vdubinsd

It's now for sale, when hunting parts found one a little more set up for what I planned to do with it :)

Browsing Craigslist for parts (constantly heehee) and spotted a ton on them, attached to a truck-with payday right around the corner there just was no choice :) 1988 4.0 4x4 long bed with a couple mods AX15 swap NP231 Dana 44 (93 Cherokee) SOA conversion HP30 non-disconnect (95 Cherokee) 6 inch long arm front New radiator,water pump and non pressurized bottle swap New front calipers, rotors, bearings and u-joints New rear shoes, drums, wheel cylinders and parking brake cables Braided rear brake lines Rear main, clutch and master/slave cylinder Rancho 5000 shocks Needs longer front hoses and slightly longer front shocks to articulate 100% No rust anywhere, but bed is pretty beat up-was hit down passenger side, torn metal and amateur repairs attempted-pretty beyond fixing IMO Plans are: Today: See if that long bed at pick pull is still there Some interior plastics ^^^ from same V8 ZJ steering links^^^ Longer brake hoses^^^ Swap seats from parts Cherokee I bought for 4wd swap Swap rubber floor cover from my daily Comanche (bare metal now-too loud) or some kind of mat Swap wheels/tires off daily-this one needs the offset Later: Regear ( stock.55 now) and some kind of spool or limited slip Shocks and hoses Softer springs for front Front bumper/rock sliders Track bar for rear-I can feel the rear twisting the springs...due to SOA I guess building it with 3 purposes in mind 1. Get to work in snow ( only 9 miles) 2. Tow dirt track car (light car, flat tow for now) to local tracks-farthest is 45 miles 3. Get dirty and HAVE FUN! Since I bought my 86 2 months ago this is my third Jeep, guessing I have a new addiction...... Will post pics after photobucket is working again

A bit of progress..... 15x8 Dodge steel "mags" 3.75 backspace (had them here from Dad's Lil Red Express) with a little plastidip to hide the pitted chrome 31x10.5 from craigslist ($100 for 8 tires and 5 wheels heehee) removal of misc plastic fenderliners Awesome flat dirt mall-crawler shot back to craigslist in search of 4x4 swap goodies led me to this 84 XJ 2.5 (carbed) 904 trans np207 with either 4.10 or 4.56 (my spinning tire ratio calculator isnt all that accurate-havent pulled covers yet) Dana 30/35-full gauges, red (matching) console, fan shroud, power steering pump, TONS of parts I need-and when I strip all I want, then it can be the full basher crawler project took it on a journey with some guys from work, down a "fire road with a couple stream crossings"-maybe was that 4-5 years ago, but roads erode-did make it pretty far before had to turn around-about 3/4 on the way there one of the guys told me to put it into 4lo-when I told him that was not an option he was floored by the fact I made it that far :rotf: only damage was drivers side mirror flops like mad and a tire clearanced fender on the way now to pick up 3 in front springs and a zj pitman arm (once again, hats to to c-list) for $60....

Massaging wth BFH is one of my specialties... bought the parts car last night-tons of good stuff for $300 looks like 4:10 ratios, but forgot that the wheel had to be turned 2x-kept spinning wheel one time and thinking "it can't be a 2 to 1"-will pull rear cover when I get it home thanks for the replies!

That is the plan, buying the whole Cherokee and having both of em sitting there and parts swap-but it is automatic....the only curveball also, I get fenders, seats, power steering pump, actual gauges, etc etc-the only way to go if you have the room! parts for sale soon ;)

Gathering information for upcoming (before snow) swap, and have a few comanche specific concerns.. basic swap plan 86 Comanche 2.5 5spd 4x2 to receive parts from 84 Cherokee 2.5 auto 4x4. Hoping for 4.56 gears, but would be ok with 4.10s Not wanting an auto, and actually happy (for now) with the 2.5, what trans/transfer case should I look for? Wranger has to be clocked (new to this, guessing that means have it repositioned on the trans) but have a line on one and hoping it could work without too much headache-nuts and bolts not a problem , but limited fabrication tools here will slow down too much custom work. If not, can I swap/adapt the t-case off the auto trans to my manual somehow? Or just search for a manual/t case combo? Rear driveshaft-same as 4.0? There is a 88 4.0 auto 4x4 Comanche in the local pick n pull, but I don't want to have to buy it to see if it works, and reading about spline counts is making me dizzy Any other advise? I presume the front should be pretty straightforward, I have acquired 96 T Bird springs to get the fenders off the tires (31x10.5 on 15x8 steels 3.75 in backspace) and will pick up rear shackles (lowered chevy type) when the conversion takes place. Long(er) short arms would be nice, but not sure if in the budget for now. Need this thing for work every day, and hoping to break it down so I can do what I can over a weekend, one weekend per major accembly (i.e.-front axle, trans/case, etc) Going to look at the parts Cherokee tonight, starting swapping in a couple week(end)s from now any help or ideas apprciated :cheers:

1986 Comanche Base (Custom?) Build date 9-85 (stocker torn, but looks like a 9) Minden, NV 2.5 ax15 dana 30 Daily driver/project 136k and climbing every day Red with red vinyl buckets rubber floor-only options are power steering long bed and buckets as far as I know-no a/c fuel gauge and speedo only aftermarket sliding rear window and homeade rear bumper (on it when I bought it)

Brief intro first.... My name is Russ and I am a car addict. Mostly german cars (vdub) just moved from SoCal (insd) to Northern Nevada beacuse my life as I knew it for 20+ years has recently imploded and I seemingly get to start over.... So the first bit of cash I scrounged up I started searching craigslist, and after some looking I came across this peach! 2.5 5 speed 2wd longbed-its rough around the edges but so am I :cheers: Hard to see the dents in the pics, but they are there-everywhere. Northern Nevada truck forever, no real rust that I can see, and runs pretty good considering the lack of maintenance it has received (I am sure). Shows 136k miles not sure it if is lying or not-but I love it! Its not fast, its not a show truck, it is a pretty base model (5 speed, bucket seats, long bed and power steering-minus pump for now) but feels tough as nails like a real truck-and I have been averaging 22-24 mpg from my rough calculations-not bad. Hear to learn what I can as I gather funds to show it some love-and so I can look back on it as things progress. Ordered valve cover gasket, oil filter housing seals and tune up bits-will tackle that soon Replaced taillight with cracked junkyard unit (lucky to find it at all, but $39 for a cracked taillght? Screw you, pick-n-pull) Cherokee console off one of the local forums for $10-gotta have an armrest Just wanted to say hi and that I am lurking and trying to learn