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I can add more to this if it shows interest, LMK. Black and Blue Garage here (Thomas Yingling) first post on CC or any old style forum. 1988 MJ, bronco axles - moved around, LS swap etc. I've got the tires and outer/inner fenders sorted out so I could start on my bumper. 1 3/4 8th wall seam tube around 12 feet in length and one harbor freight winch plate. Total cost: around $90 in materials. Started with cutting out my bent up front bumper and "frame" tie in/radiator support. Then notched the ends of the frame and got to work on the winch plate. *It is important to know at this point that I am putting the radiator in the bed of the truck, If it were in the front, I would need to mount the winch plate lower, and find a winch that has a clickable free spool lever. The winch plate was cut out for the frame and pitman shaft and then welded straight to the frame. Used angle iron to support the sides to the frame stiffeners There are 3 bends in the upper tube, around 3-2°, to follow the curve of the header panel. Then bent the lower tube 30° on the ends, notched. Cut an opening and plated for the winch fairlead opening. Lower tube welded to the frame, winch plate along the bottom and to the upper tube. Please forgive my welding. The ends of the upper tube were beveled after testing flexed out tire clearance and later stuffed with 1.5" quarter wall DOM and then plated on the ends to seal them up. --------------------- Notched and beveled support tubes in hope to prevent bending in the ends of the bumper, be it that it is just 1/8 wall tube. I made sure the steering gear box bolts are still able to be removed. Because the winch plate was cut for the steering, it was braced to the bumper and welded all around to stiffen it back up. --------------------------------T to finish it off I painted it with my favorite brand of black paint. I made two videos of this whole process and they can be found on Black and Blue Garage.

Hello Comanche Club! I must admit that I've been lurking on here for quite some time (a couple years actually!), but the time has finally come for me to register and post something, because I've recently bought this beautiful thing: So first, let me introduce myself: I actually got hooked on Comanche's by none other than one of Comanche Club's finest, Mr. 500 MJ. We both went to school in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, and I had the pleasure of riding in the back of his MJ when our trail rig died shortly after starting the trail, and then had to be pulled out (you might have read about this: http://comancheclub.com/topic/1926-88-mj-4wd-trail-truck/page__st__100?do=findComment&comment=108488). I was actually looking for an MJ as a second/winter vehicle several years ago when my previous winter/wheeler ride threw it's timing chain, but unfortunately could not find one that wasn't completely rusted out, so I bought a Cherokee instead. The Cherokee was very rusty, but it had a 4.0L HO, AX-15, 4wd, and most importantly, it was cheap and the seller actually called me back. I knew it only needed to last a few years, and then I thought if I got a Comanche in the future I could use it as a parts vehicle. As rusty as it was, that thing has (almost) never missed a beat. Mechanically it's in decent shape, the major things it needs are new front unit bearings and a full brake job, but the unibody needs some serious fixing. Sounds like a perfect drivetrain donor to me! The Cherokee just keeps on trucking, and has taken me on some awesome adventures. I left the stock sagging suspension on it and mounted up some 30x9.5 MT's and hit the trails! Ok, back to the MJ! It's a 1989 Comanche Pioneer SWB, with a 4.0L, 5spd, and 2wd. It does have a rebuilt title, but I've checked the frame and it's straight as an arrow. It appears that it got into a small fender bender, and the resulting damage was enough to total it. I checked Indiana law and it looks like if the damage costs 70% of the vehicles value or more it gets totaled, so for a 20+ yr old truck I don't think it would take much for it to technically be totaled The good news is as a result of this damage the truck has a fresh paintjob, and supposedly all the rust has been fixed! The fenders and bedsides are all solid, and looking underneath there is the slightest bit of rust underneath the floorboards, but they all pass the hammer test. I'm optimistic that they're all good, but I'll know for sure when I take Pete's advice and rip up my carpets. It looks great on the outside, but things change a bit inside. It looks like the interior was never quite put back together properly. All the door locks are sticky, the steering column is from a different truck and the ign cylinder doesn't work, it has unknown buckets mounted to the bench frame, the HVAC lights don't work (but the heat works great!) and it came with a skull shift knob that promptly fell off. The XJ will be donating many of it's parts. Current plan is to use the Trans/T-case, front driveshaft, 4wd shifter linkage, bucket seats, center console, steering column, steering wheel, door locks, ignition cylinder, spare tire (never seen the road!), cruise control, and anything else I decide I want to swap over, or is in better condition than what the MJ currently has. The remainder will be parted out (let me know what you need!) or brought to the metal recyclers. I won't actually be using the axles as I'm planning on picking up a HP d30 from a 4-cyl for the front, and also a Ford 8.8 with 4.10's and an LSD for the rear. If those prove difficult to find I might convert to 4wd and run my current d30 with the stock gears for bit until I can find the axles I want. The eventual plan is to use the MJ as a second vehicle, as my DD is a higher mileage WRX that does need some downtime for repairs occasionally (i work slow). It will also be an occasional wheeler with something in the 31 - 33" tire range. And I'll be using it to haul whatever needs hauling whenever it needs hauling. It will also carry my bike back up to the UP sometime, hopefully this summer, for a quality weekend of camping, wheeling, and enjoying the beauty of the Keweenaw on two wheels. And to finish my first post off, here's my blue XJ, silver MJ, and also a good friends red XJ all parked in my driveway right after we finally got the MJ home after a long road trip to Indiana (I live in the metro Detroit area). More soon!