Your first comanche experience.

[JeepcoMJ]

Lets have your first comanche experience...

 

I was 12 or so when I had mine. We've always been a jeep truck family...I can't remember a time when there wasn't a J-truck @ my house, as my dad's daily driver. I actually learned to drive stick (3 speed) on my dad's old '74 j2000 plow truck when I was 6 or 7...we affectionately called her "Black Betty"...later in life I learned that she was named that just to spite my grandma (on my mom's side) who's name is actually Betty :rotf: :clapping: :clapping: :rotfl2:

 

Anyways, when I was around 12...just going into 7th or 8th grade I think, my mom had us take her to a farm to get her some goats to put in the pasture, as that makes it taxed significantly less being zoned agricultural and all. There was this (ugly, I thought) blue pickup there with an absolutely horrible light blue interior. The guy with the farm bought it new, and it blew a timing belt (yes, belt) and apparently broke something inside the motor.

 

little did I know it was the beginning to an addiction. My dad ended up buying it for $200. it was a (then) rust free 1986 jeep comanche metric tonne with a 2.1 renault turbo diesel, 5 speed (ax5), 4x4 (np207), d30 front, amc20 rear, 4.10 gears, and only around 97,000 miles on it.

 

It was the first diesel I learned to work on, and the first comanche as well. we ended up having to get a new timing belt and make a timing tool for it, then replace all of the valve rockers. all in all, it ended up costing around $700 to get road worthy.

 

 

after that, my dad retired his last J-truck (a 79 j10 with a plow) and selling it, and it's been comanches ever since. to this day he hasn't invested more than $1500 all told in that truck.

 

in fall 2004 we found my first comanche in the weeds behind a barn, the only thing visible from the road being the top of the cab and the cab vents. it was a 2wd 2.8 liter v6 longbed...1986. it cost me $300 virtually rust free, it later became the 3800. it was my first restore, first motor swap, first trans rebuild, first lift kit, first axle swap, first 4x4 conversion, first interior made, and first engine blown.

 

 

 

 

 

any other good stories?

[jpdocdave]

cool idea, i was actually thinking about starting a thread about buying, or getting your comanche.

 

i randomly made a post on another jeep forum complaining that i like comanche's but can't find any, a guy posts up saying he's got one, been in his family since new, and he's about to sell it. a million pictures, and countless phone calls later i make the plan to go get it.

 

my buddy at work and i leave work on a cold winter saturday afternoon. we drive 200 miles or so to pick it up, it had been sitting in the yard for a couple months, covered in snow, i brushed it off, and it fired right up. made the deal, drove it to the first parts store on the way home got a brake light bulb, washer fluid, and half a quart of trans fluid and drove it 200 miles back home. my buddy bought a $15 battery powered radio from walmart since the truck was missing the radio, so i had company. it starts snowing, and hard, four wheel drive works great, and it turns into white out blizzard conditions on the hwy. i've never been in a white out. couldn't see past the hood, its a weird feeling not knowing what direction you're going, the rumble strips on the side of the road were actually comforting because i knew i was at least on the pavement still. got her home and love it ever since.

[Dirteatr717]

Well i was taken home from the hospital in my manche so ive literally been in it all my life. The first time i drove it was when i was 11 at my house upstate NY in a field :) I learned how to drive stick on my dads 62 suburban with a 232,school bus tranny and a 10inch lift and 38s hahahaha wen i was 10 so the MJ was easy to get used to at that age. I would occasionally drive it every now and then but then i turned 16 and got my permit and illegally drove around when my parents werent home.... I now know that they checked the miles lol

all ive had with my MJ is great experiences except my thermostat house exploding...it is now a daily driver and chauffer truck for all my friends haha

[Automan2164]

I got into the first one in my signature when I was 15. I told my mom I wanted a comanche, and we looked at an '89 Pioneer 4.0L AW4 231, but it was beyond rusty, and had a bad heater core... Thats when on the way back from a drive I found my first MJ.

 

I bought it from the original owner, a 1986 Base, with absolutely NO options. Originally came with an AM radio. Notice the no mention of FM? It was a 2.5L AX4, D35. He got it new in '85, and fell in love with it.

 

When I found it, it was worse for wear. During his ownership he changed some stuff, like putting on AR rims, A sunroof to fix some hail damage, and a cassette deck. It had an aluminum ladder rack style camper shell, and a big truckers bug deflector as tall as the sears tower on the front. It said "James Shook Big Game Hunter" on the bug guard. When I met the guy, I didn't even have my learners permit, and this was my first dealing in cars... I would have walked on it now, but at the time, I had less patience. It had 114K on it, and ran great, but very rusty. Brake were shot, and needed work. Worth $500 at most to me now, but I ended up paying $1000. The guy was definitely a character, and had a lazy eye... Couldn't quite track it down... One was staring at you, the other was scoping out low flying aircraft. I ended up picking up the truck in a storm, with a friends mom at the wheel, since I still couldn't drive. I got it home, and with the help of a retired aircraft mechanic neighbor had it on the road once again by the time I got my license. Great truck, it started the sickness. After having it for awhile I ditched the cap, found a racerback, and used it while I was building my other MJ's. Eventually, being over-run by MJ's, I had to thin the fleet. It had sat for awhile, and the slave went out. Ended up selling it on ebay, for $125. Should have found the room to keep it. I miss the ol' girl. :(

 

Here is a pic of it, sitting in front of one of my other projects... Notice the plate? :brows:

 

 

Probably in the big junkyard in the sky by now. :cry:

Rob L.

[WBKrazy]

first time i ever rode in one was back in the high school daze :chillin: , a kid that lived near me had a red one and i would catch a ride home from him every once in a while... i found mine on craigslist about 2 years ago now, when gas was 5.00 a gallon.... and my daily driver was a 91 fullsize bronco... started out looking for a honda or toyota for the mpg's and wound up with the jeep :rotf: the MJ was one of the first ads that popped up, and i looked at it and said "hmmm, 4cyl, 4spd, must get pretty good mileage" and looked at a few more ads, but kept coming back to the jeep, cause let's face it: jeep pickups are just cooler than hondas and toyotas :rotf: ... never had a jeep before this one, i went to look at it and i was pretty impressed for the price: it had 98k on the clock, and no rust, except for a hole in the p.side floor... the guy said he bought it for his brother in law, but BIL never paid him so he took the truck back and resold it... he wanted $950, but i ended up talking him down to 8... and just like everyone else on here the damm thing just became an addiction... i just wanted to drive it as is and not care, but it wouldn't let me :dunno: .... the plan was to drive it around and resell it after gas came back down, but the more i drove it the more i liked it, so i wound up selling the bronco. still wanted a big truck though, so after gas prices came back down again i picked up the '95 silverado i have today... soon after i bought the chevy i blew up the 2.5 in the mj trying to act a fool... so i picked up a 91 sonoma to replace it with (or so i thought)... didnt wind up that way tho, and soon it will be reborn with 4.0 power , an aw-4 and a 231!.... just gotta finish stripping all that stuff out of my parts pig..

[87Warrior]

I began to notice the cool "Jeep Trucks" in the early 90's. The bank my father worked at had an '86 with the V6 that they used to plow lots and go on repo jobs. It was white with the orange 4x4 decals. That little truck pulled a car trailer to Texas then returned with a full size Chevy Blazer in tow. I always remember seeing the maintenance guy driving the truck to the various bank branches. The truck eventually wound up rusting out and was sold to the maintenance guy in the late 90's. He ended up junking it not to many years ago.

 

My MJ ownership story is probably not like most here. In the late summer of 2008, I purchased a '97 Mazda Miata as my DD. While the car was a blast to drive on curvy roads, it was not conducive to my driving habits: Farm roads, rough roads, and sometimes snowy roads. 30mph was great, but I found myself driving the TJ just as much as the Miata. Went searching for an XJ to pick up as a DD. Good fuel economy, Jeep reliability, and a solid driveline. Wound up seeing a few MJ's during my XJ search and just started looking at them, plus a truck would be great to haul my ATV around as well as my crap when moving out of the apartment.

 

Looked at a few local MJ's but was always turned away from a poor running renix. Spotted this '92 some 4 hours away that I had to look at. Made plans to meet the guy at the Columbia, MO airport since my father could fly us there in his experimental RV-7. Naturally weather rolled in so I drove. Saw the truck and had to have it. Paid for it and parked it in the Home Depot parking lot. Found a uhaul place that was open and rented a trailer. Loaded up, drove home, and have been driving it almost everyday since. Sold that Miata and couldn't be happier.

[CRF136N]

I was 12. We moved to snow country. My mother traded her volvo for a new '96 Cherokee Country I helped her pick out. I remember the day we brought it home, and something about that damn Jeep had me instantly hooked. At 15, I began my search for an xj of my own...but then discovered they made them in a truck! Shortly thereafter, I found an '86 Comanche XLS 2.8 4x4 in Texas for $600, motor needed rebuilt; while in need of a little work, it was straight and rust free. I had the local shop rebuild the motor. My father and I flew to Texas and picked it up, and drove it home to northern Nevada. I dumped my heart and soul into fixing that damn thing up:

 

 

It wasn't long before I got a '90 XJ Limited, then my '87 MJ shortbed...its turned into a helpless sickness from there. Another 4 xj's and 1 MJ later, I still have my '87 MJ...which I sold and repurchased several times through the years :nuts:

As for my '86 XLS, I traded it in back in 2001 for a new Tacoma. It bounced around many used car dealerships before it disappeared. In 2005 I ran a carfax on it to see where it wound up; it was registered to someone in Carson City, NV, but had two weeks before that carfax check recieved a "certificate of destruction" :cry: RIP. Yes, being only 2 weeks, I jumped in my truck and hit every Carson City junkyard searching for it to pay my respects...but had no luck :cry: :cry: Now wishing I kept that thing for a motor conversion. Oh well.

 

:cheers:

James

[bigd44889]

ok mine was easy

wanted a 4X4 for winter time

the grease monkey that worked on my semi all the time said his brother had a jeep for sale

went to look at it

guess what it was an mj

asked does it run he said yes

i handed him $600

asked if i could test 4X4

he saidthere is 15 acores of snow out back stay out of the pond

the rest is nothing but sorow and pain

setting in the drive with bad motor again

to cold for motor swap

[Silver88]

When I was stationed in Bamberg, FRG back in '86, AMC Military sales had an one on post. She was black, don't remember the interior color, but a really sharp looking truck. :drool: Talked to the sales guy over several weeks, but I didn't commit.

Came home on leave that Sept. for 30 day and checked out the local dealership. Salesman there didn't seem real interested in selling me a truck, so when I went back, I told Scott( the sales rep) I was ready to buy. The 86 was sold( in hind sight, it was probably good as it had the V6) so I ordered an 87 for delivery when I got out. Chrysler bought AMC, new option( delete stripes) I added, Chrysler tried to raise price, so I told them to go pound sand. Apparently about 900 other military people told them the same thing, so they offered me a new 88 with everything I ordered on the 87, for what they wanted for the 87( about $600 more than my original quoted price). Said OK. That pushed back delivery until Aug.

After I got home in May 87, I got a call from Chrysler saying the only standard color avail. was white. I thought " here we go again" :fs1: So the said the closest they the could get was the optional paint( Dark Baltic Blue) at $300 IIRC, but if that was alright with me, it'd be no charge. Fine , and I picked it up the end of Aug. in Philly.

SWB 4.0 4x4 skid package full guages heavy-duty cooling no stripes tow hooks.

Had a wreck in 97, bought my 89 in Feb.98. divorce final in Apr.99, moved to an Apt. Sep. 99 had to get rid of the 88. JY chopped the whole front( dash forward) for somebody who wrecked theirs. Hated to do it, but had no other option.

But , the LCD clock,front grill, and a few other odds and ends live on( as well as parts from my departed 89) in my current 88 Pioneer. :cheers:

[freakjeep93]

i got mine at 10 its the faded red one in my sig. it was my dads old one and i used it a a woods truck for a long time untill i broke the frame behind the cab. now I'm 16 and we know alot more about working on trucks so today were gonna fix the frame on it and I'm gonna start fixing it up this winter.!

[oldrusty]

About four years ago I was doing some landscaping for a guy my dad worked with. The first day I was there I noticed what I thought was a old xj sitting behind the garage covered with a tarp. I'm always looking 4 a cheap work car so I figured Id ask the guy about it. Fast fprward two days ....The job is done ......As hes paying me for the work I ask the guy I'm working for Whats the story on that old jeep? Guy goes on to tell me that his wife has been nagging about it for a while now. ......" I guess I'm just gonna junk it." I aked him what he wanted for it and he says just take it. I ran home and grabbed the trailer and when I got back he had it un tarped. Imagine my amazement when I discovered it was a lwb mj pioneer with a 4.0 to boot. It also has a rebuilt pukegoat with less than 2000 miles on it.(he still had the reciepts) I drug the old girl home and got to work.

The truck had a bad d35 that was missing 6 teeth off the ring gear (the reason it was parked), and 2 bad fuel injectors. I replaced the injectors and replaced the d35 with a chry 8.25 from a xj with relocated spring perches and have been driving it ever since.

Truck shows 212,000 miles on the odo and still runs like a top.

[dfreeman616]

i'd seen them around before, but the first one i've had personal experience with was a 1990 4.0/auto/2wd/LWB that i found on here (http://comancheclub.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=2430). my wife had recently been in an accident and her car was wrecked, so i needed to find a second car cheap and fast, so i got the truck for $200, some gas/toll money, and dinner for a buddy with a diesel F250 and trailer. got it home, replaced the water pump due to a leak, installed the bed, fuel tank, and doors, and drove it for some 20k miles, converting it to a 4wd in the process. a lifter failed due to previous oil starvation, so i tore the engine down and found a bunch of wear inside, sold it and bought my current 88/4.0/auto/4wd/lwb with less than 90k miles on it at the time.

[Pete M]

in 97 I needed some transportation fo rmy new commute. I wanted a truck, but I wanted a Jeep too. Then I found that Jeep made a truck. :banana: so I started looking for one, couldn't find a 4wd in my price range but found a 2wd with the important stuff (4.0, stick, A/C) and went up to see it. drove around the block a couple times and fell in love. :D

[freakjeep93]

in 97 I needed some transportation fo rmy new commute. I wanted a truck, but I wanted a Jeep too. Then I found that Jeep made a truck. :banana: so I started looking for one, couldn't find a 4wd in my price range but found a 2wd with the important stuff (4.0, stick, A/C) and went up to see it. drove around the block a couple times and fell in love. :D

 

then started comanche club

[Pete M]

not quite. Not much "internet" back in 97. a guy that went by the screen name of "Aslith" started the yahoo group in late 2000. I found the club in, I think 02 and he left and put me in charge of it maybe a year later.

[freakjeep93]

not quite. Not much "internet" back in 97. a guy that went by the screen name of "Aslith" started the yahoo group in late 2000. I found the club in, I think 02 and he left and put me in charge of it maybe a year later.

there wasnt internet in 97?

[Pete M]

it was there, but it wasn't anything like it is today. When I first started looking for MJs online, there was one. Ryeguy's MJ was about it.

[Geonovast]

The first TCP/IP protocol was written in 1977.

 

The "internet" has been around since the late 80s. I believe the first chat room popped up in 92 or 93.

 

Granted, we're in what they call "Internet 2.0" now.

[freakjeep93]

whats the diffference beweek 1.0 and 2.0??

[Pete M]

about 3 billion more users

[Geonovast]

It was considered 2.0 basically when sites like MySpace and Facebook, and forums became big. It wasn't just that you visited websites, and that was it. People began networking and having social lives on the internet, by being part of interactive websites.

[jpnjim]

I got sucked into buying my first AMC in 1987 when a friend of a friend was selling an 'AMX' for $100.

(I had no idea what an AMX was, but a $100 bought a strange 74' AMC with a grill that looked like they bought it at the hardware store, and a glove box that you could stand a 5th of JD up inside :cheers: )

 

 

 

 

A string of other Javelins followed, then in 1992 a buddy was selling his 73' J4000 FSJ for $500.

(rebuilt 360/4bbl, T-18 4spd 4.10 gears & a D60 rear).

 

Even with 4.10's & a 4spd it was a better daily driver than any of the Javelins,

& I was hooked on Jeeps after the first snow storm :D

 

 

 

 

Found a high mile XJ for the gf a couple years later (87' Laredo, power everything, 4.0L/5spd 160k miles for $2500 in 1994).

 

 

 

8 mpg in the FSJ got old as my DD, so a rust free 2wd 89' longbed MJ with 79k miles replaced that in 1997.

The guy wanted $2500,

I asked him "how close to $1500 can you come?", and he said "OK" :rotf:

Not bad for a 7 year old MJ with a 4.0L/5spd (BA again :doh: ), no A/C & roll up windows.

Every deal should go so easy.

 

 

 

I bought my 2nd MJ, an almost mint 87' red shortbed (4.0L/BA again) in 98' for $1000. :thumbsup:

 

 

 

GF got upgraded to a 96' ZJ in 1999 for way too much $$, and I stopped daily driving MJ's in 2001 when I bought a 98' XJ (33k miles for $11k).

 

 

I don't know where all the rust free MJ's went by 2003, but when I went looking for another one, they were no where to be found,

so I bought this one for $500, and started the never ending Jeep build. :yes:

[ComancheKid45]

There was a house that had a nice forest Green SWB MJ out front for a few years, i was maybe 10-12 and I always told my dad (who owned a Chrysler/Dodge/Jeep Dealership till Aug. 08) I wanted a Jeep truck like that, He looked at that 1 for me but it needed more work than it was worth. In 2002 when i was 15 a man traded a Base model MJ in at the dealer for $400, Dad made a deal with me that he would get it road worthy if i helped the body shop sand it down and get it ready for new paint. Some suspension and body work and i had myself a nice 88 4.0 Auto SWB for my 1st vehicle. Got my license in september 2003 and have been driving it since. It recieved 1 of the final 3 4.0 crate engines from chrysler in 2005 and ive gone from a simple High school kid to a certified Jeep mechanic. Its still holding strong after alot more work and mods and currently sits at approx. 185000 miles (motor @ 45000). I plan to keep it forever! :thumbsup:

 

Is basically began as this truck under my ownership

 

Has since been evolved into this

 

[jpdocdave]

The first TCP/IP protocol was written in 1977.

 

The "internet" has been around since the late 80s. I believe the first chat room popped up in 92 or 93.

 

Granted, we're in what they call "Internet 2.0" now.

 

thats not what al gore said :rotfl2:

[akamcbird]

first comanche i ever saw was on a junker lot wen i was lookn for a small p/u, went inside to ask about it,asked if it was a 4 or a 6 the lady responded with "v6 i think". i thaught she was just dumb till i poped the hood to jump it.... il be damd v6. started it up drove it round the block, went inside and handed her $700 cash said ill take it, she looked at me and said "the window sticker says $1200", i responded with... well then why did you just take 700 for it? she then pulled out the title and signed it, told me don't come back. been in love ever sense. that truck is sadly only a trailer now.