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'90 swb, fun dd/project


Tommy
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Hi all,

I picked up a 90 Comanche in September from a guy who didn't really know what to do with it.  It's a 4.0/AW4 4x4 with 144k.  Pretty standard.  Unfortunately I'm in Chicagoland, so it's seen it's share of salt.  The uniframe is pretty solid, but the rockers are gone, the doors are a bit rough, and there is rust around all 4 wheel wells.  The PO didn't bother fixing the rust, he just tried to cover it up.  On the bed he used drywall screws to attach bits of plastic over the rust above the wheels.  Then, as the rust spread from there and the new screw holes, he attached another piece.  And as it spread from there. he attached an old license plate.  And more plastic pieces.  Until each bedside was basically license plates and plastic sheets held together with screws and bits of rusty metal.  Then he sprayed autozone "bed liner" on just the outside of the bed.  

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My dog enjoys it.

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After I bought it I found a member on here was selling a truck with a bad frame but some good parts, so I picked this up.

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Pulled the bed off

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mounted on mine

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Also found that the PO had "lifted" the front of the truck with the rubber pep boys blocks you jam in the coils to keep them from compressing. Pulled those and the stock coils out and swapped them with the lift coils from the parts truck. My truck is much more level now, no more hot rod rake.  

Mine also hadn't come with a bumper, so the week I bought it I ordered one from Nates 4x4.  I like the simple bumper more than the crazy compound angled, dodecahedral stuff that seems popular around these parts.  The price was awesome, too.  $207 shipped to my door.  Very heavy duty and came with all hardware and the mounting plates go way up the frame and are very heavy duty.  

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I already used it to tow a 20 ft cuddy cabin Searay without issue.  The truck really impressed me, didn't give me any trouble at all.  The only thing I didn't care for were the pathetic little mirrors.  I also wouldn't have minded stronger braking with the boat back there. 

Speaking of mirrors, I also decided those had to be fixed.  I decided to go with bigger stainless Bronco type mirrors.  I test mounted the driver side on my old door so I could decide if I liked them and where they needed to be mounted before I put the better doors on from the parts truck.

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I also swapped the bucket seats out of my truck for the bench out of the parts truck.  More functional that way. That's pretty much how she sits.  I can't tear into it too much because winter is coming. I ride my motorcycle all summer(didn't have any other transportation until I bought the MJ) so next year I'll be able to have the truck off the road long enough to make real progress.  In the mean time it'll be minor stuff like this.

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It's just a gutter mount system with the crossbars and a smaller roof rack bolted to it.  I turned the rack 90 degrees so it was wide and didn't stick out over the bed much(basically just a few inches above the roll bar).  It's large enough to hold a 33" tire and hi-lift or other stuff.  I had a spare and a few toolboxes up there for most of the year but recently took it off because I have a longer commute now and I wanted every little MPG I could easily get.  It's just sitting in my garage now.

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They're Commander headlights. Worlds better lighting than the factory lights. I upgraded to relays and better wiring on the factory lights, then switched out to these lights. I think the lines flow well with the fenders. It's my daily driver so I'm limited in scope on projects, so I end up doing a lot of little things here and there. Kind of a Hodgepodge I guess.

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