may never be able to afford.

I like this idea, but the title is somewhat undiscriptive, so you may want to edit that to generate more interest. I've seen quite a few colors on some of the projects on here that look awesome, so this could be a useful tool for some other project people. I believe the color is Safety Green and this is Alkyd Enamel paint.

I'm actually fairly certain that the column is a transplant from another model. Somebody wanted the tilt steering pretty bad, I guess.

Man, it's a good thing you didn't sell it. That's a good looking Comanche and it seems to be pretty capable.

In MD, if your car looks like its more than 5 years old they will fail it. :roll: So yeah, I do require a parking brake. I will check out the brakes to see if there are backing plates or not on it. Thanks for the info.

Manual. The push rod for the lock moves fairly freely for something that's supposed to be part of a mechanism.

When I go to turn my truck off, the key won't rotate all the way to the unlocked position where I can pull it out of the column. In order for me to get it out, I have to reach my hand up under the dash and column and push a metal rod forward while turning the key to get it out. Not sure how this system is supposed to work, but it doesn't anymore, and I'm not sure how to fix it. Any ideas?

So, I plan on making my truck street legal (hopefully) and there is a slight problem that would help a lot with that. The truck has absolutely no parking brake. No pedal, no handle, no anything. The PO converted the trucks rear drums to discs as well. So, my questions to you guys is can I put in a parking brake? How would I do this? What will I need? I was thinking about if there was some cable run valve that I could install into my back brake line or something.

I hope everything works out for you, this truck is looking great, and I would hate to see it end now. Good luck, with the Comanche and your other endeavors.

1988 Jeep Comanche 4.0 Ax15 Np231 D44, 9inch No sticker left for the build date, unfortunately. Lusby, Md It still runs and drives everywhere, although, it isn't exactly legal to drive yet. After a bit of work, it should be ready for it. It has almost every option available, and it was built to be a crawler, so there are quite a bit of modified and upgraded features on it. I am the current owner.