johnj92131

On these car club sites, we tend to think first about the cars! We should all ask how you are feeling after the accident. Sometimes we walk away feeling OK and a couple of days later we don't feel so good. Seriously, I had a coworker walk away from a one car rollover in Utah then wind up off work for nine months and some bad surgery. Be sure your body is good. The truck is just metal. You can buy another truck. Regards. johnj92131

Ok here is my totaled MJ story. About 2 and a half years ago my 91 Comanche was sideswiped while parked on the street. In short, Liberty Mutual would not budge off a $2500 valuation for the truck. It was sideswiped on the drivers side, damaging the bed, the driver door, fender and a tire. Damage estimate was over $5K. I took the car to several local body shops and picked the local Maaco, because of a strong recommendation from my long time mechanic. They did a great job of fixing the truck, completely repainting the entire truck, the shell, installing two (not one, but two) new doors with power window and door locks, changing the door locks, and a number of other small items. All for less than three grand. I did manage to get about $3800 out of Liberty Mutual by playing their game. Took me a while to bump them up to 2750 for the truck (buy back was $100) and got another grand for "loss of use". In total, my truck looks very good, the body is damn straight. But the SOB insurance company did brand the title as salvage. Bottom line, it took several months, and I had other transportation, but I got my truck fixed. I might have done better by going to small claims court. That would have taken some more time. I got the money I needed to fix the truck better than it was before the accident and accepted a salvage title. But my truck will be kept till it is run into the ground. I drive it 2 or 3K miles a year, the Comanche will have another 50K miles by the time I am 85 - and I will be running better than me. As far as all the money and effort you have put in to fixing the truck, Liberty Mutual told me, that was just normal maintenance, so my bad luck. Bottom line, your truck is worth only what a willing buyer and a willing seller will pay for it. I once told my inssurance co. to go buy me exactly the same car - they said that was not their buisness. Consider taking the other guy to small claims court. BUT you MUST do all your homework and know all your facts to present them in front of a judge. You have to prove your arguement that the truck is worth more at fair market value than the insurance company will lowball you. Good luck and don't get too greedy. You should come out OK.

Thanks I keep checkIng around. I would take a look at mid 80's GM cars. Isn't that where the steering column came from?

Want to trade for that diesel you are going to pick up in Va.???? I'll buy this and swap you! JJ

Correct, sitting on my back yard pad right now. It did not want to sit properly on top of the bed liner, so it will need some minor tuning. Comes after a whole list of honey-do projects. That is what happens when you get a new house.

You should never put that on a Florida Truck. Way too much rain. It will leak and rust your floors out in a month. Instead, please carefully wrap it and ship it to Southern California - it never rains in Southern California, so the visor can be safely used here (by me). Seriously, if you want to sell it - let me know.

Robert: Been following this thread for a long time. Think it is great to see club members take on a receiver hitch project. Send me your PayPal link and I will kick in $60 to the project against future costs and for a set of brackets. John Jackson

I just got a lesson on the importance of using a tape measure. My 1991 Comanche long bed hasl had a SnugTop on it since it was new. Recently, the rear glass tailgate fell off. Lucky for me, a Comanche Club fellow posted a Craigs list add for a free Long Bed SnugTop shell only 320 miles away. I jumped on it and picked it up on Sunday morning. Surprise to me, it did not quit fit. It is wider at the front than my bed, so the front corner will not seat properly. Since I still have the original SnugTop and the replacement, I will be able to measure the difference between two supposedly identical shells from the same Builder and for the same truck. I suspect I will find the orginal shell has some custom work to fit it with the Comanche dealer bed liner and the dealer no slip load mat.

Not any stock color. Take your picture to a paint store like Sherwin Williams and ask them to help you match the color.

For the first time in the 5.5 years I have had my Comanche, I took it on a road trip from San Diego to San Louis Obispo to pick up a SnugTop shell. On the way up I got 20.3 mpg with speeds from 70-80. On the way home I slowed down to 60 all the way; Got 23.3 mpg. Truck has 227K miles, 4.0, Automatic, 3.55, 235 x 15 tires. 23.5 gal tank. So at 23 mpg, I should have been good for over 530 miles on the tank. Way more than my bladder can go. John Jackson 91 long bed, Big Ton, AW4 2wd, front and rear trailer hitches.

Gentlemen, I am picking the shell up this weekend. It is 300 miles up the coast from San Diego, so will be an 11 hour drive up and back. Malibu, Ventura, Santa Barbara, then inland on 101 to Morro Bay and San Luis Obispo. Nice ride for a Sunday. Also the longest trip in the Comanche since I got it close to 4 years ago. Would not have spotted it but for the note here. Many thanks! John Jackson 1991 Long Bed, Big Ton pkg, 2wd, AW4 column shift, 226K miles

Time before last I put 18 gal in after 270 miles. That is 15 mpg Last time I got 14.5 mpg and 16.1 gal of gas for 233 miles Have a 91 long bed with a 23.5 gal tank. Not my daily driver, just parked most of the time till I need a truck. 4.0 with Automatic and 2 wd, Big Ton package. 226xxx miles on it.

Posting has expired on CL Does anyone have contact information? Thanks,

OK, I am 63 - getting close to that point in life. Heck, I have been told I am in my second or third childhood. (and at least we can both still talk about "u-no-what"). Might be what we both do best Thought I was the oldest sob on here! Guess none of us guys really ever grow up! To the point. I was born in Scotland, and that makes me THRIFTY (not cheap, as my mom told me). Do the most profitable thing. My guess, the trans is cheaper than the engine. But if I were keeping it, I would likely want to do both the engine and trans to make sure it would serve me till I get a few more years under my belt. At least I could leave the best ZJ I could to others.

Just find an old Ford/Chevy/Dodge and rape the dam thing for the bed. Must be 100 of them for each Comanche. All are cheaper and easier to find than a Comanche truck bed in good shape. Why tear up a good Comanche truck bed for a trailer???

Counting leaf springs is not a good way to identify the truck's load capacity. (Guess it is a good way to eliminate the HD option). First thing I would look for is the part number tag on the FRONT coil springs. Anybody can change the rear leaf springs. But a real factory BigTon Truck will have different front springs. My truck has 7 leaf springs on each side. Two extra leafs were added by the previous owner who hauled drywall in the truck. At one time he also had air shocks on it to cope with the loads he carried. First thing to check is for a Dana 44 rear axle or an AMC 20, it can not be a factory MetricTon/BigTon package. My truck is a factory Big Ton package (called "Metric Ton" in earlier years). I have a Dana 44 and the original factory window sticker: Also the factory AutoTrans, HD Radiator, Factory Transcooler, Power steering, power brakes, extra wide rear drum brakes, factory larger tires all around and the factory tire sticker in the glovebox. Lots more to the factory Metric ton package than just rear springs. Front springs were bigger also. And the Big Ton/Metric Ton package required a long bed truck - no short bed option EVER. When I converted my 1969 Corvair to the full factory F-41 H.D. suspension kit - I swapped the springs at each corner, all 4 shocks, the steering arms and the steering box. I even installed the factory Springs specifically for the A/C version of the suspension.

You simply do not post the real information required for an honest evaluation. There is more to a car than you offer. No two cars are identical - Why would you have 2 identical 1996 ZJ's??? This sounds like a silly post by a 14 year old teenager about which identical twin should I bed. My answer is junk them both and buy a decent one. Say a 1 ton Duelly Diesel, lifted 24 inches (helps make up for the small "u-no-what that you have no idea how to use". Sorry fellows. Just a very "silly" question for a poll.

Time to do a stroker motor. Why bother with a stock rebuild.

4.0 was from 87 to 92

Blue88Comanche: Why not save yourself a whole lot of money, work, frustration, and other problems? Just stay with the Jeep 6 - no custom mounts to make. Everything fits!!! Lots of stock parts at reasonable prices. Go over to the JeepStroker site - do some reading there about building a stroker. Lots of options there from 4.5 ltrs to just over 5 ltrs with an offset ground crank. Change your rear axle ratio later for even more off the line performance. Bet you would come out money ahead, better performance and the truck would be trouble free. Look at hornbrod's truck here on this site. Lots of horsepower, good fuel consumption, Truck looks good. Reliable daily driver. Yes, he has much more than $3000 in the truck, but what the heck, you have to start somewhere.

If you just want to get the feel of the gears - look in a salvage yard for an Isuzu Rodeo with an automatic transmission and a V6. Lots of them around, they have a Dana 44 rear end with 4.10 gears. The Rodeo rear axle is an inch less than the Commanche axle. Best part is you should be able to get it cheap and just give it a try to see how you like it. The manual trans version has a 4.30 rear end.

OK, I am an old fart. Last time I had something like this problem was with a 66 Chevy. The points were collapsed and would not allow a spark, so the car did not fire. I had to use starting ether to get the engine to run. This was in 1973 and I was stuck in the worst possible part of Chicago. My wife asked the Gas Station Attendant where the bathroom was. He pointed around the corner. The guy saw her reaction and said: "Don't worry, lady, I have a gun." We got out of that part of Chicago, ASAP and have not been back since!!! Your problem sounds like a lack of fire. I filled my 2000 Rodeo with E-85 and had hard starting problems, ran like total crap. Finally burned enough of the E85 to add some RUG and the car started to run better. I filled up later with an other 5 gals of RUG and was soon back to normal. First, check your spark at the plugs.

My Very First Question: Why are you looking to buy a Comanche? Yes, it's cool. Yes, it's a Jeep. What I really mean is what do you want to do with the truck? Are you looking for cheap daily transportation? Are you looking to drive some mild off road places? You must have some specific reasons for wanting to buy this 4 cyl Comanche with under 115K miles. Please advise, so we may give better thoughts to your specific requirements. Is this truck 4 x 4 or 2 x 4? Long bed or short bed? Auto or manual. What year? My Comanche is a 91 long bed, automatic, 6 cyl Big Ton package from the factory. SnugTop, trailer hitch on rear and on front. Has real Jeep bed liner and a real no slip bed mat No plans to off road, I use it as a truck to take stuff to the dump from rentals, haul my new and old stuff. Also added power windows, door locks, just because I could. Don't want to forget the bucket seat conversion. Things in progress? Floor lights from an XJ, rear view mirror from a late 80's GM with map lights. LED conversion for Comanche cab lights. Repair the A/C. Bigger 97+ electric mirrors on both sides. Should have done the 97+ door conversion before repainting the truck. Future wants/needs/dreams? Conversion to 4x4 with Toyota Tundra 6 speed automatic! Or I convert the truck to diesel power with a VW 1.9 TDI and get a real 30 mpg. If I never do the TDI conversion, then a stroker will be done when the current H.O 6 is finished. Bottom Line, you need to figure out what you want the truck to do for you.

Could also be a bad ignition switch. That will lead to intermittant problems. Then it totally fails.

A turbocharger will help a bunch. A low bucks stroker with dished out pistons will help the low end power. A smaller turbo would be better than a large/huge turbo. If you have to rebuild the engine - your first choice should be a stroker crank.