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Picked up D44 and installed new to me Camper Shell Topper


meljr
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Last week I bought a D44 and Topper from a wrecking yard in a nearby town. They had a 1990 Comanche that was pretty well picked over, but it had a D44 rear end and what looked like a pretty decent camper shell. After a little friendly dickering, we settled on a price of $350 for both and I would come back this morning and pick them up after the yard pulled them for me. That is exactly what happened and the guys in the yard saved the mounting hardware and helped me load everything. The D44 will be the basis of a SOA lift and the camper shell is cleaned up, installed and ready for action.

 

The donor Comanche still has a set of pretty nice tail light lenses, an interesting home built rear bumper with a receiver and an even more interesting aftermarket in dash tach. I am negotiating the purchase of these items, but I you have a need they are at B&R Wrecking in Corvallis, Oregon. The 4.0 and manual transmission is still there also. No idea as to condition of either.

 

The plan is to use TnT u-bolt eliminators for SOA lift with Hell Creek 4.5" lift springs for 6+" of lift in the rear and some yet to be determined lift in the front (also thinking of TnT).

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Topper on donor Comanche in Wrecking Yard

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Recent picture of my Comanche before getting Topper:

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Picking up Topper at Wrecking Yard this morning:

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All cleaned up with soap, water, 409, a gasket scraper and a lot of elbow grease. It could be my imagination, but I believe the topper is fairly aerodynamic. On the way back from the wrecking yard there is a 2 mile 6% grade that I usually struggle to maintain 55-60 MPH empty, but with the D44 in the back and the Topper installed, it was no problem, even in 5th gear. I'll see if it helps mileage, which hasn't been bad at all.

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-meljr

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That's a good looking shell and one I haven't seen before. Is the manufacturers label still there?

 

Thanks, the sides are labeled "Stockland", but that is not a brand I am familiar with. It looks to be made for the Comanche as the upper character lines align with the chrome strip above the cab doors and the fit is pretty exact. It seems to be well made with marine fiberglass and doesn't exhibit any warp or distortion. The gel coat is smooth. The hatch door closes and latches solidly and the gas charged lifts still work just fine. I'm pretty happy with it.

 

I'm going to have the truck resprayed the original color and have the inside of the bed and lower cabin linexed. I am wondering if I should paint the topper to match or leave it as is.

 

-meljr

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The SOA alone will net you close to 6" of lift. Combine that with 4.5" lift springs and your total rear lift will be around 10".

 

Maybe I ought to back it off to 3" lift springs. I only plan on running some stock JK Rubi Moabs and Rubi tires. When they were on my JK, they measured 31" on the ground. The JK weighs almost 6,000 lbs, so I expect they will be a little taller under the MJ. I want to avoid cutting the fenders if I don't have to and the rear overhang will probably preclude a lot of the kind of wheeling I do in the JK. No matter how tall it gets, the departure angle will suck if I don't bob the bed or come up with a fairly radical rear slider. The MJ is growing on me, however as I have hardly driven the JK in the three months I've had the Comanche.

 

-meljr

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Thanks, the sides are labeled "Stockland", but that is not a brand I am familiar with. It looks to be made for the Comanche as the upper character lines align with the chrome strip above the cab doors and the fit is pretty exact. It seems to be well made with marine fiberglass and doesn't exhibit any warp or distortion. The gel coat is smooth. The hatch door closes and latches solidly and the gas charged lifts still work just fine. I'm pretty happy with it.

 

I'm going to have the truck resprayed the original color and have the inside of the bed and lower cabin linexed. I am wondering if I should paint the topper to match or leave it as is. -meljr

 

Oh yeah - paint to match. :cheers: It's definitely MJ specific and looks nice. Stockland is a Houston based company, still in business. First one I've seen for the MJ, rare animal.

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Yup nice shell, I still need to find one for my MJ.

:hijack:

 

Do you have a build thread for that thing?

 

I have seen your XJ, the KJ, the flipper XJ's/WJ, but I don't recall ever seeing your MJ.

 

/hijack

Rob

 

Yup, its somewhere in the build forum, nothing new in a few years now. It's just not my priority(even though I would like it to be).

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5822199169_55dde919d4_z.jpg -meljr

 

Is that a Nash Metropolitan in the background?

 

Yes, it's a Metro. I've actually got 4 of them around here and there, including a pretty decent project convertible.

 

-meljr

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