rtyler8140 Posted February 6, 2009 Share Posted February 6, 2009 Hey guys I've been lurking for the past day or 2 reading hours upon hours of posts trying to soak in as much as possible. I'm going to look at an 89 Comanche tomorrow and hopefully buy it. 160k miles, at, cc, tw, etc. I talked to the owner tonight and he said it had "death wobble" at 45-55mph. He said his uncle replaced almost everything in the front end. I asked him if he had the tires balanced and he said no. I'm hoping that's it. He's asking $1200, hopefully I can talk him down to $1000, but we'll see. Now for the questions. My questions pertain to lifting it. I would be fine with doing a 3" lift with 31's, but it almost seems cheaper to do a spring over. From what I've been reading the SOA should yield b/t 4-6" depending on if it's a metric ton and or the shape of the leafs. If I do the SOA I would use the bolt on kit sold here: http://www.rocky-road.com/comanche.html For the front I would run 4.5 coils and spacers as needed. With any lift I'm pretty sure I will need an adjustable track bar and either quick discos or swaybar relocation. With the SOA will I need to do anything to the driveshafts? Will I need a T/C drop? Aside from brake extensions what else am I missing? Also is there a way to do a SOA and take a leaf out to drop it down to a 3" lift? Thanks in advance. Ryan Oh yeah....here is my old baby....had to sell her to pay off some debt. :fool: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mvusse Posted February 6, 2009 Share Posted February 6, 2009 With 6.5" lift some a longarm kit would be recommended for the front. If not, you're going to need at least longer (adjustable) upper and lower control arms, of course shocks, as well as brake lines. SOA will usually look right with 6.5" front springs, but 4.5" springs and spacers will net you the about same amount. Quite often DW is caused by an elongated hole in the track bar bracket on the frame end. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BLHTAZ Posted February 6, 2009 Share Posted February 6, 2009 Welcome to the Club... :cheers: Your plans sound decent, but I would recommend staying away from cheap kits like that Rocky-Road junk. It does not have anywhere near the stuff you need to do a lift that big. The SOA will give you between 5 & 6.5" of lift in the rear so you are going to need 6" springs to match it in the front to keep it level. You will also need upper & lower control arms...and you really should have a long arm kit for a lift of that height which means that you are getting in to spending $1500 - $2000 to do the lift properly. Unless you are prepared to spend that and do it right, I would say back up and go with the original thought of the 3 - 4" set up where you will only spend $700 - $1000 for a good set-up. :thumbsup: I went with the Rubicon Express 3.5" Super Ride kit myself and put some 3" leaf springs in the rear from Hell Creek Suspensions. I added the adjustable upper control arms & adjustable track bar so I have about $1000 - $1200 wrapped up in a good quality kit. :cheers: There are some good choices HERE too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rtyler8140 Posted February 8, 2009 Author Share Posted February 8, 2009 So I went and looked at that Comanche the other day. I got him to come down to $800, but even at that it wasn't worth it. Had a decent amount of body damage, needed a new rear main seal, had some sort of front end wobble that randomly happened b/t 45 and 55mph and wasn't consistent. It also was in need of a new paint job, head liner (there was none), seats, and new tires. With a limited budget I decided it wasn't the best idea. My mechanic has 4 Comanches and said he would sell me one for $1500. I believe it's a 87 and it has the 4.0l, 4x4, auto, dana 44 rear, 180k miles?. It's in good shape and he actually used it as one of his personal vehicles to get parts and what not. Hopefully I can pick that up on Monday. Back to the lift discussion. At this point a 5 or 6" lift isn't possible due to lack of funds. I still want to do a SOA conversion but only want to net 3" out of the lift. Can I use the MJ mains and the rest of the leaf pack from an XJ to get 3"? If not, are AAL kits out of the question for a 3" lift. This will be my DD and I will wheel it some, but nothing crazy. Basically my goal is to get this thing up in the air a little and run 31's. Thanks in advance for your help. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BLHTAZ Posted February 8, 2009 Share Posted February 8, 2009 If you SOA the rear, even with flat springs, you are going to get around 5" of lift. If you can deal with a bit of a harsh ride, do the AAL in the rear leaving it SUA and get a decent 3" kit for the front. I went with this kit on mine and love it... CLICK HERE I also added the adjustable upper control arms and the adjustable track bar :thumbsup: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mvusse Posted February 8, 2009 Share Posted February 8, 2009 I agree with using AAL for s short term solution. If they start to sag and you're not ready to redo the rear yet, or you need a bit more to match the front you can use Chevy drop shackles to bring the rear back up a bit more. I myself will try to SOA to match my front 4.5" this summer and hope I can manage it using a few tricks. I really can't go much higher without getting larger tires to keep it looking right. And I don't have $1000 for 5 new wheels and 33" tires yet. I'm keeping the old perches on the axle, though, so if I can't do it I can always go back to the set up I have now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eagle Posted February 8, 2009 Share Posted February 8, 2009 Back to the lift discussion. At this point a 5 or 6" lift isn't possible due to lack of funds. I still want to do a SOA conversion but only want to net 3" out of the lift. Can I use the MJ mains and the rest of the leaf pack from an XJ to get 3"? If not, are AAL kits out of the question for a 3" lift. This will be my DD and I will wheel it some, but nothing crazy. Basically my goal is to get this thing up in the air a little and run 31's. Thanks in advance for your help. You are (IMHO) going at this wrong. The stock MJ springs are only 3-leaf springs. If the truck has a metric ton suspension, it may have 4 leaves, or it may have 3 plus 2 overloads. You can't count the overload leaves for daily driving, because they aren't being used until the box gets loaded down and the springs compress. Just put a 3" AAL in the back if you want 3 inches. Don't make life more difficult than it has to be. BTW -- you don't need 3" of lift to run 31s on an MJ. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rtyler8140 Posted February 8, 2009 Author Share Posted February 8, 2009 Back to the lift discussion. At this point a 5 or 6" lift isn't possible due to lack of funds. I still want to do a SOA conversion but only want to net 3" out of the lift. Can I use the MJ mains and the rest of the leaf pack from an XJ to get 3"? If not, are AAL kits out of the question for a 3" lift. This will be my DD and I will wheel it some, but nothing crazy. Basically my goal is to get this thing up in the air a little and run 31's. Thanks in advance for your help. You are (IMHO) going at this wrong. The stock MJ springs are only 3-leaf springs. If the truck has a metric ton suspension, it may have 4 leaves, or it may have 3 plus 2 overloads. You can't count the overload leaves for daily driving, because they aren't being used until the box gets loaded down and the springs compress. Just put a 3" AAL in the back if you want 3 inches. Don't make life more difficult than it has to be. BTW -- you don't need 3" of lift to run 31s on an MJ. Yeah I have a tendency to over-complicate things. haha I think I'm gonna go with the 3" AAL kit. From what I've been reading, the long AAL seems to hold up better than the short AAL. Thanks for all the input guys I appreciate it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rtyler8140 Posted February 9, 2009 Author Share Posted February 9, 2009 Well I picked up my Comanche today. I love this thing. It's a 1987 Comanche Chief. I believe it is the metric package based on the Dana 44 in the rear. It has 147k miles on the 4.0l with an automatic transmission. Bought it from my mechanic and its in pretty good shape. It could use a little TLC cosmetically and it will get it when I have the money. Anywho enjoy some pics. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mvusse Posted February 9, 2009 Share Posted February 9, 2009 Metric Tonne (or Big Ton) package would most likely sit higher in the back., but a picture of the springs might tell us. The D44 was also included with the tow package, and could even be ordered a la carte. Or it could have been swapped in later by a previous owner. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete M Posted February 10, 2009 Share Posted February 10, 2009 Big Ton springs don't necessarily sit any higher than a regular MJ of the same drivetrain (2wd or 4wd). The springs are just a bit stiffer. As mvusse said, the rear springs are the best indicator of Big Ton or not. 4 total leafs = regular 5 total leafs = Big Ton (or a regular set with an AAL) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnnyc Posted February 10, 2009 Share Posted February 10, 2009 I thought all Metric Tonnes were longbeds. Nice looking truck. :thumbsup: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete M Posted February 10, 2009 Share Posted February 10, 2009 As far as we know (nothing's set in stone with Jeep), yes that is true. Good call. :thumbsup: Pardon me as I smack myself upside the head for not noticing that blatantly obvious clue. :doh: :fool: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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