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My Longbed Manche Build-Up in Florida


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This is my latest comanche, third so far :cool:

Pick it up from the original owner, he shed a tear when I drove it away... very nice older gentleman.

Long Bed

4.0L

AW4

Two wheel drive but has the factory metric tonne package, aka d44 with lsd.

Yeah he had all the factory service manuals! and a gun rack behind the seat lol

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Stage 2 of the comanche:

7" front lift with drop brackets and the usual parts

SOA in the rear

roof rack

brushguard

front and rear hitch

I never upgraded the steering like I should have and eventually decided to go big via front leaves, 3/4-1 ton axles and high steer.

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Stage 3 plan:

Still 2wd for now :roll: 4wd comes in stage 4.

Nates 4x4 front bumper

Front 7 leaf waggy springs with 1.5" AAL

HP D44 front with cross over steering at first and then full high steer soon after.

Swaybar disconnects

Rear SOA with 3" AAL

10.25ff 5.38 gears, discs, welded rear

Michelin 11r16 XLs (38.5/11x16) on black steelies

Comparison of the d35 currently in the rear to the new 10.25 about to go in

Spring plates with shock mounts I made to fit the 3 1/2" ubolts

Installing the 3" AAL and test fitting one of the driveshafts I had lying around, ended up using my original one for a perfect fit. With the 2wd and longbed the dshaft will be fine and I am going to upgrade to a tcase with a SYE and upgrade the rear shaft in the future anyway.

Using the hi lift to align the rear axle laterally. The durn thing weights close to 500 lbs!

Figured I'd throw in a couple pictures of the cab. I'm about to bedline the floor and install a set of buckets. I know they have some tears but I want to recover them in camo anyway. I'm also building a center console to match my sub box behind the seats...

Travis helped me weld up the rear perches, fix some cuts in the axle tubes, and weld the tubes to the pumpkin. Thanks again!

Test fit of the XLs

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nice build so far. but damn you people and your rust free trucks :fs1:

do you already have your Nate's 4x4 bumper? I need to get some sort of bumper for recovery (prefer a winch with a stinger just to get it all at once instead of upgrading in the future) and I had been looking into them. its down to Nate's and JCR, JCR is more expensive but they look amazing and have a warranty for if it breaks off road, Nate's is once they send it to out their hands are clean of it.

 

so let me know what you think of it.

 

Jonathan

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I don't have the bumper yet, Nate is running about 4-5 weeks out on bumper orders right now with the specials he has. No one can even touch the prices right now. My bumper with d rings, grade 8 hardware and the long mounts ran $210 shipped to florida jamminz.gif I almost went ahead and bought his winch bumper which is on sale for $300 right now but I really wanted to keep my front brushguard... I had him make my bumper without the little prerunner bars. I know his warranty isn't exactly consumer friendly but the bumper is 2x5 mitre cut for the most part, not that hard to fab up and make strong, plus the d ring tabs go through to the actual bumper mounts. I'll let you know how it looks and goes on. I ordered it about 2 1/2 weeks ago so hopefully I'll see it around the middle of april. I'm going weld some nuts on the face to allow the brushguard to go on and off easily with bolts, weld up some shackle hangers, and then bedline the whole thing...

 

The roll bar is the front hoop from my buddies toyota, but I think he got it out of a nissan? lol. With my gull wing tool box it clears perfectly. The rack is from an xj, as well as the carr front light bar. Working on lockable shovel/axe/hi lift mounts right now...

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I don't have the bumper yet, Nate is running about 4-5 weeks out on bumper orders right now with the specials he has. No one can even touch the prices right now. My bumper with d rings, grade 8 hardware and the long mounts ran $210 shipped to florida jamminz.gif I almost went ahead and bought his winch bumper which is on sale for $300 right now but I really wanted to keep my front brushguard... I had him make my bumper without the little prerunner bars. I know his warranty isn't exactly consumer friendly but the bumper is 2x5 mitre cut for the most part, not that hard to fab up and make strong, plus the d ring tabs go through to the actual bumper mounts. I'll let you know how it looks and goes on. I ordered it about 2 1/2 weeks ago so hopefully I'll see it around the middle of april. I'm going weld some nuts on the face to allow the brushguard to go on and off easily with bolts, weld up some shackle hangers, and then bedline the whole thing...

 

The roll bar is the front hoop from my buddies toyota, but I think he got it out of a nissan? lol. With my gull wing tool box it clears perfectly. The rack is from an xj, as well as the carr front light bar. Working on lockable shovel/axe/hi lift mounts right now...

 

I usualy go right to his XJ bumper page where the prices are still the same, I had no idea he had a deal on the slimline winch bumper. for that price I'm thinking very hard about buying one. thanks for the info.

 

Jonathan

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There are a few mounting surfaces actually in the bumper and I mounted the lights there and used a body saw to cut out the holes about an 1/8" larger than the lights. I then took black door edge guard and went around the cut. With the lights in it is a very tight fit and holds everything together...

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There are a few mounting surfaces actually in the bumper and I mounted the lights there and used a body saw to cut out the holes about an 1/8" larger than the lights. I then took black door edge guard and went around the cut. With the lights in it is a very tight fit and holds everything together...

So no inside mounting tab, or any welds inside the bumper? Sweet.. I can see doing this mod on both my Jeeps..

:thumbsup:

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  • 5 months later...

Been a while but made some slow progress. Picked up a new set of axles (10/14 bolt with 4 wheel discs, welded rear and soon to be high steer) and ordered a crossover knuckle for the front. Dave here in Gainesville is going to weld on my front shackle mounts. Got my crok front plate and ordering an xj steering box brace. Finally got my speaker box and bedlined interior done. Next step is to bedline the actual bed. I really like the way the gloss rustoleum over herculiner turned out. (The picture is pre-rustoleum) I will try and get final interior pictures soon.

From this:

To this:

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  • 4 weeks later...
  • 2 months later...

Been working slowly on the truck... Got the ten bolt under and put on new bearings, seals, rotors and calipers, looking shiny 8-) Now gonna trim the bumper ends to have them end at the back of the side light bezel, followed by reinstalling my front brushguard. Then gonna trim the fenders and install my TJ flares. Also scored an xj steering box and gonna rebuild, drill and tap it for hydro assist. Next step is to rebuild my 14 bolt and install with my rear 3" springs. Should have some good progress over the next month or two

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