Wildman Posted June 8, 2006 Share Posted June 8, 2006 Hi all, been sitting here for the past 9-10 months reading all of your input and help, and decided to join tonight and get the opinion from the masters here. I have 2 comanches now, '88 4.0 lwb and '89 4.0 swb (up on stands right now) and finding all of the fun it is to work on a Jeep, I know, it's a Jeep thing! :roll: Question is, I have a lead on a '86 lwb, with the 2.8 V-6, 4 speed behine it, and was wondering if it's worth picking up. Body rought, been sitting for over 2 years, thinking about parting it out, after working on the '89, yea, part it out. I still need to work on the '88 this summer. Is there any demand for the parts, engine, trans, tranfer, ect, ect?? The only thing I want off of it is the factory roll bar, (lwb)yea I know there will be alot of fighting over this, but I found it first ;) Any opinion is welcome, I always find some thing instresting here, just by lurking in the back row. Bob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whowey Posted June 8, 2006 Share Posted June 8, 2006 If someone has an identical MJ, then you will see some interest in the T-case tranny etc. I can't imagine any interest in the Chevy stink-o-matic under the hood. The problem is, most of the drivetrain suffers from 'one year only' disease in MJ's. You get 3 years on the same parts in Cherokees. But the body parts match, but like you said 'rough'. I passed on an 84 Cherokee last week for exactly this reason. Keep it, fix it, and enjoy it. You can compete with Eagle for MJ's in various states of disrepair. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DirtyComanche Posted June 8, 2006 Share Posted June 8, 2006 Or build the perfect trail rig! It's blank slate! Get some fullwidths, a chevy 350 or dare I say a caddy 500? Th-400. An atlas or moster box, or just a NP203/D300 setup. Ditch the bed and bring out the tube bender! It actually makes more sense to start with garbage sometimes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
feerocknok Posted June 8, 2006 Share Posted June 8, 2006 It actually makes more sense to start with garbage sometimes. That's what I did with all my trucks! Oh wait... They still are garbage. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jage Posted June 10, 2006 Share Posted June 10, 2006 Buy it for the bar and see if you can sell it. Having the 2.8L suxxor though. I don't know about the MJ but the XJ version has a different cross member mount location (about 14" difference IIRC). At worst park it for spare parts until you get inspired. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eagle Posted June 10, 2006 Share Posted June 10, 2006 Are you sure it's a 4-speed? I didn't think they offered the 2.8L with the 4-speed. Basically, there is zero demand for anything in that truck. Nobody wants the 4-speed, NOBODY wants the 2.8L engine (anybody who does, I have one in an XJ you can have for free -- come and get it), and the transfer case is an NP 207, which is weaker and less desireable than the 231 that was introduced in 1987. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jage Posted June 10, 2006 Share Posted June 10, 2006 But the 4-speed would be a direct fit so it might not have been factory? I'm not sure because FEDEX is a week late with my clutch plate with no indication it's going to get here, so I can't speak from experience yet. :mad: (putting a 5 speed from a 2.8 on a 2.5 that had a 4 speed). Also I have to second about the tcase. I've been trying to give away a 207 for years now. It's just a big paperweight. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pingpong Posted June 10, 2006 Share Posted June 10, 2006 Or build the perfect trail rig! It's blank slate! Get some fullwidths, a chevy 350 or dare I say a caddy 500? Th-400. An atlas or moster box, or just a NP203/D300 setup. Ditch the bed and bring out the tube bender! It actually makes more sense to start with garbage sometimes. I say for weight savings use a 4.3, produces close to what a stock 4.0 does and can be had cheap. Caddy motors would take lots of work to make fit... those things are pigs. as for the 2.8 MJ/XJ's they are total garbage. they are a total vacum nightmare. I had one in a 89 s-10, and after the head gaskets were replaced at 120,000 miles I drove it for another 70,000 sold it for more then I paid for it, and then watch it get sold 2 more times, over 3 yrs before someone finally killed the poor thing :roll: It had on;y marginal power, but got decent milage :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wildman Posted June 10, 2006 Author Share Posted June 10, 2006 Thanks for the input. I know from my research that the '86 was a one year shot on most of the drive train and other items. the only thing that have my instrest is the roll bar, and the 4 good stock tire that are in the deal. Eagle, you are right, the PO said that he put a Jasper reman motor in before he parked it, and what went behine it??? What went in this '86 over the past 20 years??? I need to meet up with the owner today, and barger with him on the price, and this additional info is going to help me on price. The last thing I need is more paper weights, have enought of them now. I'm just trying to grab this '86 before it goes to the bone yard, get off of it what I want, and then to the crusher, maybe some parts on the old e-bay :brows: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pingpong Posted June 10, 2006 Share Posted June 10, 2006 Build a strictly trail rig out of it. I took a good condition MJ, and beat it into a bad conditon one, then truggied it.. why not start with a marginal one and skip the 2 yrs of abuse and just build a truggy :brows: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eagle Posted June 11, 2006 Share Posted June 11, 2006 Yeah, oddly enough I agree with pingpong. There aren't that many MJs around, comsidering they were only made for 6 years and Jeep sold a lot fewer MJs than they did XJs in those years. The purist/collector/restorer in me cringes at the notion of taking a GOOD one and carving/smashing/bashing slicing and dicing it into a trail beater. On the other hand, there are numerous MJs (unfortunately) that are either in junk yards or posied to be sent there, and even I would prefer to see those hulks saved from oblivion and used for some Jeep-worthy purpose. Buy it. Drive it. If it is a 4-speed, you should be able to find a 5-speed and swap them directly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete M Posted June 11, 2006 Share Posted June 11, 2006 or posied to be sent there... All 4 of mine fall into that category. :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cooter Posted June 11, 2006 Share Posted June 11, 2006 Check the rear- it may have an AMC M20 w/4.10s. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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