Question from a new menber-

[Wildman]

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

[whowey]

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.

[DirtyComanche]

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.

[feerocknok]

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.

[jage]

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.

[Eagle]

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.

[jage]

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.

[pingpong]

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

[Wildman]

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:

[pingpong]

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:

[Eagle]

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.

[Pete M]

or posied to be sent there...

 

All 4 of mine fall into that category. :D

[Cooter]

Check the rear- it may have an AMC M20 w/4.10s.