Comanche Limited

[dasbulliwagen]

How is your night vision with the Quad headlights?  I "assume" they are just stock sealed beams? 

 

I like the simple white paint job.  To me the fake wood trim looks...well  "fake".

 

Night vision isnt horrible, but not great either. I never properly adjusted them after installing the Waggy header and at least one of them is pointed off somewhere wonky. I'm planning on new sealed beam bulbs in the near future and properly adjusting it all at that time.

[Streetwedg]

There were two Comanche limited' built at the factory. They were built for the plant managers. One was dark blue and one. Was maroon. They had leather seats, power everything, and Crome roll bars. I worked on the asssembly line and used to see them every day.

[Strokermjcomanche]

There were two Comanche limited' built at the factory. They were built for the plant managers. One was dark blue and one. Was maroon. They had leather seats, power everything, and Crome roll bars. I worked on the asssembly line and used to see them every day.

This one?

[Streetwedg]

Yes, that one was driven by Jerry Hubber. There was a dark blue one driven by Ronnie Williams.

[HOrnbrod]

Were they HO's?  Probably not with all the chrome.     :drool:  :drool: :drool: :drool: :drool: :drool:  
 

 

[johnj92131]

What does that script say just above the "Comanche" tag.  Looks right in the pinstripe.

 

Great looking truck!

[Wiggilez]

Probably either "limited" or "lerado"

[FarmerBrown5]

Very interested to see the blue one if a picture exists. My restoration build (whenever it gets started) is to take a 93 Country XJ I have and mate it with my 88 MJ and give my MJ a "Country" theme and HO swap. This maroon one is what I have had in mind aside from the color....and all of the chrome. 

 

Great looking truck!

[Streetwedg]

Never took pictures of either truck. We used to see hundreds of the every day, so it was no big deal then. I know Ronnie Williams passed a few years ago. Don't know what happened to his truck. I didn't know Jerry Hubber's truck was in the museum. We used to have the Tommy Archer truck parked right by our work station.

[dasbulliwagen]

I've yet to do my lift.. haven't had time. We've been remodeling our kitchen, which still isn't done. I have bought more parts though. I bought some front Bilsteins and a Rancho RS9000 steering stabilizer. I wasn't going to worry about rear shocks yet but I stumbled on a leftover pair of rear Bilsteins from a Mopar Ram 1500 2 or 3 inch lift kit. They only used the front part of the lift. The shocks are about 6 or so inches longer than stock so I'll mount them up with some new lower shock mounts. I also bought some longer sway bar disconnect links for the front.  Also considering a rear sway bar. I have a couple sitting here that I saved for this reason but I'm not sure it makes a lot of sense with the lift unless I do rear disconnects too. I might wait to see how it corners on road first before I decide. Also bought an Azzys transfer case linkage setup. So many parts... So little time.

[dasbulliwagen]

I finally started my lift. Did the rear half tonight. I still need to weld it in and locate the lower shock mounts. My driveshaft popped out at full droop while getting it situated. I'm not sure it's going to be long enough by long term. I guess I'll need to start looking for a good 8.8 to put in. That will help a little. 

[dasbulliwagen]

Got the front of my lift in. Still have a bunch of adjustments to make and I still have to set rear pinion angle and burn the perches on. I am having fitment issues with the rear control arm drop brackets braces. They are the RRO ones. They are keeping me from property reinstalling the trans crossmember which needs to be done in order to set my pinion angle correctly. My other issue is the rear driveshaft. My 4x4 donor vehicle is an 86 long bed with the NP207. I had to order a driveshaft from a junkyard for a short bed. But a short bed never came with a 207 transfer case. It must be shorter than a 231 case because it's most likely that's what the shaft is from because with the pinion near correct angle the shaft wants to fall out. I still have the long bed shaft and I guess I'll get that one cut down and use it if I have to. And another thing I noticed, the sway bar when angled down all the way hits the lower tank on my radiator. I have longer links to put on but I'm a little worried about it popping my radiator if flexed too far. I'll repost this to the tech section to see what of any suggestions you guys might have. Here are a few pics. 

[dasbulliwagen]

I gave my original 2wd driveshaft to a buddy of mine to cut it down to proper length for the lift. Turns out the 2wd slip yoke splines are different than a 4wd slip yoke splines, so I had to swap on my existing slip yoke and new U-joints and mounted it up for a test drive. Turns out it needs balancing. We tried welding back on the existing weights that were on the shaft already, just farther down, but its out too much to drive above35-40 MPH. I'm afraid if I do that too long, it'll screw something up. So we took it to a driveshaft shop for balancing. Hopefully have it back next week. With the huricane coming through it spotty right now who is open or closed.

 

After I get that in, Ill mount up the new steering stabilizer, the new wheels and tires and fab on the new rear shocks. I have the old shocks and lower mounts on it right now, but there isnt much down travel on them. Then Ill need to lock over the CAD and install my Azzy's linkage. I also bought new carpet off of Rockauto. Ill be ckecking the floors out and adding sound deadening mat at that time as well. Bought new red reflective tailgate letters from Spencer at www.jeepsticker.com for whenever I get around to some paint. I'm thinking flat white at this point with black stripes to go with my other red Jeep emblems I have. Kind of a Trailhawk look, white black and red combo. More updates later!

[dasbulliwagen]

Drive shaft is back, turns out the one we sent to balance was bent, so they took a used one they had, put my ends on it and then balanced it, painted it and put in new U joints... all for $100! I put it in and test drove it.... smooth as glass now. Then I put my set of mud terrains on. Ive never run mud terrains before, and holy moly tire noise!!! They are balanced perfectly and ride out nice, but I can no longer hear my radio at any kind of cruising speed. I'm not sure I can live with the noise long term. But Ill run it for a while and see what happens. It looks so awesome though, I love it!

 

My next issue... I put the stock shocks back on it with the original spring plates inverted just to get it going and safe to drive. I picked up a load of drywall yesterday for some home improvements and it didnt take much for me to be bottoming out the rear shocks. Ill need to weld on the new shock mounts soon and get the bilsteins installed before I haul too much with it. I basically rode home from lowes on the bottomed shocks the whole way (1/4-1/2 mile). Ill post pics of the truck with the new wheels shortly.

[dasbulliwagen]

[WahooSteeler]

Looks awesome 

[dasbulliwagen]

I finally got my rear Bilsteins on. The shocks were leftovers from a Ram 1500 kit where just the front lift was installed, but the ends are right for the MJ. I had bought weld on shock mounts but they were going to be mounted too high for the length of these shocks. As I was looking it over trying to figure out what to do, I realized the shock free length and the rear suspension at full droop were about the same, and if I used the original spring plates with the shock mount on them under the axle. This meant I would need another spring plate on the top (spring over axle) and get rid of the U bolts for straight bolts. I finally got all the parts together and got it working. Makes a big difference. I was temporarily running the modified JK shocks attached to the stock spring plates above the axle, and only had about 1 1/2" of spring before the shocks bottomed out. I was afraid I was going to bend or break the upper mounts if I ran it too long, not to mention not being able to carry any kind of load. Ill try to get pics sometime and load them.

[mancheflo]

Do the wagoneer doors fit on our mjs? I like the wood grain look and think I’m gonna push my build towards that look 

[dasbulliwagen]

5 hours ago, mancheflo said:

Do the wagoneer doors fit on our mjs? I like the wood grain look and think I’m gonna push my build towards that look 

 

The XJ Wagoneer doors fit, which is what is on my truck. The woodgrain can be applied to anything. Now if youre thinking about the SJ Wagoneer, then no, they are completely different.

[dasbulliwagen]

Here's what I did with the rear shock setup as I explained above. 

[dasbulliwagen]

I tried installing my Azzys transfer case linkage before the big snow we got recently here in North Carolina. Turns out it isn't going to work. The Azzys kit extends the shifter arm. It won't work because of my particular setup of the 2.5, AX5, NP207 combo. The shifter is right over top top of the transfer case and there isn't room to add the shifter extension. So I'll be installing the factory linkage when I have time to pull the seat and carpet out. I have new carpet to install in it anyways so I'll do it all at once. 

 

I also locked over the CAD while trying to install the linkage following the write-up here. That took a whole five minutes to do. I can feel the difference driving it now. There is a slight vibration from now having the driveshaft spinning. I have no idea if the u joints in it are any good, but I guess that's where I need to start with that issue.

[Pete M]

18 hours ago, dasbulliwagen said:

I also locked over the CAD while trying to install the linkage following the write-up here. That took a whole five minutes to do. I can feel the difference driving it now. There is a slight vibration from now having the driveshaft spinning. I have no idea if the u joints in it are any good, but I guess that's where I need to start with that issue.

 

yup, that is the one risk of deleting the CAD.  but it can also be a blessing because there might be something wrong.  

[dasbulliwagen]

On 12/22/2018 at 4:57 PM, Pete M said:

 

yup, that is the one risk of deleting the CAD.  but it can also be a blessing because there might be something wrong.  

 

WIth only having a 2.5, I can feel the power loss as swell, compared to having the cad disconnected. I will now be looking into getting a cable kit to actuate the cad. I can't afford to loose much power. Every little bit helps.

[Pete M]

"feel the power loss"?    eek.  the only extra thing spinning is the front shaft and ring gear.  make sure everything spins freely.   

[dasbulliwagen]

Installed sway bar drop brackets to get the sway bar off of the bottom of the radiator. It was getting pretty tight when I put it on a lift. All good now, I even got to shorten my adjustable sway bar links. 

 

I still have a bunch of stuff to do to it. I have a cable front axle disco kit to install. I have a new carpet kit to install. Still havent installed my Scarfab hitch, or my front hitch I got for Christmas. Still have some Hella off road lights to install that I got two birthdays ago. I bought an Azzys tcase shift lever kit to install, only to find out it won't work on a 2.5 AX5 setup, so the OEM shifter still needs to be installed. Ill do all then when I do the carpet, or vice versa. Bought new  bushings for the original tcase linkage as well.