saddistical Posted February 20, 2014 Share Posted February 20, 2014 I just bought my first Comanche, always wanted one and thought it was a steal. Picked up a relatively clean bodied 89 Comanche sportruck with the 4.0 and a 5 speed with a 6 inch lift for only $1000. It came with 4 very very bald 35" super swampers and the rear shock hangers were missing with the completely shot shocks just hanging and the front end raped and it has a rough time starting. I am trying to see if I could get some pictures on the best way to build the rear shock hangers. I tried building some with a couple of U-bolts held to some flat brackets that I drilled some holes out of and bolted some used shocks to them. I just can't seem to get those brackets to stay tight, I can add some pics tomorrow but it's pretty embarrassing the hack job I did on it but I just need to see if this will work or if I need to go a completely opposite direction. Any pics and help is appreciated with the rear shock hangers as well as the rough starting. I did do the plugs/wires, oil change, new air filter but that didn't seem to solve the problem. I do know that it has sat for about a year out in the weather though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
saddistical Posted February 20, 2014 Author Share Posted February 20, 2014 Also the shock sensor??? Under the hood is lit up in a red light. I am not very mechanically inclined and have no clue what a shock sensor is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eagle Posted February 20, 2014 Share Posted February 20, 2014 Are you sure the shock mounts are missing? Upper or lower?It sounds from your post like it's the lowers, and if you are looking for brackets on the axle, that's not how MJ shocks mount. The lower mount is a stud on the spring plate. The simplest solution would be if someone can fix you up with a pair of stock spring plates with the studs - if yours aren't there and just not being used. Here's a photo I borrowed from a current thread about rear sway bars: Image Not Found Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
saddistical Posted February 20, 2014 Author Share Posted February 20, 2014 Well the axle is sittin there with the leafs mounted to a flat piece of steel and from what I seen on cherokees there is another bracket that is supposed to be welded to the axle that the shocks bolt onto and I just don't see any weld spots were they could've been pulled off. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
saddistical Posted February 20, 2014 Author Share Posted February 20, 2014 Aww hell they must've swapped out the MJ axle.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eagle Posted February 20, 2014 Share Posted February 20, 2014 MJ axles do not have shock mounts welded to them. XJ axles do. Look again at the photo I posted above. Look at the lower shock mount. It's an eye that goes onto a horizontal stud that is attached to the spring retainer plate. The spring plate is not flat, its turned down on the end and to one side. The side "flange" is where the shock mount stud goes. The mount in that photo appears to be a stock setup -- the photo was to show mounting a DIY rear sway bar, but the shock mounting and spring mounting are stock. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gogmorgo Posted February 20, 2014 Share Posted February 20, 2014 You say you have a 6" lift. How was that accomplished in the rear? If you've got a SOA setup (spring over axle; the factory MJ setup has the axle mounted to the top of the leaf springs, putting the axle below the leaf springs is a cheap and easy way to lift 5-6") then the previous owner may have done away with the the factory spring plates, along with the shock mounts. Here's another picture of the stock setup: Notice how the shocks mount to a "spring plate" below the springs, with the springs under the axle. And here's a picture of a soa setup: Image Not Found In this setup, the spring plates have simply been flipped over and stuck on top. The shocks in use likely aren't the same length as the stock setup, but you say you need new shocks anyway. Also worth pointing out, the top photo is a long bed model, so the upper shock mounts are in front of the rear axle. The bottom photo is a short bed so the upper shock mounts are behind the axle. It doesn't make any difference to the lower shock mounts, but the spring plates are "sided" and swap sides to put the lower shock studs closer to the uppers and reduce interference between the axle and the shock. i.e. the driver's side spring plate on a long bed will go on the passenger side of a short bed and vice-versa. As far as what you'd need to do to your setup, we don't know what it is. Pictures would be helpful. Depending on how it's set up, you might be able to weld some properly braced shock mounts onto the "flat piece of steel", or you could see if there are any MJ's in local junk yards that you could get a pair of stock spring plates off of. Or contact the previous owner to see if he still has them kicking around. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
saddistical Posted February 20, 2014 Author Share Posted February 20, 2014 Any and all of the pictures so far do not match the ghetto setup that is going on, on my jeep. I'll take a pic and upload... I have no clue what to do here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eagle Posted February 21, 2014 Share Posted February 21, 2014 Any and all of the pictures so far do not match the ghetto setup that is going on, on my jeep. I'll take a pic and upload... I have no clue what to do here. Get a set of factory MJ spring plates. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
saddistical Posted February 21, 2014 Author Share Posted February 21, 2014 Thanks for all the pics letting me know everything was wrong fellas. It took me 5 different trips to 5 different junkyards but I finally found one that had a Comanche and pulled the whole axle because mine was way way different. Dunno what kinda hack job this guy did but I can't wait to get this project started. =) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eagle Posted February 21, 2014 Share Posted February 21, 2014 If your new MJ is a 4-wheel drive I hope the rear axle you bought has the same gear ratio as the old one, so it'll match the front axle. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mathias Posted February 21, 2014 Share Posted February 21, 2014 Saddistical, not to get off topic but you don't by chance live in Oregon do you and you found it on craigslist? There was a guy selling an MJ describing the same thing that was wrong with the MJ for around that price. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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