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1989 Comanche Pioneer... first MJ


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1989 Jeep Comanche Pioneer, Renix Inline 6, BA/10, NP231, D30/35, Short bed

 

Alright so Ive wanted a comanche since I first saw them, always looked for one but never found one I liked or needed to much work or was sold before I could get it. One night at my friends house he found this one and I knew this was the one. Finally after waiting a painstaking month(found it before Hurricane Ike and got it after the hurricane) I brought my 7th jeep home. Got i back in septemeber just havent had time to make one of these till now.

 

Plans are to convert it to the 97+ look and do a 6 inch long arm lift, on 33's later stroke the motor, bestop camper top, offroad bumpers, ax15 d44 swap, possibly lift it 2 more inches later on and put 35's

 

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  • 3 weeks later...

Alright I'm kinda slow at this, or just havent found the time to update. So far since I bought it back in Sep, I've changed the oil, airfilter, sparkplugs, wires and rotor, CPS, and exhaust clamp. Recently over christmas break I replaced the clutch and started on my lift.

 

After finding out I was one of the many screwed by Rocky Road Outfitters, I took what I had started on from the lift off and came up with new ideas. Since they gave me 3 inch springs I'm going to put those on, then keep the shackles they gAve me and put a 2 inch AAL in the back which will give me a total of 3 inches, which will be fine for now until I can afford a long arm upgrade, extended brake lines and what ever else I need to complete my 6 inch lift. With the 3 inches I'm going to put my stock Ravine wheels and 31 bfg's from my tj from when it was stock. I should also be getting a bolt up Dana 44 from Crankshaftkid, once he gets the Dana 35 from Boilermaker and the right driveshaft.

 

During the lift and clutch

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I was bored the other day so i got the tires I had set up for the mj and put them on (3 inch lift front 6 inch lift in the back, it rubbed in the front who wouldve guessed :dunno:) Since I hadnt bled the clutch yet i could only roll it out, no driving for me :wall:

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As you can see, my bed has become a storage bin for the garage :fs1:

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  • 8 months later...

Well I guess its time for an update..... 8 months later :roll:, Since my last post I finally got the clutch going properly, replaced my coolant overflow tank, replaced the valve cover gasket, and painted the vavle cover while I was at it. Also got a yellow top Optima battery for it.

 

I pulled the SOA kit out, left the 2.5in springs in the front and left the extended shackles in the rear and added what I thought was a 2in MJ AAL turned out to be an XJ AAL, height was ok but it really just made the springs stiff. Then I traded H/C/I Stang his 3.5in rear spring packs for my stock spring packs plus a set of 6.5in coils. So with those and the rear shackles I decided to go to 4.5in. As for the front I'm adding 2in spacers to the 2.5in springs, and using some old Teraflex adjustable controls arms and JKS quick disconnects from my tj I got rid of. I'm also using my track bar that I got with my RRO lift. Still need to order some adjustable upper control arms.

 

Now for the body, I found my self some rubicon wheels and tires supper cheap, they have rock rash and missing 2 center caps and one tire, but I got an awesome deal and I found a tire the next day. Also got myself a rollbar, which I painted. Ive been gathering everything to have a straight rust free newer body style MJ. Thanks to Boilermaker I got the doors with manual windows from a XJ in a JY. A month later(thanks to Boilermaker again) I got rust free bed with a couple of dings here and there but a whole ton less damage to the bed I have now. Boilermaker also got me a set of newer fenders. I got the header panel and grille and all from another JY.

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I knew it was Texas !! All those nice houses . Cool truck !! I got family all down through Dallas - Ft. Worth area .

Lots of nice weather to work on your truck . Its been three weeks since I've been able to really work on mine . :chillin:

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I knew it was Texas !! All those nice houses . Cool truck !! I got family all down through Dallas - Ft. Worth area .

Lots of nice weather to work on your truck . Its been three weeks since I've been able to really work on mine . :chillin:

 

 

weather is nice depending on what mood mother nature is in, one day it could be 70-80 degrees with the sun out, the next day it can be 30-40 degrees and raining for a week(which for somebody whos never really seen snow, it sucks)

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it looks alot better without the 97+ front i like it tat way

 

Yea I bought a mj that had a messed up header panel and grille and no headlights, so I ended up swapping my mjs complete header panel on it and then sold it, I'm borrowing Boilermakers old one for now until I start the front clip swap, I like the old one also, but I'm still stuck on the newer design, plus I'm doing the whole body including the doors, the only orginal body parts that came with the truck that I'm still gonna use is the cab and hood, itll be ncie when its done though

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another Houston MJ with a 97 front end swap running rubicon wheels...you guys need your own subforum.....seriously tho, truck is looking good. Nice work on the rollbar, is it stock or did it come from different truck?

 

A month later(thanks to Boilermaker again) I got rust free bed

You can actually thank CrankShaftKid for that...i bailed on the sunday morning JY run, if his saturday afternoon didn't open up at the last minute we wouldn't have gone at all and never run across that bed.

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it looks alot better without the 97+ front i like it tat way

 

Yea I bought a mj that had a messed up header panel and grille and no headlights, so I ended up swapping my mjs complete header panel on it and then sold it, I'm borrowing Boilermakers old one for now until I start the front clip swap, I like the old one also, but I'm still stuck on the newer design, plus I'm doing the whole body including the doors, the only orginal body parts that came with the truck that I'm still gonna use is the cab and hood, itll be ncie when its done though

are you keeping the 97+ stuff or taking it back to -97?

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another Houston MJ with a 97 front end swap running rubicon wheels...you guys need your own subforum.....seriously tho, truck is looking good. Nice work on the rollbar, is it stock or did it come from different truck?

 

A month later(thanks to Boilermaker again) I got rust free bed

You can actually thank CrankShaftKid for that...i bailed on the sunday morning JY run, if his saturday afternoon didn't open up at the last minute we wouldn't have gone at all and never run across that bed.

 

Hey hey, whos truck is also running the new front clip and even got in painted, and the rubi wheels on the kj don't fool me, I know those are going to the mj once its on the road haha, thanks though, its slowly but surely coming together, font lift is giving me problems as usual, but it should be done by the end of the week and I think you know the story behind the roll bar, its stock, and did come off of another truck, had some minor surface rust, nothing a good sander and some paint didnt fix

 

well I thank you both then, crankshaftkid for opening up his sat afternoon, and you for calling me on it, because in all seriousness I probably wouldve never found it if it wasnt for you, BTW did you grab the headliner and interior lights off of that one?

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it looks alot better without the 97+ front i like it tat way

 

Yea I bought a mj that had a messed up header panel and grille and no headlights, so I ended up swapping my mjs complete header panel on it and then sold it, I'm borrowing Boilermakers old one for now until I start the front clip swap, I like the old one also, but I'm still stuck on the newer design, plus I'm doing the whole body including the doors, the only orginal body parts that came with the truck that I'm still gonna use is the cab and hood, itll be ncie when its done though

are you keeping the 97+ stuff or taking it back to -97?

 

I'm gonna keep the 97+ stuff, pretty soon I'm gonna swap everything on the body and whatever I don't use will go for sale to fund for more goodies for the truck

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and the rubi wheels on the kj don't fool me, I know those are going to the mj once its on the road

totally wrong. There's a set for the MJ in boxes behind the truck. once its on the road, now that is funny....you'll be on your 12th jeep by then.

 

The headliner and lights weren't anywhere to be found on that jy truck; we left the yard empty handed. I'll always grab decent cargo lights when i see them, i'll let you know if i have any luck this weekend.

 

OEM, nice find...you probably told me about the rollbar right after you found it. the rollbar goes well with your side steps, looking forward to seeing it in person. Get that front end lifted so you can drive your MJ the next time we swap parts.

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and the rubi wheels on the kj don't fool me, I know those are going to the mj once its on the road

totally wrong. There's a set for the MJ in boxes behind the truck. once its on the road, now that is funny....you'll be on your 12th jeep by then.

 

The headliner and lights weren't anywhere to be found on that jy truck; we left the yard empty handed. I'll always grab decent cargo lights when i see them, i'll let you know if i have any luck this weekend.

 

OEM, nice find...you probably told me about the rollbar right after you found it. the rollbar goes well with your side steps, looking forward to seeing it in person. Get that front end lifted so you can drive your MJ the next time we swap parts.

 

Not bad are you going to leave them grey?

 

that sucks as soon as I looked inside and didnt see them I figured you had already pulled them,

 

yup thanks, I'm actually going to pull the steps off, I pulled one side off to get a socket out of the frame, and I like it better without them

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Update is much appreciated. I am another Texas MJ owner and my truck came from Pearland. yet another Houston area neighborhood.

 

not much updated yet, front end is still taken apart, gonna finish soon though, I have family in Pearland but Ive never driven the mj down there, probably will though when I go to visit boilermaker and get more parts or return parts

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UPDATE!!!!!!!

 

Well finished the lift, sort of, I got everything put together, but I still need to go back and tighten all the control arm bolts, ad sway bar links and bolt up the shocks, I was just in a hurry today to get it finished so that I can move it over to park my dads/mine for now f150 in the garage while I'm out of town. Here are the pics

 

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Also got pics of a few other little things I did

 

Old shift "knob"

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New shift knob, found it in a JY, kinda dirty and I accidently put a hole through the cover, but better than what I had

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Painted valve cover and new coolant tank

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old coolant tank and its contents

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And I found my old tail light that came with the truck when I bought it

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That is the most amazing tailight repair I've ever seen. That is some super badass MacGuyver stuff right there.

 

yea after I bought the truck, I thought to myself, "damn it was hard enough to find the truck, how hard is it going to be to find a tail light" then a week later I went to a junkyard and got lucky and found an MJ with good tail lights, while I was there I met Boilermaker as he was looking at the same truck, 2 weeks later I bought some Husky liners from him and I didnt even know it was him till I met up with him to pick them up, its a small world

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