89 Pioneer Mj Retired

[MjPioneer]

After many years of dedicated service my little girl has retired. She's a 1989 Mj Pioneer, we have had many good moments together, from the day I got her to the day her first lift went in. She had her own personality that only I seemed to get along with.

This week has been rough for her, so it unfortunately is time. I have made a little time line with photos that I have

Sadly I don't have any pictures of her prior to the most current lift, as I didn't own a digital camera until currently. (Don't you love being behind the times?)

 

June 2005

I found my Mj in the want ads for $800. Advertised as 1989 Jeep Comanche 2wd,1inch spacers up front and nothing else. I picked it up with 18X,XXX on her, paint was peeling, and the tires were bald.

July 2005

I had the body sprayed black, threw on some 30's and it was time to hit the street!

March 2006

The tranny began to fail, so it was time to get a replacement, off the the JY I went for a replacement. All I could find was a MJ with 4wd so I decided it would be a good idea to do the swap. I picked up a Hp 30, Nv231,Ba/10, and all the fixin's. The swap ended being pretty straight forward and isn't hard in any aspect if you know your way around a wrench. The swap was completed in about 2weekends off work.

September 2006

With my newly acquired 4wd I decided it would be best to but a lift in there. I went with a BB (for a Xj...) I put in 2inch spacers and a "2inch aal" which ended up being about an inch. ( I didn't know at that time Mj's and Xj's had a different leaf arch) Oh and I stupidly welded my diff ( I was not a smart kid at this point)

December 2006

I found a D44 in the Jy that I had to have. I picked it up for about $100. Brought it over to my work stripped it down rebuilt it and installed it. I was the cats meow with my D44. actually you can ask my friends, I didn't shut up about it for weeks.

December 2008

I picked up a 1990 Xj Pioneer originally for the motor, front axle and random little parts here and there. But after driving it i decided I couldn't chop up a mint condition Xj.

January 2009

Regeared the axles to 4.55, did a cluster swap no more dummy lights and super gas gauge, stripped out the carpeting and patched the floor.

March 2009

Actually this is when I lifted my Xj...

Mid April 2009

I decided my saggy lift was not..well good. I did some research and decided on a SOA. I dragged her into my work ripped out the d44 relocated the spring perches, replaced the leaf spring bushings, relocated the rear shock mounts, added a extended yoke to the the 231. I used Rusty's offroad 5" coils for the front, Zj steering, some no name stabilizer, RE track bar/drop bracket,RE upper control arms, Rustys lower control arms, RC shocks all around. I then picked up some 33" Thornbirds (What a Mistake)

March 2010

After an off and on battle with Floor Cancer my Comanche lost her battle and it was time for the pans to be replaced. So..I replaced them.

April 2010

Showing her age the exhaust finally let go. I added a Flowmaster Super 40. Later this month I wrecked her on the trails, ripping the the front end to pieces (Lower control arm mount on passenger side mangled, trackbar mount snapped, track bar, tie rod/drag link crumpled, header panel destroyed. When we tried to winch it back up the hill the front bumper actually pulled off the truck and ripped through the frame horns.

April (again) 2010 rattle caned the body flat black, Fixed all the damage to the front end as much as I could.

June 2010 Brand new RC shocks all around!

Current

She is showing signs of far to many issues, Death Wobble is back and in full force, Front axle is getting ready to let go, U-joints are ready to be replaced, all the electrical is failing, Me and her have finally reach 300,000+miles (which is proves how strong the 4.0 really is) and I'm beginning to leak fluids everywhere.

 

Random pictures over the years

Lifting the front end (New coils, shocks, track bar, and brakes)

36X12.5's I bought for dirt cheap, Also you can see how the rattle can job was coming out

Oh hey I went doorless!

Then I wrecked

 

So whats the plan for her now?

Full on Truggy style build!

4inch lift springs on top of the SOA

Sye

42's

D60 rear and hopefully a D44/d60 front if I can find one

Rear gear to 4.88

Full exo/internal cage

Hopefully a D300 tc, if not a doubler kit for the 231

New front bumper that absolutely will not rip off the unibody

 

Unfortunately she is going to be a trailer queen for the remainder of her life, there is no way I could get rid of her, but there is no way I can justify spending all the money on making her road worthy again.

 

Thanks for reading, I know this post was a little bland and not to fun to read (especially with my bad grammer and awful spelling) but I'm a tad bit drunk and saddened over my lost Comanche.

 

holy crap its 4:06am...I need to be at work in 3 hours...

[Comanche County]

You are truly a faithful friend, your MJ will never forget it! :cheers:

[Pete M]

bigger, better, badder. :clapping:

 

 

 

Then get a stocker to start all over with. :D

[kastein]

Wait, you're dumping the bed?

 

It looks like it's in better shape than mine from the pics :brows:

 

Any chance you would want to trade it for other parts or greenbacks :yes:

 

Also, lemme know if you want/need a hand or someone to stand around and drink your beer while you curse at rusty bolts... I'm generally up for doing that after business hours + on weekends.