ZJ_flexxxer Posted April 5, 2012 Share Posted April 5, 2012 So i've always wanted a little comanche for years now. i found this 2wd 2.5 4spd on my local craigslist for $1300, i did a little wheeling and dealing and got him down to $1000 and took it home. First things i did were fix the brake lights and running lights and get it safe to drive. so to start things off i headed to the good ol JY and to my surprise actually found 3 comanches. i found a bench seat in good shape so i snatched it since mine was shredded all to pieces and i was almost sitting in the floor when driving it. installed then grabbed a back bumper to replace my bent and abused excuse for a rear bumper before new bumper wire wheeled, 1 coat of truck bed liner, 1 coat of gloss black installed also grabbed a woodgrain dash panel out of an xj. as soon as i seen it i just had to have it and one of my favorite chores on the list was getting some new exhaust pipe welded in. believe me when i say this thing was LOUD the night i brought it home. now she purrs like a kitten, all except for my squealing belt. the pulley on my p/s pump is nicked up for some reason and causing the belt to squeal. new exhaust Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
comanche1989 Posted April 5, 2012 Share Posted April 5, 2012 Good Find! Those little 2.5 engines might not be the fastest, but they are strong runners. I'm jealous of your junkyard finds, all the junkyards around me crushed their comanches. :mad: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MancheKid86 Posted April 5, 2012 Share Posted April 5, 2012 Good Find! Those little 2.5 engines might not be the fastest, but they are strong runners. I'm jealous of your junkyard finds, all the junkyards around me crushed their comanches. :mad: ditto, pnp actually crushed the mj i was pulling parts out of, WHILE I WAS PULLING PARTS! looking good, keep them pics coming Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZJ_flexxxer Posted April 6, 2012 Author Share Posted April 6, 2012 thanks guys. i had no intentions of spending much money that day at the junkyard. i went there looking for a p/s pump and mirrors and wound up stumbling onto that stuff and there was no way i was leaving without it in my wheel barrel. i have plans to go back and get a rear sliding window out of one of them and maybe some other stuff. i'm thinking about making a list :wrench: i messed with her a little today. just did minor stuff that's been bugging me. plugged a fuse in and got my turn signals working, re-wired the radio(with an antenna this time) and made it fit in the dash correctly, vacuumed the carpet really good and dyed some stain spots, and i swapped steering wheels(i couldn't stand that little thin wheel) before after Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZJ_flexxxer Posted April 9, 2012 Author Share Posted April 9, 2012 well i did some more junkyard scavenging today and i found a good mj headliner, both dome lights, windshield cowl(in great shape), and some other minor stuff i needed. i also got a cigarette lighter out of an xj and wired it up so i could charge my phone. my plans are to re-cover the headliner in some camo material unless i come up with something i like better. my old wagoneer had a camo headliner and it was pretty neat, i always got alot of compliments on it too. i'll try to post some pics up once i get a little more progress made. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZJ_flexxxer Posted April 15, 2012 Author Share Posted April 15, 2012 decided to finally get off my lazy butt and install my headliner today here's what i started with and here's what i wound up with i also bought a p/s pump off ebay for about $20 so i'll throw that on when it gets here, and then i won't have a squeaky belt anymore :clapping: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZJ_flexxxer Posted April 16, 2012 Author Share Posted April 16, 2012 well i decided to seafoam my 2.5 today and when i hopped in the drivers seat i found that my new headliner was a fail. didn't even make it 24 hours without sagging, so i guess i'll be pulling it back out to re-glue. idk if the glue i used just wasn't good enough or if i didn't use enough :fs1: but the seafoam did seem to help out some, maybe it's just my imagination but she seems to have just a little more pep in her step Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZJ_flexxxer Posted April 17, 2012 Author Share Posted April 17, 2012 gotta love those late night craigslist deals. i was killing time and doing my nightly routine of surfing the web, and while scanning the nearby cities on craigslist i run across the stock set of xj wheels i've been looking for along with some nearly brand new 33x12.50x15's on them for $350. i call the guy up and explain that i'm about 125 miles away and the most i can withdrawal from my atm within 24 hours is $300. long story short, i got them and before the 20 other ppl who called the guy while i was on my way. so obviously the 33's aren't going to fit on my mj. i swapped my current tires to the new wheels and now hopefully i'll be able to sell the bf goodrich's for my money back along with my old wheels and maybe make a buck or two for some other parts i find. here's the new wheels after giving them and the rest of the truck a bath just for fun, here's the tires that came on the wheels i bought. well worth $300 IMO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZJ_flexxxer Posted April 18, 2012 Author Share Posted April 18, 2012 got my windshield decal in the mail today Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZJ_flexxxer Posted April 25, 2012 Author Share Posted April 25, 2012 well tonight i found someone parting a few xj's out on craigslist and went and got two good doors from some 97+ xj's. now can anyone tell me what i need to do to make the power windows work??? :help: any help would be greatly appreciated! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JENSSEN Posted April 25, 2012 Share Posted April 25, 2012 well tonight i found someone parting a few xj's out on craigslist and went and got two good doors from some 97+ xj's. now can anyone tell me what i need to do to make the power windows work??? :help: any help would be greatly appreciated! Have you changed the door catches yet? That's your first 97+ door swap issue,.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZJ_flexxxer Posted April 26, 2012 Author Share Posted April 26, 2012 went to the jy this morning and got my strikers and also scored a nice set of shocks for $25 and i got the passenger door on today. didn't really feel like messing with the drivers side today and it was starting to rain Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sin3kal Posted April 27, 2012 Share Posted April 27, 2012 Love the headliner! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shane Posted April 29, 2012 Share Posted April 29, 2012 Great find!!!!! :cheers: Nice start!!!!!! :cheers: Adown right awesome deal on those wheels and tires!!!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZJ_flexxxer Posted April 29, 2012 Author Share Posted April 29, 2012 Great find!!!!! :cheers: Nice start!!!!!! :cheers: Adown right awesome deal on those wheels and tires!!!!!! i didn't update on those wheels and tires. i swapped the wheels i was wanting onto my truck, and sold the tires that came off of them for $500. so i got the wheels i was looking for and made a $200 profit!! :banana: more $$ for more parts! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZJ_flexxxer Posted April 29, 2012 Author Share Posted April 29, 2012 did a little wrenching yesterday. i had picked up a mint condition pair of tail lights a week or 2 ago from a JY. i used a little headlight restore on them and swapped them on there. Image Not Found i also swapped on my new shocks. i've lifted and changed shocks on a few zj's and xj's and the drivers side front shock is always a PITA. you can get a wrench on the top nut but you have no room to turn it. or you can get a socket on it but can't get a ratchet or extension on the socket, such as the 2 pics below i feel like an idiot for not thinking of this solution before. but i thought maybe i would post up and save someone else some time and head scratching. so before going any further just go ahead and pop the vise grips on the top of the shock. then unbolt your bottom bolts and pull the shock over at an angle. i also used a small piece of pipe to wedge in between the shock and the mount to angle it a little more. and shazam! 2 small extensions(couldn't find my large one) and a swivel and it comes out of there like cake. new shocks installed and new bolts Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZJ_flexxxer Posted May 20, 2012 Author Share Posted May 20, 2012 bought lift coils and control arms off my local craigslist for $150 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZJ_flexxxer Posted July 18, 2012 Author Share Posted July 18, 2012 getting way behind on my updates for this thread. ok so here's the new rear slider window used sliding window from jy= $25.00 tube of 3M window weld= $22.00 total= $47.00 not too bad in my opinion ok so here's where this build thread takes a huge turn. i was driving to work on saturday when all of a sudden POW! my drive shaft came out doing about 75mph and pretty much destroyed itself. it actually drug the ground long enough to grind the ear down so that it'll never hold a c-clip in again, not to mention broke the bolts off inside the yolk on the pinion. so after doing some thinking. my rear brakes have barely worked since i bought the truck, i would have to take the whole rearend out anyway when i was going to do the spring over axle lift, and having to fix the yolk on this rearend, eventually brought me to the decision to just ditch the d35 and buy a d44 w/ disc brakes from the jy and do my spring over axle lift all at the same time. so all that thinking has brought me this much progress so far lol d35 out! counted the teeth, i had 3:55's which actually surprised me. i expected this truck to have 4:10's with it being the 2.5 4cyl. my goal is to find a d44 w/ disc brakes and 3:73's i think these 6.5" xj springs and CA's should go good with the spring over axle in the rear and finally i have a few questions for you guys that hopefully someone here can answer for me what is this silly looking thing??? it had a small rod connecting it to another bracket on the unibody and also i'm looking for a cheap solution for the front track bar when i lift this thing?? any suggestions???keep in mind, i drive this truck on the street mostly and i never plan on wheeling it. might occasionally go through a field to go hunting,etc but nothing even remotely abusive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zenobian_84 Posted July 18, 2012 Share Posted July 18, 2012 Seems to be your gear ratio tag if I'm not mistaken (last picture). Could be wrong though. Good thing you didn't get hurt when that driveshaft decided to go on vacation :eek: Keep it up man. You're doing some good work there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vaquaro Posted July 18, 2012 Share Posted July 18, 2012 I think he's asking about the load /level brake proportioning actuator rod :yes: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zenobian_84 Posted July 18, 2012 Share Posted July 18, 2012 I think he's asking about the load /level brake proportioning actuator rod :yes: :thwak: :doh: No idea how I completely missed that. :oops: My bad. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZJ_flexxxer Posted July 18, 2012 Author Share Posted July 18, 2012 haha yea i knew what the tag was. ok so it's a load /level brake proportioning actuator rod thingamajig! now can anyone tell me what it does?? lol :dunno: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vaquaro Posted July 19, 2012 Share Posted July 19, 2012 haha yea i knew what the tag was. ok so it's a load /level brake proportioning actuator rod thingamajig! now can anyone tell me what it does?? lol :dunno: :wrench: If it's working properly , it increases pressure to the rear brakes when your truck is loaded with extra weight . Unloaded , it prevents rear brake lock-up by reducing pressure . There are threads you can search , to by-pass the valve if it's not working or if you do a suspension lift . :cheers: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZJ_flexxxer Posted July 19, 2012 Author Share Posted July 19, 2012 haha yea i knew what the tag was. ok so it's a load /level brake proportioning actuator rod thingamajig! now can anyone tell me what it does?? lol :dunno: :wrench: If it's working properly , it increases pressure to the rear brakes when your truck is loaded with extra weight . Unloaded , it prevents rear brake lock-up by reducing pressure . There are threads you can search , to by-pass the valve if it's not working or if you do a suspension lift . :cheers: ok well looks like i'll be by-passing it since i'm putting the d44 back in under the leaf springs can anyone hook me up with a "how to" thread on this?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
randomguy310 Posted July 20, 2012 Share Posted July 20, 2012 hey zj flexxer.. I'm near sparta bye the nascar track.. i have a 88 short bed 4x4 2.5 5spd I'm working on, nice to know your local... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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