johnj92131

Spotted an 87 long bed Comanche at the Ecology yard in Oceanside Ca. Not much of any value to me, but it did have the gas tank still inplace, if anyoun in Southern California needs/wants one.

The Luxus E300 was an upgraded Toyota Camry. As such it is/was front wheel drive with the V6 engine sitting transverse, not inline. The engine and transmission are dead reliable. My Dad purchased an 89 V6 Camry with the 2.5 liter version of this engine. My son still drives the car. No problems in 150K miles. The AW4 is the rear wheel version of the Toyota A340 transmission. Toyota trucks used the rearwheel drive version of the A340 for many, many years.

Can anyone point me to instructions for importing pictures to the ComancheCalub? Thanks

Good looking hitch. Like the way you left space for the license plate. But do think you need to extend the bumper past the tail lights. Just my opininon. And you have built a better bumper/hitch than I ever could.

Just find a Cherokee in the junk yard with these under the dash lights. Then just plug them in and mount them. Everything you need is there.

I have had one accident while towing a trailer. It was in 1999/2000. I was towing a 4000 lbs camping trailer about 12 miles to home. I had to travel about 7 miles on good, wide California freeways in San Diego. I was traveling north on 163 merging with I-15. It is a very gentle turn where the 2 freeways merge into one. At that point the freeway is 8 or more lanes wide. My trailer had just a bit too much weight on the @$$ end, so it started dancing around and I could not recover control by mashing the throttle. I wound up using the brakes to stop but wound up on the side of the freeway facing the wrong way. The trailer had turned the SUV 180 degrees around. Single car accident. Lucky the Saturday morning traffic was extreemly light. The only thing I did not try was to jamb on the trailer electric brakes. The SUV was properly equipped to tow the load, 4 wheel disk brakes, factory class 3 receiver, weight distributing hitch, trailer brakes, safety chains. Neither speed nor sudden movement were a problem. Just had too little weight on the front of the trailer. Nobody hurt, just bent metal ($10K).

This question comes up 3 or 4 times a year. Here is a 3 page thread that you should read for answers to your questions: http://comancheclub.com/topic/40651-what-breaks-in-a-boosted-40l/?hl=towing The VERY short answer is that the Comanche, EVEN when properly equipped has a maximum tow rating of 5000 lbs. Key word here is properly equipped. Your proposal is properly equipped to to a maximum of 2000 pounds, per the factory. One more thing, your $10K budget will not cut it. Here is a partial list of what you need for a properly equipped Comanche to tow 5000 pounds per the factory: 1) Long Bed - not short bed 2) Automatic Transmission 3) Power Steering and Power Brakes 4) Heavy duty radiator and transmission cooler 5) Dana 44 axle (it comes with wider brakes than the Dana 30) 6) Class 3 hitch (No longer Available new) 7) Equalizing hitch 8) Trailer with less than 25 square feet front area. 9) Big Tonne package or Metric ton package includes all the above. There is more you need, but as you can see, your build does not include a single thing the factory says you need. Last thing, the Gross Combined weight for the Comanche and trailer (with the Metric Ton package) is about 9200 lbs. Your extra battery, extra gasoline tank/fuel, big tires and wheels ALL count to that 9200 lbs and reduce what you can to with the properly equipped truck.

Do hope to see you back here some time in the future. As others have said you have been a real asset. Thank You for your contributions and best wishes.

Get the seats now. 2 weeks ago I spotted a Comanche that was quite complete at a local pick n pull, went back 1 week later and it was gone along with 4 Cherokees near it. Never can tell when these yards will clean out a row.

Found the post Pete was refering to about the 16 gallon tank on the side. See post #13: http://comancheclub.com/topic/12482-second-gas-tank-in-an-mj/?hl=gallon+tank&do=findComment&comment=122631 That and the Dakota 22 gallon tank for the short bed would get you to 38 gallons total. Why not use a front hitch mount for your spare tire and put and put a rear mounted 25 or 32 gallon tank from a surburban, that would give you 70 gallons of gas and still have your bed empty!!

Agree with this choice. But keep your old seats and try to fix the tilt forward mechanism also. If nothing else a learning thing.

Recall reading about a second tank for an older Toyota truck. It had a whole in the middle of the tank for the spare tire winch to go thru and hold the spare tire below the aux tank. Could work on a Comanche if you use a donut spare. The 80/90's F 150 trucks had twin 19 gallon tanks and still kept the spare under the bed with a different system to hold the spare. Especially on a short bed without that huge X brace on the long bed. You might want to look at the projects here that used the Dakota 22 gallon tank on the short beds also. Don't recall reading about anyone doing dual stock tanks. Would love to read about that!

Found a full gauge cluster with the blue kilometer face markings in a yard today. Paid $40, But I found it. Thanks to those who read the ad.

Thanks, I am looking for one with blue Kilometer markings, not red.

No not what I am looking for. I have one of these allready. Looking for one with a tach and the small fuel gauge. Needs to be a blue face to match the speedometer also. Thanks,

One GOOD looking bumper!! Who built this one and how do I get hold of them? Have just a few changes I want made on this one before I put it on my truck.

Know we all have to watch our $$. My RANT follows! BUT if we have a local fab shop (or a Chinese fab shop) clone somebody's design, how can we expect vendors to make or adapt product for our Comanche trucks??? It is this kind of rush for cheaper products that has given us C.R.A.P - Chinese Replacement Auto Parts. I have seen too much in the way of C.R.A.P. that just doesn't last. And YES, I am GUILTY of the same thing. I purchased C.R.A.P replacement lenses for the fog lights on my VW Passat, instead of genuine Hella glass European made lenses. Serves me right that the C.R.A.P fog lights have to be BASTARDIZED to come close to fitting. If I recall correctly, JCR prices are quite reasonable, but freight to San Diego is not so reasonable. Even at that, JCR price + freight is better than some local fabrication places. I am just across the border from Tijuana, Mexico. Bet you I could bet a hell of a cloned bumper made in TJ for even less than JCR. A couple of years ago, my Comanche was stolen from a friends house in TJ. Now, my friend's brother-in-law is a TJ (Tijuana for those of you who are not local) Cop. Well, the truck was recovered in 18 hours. They (TJ Policia) grabbed one perp. He is in jail for 8 years. Because my friend lives in TJ, he knows who does good work. We got the truck fixed right for REALLY cheap compared to San Diego prices. The electrician charge only $160 to rewire the whole engine compartment and the interior of the cab. If I paid San Diego rates, I would have junked the truck. RANT mode off!

115 is at the bottom. Like in this picture: http://comancheclub.com/topic/22007-fs-random-crap-ilwi-border/?hl=cluster

Looking for an 85/86 full gauge cluster from a Cherokee/Comanche. Doesn't have to work, just need it for parts. Let me know what you have. Also looking for the big fuel gauge from a column shift automatic. Again, doesn't have to work, just need for some parts. Year doesn't matter. Thanks, John Jackson

Was there a Renix era blue face full gauge cluster? Think gauge faces can be used on HO clusters. That is why I ask about a blue face full cluster. Thanks,

If you have a 4 cylinder, you do not have a factory metric ton package!

Has anyone seen a "police" full gauge cluster for a column shifter automatic? I currently have 3 regular full gauge clusters for 91+ XJ/MJ I have a cluster with the big fuel gauge, 3 small gauges and a 115 mph calibrated spedometer for the 91+ Also have a big fuel gauge, 3 small gauge, regular speedo with AMC logo in the 4th small gauge for the 90< And finally, in my truck I have the big fuel gauge with column shift automatic base cluster. Looking to build a bastard cluster around the 115 calibrated speedometer. Question, did the factory produce a tach face without the red paint I see on my 3 late full guage clusters? I suspect I need to look at Ebay.UK to find what I want. Yes, I have purchased some files from GoJeep for custom gauges, but that was before I found the "police" calibrated 115 mph cluster, Know I can mix and match small gauge face plates to get the look I want, but what will be compatible with the 115 mph speedometer? Think I need the printed circuit on the back of the cluster, IF it ever existed. Realize I may be over thinking this whole thing. But I can be very anal at times. This is one of those times. Oh, BTW, I have read and bookmarked most of the cluster swap discussions here. Just for what it may be worth. Doesn't mean I understood them all.

Spoke to Mike Leach last week about these headers. He told me that he and about 100 other vendors were simply cut loose when Daimler took over Chrysler around 2001. All his tooling just went away. Asked him if he would be willing to make a custom set of headers for my 1991 Comanche. He said California rules have changed over the years and it would be a problem for him to build and sell the same headers today. Even with exactly the same CARB approved design from 1997/98 I am not sure if he means because the firm/legal entity that owned the CARB exemption and the tooling no lnoger exists (exposing him to legal liability?) or what. I suspect it is a legal thing because Mike did the CARB exception under a particular legal entity that he owned at one time. Mike Leach said there is nothing with the long tubes currently on the market. He did offer a set of JBA headers for $550 As a side remark, Mike said he used to build these headers in runs/batches of 50 at a time, but Daimler just cut a bunch of small suppliers when they took over. Have to say the man was very cool. He called me back when he said he would and gave me a good 15 minutes of his time to answer every single question I could think of asking. What a neat guy!! Really too bad and I don't think they can be built today for under $1000 per set even if you had all the prints, which Mike Leach no longer has, they just went away over time, like all the tooling. So Don, do you feel like making a set of prints for these headers?? I may want to look at modifying/Bastardizing a set of JBA headers for longer tubes. JJ

When properly equiped, the max tow rating for the MJ is 5000 lbs. Properly equipped means a weight distributing hitch, metric ton/big ton package, automatic transmission, power breakes and steering, heavy duty trans mission cooler, hd radiator, etc. Please note, a standard transmission is not part of the package. Also note that the truck must be a long bed to have the factory big ton/metric ton package. There you have it. What the factory says you need to tow 5000 lbs. And finally does anyone know what a Metric Ton is rated to tow from factory?

Just my opinion, and it is worth exactly what you paid for it.!!! If you want a short bed truck. BUY one. Don't bastardize a long bed. It will still be a Bastard, no matter what you do to/with it. For me, way too much work/expense. End risk is you will have a POS with no resale value other than scrap value. Worst comes to worst, scrap the long bed and start over with a short bed.